Voyager of the Seas Grand Suite 1248 Review

The Voyager of the Seas first maiden journey was in 1999. The ship then underwent extensive refurbishment in 2014. We had the pleasure of sailing on her during her 2015 Christmas cruise - 18 - 29 December 2015.

We shared 4 to a cabin in Grand Suite 1248. The cabin is located on the 10th floor, on the starboard forward end. The cabin was the nearest cabin to the starboard forward lift. However as the cabin door did not face directly into the lift lobby, we did not have any noise problems. The cabin is also located right under the solarium pool. We did not have any noise related problems from the pool deck.

The suite can be roughly divided into 5 sections - Bedroom, Living area, Bar and Storage, Bathroom and Balcony.

Bedroom

The bedroom consists of a king sized bed with bedsides tables on each end, a dressing table and chair, and storage space including a safe.

The bed was a medium-firm spring mattress with a comfortable topper. The bed linen used were silky smooth. The bed frame allows for luggage storage under the bed.

The dressing table comes with a mirror ' and chair. There is also a second magnifying mirror with light. There is plenty of storage space here with the main mirror doubling as a large medicine box-type storage. There are also 3 drawers on the side of the table, 1 cabinet which the safe is in, and there is another 2 shelves. The bedroom can be partitioned off using the thick black out curtains.

Living Area

The living area consists of a 3-seater sofa which doubles as a queen-sized sofa bed, two single-seater sofa, a large coffee table, a storage side table, TV bench and TV. As we were sharing the cabin 4 to a cabin, the housekeeper would fold down the sofa bed each evening duing dinner and fold it back up every morning during breakfast. The sofa bed is fairly firm, but has a depression in the lower 1/3 of the bed. The pillows provided for the 3rd and 4th person was different from the ones for the main bed. The pillows lacked firmness and height, and we has significant difficulties sleeping. We requested for an additional firmer pillow, which somewhat helped after the first night.

The TV was a 30-ish inch wall mounted TV on a rotating arm. The TV was rather small considering the room size.  The TV also had a Play Station 3 which doubles as a DVD player. DVDs can be loaned from the concierge service. The TV provided us with information about what was going on everyday and various other Royal Caribbean information channels. It also brought in main news providers such as BBC, CNN, Sky News, NHK, and also major Australian free-to-air TV channels. The TV can also be used to check your account.

Balcony

The living area opens into the balcony area. The balcony has padded wicker furniture - 2 single seat arm chairs with matching table and a sun lounger. The balcony is fully covered and has a partially glass retaining wall. My only complaint with the balcony was that the padding material of the lounger and the chairs wasn't waterproof, making the sponge inside the chair constantly wet from the sea spray. The other interesting part of this balcony is that you can see the starboard wing of the bridge. You can watch bridge officers maneuver the ship when parking and leaving port.

Bar and storage

The bar has a tiny fridge with drinks (charged at bar prices and not included in drink packages), a coffee machine and an electric kettle. Tea and coffee provided complimentary.  There are also glasses and coffee mugs provided.

The storage comprises of a huge 4 door wardrobe with a ceiling to floor mirror and 8 drawers. The space was more than ample for 4 people on the 11 night sailing.

Bathroom

The bathroom comprises of a large and deep bath, a double sink vanity, toilet and mirrors on two sides of the wall. The bath was definitely deep, allowing for hot long soaks in the bath. However on the downside, being of a smaller built, I found it very hard getting out of the bath. The bath has a drainage issue which we requested fix, but the problem was never really resolved. The vanity was amazing. It had a double sink, with mirror storage, and 4 drawers and in-built dustbin cabinets. 

The toilet was a air-plane style flush toilet - a pretty noisy one! Toiletries provided included soap, bath gel, shampoo, conditioner and body lotion. Upon request you can also get cotton tips, cotton balls and a nail file. Also provided was a 2-in-1 shampoo in a wall pump dispenser in the bath. 4 bath robes were provided - one for each guest.

The bathroom also has 2 retractable lines over the bathtub for drying clothes.

Overall
The grand suite itself was a fantastic room. Very big for 2 people, perfect for 2 adults and 2 kids, and a little cramped for 4 adults. The best part of the room is the suite benefits, which I will further explain how to maximise in my next post.

We'll continue posting more about our experiences on the Voyager. Watch this space!

Related Posts
RCI Voyager of the Seas - X'mas Cruise Review (Pre-cruise)
Suite Class Perks - Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas
Voyager of the Seas - New Zealand Cruise

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