These are pictures of the view from the balcony of the AFT junior suite 1694 on the Voyager of the Seas.
We stayed in this room for the first week of our back to back cruise, moving from deck 10 to deck 8 for the second week to an E1 cabin. I have typed a seperate blog for that cabin!
The balcony itself was huge but unfortunately covered in due to the overhang from the frame work above. No obvious noise in the actual room from the Windjammer. The balcony was quite echoey [sp?] and noise from other balconies [downwards and sideways] was more apparent than if on a port/starboard cabin. That said the noise was not too annoying, but just to make you aware that it does seem to be more apparent. It was a very private balcony and unless the occupants from next door were to look around the partition then you were completely alone.
Whilst the balcony was great for sitting out on, unless the sun was directly behind then it remained quite shady and not much air circulation caused it to be quite warm.
Vibration and noise from the engines was minimal, but compared to having had a mid-ship, mid-deck room noticable - mid-ship rooms on this size of ship experience no noise whatsoever [unless you have loud neighbours!].
We didn't find the noise/vibration disturbing as it just reminded us of being on smaller ships [900 and 1600 passengers].
The bathroom was a bit larger as it had a bath in it, with the shower attachment overhead. We also experienced the 'extras' such as body lotion, scrunchies [like a buff puff for washing with] and shower gel, along with a bottle of shampoo/conditioner, but this shampoo was only the same as that in the dispenser on the wall. Still they were nice little touches.
The extra bed was made up by pulling out the couch. Whilst it would sleep 2 adults, I think it might have been a bit cramped and I noticed that the bedding mat [portable mattress] and the actual bedding didn't cover the whole of the couch once opened, so again it might have proved bumpy/uncomfortable through the night.
Perhaps as only my daughter was using the pull-out the room steward made it up this way for speed?
There was plenty of cupboard/shelf space and the wardrobe was big enough to put the suitcases away inside. This wardrobe was not a 'walk-in' size, once clothes were hung up there was not much room to actually move around in, even with out suitcases being stored there.
This room had the courtesy curtain that does nothing! Personally for the use that they do I think they are a waste of space, material and also a dust trap.
If they fully extended across the width of the room, or even 3/4 of the width, then they would prove more beneficial especially if sharing the room and would have a purpose. However if this function was available, then the lighting would have to be re-thought as one switch put the whole of the main room lights on, with no way to split the room into two halves.
The main bed did have reading/night lights and they were handy when my daughter was asleep if I wanted to read, but unfortunately if it was the other way round, my daughter had no way to read her own book with out having to leave the main lights on.
The actual room size was excellent, having the couch and two additional easy chairs was a bonus as sometimes lying on the bed can get uncomfortable. Whilst there were only three of us in the room, I think that four adults would not feel too squashed either.
This room had a door that would allow access to the adjoining cabin if you were with a large family group. We never experienced any loss in sound proofing between rooms due to this door.
Personally, whilst the JS was a lovely experience and also allowed us to embark quickly [yes we used the sign that said SUITES with no problem and we did ask an official before joining the queue - if you can call one family in front of us a queue?!] for the extra money I don't know if I can justify the cost. However if I did book a JS on the aft then I would certainly drop down a deck or two to ensure a bit more sun, even if sacrificing complete privacy, or look for a cabin on port/starboard but then you loose out on the larger balcony.
My advice is if money is an issue and you don't mind vibration and its only 3 of you, go for the E1 cabin we got on deck 8 the following week. The room was abit of a squeeze but the balcony was great and could have actually seated 4 comfortably. See my other blog!
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