Royal Caribbean cruise ship cabin and suite guide: Everything you want to know

Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers.

Picking a cabin on a Royal Caribbean ship can be a daunting task.

For starters, there is an eye-popping number of cabins available on many Royal Caribbean ships. The line is known for operating the world’s biggest cruise vessels — ships so big that some have nearly 3,000 cabins each.

But it’s not just the sheer volume of cabins that makes picking a room on a Royal Caribbean ship challenging. It’s also the number of cabin categories.

On some Royal Caribbean ships, there are as many as 34 different types of cabins — each a little different than the last.

The backstory here is that Royal Caribbean ships are designed to appeal to a wide demographic, including travelers with varying budgets. That prompted Royal Caribbean to offer a wide mix of cabin types.

The line offers rooms that range from relatively low-cost, windowless “inside” cabins measuring just 149 square feet (perfect for the budget traveler) to massive, multi-room suites that can be more than 10 times that size.

A Royal Caribbean cabin primer

Like many other cruise ships, Royal Caribbean vessels offer cabins in four broad categories: windowless inside cabins, ocean-view cabins, balcony cabins and suites.

On the newer Royal Caribbean ships, the vast majority of the cabins are balcony cabins. Over the years, cruise lines have discovered that cruisers will pay a significant premium to have a balcony with their cabin, prompting a rush to add more balcony cabins to ships.

Daily Newsletter

Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter

Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts

Email address

Sign up

By signing up, you will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.

Related: The 5 best cabin locations on any cruise ship

For instance, on Royal Caribbean’s four-year-old Symphony of the Seas, 65% of the 2,759 cabins are balcony cabins; the next-largest category of cabins are inside cabins followed by ocean-view cabins and suites. Here’s the exact breakdown:

• Inside cabins: 599 (22%).
• Ocean-view cabins: 176 (6%).
• Balcony cabins: 1,796 (65%).
• Suites: 188 (7%).

There are far fewer balcony cabins on older Royal Caribbean ships (and all older cruise ships in general). Only 12% of the cabins on Royal Caribbean’s oldest vessel, the 1996-built Grandeur of the Seas, are balcony cabins.

Inside cabins and ocean-view cabins make up the majority (78% in total) of cabins on Grandeur of the Seas. Suites account for 9% of the cabins on the ship. Here’s the exact breakdown:

• Inside cabins: 399 (40%).
• Ocean-view cabins: 381 (38%).
• Balcony cabins: 122 (12%).
• Suites: 94 (9%).

The takeaway here is that you’ll have a tougher time locking down a balcony cabin on an older Royal Caribbean ship than on a newer vessel. If you’re planning a cruise on one of the line’s older vessels and a balcony cabin is a must, you’ll want to book early to ensure you get one.

You’ll also want to book early if you’re aiming for a suite. An old saw in the cruise industry is that “ships sell from the top and the bottom.” That is, the first cabins on any vessel to sell out are the most-expensive cabins, which are the suites, and the least-expensive cabins, which typically are the inside cabins. The “middle” sells last.

Related: The ultimate guide to Royal Caribbean

You'll find multiple subcategories within each of the four broad categories of cabins on Royal Caribbean ships. Symphony of the Seas, for instance, has 15 different types of suites alone; suites range from a junior suite with a balcony (Category J3) that measures 287 square feet to a Royal Loft Suite (Category RL) that measures five times that amount.

If you count two types of Symphony of the Seas suites that come in two versions — a standard version and a slightly altered, “accessible” version — there are actually 17 different categories of suites on the vessel.

Royal Caribbean cabins generally have a modern look with clean lines and contemporary furniture, plus lots of storage cleverly worked into the design.

Inside cabins on Royal Caribbean ships

Inside cabins are designed for passengers on a tight budget. On Royal Caribbean ships, these rooms are almost always the least-expensive option when booking a cabin. You can often save considerable money by booking an inside cabin versus an ocean-view or higher-level cabin.

What you’ll give up, of course, is that ocean view. Your room will have four walls and no windows offering a glimpse of the outside world (at least, not a traditional window — more on that in a moment).

You’ll also be in a very small room. Inside cabins on Symphony of the Seas measure just 149 square feet, quite a bit less than the typical ocean-view cabin on the vessel (those range from 179 to 272 square feet). The typical balcony cabin on Symphony of the Seas is 182 square feet, not including a 50-square-foot balcony.

As I mentioned above, there is one way to get a glimpse of the outside world from an inside cabin on a Royal Caribbean ship. In one of the great cruising innovations, Royal Caribbean has created some inside cabins with a “virtual balcony” that offers a view of the outside.

Related: The upside of booking an inside cabin

The virtual balcony is a high-definition screen built into one end of the windowless room that projects a real-time view of the ocean outside. It’s designed to make you think you’re actually in a balcony cabin with a view, and it is quite realistic-looking.

Just don’t try to walk through the faux balcony opening.

Ocean-view cabins on Royal Caribbean ships

With an ocean-view cabin, you get a window looking out to the sea but not an attached balcony where you can sit outside and enjoy the fresh air.

Royal Caribbean’s newer ships have relatively few such cabins, as cabins that face outward are usually built with balconies now.

Related: The 6 classes of Royal Caribbean ships, explained

In general, ocean-view cabins on Royal Caribbean ships are bigger than inside cabins and around the same size as balcony cabins (when comparing their interior space). But you can sometimes find ocean-view cabins that are significantly bigger than a typical balcony cabin. This is sometimes the case for ocean-view cabins at the front or back of ships, where there can be relatively large but oddly shaped rooms with windows but no balconies.

Royal Caribbean has built ocean-view cabins at the front of some ships that incorporate the angled space in the front part of the superstructure. As a result, they have sloping windows, and a bit more floor space around these windows (see the image below).

Royal Caribbean’s Radiance-class ships, notably, have a category called Ultra Spacious Ocean View; it includes cabins at the front and back of the ship that measure 319 square feet — nearly twice as much as the typical ocean-view cabin on the vessels (which measures 170 square feet). Each of these bigger ocean-view cabins has two twin beds that can convert into a royal king bed, one double sofa bed and either one Pullman bed and one twin bed or two Pullman beds.

These bigger cabins can hold up to six people, making them popular with families.

Balcony cabins on Royal Caribbean ships

Balcony cabins are what everyone wants these days, and Royal Caribbean is delivering, with huge numbers of balcony cabins on all its newest ships. On the line’s five Oasis-class ships, which began debuting in 2009, around 65% of rooms are balcony cabins. On the line’s even-newer Quantum-class ships, which began debuting in 2014, the percentage is even higher — around 69%.

The typical Royal Caribbean balcony cabin has a contemporary look, with clean lines and relatively minimalist furniture. It will typically offer twin beds that can be converted into a royal king bed, a desk and a sofa that often pulls out into an additional bed. It typically measures around 180 square feet, not including the balcony area.

A few Royal Caribbean ships have balcony cabins that face toward the vessel's center, not toward the outside. If this seems like a paradox, it is. It results from an unusual design feature of one series of Royal Caribbean ships, the Oasis class.

Related: 6 reasons to book a balcony cabin

The Oasis-class vessels are so wide that they have room for an interior, open-air “Boardwalk” amusement area at their backs lined with inward-facing cabins. On Oasis-class ships, you thus can get a balcony cabin facing the sea or a balcony cabin facing inward, toward the Boardwalk area.

Suites on Royal Caribbean ships

Royal Caribbean is known for having some of the cruise world’s most spectacular suites, including (on some ships) suites that sprawl over two decks.

Royal Caribbean isn’t a luxury cruise line. However, the top suites on its vessels offer an experience keeping with what you’ll find on some of the world’s top luxury ships. Depending on the ship, these suites can come with such perks as private butlers (called Royal Genies) who attend to your every need, access to a private restaurant, access to a private suite lounge and sun deck, reserved seating in entertainment venues and priority boarding and disembarkation.

Related: 7 reasons you should splurge on a suite on your next cruise

They also have a much higher price tag than the typical Royal Caribbean cabin. These rooms are aimed at well-heeled travelers who, for whatever reason, prefer the sort of mass-market, megaship cruise experience that Royal Caribbean offers over the more intimate, white-glove experience you’ll find on the small ships that luxury lines operate.

As noted above, there is a wide range of suite categories on some Royal Caribbean ships. Among the line’s most spectacular suites are the Royal Loft Suites on some of the newer Royal Caribbean vessels. Two decks high, they offer a soaring living room space framed by a glass wall that offers stunning views.

Related: The 5 most spectacular suites at sea

The Royal Loft Suites on Oasis-class ships measure nearly 1,800 square feet and feature two bedrooms, a large living room with a soaring ceiling and a dining area. The Royal Loft Suites on Quantum-class vessels are nearly 1,640 square feet and also sprawl over two decks.

Royal Caribbean is also famous for its Ultimate Family Suite: a two-deck-high suite complex designed for families with young kids. It offers a slide from a second-floor kids room to the main level and extras like a foosball table. Currently, there are only Ultimate Family Suites on three Royal Caribbean ships: Wonder of the Seas, Symphony of the Seas and Spectrum of the Seas.

Note that these family suites often carry an astronomical price, falling in the $20,000-a-week range.

Smaller suites on Royal Caribbean ships include Grand Loft Suites, which can measure around 700 to 850 square feet. That’s much smaller than the Royal Loft Suites but about four times the size of a standard balcony cabin.

Bottom line

Royal Caribbean has something for everyone when it comes to cabins on its ships. You can book a small, inside cabin that will get you on board one of the line’s vessels at a very reasonable cost, or a huge suite that will set you back many times more but come with all sorts of perks.

Planning a cruise? Start with these stories:

• A beginners guide to picking a cruise line
• The 8 worst cabin locations on any cruise ship
• A quick guide to the most popular cruise lines
• 21 tips and tricks that will make your cruise go smoothly
• 15 ways cruisers waste money
• 12 best cruises for people who never want to grow up
• What to pack for your first cruise