Royal Caribbean’s Star of the Seas offers some of the most luxurious cruise packages on the market, but some of these packages have proven divisive. The ship’s panoramic suites are, according to one TikToker, especially controversial—so, in a new video, she gave viewers an insider view and her honest assessment.
Since that unfortunate waterslide incident, Royal Caribbean cruises have definitely needed a PR boost—so much so that they even got influencers to promote their voyages. However, in her room tour, TikToker Aimee (@cruising_aimee) didn’t shy away from the fact that some view these types of rooms as controversial.
In her viral clip, which has garnered 2.2 million views, Aimee took viewers on a tour of the room.
It’s no exaggeration to say that the suite was absolutely huge. It offered plenty of storage space, from shelves to wardrobes to drawers, and even a safe. It was kitted out with a split bathroom, a king-sized bed, a fridge, which is apparently not a fridge, a coffee machine, two large TVs, a living area with a couch and chairs, and, of course, the panoramic window that enabled the sun to glow through the room.
But, based on her reaction, the most exciting part for Aimee and her partner was arguably the free lanyards.
Via on-screen text, she wrote, “I stayed in the most controversial suite on Star of the Seas.”
She added in the video description: “The grand suite on Royal Caribbean’s newest cruise ship has no balcony. And well some cruisers don’t like that.”
Royal Caribbean and the TikToker didn’t immediately respond to BroBible’s request for comment via email.
How Did Commenters React?
Some commenters were confused. “What is it with people freaking out about hotel rooms and grand suites on a boat?” one asked. “You only sleep in bed at night not like your living in there for entire trip I book the lower deck with 2 single beds and a dunny.”
“What’s the point of a room like this when your basically spending all your time outside of your room?” a second queried. “If you don’t then what’s the point of a cruise?”
While a third wrote: “Controversial why? What’s wrong with it? It looks fine.”
Others admitted they preferred a traditional balcony.
“I prefer a traditional balcony so I can get fresh air and sit out there and see the water and smell the sea,” a fourth added. “This is not gonna be for me.”
Elsewhere, commenters also enthused about the balcony.
“I like the infinite balcony so much better than a traditional balcony lol traditional balconies freak me out,” a sixth said, while a seventh chimed in: “I think it looks quite serene. Why are ppl acting like there aren’t a million spots on the ship where you can sit out in the open and get some fresh air? Plus, you’re typically not spending the majority of your time in the room so who cares?.”
Should You Get A Balcony Room On A Cruise?
For Amanda Adler, a frequent cruise-goer and Business Insider writer, forking out for a ‘proper’ balcony room isn’t worth it for a number of reasons.
The first reason was their apparent impracticability. “Every time we opened the balcony door, it created a wind tunnel in our stateroom that sent objects flying through the air,” she wrote. “Sometimes, our neighbors smoked cigarettes or talked loudly from their adjacent balconies, interrupting what would’ve otherwise been a peaceful, private experience.”
She went on to add that during a voyage on Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas, she kept tabs on how many of her shipmates actually made the most of their inward balconies, noting that they were often left “eerily vacant.”
“Although they offered perfect views of onboard entertainment, I hardly saw anyone spending time on them,” she pointed out. “However, I did see passengers use the interior balconies to hang-dry wet towels and swimsuits. That certainly seems practical, but it hardly seemed like a worthy use of this costly space.”
Her final, and arguably most obvious, reason was the expense. “On some ships, booking a balcony room can cost hundreds of dollars more than the base-level accommodations, and I can think of a lot of ways I’d rather spend money on vacation,” she noted.
