Personally I prefer railings AND grab rails. When it's roughish I like having a solid grab rail to hang onto. The railings are great to help maintain balance but they tend not to be as strong as a substantial grab rail. And when hand and grab rails are augmented by a full walkaround deck, then you've got something. We will never own a cruising boat without a full, one level walkaround deck. In this area, at least, it's the only configuration that makes sense to us. Yes, one can certainly get along without a walkaround deck, or with a full-width aft cabin that forces one higher up in the back of the boat. But our attitude is that since there are plenty off boat types with full, single level walkaround decks, why "learn to live" with something that doesn't have them?