blindman2k

Thats definitely something to consider! Thanks.

Have you looked into a family room on RCL? We have a trip booked on Freedom of the Seas in August out of Port Canaveral.

Great call. Now we a second booking - the Family Promenade room on the Freedom of the Seas. It was $2450 plus tips, insurance and alike, $2800. I still have to add the cost of getting us all to the Port which is at least $2500 extra. But we are making progress.

I won't give up on sailing out of SF yet. I spoke to them last night and they are too expensive today but thats because they don't have any sales (pun intended) on yet. I will keep my eye out for that to change.

You have to call RCL to price those rooms (they cant be booked online) and I have heard that they go quickly, but it could be worth a shot.

It is definitely worth a shot. I will give them a call tonight.

Also, if you can't see any, sometimes calling and getting the cruise line rep to look is easier.

I took that advice and called NCL. I got connected balcony rooms on the Breakaway out of NYC. It's only a few $100 out of our budget ($5000 for the cruise and about $1800 for the flights) but it means a trip to NYC, which was on my to-do list for the family anyway.

The tickets are fully refundable so I am still searching, but I have an excellent fallback.

My investigations last night revealed:

- The Carnival Miracle out of LA is a bit cheaper but not by much. I can't confirm connected rooms without talking to them.

- To afford Disney Wonder we would have to shorten the trip to 5 nights

- Same with RCL

- The Princess Star out of SF is too expensive (10 nights)

On Princess the younger two would be in one group (Pelicans, 3-7) and the older two would be in another (Shockwaves, 8-12).

That would be perfect :)

We have cruised with our three kids on Princess and the way we did it was we took Grandma and Grandpa along to share a cabin with our older two and we kept the baby.

Grandparents have to be good for something :)

Argh! I can't find any connected rooms on any of the west coast ships.

Is there a trick to finding them?

I am not seeing any connecting cabins on Star Princess. EM

On the 4th and the 14th? :(

I would also go with Princess. Sailing from SF will not only save money but stress. We have over 80 days on Princess and my son loved every minute. Especially if your children haven't sailed before, they will be thrilled. The children's staff was always great and very attentive. Disney is made for kids but my son felt like he was just another number, not an individual. He would rather be one of 20 kids in an age group than one of 200 (or more).

I would definitely do the Star Princess out of San Francisco. I think you will have a fantastic time. That saves on flights to and from Los Angeles. Princess has a lot to offer the kids and I'm sure they would have a great time.

The flights alone to FL are at least $2,000 so event the 10 day trip out of SF is cheaper than the 5/7 days out of FL. I agree with the thoughts here.

Star Princess is only offer 10 or 15 day cruises out of SF in November, so that may not fit your needs. There is a Princess cruise out of LA that does a 7 night itinerary, but can't remember which ship.

We can definitely do 10 days if the price is right. Is 10 days too long? Will the kids not get bored?

Carnival Miracle and Crown Princess depart Los Angeles with itineraties that suite us. Are these good ships for us?

No matter which line you choose, I do not believe the 3 year old and 6 year old will be together.

Such is life :(

Our kids were 3,4,8 and 9 when we sailed last week.

Wow, we are almost mirrors.

We also love Carnival. In fact my kids like Carnival more.

What the kids enjoy is way more important in the end. We can get more pleasure out of not seeing them for a day than out of having the potential for fun without the time.

book early to get connecting cabins.

What is "early" ? It is March and I want to travel in November. Are we likely to find connecting rooms still?

Let me know if you wants pictures of a cabin with 4 bunks pulled down on RCCL

Yes please!

Hi cruisers,

My wife and I have four rug rats (3, 6, 9 and 11) and we decided some time ago that we really needed to take the kids on a cruise. We figure its a great chance for them to run off and be kids while we relax. The primary goal of the trip is for us to relax but the only way thats going to happen is if the cruise is blindingly entertaining for all four kids at once. The kids love swimming and water slides (appropriate for their age) and to be able to disconnect from them we will need a great kids club for each of them, preferably in pairs (oldest two together and youngest two together).

I have been studying the critics and reviews and getting hugely mixed messages about which line and which ship to take. It is very hard to get a clear answer of which ships we might get connected rooms. There are lots of "kids free" offers at the moment but we can't always get the most of them due to requiring two state rooms on most ships.

So far, Disney Wonder for 5 nights out of Miami is leading the pack. They have lots of connected staterooms and my kids love all things Disney. But their high price tag and the cost of travel to FL means five days is the maximum cruise duration.

Next in line is the NCL cruises with their Nick themes: Norwegian Jewel for 7 nights out of Houston, Norwegian Epic and Getaway for 7 nights out of Miami. Other options are Carnival Miracle for 6/7 nights out of Los Angeles, RCI's Freedom of the Seas for 7 nights out of Orlando. RCI and Norwegian we should be able to get two of the kids for free (one in each room).

We have set a budget of $5,000-$6,000 and are based on San Francisco. We only have the month of November 2014 to do this (for various reasons). If at all possible I want to avoid the worst of the chaos (does that rule Carnival out?) Can anyone suggest what they would recommend?