Where can we put everyone?

[JMHAM1]

So here is our situation...2 adults...6 kids ages at time of sailing...15, 12, 12, 11, 10 & 3. I would LOVE to do 3 cabins. Balcony and then 2 connecting across the hall. I read somewhere that the 15y/o could travel w/o an adult in the room but I cannot find that anywhere.

We want to leave from New Orleans so we have a choice of RCCI, NCL and Carnival.

 

Thoughts? Also, it seems like a nightmare to do sample bookings to price this stuff out.

[gerif]

So here is our situation...2 adults...6 kids ages at time of sailing...15, 12, 12, 11, 10 & 3. I would LOVE to do 3 cabins. Balcony and then 2 connecting across the hall. I read somewhere that the 15y/o could travel w/o an adult in the room but I cannot find that anywhere.

We want to leave from New Orleans so we have a choice of RCCI, NCL and Carnival.

 

Thoughts? Also, it seems like a nightmare to do sample bookings to price this stuff out.

 

As long as the kids are all yours, they can be booked in cabins directly across from yours (I'm assuming the 3-year old would be in your cabin). If they are not all yours, then you have a problem. If money is not an issue, RCI has royal family suites that sleep 8. Not sure about the other lines.

[Cruisin' Chick]

One piece of advice: after booking the cabins all in one place, make sure the bookings are marked "no upgrade" so that some of you aren't moved away.

[mjkacmom]

On NCL, you have to have one adult "booked" in each cabin, regardless of the sleeping arrangements. We have 5 kids, and have had to re-do a booking when the TC realized that we booked 4 kids in a cabin. It's much easier to do over the phone with a large family and multiple cabins, especially if you are looking for connecting.

 

But even connecting, the computer system wouldn't allow our 4 kids booked in one cabin.

[TheCalicoCat]

I'd call the lines directly in this situation - just to make double sure.

I say that because I have read on CC that you need to have an adult listed in each room & to my way of thinking even with parents spread thin, you can't get 2 adults into 3 rooms.

[onthelake]

There is a website called sixsuitcasetravel dot com that has tips for large families, including cruises. You might want to take a look there.

[cb at sea]

There are families, just like yours, that only have 2 adults and need 3 or more cabins....so it CAN be done, but you HAVE to do it on the phone....call them. It's easy and fast! Just make sure you have the deck plans in front of you when you're booking...you need to SEE what you're paying for!

[khm1]

Why don't you book a royal family suite or a two bedroom suite on RCL? It sleeps 8! We had this cabin once with our 3 kids.. It was great. It has 2 bedrooms: one with a queen, one with two lower and two upper beds. It has a huge living area with a pull out sofa and an enormous balcony. There are two baths, one with a shower and one with a tub. You would have everyone where you can keep an eye on them. You need to call for rates. The prices are not accessible on RCL's website. The price is high for the first 4 occupants, but drops for the rest of the crew. Can't hurt to call to see if your budget allows it. You may need to book early, but I snagged ours at a great rate since it hadn't sold after final payment was due.

[Karysa]

On NCL, you have to have one adult "booked" in each cabin, regardless of the sleeping arrangements. We have 5 kids, and have had to re-do a booking when the TC realized that we booked 4 kids in a cabin. It's much easier to do over the phone with a large family and multiple cabins, especially if you are looking for connecting.

 

But even connecting, the computer system wouldn't allow our 4 kids booked in one cabin.

 

 

I agree. We travelled with our 18 yr old and 16 year old twins and we had to book the cabins with one parent in one room with 1 DD and the other parent in the other room with the other 2 DD's on our NCL cruise this past March.

 

On our RCCL VOS cruise last summer from Venice we were allowed to book the girls next door to us and on our Carnival Liberty cruise in March of 2011 DH and I had an aft balcony room and the girls were allowed in the nearest cabin that fit 3 which was around the corner from us.

 

NCL definitely had stricter booking rules regarding booking seperate cabins for our girls. The funny thing is that one cabin was set up for a couple with the beds pushed together and the other set up for three single traveller's. The stewards had no doubt who would be sleeping with who.

[Nebr.cruiser]

We took seven grandkids on a cruise last year, so nine of us total. We had a family OV and a balcony on the Navigator of the Seas. The family OV sleeps six, the balcony four. They were on the same floor, but not close to each other, due to us having to add two more to the booking at a late date (before that we had two balcony rooms side by side.) I stayed in one room, supposedly with the girls and the youngest boy (the kids kept switching rooms), my husband in the other.

 

You can probably work it out for three rooms with just two adults, but, for this and to book other larger rooms you have to call the cruise line, or have an agent call for you as they don't normally book these online.

 

This worked well for us and was very affordable--it was in Jan. and we got great 3rd and up rates. The family OV was a very large room with a queen (or two twin) beds, a large sofa sleeper and a bunk room. The kids loved the bunk room (ages 5-11). Only downside was only one bathroom, but we managed.

 

One boy got sick and was quarantined for 24 hrs. so we had 7 of us in the OV room for a while. It didn't matter much because the four girls slept in the two bunks anyway!

 

If you can afford one of the larger suites, especially on NCL, that would work even better.

[QLUVS2CRUZ]

You do not have to have an adult booked in each cabin on Carnival, but like a pp said, I do think the kids need to all be yours. Definitely call. I have my two kids booked in their own cabin for our upcoming cruise, and there was no issue at all with not having an adult in the cabin. There is a note on the bookings to not upgrade.

 

I don't know about other lines as far as booking an adult goes.

 

Suites are an option, but you may be able to get 2 or 3 cabins for less than putting everyone in a suite. You just have to price it out...even though it's a bit painful to do the mock bookings. Good luck!

[JMHAM1]

On NCL, you have to have one adult "booked" in each cabin, regardless of the sleeping arrangements. We have 5 kids, and have had to re-do a booking when the TC realized that we booked 4 kids in a cabin. It's much easier to do over the phone with a large family and multiple cabins, especially if you are looking for connecting.

 

But even connecting, the computer system wouldn't allow our 4 kids booked in one cabin.

 

We love NCL and I totally thought that they had relaxed those rules a bit fr 2012 if you have teens.

[Karysa]

We love NCL and I totally thought that they had relaxed those rules a bit fr 2012 if you have teens.

 

Now that you mentioned it one thing happened on our Dawn cruise in 2009 that did not happen on our 2012 one. In 2009 we were given a letter reminding us that minor children were not allowed in their own cabins without a parent. Our beds were configured to fit a "couple" in one room and 3 "singles" in the other on that cruise as well though. We did not receive any such note in March of 2012. We did book in 2011 so there could possibly be a new policy in place since that time.