First family cruise: room size Rec?

[Smiles33]

I'd love advice on how to choose room size. We have 2 kids, 3 and 6 year olds, and the 3 year old still naps. I was thinking of a balcony room so we have somewhere to sit while she naps, but saw that some balcony rooms (like Princess) only have 1 bed in the room. So it looks like we have to move up to a mini suite as the cheapest option to get a second bed (at least on Princess, which is my top choice as it's the only line that has cruises originating at the port close to us).

 

Any advice?

[cb at sea]

Whatever you book, there will need to be a bed for each person occupying the cabin, so check the deck plans....it will show numbers of bed AND sq. footage....that's important....ship cabins are nowhere near the size of a hotel room! Much smaller! You'll want as much sq. footage as you can afford.

 

Yes...a balcony is the way to go with kids...it will give you a place to be, while kids are napping or in bed early. And remember, most cabins only have showers, so either get the kids used to that, or bring a blow-up tub...or book a cabin with a tub!

[Ready 2 Go]

Just curious, what cruiseline will you be on? I personally would book the balcony. On Carnival, they have them that sleep 4. They have a trundle bed and sofa bed. The balcony is a nice break for mom and dad. While the little one naps, you can enjoy the serenity of you balcony. Have a great first cruise.

[Mom2B&Z]

DS2 was 3yrs when we took our first cruise and he still napped too. We had a balcony room on NCL, which has a big bed for the adults and a pull out couch for the kids. It worked beautifully, DH and I could sit out on the balcony at nap time or after we put the kids to bed at night and enjoy some era and relaxation too. The cabins are much smaller than hotel rooms, but the balcony adds space which is helpful.

My only caution is to make sure the extra beds are not pull down bunks, otherwise one of the adults may have the bunk bed :)

[junglejane]

The OP mentioned Princess. Princess has quad rooms that are in the interior, oceanview and balcony categories, but the 3rd and 4th beds will be drop down bunks from the wall or ceiling. On Princess, the mini-suite would be the most comfortable and roomy because then the kids can sleep in the sleeper sofa.

[OnTheBrink]

We were on Princess when our kids were 3 and 7 or so. We got two adjoining balcony rooms.

 

 

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[bralli]

We've always just booked the inside cabins. For me, the cabin is usually just a place to sleep and all things being equal I would probably rather that money saves and blow it on a nice excursion or something like that. But yes, be prepared, cruise ship rooms are TINY.

 

There is one cruise that my wife and I did before we had kids where we got the balcony and I still found that we rarely spent much time in the room or on the balcony. But maybe that's just us.

[Smiles33]

Thank you all for the wonderful feedback!

 

cbatsea: I was surfing on an iPad and couldn't open up some sections of Princess' website because they were in Flash. I'm going to go look again and search for the deck plans now that I'm on a laptop. Great suggestion. Didn't think about the shower aspect--neither of my girls has ever taken a shower so I definitely better "train" them beforehand!

 

ready_2_go: I'm thinking Princess since some of their cruises actually start here and/or end here. I'd love to avoid lugging carseats along. Yet I'm still considering flying to another port if it makes more sense. Haven't quite figured it out yet since I'm just starting all my research.

 

B&Z's mom: thanks for the tip re: bunk beds. We went to Disneyland last year and my older DD (then 5) loved sleeping on the top bunk. But I definitely can't put the 3 year old in a bunk bed, as I know she'll roll right off and I'm not about to lug the toddler rails on a cruise. I guess DH may be stuck on the other bunk bed if we end up with a room like that!

 

JungleJane: thanks for confirming Princess does have balcony rooms that can sleep 4. I couldn't figure out where to look for that and didn't know why the site kept presenting that as an option when the room descriptions just mentioned 2 twin/1 queen bed.

 

OntheBrink: I don't think I'm ready to spend that much on our first cruise to get 2 rooms, but if DH's parents ever offered to take us along and let us have two adjoining balcony rooms, I would be THRILLED to pieces! They cruise quite a bit and already connected me to their TA so I'm hoping to talk to her this week about other options. I just got so excited I started poking around here and on Princess' website.

 

bralli: Normally, I'd totally go with an interior cabin. I did a cruise 20+ years ago when I was in high school and we crammed 4 of us in an interior cabin. It literally was just a pit stop for sleep and a shower. However, with a napping toddler, I would not want to sit in the dark for 2 hours so I'm hoping to get a balcony room!

 

Thank you all again for your great insight.

[LOVINCRUIZIN]

When kids were small, we preferred ajoining inside cabins. Just felt safer, and the extra room and bathroom were very much appreciated.

[higgib]

Just a thought, Carnival dream class ships (Dream, Magic and Breeze) have family OV rooms that sleep up to 5. There are convertible couches as well as the pull down beds, and they have 2 bathrooms, one of which has a small bath. The rooms are larger, 220 sq ft I think. Haven't seen one yet, but will be on the Breeze in these rooms next month.

[Cheryl H]

We cruise on RCCL. We try to get either junior suite which has about 300 square feet, a balcony, a tub, a walkin closet, and a sofabed. It also has room for a rollaway bed, but we've never had to get one.

 

Or our other choice is a family oceanview. On the Radiance class, the family oceanview is 319 square feet so the same size as a junior suite. Ours had a large window with a window seat so sort of a bay window. It had a separate side room with 2 beds (upper and lower) with it's own closet and dresser. There was a curtain to close it off. It does still just have a shower in the bathroom. And it had a sofa bed.

 

Supposedly the family oceanview sleeps 6 and they reserve the right to have a minimum amount of people in there. We are a family of 3 and this is the second time we've had one.

 

There are photos of both rooms in our pictures below. The junior suite is in the Alaska photo book. And the family oceanview is in the photos for the New England cruise.

[bralli]

There are photos of both rooms in our pictures below. The junior suite is in the Alaska photo book. And the family oceanview is in the photos for the New England cruise.

 

Good God Cheryl, those photo books are awesome! :)

[Gatrcruzer]

Smiles33,

 

Given that they charge for 3rd and 4th passengers in the room, and on Princess usually don't give a huge discount for those, you might want to price connecting insides or outsides (if you can manage to find connecting cabins on the date you want to sail). It might not be as big a difference in as you think in price, and having the separate room and extra bathroom might be worth it. When you do the nap, you could hang out in the other room. That said, if you need the tub (we do), definitely go with the mini suite.