Cruise for family of 5 two cabins?

[cruise1804]

Hi there,

 

We havent cruised with are children yet but thinking of doing a Med cruise next July/August 2013. Ive had a price for two connecting balcony rooms and it comes out at £9000(!) or two inside cabins at £6500. Both quite expensive and not sure I could do inside. Have'nt priced Oceanview family cabin as not sure could cope for 14 nights with five of us in one room! Is it a big price difference? Kids will be 12,10 and 7. This maybe controversial but has anyone had two rooms that were opposite each other ie inside cabin and a balcony cabin. Kids in inside, husband and I in balcony? TA has told me connecting rooms are always higher up and more expensive. Looking at RCI from Southampton.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated for my many questions.:)

[boulders]

I survived 24 nights in the Med with my 3 children this past July in one single inside cabin. The cost savings was definitely worth it. I've also sailed in RCI's family oceanviews and they're very nice. There are two or three private sleeping areas. The layout varies, depending on the ship. There can be more than one layout on a ship as well. I've found that you can estimate the cost for a family ocean view by looking at the prices for first and second in an owners' suite and then adding the cost for three third and fourth's in an ocean view. The only way to know for sure, is to call the cruise line and ask.

 

I've also done adjacent and connecting cabins. While privacy is nice, I personally would rather see what my youngest (also age 7) is up to. At age 12 and 10, his older siblings would not have been able to be responsible for him.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

I've done an inside several times and it is fine. If you want the window- do two connecting outside cabins. I think that will bring the cost down and everyone will be happy. I don't think I'd want my three kids in a cabin across the hall. I see problems with this- getting them to settle down, etc.

[cruise1804]

Thank you so much for your replies. Ive also started looking into Promenade family cabins or oceanview family cabin. When I was asking for prices the two ocean view cabins they where practically the same price as balcony cabins because of the deals RC are doing.

 

Again thank you for all your advice.

[eclecticpanthers]

We are doing a cruise in Nov, and we have two separate rooms! One for DH and I and the connecting for daughters and sister-in-law!

I don;t think I could handle all three of my girls in the room with me for 7 days! I love them, but gosh, need some privacy!:D

[Prinycesa07]

If it were me i would do 2 inside rooms. We went on a family cruise when i was 17, my sister was 15, my brother was 12. All 5 of us stayed in the same room and it was ROUGH. NEVER again was all we were saying at the end of the week.

[nerak11]

We are cruising in November with our 5 and 7 y/o in two adjoining Promenade rooms on Freedom OTS. The price was equivalent to a single balcony room but we end up with two bathrooms, 2 closets, and double the square footage plus everyone gets a real bed and we can close the door between us and the kids! As much as I would love a window to the outside, the pros of the PR rooms outweighed the balcony!

[tikcho]

I would definitely look at the family-style rooms on RCI. They have more than sleeping areas and while they are a bit tight, they are a good option between privacy and high price. Another option is to get an double inside and a triple outside/balcony. The older kids can sleep by themselves in the inside but the 7-year old will be best with you. I would not do two insides. Insides to me are dark and claustrophobic and really I go on cruises to be able to see the water. Things like having your breakfast or drinking your coffee on the balcony are some of my best experiences onboard.

[MississippiMom]

We are a family of five (three daughters) and we try our best to book cruise cabins and hotel rooms in a way that we will wind up with two bathrooms. It just makes life so much easier to have two different places for showers and teeth brushing, especially on those days when you are rushing in from a port excursion and trying to get ready for dinner.

[cb at sea]

If you can't find connecting cabins, then the balcony for parents, and an inside across the hall for the kids is doable. You do need to trust your kids to do as you tell them! The hallways are narrow, so you're only steps away.

 

I would prefer that scenario to having all of you in 1 cabin...even a "family" cabin!

 

On the Voyager and Freedom class ships, they do have some balcony cabins that connect to an inside cabin...very handy for families who don't want the kids to have unsupervised access to a balcony....they are the last cabins port and starboard side all the way aft.

[OnlyMe]

We are in the same dilema except its 3 adults + 2 kids so I priced 2 inside connecting cabins and also a Family Ocean View and the prices that have come back (Serenade) is the FOV is around $500 cheaper than the 2 insides.... just to give you an indication.

We have never sailed in an inside before but prices are very prohibitive needing 2 cabins on a longer sailing so I can see us morst likely doing the insides as there would be less privacy with Granny in a FOV .. if it were just us and the kids I think we'd be going for one room though

[SportsMomof4]

We are going in December...5 of us, me, DH, 14 yo twins & a 6 1/2 year old in 2 blacony rooms. For us it was worth every penny just to have 2 bathrooms & the extra space.

[mseldga]

We have a 12 year old and a 10 year old and have booked a balcony room for us and an inside room directly across the hall for them on a March cruise. I'm a little worried about it, but they are very responsible girls and we decided we'd put a baby monitor in their room and ours so we could hear if they fight or get loud or get scared at night. I'm really not at all worried about them being loud or disturbing others, but I do want to make sure I hear them if they get scared or if some lost, drunk passenger bangs on their door in the middle of the night or something. :rolleyes: Your 7 year old might be more of a concern, but maybe the baby monitor idea would give you more peace of mind too. We decided we definitely needed the extra bathroom and there were no connecting rooms left on our sailing.

 

Good luck, whatever you decide!

[njm5378]

We did two cabins, one balcony and one promenade, in January on FOS. No problems at all. Our children are 14,10,6 and we did not want them in a balcony just in case of an accident. We notified the room steward and since you have to have one adult reserved in each room we split the room keys so the kids and us had keys to both rooms. Set some ground rules and it will be fine. We never let our kids wander alone so there is no issue there. I would not hesitate to do it again.