Future Cruise for a family of 12

[Living the Dream]

Hey everyone - I was wondering if someone might give me a bit of info about the way the system works when booking a cruise for 10 adults and 2 teenagers. Are there special prices for 3rd and 4th passengers?

 

We are looking at booking something early for the month of Aug. 2006.

 

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks

[Boo's Mom]

Hi Living the Dream ~

 

Yes, there are special prices for 3rd and 4th passengers in the same cabin. Pretty significant.

[candydane]

The prices are much lower for the 3rd and 4th passengers, but it can be pretty crowded in cabins, which are generally not very large. So you may have to upgrade to a more expensive cabin to have enough room.

 

Another option to consider is getting an inside cabin across from an outside cabin or balcony. The second cabin will give everyone more room and privacy, not to mention providing a second bathroom. This can be a good option for teenagers, who usually like "their space". Often it is just about the same cost as getting a more expensive cabin large enough for 4 people.

[Chexmix]

If booking on carnival and you want to put the teens in thier own room you will need to book one adult and one teen in one room and one adult and another teen in another room due to ages. After check in you can just switch keys.

 

If you book early make sure to keep checking prices and calling for specials that are not advertised. On one of my calls, my pvp let me know about a resident discount. Had he not told me about this I would have spent more money.

 

Ask around and see if you can get a few more people involved in going. This might get you a discount if you can do a group cruise.

 

Another thing, if you are flying to the port make sure to check with group reservations for the flights. We did this with continental and it saved us about $48 per person on the tickets.

 

We are a family of 9 going on the Conquest in March.

[wrp96]

Yes, there are discounts for 3rd and 4th passengers, but looking at the time you want to cruise, the discounts may be non-existent on most lines. Most of the lines vary the amount of their 3rd and 4th passenger discounts based on the popularity of the cruises, and summer cruises are the most popular. Sometimes during the summer it can be the same price to book another inside stateroom rather than put people in 3rd and 4th passengers in a room. But what you'll need to do to find out is call the cruiseline (or lines) you are interested in or a TA and price staterooms for your itinerary.

 

Some cruiselines have staterooms on many of their ships where you can book more than 4 people into the room. I know RCI has Family Oceanview Staterooms that hold 6 people, and Royal Family Staterooms, that can accommodate up to 8, and the new Freedom will have multiple family options. But they can't be booked online so you'll need to call a TA or the cruiseline directly. Also, they are very limited and may already be booked for when you want to cruise. I know Carnival has a few ships that you can book 5 to a room.

[smrtypnts]

Last year at this time, I was in just your position. The only difference was we were going Thanksgiving week. We were a total of 12 at the time of original booking and added 2 people a couple of weeks later. I booked through an online agent who I had phone access to. We were ready to book our two teens in our room with us, but in the end for the EXACT SAME PRICE they got their own cabin!! They were running a special on the low end OV for two people only and would give 3 free upgrades to the high end OV and it included plane fare. For 2 the price was $2,000. Well, in the beginning it hadn't occurred to me and I booked the 2 kids in our cabin for $3,000 WITHOUT airfare. When I realized it would cost me between $800 & $1,000 for air, I realized I'd be much better off booking 2 cabins for $2,000 each. Alas, we ended up with two adjoining OV rooms on an upper deck. Needless to say we were very happy. While I would absolutely book the kids in an inside cabin to save money, I felt having an adjoining room I was better able to know what was going on and when they were in, etc., etc.

 

Good Luck! We had the greatest time, I'm sure you will too!!!

[Living the Dream]

Thanks for the responses so far...what is an "OV" room?

[Happy ks]

OV = ocean view

[mwebb]

You may want to see if additional family and friends want to book your cruise. The TA must be able to link the bookings to qualify. If you get 8 cabins the 16th person cruises free. (cruise only portion) If unable to get this many- check if your TA can get you some comps. Cruised with 12 in 2003 and asked TA after final payment for any perks . She was able to hook us up with $50 shipboard credit per cabin. This totalled a couple of hundred bucks just for asking. Cant hurt

[Arwenmark]

Something else to mention is that booking a suite or larger cabin, other than a family cabin often 3rd or 4th passengers are not allowed, though this never made sense to me as there is clearly more room in suites and most have couch that would open to a bed.