Ships Departing From Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, or Miami With Cabins/Suites That Have Separate Bedrooms

[Cleveland Joe]

Our family is in the nascent stages of planning a group cruise trip. All of us have never been on a group vacation together with our significant others and/or children, and we are looking forward to a very memorable time! We are currently in the process of identifying the cruises that depart from Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and/or Miami.

 

My spouse and I have an amazing 7 year old special needs child who will have a great time on the trip if we are able to find the proper sleeping arrangements for him...and that's where we would be very grateful for your help! 

 

One of our child's sensory needs requires him to be alone in his own separate room and in absolute darkness in order to fall (and stay) asleep successfully. He also does best when he can go to sleep at his usual bedtime, and therefore staying in the same sleeping area with him is not possible because we obviously do not want to go bed at 8PM. (Our family plans to take turns staying in the same suite/cabin as him while the others enjoy the nightlife on the boat.) 

 

Accordingly, one of the biggest priorities for our family is identifying a cruise ship that departs from one of the aforementioned ports that offers cabins/suites that has a separate bedroom with a door that can be closed off from the main sleeping area. Many of the pictures/videos that are available of rooms/suites appear to potentially have this option but don't clearly/conclusively show it. We would also be willing to consider conjoined cabins that are connected via an interior door. We figured that reaching out to a community who has actually seen the boats firsthand and who could give a firsthand account of the layouts of the rooms/suites would be a good place to start. 

 

Any thoughts/insights/feedback about viable options for us would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance for helping to make our family's first group cruise a successful experience for all!

[Essiesmom]

You can cross off West Palm Beach, as the only ship sailing from there is Margaritaville @ Sea on two days to Freeport. What you are asking for is a two bedroom suite.  Most suites with a separate bedroom has the 3/4 persons sleeping on a foldout couch in the living area.  That would mean giving up the bedroom to your son.  The better solution would be the connecting (inner connecting cabins) cabins.  
  You haven’t said when you want this cruise to take place.  You will find fewer ships sailing from FLL and Miami in the summer as many spend that time in Alaska and Europe.  I have two websites for you to use in research.  The first is cruisetimetables.com.  You can use this site to see who is sailing from those ports and their itineraries.  The second is cruisedeckplans.com.  This site is for searching for cabins that fit your criteria.  Although it is a member site if you want to see the cabin pictures, you can do a lot of research without a membership.  On that site, select the cruise line, then the ship you are considering, and look at the cabin schematics on the left side of the page.  
  Happy researching.  EM

[SoloAlaska]

Time of year would help in this search and also knowing an approximate budget. Also are you looking for an interior caning to your son? This would be 100% darkness. Do you want a balcony for yourself?

[Penfold77]

I've done a few cruises from those ports with my family, so I totally get where you're coming from. We cruised with Royal Caribbean and Norwegian, and both have good options for what you need. Royal Caribbean's Family Suite has a separate bedroom with a door, which worked well for us when we wanted some privacy.

When we cruised with Norwegian, we stayed in a Haven Suite, which also had a separate room. Both lines were really accommodating when we explained our specific needs. I'd recommend calling the cruise lines directly to ask about room layouts and confirm they can meet your requirements.