traveling with older kids

[califmamabear]

Help! I am trying to plan a cruise in Dec. with 2 families. I have two kids ages 20,17. the other family has two kids ages 17,11. Any suggestions on cabins? We travel alot with our kids and they always have their own room so sharing a cabin is not an option for us. Connecting cabins sound great but expensive since we would like a balcony cabin. At what age could kids be in a cabin by themselves? Is price cheaper?(oh please say yes!)

[ehfl]

I would get the kids a cheap, inside cabin.

[BeachBumMama]

The kids are older and you will be next to or across the hall, so you can possibly book them in an inside across the hall from your balcony. Or, you may have to book 1 child and 1 adult in the room (you don't have to stay there, but it may have to be booked that way). That is probably your cheapest option without getting connecting balcony's.

 

If all the kids can stay together in an inside, it would only be used for sleeping since they could hang out in your larger balcony room, it would be cheaper to put the 4 kids in an inside and split the cost. Most times you can get a decent price on 3rd and 4th person so total that room and split it with the other family for all the kids. That might be an option.

 

Hope that helped.:)

[socalcruising]

4 adult size kids in one room, particularly inside cabin, is gonna be tough for them. We did it with two 13 year olds and two 16 year olds just for a 3 day Baja Mexico cruise and that was about as long as they could deal with it. A week would have been too long. The stuff is everywhere and they lost a bunch of things, which has never happened before. I don't envy your decision. I would probably have two couples each having two outside cabins and have two inside cabins across the hall for the kids. Good luck! The good news is that on a cruise, there is lots and lots to do OUTSIDE of the cabin.:)

[califmamabear]

I think I agree with you about having 2 seperate cabins for the kids. Oh did I mention they are all girls!

[pauline664]

I think I agree with you about having 2 seperate cabins for the kids. Oh did I mention they are all girls!

As others have said ...Having an inside cabin for your girl's 2 in each is probably the best answer, however not the cheapest solution. You will have to pay full price for the double occupancy, to save you would have to put all 4 girl's together in 1 room and then split the cost for that room between both couple's. Good Luck and Have a Great Cruise.:D

[pmfan]

Have read where others have gotten a balcony that connects to an inside. They are hard to find but they are there. Good luck on choosing.

[willow0325]

You could try to book a balcony cabin that adjoins a non-balcony cabin. We are doing this for our cruise in November. We booked it 10 months in advance and had no problem getting it, however if you are planning to travel during a holiday period, it may be a little tougher to find. The adjoining room (non-balcony) is a Superior Oceanview cabin but the price is still very good and the cabin is actually very large and has a sofa, too.

[bplazo]

If they are all girls I would just put them all in one cabin.

[jules815]

If they are all girls I would just put them all in one cabin.

 

This is what we did last year; two 17 year olds, and our 13 year old - all girls. It was a little snug, but they had a blast. We were across the hall in a balcony. :D

[It'sRC4ME]

You know the girls best. Are they the fussy girly type who will need to spend an hour before dinner drying their hair and putting on makeup? If so, four in a cabin will be tight and contentious. Are they the type that you will have to drag in from the basketball court and force to put on something nice for dinner? If so, they should be able to share just fine.

 

The cabin will have room for four peoples stuff, but will not have room for four pageant queen types to get ready for dinner.

[cruiseguy1016]

We cruised last year with friends. They had two kids and we had two. We put all four kids (ages ranged from 13 to 17) in one cabin, an oceanview. They never complained about being cramped. They were just glad to be on the cruise and to have a cabin that they could hang out in away from the parents. Remember the third and fourth people in a cabin are cheaper than the first two so that will help lower the overall cost of the trip.

[wrp96]

The Voyager class and Freedom class have a couple of balcony staterooms that connect to insides and also a couple that connect to oceanviews. You might look into those options.

[louanne93]

We cruised last year with friends. They had two kids and we had two. We put all four kids (ages ranged from 13 to 17) in one cabin, an oceanview. They never complained about being cramped. They were just glad to be on the cruise and to have a cabin that they could hang out in away from the parents. Remember the third and fourth people in a cabin are cheaper than the first two so that will help lower the overall cost of the trip.

 

I agree 100%. We did this with 4 kids and they had an absolute blast!! All 4 kids in an inside and they were just happy to have a place to hang out without parents. They watched late night tv, and ordered room service (they even had a stack of 1's in the safe for tipping). They were right across the hall so it was easy to keep an eye on them and we monitored the cabin every morning for cleanliness!! We even got a compliment on how neat they were.