So much for the 'kids sail free" promotion

[golf4food]

We were planning on taking one of these cruises but they can't accommodate a family of 5 in any cabin. They have a few cabins that are for 4 but if we book a second cabin we have to pay double occupancy rate at the adult price. They are going to have a tough time with attracting the US market if this is their policy.

[steph7021]

We are a family of 5 also....however, we have found this to be true on any cruise we have looked at- not just this one. Some of the older Carnival ships have room for 5- but not the Conquest class. I know Disney does--but seriously--that is top dollar. What lines have you found that will accomodate 5 in a cabin for a reasonable price? Have you compared?

[sea-explorer]

I agree, I don't think any cruise line can offer one cabin for five.

 

What might be worth looking at is booking 2 interconnecting cabins. MSC do a family rate for this, 'only' charging 1 adult rate for the second cabin. You would have to check the deck plans though to see if they have any interconnecting that will accomodate 3. I think this will be the cheapest rate you will get on any cruise line for 5.

[cruiser willy]

NCL's newer ships have many family-friendly accomodations...but they're not cheap!

[matj2000]

I am not sure any of the Cruise Lines will put 5 people in one cabin, unless its a suite......

[rabelgirls]

MSC does have at least two cabins on the Lirica that can accomdate 5. I checked for our Christmas cruise. The rep that I talked to from customer service told me they were already booked for that cruise. They are suites and I was quoted a price of $1906 for all 5 of us for Christmas. I would assume that the bigger ships would have at least the same number on them.

[golf4food]

MSC does have at least two cabins on the Lirica that can accomdate 5. I checked for our Christmas cruise. The rep that I talked to from customer service told me they were already booked for that cruise. They are suites and I was quoted a price of $1906 for all 5 of us for Christmas. I would assume that the bigger ships would have at least the same number on them.

 

 

That is cheaper then getting two rooms, I would have not hesitated to upgrade to that at that price but 2 cabins don't go very far on a 'kids sail free' promotion.

 

I have priced out suites/family rooms on other cruise lines and sometimes the family rooms are less expensive then getting two rooms, sometimes not. I guess my whole beef with this is that they want you to bring your families, they want to be a family cruise line yet almost all of their rooms are set up for 2 or 3 people. Most family cruise lines have many, many rooms for 4.

[rabelgirls]

I completely understand your frustration as we too, are a family of five and it's hard to find accomodations for five anywhere. Everything is set up for 4.

I agree too, that a family suite is only sometimes cheaper than getting two cabins and you are also correct in that where is the savings if you do have to get two cabins? My only saving grace is that my husband doesn't like to cruise (he has never been) so I have decided that I will take our 3 girls and go without him.

I do hope you find what you are looking for at a great price.

[golf4food]

I have been pricing out other cruise lines and several of them have accommodations for families of 5 in non-suite rooms (Norwegian, HAL, Disney are the ones I saw). NCCL has some rooms as well but not as many as the others. Pricing is similar as well, well except for Disney but they are expensive anyway. Where it saves money is that the kids are at the reduced rate, all three of them, vs only getting one kid at the reduced fair with MSC and having to pay full price for the other two.

[monicajay]

Hello Golf for food,

 

Lucky for you that you found these boards before your first cruise. They will help you tremendously in deciding what to do in the ports and what to bring in on the trip. Don't forget to join your roll call and if they organize a M & G don't be shy to show up. We have met great people on these boards and will actually be meeting up with people we met on Costa on our next MSC cruise.

 

I'm not sure I understand your posts and your question. You complain about the kids free (or not being free because you have three) but in your signature it seems you have booked a cruise. Did they give you 2 kids free?

 

How did it all work out?

 

Not all cabins are equal. Square feet becomes a huge factor when cruising , we have traveled on NCL Sun and had a huge inside cabin for 4 with plenty of room and the Carnival Victory where you couldn't turn around in the cabin. I have been very careful since to check the layout and number of square feet.

 

One way or another, best wishes for your first family cruise.

[golf4food]

Hello Golf for food,

 

Lucky for you that you found these boards before your first cruise. They will help you tremendously in deciding what to do in the ports and what to bring in on the trip. Don't forget to join your roll call and if they organize a M & G don't be shy to show up. We have met great people on these boards and will actually be meeting up with people we met on Costa on our next MSC cruise.

 

I'm not sure I understand your posts and your question. You complain about the kids free (or not being free because you have three) but in your signature it seems you have booked a cruise. Did they give you 2 kids free?

 

How did it all work out?

 

Not all cabins are equal. Square feet becomes a huge factor when cruising , we have traveled on NCL Sun and had a huge inside cabin for 4 with plenty of room and the Carnival Victory where you couldn't turn around in the cabin. I have been very careful since to check the layout and number of square feet.

 

One way or another, best wishes for your first family cruise.

 

I just haven't changed my ticker yet. I haven't totally ruled out the cruise. My complaint is that MSC advertises that 'kids sail free', which they do but they only have cabins for 3 people so if you have more then one child, you have to pay full, adult price for any other children you have because you have to book another cabin. If they really want the kids aboard then they need to allow a kids sail free rate with ONE adult, now you have to have 2 paying adults. In our case we could get one child free but our other two would have to pay full price because the ship doesn't have cabins for more then 3 people. MSC is trying to attract the US family cruise market and this isn't going to do it.

[babygirl722]

I just haven't changed my ticker yet. I haven't totally ruled out the cruise. My complaint is that MSC advertises that 'kids sail free', which they do but they only have cabins for 3 people so if you have more then one child, you have to pay full, adult price for any other children you have because you have to book another cabin. If they really want the kids aboard then they need to allow a kids sail free rate with ONE adult, now you have to have 2 paying adults. In our case we could get one child free but our other two would have to pay full price because the ship doesn't have cabins for more then 3 people. MSC is trying to attract the US family cruise market and this isn't going to do it.

 

Kids do sail free, if they are in a cabin with 2 paying adults. I'm booked on a B2B for Feb 7 and 14th with my husband and 2 children in one balcony cabin and the kids were, in fact, free except for a $45 tax. The ship does have cabins that accomodate 4 (not 5) but they are limited. This is the case on all of the lines as most cabins accomodate 2 or 3. In fact, many of NCL's ships don't have any balcony cabins that accomodate 4; you need to book a minimum category of a mini-suite. What you are experiencing is not limited to MSC; it's pretty standard across all the lines.

[golf4food]

Kids do sail free, if they are in a cabin with 2 paying adults. I'm booked on a B2B for Feb 7 and 14th with my husband and 2 children in one balcony cabin and the kids were, in fact, free except for a $45 tax. The ship does have cabins that accomodate 4 (not 5) but they are limited. This is the case on all of the lines as most cabins accomodate 2 or 3. In fact, many of NCL's ships don't have any balcony cabins that accomodate 4; you need to book a minimum category of a mini-suite. What you are experiencing is not limited to MSC; it's pretty standard across all the lines.

 

 

HAL, NCCL, NCL and Carnival all have non-suite rooms that accommodate 5 people. I haven't looked into other lines. I know that kids are free in the cabin but if they can't accommodate more then 3 in a cabin they aren't going to attract the family cruisers like they are trying to get in the Caribbean market. They only have a few cabins that accommodate more then 3 and that is NOT common across the rest of the cruise industry.

[harryfrancis]

We just booked a quad room(balcony, back of the boat) on MSC Orchestra for April 4 of 2009 and got both kids free. Of course, they pay taxes, but that's it. The trick is to find those quad rooms. In our experience in the last few months... and someone correct me if I am wrong... is that if you find a cruise agency that has sold out of the quad rooms, that doesn't mean that ALL of the quad rooms are gone. That just means you need to keep checking other agencies to see if you can find one that still has a quad open. We had that happen in January when we booked our Celebrity cruise. One agency we checked with online were all sold out of quads but when we checked with a travel agent near here, they had one left so we grabbed it. But then again, maybe that was due to someone releasing that room the very next day? Not sure...

 

At any rate, quad rooms go fast so book early! Or, just keep checking until a quad opens up.

[Seago2]

Very hard to find. I have only found them on Carnival's Fantasy-class ships. I have five kids- it is hard for me (even though only three would be caught dead on a cruise ship now- make that 2) because I never had a child old enough to be the first passenger in a second cabin anyway.

 

There are usually only a few quads on any ship and they are booked very far in advance. I've had two kinds of "extra" beds- a rollaway (very short- for a young child) and a fold out miniature futon.

 

It gets crowded in there- but it's a lot of fun!!

[monicajay]

Golf4food,

 

Now I understand. I know that the Orchestra has many quad cabins but I guess you are right there are none for 5.

 

I met a family once on a Carnival cruise that had 5 in one cabin and the 5th was a pull out cot from under one of the beds, they said it made the cabin impossible to move around in.

 

Have you checked with Costa? They have kids free too most winters, although they haven't advertised it yet. Maybe they have cabins for 5.

 

Harryfrancis is right, check with multiple agencies. Some have a block of cabins and will not sell general inventory.

[rnff2]

I was pricing the Orchestra for 3 people, cat 7 aft balcony and they told me we had to upgrade to a cat 9, which was an extra $200.00. I was told that is the lowest balcony cat that you can have 3 people in, myself, dh and our 3yr old. Also I was told I'd have to pay the taxes and we wanted insurance, so they suggested insurance on our child too. So after the $200 upgrade, the $47 in taxes and the $42 insurance, is our child really sailing for free??? The total price was compariable to any other cruise we have looked at, even with our child cruising for "free".

[monicajay]

Wouldn't you pay taxes and insurance on your child for which ever cruiseline you booked?

[golf4food]

Golf4food,

 

Now I understand. I know that the Orchestra has many quad cabins but I guess you are right there are none for 5.

 

I met a family once on a Carnival cruise that had 5 in one cabin and the 5th was a pull out cot from under one of the beds, they said it made the cabin impossible to move around in.

 

Have you checked with Costa? They have kids free too most winters, although they haven't advertised it yet. Maybe they have cabins for 5.

 

Harryfrancis is right, check with multiple agencies. Some have a block of cabins and will not sell general inventory.

 

I just checked their website. The cost for one person on their cruise for the same date was more then the 5 of us would have paid with MSC if we could have gotten a cabin for 5.

 

I did send an email to MSC which looks like they send them out to travel agents to contact you, so far no luck. Our travel company had a GREAT deal on this cruise so that is why I am so bummed. The 5 of us could have sailed for about $1400 not including air. Booking two cabins will be about $2700 without air. We are going to Washington DC this year as well and was supposed to be our one trip this year but we couldn't pass up that price on the cruise over New Years but I guess we will have to find something else.

[cruising from Canada]

We too are a family of five. We just returned from Celebrity Millenium cruise and we were all in one cabin. The thing we liked about Celebrity is they have a cat called Family Veranda(FV). Now you need to call Celebrity directly, it is not accessable via the net. There are not plentiful, probably 10-12 per ship, but Celebrity only sells them to a family of five. The cabin was outstanding with a massive aft balcony. Lots of storage space. My kids had a double bed and a daybed. There was a glass partion between the rooms and my DH and I had a queen bed. Can't wait to book that cabin again.

[golf4food]

We too are a family of five. We just returned from Celebrity Millenium cruise and we were all in one cabin. The thing we liked about Celebrity is they have a cat called Family Veranda(FV). Now you need to call Celebrity directly, it is not accessable via the net. There are not plentiful, probably 10-12 per ship, but Celebrity only sells them to a family of five. The cabin was outstanding with a massive aft balcony. Lots of storage space. My kids had a double bed and a daybed. There was a glass partion between the rooms and my DH and I had a queen bed. Can't wait to book that cabin again.

 

I will look into that, thanks. I have gotten quotes off the internet for a family of 5 on Celebrity. I wonder if they are the same type of rooms?

[PersistenzaretiniKa]

in general the mostly spread quad staterooms are the inside ones. lately they are projecting ( both msc and costa) ships with a less number of inside staterooms and with a larger number of veranda or balcony staterooms, in general. i should also say that the main target of both costa and msc is italian and us italians has usually just one child. also all the germans ,that are many, believe me, that travel with costa and msc have no kids with them or really few. consider also that all the cruises of costa and msc are really more expensive for us than for u ( even 60% more sometimes). anyway the promotion is: up to 2 <18 for free if in the same stateroom with 2 adults. no european ( and no italian at all) would book 2 staterooms for a family with 2 minors.

[riu girl]

Our travel company had a GREAT deal on this cruise so that is why I am so bummed. The 5 of us could have sailed for about $1400 not including air. .

 

I can understnad your frustration. My mom likes to travel with us (family of four before mom) but finding rooms that will accommodate all 5 of us always end up costing us much more then rooms for 4.

 

 

Would you mind e-mailing me the name of your travel company? I might check in with them next year to see if they have the same or silimar offers for December 2009 sailings.

 

Thank you

 

riugirl at hotmail dot com

[earthfaries]

We were planning on taking one of these cruises but they can't accommodate a family of 5 in any cabin. They have a few cabins that are for 4 but if we book a second cabin we have to pay double occupancy rate at the adult price. They are going to have a tough time with attracting the US market if this is their policy.

 

 

We are also a family of five. We booked the Lirica but luckily my mom is going with us so I just have to pay for 3 people and 2 of the kids were free. My mom is paying her share as the other adult.

If she hadn't have gone, we would have gotten two insides, and had to pay for a total of 4 passengers, still giving us one free, which is still a great deal!

What other cruise line do you know of that will give you a free passenger?

I am so thankful that they offer the kids sail free program, it's wonderful!

When my two youngest were 7 months old I had to pay $1100.00 EACH for them on HAL!!!

 

Before we know my mom was going, I priced two rooms on Carnival, I priced one room for 5 on Carnival, etc. and MSC was still the best price even with only one child free;)

 

***Congrats on your first cruise...you're going to love it!!!***

[Rainbow139]

We are currently booked on Royal Caribbean - Vision of the Sea (July 13, 2008) and have booked a Category J inside cabins and we have been allowed to book all 5 of us in the same cabin as our youngest will be under 2 years old at the time of sailing. Our travel agent told us we had to request a crib for the baby, but we intend to have it removed from the room when we get there and have the baby sleep with us with our other kids (ages 9 and 10) sleeping on the upper bunks.

 

We have also just booked the January 3, 2009 Caribbean sailing on the MSC Orchestra for a family reunion with 10 adults and 10 kids. This worked out perfectly as we put 2 adults and 2 kids in each room to make sure that all the kids are going free. Again, once we get aboard, we will have the baby sleep with us and our older kids will get the upper bunks.