Need help choosing ship and cabin

[redbarchetta]

We are planning on going to the Mexican Riviera June 2010 and need to choose between Carnival's Splendor and Royal Carribean's Mariner of the Seas. It will be my DW, DS and DD (ages 5 and 3 at time of sailing). I cruised on Princess many years ago and Celebrity twice, only once with DS when he was 13 months. They seem to be pretty equal as far as what I have been reading on the messege boards.

 

Another decision we are trying to make is the cabin. We really like the balcony cabins, however we can get 2 adjoining outside rooms for the same price as all of us in 1 balcony. Having more space and some privacy would be great, but being able to sit out on the balcony is very special too. We are really struggling to make up our minds.

 

I would appreciate any comments and suggestions.

 

Thank you in advance,

 

Seth

[MnAsMom]

we were in your position and ended up deciding on the RCCL Mariner of the Seas. Our boys are 4 and 8 and we leave on this coming Sunday!!!! We decided to go with the Mariner because our little guy is 4 and potty trained so we had no worried in that dept. He is one of those "I'm a big boy" 4 year olds who doesn't want to play with "babies". We figured he would do better in a room of 3 to 5 year olds as opposed to 2 to 5 yr olds. The one thing we might miss on Mariner that splendor has is the waterslide and water play park.

 

The pluses for Mariner

 

Promenade, Johnny Rockets, Ben and Jerry's, ice skating rink, rock climbing wall. The kids program starts with potty trained 3 year olds

 

Pluses for Splendor

 

Twister slide, water play area, fun ship freddy. The kids program takes children as young as 2 and will change diapers

 

We have a balcony room booked on our cruise... I'll report back and let you know if we think it's worth the added cost! While I think having 2 rooms would be nice I think the Balcony will be a nice option/addition to our space!

[kitty9]

Seth, do you mean adjoining or connecting rooms? There's a huge difference between the two. Adjoining rooms are just rooms next door to each other with no interior connecting door. Connecting rooms have the interior door between the room. If they're just adjoining, personally, I don't think that's the best idea as you have to have a separate key and go out into the hallway to access your kid's cabin. Plus, there's no way to monitor that separate cabin and anyone with a pass key could get in the cabin.

 

As for the ship, it doesn't really matter as they both offer great things for kids and families.

[Snowbuddy]

one bonus for a balcony, is that you can hang out out there while the little ones sleep (I am assuming at least one will still have one naptime/day)...that is why we went w/ a balcony for our upcoming cruise (of course, our DD will only be 18-months at the time of sailing). Can't help w/ the ship selection, just wanted to throw that out there as something to think about for cabin selection.

[rebeccalouise]

Mariner of the Seas connecting cabins. Lowest part of the ship. Reasons...

 

Carnival Slendor offends me with the interior- it all pink... ugh.

 

The Pacific coast can be rough. Lowest part of the ship gets less movement.

 

On Mariner- the layout is probably a double bed under the large round window. My son (on Independence of the Seas) loved laying on the bed watching the waves outside the window. Loved it! We were on Deck 2 of Independence. I would leave the kids beds as a queen so that they can look out the window.

 

The design of the outside cabins is better because the beds are against the window leaving you with more floor space. I liked it better than a balcony for this reason. We didn't miss the balcony.

 

Talk about having privacy- you and hubby would have way more privacy in adjoining cabin and your own tv. So you can actually watch something other than cartoons.

[redbarchetta]

Thanks for all the comments. I did mean connecting rooms, I agree, there is no way I would have them in rooms not connected. I am leaning towards a balcony and may even convince myself to splurge and get 2 connecting balcony cabins. :)