Upgrades are not looking good for me....

Since having kids we've always sailed in a JS.

wife, myself and an 8 and 3 year old.

They were unavailable for us on an upcoming cruise, all sold out.

So we picked a D1 with the plan that as the date got closer something would open up.... so far no luck.

The only thing left on our sailing is an owners loft which is almost triple what we paid, and out of our budget.

We can cancel but would have to pay for airfare changes.

Any typical JS'ers do a D1 with a family of 4, your thoughts?

I would be reluctant to cruise in anything below a JS.

That being said, I think I might look into getting a second room for the kids. We used to get a separate hotel room for our son when we traveled. We tried for the adjoining room, but, that was not always possible. We would put him to bed and leave. Never had a problem. I'm sure he was younger than 10 when we did this. OTOH, times have changed now.

Yes, there's no way we would leave our kids at ages 3 and 8 alone in a room.

Can you get a cabin next door or close proximity for your wife and one child and you in the other with one child? Sorry I have not had this situation.

Isn't the junior suite just some extra floor space (and bathtub/walk in closet)? It isn't an extra bedroom. I don't see how that floor space could result in such a better cruise that I would consider cancelling the cruise altogether.

Sleep in the room, make use of the ship during the day, drop the kid in kids club to use the room for adult activities. Less floor space isn't THAT big a difference.

I think for the 3 year old the OP may want the bath tub. Not sure

You don't say how many days away your cruise departs. 90 days or less is your best chance.

But you need to check every day.

My first RCI cruise and we have a D1 booked. Traveling with 7 and 12 yr old. For us this is absolutely no issue as we are really only in the cabin to sleep. We’ve had similar cabins on NCL getaway and no problems at all. First cruise for my youngest was at age 3 and his sister 7 and it was fine. One in the pullout and one in the Pullman. I will say on Getaway we did have family oceanview once that had a fantastic bathroom. Full-size tub and a double sink.

We have cruised on Holland America four times with our kids, three in a regular veranda and once in a suite. We are coming over to RCCL next Christmas and will be in a veranda, because the suites are top expensive.

Yes we will miss the extra space, but I’d much rather cruise in a small room then not cruise at all.

Yes it will feel tighter, but I’ve always found if you have a place for everything, it’s better. Personally I’d just enjoy the cruise.

Isn't the junior suite just some extra floor space (and bathtub/walk in closet)? It isn't an extra bedroom. I don't see how that floor space could result in such a better cruise that I would consider cancelling the cruise altogether.

 

Sleep in the room, make use of the ship during the day, drop the kid in kids club to use the room for adult activities. Less floor space isn't THAT big a difference.

The bathroom alone makes a big difference.

We just sailed on the Allure with a 3 and 6 years old in a boardwalk cabin (has a balcony and a pullout couch). It was totally fine space wise for the 4 of us. We had no issues. We actually booked the same type of cabin for a future cruise. We were out of the room most of the time anyways, so it wasn't an issue at all.

Personally, I wouldn't cancel the cruise because of the cabin, but it is a personal choice.

Isn't the junior suite just some extra floor space (and bathtub/walk in closet)? It isn't an extra bedroom. I don't see how that floor space could result in such a better cruise that I would consider cancelling the cruise altogether.

 

Sleep in the room, make use of the ship during the day, drop the kid in kids club to use the room for adult activities. Less floor space isn't THAT big a difference.

With kids that age I agree.

If the ship did not have the room you want.

Why did you book it in the first place.

There are plenty of other ships out there...

Since having kids we've always sailed in a JS.

 

wife, myself and an 8 and 3 year old.

 

They were unavailable for us on an upcoming cruise, all sold out.

 

So we picked a D1 with the plan that as the date got closer something would open up.... so far no luck.

 

The only thing left on our sailing is an owners loft which is almost triple what we paid, and out of our budget.

 

We can cancel but would have to pay for airfare changes.

 

Any typical JS'ers do a D1 with a family of 4, your thoughts?

I'd do it and have done it. My wife and myself were in a Ocean View cabin on Grandeur with a 2, 5, and 9 yr old. Technically my oldest was assigned to Grandparents room on paper but we all were in our room, 2yr slept in bed with mom. If my kids were older I might not have done this, but it worked fine for us...

When I first started cruising years ago, I went on a couple cruises with women friends. This was on the Nordic Empress, which is now Empress of the Seas. We always had 4 adult women in an inside cabin. We had no problems at all and those cabins were really small. We had no problems with the use of the bathroom either. Two women took showers at night and 2 in the morning. We weren’t in the cabin that much anyway. Would do it again, if that was the only way I could cruise......

Gwen [emoji3]

I'm not positive what a D1 cabin is, but a couple years ago, we took our kids (3 and 8 at the time) and did a balcony room and it was plenty of room.

First off, I agree with many of the previous posts. I would not consider cancelling the cruise for fear of not having enough floor space. There are plenty of ways to spend time outside of your cabin, and you most likely will be taking advantage of them since you have kids. Second, depending on which ship you are on, it might be worthwhile to keep checking to see not only whether any JS's open up, but also whether any different cabins in your category open up. Recently, I noticed two large aft D1s open up while I was checking for price drops, and was able to have our cabin changed to one of them as we had originally booked our family of three in a D1. Now we will have as much space as if we were in a JS, but at the D1 price.

Either way, a cruise (or any vacation) is what you make of it. If you go into it with a good attitude and think of it as an adventure, I'm sure you and your family will have a great time. To me, any time I don't have to walk the dogs, cook the meals, make the beds, etc. is a great time! :D

Did you look recently for 4 people? There seems to be an A3 and A4 available which qualifies for the Sky Class and free gratuities promotion for the March 11th sailing.