Connecting Balcony Cabins

[Cruisin Kay D]

Mike and I are hoping to take 6 grandkids again on a cruise before the oldest goes off to college. Last time we had connecting quad balconies on spa deck on Triumph (ugly decor) -- we put the 4 older ones in 1 cabin & 2 youngest ones with Mike and me. Prior to that we took the 4 older ones on Radiance of Seas with connecting balcony cabins, only 1 of which slept 4. If we do another cruise with this group in April 2011, the older 4 are 2 girls 16 & 18 and 2 boys 17 & 13. The 2 younger ones are a boy & girl each 11. We'd like to go Eastern Caribbean, as we have taken the 4 older ones twice to Western Caribbean. We prefer Freedom class or Voyager class RC ships over Carnival. We also like HAL ships because of cabins being more spacious. We love Celebrity but found the new Solstice class cabins offer too little storage for the 2 of us, let alone 4 occupants!!!

 

This group of amazing grandkids are not into "kids' programs". They like to hang around gramma & grampa!!! We let them sleep late; we use late sitting for dinner and they love to go to the shows.

 

Finding 2 quad cabins that connect is quite difficult!!!!! As an alternative I would consider the "connection" to be through the balconies (if the separator wall can be removed or folded up). Which ships/lines allow that?

HELP -- I need some advice from you all as to what ships we should consider.....and any experiences you all have had with various cabins.

Maybe we should look at 2 Princess mini-suites and get balcony separator removed -- have any of you done that???

Anyone have any experience or advice concerning NCL ships & their cabins???

[junglejane]

On many Princess ships, you can make side by side balcony cabins connect by having the room steward open the door in the balcony partition. They don't actually remove the partition -- rather they open a door. See the photo attached to this post: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=23462372&postcount=7

 

Cabins that connect with interior doors are hard to find on Princess. There are a few on the Diamond, Sapphire, Island and Coral.

 

You mentioned the lack of storage space on Celebrity's Solstice class ships, but have you considered an M-class ship? We had connecting balcony cabins on the Summit, although we only had two per cabin so it seemed like plenty of room.

 

PS: You sound like awesome grandparents!:D

[Marie51]

I am also planning a cruise with my grandchildren but not til May of 2012. So far the Carnival Dream and RC Freedom of the seas has the cabin configuration we need which is 4 in one cabin and 3 in the other. We always get connecting cabins as this works out best for us and we all like to be together.

Also a couple years ago I was on a cruise with my sister & BIL and we got cabins next to each other with the intention of opening the balcony divider. Well we had terrible weather with strong winds the first 2 days and the cabin stewart said the Captain was not allowing the dividers to be opened. We didn't get it done til the 3rd day of the cruise.

[junglejane]

If you go on Princess, how about a quad mini-suite for you and the two 11 year olds, plus a quad inside across the hall -- or better yet, two insides across the hall? The Princess pricing structure often doesn't give you much of a break for the 3rd and 4th passenger. Sometimes it is cheaper to book someone in an inside versus a 3rd or 4th in a mini-suite. And the more bathrooms the better, IMHO!

 

Although I'm not sure whether you can do the mini-suite and two insides without the parents along. The Princess FAQ says:

 

Passengers under the age of 21 years must travel in a stateroom with a passenger 21 years or older who shall assume responsibility for their care during the cruise. For family groups booking multiple staterooms, the minimum age for each stateroom is 16 years of age, provided they are traveling with a parent or legal guardian.

Still it might be worth asking Princess or a TA.

[highbridge5]

We had adjacent cabins on a Carnival cruise out of Baltimore on the Pride.

They did not have a connecting door inside but were next to each other

with balconies.

 

We had to ask to have the balcony divider opened so that the two balconies were connected. I'm guessing that all cruise lines have

dividers, some that can be opened and maybe some that can't. On Carnival, there are a limited number of sets of hardware on board to open the dividers so we made sure to put our names on the list as soon as we boarded.

 

It was *almost* as good as having a connecting door. My kids were

4, 7 and 9 and went into and out of both rooms as they desired.

 

We had 7 people in 3 rooms. They were only able to provide one extra key to each room. Ideally, I would have had the ship encode all 7 cards to open all three rooms that we had. You might consider finding out whether you can get all the cards to open all the doors. Other cruise lines might be able to do this.

 

Having the balcony doors unlocked allowed them to get to whatever stuff was in the other room that they needed. Also, the balcony doors were MUCH quieter than the hallway doors and because they could be left unlocked, there was not the incessant knocking on doors as they wanted to go back and forth. It also left less opportunity for a kid to lose their

key/sail card. And it kept them out of the public hallways where they might be noisy and bother other people or take it upon themselves to go get ice cream or something without asking.

 

The biggest downside was that the balcony doors were heavy and there was a knee-knocker at the bottom so I was fearful of little fingers and of tripping. With teenagers, you'll not have that concern. Another is that someone locks the balcony door while getting dressed or something and forgets to unlock it. A spare key for each room to keep in the other room is a "must have" just in case.

 

With the limited availability and choice of connecting rooms, you have a lot more options with adjacent balcony cabins where the divider can be opened. It sounds like a great idea for your group.

[Cruisin Kay D]

I was surprised to find a few connecting balcony quads on HAL Westerdam and similar ships. So then I find they offer a nice itinerary at a time when I want to take the kids, and find that 1 of the 2 specific connecting cabins is presently available but not the other. And the cabin on other side is an available quad but it doesn't connect to anything. Trying to figure out why the cruise line would book people in a connecting if they don't need or want it....

Sure wish I knew how to contact these people & try to get them to move to another cabin so I could have the 2 connecting quads....

[Marie51]

I was surprised to find a few connecting balcony quads on HAL Westerdam and similar ships. So then I find they offer a nice itinerary at a time when I want to take the kids, and find that 1 of the 2 specific connecting cabins is presently available but not the other. And the cabin on other side is an available quad but it doesn't connect to anything. Trying to figure out why the cruise line would book people in a connecting if they don't need or want it....

Sure wish I knew how to contact these people & try to get them to move to another cabin so I could have the 2 connecting quads....

 

Have you called the cruiseline or your TA to see if the people booked into the connecting cabin might be able to move? Perhaps they picked this cabin without knowing.

[Jonebar]

Found you on the viking board. wonder how you like the Rhine cruise. We were booked in 2008 and DH became ill. Do yu have any photos. Still looking to find how to get to a small village abt 40 miles south of Basel. If you have any INfo would you E-Mail me @ Jonebar@aol.com

 

Glad I found you again

:)

[traveler1980]

Hi Kay!

 

I have no help for your questions, but just wanted to say hello!

 

We sailed with you in Alaska on HAL. So excited to see you and Mike are going to get to sail again with the grandkids...lucky kiddos!

 

We are cruising in March with my parents and our son! He will be 15 months at the time we sail. Should be quite the adventure, but we are so excited.

 

Good to see you guys on here again. Hope you and Mike are doing well!

Take care, Rick and Joni

[tamsocal]

I was surprised to find a few connecting balcony quads on HAL Westerdam and similar ships. So then I find they offer a nice itinerary at a time when I want to take the kids, and find that 1 of the 2 specific connecting cabins is presently available but not the other. And the cabin on other side is an available quad but it doesn't connect to anything. Trying to figure out why the cruise line would book people in a connecting if they don't need or want it....

Sure wish I knew how to contact these people & try to get them to move to another cabin so I could have the 2 connecting quads....

 

we did this on our carnival cruise last spring-- the Carnival agent thought I was nuts for asking her to call anohter guest booked in a cabin but asked for a supervisor-- bottomline was they called-- the other guest said certainly they were A OK w/ moving-- we got our cabins next to each other & left them a bottle of wine & a thank you card on day of embarkation-- sometimes people book a specific cabin & dont want to move-- but others could care less if they move one door down-- never hurts to ask if cruiseline is willing to-

we had been waiting for an adjoining cabin on our disney cruise next spring & they were also great-- ~2-3 weeks later notified us that we have both

[Cruisin Kay D]

HI Joni (traveler1980) -- Congrats on the baby!!!!!!!! Didn't we share the car up Haines Highway? That was a great cruise!! Our 4 days in AK were wonderful that summer and this summer we went back to AK but in a motor home, driving from Iowa out west and then up Alcan Hwy. Email me at m k d e t w at h o t m a i l dot c o m -- of course no spaces! And I will tell you how you can do that trip too. The rental RV company in Anchorage bought 150 new Winnebagos this year and had to have them driven up -- it was a rental (but oh so reasonable)!!! We left Forest City Iowa on May 15 and crossed into Canada from Montana May 20 and crossed into Alaska on May 25 and turned in the RV on June 2. Stayed in Valdez 2 nights -- pretty little town & took the famous glacier/wildlife boatride from there. Next-to-last night camped in public campground right on waterfront next of Ressurection Bay in Seward where we watched a cruise ship pull out!! It was great!!! Took our 12 yr old grandson along and he LOVED it!!!

 

For Jonebar -- the Rhine River cruise was FANTASTIC!!! That and the transatlantic were probably the best ones ever, with Alaska HAL & Prin back-to-back and Panama Canal tied for 3rd. Where do you want to go near Basel?? -- by the way, read paragraph above & you will find my email address..... There are soooo many trains in that part of Europe -- surely you can get the 40 mi on a train of some sort or bus. Or if you must you could rent a car.

 

For both of you: Sure wish this board had "private messaging" available like traveltalkonline.com has. Often see people posting that I met on past cruises that I want to say hi to, etc.

 

Well I finally got these great connecting cabins booked on Freedom for next April when this week I'm reading newspaper & see school board changed spring break for kids from mid-April to mid-March -- now have to cancel these great connecting cabins & go on another ship!!! Freedom a month earlier is ALOT more expensive ($200pp!). Then my TA & I individually search for some connecting quads or if balcony divider will open I could consider side-by-side cabins. Finally found something on HAL Westerdam and they were even having a 3rd/4th passenger sale of only $99 fare!! Haven't told the kids yet!!

-

[sas80]

Mike and I are hoping to take 6 grandkids again on a cruise before the oldest goes off to college. Last time we had connecting quad balconies on spa deck on Triumph (ugly decor) -- we put the 4 older ones in 1 cabin & 2 youngest ones with Mike and me. Prior to that we took the 4 older ones on Radiance of Seas with connecting balcony cabins, only 1 of which slept 4. If we do another cruise with this group in April 2011, the older 4 are 2 girls 16 & 18 and 2 boys 17 & 13. The 2 younger ones are a boy & girl each 11. We'd like to go Eastern Caribbean, as we have taken the 4 older ones twice to Western Caribbean. We prefer Freedom class or Voyager class RC ships over Carnival. We also like HAL ships because of cabins being more spacious. We love Celebrity but found the new Solstice class cabins offer too little storage for the 2 of us, let alone 4 occupants!!!

 

This group of amazing grandkids are not into "kids' programs". They like to hang around gramma & grampa!!! We let them sleep late; we use late sitting for dinner and they love to go to the shows.

 

Finding 2 quad cabins that connect is quite difficult!!!!! As an alternative I would consider the "connection" to be through the balconies (if the separator wall can be removed or folded up). Which ships/lines allow that?

HELP -- I need some advice from you all as to what ships we should consider.....and any experiences you all have had with various cabins.

Maybe we should look at 2 Princess mini-suites and get balcony separator removed -- have any of you done that???

Anyone have any experience or advice concerning NCL ships & their cabins???

 

RCCL's voyager class ships have D1 balcony connecting to interiors on Deck 9 pretty much all the way aft. Give the ship layout a look see :)

[Cruisin Kay D]

I wasn't aware of those -- thanks. I had found the D1 balc connecting to larger oceanview on Deck 9 of Freedom class and that's what I had booked for our mid-April cruise with grandkids -- well if you read my previous post, school board changed the vacation break to mid-March. Sso altho those same 2 were avail, the price went up about $200pp x8 and the April price was already stretching the budget to limit!! But I rationalized that ship was lots better. Then I found HAL with $99 fare per 3rd & 4th passenger and that was just tooooo good to pass up.

[griffy116]

Have you considered the Grandkids in Promenade cabins on Freedom directly across from you, with you having a balcony cabin? You can do this on Freedom, and as far as the "over 21" passenger in each cabin, they will let you put them directly across from you (it's allowed). This way, the girls have a cabin, the guys have a cabin, you have a cabin and it eliminates the storage problems and gives you a total of 3 bathrooms ;). They have a cabin with a view of the Promenade and can share your balcony when they want. My nephew and Grandson did this with no problem and we had an extra key to their room. Talk to RCCL and/or TA. They can arrange it and in our case, it actually wound up cheaper to have 3 passengers in each of our balcony cabins.