Cabin choice for family of five.

[tytan]

I did a search but nothing too exciting came up.

 

Which cruise lines cater for a family of five without breaking the bank ? It will be me, wife and three daughters 15, 14 and 12. We are not too picky about which line, looking at a Southern or Western Carribean. We have cruised Carnival and Holland previously.

 

The options I have come up with are a suite, adjoining balcony cabins or a balcony and an inside across the hall. I know technically we need to book an adult in each cabin but realistically my wife and I will be in one and the kids in the other. I'm comfortable with the kids in one room with adjoining cabins as we can leave the door open but the inside across the hall doesn't excite me. I would prefer one cabin that would be comfortable for the whole family. Who does a family suite that is comfortable for five yet does not cost a small fortune ? I did check with Princess as I heard they do family suites but it sounded like a regular suite with the associated price tag.

 

Thanks

[Essiesmom]

Carnival Dream has OV family cabins that sleep five in twins, a sofabed, and two uppers. They have 1.5 bathrooms. EM

[beffiegirl]

I think the new Disney Dream sleeps 5 in a big ov. I have same problem of 5 but my kids are smaller. Carnivals prices are more reasonable, but I prefer Rccl.

[chelle0625]

We just booked Serenade for our Jan cruise. It will be the first with DD and DS who are 7. I had first looked at a jr suite to give us a little more room to move around but then realized that we could get adjoining balconies for less. It also gives us an extra full bath which with 3 girls may be really nice for you all to have when getting ready for dinner.

[A&Jfamily]

I did a search but nothing too exciting came up.

 

Which cruise lines cater for a family of five without breaking the bank ? It will be me, wife and three daughters 15, 14 and 12. We are not too picky about which line, looking at a Southern or Western Carribean. We have cruised Carnival and Holland previously.

 

The options I have come up with are a suite, adjoining balcony cabins or a balcony and an inside across the hall. I know technically we need to book an adult in each cabin but realistically my wife and I will be in one and the kids in the other. I'm comfortable with the kids in one room with adjoining cabins as we can leave the door open but the inside across the hall doesn't excite me. I would prefer one cabin that would be comfortable for the whole family. Who does a family suite that is comfortable for five yet does not cost a small fortune ? I did check with Princess as I heard they do family suites but it sounded like a regular suite with the associated price tag.

 

Thanks

 

I would go with the balcony, with the inside across the hall - that will be the most cost effective, and it gets you 2 bathrooms - which you NEED given 3 teen daughters!

 

You will not need to book a parent in the room if they are across the hall. My DS 12 and 6 are going on their 6th cruise with us in December and have a room across the hall from our balcony. We just go to customer service upon boarding and get several dummy keys so they can access our room and us theirs.

 

With the cost savings, you might consider making your room an extended balcony so that everyone could hang out there if they wanted.

 

Western is going to be the cheapest route and my suggestion would be the Legend out of Tampa. It is a Spirit class ship, which more people seem to prefer the lay out of - and we agree. And, it is so much easier to go in and out of Tampa as you don't have 12 million cruise ship passengers loading, unloading, and clogging the airports, both MIA and FLL to get home on the weekends. She has 2 sea days and 4 ports of call - a great balance.

 

Southern is going to be more expensive due to airfair to Barbados or San Juan to pick up the cruise. It is more port intensive as well.

[kjunea]

Carnival's Spirit class ships have a really interesting set up with about 6 inside cabins connecting to balcony cabins, with some of the balconies being extended for a little more room. Look at 5105/5107 on the Legend. The Legend does mostly Western sailings. A bonus is that it is just a few doors down from the Camp Carnival!

[Marie51]

Adjoining balcony cabins are avaliable on several ships including Carnival Freedom, Liberty & Valor out of Miami and Royal Caribbean Freedom of the seas and Carnival Dream out of Pt Canaveral.

[rian90]

Our family of five booked two adjoining oceanview cabins. Because they had a connecting door, we could open it and have what felt like a large suite! We put the kids in one room and we took the other, no problems at all. We were on the RCI Navigator to the Caribbean, beautiful ship.

[momothree]

Celebrity has some Family Verandahs which would not show up on your search, b/c you have to call them directly. These are aft cabins with huge balconies and a very reasonably priced. Definitely worth taking a look at.

[khm1]

The RCL's Voyager class ships have Balcony cabins that ajoin with an inside. Look at the deck plans for any of the ships in this class. There are two sets of these on deck 9 on either side of the ship, all the way aft without being aft cabins. Adventure of the Seas goes out of San Juan and has terrific Southern itineraries. Check it out.