Family of 5 - Questions

[Patrick A]

We're beginning the early planning stages of a family cruise. My wife and I have three kids, which is making cabin planning something of a challenge. It's the story of our lives: parents and two kids, no problem. Add the third ankle biter, and everything gets a little harder to plan.

 

Anyway, we're interested in hearing from similar-sized families about their experiences with the following:

 

1. What kind of cabin arrangement did you make? It looks like on Princess we generally need two cabins to work this out. Is that true? What kind of ballpark fare did you pay, if you're willing to share that?

 

2. Family suite -- ever used it? Again, if willing, how much did it actually cost? How far in advance did you need to book? Did you think it was worthwhile.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice anyone can give us.

[Colo Cruiser]

We were upgraded to the family suite from 2 balcony cabins last March on the Grand. It can be very expensive if you pay for it. What are the ages of the family?? I would say a balcony and an inside cabin but that depends on the ages. The family suite is very convienent but the wind on the exposed balcony is really bad when under way and almost makes the balcony unuseable. I would not pay the price (upwards of $8500) if you booked that family suite. It will hold 8 people. Other then connecting the balconys there are very limited connecting cabins and those go pretty fast. Hope this helps.

[ahracer]

Hi from another family of 5 and yes that 5th one makes it more difficult. We get two cabins either next to each other or across the hall. Price is going to vary greatly depending on time of year, ship etc so it is hard to compare that way.

 

The Grand class ships do have two family suites each I think but they are priced way too high. You can usually get two mini-suites for less than the price of a family suite. The Diamond/Sapphire and Coral/Island also have some adjoining staterooms but we have found it is difficult to get two together that adjoin. One side will be booked but not the other, why Princess does not try to hold them for people that want an adjoining cabin I don't understand.

 

Scott

[ourlol]

Another family of 5 checking in (although sometimes we're a 6 depending on if we are bringing a friend along for our daughter).

 

First cruise we had two insides, next door to one another. The kids were a little younger then so we hooked up a baby monitor between the cabins so we could hear what was going on and were in ear shot at all times. Because of the age of the children at the time - for the purposes of booking only - we had to assign one adult to each cabin. Once we boarded the sleeping arrangements were configured differently and the adults had one cabin, the kids the other.

 

Thereafter, hubbie and I have had a balcony stateroom and the kids have been accommodated in insides opposite ours.

 

Laura

[Cat-Nik]

We're beginning the early planning stages of a family cruise. My wife and I have three kids, which is making cabin planning something of a challenge. It's the story of our lives: parents and two kids, no problem. Add the third ankle biter, and everything gets a little harder to plan.

 

Anyway, we're interested in hearing from similar-sized families about their experiences with the following:

 

1. What kind of cabin arrangement did you make? It looks like on Princess we generally need two cabins to work this out. Is that true? What kind of ballpark fare did you pay, if you're willing to share that?

 

2. Family suite -- ever used it? Again, if willing, how much did it actually cost? How far in advance did you need to book? Did you think it was worthwhile.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice anyone can give us.

 

When I was 8 - in 1971 - my mum and dad booked us on the Monte Umbe from Liverpool to the Canary Islands for £400, about $750 or so. We had 4 bunks and my younger sister slept on the floor on a mattress. It was a cruise, nobody did them in those days, and I remember it to this day. I have no idea what the health and safety policies are these days, but don't miss that chance of taking the kids.

 

This is the ship, by the way.

 

http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/Aznar/MonteUmbe02.jpg

 

How times change...

 

Nick, Manchester UK

[Patrick A]

Thanks for that Nick.

 

I suppose asking if the pools were salt water or fresh water kind of misses the point, eh? :)

[Cat-Nik]

Thanks for that Nick.

 

I suppose asking if the pools were salt water or fresh water kind of misses the point, eh? :)

 

Maybe - all the best anyway.

[Readyto go]

We also have 3 kids, we asked for a room for 2 and a room for 3, the cost of the cabin for 3 was ridiculous.We booked on *****.com and we invited my fatherinlaw and he stayed with one of my sons, i believe we paid 500 per inside cabin and we were lucky enough to get upgraded to 3 outsides...all next to each other. It is actually cheaper to bring the 6th person and get all doubles, good luck to you

[whale-watcher]

Another family of 5 here -- we have had side-by-side balcony rooms (one double/one minisuite) and this has worked well for us. On the Coral Princess we had A416/A418, and we put the 3 kids in the minisuite, and DW and I took the smaller cabin. On the Dawn we had B304/B308, but this time the minisuite was larger, and the bedroom/living room areas each had access to the balcony and could be separated by a curtain, so we let our youngest sleep on the sofabed in the minisuite, and let the older 2 have the cabin next door. You do need to double check to make sure that the barrier between the two balconies can be opened, and the real bonus is having a much larger balcony when the barrier is opened. If our kids were older, we would consider an inside cabin for them across the hall from a balcony for us, but I like the idea of being able to check on them easily (both my 14yo and my 6yo, but for different reasons...).

We are thinking of trying a 2br/2bath Family suite on RCCL or NCL (more reasonable than on Princess) next.

[bev r.]

We too are a family of 5. We have done 3 family cruises. The first time we had 2 connecting inside cabins.

 

The second cruise we had 3 inside cabins, of which 2 were connecting. On this cruise to Alaska, the price difference for having a third person in a cabin compared to the first 2 persons was minimal, so we treated my mother and brought her along.

 

Last month, we had 2 connecting obstructed view cabins. We would gone with the 2 inside cabins, but the rate for the inside vs obstructed views was the same. The only price difference was that the third person rate was higher on the obstructed view compared to the 3rd person inside rate.

[CariBlue]

Have another kid to make it an even number and get another cabin. :)

[ourlol]

Have another kid to make it an even number and get another cabin. :)

 

No need. I've got an 18 year old I'd like to off-load onto some unsuspecting family. You can have him instead. ;)

 

Laura

[Patrick A]

Have another kid to make it an even number and get another cabin. :)

 

CariBlue,

 

I'm game. However, my wife points out that, since I won't carry it, deliver it, or stay home with it, my vote is of little real value. ;)

[pugsbest]

Many of Celebrity Cruise Lines ships have cabins that can sleep up to 5 or 6, especially if your talking 3 children! They are called Family ocean view staterooms, here's a link to a picture from Celebrity's site. They are on the back of ship with HUGE balconies. http://www.celebrity.com/plancruise/ships/cabinclass/cabintype/home.do;jsessionid=0000SHfBxZNIBI1xNmn00Bzs2AH:1051tg1dv?br=C&cabinType=FV&cabincls=B&shipCode=IN

 

We had booked one of these cabins for an Alaska cruise last year, but ended up doing the Diamond instead. But these look like great cabins for families!

 

Julie

[whale-watcher]

Many of Celebrity Cruise Lines ships have cabins that can sleep up to 5 or 6, especially if your talking 3 children! They are called Family ocean view staterooms, here's a link to a picture from Celebrity's site. They are on the back of ship with HUGE balconies. http://www.celebrity.com/plancruise/ships/cabinclass/cabintype/home.do;jsessionid=0000SHfBxZNIBI1xNmn00Bzs2AH:1051tg1dv?br=C&cabinType=FV&cabincls=B&shipCode=IN

Wow - what a balcony!

[ShamrockFL]

Maybe it's a little late for this thread, but we are taking our kids and grandkids on RC Radiance to W Carib. in December this year. One family has 3 kids and opted for the FO category room which I believe is Family Oceanview at the rear of the ship - no balcony, which they weren't sure would be a good idea with little ones - 6.4.and 1, anyhow. Cost is about $3000 for the 7 day outing. They preferred this at least in theory to two adjoining cabins. Anyone done this? Good/Bad??

[swiss]

We also are a family of 5. The first cruise we took the kids on, Disney Magic, we booked a balcony room for us and put them in a inside cabin across the hall. That worked out fine, but the kids did not like not being able to see daylight, those inside cabins are really dark with no lights, day or night. We had trouble getting them to get up in the morning, because they did not realize it was morning.

 

We are going with them again in June on the Carnival Miracle, and we booked two balcony aft cabins. They are excited about having their own balcony. We would have loved to do Princess, but could not come up with the itinerary and price that we could on Carnival for a summer booking.