Summit family of 4

[Boatingmom]

Any suggestions for booking for a family of 4 (kids 15 & 13 at sailing). Cannot afford a Suite. Love balconys but may be squished. We dont really want the rock wall, pool slide, and skating of other lines. More interested in the itinary but, Summit doesnt realy cater to families. Any suggestioons?? Going during holiday so also want to minimize the number of children.:confused:

[cruisestitch]

"Going during a holiday" and "minimizing the number of children" are pretty much opposites so I can't give any advice there, but as to your stateroom dilemma, how about a balcony for the parents and an inside across the hall for the kids? You can try for a Family stateroom, but those are usually held back for parties of five until close to sailing, so that may not work.

[Andy]

Any suggestions for booking for a family of 4 (kids 15 & 13 at sailing). Cannot afford a Suite. Love balconys but may be squished. We dont really want the rock wall, pool slide, and skating of other lines. More interested in the itinary but, Summit doesnt realy cater to families. Any suggestioons?? Going during holiday so also want to minimize the number of children.:confused:

 

Hi Boatingmom,

 

I recommend looking into a Family Veranda (Category FV). If you wish to occupy 1 cabin (you will likely save $$$ on your children as 3rd & 4th Guests in the same cabin), the FV should be just what you are looking for. The stateroom is 271 Sq Feet, with a large veranda, at 242 Sq Feet.

 

Here's a link to the Cabin details on Celebrity's website. http://www.celebritycruises.com/explore/ships/detail.do?shipCode=SM#staterooms/explore/ships/stateroomDetails.do%3FcabinType=FV&cabincls=B&shipCode=SM

 

I hope this helps !

[Andy]

"Going during a holiday" and "minimizing the number of children" are pretty much opposites so I can't give any advice there, but as to your stateroom dilemma, how about a balcony for the parents and an inside across the hall for the kids? You can try for a Family stateroom, but those are usually held back for parties of five until close to sailing, so that may not work.

 

Hi Cruisestitch,

 

Your comment about the Party of 5 was interesting. I thought the rule was 4 Guests. I recommended the FV to a party of 4 recently, and they had no problem booking. Perhaps it depends on availabilty ? Just a thought.

[phoenix_dream]

I thought FVs were 4 and above also, but maybe it does depend on bookings on that cruise. I am not so sure, though, that FVs are necessarily going to be cheaper than the lowest priced SS. They used to be a bargain, but Celebrity got wise to it several years ago. Same for booking two cabins, especially if one is a balcony, as the children would be charged the full 1st and 2nd passenger prices rather than the much cheaper 3rd and 4th passenger rates.. There is an advantage with FVs as far as divided space, and larger balcony (especially if you can snag a corner) so they may be worth it.

[Boatingmom]

I tried to book a family verandah but they told me not unless I had 5. This was directly through Celebrity. Do you suggest I try through a travel agent?? I really, really, really like the Southern Itineray of Summit. I had connecting cabins once on Carnival but lost the sofa/sitting area where the rooms connected. I think I just got spoiled with the mini suite of Princess and the Junior Suite of RCCL. :(

 

Minimizing the children referred to the cruiseline;)

[roe2ship]

We book a balcony for the parents and an inside for the kids.

 

As for catering to families, Celebrity does have less children on board even at peak travel times. I'm sure they will still have a great time....your kids are close in age, so that may help too.

[CarolinaMamma]

We have booked 2Celebrity cruises for our family of 5, one in a corner FV and one in 2 concierge class cabins. I carefully looked at all of our options, so may be able to share some of what I learned.

 

For the first cruise (7 day Alaska), here is how the pricing worked out:(Sharing this with you because they don't usually publish the FV rates, and it can be hard to weigh options.)

 

Most expensive: 2 balcony cabins

(4 passengers at full rate, 1 at 3rd passenger rate. We were also limited to balcony cabins that could sleep 3, which ruled out some of the lower balcony categories.)

 

Middle:FV

(2 passengers at a rate that was about equal to Concierge Class, 3 kids at $799 each)

 

Least expensive: balcony across from inside

(2 at full balcony rate, 2 at full inside rate, 1 at 3rd passenger rate.)

 

On the second cruise, they had a great sale on Concierge class, so we got 2 CC rooms for less than the normal price of ocean view, and far less than the price of an FV.

 

One thing you may want to consider, given your kids' ages, is that if you book 2 rooms, you will have 2 bathrooms and more privacy for you and your husband.

 

A nice choice, if you can get it, might be an aft C1 with huge balcony across from an inside for the kids. You would have 2 bathrooms and there would be plenty of room on e balcony for all of you to hang out.

 

Be sure to check out the ocean view rooms that are between mid ship and aft on deck 3. They have HUGE windows because they were converted from public areas to cabins. There are several pairs of connecting rooms in this area, too.

 

Lots of options for connecting rooms with balconies, too.

 

I have a feeling that during school breaks those FVs never go on sale, because they are so awesome! We think it's worth it for the balcony though.

[petepie]

We are family of 4 and just got back from a spring break cruise on Summit. I could not book a FV room with less than 5 people until much closer to the cruise date (6 -8 weeks), and even then, it was about $4900 for 4 people, which was much more than a single balcony cabin. As for number of kids, we heard that there were 400 on board the week we went, so you may not be avoiding many kids if you go at a holiday time. We had a great time - nice ship and good itinerary and would go again.

[CarolinaMamma]

One more thing. I would absolutely not want to put 2 adults and 2 teens into one cabin. That would just be way too tight and not a vacation. Maybe little tiny kids, but not teens.

 

I just checked a certain online TA to look at current prices for our August Alaska cruise, putting in 2 adults and 1 kid. An FV guarantee came up, which would almost certainly not be one of the corner ones, but would still have a great balcony. The per person price was $400 more than concierge class for the first 2, but 3rd passenger rate was $300 less than for CC. Strange pricing, probably so a couple would book CC rather than FV, but the point is, keep checking and occasionally an FV will come up for fewer than 5 people. they seem to appear and disappear rather quickly!

[junglejane]

We are a family of 4 including 2 kids currently 11 and 15. We always book 2 rooms. The 2nd bathroom is essential. Try it and you'll have a hard time going back to one bathroom. You could look at a balcony and an inside, but my experience with Celebrity has been that the price break between the inside and a 2B balcony cabin isn't that great. So on our last 2 X cruises we have gotten connecting 2B balcony cabins and been really pleased. I agree with CarolinaMamma that you won't like having 4 people in one cabin with 2 teens.

[Boatingmom]

Thanks for all the info. I think I've decided...I'll book either 2 balconies or two of the OV in deck 3 connecting with large windows and forfiet the sofa. Any suggestions for conecting cabins?.

 

About the kids..Well on my FIL's RCCL cruise last week 900 kids on the smaller Seranade of the Seas. Too many for me. 400 is do-able and still enough that my children can find a friend if wanted. I love the port intensive Southern because then we spend a lot of time as family exploring each island. Less ship time, kids club, etc. The one time we went on AOS we never skated, the rock wall was closed due to the blistering sun, and the whole ship had a shopping mall feel to it. Some people like that, but I live on Long Island and frequently visit Manhattan (the city). I don't really need malls or crowds on vacation.:eek:

 

Thanks again;)