5 in a Room

[landshark]

Anyone ever do 5 in one cabin? I mean a regular old inside or ocean view. How did it work out?

[newtocc]

I'm exhausted, after I do one in a room, maybe I'm just getting old!

 

This ship 10/91

That ship 11/95

Whatever ship 12/98

here a ship 13/99

there a ship 14/00

everywhere

a

ship ship 15/05

 

<font size="3" color=red>Over 1 year</font> into my LMBO cruise

[ALadyNCal]

I haven't done it but think it would add a lot of stress to your trip.

 

Does each kid have their own room at home? And, do they REALLY want to go on the cruise? I would definitely only do it with kids who had the right attitude and wanted to make the sacrifice. After all, the cabins are cozy for two and tiny for 5.

 

My cousin took his family of 5 on a cruise in December. The kids are 9, 14, and 16 I think. They all get along very well. They had a mini-suite and it seemed to work great for them.

 

Good luck whatever you choose!

 

~~Celebrity Infinity 02/2005~~; NCL Sun 02/2003; Celebrity Millennium 05/2002; Ocean Princess 10/2001; Ocean Princess 8/2001; NCL Sea 7/2000; Ocean Princess 3/2000; Celebrity Mercury 10/1998; Star Princess 3/1996; NCL Dream 8/1995; Azure Seas 2/1991

[marciemi]

Which cabin classes allow 5 in a cabin? Looking at the Millennium class ships - can you put 5 in the Family Oceanview's on the back of the ship? I know it says they have 2 foldout sofas, but in the pics I've seen it looks like each sofa sleeps 1, not 2. Are some different? Any other categories that allow it?

 

Big Red Boat '88,

Fair Princess '90,

Norway '91,

Regal Princess '91,

Carnival Fantasy '93,

Regent Rainbow '95,

Big Red Boat '98,

Disney Wonder '00,

Grand Princess 11/16/03,

Voyager of the Seas 09/10/04

 

<MARQUEE> Voyager of the Seas - 9/10/2004 <MARQUEE>

[cruisintwinsmom]

You mention a regular inside or oceanview--think this would be very difficult. My sister has three kids and they went on Carnival (I think) because they had some rooms that would fit 5. She had young children.

 

If I were you, I would try to get connecting rooms-that way you have two bathrooms. Or you could try to get a guarantee (but they would not connect) to save some money. We did that on our first trip--DD were 14. Second trip we had connecting--much easier.

 

Good luck and happy sailing.

[trcori]

Since nobody's mentioned it yet -- the Family Oceanview cabins, aft on the Century-class ships, are made for just this purpose -- they do sleep five, and they have a divider between the area with the "big bed" (ostensibly for parents) and the area with a pulldown and two foldouts/sofabeds. Our family of three was VERY comfy in one of these during our Mercury cruise a month ago. They cost a bit more than the "regular" oceanview, obviously, but certainly it would be less than getting two cabins, since you would be paying the lower rate for the 3rd/4th/5th!

 

TR

Millennium 12/12/04

****

Mercury 4/04, Infinity 8/03, Century 3/03 & 9/02

[Guest]

TR is absolutely right about the aft Family cabins on the Century class ships. Great closet space, divider and sleeps five. We had four in the room and my kids are very large and didn't have a problem other than at dinner time with only one bathroom.

 

Don

[LynnObie]

The aft FV Family cabins on the M class ships also have a divider with 2 sofa beds in the sitting room. One opens up to accommodate 2 people, so 3 can sleep in that room. Still... you would have 1 bathroom so I agree with cruisintwinsmom that you may want to look into connecting cabins. Good deck plans of every ship can be seen at Tavelocity. They show symbols to indicate which cabins in every category are connecting, etc.

 

Lynn Obie

 

Until 14 day Summit - San Diego to Alaska

 

 

8/1995 HAL Noordam, 6/2000 Carnival Ecstasy, 2/2002 HAL Maasdam, 3/2003 HAL Statendam, 1/2004 HAL Oosterdam, 5/2004 Celebrity Summit, 5/2005 Celebrity Infinity

[landshark]

Well, if I'm reading the deck plan correctly, the Millenium has a bunch of cabins with 2 uppers and a sofabed. That is what 2 triangles and a square means, right? Celebrity must have had families on a budget in mind for them.

 

My kids are 6, 10 and 13. All girls.

[LynnObie]

landshark,

I do believe you are correct... I see both inside and outside cabins with this arrangement. Our 3 daughters are about the same age differences as yours. When they were 6 - 13 I would not have hesitated to do what you propose. We had not yet "discovered" cruise ships at that time. By the time we could take our 3 girls on a cruise, they were 18 - 26 and we booked 2 cabins. It should be fun for your family! Enjoy!!

[chip1950]

Five people living in 170 square feet! I think that violates the Geneva Convention for prisoners of war. I would save my money until we could get two cabins and have a real vacation. IMHO

 

Panama Canal on Summit

 

[Kathleen P.]

I agree with the above...at first I thought it was a joke. I too think you are better off saving more money towards a later sail date and get 2 cabins.

 

Many people do not think they spend a lot of time in their cabin, but just think of what the it will be like when you are all there at the same time trying to get ready for dinner, or in the morning...and where do you think you will be able to put all those clothes and suitcases - you are talking about a cruise ship cabin, not a suite in the Ritz.

 

We just had enough room in a SS with 2 people..we had to put our suitcases under the bed!

[LMKohler]

5 in one cabin and a small one? Think about how crowded it will be getting ready for dinner and think about the bathroom!!!!!!!!!

 

I would get connecting rooms -- you will have a much better time.

[yanceycruiser]

Three in a regular inside or outside cabin would be tough, four would be extremely rough, five would be insane!

 

Yanceycruiser

 

Dreamward 1/95

Norway 1/97

Grandeur of the Seas 1/99

Grand Princess 2/01

Carnival Pride 2/03

 

 

Until the Infinity on

August 22, 2004

 

[cruisinjudy]

We took my then teenage daughter and a friend, both with long hair, in an outside cabin on American Hawaii......once.

We had fun, but scheduling the bathroom was NOT easy! We had to declare no blow drying in the bathroom...took too long, and this in a room with no mirror except in the bathroom. Or maybe there was a mirror on a closet, but no place to plug in there.

On one of our recent cruises there was a family of five in a regular cabin. Two of the kids were teenagers. I believe the parents used the spa for their showers!

[Millenium]

Families often have four people in a regular outside or inside cabin. I was on a family reunion cruise last year on the Millenium. My husband and I shared an outside cabin with our two children then 7 and 9 with no problem at all. My sister and brother and their spouses did the same thing with two children a few years older in regular balcony cabins. No one thought twice about it.

 

I had one of the cabins which sleep five. There were two bunks that the room steward folded down out of the ceiling at night. They each had a ladder at the end. I thought it would be crowded when the beds were open but was very surprised that it didn't feel crowded at all. Our cabin also had the large upholstered chair (or small loveseat?) which opens up into a bed. This would have slept a fifth person but was never opened. When it is open, I think it would be difficult or impossible to get from the other beds to the bathroom without crawling over the chair bed. This is the fourth bed in cabins which sleep four, but it is placed in front of the balcony or window in those cabins - blocking access to the balcony but not to the bathroom.

 

I found no problem storing all of our stuff in the cabin, and we brought a lot. I had read on the boards about bringing wire hangers to hang all your clothes and removing the wooden hangers from the closet since they take up too much room. This allowed us to hang all of our clothes. We were a little short on room for the many pairs of shoes for all of our outfits, as we put dirty clothes on the closet floor, so we put the shoes under and beside the desk. They were never in the way. All the suitcases, even the big one, fit under the bed.

 

When it was time to get ready for dinner, my husband and children got ready first and my husband took the children out while I got ready. This is our normal routine when we travel. Or sometimes I opened both the bathroom door and the closet door and they overlapped making a nice private dressing room in the hallway between the bathroom and the closets.

 

While we have three bathrooms at home, we normally have only one hotel room when we travel (unless we rent a two bedroom condo) and we are very used to that. We travel quite a bit that way. We just got back from two weeks in Hawaii and were fine with one hotel room for the four of us. It helps when the hotel rooms are spacious. We just have to take turns with the bathroom.

 

All of this said, I have a corner FV cabin booked for next year. We just decided to spend the extra money this time since its a longer cruise and the balcony on that cabin is so huge. I would however not hesitate to book a regular cabin again for the four of us if needed.

[Millenium]

Go for it Landshark. Cruising is too wonderful to wait till you feel ready to splurge on two cabins.

[JNLROSE]

We do the FV for the 2 of us so we an have some room to breathe!

 

5urely, you can save enough $$$ to get another cabin??!! Try hard!

 

Rosie

E-mail me <a href="mailto:JNLROSE@AOL.COM">here</a href>

 

CELEBRITY MERCURY HERE I COME!!!

 

[Shirley and Les]

Here is something I have just thought about for minimizing the bathroom rush just before dinner. Send all of the teenage boys to the gym for a 30 minute workout and a 10 minute shower. Or a 10 minute workout and a 30 minute shower. Whatever works.

Les

[landshark]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by JNLROSE:

 

5urely, you can save enough $$$ to get another cabin??!! Try hard!

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Rosie,

 

It's not a question of saving up enough money. The problem is prying it out of my cheap husband's hands. He's not real fond of cruising in the first place. (He thinks it's boring and he eats too much, therefore a waste of money.)

 

I just sailed HAL's Zuiderdam in March with my Mom in a balcony. (My 40th birthday.) I had a great time, but I was dogged with guilt everytime I saw a kid, wishing I had brought my own. They are now bugging me almost daily, "When are WE going to go on a cruise?" My husband just won't pay that much.(Can, but won't.) So if I want to cruise with my family, I've got to do it on a tight budget. Ironically, if he were ever to sail in a balcony cabin, I'm sure he would change his mind and really like it. But how do I get him to spring for it in the first place?

 

There really are a TON of inside and outside cabins that sleep 5 on the Millenium. Like I said before, families on a budget must be what Celebrity had in mind. Why else would they be there?

[landshark]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Shirley and Les:

Here is something I have just thought about for minimizing the bathroom rush just before dinner. Send all of the teenage boys to the gym for a 30 minute workout and a 10 minute shower. Or a 10 minute workout and a 30 minute shower. Whatever works.

Les

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

There are no teenage boys, just 3 girls age 6, 10 and 13. (None of which wear make up or bother with their hair any more than throwing it up in a clip or ponytail.) I really don't see getting ready for dinner to be any major problem. A bigger problem for us would be fighting over the one tv.

[Millenium]

Fighting over the TV sounds familiar!

 

We've started travelling with a portable DVD player. They sell them now for barely over $100. Ours works both plugged into an outlet and plugged into a cigarette lighter in our car or at airline seats which have cigarette lighter type outlets (most airplanes on American have at least some rows with these outlets). That provides an alternate choice of video programming, though limited to the DVDs you bring or rent.

[Jacqueline]

I am suprised that there are so many cabins that sleep five...We had three in an inside and once had 4. That would be the limit for a cabin around 170 sq ft it it is supposed to be be a vacation. I can understand the FV- or the large family cabins are described as being very nice for 5.

Sometimes the prices for the 3/4 person are no more than the first and second person.I had this happen once on princess. This may be something to investigate.

 

Jacqueline

Constellation 3/20/04

HAL Westerdam 7/30/04

Tahitian Princess August 2003

Grand Princess Western Caribbean 2003

Brilliance of the Seas Baltic 2002

Ocean Princess- Alaska 2001

Celebrity Zenith- Bermuda 2001

Grand Princess Med 2000