Advice for cabins party of 6

[sheree23]

Hi! It's been a while (wayyyyyyyy too long) since DH and I sailed on Carnival for our honeymoon cruise over 10 years ago on the Carnival Pride. The wonderful waiters kept telling us to have lots of babies and come back! Well, we must have listened because we are on baby #4 and after too much life and work getting in the way for a really good vacation, I'm really getting the urge to FINALLY plan our next Carnival cruise. We usually book well over a year, sometimes two years out, so we have a lot of time to plan and save $$$.

 

With that said, we LOVE balconies but know that with 4 kiddos, we're going to need two rooms most likely. How do families of 5 or more book the rooms? Can balcony rooms join together or will we need to have an inside and and an outside room? Kids currently are 10, 7, and 2 with babe on the way in December. We'll probably go in Jan or Feb of 2016 when our youngest is over a year old but prior to the "terrible two's" I'm looking into the Sunshine or the Breeze but am open to any ship. We love the Eastern Caribbean and definitely no less than 7 days.

 

Thanks in advance! I'm super excited to have another cruise to look forward to. Carnival was our favorite. I miss cruising so much. It's amazing how we can still remember little details too like they were yesterday.

[jcearth]

I have children that are 8, 5, and 4, and we like to get connecting ocean view rooms. On the Dream class, you get an extra half bath per room that has a bathtub in it, which is very convenient for the little ones. The rooms are also 220 sq feet each (on the Fantasy class ships, the rooms are much smaller, however), so you have plenty of room. I am not a huge fan of balconies, so it's an easy call for me. There are no interior connecting rooms on Carnival that can accommodate families of 5 or more that I am aware of (and I have looked). If you were to get side by side balconies, and they were not connecting, you could have the partition opened up for a bigger balcony connecting both rooms.

[thomarvin]

Some ships have connecting Balconies to an inside. I am not sure which ones but I am sure that someone here will know. I am a family of 5 and we have booked connecting OV's. Enjoy and congrats on #4.

[Ontario_Cruiser]

I also have 4 kids (16, 14, 12, 10) and we have had success booking connecting ocean view cabins on Conquest class ships. These rooms are larger than the balcony cabins (by the size of the balcony!) and it is so convenient to be able to go from one room to the other with out going in the hallway. Two bathrooms don't hurt either.

 

With the little ones, I personally would be nervous about booking a balcony, especially if they are climbers like mine were.

 

These rooms will have the 2 beds that can be put together to make a king, and a couch that folds down to a comfortable bed. This will remain a bed for the duration of the cruise. Of course, this is not required if the baby is in a crib.

[irishnyc]

Everyone else gave you great advice, so I'll just add...why not wait until baby is older than 2 so that you can take advantage of Camp Carnival? That's part of the reason we chose to wait a bit to cruise as a family.

[AdGuyMG]

With that said, we LOVE balconies but know that with 4 kiddos, we're going to need two rooms most likely. How do families of 5 or more book the rooms? Can balcony rooms join together or will we need to have an inside and and an outside room? Kids currently are 10, 7, and 2 with babe on the way in December. We'll probably go in Jan or Feb of 2016 when our youngest is over a year old but prior to the "terrible two's" I'm looking into the Sunshine or the Breeze but am open to any ship. We love the Eastern Caribbean and definitely no less than 7 days. T

 

Book an Ocean Suite that sleeps 3 and a 1A and have everyone sleep in the Ocean Suite.

[serene56]

Some ships have connecting Balconies to an inside. I am not sure which ones but I am sure that someone here will know. I am a family of 5 and we have booked connecting OV's. Enjoy and congrats on #4.

 

 

Spirit, Pride, Legend and Miracle are the ones

 

all the way forward-- 2 of each connections on each deck

 

BUT the problem is-- each cabin only holds 2 people so they would need tobook the third cabin.

 

I like the above idea-- book the suite and a cheap 1A room on the same deck-- everyone sleep in the suite-- and store your baby stuff in the 1A

[diamondcharl]

We also have 4 kids. The last cruise we took on the Sensation we had 2 adjoining inside rooms.My kids are a lot older than your kids. I was not comfortable with them having their own balcony ( too nervous) I believe they have an age restriction with balcony rooms anyway. I think its 12 but not sure. Kudos to you with cruising with such young ones!

[serene56]

We also have 4 kids. The last cruise we took on the Sensation we had 2 adjoining inside rooms.My kids are a lot older than your kids. I was not comfortable with them having their own balcony ( too nervous) I believe they have an age restriction with balcony rooms anyway. I think its 12 but not sure. Kudos to you with cruising with such young ones!

 

 

no age restrictions for booking a balcony. Balcony doors are very heavy plus there is a lock at the top

But with balcony doors you gotta be careful of little fingers-- if the cabin door is opened while the balcony door is-- a wind tunnel happens and that door slams. When we were out there when out little one was a toddler-- we kept a towel over the to to keep it from slamming.

[cjnwildfire]

no age restrictions for booking a balcony. Balcony doors are very heavy plus there is a lock at the top

But with balcony doors you gotta be careful of little fingers-- if the cabin door is opened while the balcony door is-- a wind tunnel happens and that door slams. When we were out there when out little one was a toddler-- we kept a towel over the to to keep it from slamming.

 

There is an age restriction on balconies.

 

You must have someone in the room that is over 18 and traveling with someone over 21.

[NavyCruiser]

Everyone else gave you great advice, so I'll just add...why not wait until baby is older than 2 so that you can take advantage of Camp Carnival? That's part of the reason we chose to wait a bit to cruise as a family.

 

Agreed.

 

The best part about cruising is the excellent Camp Carnival....

Have ALL your kids play in Camp Carnival, so you both can have some free time to relax & enjoy...

[jmcancruise]

Assuming you can put 6 in a family ocean view on the breeze, I would go with that. I think having the bathtub would be wonderful. I know it is small, but only having a shower available with children I think would be a real hassle.

[serene56]

There is an age restriction on balconies.

 

You must have someone in the room that is over 18 and traveling with someone over 21.

 

not in this case-- its a connecting balcony and the parents are in the connecting room.

[cjnwildfire]

not in this case-- its a connecting balcony and the parents are in the connecting room.

 

I have a connecting door into the next room (balcony), INSIDE my 2 rooms and they told me that we HAD to have someone over 18 in the other room. They would NOT let me book a balcony for my kids, even tho my oldest is 13.

[sheree23]

Wow you guys are great! My DH just spent over a half hour with a cruise agent who couldn't give him these kinds of tips :)

 

We don't really want to wait until LO is 2, as I'm not due until this December, so we'd be waiting until after December 2016 to cruise! I'm dying for another vacation LOL

 

The idea of booking a 1a along with a suite is a GREAT idea. I'll definitely look into that. Some mentioned a family suite on the Breeze so we'll look into those as well and compare some prices. We have a lot of options at this point so we're just trying to figure out the best deals.

 

We cruised RCL when our son was 3 and the balcony wasn't a problem but I was extremely precautious in that he NEVER went out there alone and the door was kept locked the entire time.

[cjnwildfire]

You may also want to try NCL, They have a couple of different options, one ocean view family suit and one in the haven.

Had I known about that option we would have been going NCL for this cruise. The price for the 2 balconies on CCL was only a little less than the price on NCL in the haven!