Help?! Second cruise, first with kids, so confused... Room size and bed options??

[KatieCharlotte]

I have one of these cabins booked for my daughter, her husband and three small children on the Triumph next month. Since I paid for the trip, we have a family saying: you get what you get and you don't throw a fit. I am in a similar cabin with son and his daughter.:D

 

Don't worry. Our family of five has taken three cruises, including an eight-day, in rooms that size. My kids actually miss the coziness when they get home. :rolleyes:

[lizardhowson]

Hi' date='

This is my first post here, so hopefully I'm doing it right! I have a couple questions that basically overlap, so I hope it's ok to combine them...

 

 

1 - Are the rooms true to size?

 

[/quote']

 

You can be sure, if they advertise the rooms (room + balcony) to be a specific number of square feet, it is accurate.

 

If not, they would have been sued repeatedly.

[zqvol]

You can be sure, if they advertise the rooms (room + balcony) to be a specific number of square feet, it is accurate.

 

If not, they would have been sued repeatedly.

 

 

Not really because all the measurements say approximately, and that room size may vary.

[lizardhowson]

Not really because all the measurements say approximately, and that room size may vary.

 

I would be willing to bet the "approximately" is included because of inches of difference. So they may have rounded up or down a few inches, I would doubt the difference is more than that (read this to say they didn't round up or down a few feet)

[luvsviola]

We have done the Grand suite on Fascination. Yes, it is more money. But the HUGE extended balcony is worth its weight in gold with little ones. And there is a ton of room, and a bath tub. We just opted for a shorter cruise to compensate for the difference in price. I think our family of 5 was right about $3200 for a 5 day on Fascination, and we got to go to Half Moon Cay, which is paradise.

 

I can't figure out how to get the pics to show up, but you can click the links to see them.

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByVyBV6epQnjU1hlVDJxdXdydE0/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByVyBV6epQnjeFZNMHlBeEFTZUU/view?usp=sharing

 

We've also done the family cabin (deluxe oceanview) on Dream, and it was nice, but there were bunk beds for the oldest 2 kids.

 

 

<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByVyBV6epQnjU1hlVDJxdXdydE0/preview" width="640" hei

Edited February 7, 2016 by luvsviola

[ohitssunshine]

I love the idea of the portable trundle that somebody posted - I think that is the best option for additional sleeping.

 

We have done one cruise where all 5 of us shared a cabin - although our kids were older at 14, 12 and 10. Having the beds pulled down does take up all of the usable floor space, because you really cannot walk around the king bed without ducking under a pull down.

 

The king bed may be large enough to sleep 2 of the children with you and one in the portable trundle also.

 

Here's a pic to reference, our cabin for 5 on the Imagination:

 

[simplelife]

with kids under five years old Carnival would not allow this

 

 

If the rooms connect, Carnival dos not care what sleeping arrangements you make. You have to book an adult in each room -One kid booked with one parent and two with the other on the booking, but once there you do as you wish in the rooms

[simplelife]

If the bathroom has only a shower, bring a little inflatable kiddie pool to put in the bathroom and bath the kids in that.

[Cruisin'CaveChick]

Sorry! I read everyone's responses within a few hours of them being posted, but I kept getting pulled away every time I logged in to try to reply, and by the time I could get back, I'd be logged out :-/

 

I greatly appreciate everyone's help and advice! I'm not sure I'll be able to find time to respond to everyone, but I want everyone to know I really appreciate it!

 

The advice of adjoining rooms was great, and we were all excited to go, figuring that would work, but the in-laws changed things and unfortunately the ship we're now sailing on doesn't have any available :( Now I have more questions, and I'm thinking a new thread would be good, but I'll post them here, too...

 

If we book 2 rooms, will anyone really care if we end up all sleeping in the same one? If we do sleep in one, would it matter if we put the roll-away/trundle in whichever one we do end up sleeping in?

 

 

We really don't think we'll be comfortable sleeping in separate rooms (we all sleep in one room at home and the kids usually won't go to sleep without everyone in there, and if they do fall asleep, they usually wake up crying for the missing parent (it's never just a missing kid ;) ), but might be able to pull off a trip with rooms across the hall from each other so we have more room to get ready, somewhere to take one of the kids when they get too wound up, etc...

 

I'm really trying to find a way to go on this trip and have it be a good experience! Thank you for all your help!!

[springs741]

While I read most of the previous posts and will be repeating some of the info here goes:

 

Finding a regular room that accommodates 5 will depend on which ship.

You can not "book" more people in the room than it lists.

Since this is a family cruise you can book one of the littles with someone else. I booked grandson with great grandma but he slept in his parents room.

 

OR you can book to connecting rooms with you in one room and spouse in the other and leave the door open. I know you said in your most recent post none were available. Are you calling Carnival, working with a TA or trying to book on line? Carnival will have access to all rooms available.

 

There is so much stress planning these family cruises but I promise you when all is said and done it is worth it.

Edited February 29, 2016 by springs741

[Cruisin'CaveChick]

While I read most of the previous posts and will be repeating some of the info here goes:

 

Finding a regular room that accommodates 5 will depend on which ship.

You can not "book" more people in the room than it lists.

Since this is a family cruise you can book one of the littles with someone else. I booked grandson with great grandma but he slept in his parents room.

 

OR you can book to connecting rooms with you in one room and spouse in the other and leave the door open. I know you said in your most recent post none were available. Are you calling Carnival, working with a TA or trying to book on line? Carnival will have access to all rooms available.

 

There is so much stress planning these family cruises but I promise you when all is said and done it is worth it.

 

 

 

I so wish that we could book one with the others, but they used a really crappy "agent" and weren't willing to work with us to make it work (switching rooms around, etc), so we're having to book ours by ourselves :(

 

We've been working with a PVP and he's tried really hard to get us adjoining rooms(seriously, he's been amazing!), but the only ones they had (I don't know if they even have those now) were for 2 & 2, or 2 & 4 person, so unless we bring someone extra or leave someone home, we can't book those :(

[crusinpsychRN]

Rooms are true to size but with 5 it is crowded.

 

So you're wanting a 5 on the floor (vs. 3 on the column - :D j/k).

 

You will have a trundle bed that fits under one of the twins. Beyond that- ?? You may be able to get just the mattress from another trundle bed. They are plenty thick for kids to sleep w/o the metal frame underneath. I've never asked at add an additional mattress vs. using the pullman.

 

Otherwise you may be able to pull the mattress off the pullman and onto the floor each night. Then put it back up each morning. Although I'm not sure it would fit on the floor? At least both pullman mattresses would not fit.

 

No cabins on Inspiration fit 4. Unsure if they'd allow the 5th.

[SadieN]

No cabins on Inspiration fit 4. Unsure if they'd allow the 5th.

 

 

Yes, there are quads on the Inspiration. Last one we had was a quad.

[Cruisin'CaveChick]

No cabins on Inspiration fit 4. Unsure if they'd allow the 5th.

 

There's 4 and 5 person rooms on Imagination and Inspiration, but they both have upper pullmans (for obvious reasons ;-) ), which we're trying to avoid :cool:

[nc350]

We are on the imagination in 20 days:) We are in an oceanview that sleeps 4 it has the two twins to make king and one upper pullman DD 17 and they are bringing in the trundle for our DS 12.... I'm happy to take pictures and post if that helps you with a decision but it is 20 days away :(

[SadieN]

We are on the imagination in 20 days:) We are in an oceanview that sleeps 4 it has the two twins to make king and one upper pullman DD 17 and they are bringing in the trundle for our DS 12.... I'm happy to take pictures and post if that helps you with a decision but it is 20 days away :(

 

 

You'll have more walking around room if you keep the lowers apart, one under the window, the other under one bunk. Put one of the others under the other bunk.

Make sure the trundle has the extra extension on it, otherwise it's about 4.5ft long.

[k2excursion]

Sorry! I read everyone's responses within a few hours of them being posted' date=' but I kept getting pulled away every time I logged in to try to reply, and by the time I could get back, I'd be logged out :-/

 

I greatly appreciate everyone's help and advice! I'm not sure I'll be able to find time to respond to everyone, but I want everyone to know I really appreciate it!

 

The advice of adjoining rooms was great, and we were all excited to go, figuring that would work, but the in-laws changed things and unfortunately the ship we're now sailing on doesn't have any available :( Now I have more questions, and I'm thinking a new thread would be good, but I'll post them here, too...

 

If we book 2 rooms, will anyone really care if we end up all sleeping in the same one? If we do sleep in one, would it matter if we put the roll-away/trundle in whichever one we do end up sleeping in?

 

 

We really don't think we'll be comfortable sleeping in separate rooms (we all sleep in one room at home and the kids usually won't go to sleep without everyone in there, and if they do fall asleep, they usually wake up crying for the missing parent (it's never just a missing kid ;) ), but might be able to pull off a trip with rooms across the hall from each other so we have more room to get ready, somewhere to take one of the kids when they get too wound up, etc...

 

I'm really trying to find a way to go on this trip and have it be a good experience! Thank you for all your help!![/quote']

 

They don't really care where the people sleep. They just can't book a room for more people than it is designated to hold. You can move the rollaway/trundle from one of your rooms to the other. On my first cruise, my friend's mom couldn't handle the upper after trying it, so we asked for a rollaway, even though our room was not designated to take a rollaway/trundle. But, since there was an unused rollaway, they brought it to us. It doesn't have to stay in the room that it's designated for. But, I don't know if there is space to fit 2 trundles in the room. I know that you implied earlier that you didn't want a suite, but the grand suite will be your best bet to making this work. You can put 5 in many of the suites, and nobody will be in an upper.

 

Getting back to one of your original questions, and my answer will differ from other responses here, but I'm totally sure. The room sizes listed are not always accurate. Sometimes they are, sometimes not. I have measured many different room types on several ships (with a tape measurer--I'm a bit of a numbers nerd), and I have discovered clear discrepancies. If the one previous poster is correct, I guess I should sue Carnival, but I seriously doubt that anyone can sue over this. One of my inside rooms was listed as being 185 sq.ft, but I measured it to be exactly 150. A balcony room, listed as 185 indoors, measured to be exactly 185. I have measured others, but those 2 are the clearest indicators that the numbers they list are confusing: sometimes correct, sometimes not. Those 2 rooms, listed as being equal, are blatantly obviously different in size. Looking at it alone makes it obvious, especially with the long sofa in the true 185 sf room. The ship that you're looking at is one type of ship that I haven't measured. But based on my experience & seeing pictures, those rooms may possibly be a little larger than the 150 I measured on Magic, but certainly not even close to the 185. I would guess either 160 or 170 at the very most.

[Cruisin'CaveChick]

Getting back to one of your original questions, and my answer will differ from other responses here, but I'm totally sure. The room sizes listed are not always accurate. Sometimes they are, sometimes not. I have measured many different room types on several ships (with a tape measurer--I'm a bit of a numbers nerd), and I have discovered clear discrepancies. If the one previous poster is correct, I guess I should sue Carnival, but I seriously doubt that anyone can sue over this. One of my inside rooms was listed as being 185 sq.ft, but I measured it to be exactly 150. A balcony room, listed as 185 indoors, measured to be exactly 185. I have measured others, but those 2 are the clearest indicators that the numbers they list are confusing: sometimes correct, sometimes not. Those 2 rooms, listed as being equal, are blatantly obviously different in size. Looking at it alone makes it obvious, especially with the long sofa in the true 185 sf room. The ship that you're looking at is one type of ship that I haven't measured. But based on my experience & seeing pictures, those rooms may possibly be a little larger than the 150 I measured on Magic, but certainly not even close to the 185. I would guess either 160 or 170 at the very most.

 

So maybe I'm not just crazy! I'm a numbers nerd, too, so I'll probably measure it now, too ;)

 

Our balcony on RCCL had a sofa and coffee table, plus a bigger desk area, and I just didn't see how it was possible for them to be the same size, but started second guessing myself with what everyone else said, thought the bathroom and closet space must just be a lot bigger or something...

 

I'll report back in a few months on dimensions for this ship :) Might even convince other family members to let me measure their rooms ;)

[Cruisin'CaveChick]

They don't really care where the people sleep. They just can't book a room for more people than it is designated to hold. You can move the rollaway/trundle from one of your rooms to the other. On my first cruise, my friend's mom couldn't handle the upper after trying it, so we asked for a rollaway, even though our room was not designated to take a rollaway/trundle. But, since there was an unused rollaway, they brought it to us. It doesn't have to stay in the room that it's designated for. But, I don't know if there is space to fit 2 trundles in the room. I know that you implied earlier that you didn't want a suite, but the grand suite will be your best bet to making this work. You can put 5 in many of the suites, and nobody will be in an upper.

 

Awesome! Thank you!! We don't need to get 2 trundles in, but might attempt to get a crib and a trundle in... The 2 year old is a violent sleeper, so we may want to put her in a crib, baby with me and dad, and 4 year old on the trundle.. Suites are definitely out of our budget, unfortunately, but maybe someday!

[Cruisin'CaveChick]

We are on the imagination in 20 days:) We are in an oceanview that sleeps 4 it has the two twins to make king and one upper pullman DD 17 and they are bringing in the trundle for our DS 12.... I'm happy to take pictures and post if that helps you with a decision but it is 20 days away :(

 

I would love to see pictures! We went ahead and booked last night before the sale ended, but I would LOVE to hear from someone who just sailed on it who can give me more info and pics from it right now! :D