Anthem Royal Family Suite or Family Connected?

[CruiserTB]

Hi,

I keep going back and forth on this question so thought I'd throw it out to the cruise critic crew to get their thoughts. :D

Long story short I need to change my grand suite room for my family of 4 (2 adults 2 children) on a July 2017 Anthem sailing. I have two choices. I can move to the Royal Family Suite. In order to do this, I would add my niece to our room since the RFS requires 5 to book. So in total it would be 2 adults and 3 children (aged 16, 11, and 4 at the time of sailing).

 

The other option is to book the family connected stateroom which is 3 separate staterooms (a jr. suite, a balcony, and an interior) that you can book together. If I were to do this I wouldn't add my niece, instead it would be 2 adults in the jr. suite, my 2 kids in the interior, and 2 grandparents in the other balcony room. The advantage to this being that since all the rooms are connected and have an interior vestibule the 4 year old could easily go over to the grandparents room whenever he wanted.

 

Of note, we're getting married on this cruise and we have a good amount of family & friends joining us so there's a lot of flexibility when it comes to room configuration, which is why I said earlier for the RFS I could add my niece, otherwise she can stay with her parents or other family. I expect no matter how we book it, that the kids will move around rooms throughout the trip (i.e. one night when all the cousins get together and do a cabin sleepover).

 

That being said, me and FH would like some privacy but also expect to have dinner every night with family who won't be in a suite so the perk with the RFS of being able to go to CK for dinner wouldn't really help us. Also, if we were going to use the RFS the majority of the room would be made up of young kids so things like the exclusive CL wouldn't be used by 3 of the people in the suite.

 

I believe on Anthem in addition to priority boarding jr. suite also has access to CK for dinner, not sure if they have access to breakfast as well. Access to it for breakfast would be nice because me and FH could do that on our own together.

 

Ok now for price. The difference in price between the two options would be about $2200. Meaning we'd pay $2200 more for the royal family suite.

 

So based upon the situation above what would you do? RFS or Family connected?:D

 

I guess a third option would be to just get 2 connecting balconies for us and our 2 kids but we like that the jr. suite has a bathtub as it will be much easier to wash the 4 year old since he loves bath time.:D

[MNfamilycruiser]

Hi,

I keep going back and forth on this question so thought I'd throw it out to the cruise critic crew to get their thoughts. :D

Long story short I need to change my grand suite room for my family of 4 (2 adults 2 children) on a July 2017 Anthem sailing. I have two choices. I can move to the Royal Family Suite. In order to do this, I would add my niece to our room since the RFS requires 5 to book. So in total it would be 2 adults and 3 children (aged 16, 11, and 4 at the time of sailing).

 

The other option is to book the family connected stateroom which is 3 separate staterooms (a jr. suite, a balcony, and an interior) that you can book together. If I were to do this I wouldn't add my niece, instead it would be 2 adults in the jr. suite, my 2 kids in the interior, and 2 grandparents in the other balcony room. The advantage to this being that since all the rooms are connected and have an interior vestibule the 4 year old could easily go over to the grandparents room whenever he wanted.

 

Of note, we're getting married on this cruise and we have a good amount of family & friends joining us so there's a lot of flexibility when it comes to room configuration, which is why I said earlier for the RFS I could add my niece, otherwise she can stay with her parents or other family. I expect no matter how we book it, that the kids will move around rooms throughout the trip (i.e. one night when all the cousins get together and do a cabin sleepover).

 

That being said, me and FH would like some privacy but also expect to have dinner every night with family who won't be in a suite so the perk with the RFS of being able to go to CK for dinner wouldn't really help us. Also, if we were going to use the RFS the majority of the room would be made up of young kids so things like the exclusive CL wouldn't be used by 3 of the people in the suite.

 

I believe on Anthem in addition to priority boarding jr. suite also has access to CK for dinner, not sure if they have access to breakfast as well. Access to it for breakfast would be nice because me and FH could do that on our own together.

 

Ok now for price. The difference in price between the two options would be about $2200. Meaning we'd pay $2200 more for the royal family suite.

 

So based upon the situation above what would you do? RFS or Family connected?:D

 

I guess a third option would be to just get 2 connecting balconies for us and our 2 kids but we like that the jr. suite has a bathtub as it will be much easier to wash the 4 year old since he loves bath time.:D

 

From what I have read - JS can only use CK for dinner.

I would do the family connected. You still get double points, you will have more privacy, and 3 bathrooms.

 

Given the people who would be in the RFS - I just don't think you would get $2200 worth extra. We have been in one when we were on a cruise with several family members, and we barely used the CL at all.

[Merion_Mom]

Family connected, without doubt. :) As a matter of fact, I believe that I suggested that yesterday. :D

[nu_cruzer1]

I had the Connected stateroom on my Quantum cruise last March and LOVED it - 2 adults in Jr., 1A + 2C in balcony and 1C in interior. But you don't get full suite benefits. This was not an issue for us because we found that you could plan ahead and didn't see the use for the suite benefits (this was pre-Royal Suite class). In terms of privacy, the Family Connected will provide everyone with a decent amount of privacy (think 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms) .. the RFS is two bedrooms, 2 baths. Based on the scenario you described, I'd opt for the Family Connected. If the RFS was in the Star Class category, I'd probably then opt for the RFS instead because the benefits would be worth the extra $2,200 to me. As an aside, I have the RFS on Harmony next March but if the ship had the Family Connected rooms, I'd have booked those instead.

[CruiserTB]

Yeah I think you all are right. For the amount I'm saving I can probably purchase drink packages for me and FH and while I liked having a suite before for the extra touches like surprise snacks in the room, it's not worth it. Plus I doubt we'll order dinner in the room either.

[svillager]

I did the Family Conected Jr Suite on Anthem - with 2 adults and a child in the Jr Suite, 1 adult and a child in the balcony, and 1 adult in the inside cabin.

 

For us it worked out, if you want privacy - just close the door to the corridor.

 

But, be warned, the interior cabin is a studio interior and is very small, as is the bed. Two kids in that bed might be a problem. However, both the Jr suite and the balcony had a pull out couch (or ours did).

 

Also, when they book it - they actually do three bookings and might not allow two kids alone in one cabin, so you might have to book it differently with one child on a pullout couch, and a grandparent and a child in the balcony, and a grandparent in the interior, which is not such a bad thing as one child would be priced as a 3rd in a cabin.

Edited April 29, 2016 by svillager

[CruiserTB]

I did the Family Conected Jr Suite on Anthem - with 2 adults and a child in the Jr Suite, 1 adult and a child in the balcony, and 1 adult in the inside cabin.

 

For us it worked out, if you want privacy - just close the door to the corridor.

 

But, be warned, the interior cabin is a studio interior and is very small, as is the bed. Two kids in that bed might be a problem. However, both the Jr suite and the balcony had a pull out couch (or ours did).

 

Also, when they book it - they actually do three bookings and might not allow two kids alone in one cabin, so you might have to book it differently with one child on a pullout couch, and a grandparent and a child in the balcony, and a grandparent in the interior, which is not such a bad thing as one child would be priced as a 3rd in a cabin.

 

Ok this makes sense. In actuality the 4 year old will be sleeping in the jr. suite with us. There's no way he's sleeping in the room with his sister. :D I just wanted to avoid paying any sort of single supplement because in total there would be 6 of us but if the interior room is a studio I guess that wouldn't apply.:confused:

[marci22]

Ok this makes sense. In actuality the 4 year old will be sleeping in the jr. suite with us. There's no way he's sleeping in the room with his sister. :D I just wanted to avoid paying any sort of single supplement because in total there would be 6 of us but if the interior room is a studio I guess that wouldn't apply.:confused:

 

You won't pay a single supplement on the studio. I booked this once for 5 people and I think the price charged for the single in the studio was the same as the 3rd and 4ths in the rooms.

Edited April 29, 2016 by marci22

[CruiserTB]

You won't pay a single supplement on the studio. I booked this once for 5 people and I think the price charged for the single in the studio was the same as the 3rd and 4ths in the rooms.

 

Great thanks.:D