Bed setup for 4 person stateroom on Oasis of the Seas

[kwokpot]

The issue is the children are too old to qualify for child fare. When four adults share a cabin it isn't necessarily cheaper than 2 cabins. Infact even if you went with the least expensive cabin, an inside, the fare for 4 people in 1 room is only very slightly cheaper,$50-$100 total(looking at the Dec. Oasis cruise),than 2 inside cabins.

[Merion_Mom]

9 hours ago, acwsmom said:

I'm hoping for a double couch bed instead of a pullman. I'm worried about weight limits with a pullman since our kids are definitely not small. Our youngest is a 6' 15 year old boy. He wouldn't mind the pullman as long as he knows its sturdy enough to hold him. 

I agree that you should explore the option of two cabins, but I wanted to tell you that my 6' tall, 15 year old son slept in the pullman bed and was VERY happy to do so.

[brillohead]

2 hours ago, kwokpot said:

The issue is the children are too old to qualify for child fare.

Huh?

Royal doesn't have a child fare...????

 

 

[brillohead]

16 hours ago, palmettostatecruiser said:

Our hump balcony on Oasis had sofa bed. Agree on trying pricing a balcony & inside with each adult in one - may be less expensive. On our upcoming December Oasis cruise, it was cheaper for us to get an oceanview balcony & a Central Park Balcony than 4 in one stateroom.

It's not necessary to have an adult booked in each room as long as they are adjacent (next door or across the hall).  

[cured]

13 hours ago, kwokpot said:

Why would they do that when two inside rooms can be cheaper or the same amount of money?  Why would the adults be in a more uncomfortable bed? Makes no sense. What kind of vacation is it when the parents have to sleep on a sofa bed in order to give their teenage children a bed big enough for them? That's insanity when the solution is to get two rooms which isn't more expensive.

The OP said they are used to tight spaces from camping.

 

I know I would NEVER trade a balcony room for an inside, even two insides. That to me is insanity. I would much rather sleep on the sofa bed than trade a balcony for an inside room.  Even a crap balcony room with the guarantee is far better than any inside for us.

 

It is all about priorities and what can or cannot work within those priorities. A balcony to have coffee on in the morning or to sit on in the evenings before bed is one of our #1 priorities. Just because you like 2 insides does not mean everyone would.  Your definition of insanity is far different than mine and most likely many other people.

Edited September 27, 2021 by cured

[kwokpot]

53 minutes ago, cured said:

The OP said they are used to tight spaces from camping.

 

I know I would NEVER trade a balcony room for an inside, even two insides. That to me is insanity. I would much rather sleep on the sofa bed than trade a balcony for an inside room.  Even a crap balcony room with the guarantee is far better than any inside for us.

 

It is all about priorities and what can or cannot work within those priorities. A balcony to have coffee on in the morning or to sit on in the evenings before bed is one of our #1 priorities. Just because you like 2 insides does not mean everyone would.  Your definition of insanity is far different than mine and most likely many other people.

You are absolutely correct when you say people have different priorities. But I read the OP's initial statement and the implication is the main reason for the cabin choice is to save money and choosing the balcony cabin is to have some breathing room/alternate space to go since it's four people in one room. There was no mention of using the balcony for the purposes you mention. 

 

 

[kwokpot]

1 hour ago, cured said:

The OP said they are used to tight spaces from camping.

 

I know I would NEVER trade a balcony room for an inside, even two insides. That to me is insanity. I would much rather sleep on the sofa bed than trade a balcony for an inside room.  Even a crap balcony room with the guarantee is far better than any inside for us.

 

It is all about priorities and what can or cannot work within those priorities. A balcony to have coffee on in the morning or to sit on in the evenings before bed is one of our #1 priorities. Just because you like 2 insides does not mean everyone would.  Your definition of insanity is far different than mine and most likely many other people.

I just priced the Dec. 19th Oasis cruise. Four people in a balcony is $3784.  Getting a balcony & an inside is $3565. Getting a balcony and oceanview is $3677. Getting 2 balconies is $3677.So again it proves my point that two rooms, even getting two balconies is actually CHEAPER than 4 in one room. You gotta do the math.

[john160]

With the 60% off second passenger promotions, it makes sense that 2 rooms are cheaper than 1 for four people. Seems like two balcony rooms is the grand slam. they can travel for essentially the same money in double the space and not give up the balcony. 

 

Edited September 27, 2021 by john160

[LuCruise]

There are some rooms on Oasis and Allure (promenade, central park, boardwalk and balcony) that show as 5+.  We try and book these when we can if sticking to one room as it means that there is a sofa bed and a pullman.  With booking GTY, it's unlikely they'll assign one to you (as there aren't many), but it once you get your room, it doesn't hurt to ask if any are available.  You can always move to any other stateroom in the same category.

[dianajo67]

13 hours ago, brillohead said:

Huh?

Royal doesn't have a child fare...????

 

 

I’m assuming there’s reference to a children sail free sale in there.

[Ashland]

3 hours ago, dianajo67 said:

I’m assuming there’s reference to a children sail free sale in there.

Yes...That would be the KSF (Kids Sail Free) must be 12 and under and applies to very few cruises.

Luckily we had a KSF on our 2019 cruise that was RCI cancelled...moved that to 2021 did a L/S to 2022 and our KSF came right along with every change.

[john160]

Yeah I do not see the KSF promo much anymore. Would come in handy with my second grandson due at the end of the year. 

[Ashland]

43 minutes ago, john160 said:

Yeah I do not see the KSF promo much anymore. Would come in handy with my second grandson due at the end of the year. 

We have seen it for very early spring (March-May) cruises which is when we originally were sailing.

[john160]

20 minutes ago, Ashland said:

We have seen it for very early spring (March-May) cruises which is when we originally were sailing.

Thanks, We normally do a shorter cruise without the kids in the March-April timeframe. Full family and friends in September-November. Might have to flip that if there are some good KSF sails earlier in the year. 

[acwsmom]

On 9/27/2021 at 9:17 AM, cured said:

The OP said they are used to tight spaces from camping.

 

I know I would NEVER trade a balcony room for an inside, even two insides. That to me is insanity. I would much rather sleep on the sofa bed than trade a balcony for an inside room.  Even a crap balcony room with the guarantee is far better than any inside for us.

 

It is all about priorities and what can or cannot work within those priorities. A balcony to have coffee on in the morning or to sit on in the evenings before bed is one of our #1 priorities. Just because you like 2 insides does not mean everyone would.  Your definition of insanity is far different than mine and most likely many other people.

Yep - you're exactly right! I have done some pricing out for dinner options and it would save us about $300 to book two interior rooms instead of the balcony. But having that balcony is a huge deal to me personally and I'm not sure letting it go is worth that $300 saved. I love having a quiet place to sit and read, drink my coffee, and being able to watch the ocean pass by is something I loved on our last cruise. 

 

Honestly, I think we're going to keep the cramped balcony room and split the bed and put on my son and husband on those. Then, my daughter and I (who are pretty short), will probably share the couch bed. It won't be a big deal - we've done that at a few places before and it worked fine. 

[acwsmom]

On 9/26/2021 at 11:24 PM, brillohead said:

Huh?

Royal doesn't have a child fare...????

 

 

Actually, my son is 15 and my daughter is 20. So neither of them would qualify for a child fare anyway. 

[acwsmom]

22 hours ago, john160 said:

With the 60% off second passenger promotions, it makes sense that 2 rooms are cheaper than 1 for four people. Seems like two balcony rooms is the grand slam. they can travel for essentially the same money in double the space and not give up the balcony. 

 

Couldn't do 2 balcony rooms, but 2 interior rooms would save us a good amount of money, so we're considering it. 

 

If I was really smart I'd get one interior and one balcony and put the kids in the interior while the hubby and I stayed in the balcony. 😂

[zekekelso]

These threads are always hilarious 

 

Q: Help me do X

A: No! Do Y instead

Q: Thanks for the suggestion, but we really wanna do X. 
A: Your an idiot. You only think you want to do X, you really wanna do Y. Here’s a bunch of useful tips for doing Y 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

21 hours ago, dianajo67 said:

I’m assuming there’s reference to a children sail free sale in there.

yeah, but RCI hasn't has a KSF in a couple of years (like Ashland above, we got our KSF in 2019 for our 2020 sailing, but it got L&Sed to 2021), even if OP's kids were under 12.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

I don't know about Oasis, but here is where I asked about pullman beds on Harmony:

 

Apparently, they don't exist.

[poocher]

29 minutes ago, acwsmom said:

Yep - you're exactly right! I have done some pricing out for dinner options and it would save us about $300 to book two interior rooms instead of the balcony. But having that balcony is a huge deal to me personally and I'm not sure letting it go is worth that $300 saved. I love having a quiet place to sit and read, drink my coffee, and being able to watch the ocean pass by is something I loved on our last cruise. 

 

Honestly, I think we're going to keep the cramped balcony room and split the bed and put on my son and husband on those. Then, my daughter and I (who are pretty short), will probably share the couch bed. It won't be a big deal - we've done that at a few places before and it worked fine. 

We did this for MANY years with our kids.  Son slept with dad, daughter with me.  Actually never occurred to us to book 2 rooms for any vacation.  We’ll be celebrating our 41st anniversary on Monday.  The annual vacations sleeping apart clearly didn’t kill us,  although I can’t speak for my son 😄😄

[acwsmom]

OK - you guys wore me down and I'm so glad you did!!! I decided to call and see how much it would cost to have one balcony room and one interior room directly across the hall. It ended up saving us $300 to do that! So we've moved the kids into the interior room and the hubs and I will be in the balcony room. The balcony makes mom happy, the money savings makes dad happy, and the private room makes the kids REALLY happy! We all win! Thanks for all of your help, everyone!

[kwokpot]

10 minutes ago, acwsmom said:

OK - you guys wore me down and I'm so glad you did!!! I decided to call and see how much it would cost to have one balcony room and one interior room directly across the hall. It ended up saving us $300 to do that! So we've moved the kids into the interior room and the hubs and I will be in the balcony room. The balcony makes mom happy, the money savings makes dad happy, and the private room makes the kids REALLY happy! We all win! Thanks for all of your help, everyone!

YAY!!!!!

I want to be the first to apologize if I made you feel your own decisions for your family weren't the correct ones. I do admit I have a tendency to think my way is the only way and it is a personality flaw that I (And my family,lol) am aware of and always try to work on. Know that my participation in Cruise Critic is to help people get the best cruise experience they can by offering information, advice, and alternative ways to look at things.

I wish you and you family the best vacation. We are also going on a family cruise;Christmas cruise on the Anthem from NJ. My parents graciously treated the whole family, which includes their granddaughters boyfriend, so there's nine of us in four cabins. Dad's 92, mom's 83, and they always want to spend the holidays with family. 

Edited September 28, 2021 by kwokpot

[kwokpot]

2 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

So we've moved the kids into the interior room and the hubs and I will be in the balcony room.

I have to admit when you revealed your daughter is 20 I cringed a little when you decided you were all going to stay in one room. I think your new decision will make your kids so much happier. I has nothing to do with not wanting to spend time with your parents, but young adults that age can use some space of their own. A cruise is such a great way for families to travel since you can be together yet have the ability to separate and do things on your own. 

[acwsmom]

6 hours ago, kwokpot said:

YAY!!!!!

I want to be the first to apologize if I made you feel your own decisions for your family weren't the correct ones. I do admit I have a tendency to think my way is the only way and it is a personality flaw that I (And my family,lol) am aware of and always try to work on. Know that my participation in Cruise Critic is to help people get the best cruise experience they can by offering information, advice, and alternative ways to look at things.

I wish you and you family the best vacation. We are also going on a family cruise;Christmas cruise on the Anthem from NJ. My parents graciously treated the whole family, which includes their granddaughters boyfriend, so there's nine of us in four cabins. Dad's 92, mom's 83, and they always want to spend the holidays with family. 

Oh I wasn't bothered at all by the suggestions to reconsider! So no need to apologize at all. Our family is a little unique in that the four of us are very close and the kids are (finally) at an age where they really don't fight a lot. So I knew it wouldn't be a problem for the four of us to share the room. We've stayed in worse conditions, including our car after our tiny three-person tent (with four of us in there) flooded out, and spending years sharing a tiny bedroom with two small floor mattresses for the four of us every time we visited a family member's house. So as long as we have a place to sleep and a bathroom, we're happy. 😄