Family Harbor Suite or Balcony?

[drewsdad]

My family and I are in the early planning stages of our next cruise.  We are wanting to take a  7-8 day cruise on the Carnival Celebration.  We are looking at booking a balcony stateroom but I am interested in hearing opinions on the Family Harbor rooms.  Would it be worth our money to book a Family Harbor over a balcony room?  We really enjoyed having a balcony on our last cruise with Disney but does the Family Harbor offer things that a balcony stateroom will not provide?

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

Suite Amentities and Perks for: Family Harbor Ocean View Suite (FP)

• Daily breakfast and snacks in the Family Harbor Lounge
• A selection of board games, family movies and video games in the Family Harbor Lounge
• Kids eat free in most specialty onboard restaurants
• Free evening of Night Owls babysitting service at Camp Ocean
• Priority check-in and express boarding
• Priority main dining room time assignment (Early, Late or Your Time Dining)
• Priority debarkation at homeport, ports of call requiring a water shuttle, and ports of call with arrival times later than 9:30am. 
• Two large bottles of water
• Pillow-top mattresses
• Bathrobes
• Soft, cozy linens (Carnival Home™ Signature Bedding Collection)

[kelkel2]

We had the same debate for our cruise on the Mardi Gras. 
We ended up opting for an ocean suite. We liked the extra space, the kids had their own area and own tv that was separated from our sleeping area by a curtain. There’s 2 tv’s so we could watch tv after we put the kids to bed without disturbing them. It was really nice and worth it for us.
I really like the idea of the family suites, but the. I balcony thing is a huge negative that keeps me from booking them. I love the idea of the family harbor and the little snack area they have, and how close it is to Camp Ocean! But the no balcony thing was the deal breaker. 

Edited February 8, 2023 by kelkel2

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

57 minutes ago, kelkel2 said:

We had the same debate for our cruise on the Mardi Gras. 
We ended up opting for an ocean suite. We liked the extra space, the kids had their own area and own tv that was separated from our sleeping area by a curtain. There’s 2 tv’s so we could watch tv after we put the kids to bed without disturbing them. It was really nice and worth it for us.
I really like the idea of the family suites, but the. I balcony thing is a huge negative that keeps me from booking them. I love the idea of the family harbor and the little snack area they have, and how close it is to Camp Ocean! But the no balcony thing was the deal breaker. 

I think changing the family suites from cove balcony on vista class to oceanview is a big downgrade, but the prices I bet do not reflect this. Also, I think lots of people get confused, as they kept the category name the same, but they really shouldn't be the same name.

[kelkel2]

8 hours ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

I think changing the family suites from cove balcony on vista class to oceanview is a big downgrade, but the prices I bet do not reflect this. Also, I think lots of people get confused, as they kept the category name the same, but they really shouldn't be the same name.

I agree, it’s a huge downgrade. The only thing I can think of with their thought process is that they have the family harbor on deck 4, which is the same as Camp Carnival. So it makes sense to have all of that together and maybe they didn’t want to give up the space of all of that and take that away from the cove balconies and have it on deck 5?  I know the coves are really popular and I’d love to book one, but right now while my kids are little we prefer to all be in one room, which really makes us need a suite. I wish I could have both worlds. 

[mexicobob]

I do not cruise without a balcony. Period. Cove balconies (in the right location) are fantastic. But just a regular balcony makes the cruise more enjoyable.

 

You can cruise for about the same price on one of the luxury cruise lines for about the same price as a cabin in the 1st class section  of Carnival and other  main stream cruise lines.

 

 

[kelkel2]

6 hours ago, mexicobob said:

I do not cruise without a balcony. Period. Cove balconies (in the right location) are fantastic. But just a regular balcony makes the cruise more enjoyable.

 

You can cruise for about the same price on one of the luxury cruise lines for about the same price as a cabin in the 1st class section  of Carnival and other  main stream cruise lines.

 

 

We agree. Balcony or no go. So the loss of the balconies on family harbor rooms is a no go for us. It’s too bad, we would have loved to take advantage of that while ours kids are small. But their first cruise was on the Mardi Gras and our next one is jubilee and neither of those have the balconies. 
Is it just horizon and vista that have the balconies in family harbor? 

[teknoge3k]

I'd do a Family Harbor cabin with cove balcony. A cove balcony is much better than a regular balcony imho for a number of reasons. You'll have the balcony and FH cabin. I wouldn't cruise without a balcony.

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

2 hours ago, kelkel2 said:

Is it just horizon and vista that have the balconies in family harbor? 

And Panorama 

[hittrj01]

On 2/8/2023 at 11:44 AM, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

I think changing the family suites from cove balcony on vista class to oceanview is a big downgrade, but the prices I bet do not reflect this. Also, I think lots of people get confused, as they kept the category name the same, but they really shouldn't be the same name.

Disagree. We just booked a Family Harbor Oceanview Suite on Celebration for $4,100 for our family of 5 the week of 2 Nov 24. The same Suite (w/ a balcony) on the Vista for the same week was $6,300. Much better itinerary, yes, but that’s quite a difference.