Regular balcony cabin with 2 kids

[amby6063]

Thinking of booking a 7 day Mexican riviera for next year on Discovery. We have always booked minisuites in the past but it’s over $1000 more now for a mini suite. Does anyone have feedback of a regular balcony room with two kids? We’d be traveling with our 10 year old twins and I’m thinking it’ll be super tight. 
 

are there any ‘special’ rooms that are coded as balcony but are actually

larger? We booked a regular balcony on navigator of the seas last time (Royal Caribbean) but this specific room was an aft corner and the size of a junior suite. Such a great deal. 
 

thanks in advance! 

[KatRangoon]

It's doable, but you all have to really like eachother.  

 

Here's a pic I found which shows how they do the bunk beds. It wasn't so much a issue of the bunks, for me, it was a footprint issue. There just wasn't enough floor space for an entire family and their belongings. We made it work, but the next time we got 2 rooms. 

 

Edit: If a mini-suite is an option, I'd consider it well worth the price because of the extra space.

Edited May 26, 2023 by KatRangoon

[Kay S]

Deluxe balcony will have a little loveseat, more floor space.  It's not as costly as a mini but a little more than a regular balcony.  

[SCX22]

I was assigned D701 on the Discovery Princess for a Mexican Riviera cruise last year.  It had the 3rd and 4th pullman bunks from the ceiling, but it had an extended balcony.  According to my Travel Summary, this cabin is categorized as a Category BD, Balcony--not a Category D4, Premium Deluxe Balcony--so no meta upcharge to choose this cabin.  If the inside living quarters become tight, some of you party can sit outside, weather permitting.  Never had to use the upper berths so can't comment on what's it's like to have more than two in that cabin.

 

[LACruiser88]

Our daughter and her family have been in a balcony with two kids (8 yr olds) and it was very tight.  We were down the hall in a mini-suite and our granddaughter spent a few nights on our sleeper sofa.

[Lady Arwen]

I think it’s definitely doable, but would you enjoy it?  If you can save money elsewhere and upgrade to a mini suite, I think it’s money well spent.

[roobug]

We did an ocean view with our twins when they were 11.  It was fine, but it was crowded, our next cruise we did the mini suite which was nice having so much more space.  However for us the mini suite was nice but not worth the price for the bit of extra room so we went with a deluxe balcony for our upcoming cruise.  

[reedprincess]

1 hour ago, amby6063 said:

Thinking of booking a 7 day Mexican riviera for next year on Discovery. We have always booked minisuites in the past but it’s over $1000 more now for a mini suite. Does anyone have feedback of a regular balcony room with two kids? We’d be traveling with our 10 year old twins and I’m thinking it’ll be super tight. 
 

are there any ‘special’ rooms that are coded as balcony but are actually

larger? We booked a regular balcony on navigator of the seas last time (Royal Caribbean) but this specific room was an aft corner and the size of a junior suite. Such a great deal. 
 

thanks in advance! 

Deluxe Balcony. Larger than standard balcony, smaller than mini-suite. And less expensive, by a fair bit. If you can book an obstructed deluxe balcony cabin, save even more.. the obstructions range from nothing more than the deck below to some portion of the lifeboat being above the horizon view. 

The small loveseat folds out to a sofa bed, which blocks balcony access when open, but you'll only have it open at night. The 4th berth is a pullman over the sofa bed.  

With this cabin configuration, you can have the main bed together as a large queen versus separated as show in photo above, due to ladders, etc. 

 

[reedprincess]

Here's what a Deluxe Balcony for 4 looks like. You can see the Pullman berth outlined by the balcony here. 

Depending on the size of your twins, they may be able to share the sofa bed. It's a two person love seat. 

[ktcishot]

1 hour ago, reedprincess said:

Here's what a Deluxe Balcony for 4 looks like. You can see the Pullman berth outlined by the balcony here. 

Depending on the size of your twins, they may be able to share the sofa bed. It's a two person love seat. 

Do all deluxe balconies have a couch? I thought just mini suites had them

[startedwithamouse]

Two connecting insides, so much more room. 

[SCX22]

Just now, ktcishot said:

Do all deluxe balconies have a couch? I thought just mini suites had them

 

All Deluxe balconies have a love seat, 2 cushions only.  Mini-suites and suites have a full sofa with 3 cushions.

[nini]

So, where is our "Academy Award" for sharing a window cabin with two teenage girls? They were 17 and 14 years old. This was our first cruise and we were quite the newbies! Basically, it was a cabin with 4 twin beds, two of which came from the ceiling. And no, the other two could not become a queen. needless to say that when we treated them to another cruise, they were 27 and 24 and we booked an inside for them right a cross the hall from us in our balcony. That worked out great.

[reedprincess]

3 hours ago, ktcishot said:

Do all deluxe balconies have a couch? I thought just mini suites had them

Yes, all Deluxe Balcony cabins have a loveseat.

Deluxe Balcony is a cabin category only found on Royal class ships, not the older Grand/Gem/Island class ships....

Sun class, coming out 2024, all cabin classes will have a sofa - at the sacrifice of the large walk-in closets and dressing area, unfortunately (IMO).. 

 

[Steelers36]

6 hours ago, amby6063 said:

Thinking of booking a 7 day Mexican riviera for next year on Discovery. We have always booked minisuites in the past but it’s over $1000 more now for a mini suite. Does anyone have feedback of a regular balcony room with two kids? We’d be traveling with our 10 year old twins and I’m thinking it’ll be super tight. 
 

are there any ‘special’ rooms that are coded as balcony but are actually

larger? We booked a regular balcony on navigator of the seas last time (Royal Caribbean) but this specific room was an aft corner and the size of a junior suite. Such a great deal. 
 

thanks in advance! 

Book a separate Inside across the hall?

 

[texasgirl29]

Get what you can afford and make it work. Use organizing strategies (tons of videos on YouTube like Cruise Tips TV and Life Well Cruised). Eleven year olds will find friends in the kids clubs for sea days and you’ll be out of the cabin on port days. We hardly ever saw our daughter when she was a preteen because she loved the clubs so much.

[cruise_critical]

Here's a pic I found of the standard balcony room with 2 pullman beds above. (might be a smaller ship, but even the Royal class is pretty much identical as can be seen in the video below)

 

Video of them showing 1 of 2 pullman pulled down.

 

[avonlady6390]

On royal class including the Discovery check for obstructed view deluxe cabins to save money you can find those under inside cabins scroll down to deluxe balcony obstructed view.  Those are nice with a love seat which makes into a bed.

[dave_k58]

21 hours ago, SCX22 said:

 

All Deluxe balconies have a love seat, 2 cushions only.  Mini-suites and suites have a full sofa with 3 cushions.

Except some ships don't have the deluxe balconies. They have a premium balcony but that has a larger balcony and no sofa/loveseat

[Kay S]

54 minutes ago, dave_k58 said:

Except some ships don't have the deluxe balconies. They have a premium balcony but that has a larger balcony and no sofa/loveseat

The Royal class ships have the deluxe balconies.  OP is considering Discovery which is a Royal class ship.

[theloo]

Our first family cruise was a balcony cabin for 5 (on NCL Sun).  The kids were 6, 6, and 8.  It was pretty tight, but we had a great time!  It can work if that's what you can afford.

[SuzieQ521]

Just did Royal with deluxe balcony for 3 of us…sofabed was perfect for my 4 year old. I think there’s an upper bed too if needed.

 

we paid obstructed prices for no obstruction at all…E411…bigger balcony than standard ones.

[dave_k58]

2 hours ago, SuzieQ521 said:

Just did Royal with deluxe balcony for 3 of us…sofabed was perfect for my 4 year old. I think there’s an upper bed too if needed.

 

we paid obstructed prices for no obstruction at all…E411…bigger balcony than standard ones.

NOt sure, Suzie but I think only the Royal Class have the deluxe balconies with the sofa(love seat)

[avonlady6390]

That is true only royal class has deluxe balcony the op is going on the Discovery which is a royal class ship. Deck 8 obstructed deluxe cabins are less expensive with virtually no obstruction except when you look down you see the promenade deck with an angled balcony. 

[SuzieQ521]

On 5/27/2023 at 7:40 PM, dave_k58 said:

NOt sure, Suzie but I think only the Royal Class have the deluxe balconies with the sofa(love seat)

Correct. We are going on the Crown in November and were hoping for another balcony room with sofabed but we would have to upgrade to a suite for that. We are just going to deal with the pullman beds.