4 kids under 5.

[RENMama]

A mom from a local moms forum really wants to take her kids on a cruise. Finances are tight so most bang for the buck is very important.

She has 2 sets of twins. They are 4 and 3 now. (yes, 2 sets of twins a year apart).

 

Suggestions? Since the girls are all ofd enough I know they can do pretty much any kids club.

They will need 2 connecting rooms right?

Any cruiseline thats usually "cheapest" with 4 out of 6 cruising being kids?

[luckynumber6]

I have no idea what is the cheapest, but we have 5 kids and are cramming into 2 connecting rooms. I booked almost a year in advance to get two connecting rooms as we tried to do a cruise with all the kids last summer and could not find rooms that were connecting with the size I wanted during the time I was looking....about 3 months before. I also wanted each connecting room to have occupancy of 4 people.... that was the tough part. We are doing Carnival as they offered the best price at the time ( though my price keeps going down and am being credited...) and the rooms like I wanted...

 

She might have a tough time finding 2 rooms that have the occupancy she needs that are connecting for this summer....

[napls2]

With 4 out of 6 being kids, the best bet would be to look for a cruiseline that has a family suite because if you look at getting 2 rooms, that is like paying for 4 adults and 2 kids the way pricing goes on most cruise lines. Also, make sure the kids are potty trained completely, no pullups or else some cruise lines will not let them in the kid's rooms. If you don't have the time to check out each cruise line, I would ask the help of a travel agent or someone to do all the legwork.

[RENMama]

which lines have family suites that fit 6 in one room?

[crusinmama06]

God bless her. :eek:

 

RCCL has Family Suites that sleep 6.

 

I know some say to do Costa or MSC because kids on some sailings travel free. I haven't done those lines so I don't know if i would presonally recommend them.

 

If I was trying to take 4 kids on a budget, I would be pricing out a Carnival cruise. I would get connecting cabins and price out 3 people in each cabin. You can actually do that at a booking site like expedia. Then click on the option to list "by price".

 

If cash was REALLY tight, she could do a Carnival cruise for as little as $189pp.

[FOURunderFOUR]

I have 5 under 5 1/2 and we are sailing on MSC in a few weeks. My mom and dad are going too, and they paid their own way, but with their "kids sail free" promo, you get 2 kids free per 2 paying adults (you just pay govt taxes and port charges for the kids). Our 5th child is a newborn (4 mos) so she was allowed in our room with the 2 older kids as well. We have an oceanview room for around $1000 total for the 7 of us (DH and I and our kids). There have been a lot of negative reviews about MSC lately, but we are taking our chances. I figure at this age, the kids are young enough that they will be excited regardless...they don't know any better.

 

J

[kimmimom]

that is an amazing price! please do come back and let us know how the cruise goes. We are a family of 5 going for $1400 on carnival and I thought we got a good deal-LOL

[2sets1yrar]

:D

 

Hi. Guess who this is? Thanks RENMama!

 

Actually it's 2sets husband, but she's sitting here next to me. kimmimom, $1400 sounds like a good deal to us! The best we've found is $2379 for the six of us* a week in December w/o airfare when we called Carnival direct....

 

Which is probably a total newb mistake. We've just been looking into this for a few days, so we're sure there's lots to learn to get the best price.

We don't even know what we don't know about cruising. :rolleyes:

 

We are going with 2sets father and his wife, who'll carry the adult fare on the second room which Carnival quoted as $1400. Since we'd have a second set of adults, even a few doors apart is fine, so we're not worried too much about getting adjoining rooms. Might even keep the kid activity level at bedtime down a bit.

 

2sets father is also leaning towards NCL to avoid the formal dinners. Which is fine by us. As first-timers, I think any decent ship would be lots of fun.

 

But mainly, we're not even sure what to ask... :confused:

 

(and apparently as 2sets has pointed out to me, I can't spell "Year" either... It's supposed to be 2sets1year. Typing in the dark on the bed is my defense.)

[Julienatul]

Try Carnival for best price and NCL and MSC for kids sail free promo's. However, most Carnival's 3rd and 4th person rates are as cheap as the kids sail free promos when you add govt fees/port taxes. On any line you will have casual buffet dinners that are not as formal. Its great to have family with you to help out!! We sailed Carnival this past summer and had the grandparents in a room right across the hall from us. That works great too because you can open both doors and see directly into the cabins (during the day of course). My DD would go back and forth between the cabins.

Have a great cruise

 

Julie

[RENMama]

:D

 

Hi. Guess who this is? Thanks RENMama!

 

.)

 

 

Hehe. SO glad you found the place!!! They are good with the info here. :)

Research away. :)

[RENMama]

We do cruise with my parents also. So we could do 2 cabins also, splitting up the kids with 1 going with them and decreasing cost of just our 5 getting 2 cabins.

 

But since we have cruised before, and my parents have cruised often, they get MUCH better cabin upgrades so I feel bad "dragging them down". And they do help us out alot with childcare while on vacations so we are getting our 5 in one room and allowing them some alone kid free time in their own cabin.

[crusinmama06]

Well with the first initial MSC reviews coming back, I wouldn't sail MSC - Sorry :(

 

2sets1yrar - It all depends what WEEK in December you asked Carnival about. I can tell you from experience that the week after Thanksgiving, the first week of December is one of the lowest. But, just 2 weeks later, the rates shoot up to the most expensive of the year (holiday rates)

 

What week did they quote?