Conquest Aft Cabin for family of 4, built for 2

[ADD Boy]

We would like to book an aft cabin (8G) on the Carnival Conquest this summer w/ my DW, DD (2), and DS (4). BUT there is only one cabin that has a formal sofa convertible to a twin bed on deck 6. From reading other threads, I see that the Coast Guard will not allow rollaway beds on the Conquest class ships, so that won't work for DS. Does anyone know if the sofas on these cabins are big enough for a makeshift 4yo bed? Has anyone ever brought on a small air mattress for their children? If so, would housekeeping make up this bed for you?

[nybumpkin]

I see the cabin you're considering - 6454. Unfortunately, I don't think Carnival will let you book that cabin with four people since it has beds for only three, regardless of whether you bring an air mattress. On that class of ship, they require one bed per person. There is only one sofa, and that's the one that converts to a twin bed.

[ADD Boy]

You are absolutely correct. I can get around that by booking my kids (in theory) with my brother in a nearby quad inside (along w/his daughter), but have my kids with us (in practice, hopefully) in the aft balcony cabin. IF there's room, and Carnival won't be upset w/the unorthodox arrangements.

[nybumpkin]

If your son is booked in another cabin, they won't care where he actually sleeps. We've had a couple of cruises where we had to book one of us in a cabin with two of our sons and the other in a cabin with the third son, then swap once on board. (We're sailing on Carnival Glory in less than 4 weeks, with our youngest son booked in the cabin with us. There may be several nights when he sleeps with his older brothers across the hall.) If your son is participating in Camp Carnival, you do need to remember that his "official" cabin will be the one with your brother for Camp Carnival purposes. Depending on where your brother's cabin is, your muster station may be different as well. He will need to go with your brother for the muster drill if it's a different station.

 

As for space - We've sailed with all five of us in a balcony cabin on Carnival Victory and there was plenty of room for the extra bed on the floor. I think the air mattress would work just fine. (That actually sounds good for our own Glory cruise if we put our youngest in with his brothers!) Would the steward make it up for you? I'm not sure, but our cabin stewards have always gone above and beyond for us.

 

Given what you've described, I'd go for the aft balcony. We had one of the aft wraps on Victory last year, and I love the aft cabins.

[ADD Boy]

Great information, thanks so much!! Our extended family will be in five cabins, all located on Deck 6 in the aft section, so we should all be together for the drill. Particularly good info on kids program, we will have our kids in Camp Carnival for sure, as will SIL and brother, first cruise for them, first time w/kids for us.

 

I think we might spring for the balcony wrap, which looks like it has even more floor space to put an air mattress and pack n play down. Did you find that to be the case vs. the standard aft balcony? I didn't see a sofa in the balcony wrap cabin, is that true? Is the bathroom any larger in the wrap than in the aft cabin?

[nybumpkin]

The aft wrap doesn't have a full-size sofa - it's more like a love seat. It doesn't convert to a bed. We really liked the layout of the aft wrap (although they're all slightly different and we were on deck 8) - if it wasn't bigger than a standard balcony cabin, it sure felt like it was. The bathroom's not bigger, though.