Need help selecting cabins for a family of 6!

[sjram]

We want to book a cruise for our family. (Two adults and 4 kids-12, 9, 5, 3) I know I have to book 2 rooms but am looking for any advise on the cheapest way to break us up price wise. Do I do 3 and 3 or 4 and 2? Does it make a difference? I know I have to "book" one adult in each room. I would really like to have a balcony for one room but get a little nervous about having the kids in their own room. Do any Carnival ships have a balcony room with an ocean view connecting? I don't want the kids to have a balcony. I could also do a balcony with an interior across the hall. Has anyone put their older kids across the hall? Thanks for any ideas!

[doclove]

Sounds alot like my family. We just booked on Holland America for their Christmas cruise. We were originally going to do 2 connecting outside rooms with 3 and 3 in each room. We could then move the kids into one room if we wanted privacy. The price is going to be the same for 3 and 3 as it is for 4 and 2 unless your ship discounts a 4th passenger beyond the 3rd person rate. But I don't think many do this. We eventually ended up bringing my parents so that we can have 2 rooms with 4 passengers each rather then 3 rooms. This saved us all a significant amount of money.

 

We had also thought of doing a balcony. That was until we talked about how to keep the 4yo off of the balcony so that we don't have any accidents. My 4 yo heard the conversation and said "I want to jump off the balcony." At that point we decided to skip the balcony since we knew the kids would find someway to give the 4yo his wish of jumping off the balcony. :D

[LauraS]

This is really an excellent starting point....

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=259

 

If I do say so myself :)

 

Laura

[sjram]

doclove, that is hilarious! That is a little why I was worried about the balcony too but I have read so many post on here about people having kids on their balconies safely. I really hoped that we would be able to spend some time on our balcony while the kids napped in a room. I definitely don't want to spend the money on two balconies because I know we would not use the one with the kids room. I get a little panicky! Thanks for your help! Maybe I should think about bringing grandma and grandpa. They are already coming with us the previous week to Disneyworld.

[sas80]

We want to book a cruise for our family. (Two adults and 4 kids-12, 9, 5, 3) I know I have to book 2 rooms but am looking for any advise on the cheapest way to break us up price wise. Do I do 3 and 3 or 4 and 2? Does it make a difference? I know I have to "book" one adult in each room. I would really like to have a balcony for one room but get a little nervous about having the kids in their own room. Do any Carnival ships have a balcony room with an ocean view connecting? I don't want the kids to have a balcony. I could also do a balcony with an interior across the hall. Has anyone put their older kids across the hall? Thanks for any ideas!

 

I just booked a Royal Caribbean Voyager class ship with 2 in a balcony and 2 in a connecting inside room. The cabins were on deck 9, almost all the way aft (the last 2 cabins on the long hallway). There were a pair port side and a pair starboard side.

 

I also saw that the Freedom class ship had the same type of rooms.

 

For any carrier, just look at each deck plan for the ship you want to sail to see what is available. Make sure the "connceting stateroom" logo appears on the layout of the 2 cabins that you are interested.

 

I looked deck by deck starting at the top to determine if the ship had what I was looking for.

 

The cheapest way to book these is to put 2 into the more expensive room and put the rest into the lesser expensive room.

[amjebrown]

Ok, so do any Carnival ships have the connecting balcony/inside combo? Thanks!

[urquie]

Ok, so do any Carnival ships have the connecting balcony/inside combo? Thanks!

 

i'd love to know if ncl has any ships with that set up!

[sas80]

i'd love to know if ncl has any ships with that set up!

 

It's easy enough to check, simply pull up the deck plan and look for them.