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Room configurations on a cruise

38 replies

BorneoBound · 04/06/2023 11:29

Have you cruised with teenagers before? Especially if you have kids of different genders? How did you / would you book rooms for a family of 4?

We are looking at a Caribbean cruise next year at Christmas. My DS will be turning 16 on the trip, DD will be almost 14. A suite is out of our price range. We have a few options...

  1. 2 connecting ocean view rooms - parents in one teens in the other
  2. 1 balcony room - all 4 of us in one room, extra space by way of a balcony
  3. Pushing the budget, 2 connecting interior rooms for the kids, plus one balcony room for us across the hall - the kids would love their own privacy. However I'm not 100% sold from a safety perspective.


The cruise we are looking at is 11 nights so I'm not sure if we will drive each other nuts all in the same room, but equally my youngest will only be coming up to 14 and feels a bit young to be in a room on her own. Any other suggestions I haven't thought of?
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MickeyMouseEars · 04/06/2023 11:35

I'm fairly certain that cruise lines technically require an adult per cabin, therefore your 3rd option won't be possible.

You could probably get away with the 1st option and this would be the best option in my opinion, if you really don't think you'll be able to manage in close proximity for that long. However, my personal preference would be the balcony room with all of you since you'll probably be out of the cabin most of the time anyway.

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cherrypied · 04/06/2023 11:40

One balcony room is far to tight in my opinion for four adult sized or nearly adult sized people. Also teen off spring need privacy and will need more than little one so everyone will be changing in one bathroom.

I'd not do two interiors and a balcony either.

I'd get one balcony and in inside and then have the kids in one and you in another but you may have to book it as one parent in each cabin and then one teen in each cabin and swap about.

Surely 2 balcony is same price as 2 inside plus 1 balcony?

Which ship is it?

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BorneoBound · 04/06/2023 11:42

That's very true - as they are classed as 'adults' for payment I was thinking it would be ok, but actually you are probably right about option 3. Thanks for your input

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EvenmoreDisorganised · 04/06/2023 11:43

When mine were younger teens we had two interconnecting rooms with them in one and us in the other. You have to make the booking with an adult in each cabin but that can be changed on check-in. That was with Royal Carribean. It has the advantage that anyone can use either bathroom. 4 with one bathroom might be a bit of a rush if you are all getting ready to go off on port days.

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BorneoBound · 04/06/2023 11:44

Looking at Royal Caribbean Explorer ship. 2 balcony probably would be the same sort of price as option 3, I'm just nervous to give the kids a balcony option when I'm potentially not there to supervise them. Am I silly?

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Foxy1616 · 04/06/2023 11:46

Have you considered Mum + DD sharing one cabin & Dad +DS the other? That’s what we did as a family when we went on holiday & my brother and I were 14 - 18 years old. I’m sure mum and dad would have liked to share a room, but everybody’s comfort/happiness was more important.

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Clymene · 04/06/2023 11:47

Are your teenagers happy to share a room?

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EvenmoreDisorganised · 04/06/2023 11:47

We did two interconnecting but always interior (overlooking the promenade deck). You don't spend much time in the cabins. You could always do one interior and one balcony opposite each other.

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BorneoBound · 04/06/2023 11:48

Foxy1616 · 04/06/2023 11:46

Have you considered Mum + DD sharing one cabin & Dad +DS the other? That’s what we did as a family when we went on holiday & my brother and I were 14 - 18 years old. I’m sure mum and dad would have liked to share a room, but everybody’s comfort/happiness was more important.

Absolutely we would consider this as an option. The trip would be to celebrate both mine and DH's big birthdays so we would rather be together, but if when the time came the kids were uncomfortable sharing with each other then we would definitely switch to a girls room and a boys room

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BorneoBound · 04/06/2023 11:49

Clymene · 04/06/2023 11:47

Are your teenagers happy to share a room?

If we went tomorrow I think they would put up with each other fine. 18 months time I really couldn't tell you

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PucketyPuckPuck · 04/06/2023 11:50

Four people in one cabin is very, very tight.

I went on a cruise last year with my sisters (party of 4). We had two balcony rooms, completely separate - but the times when there were 4 of us in one room like meeting before dinner, we were falling over each other. Highly irritating and it was only the odd half hour and without the extra 2 beds out. I cant imagine how cramped it would be to actually have beds out too, for 4.

There are also a lot of times you'll all want to get ready, quickly at the same time like a quick shower and change after pool, before dinner - one bathroom would be really stressful.

Like a pp said, cruise lines require an adult in the room so you won't officially be able to have you in one room, kids in another. BUT - they won't check who's sleeping where.

I would get two connecting rooms, booked as one adult and one child in each then swap your luggage around and put the two dc in together when you're there.

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LilacRos · 04/06/2023 11:53

Those cabins are TINY. I don't subscribe to the "you only sleep in it" philosophy, for 11 days you need somewhere you can have peace and relax. Plus storage for luggage is limited you would be falling over stuff with 4 uin one cabin.
Ours were a little older but we booked one balcony for us and an inside for them. You can usually choose so I picked cabins opposite each other.
In hotels I just booked two rooms. I know they like an adult in each room but I think 16 is old enough not to worry about supervision.

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PucketyPuckPuck · 04/06/2023 11:56

I'm just nervous to give the kids a balcony option when I'm potentially not there to supervise them. Am I silly?

If NT and not known for behavioural issues, a 13 year old is plenty old enough I think. Its easy to overthink but the balustrades on the balconies and decks are high. There's no way to be messing around and accidentally tumble over if that's your worry, they'd need to be actively climbing and putting effort in to get over - and if there was any chance of your teen doing that, a cruise definitely isn't an option full stop!

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EvenmoreDisorganised · 04/06/2023 11:58

RC will switch the room allocations on check-in for interconnecting rooms so everyone has a card that will open their own room door.

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80sgirly · 04/06/2023 12:09

We did two connecting rooms, overlooking promenade, so no balcony. Kids similar ages to yours.
It worked out fine. We had the connecting door open most of the time, but nice to have the option for privacy, the extra bathroom and the extra space.

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BorneoBound · 04/06/2023 12:17

Thanks everyone, think I will definitely bin off the idea of sharing one room and will look at the connecting options. No behavioural issues so will contemplate the balcony option - we've only ever done ocean view rooms before but would love a balcony for myself. It is almost an extra £2k though so not sure it's worth the price increase. Thanks for everyones opinions :-)

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EvenmoreDisorganised · 04/06/2023 12:34

Connecting is just handy, you can all speak to each other while you are getting ready, pop through to borrow phone chargers, suncream whatever.

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wowie69 · 04/06/2023 12:48

No way would I have four in the same room. Cabins are just so small. Previously we've had the teen kids across the hall from us, but if you had the option for interconnecting I'd probably go for that.

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bornintheuk2 · 04/06/2023 12:55

@BorneoBound remember too that if you have a balcony (nice though that is) you'll lose that space in your cabin.

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SwedishDeathClearance · 04/06/2023 12:58

They let children that age in their own room

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SwedishDeathClearance · 04/06/2023 12:59

It has tone within a certain distance of yours with RC for example. P an d O mined were technically next door on aft balconies but to got between the rooms you had to do a loop.

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RubyMurry22 · 04/06/2023 12:59

I have only been in one cruise and the 4 of us shared a cabin for 14 night. No balcony but porthole. DDs were 13 and 15. No way would I ever go that again! We could only all be in there when we were in bed really. When it was time to get ready for dinner, we had to do it 2 at a time with the other 2 up on deck.

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ModerationInEverything · 04/06/2023 13:07

To save money how about one balcony cabin, and one interior cabin with doors facing each other across the corridor?

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EvenmoreDisorganised · 04/06/2023 13:36

Check carefully if you aren’t doing interconnecting, I booked with RC recently over the phone and had the deck plans open on a screen in front of me (the website was showing hardly any availability but the operator had a lot more rooms available). He was trying to book me two rooms that appeared to be opposite one another but if you looked closely the interior one had it’s back to the corridor with the balcony one and you actually had to walk a huge loop of corridors to get there even though it was “opposite”.

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Ohmylovejune · 04/06/2023 13:45

Not sure its much help but we did two family cruises. On the most recent our daughter was 11 and son 9. We had a outside room for 4 with two sets of bunks and the cabin staff dropped the top beds down in the day so we had a lounge.

If you can afford separate cabins then do but we found we shared getting ready for dinner and met in the bar but our children were much, much, younger.

We really didn't spend much time in the cabin. Our days flew by. We had a fab time

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