Five people in a stateroom?

We are a family of 5 - two adults and three teens (14,15,16). During the pricing of Carnival cruises it looks like they can get all five of us into one room. But I've seen staterooms before and they are pretty small.

Has anyone in the forums put five people in a room before, and if so how was your experience? Are the "extra" beds of decent size? Our kids are fairly tall.

To be honest, if we have to book two rooms it's going to put us out of our budget.

Royal Caribbean's larger ships (like Freedom) have family rooms that are reasonably priced.

I don't think I would put 3 teens and 2 parents into the same cabin - way too tight and only one bathroom. Plus the teens would have to sleep on the very lumpy sofa bed (or the upper berths) which aren't very comfortable, especially if they are tall.

Two cabins is really the way to go, even if you have to book the cheapest cabins on the ship to make it more budget friendly. I have two teens, and that's the way we have to do it. the sofa bed is supposed to sleep two, but it is very narrow.

How many nights?

Five people will be roughing-it, esp with just the one small bathroom.

You can overcome the problems to a degree by limiting your luggage, & staggering times for getting up in the morning, getting ready in the evening, etc.

If your kids are the same as most, they'll be happy to sleep in a little longer :rolleyes:

On a mini-cruise, if everyone accepts that sharing is the only way then they'll not mind the inconvenience.

But on a 14-night cruise .........:eek:

JB :)

I've only got 2 kids - boys ages 12 & 16 - and for our cruise next year, we got 2 cabins. Now admittedly, I did go above our anticipated budget by getting a Royal Suite and an adjoining Concierge Class cabin. This combo actually gives us much more room plus 2 bathrooms and only the youngest will have to sleep on the sofa bed (since he's the smallest) in the CC room (DH and I get the suite since we're paying!). I also booked us 15 months in advance, so I can watch for price drops and pay everything off over time - which makes it easier on the monthly budget.

On our cruise 2 years ago, all 4 of us were in an Owners Suite and while there was plenty of room and we didn't have to fight over the bathroom, we didn't have a lot of privacy. The boys were also smaller and were perfectly comfortable on the sofa bed. My oldest is now 6' 2" and for him to share with his younger brother would be asking for a fight every night.

We just got back from a week at Disney and the boys had their own unit of a 2 unit condo - the oldest got the bed and the youngest slept on the sofa bed and they still fought (mainly over the pillows!).

Not sure when you planned to go or for how long, but maybe you could book now but for a sailing next year to give you time to budget a little more? I think you'd be happier and more relaxed by getting 2 cabins.

A 3-day cruise, maybe...knowing it's going to be REALLY tight. I guess the teens or you might go to the gym to shower to help, but why not consult a cruise specialist TA and see what you can do. We found tht we were able to get a couple of inside cabins and give the kids their own bathroom. I'm sure you know what your budget can accomodate, but it will be much more uncomfortable to have tall teens stacked on top of each other.

Thank you all for the quick feedback. As I suspected it sounds like a 7 day cruise with all of us in the same room may be asking for trouble. For clarity, the economics look like this:

1) With everyone in the same room, my wife and I would pay the adult rate, but then the kids pay about half. For a 7 day cruise out of San Juan we were quoted about $4k

2) With two staterooms, even the cheap ones, we only get that discount for one kid, and in fact since there would be only two in the other room, the per person rate goes up. So we are talking about a $1,500 increase by getting another room.

I will probably look into shorter cruises out of Pt Canaveral and shoot for two rooms. Or bag the whole idea and go to an all-inclusive resort like we usually do.

We are sharing a state room with another couple..I am very nervous..I hope it isn't awful, but we all agreed we are never in the room that long anyway.

We are sharing a state room with another couple..I am very nervous..I hope it isn't awful, but we all agreed we are never in the room that long anyway.

If you want to keep you sanity and your friendship change to 2 cabins. You are asking for trouble. You are already nervous.

In my opinion when a person says that he/she is never in the room that long.......this is just an excuse because you don't want to pay for 2 cabins.

Thank you all for the quick feedback. As I suspected it sounds like a 7 day cruise with all of us in the same room may be asking for trouble. For clarity, the economics look like this:

1) With everyone in the same room, my wife and I would pay the adult rate, but then the kids pay about half. For a 7 day cruise out of San Juan we were quoted about $4k

2) With two staterooms, even the cheap ones, we only get that discount for one kid, and in fact since there would be only two in the other room, the per person rate goes up. So we are talking about a $1,500 increase by getting another room.

 

I will probably look into shorter cruises out of Pt Canaveral and shoot for two rooms. Or bag the whole idea and go to an all-inclusive resort like we usually do.

Look into Royal Caribbean. Freedom of the Seas has a family cabin that sleeps up to 6 people. Also look into NCL...they almost always have great 3rd and 4th person rates (usually much less than Carnival) making these cruises much more affordable. You don't say when you are going or what type of cabins you are looking at but for one example I priced the Norweigan Pearl out of Maimi for the week of Oct 21st. You can get 2 interior cabins, 2 people in one cabin and 3 in the other for a total of $2327.

And yes, putting all 5 of you in one small cabin is asking for trouble.

If you opt for Carnival Dream out of Port Canaveral, they have Family Oceanview cabins (6N) designed for five, with a split bath. It looks like this:

The fifth person sleeps on a mattress on top of the couch. EM

Thank you all for the quick feedback. As I suspected it sounds like a 7 day cruise with all of us in the same room may be asking for trouble. For clarity, the economics look like this:

1) With everyone in the same room, my wife and I would pay the adult rate, but then the kids pay about half. For a 7 day cruise out of San Juan we were quoted about $4k

2) With two staterooms, even the cheap ones, we only get that discount for one kid, and in fact since there would be only two in the other room, the per person rate goes up. So we are talking about a $1,500 increase by getting another room.

 

I will probably look into shorter cruises out of Pt Canaveral and shoot for two rooms. Or bag the whole idea and go to an all-inclusive resort like we usually do.

I don't know what stateroom category you are looking, the date...etc..All of those things play a HUGE factor on the price you pay. Just did a 7 day with Carnival out of MIA. Average out to less than $500.00 per person (this was even after taxes, fees) and we had 2 rooms. We cruised after the holiday rush and before the spring break rush which really helped.

If you are a little flexibile with dates and are not picky with what type of room you book, you can very easily take a 7 day cruise with Carnival out of San Juan for less than the $4k you were quoted and still have 2 rooms. I just went to there website and priced out an August 2012 sailing out of San Juan. 2 interior rooms (2 in one 3 in the other) and it came out to 3557.00. I priced out this summer sailing, since you have kids and I am assuming you are trying to scheduled something when school is out. However, the prices outside of that summer timeframe dropped drastically.

I don't know how flexible you are, but if you play around with dates (even just switching from one week to the next) you may be able to find something you want within your budget and actually have the 2 rooms.

Good luck!

I am wondering why you want to cruise out of San Juan? Unless you live there the cost of airfare has to be taken into consideration.

We are a family of 5 - two adults and three teens (14,15,16). During the pricing of Carnival cruises it looks like they can get all five of us into one room. But I've seen staterooms before and they are pretty small.

 

Has anyone in the forums put five people in a room before, and if so how was your experience? Are the "extra" beds of decent size? Our kids are fairly tall.

 

To be honest, if we have to book two rooms it's going to put us out of our budget.

As others stated depends on what type of cabin you are looking into. We put 5 in a Grand Suite on Carnival and it was plenty of room, but we don't mind 1 bathroom. I just booked Royal Caribben Liberty of the Seas, 5 nights for the 5 of us in 2 cabins and it was a total of 4442.40 for 2 cabins (during spring break 2013). Check deck plans and you will see that all freedom class and some other classes have a balcony (D1) CONNECTED to an Ocean view (f) all the way forward on deck 9 (Oasis class doesn't have this combo). Each of these cabins sleep 3 so do a dummy booking for 2 cabins with 3 in each room. If you find the one you want, call Royal and they will put 2 people in one of the cabins for you (can't be done online). My DH refused to cruise without a cabin so this is the perfect setup for us. We get 374 Squre feet of cabin, 2 baths, a window, and 2 baths on a great ship. Also 2 connecting E balcony cabins were like $120.00 more and you would get 2 balconies. However, don't assume you will be able to open the balcony dividers, it is kind of a hit or miss now if they allow this, so if you don't want your teens to have their own balcony this may be an issue for the E category. The ages of your children, I wouldn't be afraid to put them in an inside across the hal,l if they are able to be trusted:D, and Royal has several balcony cabins with insides directly across.

We are a family of 5 - two adults and three teens (14,15,16). During the pricing of Carnival cruises it looks like they can get all five of us into one room. But I've seen staterooms before and they are pretty small.

Has anyone in the forums put five people in a room before, and if so how was your experience? Are the "extra" beds of decent size? Our kids are fairly tall.

To be honest, if we have to book two rooms it's going to put us out of our budget.

I would look at doing a cheaper cruise:

1) Consider cruising when school is still in session. (take the kids out of school for one week and take the homework with you.) The price of cruises is drastically lower whenever kids are in school.

2) Also there are times when the price of 2 rooms for 5 people is cheaper than 1 room for 5 people. There are limited rooms that can accomodate 5 people so these usually cost more and its not like the extra people are sailing free! If you compare, you will find that in most cases you don't really save any money by booking 1 room for 5 people as opposed to booking 2 rooms and you will be MUCH more comfortable in 2 rooms.

3) Lastly, unless you live in a town with a cruise port you will find airfare is the most expensive part of your trip, so if possible choose a departure port that you can manage to drive to.

I searched based on above criteria and found a December Cruise which would cost your family $2153.85 including taxes and port charges for 2 cabins right across hall from each other. This would be $430.77 per person for a week long cruise with all the food and on board entertainment included. Unless you go camping you can't really get any cheaper than that for a vacation for 5 people! You could book one cabin for 5 people on that December cruise and it would cost $440.00 less BUT you would trade your comfort and privacy (and any romance you and your husband might wish to have) for that price. The above is only an example and might be slightly different for your family if any of you have cruised Carnival before or if there are any residency specials for your state.

We can't..all the state rooms are sold out...and we are going w/ my brother in law & sister in law... is it really that different from sharing a hotel room because we've done that before.

We can't..all the state rooms are sold out...and we are going w/ my brother in law & sister in law... is it really that different from sharing a hotel room because we've done that before.

Cruise ship cabins are much smaller than hotel rooms unless you get an expensive suite. Also there is a bed for 2 people and then the other 2 have to sleep on upper berths or a sofa bed......neither is going to be as comfortable as a real bed. The 4 of you will be cozy.

We are a family of 5 - two adults and three teens (14,15,16). During the pricing of Carnival cruises it looks like they can get all five of us into one room. But I've seen staterooms before and they are pretty small.

 

Has anyone in the forums put five people in a room before, and if so how was your experience? Are the "extra" beds of decent size? Our kids are fairly tall.

 

To be honest, if we have to book two rooms it's going to put us out of our budget.

Packing five people into one room is not my idea of a vacation, so I would rather stay home myself and send poor spouse off to go share a room with the children. :D

But if you don't mind having only one bathroom and are on a budget, take a look at the family FV cabins on Celebrity's S-class ships (such as Solstice, Equinox, Eclipse, etc.)

They are priced much lower than any suites and are essentially very nice plain vanilla budget-priced suites without the frills.

Here is a link to photos from one of them that someone posted

Solstice - FV 7107 -

(Click Slideshow)

There is a large living room, a private bedroom for the parents, and a second very small separate bedroom with bunk beds for two children.

A couch in the living room makes up into a bed for a third person.

There are only four of them on each ship and they are in high demand, so you may need to book early to get one. Call Celebrity to get prices because they are usually not posted.

Is there any way you would consider leaving the kids at home or with grandparents?

 

Packing five people into one room is not my idea of a vacation, so I would rather stay home myself and send poor spouse off to go share a room with the children. :D

But if you don't mind having only one bathroom and are on a budget, take a look at the family FV cabins on Celebrity's S-class ships (such as Solstice, Equinox, Eclipse, etc.)

They are priced much lower than any suites and are essentially very nice plain vanilla budget-priced suites without the frills.

Here is a link to photos from one of them that someone posted

Solstice - FV 7107 -

(Click Slideshow)

There is a large living room, a private bedroom for the parents, and a second very small separate bedroom with bunk beds for two children.

A couch in the living room makes up into a bed for a third person.

There are only four of them on each ship and they are in high demand, so you may need to book early to get one. Call Celebrity to get prices because they are usually not posted.

Your kidding right???? The OP already stated that he cant afford 2 rooms on Carnival Cruise line. The cheapest inner room you could book leaving ANY DATE, going to ANY Destination booked today would cost $2900 for ONE 200 sq foot inner room! This is still more than 2 rooms on Carnival and each Carnival room would be 185 sq feet and have its own bathroom. It would be crazy to consider Cellebrity if you couldn't afford Carnival.:eek:

Your kidding right???? The OP already stated that he cant afford 2 rooms on Carnival Cruise line. The cheapest inner room you could book leaving ANY DATE, going to ANY Destination booked today would cost $2900 for ONE 200 sq foot inner room! This is still more than 2 rooms on Carnival and each Carnival room would be 185 sq feet and have its own bathroom. It would be crazy to consider Cellebrity if you couldn't afford Carnival.:eek:

I just looked into a cruise on the Norweigan Pearl for Oct 21st and an inside cabin for 3 people is only a total of $1304. This is a 7 day Caribbean cruise leaving from Miami. I think that's a bargain. Even the Carnival Liberty sailing of Oct 20 is more........$1430 for 3 people inside cabin.

Another thing......as a grandmother what makes anyone think that I want to be left home watching the kids. I want to be on the cruise too.

Besides it sounds like the OP wants a family vacation.

I just looked into a cruise on the Norweigan Pearl for Oct 21st and an inside cabin for 3 people is only a total of $1304. This is a 7 day Caribbean cruise leaving from Miami. I think that's a bargain. Even the Carnival Liberty sailing of Oct 20 is more........$1430 for 3 people inside cabin.

Another thing......as a grandmother what makes anyone think that I want to be left home watching the kids. I want to be on the cruise too.

Besides it sounds like the OP wants a family vacation.

Yes those are good prices. The one I looked at was an inner room on Carnival 7 day to Western carribean with 3 people in 1 room for $1220.31 incl port chg and tax and 2 people in another room for $933.54 incl port chg and tx. Sounds like the Pearl would be a similarly priced option for the OP. Celebrity on the other hand lacks any rooms that cheap. If I had 5-6 people to take I would definitly book at least 2 inner rooms. If I could afford it I would get a balcony for me and my sweetie and put the kids accross the hall in an inner. I guess I'm a little selfish!

Thank you all again for such quick responses! I'm going to try to respond to a bunch of posts in this one.

1) Our schedule is not that flexible. With summer camps and other stuff we are left with a two week window in the beginning of Aug.

2) The whole purpose of this vacation is to go with the kids, so not an option to leave them at home.

3) To that end, I've been told that Carnival and Norwegian are the best in terms of activities for the kids (I want to be with them, but not every minute of the day!). Does anyone disagree with that assessment?

4) We had considered going to San Juan to make it a combo vacation - we'd start by visiting the west side of the island and then cruise. Airfare from NY to San Juan is killer though, which might put the kabosh on the whole thing.

5) We are going to price some other two room options, from a variety of departure ports. I've got no problem putting two of the kids into an inner room, but I'd like the other room to at least be ocean view.

To give a little more context, my teen kids are BIG. Our 15 year old is 6' 5", our daughter is 5' 9" and our other son is 5' 9". I'm 6' 4" and my wife is 6' (please hold all "land of the giants" comments :-) )

Thank you all again for the great comments/suggestions

Try looking at the Royal Caribbean Family OV suites. You will have to call in as they don't usually price these over the phone, I think because they don't want two people to book these rooms that hold six.

I'm not sure if they will let you book with five. We have had one of those rooms (I wouldn't really call it a suite) and it was very spacious and did have good sleeping facilities for six; one queen (or two twin) beds, a large sofa sleeper and a bunk room for two. Also very large windows and lots of storage.

There is only one bathroom; maybe having the guys go to the fitness area to shower sometimes would help. We were on the Navigator of the Seas.

We never cruise in summer, so maybe those prices are typical, but they sound really high to me. We took 7 grandkids on a five night cruise last year, in two cabins, including air from Nebraska to Florida and 3 days in Ft. Lauderdale and for about that amount. It was in January, though.

Have you looked at the discount web travel agencies? I get some great deals and honestly, Carnival does not usually have the best prices, at least for us.

Teens would love RCI, but then I think they'd love almost any cruise. If you're trying to save money, cruise out of Florida and get two cabins. I personally think it would be very iffy to try five in a regular sized balcony cabin, especially the size you all are! If it was three little kids, doable, 5 tall adults/teen, wowser!

You are flying from NY. You are looking at the first 2 weeks of August. You have 2 adults and 3 teens. Why don't you give us a budget and see what people come up with. Have you considered leaving from NY or Baltimore where you would not have airfare for 5.?

Thank you all again for such quick responses! I'm going to try to respond to a bunch of posts in this one.

3) To that end, I've been told that Carnival and Norwegian are the best in terms of activities for the kids (I want to be with them, but not every minute of the day!). Does anyone disagree with that assessment?

I truly think the ages of your kids you would be better on a freedom or oasis class on royal caribbean, maybe a lower class, you can review each class with what they have to offer on RCCL.com. They have the flowrider, rock wall, ice skating rink, full size basketball court, etc. Carnival is great but I would think kids your age would only enjoy the waterslide so long before getting bored. My kids (who are 5, 5 and 8) love the kids program so if your kids are outgoing they may enjoy the teens program on carnival, but other lines have this too.

5) We are going to price some other two room options, from a variety of departure ports. I've got no problem putting two of the kids into an inner room, but I'd like the other room to at least be ocean view.

I would personally look into either 2 connecting balconies (if you don't mind them having their own balcony in case you can't open the divider), a balcony for DW and yourself with kids across the hall, or the balcony/ocean view combo at the front of deck 9 on some of the ships (all the freedom class have them and some lesser classes also, but not oasis class). If price for a balcony/inside is out then do 2 connecting cabins or another category, maybe 2 ov or 2 insides.

To give a little more context, my teen kids are BIG. Our 15 year old is 6' 5", our daughter is 5' 9" and our other son is 5' 9". I'm 6' 4" and my wife is 6' (please hold all "land of the giants" comments :-) )

Thank you all again for the great comments/suggestions

 

Ok considering the size of your kids I wouldn't do a family ov or family balcony because the bunk area is very small. Here is a link to some pics of the family ocean view and you can get an idea for yourself: http://travel.webshots.com/album/554145591lvGmdZ

Hope all of this helps. I know it is hard to decide which cabin combos to do with 3 kids. Have fun planning!

There's been a lot of help suggested here to try to optimize your space. Many encouraging you to go for the bigger cabin, or 2 cabins, or some even suggesting skipping the cruise in the interest of comfort. If you can afford bigger, then by all means go for the bigger.

However, rather than cancelling out of fear of discomfort, I'd like to suggest you look at things from a little different perspective......ASSUMING you can't afford the roomy suites or 2 cabins. When our kids were in their teens (1 girl, 1 boy), we did several big trips that the only way we could afford it was for all of us to cram into one tiny room. We were crowded and cramped and tripped over each other. They bickered and argued over space and who's stuff was crowding who's space. No doubt about it, it was NOT comfortable.

If you asked my kids now, they wouldn't have traded those trips for anything. We visited some beautiful places, did some amazing things, bonded and built memories we all will hold forever. A cruise will be different then the AI you usually do. I would recommend discussing it with your teens. If you can only afford one cabin, then search online, get all the info on the cabin type you would book, find photo tours of the cabin so everyone understands what the situation will be and what to expect. Also show them the ship - descriptions and photo tours, so they know what the rest of the ship looks like. find out what all activities are available when they're NOT in the cramped cabin. You may find your kids may not mind being cramped for a week in order to get to go. If they all still want to go, then book it!

You'll only be in your room for a short time each day.....and the rest of the cruise will be amazing!