Children in parents cabin

I am considering a cruise for two adults and two small children and I wonder if there are any cruise lines who will allow children to sleep in the cabin with parents on a sofa or camp bed and not have to pay the full cost of another two adults which seems to be the way with a lot of cruise lines. Anyone know of any family packages on a cruise in summer 2016 in the Med or wider european area.:)

Most cruise lines have cabins for four, which is what you would have to book. Cruise lines are not allowed to book more people into a cabin than it is built for. Usually, the 3/4 persons will have a reduced rate, regardless of age. Some lines will have programs where kids under a certain age sail free when booked into a cabin with two full fare paying adults. (Think MSC). Go to all of the major cruise lines and look at their specials. Even HAL has offers for reduced rates for the 3/4 person at times. Check Royal Caribbean, NCL, Celebrity, Costa, etc. EM

I am considering a cruise for two adults and two small children and I wonder if there are any cruise lines who will allow children to sleep in the cabin with parents on a sofa or camp bed and not have to pay the full cost of another two adults which seems to be the way with a lot of cruise lines. Anyone know of any family packages on a cruise in summer 2016 in the Med or wider european area.:)

age has no bearing. 1st 2 people will pay the full price. persons 2 and up will pay less but always a lot less. only one or two lines charge significantly less for young children.

Check Thomson cruises, which often have special offers for children- and fly from Belfast; P&O has a sliding scale of children up to 17yrs; infants under 2 may be free, on their family ships ( three ships are adult only; the rest are for families). Try a dedicated cruise travel agent- there's several on line.

I am considering a cruise for two adults and two small children and I wonder if there are any cruise lines who will allow children to sleep in the cabin with parents on a sofa or camp bed and not have to pay the full cost of another two adults which seems to be the way with a lot of cruise lines. Anyone know of any family packages on a cruise in summer 2016 in the Med or wider european area.:)

You will see the price of the cruise itself upfront. What is often missed and comes as a surprise for passengers on a tight budget that the tips are added daily to the statement are charged for children the same as for adults, so plan for those charges also.

The number of cabins permitting four (or more) guests is limited on all ships. Most important is they will never book more guests than there are life boat seats to accommodate in case of emergency. If you want two adults and two children in cabin, unless cruise line is having a 'special', you pay for all four. It is usually not full price for the children but how much off varies widely.

If there is any way the little ones can stay home with Grandma or a favorite auntie then you will be so glad you left them at home. Enjoy your cruise and leave the little people on their schedule and enjoying a favorite relative!

Esiesmom is correct, there are a few cruise lines that offer "Kids free", I have been invited by a veteran cruiser of mine several times to take such an offer, but couldn't, because of scheduling problems, both my work schedule and kid's school. Usually it is the European lines that offer it.

RCL offers discounted rates for 3rd and 4th guests staying in the same room, but these rooms are sometimes limited. the discounted rate as mentioned by a fellow member, is not limited to kids only, but even adults will get the discount.

I am not 100% sure how they handle infants though, but that is not what you were asking about right?

I think that taking kids with you on a cruise is a great idea, you just have to prepare for them. All cruise lines will have kid's clubs, and my 5 year old is still always talking about "Aquanauts"! My teenager loved her time with the teens club. You can have a lot of alone time if you plan it properly.

1. Get them signed up for kids club, half of the day, they will be in their own club, best if your kids are in the same age bracket too.

2. After dinner, get them back to bed and then parents can go out on a date. Or bring them to a show, they will often fall asleep in the middle of the show, so the only problem there is carrying them back to your room.

3. Shore excursions might be a bit more expensive, not sure if they offer children's rate for shore excursions. what we did was just leave the youngest (the kids club scheduled a whole day activity for them till 5pm) so we just had to be back on board by 5pm. Though I'm sure you you can figure out a deal with the shore excursion manager about your kids if they are staying onboard.

I have to admit, my wife and I didn't really get much alone time last trip, this is because one of our kids wanted to be with her elder sister, but couldn't because she was too young, and didn't want to join her age group club. Plus we weren't really in the groove of cruising yet, so we haven't yet figured out a good schedule until the end of the cruise.

Good luck cruise hunting and have fun!

If there is any way the little ones can stay home with Grandma or a favorite auntie then you will be so glad you left them at home. Enjoy your cruise and leave the little people on their schedule and enjoying a favorite relative!

Yes, nothing says Family Vacation like leaving half the family home. :roll eyes:

Back to the original question though.

You will find almost all cruise lines have a few cabins of 4 which offer a reduced rate for 2 of the guests. They have either sofa beds, roll aways and/or bunks that pop out from the ceiling. If you have a very young child, they can provide a crib/ pack n play.

There are several ships that you could get four into a room.

I really would get a travel specialist who specializes in cruises to help you with this but you can definitely find ships to accommodate you.

Keith

Remember that you will be charged gratuities on your shipboard account (or pre paid - depending on the cruise line) for all 4 of you. So you need to consider that expense when booking a cruise.

I believe most Cruiselines operate under the policy "a person's a person, no matter the size"

Some Cruiseline don't charge gratuities DSC for under age of 3. Don't ask me which though. Some European Cruiselines possibly don't charge DSC at all, as they have built those into the price of the cruise.

So to be clear policies may be different on Cruiselines that cater to Americans vs Europeans where tipping habits are very different.

I am not 100% sure how they handle infants though, but that is not what you were asking about right?

 

you must be at least 6 months old to sail( 12 if longer than 7 days or has more than 2 sea days in a row) and again age has zero bearing. they pay the going rate of whatever berth they are occupying. and everyone regardless of age will pay the same rate of daily gratuities.

sometimes it can be less expensive to book a pair of connecting cabins, or if the kids are older a balcony for the adults an an inside directly cross for the kids.

NCL is running a Kids sail Free deal right now. You might check their website. They definitely have many cabins that can hold 4 from insides through suites with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

The OP has not been back since posting his question :( the one thing we don't know is his definition of "small children" he has not given the ages of the kids. Not that the cruise line cares as they count "souls on board".

OP went 8 years between posts, may be that long again before any response!!!:cool:

I suspect the 8 yrs may have been busy getting said small children :)

Thanks to everyone for the comments, I am still working on this. The children are 4 & 6, but are small and will eat very little and will happily sleep on a settee if allowed.

Thanks anyway

How much they might eat or actually eat doesn't matter, the price will be the same.

You might want to check a comprehensive cruise website or a travel agent who specializes in cruises to find out what's best for you. As mentioned, there are many inexpensive 3rd/4th person in cabin options out there.

You might check out the family cruising forum, as well.

Isn't it Coast Guard regulations that say a person is a person, no matter the size?

Then, it's up to the cruise line to determine how much to charge. This past Thanksgiving break, I saw a lot more discounted or Kids Cruise Free offers from the major mainstream lines. Princess, etc. Even Disney discounts the 3rd and 4th passenger (they just don't discount as much as most other lines).

"A person's a person no matter how small" Dr Seuss :)

Look at it this way....

You're not buying a berth, you're reserving a seat on a lifeboat.

Darrmont: it used to be the policy of P&O not to charge gratuities for under 12yrs; this might have altered, but possibly not.

Thomson has a no tipping policy.