Cruising Mediterranian - family w. 3 kids - trapped with the 3.rd kid problem!

Hi,

we started cruising 8 years ago, before we married, got our 1.st, second and third kid, inbetween the 1st and after the second we took several cruises on the mediterranian, as we live in Germany.

Everything was ok until our 3rd kid arrived, because with three kids there is almost NO CHANCE to get a reasonable price for a cruise. Our kids are 6mth, 4y, 6y.

We cruised with MSC and the kids sailed free twice ... we had bad experience on MS Armonia, MS Musica

We loved cruising with NCL though.

BUT my problem is that NCL does not rebate kids very much. When we take a cheap inside we have to take 2 cabins now, that means that even the 2.nd stateroom we would have to pay the full price for person one and two even if these are kids.

I know that Costa and MSC are the cruise lines that offer kids 4 free, but from what I experienced at MSC (Bad food, bad service, bad anim(alic)ation, bad..) and have heared about Costa I see there is no other choice for us but to take 2 staterooms and pay kids 4 full price, or to leave one kid at home.... wouldn´t like to do this...

Do You have Ideas, experiences etc. what to do? RCL is very expensive on their european cruises, HAL also. Carnival does not go to europe, Princess is to expensive...

what to do?

Next summer, Carnival will have a new ship in the Med starting in June. They will not have kids sail free, but they will have cabins that hold five. EM

Since you live in Germany, can you possibly book last minute cruises? From the US, you'd usually get killed on airfare, but from Germany is that a possibility? Aside from that, you can also keep an eye on when RC does kids sail free or when HAL lets the 3rd/4th passenger sail free.

My family really loved sailing in the Baltics, so that might be another possibility.

Cruises rarely discount kids...they are "souls", just like everyone else! Sometimes, a cruiseline will do discounts on 3rd and 4th passengers, whether kids or not....and a few will do "kids sail free"...but the 1st 2 passengers seem to be higher price....it's a conundrum!

We sail with our kids and carnival is cheaper with four kids than NCL. We do have to get two rooms, but you could do just one room with everyone. The third fourth and fifth occupants will have a greatly reduced rate.

Plus the kids program on Carnival is free.... including if you're off ship they will take care of your children at no extra charge. NCL charges to take your kids to meals.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

One other thing to look into is some cruise lines allow you to have more than the stated cabin capacity in the cabin if the child is under 2 years old. Probably would not work for last minute bookings because of lifeboat capacities but I would call and ask what the policy is for your infant. You will be required to pay for the infant but still might make it easier to find cabins.

We took two Med cruises with our three kids when we lived in Europe. The key for us was to travel at off-peak times. I don't know what the school schedule is like for your children, but ours got two week breaks throughout the school year. The February break was perfect timing to get an affordable cruise. The first time we booked fairly last minute, and two cheap rooms. For that one, it was cheaper to book through the US. The next time, we mentioned to my parents that we were looking at a cruise and they said they'd be interested. There was a kids sail for 99e promotion on NCL, and we were able to get connecting rooms and put one of our kids in with my parents. That one was cheaper to book through the European office.

Another thing to do is to find out what ships will allow you to put 5 in a room. And then monitor sailings of those ships for promotions and discounts. We're doing Alaska next summer (again on NCL) because the ship allows 5 in an inside room and we found a kids sail free promotion.

Some lines have family staterooms. Those might be able to hold 5 people. I know with RCI they do not list these online, you need to call for pricing. I assume they are a bit more expensive than a normal size cabin, but they do have them in most categories so you could see what the price is for an Family Interior cabin. The nice thing about these from what I have seen is they are much larger than the normal cabin in the same category.

I am not familiar with the kids sail free promotions, but I always was under the impression that those are more for 3rd/4th passengers in the same cabin rather than you can give the kids their own free cabin. I could be wrong on that one.

Some lines have family staterooms. Those might be able to hold 5 people. I know with RCI they do not list these online, you need to call for pricing. I assume they are a bit more expensive than a normal size cabin, but they do have them in most categories so you could see what the price is for an Family Interior cabin. The nice thing about these from what I have seen is they are much larger than the normal cabin in the same category.

 

I am not familiar with the kids sail free promotions, but I always was under the impression that those are more for 3rd/4th passengers in the same cabin rather than you can give the kids their own free cabin. I could be wrong on that one.

Yes, the first 2 passengers are full price, even if 1 is a child.

Ha ha.. three is a crowd

If cruising is the problem now wait to send them to college.

Hopefully when we all have our 1st, second or more, we consider the things / implications that come with them, from being outnumbered to costs of vacations, dinners, college education and all.

When we had three and they were younger our vacations went thru stages, as the moved into tweens, teens etc. vacations change.

No solution for you except to save up or bit the bullet and pay, or compromise in some way...

We have sailed with 5 in a suite on Royal Caribbean . Not sure how cost effective it is but you would only pay full price for the first 2 ppl and a discounted rate for 3rd, 4th and 5th ..... The suite also has a bath tub for easier bathing for the little ones.