Dream family of 5 rooms

We sailed Dec 12 and had a wonderful time.

We are a family of 5. Our kids are 8,4,and 2. We had one of the new oceanview family rooms and were very happy with the amount of room we had.

I tried doing a search and wasnt sure if there were many pictures posted of that particular room on the Dream or not. Will post some if they arent repeats.

I havent seen them. Post away.

I am about to book the room for 5 as I also have 3 kids. If you can post some photos, that would be great. Can you describe the room set up? Was there enough room for everyone?

Some pictures are available here.

http://cruises.about.com/od/carnivaldream/ig/Carnival-Dream-Cabins/Carnival-Dream-Family-Cabin.-t5Y.htm

Some pictures are available here.

http://cruises.about.com/od/carnivaldream/ig/Carnival-Dream-Cabins/Carnival-Dream-Family-Cabin.-t5Y.htm

We actually kept our beds together. I could see maybe it would be an issue but our kids are small and none of them had any problem. The ladder for the bed above ours was put at the foot of the beds/between the 2 pulldowns. The ladder to the bed above the couch bed was as shown.

oops, hit reply too soon...Sorry my pics arent great quality.

All in all, much bigger rooms. Plenty of space. Highly recommend the cabins.

View with both pulldown beds. We stored our luggage under the adult bed. One ladder would go out into the room while the other ladder went between the 2 upper beds. I could see this maybe being an issue for taller kids but our trio had no problem with this. When the ladders were not in use they went between the adult bed and the wall under the upper bed out of the way.

There is a privacy curtain that I could see being useful if you have older kids and dont want to use the bathrooms for dressing.

The couch became a bed, our 2yo slept there. We kept it as a bed the whole week and used it as a seating area.

The guardrails were plenty high, plenty long, plenty sturdy, plenty safe.

The bathrooms are on the left. The closest to the door is the normal bathroom. The other one has a sink and shower/tub. There are 3 small ledges in that bath making for extra space for toileteries. Because the extra bath creates a hallway there is also extra closet space on the right. 1 shelf closet, 2 hanging closets with 1 shelf each and 1 closet that has the lifevests in it and also stores the couch cushions when not in use. We used it to store the lifejackets we brought along also.

Not going to start a debate here but yes, I did bathe 3 kids at the same time (mind you my oldest is very small). They couldnt spread out but could sit and then I would take the detachable shower head to wash their hair.

Link to a bit more of a review with the kids....

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=22554657#post22554657

Hope this clears up recent questions. I dont know if cabin stewarts are supposed to leave the 2 beds together or not (if theres "policies" etc) but it was done and was totally fine as far as space goes.

Oh Thank you thank you!!!! I have been trying to find pictures and if the ladder could be moved between the beds to make it into 1 - Carnival told me 2 different answers - yes and then no the ladder can't be moved GRRR frustrating -

But now I know!!

We were worried because our last cruise Triumph we had all 5 in a balcony room and of course everyone loved the balcony - so going to an Ocean View had us worried but if you felt you all had enough room that sounds great!! And 2 bathrooms will be a big PLUS

RENMama - have a question for you regarding the cabin. We are looking to book the same type of cabin for my family with 3 kids. When we sail, we will have a 9,7 & 3 year old. If we configure the cabin as you did, do you think a 50lb 7yo girl could get up on to the bunk above the king bed with the ladder at the foot? Or, if we went with just 1 ladder, about how much space is there between the 2 bunks? I'm wondering if my 9yo could easily climb across w/o too much issue.

BTW - where in WI are you located? one of my companies offices is located in MKE, so I get out there ocassionally from NJ.

Nice to see those photos. Quick question on bed configuration. When we looked into booking for family of 5 they told us the beds for that cabin do not make a king yet yours looks like it did. Did you have category 6N?

Are you able to comment on how much that was? We opted for 2 rooms across from one another for more space and were told at the time it was cheaper than a room for 5. However, you have a window and we have interior staterooms. I'm still not sure if it was the right decision.

I've had a couple e-mail exchanges with RENMama on this. It seems that the room steward had the bed put together on their arrival and because of the young age (and size) of her kids, they were able to climb up the ladder even if placed at the foot of the bed. The ladder is apparently very light and movable so both can be removed and placed out of the way. As for space, the cabin is 230sq ft and essentially has 2 baths (1 with shower and commode; 1 with mini tub; both have sinks). Space was tight, according to her, but manageable with little kids (8,6 &2, I believe). As for cost, I have a hard time believing that the cost for 2 rooms would be less, but with certain inside cabins, that might be possible. For me, I need connecting cabins given the age of my kids, and there are only a couple inside cabins on the Dream that connect.