Adjoining rooms or balconies? Which would you prefer?

[Teamv]

I am planning (obsessively) our first cruise and am about to book 2 balcony staterooms with DH and I in one and our two teenagers next door. It looks like we can have adjoining rooms or adjoining balconies, but not both. I can see pros and cons to each and I'm not sure it really makes a difference. Any thoughts on this? Thanks in advance.

[firefly333]

Id read thru this twice and not getting it. What category are the adjoining cabins.. you say you are going to book balconies, then say the choice is adjoining balconies or connecting ... connecting what .. is the connecting cheaper..what are the comparisons?

[MoreMilesPlease]

Adjoining rooms gives you access to the inside of their stateroom if you need. Adjoining balcony doesn't really give you access to the room.

[firefly333]

Adjoining rooms gives you access to the inside of their stateroom if you need. Adjoining balcony doesn't really give you access to the room.

 

It might if they are ones the dividers come out between the balconys and are removed and both cabins have their balconys unlocked.

 

thats why Im unsure what the OP wants us to choose between.

[sunrise&set]

So you have a choice between the cabins connecting OR the balcony divider being removed? I've never heard of that. When we've cruised with our older kids, we book a balcony and they have an interior across the hall, saves us $$. If your teens are young and you need a good eye on them, I think I'd want the connecting room.

[Teamv]

Sorry, will try to be clearer with my terms. We have the option of connecting rooms with a non-removeable partition between the balconies or side by side rooms where the balcony partitian can be removed. So we can either move between the rooms or between the balconies. Does this make more sense? The kids are mid-teens and responsible. No worries about safety etc. Just wondering which type of access would be more convenient? Thanks.

[firefly333]

One big balcony where you guys can spread out is nicer, but if you want to listen in to them in their cabin, connecting.

[kimmiecruises]

If they are responsible and there aren't safety issues I'd definitely go for the bigger balcony, I think you'd get a lot more use out of that than the ability to access their cabin.

[canette]

I had to make the same choice and decided on the connecting room. My mom and my 2 kids (12 & 16) will be in one room. DH & I in the other. Since we wanted to be able to shut the door at night and have some privacy we decided on connecting rooms on the inside. :rolleyes:

 

I know what you are going through...thought a long time before making the decision. Most of the time during the day we will have the rooms open together. Just at night it will be closed. (Plus my mom snores...more reason to close the door)

[T. Advisor King]

That was kind of a no-brainer for us. On our last cruise (kids 14 and 11) we got the side-by-side balconies. With the divider opened, it was pretty much like having connected rooms. When we were in the rooms, we just left the balcony doors unlocked, so we could move back-and-forth between them with ease and without having to worry about card keys. I can't think of any down-side to having the connecting balconies over the connecting rooms. I suppose with the connecting rooms you could leave the door open and actually watch your kids and hear what they are doing without having to get up and take a few steps. That wasn't particularly valuable to us, so we went with the balconies.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

On one of our Caribbean cruises we took one of our adult daughters with us (youngest always travels with us) and they were in an adjoining balcony stateroom. One of the benefits was that I could go into their stateroom before we went ashore or out and about on sea days and make sure they'd picked up and didn't leave their clothes lying around--yes, it was an issue. :rolleyes: I didn't want our steward to have to pick up their wet swimsuits and towels! It didn't matter that our balcony partition wasn't removed as it just takes a little lean over to see and talk with each other. Plus, I liked a little bit of privacy on our own balcony. :)

[serene56]

You didnt mention what ship this was,.

 

Only the spirit class ships can be removed.. other class of ship if the divider opens to a cabin door-- it can not be opened.

 

On the spirit class ship there are a few balconies that connect to an inside cabin. Look at the deck plans-- all the way forward. THere are two of these type cabins per deck

[Biffer1997]

If they are responsible and there aren't safety issues I'd definitely go for the bigger balcony, I think you'd get a lot more use out of that than the ability to access their cabin.

Along the lines of this, you can access their cabin too--just get an extra key made for their room. That way you can have a larger balcony and access to their room.

If it was me, I would book them acroos the hall in an interior cabin and get a key to that one--I wouldn't want to spend the extra $$ on another balcony.

[Teamv]

Thanks to everyone for their responses. Much appreciated.

 

Serene56 - I hope that I am not missing something here. We are planning on the Dream. On the deck plans it says that the partitions "connect with room XXX" I guess I assumed that they could be removed. Are you saying that the partitions won't, or might not be able to be, removed? If that is the case then we will definitely go for connecting rooms as we do want to have some access to the kids room without going in the hallway.

 

Love this forum!!

[serene56]

Thanks to everyone for their responses. Much appreciated.

 

Serene56 - I hope that I am not missing something here. We are planning on the Dream. On the deck plans it says that the partitions "connect with room XXX" I guess I assumed that they could be removed. Are you saying that the partitions won't, or might not be able to be, removed? If that is the case then we will definitely go for connecting rooms as we do want to have some access to the kids room without going in the hallway.

 

Love this forum!!

 

 

On other class ships the partitions are opened and locked into place.

On Conquest class they are locked towards the cabin. On Spirit class they are locked to the railing. On the Dream I would think the partitions are opened and locked like they are on the Conquest class ships.

 

I dont know of any ship that removes the partition.

 

On carnival dream deck plans-- upper deck cabin 6222 connect to 6224 I would think that connecting rooms like that will connect at the balcony also.

 

 

 

here is a post that links to some balconies that connect with dividers that can be opened.

 

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1129231&page=2

[Teamv]

Here is the website that I have been looking at.

 

http://www.cruisedeckplans.com/DP/Main/Carnival%20Dream-deck-plans.html

 

If you click on Extras, and then the deck that you are looking at, you can see details for all rooms. It shows that room 6222 connects with room 6224, but that the balcony conncects with 6220. I have looked at many of the plans and all seem to be this way. I'm sure there is a construction -type reason for this, but I'm not sure what it could be. Regardless, I am sure this is not going to be a big deal for us. I am just happy to be going!!

[serene56]

The reason that all balcony dividers dont open on every balcony--is because if the divider when opened blocks the cabin door--its a saftey issue.

 

once the dividers are opened--they are kept opened for the duration of the cruise.

[golfpccc]

Thanks to everyone for their responses. Much appreciated.

 

Serene56 - I hope that I am not missing something here. We are planning on the Dream. On the deck plans it says that the partitions "connect with room XXX" I guess I assumed that they could be removed. Are you saying that the partitions won't, or might not be able to be, removed? If that is the case then we will definitely go for connecting rooms as we do want to have some access to the kids room without going in the hallway.

 

Love this forum!!

We were on the Dream in Feb--myself, DH, DS & DBIL. We had cabins 7219 & 7221--these cabins were not listed as having connecting balconies because the partition would have to open against one of the balcony doors. Cabin steward said a lot of times they will go ahead and open the partitions that open against a door, but would not do ours because we were right in sight of the bridge and the Capt would see it. So, we went to Guest Relations and they put in a request to maintenance to have the partition removed. Within a couple of hours the partition was gone--it was wonderful having 1 big balcony. They only allow so many partitions to be removed so it is first come--go immediately to Guest Relations and make the request. Have a great cruise.

[Marie51]

Sorry, will try to be clearer with my terms. We have the option of connecting rooms with a non-removeable partition between the balconies or side by side rooms where the balcony partitian can be removed. So we can either move between the rooms or between the balconies. Does this make more sense? The kids are mid-teens and responsible. No worries about safety etc. Just wondering which type of access would be more convenient? Thanks.

 

I am one of those people that does not believe in putting kids in a cabin by themselves. Get the cabins with the connecting door right in the cabin.

You say this is your first cruise and your kids are responsible so no worries about safety........well the ship is like a small city full of strangers that may not be responsible. Safety is always an issue. I know lots of people say they have the kids in their own separate cabin but it is not for me..............maybe I just worry too much.

[deej696]

Yes it is true that the open divider on some cabins blocks the exit door to the balcony. They don't advertise that they connect, but they do. It may also take a few bucks for the engineer when he comes to unlock it, but I know from experience it can be done. That said, you then have to deal with the door the whole trip, and we had to rig ours with a chair and towel to keep it from clanging...

[lillian marie]

Adjoining rooms is what I would choose.

[buddylover]

Sorry, will try to be clearer with my terms. We have the option of connecting rooms with a non-removeable partition between the balconies or side by side rooms where the balcony partitian can be removed. So we can either move between the rooms or between the balconies. Does this make more sense? The kids are mid-teens and responsible. No worries about safety etc. Just wondering which type of access would be more convenient? Thanks.

 

We've had connecting balcony rooms with our kids that both the room had a connecting door and the balcony partition moved and was opened....so it connected both ways. Not sure if you know you can have "both" options.....or if those options are just not available to book for you at this point in time?? Just wanted to be certain that you knew both ways to connect are available on all the ships we have been on.

[ALEX122495]

We had connecting balconies on one cruise, adjacent rooms with the room doors facing each other (RCI cruise) , cabins that connected, and one with a balcony across from a inside (promenade on RCI). We had no problems with any of them. Our children knew the rules and didn't open the door once they were inside,unless it was their father or me knocking on the door. They are currently 13 and 15 so they have had their own room each year for the last 4 years.

 

That being said, my DH prefers to have connecting cabins so he can walk in and check on the kids even in his pj's, but this year we had connecting 4D's and were offered upgrade to 4K but had to take adjoining balconies . Since the balconies went from 40 to 60 sq feet we took it. We will just have the kids continue to follow the rules, and have the balcony dividers opened. We will still have access since the kids don't usually lock the balcony when we are next door.