First cruise on Celebrity...room choice for family

[countingbackwards]

Hi,

 

New to this forum...and new to Celebrity. I am in the process of planning a family vacation cruise to Bermuda on the Summit with my wife and 2 young children (aged 9 and 6) - this will be a return to a beautiful place where my wife and I used to live, and an introduction of this former abode to my children (who may ask what we were thinking to leave that place). It should be quite a trip!!

 

We have been on the Weezer cruise on Carnival Destiny in 2012, and my wife and I did our honeymoon on the RCL Splendour of the Seas in the Med in 2003. The Weezer element of the Carnival cruise was phenomenal and made it a memorable vacation, but in terms of the ship, amenities, people, food, service, etc. - we FAR preferred the RCL experience. Mind you, the RCL cruise was a long time ago, when they still had the midnight buffets and on a ship with no specialty dining leading to the best food being in the MDR. So I'm not sure that RCL today is the same as RCL back then - but it seems that Celebrity today may be comparable to the RCL experience at the time.

 

Fast forward to today...we are looking at 3 different stateroom options. There's the corner FV room with the huge balcony that we currently have reserved. It obviously seems like a fantastic room, and we absolutely loved our aft-facing balcony when on the Splendour in '03. The tiny balcony on the Destiny seemed less functional, although the more private feeling over the water was nice too.

 

Our other options...we could get connecting OV staterooms on the 3rd deck, the new ones with the big windows, at about the same price as the FV. That adds a bathroom and deletes a balcony, without perhaps adding much given that I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be with my daughter (6) being in a room without an adult even if it's connected. Alternatively, we could get a "sweet 16" balcony room for about $900 savings compared to the FV or connecting rooms.

 

My concern with the Summit is the small size of the basic cabin for 4 of us, that 170 sq feet just won't be enough for us to feel comfortable...this is why I reserved the FV while researching my options...on the Weezer cruise, the rooms were a bit bigger than on the Summit, and my kids were a bit smaller, and it was TIGHT...fine for 4 nights of excitement, but maybe not for a week of (attempted) relaxation.

 

Any thoughts are appreciated...if the design of the "sweet 16" cabins is such that it would be fine for 4 of us, then the savings could be put to other uses...a bit to specialty dining and the rest to...well...retirement savings! Or should I just keep my cabin with my 123Go, hope for a price drop (mine is the only one sold at this point!), and enjoy the FV either way? It's currently priced more than a C1, so it seems like the price is high.

[DebbieMacG]

I would keep the FV cabin and hope for a price drop :)

[vulcan1971]

I would keep the FV cabin and hope for a price drop :)

 

+1

 

Sent from my Samsung Note 2 on the T-Mobile 4G LTE Network

[chicagopaul]

I'd keep the FV room too. My partner and I recently traveled on the Constellation and had a Concierge Class room. The Concierge class is slightly larger than your typical balcony room on the M Class ships. We had a friend staying with us so there were 3. We made it work and it was comfortable, but definitely far from ideal. We did it just to save some $$ but if we are traveling with another person in the future we will only book a suite unless the savings are incredibly substantial.

 

If you do adjoining rooms the one you think you need to know is that once the adjoining door is unlocked, it stays unlocked. There is no way to lock it. This is great for you to keep an eye on your kids, but the negative is you and your wife can't have any guaranteed privacy. With this being said, I think you're better off with the FV room so you get the balcony, a larger space, and a better location on the room. Hope this helps!

 

Cheers and Happy Cruising! Either way you choose, a bad day on a cruise beats a great day on land!

[Cruise a holic]

Hi,

 

New to this forum...and new to Celebrity. I am in the process of planning a family vacation cruise to Bermuda on the Summit with my wife and 2 young children (aged 9 and 6) - this will be a return to a beautiful place where my wife and I used to live, and an introduction of this former abode to my children (who may ask what we were thinking to leave that place). It should be quite a trip!!

 

We have been on the Weezer cruise on Carnival Destiny in 2012, and my wife and I did our honeymoon on the RCL Splendour of the Seas in the Med in 2003. The Weezer element of the Carnival cruise was phenomenal and made it a memorable vacation, but in terms of the ship, amenities, people, food, service, etc. - we FAR preferred the RCL experience. Mind you, the RCL cruise was a long time ago, when they still had the midnight buffets and on a ship with no specialty dining leading to the best food being in the MDR. So I'm not sure that RCL today is the same as RCL back then - but it seems that Celebrity today may be comparable to the RCL experience at the time.

 

Fast forward to today...we are looking at 3 different stateroom options. There's the corner FV room with the huge balcony that we currently have reserved. It obviously seems like a fantastic room, and we absolutely loved our aft-facing balcony when on the Splendour in '03. The tiny balcony on the Destiny seemed less functional, although the more private feeling over the water was nice too.

 

Our other options...we could get connecting OV staterooms on the 3rd deck, the new ones with the big windows, at about the same price as the FV. That adds a bathroom and deletes a balcony, without perhaps adding much given that I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be with my daughter (6) being in a room without an adult even if it's connected. Alternatively, we could get a "sweet 16" balcony room for about $900 savings compared to the FV or connecting rooms.

 

My concern with the Summit is the small size of the basic cabin for 4 of us, that 170 sq feet just won't be enough for us to feel comfortable...this is why I reserved the FV while researching my options...on the Weezer cruise, the rooms were a bit bigger than on the Summit, and my kids were a bit smaller, and it was TIGHT...fine for 4 nights of excitement, but maybe not for a week of (attempted) relaxation.

 

Any thoughts are appreciated...if the design of the "sweet 16" cabins is such that it would be fine for 4 of us, then the savings could be put to other uses...a bit to specialty dining and the rest to...well...retirement savings! Or should I just keep my cabin with my 123Go, hope for a price drop (mine is the only one sold at this point!), and enjoy the FV either way? It's currently priced more than a C1, so it seems like the price is high.

 

Family View is very nice. However if you take two cabins, cheapest balcony connecting or even Ocean view IMO a better option You get two bathrooms and more privacy. I would save the money for shore excursions, speciality dining and whatever else you desire.

 

Enjoy your cruise. We will also be on the Summity to Bermuda this August.

[Ma Bell]

Hi,

 

New to this forum...and new to Celebrity. I am in the process of planning a family vacation cruise to Bermuda on the Summit with my wife and 2 young children (aged 9 and 6) - this will be a return to a beautiful place where my wife and I used to live, and an introduction of this former abode to my children (who may ask what we were thinking to leave that place). It should be quite a trip!!

 

We have been on the Weezer cruise on Carnival Destiny in 2012, and my wife and I did our honeymoon on the RCL Splendour of the Seas in the Med in 2003. The Weezer element of the Carnival cruise was phenomenal and made it a memorable vacation, but in terms of the ship, amenities, people, food, service, etc. - we FAR preferred the RCL experience. Mind you, the RCL cruise was a long time ago, when they still had the midnight buffets and on a ship with no specialty dining leading to the best food being in the MDR. So I'm not sure that RCL today is the same as RCL back then - but it seems that Celebrity today may be comparable to the RCL experience at the time.

 

Fast forward to today...we are looking at 3 different stateroom options. There's the corner FV room with the huge balcony that we currently have reserved. It obviously seems like a fantastic room, and we absolutely loved our aft-facing balcony when on the Splendour in '03. The tiny balcony on the Destiny seemed less functional, although the more private feeling over the water was nice too.

 

Our other options...we could get connecting OV staterooms on the 3rd deck, the new ones with the big windows, at about the same price as the FV. That adds a bathroom and deletes a balcony, without perhaps adding much given that I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be with my daughter (6) being in a room without an adult even if it's connected. Alternatively, we could get a "sweet 16" balcony room for about $900 savings compared to the FV or connecting rooms.

 

My concern with the Summit is the small size of the basic cabin for 4 of us, that 170 sq feet just won't be enough for us to feel comfortable...this is why I reserved the FV while researching my options...on the Weezer cruise, the rooms were a bit bigger than on the Summit, and my kids were a bit smaller, and it was TIGHT...fine for 4 nights of excitement, but maybe not for a week of (attempted) relaxation.

 

Any thoughts are appreciated...if the design of the "sweet 16" cabins is such that it would be fine for 4 of us, then the savings could be put to other uses...a bit to specialty dining and the rest to...well...retirement savings! Or should I just keep my cabin with my 123Go, hope for a price drop (mine is the only one sold at this point!), and enjoy the FV either way? It's currently priced more than a C1, so it seems like the price is high.

 

Stay right where you are. It's the best choice for the MClass.

[fleckle]

Family View is very nice. However if you take two cabins, cheapest balcony connecting or even Ocean view IMO a better option You get two bathrooms and more privacy. I would save the money for shore excursions, speciality dining and whatever else you desire.

I agree that two cabins provide the preferable, more comfortable layout as far as usable space goes, especially if you will be the ones staying in and babysitting in the evenings while the children are sleeping.

 

With the FV cabin on the Summit, you lose the use of your living room/sitting area every night because the couches get made up as the places where the children sleep. You need to tiptoe through between the sleeping children if you want to get to or from the balcony. Otherwise you are confined to the side of the room with the bed.

 

There is no real privacy; only a translucent slider that separates the parents' bed area from the living/sitting side of the room where the children sleep.

 

But if you plan to hire the ship's babysitters to watch the children each evening so that you can be out and about the ship, then the loss of the living/sitting area may not matter much to you.

 

 

 

Now if the OP was talking about the FV cabins on one of the S-class ships, the layout there is entirely different and much better designed as it provide a small, separate bedroom for the children and a real living room.

So there the parents still have complete use of the living room and easy access to the balcony after the children go to sleep.

 

 

Edited February 16, 2014 by fleckle

[mahdnc]

countingbackwards,

If you can afford the Summit corner FV, then stick with it--it is the best option of the three you mentioned as the cabin is designed with families of 4 in mind. Our family of 4 sailed in corner FVs on Summit, Millennium, and Infinity. Our children were the same age as yours (6 and 9) when we had the Infinity FV. They are awesome cabins which is why we book them. If you truly have your pick of FVs, avoid Deck 9 for noise and privacy reasons.

Edited February 16, 2014 by mahdnc

[countingbackwards]

Thanks for the input guys…I haven't come to an absolute decision yet, but I've decided against 2 OV's because I realize that for me to sleep comfortably, there'd have to be an adult with a child in each room…and that's no fun! So it would come to a 2nd bathroom vs. a huge balcony with an aft view…and I'll go with the balcony in that comparison, given that if we're waiting around while people get ready - those who are waiting can just sit on the balcony and stare at the wake!

 

So it really comes down to a decision of whether to save some cash and get a basic 2C balcony room - which is probably false economy, with the potential to turn an awesome holiday into one that has us feeling like we're falling over each other. But it's at least an option that is open until final payment. The fact that I had my choice of corner FV's makes me think that there's a good chance I'll get a price drop, and the increase in price over a standard balcony won't wind up being much.