Family Harbour Suite vs Connecting Balcony Staterooms (Family of 5)

[MickeyIsMyHomeboy]

Would you rather...

 

Book a Family Harbour Suite (with Cove Balcony)

OR

Connecting Balcony Staterooms

 

for a family of 5? Kids ages 12, 9, 6.

 

Balcony is a must so we can still chill while kids are sleeping before us. The pricing looks to be super close (within $1000). I hope some of you have tried both situations and can share your experience!

 

Thank you!

[CeleBrat]

Connecting balconies, for sure!  That doubles the # of bathrooms you get, as well as double the space on the balcony!  We sailed that way once and it was glorious!

[cruisinqt]

We’ve always done side by side balconies. We have them remove the divider to make it one big extra long balcony. You have 2 bathrooms, double the balcony space, and double the closet space. And if we decide to stay up late and talk or watch a movie on our iPad it doesn’t wake the kids because our rooms are separate. 

[Eli_6]

I would definitely prefer connecting rooms over a single-room suite because then you have two bathrooms and two televisions.  

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

We had this same decision, and went with the family harbor suite (though, for us, the suite was about $2k less than two cabins).

 

Advantages of suite: family harbor lounge, suite perks

Advantages of 2 cabins: two full bathrooms (as opposed to the 1.5 in the suite)

 

Suite: all in one room.  Less privacy, but will be easier to check on kids at night.

 

Suite: deck 2 cove balcony, while 2 cabins can be any deck, standard balcony

 

We don't spend that much time in the cabin, except for sleeping.  Also, it seems the Family Harbor Lounge will be a great breakfast option, and nice place for the kids to hang out. We haven't tried a cove balcony yet, but would like to.

 

While we do have 2 showers with the suite, not having 2 toilets is a negative, but in a pinch we could run upstairs to the bathrooms by the MDR.  All in all, with the $2k saving, the suite was an easy decision.

[mamaneedsavacay]

On 1/13/2023 at 3:27 PM, CeleBrat said:

Connecting balconies, for sure!  That doubles the # of bathrooms you get, as well as double the space on the balcony!  We sailed that way once and it was glorious!

 

On 1/13/2023 at 3:35 PM, cruisinqt said:

We’ve always done side by side balconies. We have them remove the divider to make it one big extra long balcony. You have 2 bathrooms, double the balcony space, and double the closet space. And if we decide to stay up late and talk or watch a movie on our iPad it doesn’t wake the kids because our rooms are separate. 

 

When you booked your rooms, were you able to do it online, or did you need to call Carnival/ use TA? 
I will eventually call my TA, but I'm trying to price out ahead of time and see what is available and the website will do anything but let me choose two rooms next to each other. I would love to be able to put something on courtesy hold and then hand it over to my TA. Is that impossible? 

[kelkel2]

I’d personally like the family harbor suite if it also has a balcony. The convenience of the family harbor lounge is so nice! 

[mamaneedsavacay]

1 hour ago, mamaneedsavacay said:

 

 

When you booked your rooms, were you able to do it online, or did you need to call Carnival/ use TA? 
I will eventually call my TA, but I'm trying to price out ahead of time and see what is available and the website will do anything but let me choose two rooms next to each other. I would love to be able to put something on courtesy hold and then hand it over to my TA. Is that impossible? 

I actually solved my own problem- if it helps anyone else..
I tried the online booking one more time, but this time, I made Cabin 1 the one with 3 people and Cabin 2 the one with only 2 people. Fewer cabins can accommodate three, so this way I got the hard one done first and an easy one was available next to it. Woo-hoo!