Sharing Cabin with Children

[HappySeasAhoy]

I've cruised over 10 times but never with children.  My new girlfriend has two young children (7 & 8).  She has never been on a cruise.  I would like to understand the pros and cons of everyone staying in one cabin vs. two cabins, aside from the cost.  I'm not even sure if its allowed for children of that age.

 

Just the general thought of four people staying in a tiny cabin is a bit off-putting for me, even if it was a suite.  I'm really leaning for the two cabins.

 

I could list out all the things I can think of on my own, but I'd rather just hear from those who have experienced it.  Thanks for your responses.

[Essiesmom]

Have you ever traveled away for a night or two with them, staying in a hotel?  Did you get an extra room for them?  Connecting rooms, with a connecting inside door?  
Depending on cruise line, ship, and type of cabin, those kids may be sharing a pullout couch or upper bunks if the four of you share a cabin.  If you go for two cabins, make sure they have the interior connecting door.  You would have to book one of you in each cabin, and it would depend on the comfort ,even of you and their mom whether they sleep in the second cabin with the door open.  With kids that young I certainly wouldn’t do balcony cabins.  Just my opinion.  EM

[GeezerCouple]

9 minutes ago, HappySeasAhoy said:

I've cruised over 10 times but never with children.  My new girlfriend has two young children (7 & 8).  She has never been on a cruise.  I would like to understand the pros and cons of everyone staying in one cabin vs. two cabins, aside from the cost.  I'm not even sure if its allowed for children of that age.

 

Just the general thought of four people staying in a tiny cabin is a bit off-putting for me, even if it was a suite.  I'm really leaning for the two cabins.

 

I could list out all the things I can think of on my own, but I'd rather just hear from those who have experienced it.  Thanks for your responses.

 

Welcome to CruiseCritic!

Also please see the "Family Cruising" section for more specific discussions:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/28-family-cruises/

 

What is often suggested is to get two INTERNALLY CONNECTING cabins (so one does *not* need to go into the hallway to move between rooms - this is important!).

Register with one adult and one child in each cabin.

 

Once you are on board, you can keep the connecting door open all the time (especially with younger children, etc.), and do what is usually done at home... 2 adults in one bedroom, 2 children in the other.

 

I'd also suggest bringing a bell of some sort and put it on the children's cabin door to the hallway.  Then, IF they try to open it (perhaps in error, perhaps out of curiousity, or ...? 😉 ) you'll hear it, and can go check promptly.

 

There are also some suites where there are either 2 bedrooms (often one very small one for children) plus a real Living Room space, or where the LR can be made up with beds (e.g., sleep sofa).

 

Enjoy!

 

GC

[edinburgher]

3 hours ago, HappySeasAhoy said:

I would like to understand the pros and cons of everyone staying in one cabin vs. two cabins, aside from the cost

Two cabins means double the storage space and  TWO bathrooms instead of one!😀

Edited April 13 by edinburgher

[mjkacmom]

We always gotconnecting balconies with our 5 kids (youngest were 4 on our first cruise, no problem with balconies). 

[MacMadame]

On my last cruise, we brought our two kids, one 8 and one 1 year. We got an inside cabin that slept 4 and it was bigger than any I've been in that slept 2. It was 184 sq. ft. and had a queen bed, a sleeper sofa, and a bunk.

 

We had a great time as we were only in our cabin to change clothes and sleep.

 

ETA this was a Disney Cruise. Not sure if that made a difference in the cabin size.

Edited April 13 by MacMadame

[Noledad77]

For 2 adults and 2 children (who are not toddlers), a balcony room would suffice. If you really want the room to spread out some, I'd agree that the connecting rooms are a good call as well. Our first cruise, we did 2 connecting cabins and that worked out great. Granted, I have 4 kids and not just 2, so my wife was in one with the girls and I was in the other with our boys. Amazingly, I didn't get kicked at all. Hmm...

Whatever you choose, I hope you have a great time!

[ldubs]

We have done an inside cabin with two kids.  It is crowded.  It was fun.   Kind of like camping in a four person tent.   

[SelectSys]

When my kids were young at that age 7 & 9 for us, we got a single large balcony cabin.  As they got older - maybe when the youngest turned 10 - we "graduated" to adjoining rooms.  This was nice as we had more space and another bathroom. Our favorite situation was when we could get an adjoining cabin with one balcony and one ocean view.

Edited April 15 by SelectSys

[wcook]

On 4/13/2024 at 2:36 PM, Essiesmom said:

With kids that young I certainly wouldn’t do balcony cabins.

The great thing about balcony cabins with young kids is you can usually fit a pacnplay on the balcony. 

[Mum2Mercury]

We went with one cabin when our kids were under 10 ... but they were our own kids, with whom we'd lived all their lives.  You say NEW girlfriend.  That could be uncomfortable.  

 

When we shared a cabin with four, we always opted for a balcony.  It's the cheapest way to get another "room" ... actual privacy for 1-2 people and a place for Dad to disappear while the girls are changing.  

 

If you go with a single cabin, learn ahead of time whether your cabin will have a sofa bed or pull-down bunks.  The sofa bed is small.  

 

If the budget allows, two CONNECTING ROOMS are better, especially as you've already expressed concerns about too much togetherness.  Connecting rooms will be like two bedrooms in your house connected by an internal door.  Means you can come and go into the kids' room without going out into the hallway ... and means you know whether anyone's coming into your kids' room.  It also gives you two bathrooms, two closets, two TVs, and more privacy.  Some people get a balcony /put their kids across the hall in an interior ... I personally would not do that, as it seems a whole lot farther when two exterior doors are between you.  

 

Again, thinking of budget ... balconies are nice, but (in your situation) I'd rather have two connecting interior rooms instead of a fancier (smaller) room.

[kitkat343]

On 5/24/2024 at 10:29 PM, Mum2Mercury said:

We went with one cabin when our kids were under 10 ... but they were our own kids, with whom we'd lived all their lives.  You say NEW girlfriend.  That could be uncomfortable.  

 

 

This is a really good point.  Another factor to consider is - are you a person who spends time in the cabin during the cruise?  If you are literally there just to sleep and change your clothes then one cabin might be fine, but if you and the kids spend a lot of time in the room you might be uncomfortable.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 4/15/2024 at 3:37 PM, wcook said:

On 4/13/2024 at 2:36 PM, Essiesmom said:

 With kids that young I certainly wouldn’t do balcony cabins.  Just my opinion.  EM

The great thing about balcony cabins with young kids is you can usually fit a pacnplay on the balcony. 

I doubt that the 7 and the 8 year old would fit into a pack and play...

 

Not sure why elementary school aged kids would be too young for a balcony cabin. I guess if one leaves them unattended - probably.

 

On 5/24/2024 at 10:29 PM, Mum2Mercury said:

Again, thinking of budget ... balconies are nice, but (in your situation) I'd rather have two connecting interior rooms instead of a fancier (smaller) room.

with the way cruise prices are lately, I wouldn't want to book a separate cabin for kids.

[KimA75]

I would go with connecting rooms or, if you are sailing Royal Caribbean, an ultra spacious room.  The ultra spacious are different locations depending on the class of ship.  Some are interior, others are ocean view, and some are balcony.  These have a lot more area in the room and have a bunk bed area along with the bed and pull out sofa.  Granted, the bunk beds generally only have a curtain to close between the areas and not an actual door, but it does allow for some separation and gives a ton more floor space.

 

Connecting rooms are great because you get two bathrooms.  That way there isn't a concern about someone needing to use the bathroom while another person is showering, etc.  Plus, it can give the adults a little more privacy.  You book these as one adult and one child in each room.  Once you are on board, you can go to guest services and have the keys arranged however you want.  Kids have keys to one room while adults have keys to the other.  

[mjkacmom]

3 hours ago, KimA75 said:

I would go with connecting rooms or, if you are sailing Royal Caribbean, an ultra spacious room.  The ultra spacious are different locations depending on the class of ship.  Some are interior, others are ocean view, and some are balcony.  These have a lot more area in the room and have a bunk bed area along with the bed and pull out sofa.  Granted, the bunk beds generally only have a curtain to close between the areas and not an actual door, but it does allow for some separation and gives a ton more floor space.

 

Connecting rooms are great because you get two bathrooms.  That way there isn't a concern about someone needing to use the bathroom while another person is showering, etc.  Plus, it can give the adults a little more privacy.  You book these as one adult and one child in each room.  Once you are on board, you can go to guest services and have the keys arranged however you want.  Kids have keys to one room while adults have keys to the other.  

With connecting rooms they will just give you additional key cards.

[GeezerCouple]

52 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

With connecting rooms they will just give you additional key cards.

One can get extra key cards (at least on some cruiselines or hotels!) without having connecting rooms.

 

On ships, the extra cards don't have "charging privileges"; they are just used for entry.

And they tend to be fairly blank (usually not color coded or such).  We'd use a permanent marker to indicate which was for which cabin or suite... something like "Nana A" or "RC", so we weren't constantly fumbling and trying card after card from a small stack. 😉 

 

GC

[mjkacmom]

1 hour ago, GeezerCouple said:

One can get extra key cards (at least on some cruiselines or hotels!) without having connecting rooms.

 

On ships, the extra cards don't have "charging privileges"; they are just used for entry.

And they tend to be fairly blank (usually not color coded or such).  We'd use a permanent marker to indicate which was for which cabin or suite... something like "Nana A" or "RC", so we weren't constantly fumbling and trying card after card from a small stack. 😉 

 

GC

On ncl they actually marked them for us.

[GeezerCouple]

Just now, mjkacmom said:

On ncl they actually marked them for us.

We wanted to mark them "our way", so we could quickly know which card went with which place.

 

I assume we could have had the 'special' markings like colors/categories/whatever if we wanted them.  We just wanted plain cards (and the use of a permanent marker for a few minutes!).

 

One of the times we did this was on NCL.

 

RM