Cost effective way to cruise when you are a family of 5

[kniquy]

My family of 5 would like to do a cruise at some point, but it seems with the tiny rooms that are on cruise ships they usually only accommodate 3-4 people. So having a family of 5 -- is there any economical way to cruise? Are you usually better off getting 2 rooms? Do any cruise lines offer adjoining rooms? OR do you get a suite which can accommodate 5 people.

 

[Mika02]

So I've only cruised on Carnival and Disney. I used to be a family of 5 so I can give you some strategies.

I did a 7 day cruise on Carnival for around 3k when we were a family of 4, 2 adults 2 children and stayed in an interior room. Got a pretty good deal on the vacation at the time but that was during hurricane season so 2 islands were washed out at the time, we received some credit from the cruise line at that point. So one tip you can try to cruise during an off season like Hurricane season to save some money you may have to pull kids out of school and you may not get to every stop. I will say our family and my in laws who also had the same size family had a great time and they recently cruised again during Hurricane season now a family of 5 they booked two rooms on carnival and had no issues whatsoever with any Hurricane.

On our Disney cruise we were a family of 5, I booked one Family Oceanview suite with verandah for a little over 4k for 4 nights on the Disney Dream again during Hurricane season right before the start of school. They were offering 50% Deposits at the time so less money upfront and I was able to save and plan for the rest. For this cruise instead of flying to Florida we drove our own car. This saved us a lot. We were able to park our car at the port for $75 I believe for the length of the cruise. Since we were only sailing for 4 days we stayed at a local timeshare that I found a deal on for a couple hundred dollars per night for a 1 bedroom with a kitchenette. So we had a 6 day vacation. We had an amazing time and my kids have been begging to go on another Disney cruise ever since. So my next tip is research and plan early.

My last tip is budget, always an accurate and reasonable budget in mind when you're cruising. You can definitely pay a 2k for a cruise for 5 but it maybe on Carnival and you may not see a lot of island stops or a shorter cruise stop. Unfortunately not many cruise lines have family suite options like Disney does so you will have to book two rooms look into 2 interiors that connect or a deal ok 2 Oceanviews that connect.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

I have only cruised Carnival so that is my experience. On Dream and Vista class ships there are Family Deluxe Ocean view rooms that accommodate 5 and include separate sleeping spaces for all and 1 1/2 bathrooms (1 toilet/shower/sink room and 1 tub/sink room). You can also do 2 insides or a balcony plus inside or Oceanview plus inside (these last 2 will have rooms directly across from one another). Depending on the age of your kids you have several options.

 

[Frozen2014]

There are ultra spacious ocean view rooms and also ultra spacious balcony rooms that hold up to 6 people (double sofa bad + bunk bed type beds/pullman).
Or there is the option to get 2 rooms (can try for connecting rooms).
Depending on the ship, some Junior Suites also have a pullman and a sofa bed that can fit 5.
I think there are other options as well that you need to call in for.

I would price out the different options for your specific cruise and go from there.

 

[AlohaNow]

If you are at all interested in cruising on MSC, they offer a Super Family category, which is two connecting balcony staterooms. We are only putting four people into ours, but the real savings comes in when putting five or six people in there, as the price remains the same. Do not underestimate having two full bathrooms when cruising with 4 - 6 people! We paid a smidge under $2,900 for a 7-night cruise for the Super Family, in guarantee status so they will assign the location, we did not pick. We also got drink packages included in that price for the four of us, as that was the promo at the time.

If you speak with a travel agent I'm sure they could give you all of the possible options for family cabins / suites / connecting cabins and could find something on some line that could work beautifully for your family. It is 'wave season' in the cruise industry, with all sorts of great promotions going on, typically through the end of March. Have fun planning!

 

[disneyinthespringtime]

I just finished running the numbers on this a zillion ways for a royal Caribbean cruise we are doing with friends. I am sure it depends on the boat but it turned out the option that made the most sense for our trip in terms of best location on the ship and keeping cost in check was a 2 room next to a room that fit up to 4 as 3 person rooms were really limited and not often in great spots. Adjoining rooms were few and far between as sometimes they were “wasted” on a 4 next to 4 set up or 3 next to 3 where they insisted we fill the 3 person room. For some reason it was apparently ok tho to put just 3 people in a room that fit up to 4.

 

[Mrsjvb]

Much of the time two cabins is cheaper than a suite or family cabin that holds 5+. Depending on the age of the kids, the cabin can be directly across the hall, next door but not connected by an interior door, or connected.

 

[ronandannette]

You may need to actually use a travel agent, or at least a booking consultant at the cruise line, rather than trying to figure it out on-line. Tell them what you need and have them source out the options. Personally, for economy and convenience, I'd be aiming for two inside cabins which connect. That would give you at least 5 beds (probably 6 or maybe even 8) and two bathrooms.

 

[cel_disney]

If you are booking in advance - definitely look at two rooms! For my family of 4 it’s been cheaper to book
2 than a single, and you have the benefit of multiple bathrooms. We had adjoining balcony rooms last trip and in addition to having the adjoining doors we had the balconies opened between them - it was pretty fabulous! My kids were 6 and 10 and stayed in one room and we were in another... you can probably find some that allow a 3rd person especially with the new sleeper chair thingy I have heard they have.

The larger rooms do often come with extra suite perks so they might be worth looking at but don’t feel compelled to book one just so the 5 of you have the same door number!!

 

[nancy drew]

Royal has rooms that sleep 5. If you can find a good travel agent who knows those rooms and how to book them, I would recommend that. That way you can price out all of the options and figure out what makes the most sense.

 

[3monkeys4me]

You really need to price out the rooms for the ship and sailing you are looking at. Unfortunately on Royal you will have to call or use a TA to get the prices of the larger family rooms. It just depends on what you are looking at doing but for our next cruise it was cheaper to book 3 rooms for 2 (and pay for my MIL to join us!) then to book a room for 2 and a room for 3 or a room for 5. So we booked 2 balcony cabins and one inside across the hall for the teens. MIL will bunk with our youngest.

 

[Frozen2014]

You really need to price out the rooms for the ship and sailing you are looking at. Unfortunately on Royal you will have to call or use a TA to get the prices of the larger family rooms. It just depends on what you are looking at doing but for our next cruise it was cheaper to book 3 rooms for 2 (and pay for my MIL to join us!) then to book a room for 2 and a room for 3 or a room for 5. So we booked 2 balcony cabins and one inside across the hall for the teens. MIL will bunk with our youngest.

Are these the spacious ocean and balcony rooms? Or they have other specific family rooms? If latter what is the layout?

 

[3monkeys4me]

Are these the spacious ocean and balcony rooms? Or they have other specific family rooms? If latter what is the layout?

The rooms we have booked are just regular balcony rooms (so a king/2 twins) and a virtual balcony cabin (king/2 twins). I can't remember the larger rooms that fit all 5 of us in the same room but it was almost double the price. The 2 rooms I priced out were a 2 person balcony (king or 2 twins) and a 3 person balcony (king or two twins and single sofa bed) that were adjoining but not connecting.

 

[Frozen2014]

The rooms we have booked are just regular balcony rooms (so a king/2 twins) and a virtual balcony cabin (king/2 twins). I can't remember the larger rooms that fit all 5 of us in the same room but it was almost double the price. The 2 rooms I priced out were a 2 person balcony (king or 2 twins) and a 3 person balcony (king or two twins and single sofa bed) that were adjoining but not connecting.

Thanks. Us too. We usually just stay the 4 of us in one room...or coming up we have 2 connecting rooms for two of our cruises (which would work for OP). Have seen the spacious ocean and balcony rooms which hold 5-6 and have have double sofa and pullman (or looks more like bunk bed style). I'm 'price watching' them on Harmony cruise but cruise prices have gone up in general so haven't jumped on them yet. So just curious if there are other rooms they call 'family' and how the bed situation works out.

 

[3monkeys4me]

Thanks. Us too. We usually just stay the 4 of us in one room...or coming up we have 2 connecting rooms for two of our cruises (which would work for OP). Have seen the spacious ocean and balcony rooms which hold 5-6 and have have double sofa and pullman (or looks more like bunk bed style). I'm 'price watching' them on Harmony cruise but cruise prices have gone up in general so haven't jumped on them yet. So just curious if there are other rooms they call 'family' and how the bed situation works out.

I was pricing for Ovation so I am not sure how the staterooms from Quantum class and Oasis class compare. Royal has changed the different names a categories of staterooms a few times recently so I can't really keep up. IME, the larger staterooms that sleep 5-6 on Royal's newer ships tend to be more expensive then 2 staterooms but on their older ships they are sometimes cheaper. We are looking at doing an ultra spacious ocean cabin that sleeps 6 on Rhapsody since it comes out a bit cheaper and it is a port intensive cruise anyway, but honestly now that my kids are older having 2 cabins is really nice and I am not sure I want to give that up.

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

My family of 5 would like to do a cruise at some point, but it seems with the tiny rooms that are on cruise ships they usually only accommodate 3-4 people. So having a family of 5 -- is there any economical way to cruise? Are you usually better off getting 2 rooms? Do any cruise lines offer adjoining rooms? OR do you get a suite which can accommodate 5 people.

So we're doing Liberty (not until November 2020) for 7 nights. My kids will be 12, 9 (almost 10) and 3. We've shared a verandah on DCL this past November but actually MIL was the adjoining room so the two older kids bunked with her instead. I can't imagine all 5 of us being in the same small room!

With that said, we booked an Ultra Spacious Promenade View room (we were able to book just 3 in that cabin even though it sleeps 6!) and right across the hall a standard balcony for our Liberty cruise next year. We will have about 520 square feet for all 5 of us which is like 3 times the space as Disney. I went through a TA and actually never even priced out the Ultra Spacious Promenade View room alone for all 5 of us as I wanted a balcony. We are paying $3,800 for BOTH rooms including some OBC.

Our Disney cruise this past November was just 3 nights and we paid $3,200 for a third of the space

Be flexible with your dates if possible and have a TA do some work for you and price out different rooms. I realize this post is over a month old but if you have booked chime in with what you ended up doing!

 

[cel_disney]

So we're doing Liberty (not until November 2020) for 7 nights. My kids will be 12, 9 (almost 10) and 3. We've shared a verandah on DCL this past November but actually MIL was the adjoining room so the two older kids bunked with her instead. I can't imagine all 5 of us being in the same small room!

With that said, we booked an Ultra Spacious Promenade View room (we were able to book just 3 in that cabin even though it sleeps 6!) and right across the hall a standard balcony for our Liberty cruise next year. We will have about 520 square feet for all 5 of us which is like 3 times the space as Disney. I went through a TA and actually never even priced out the Ultra Spacious Promenade View room alone for all 6 of us as I wanted a balcony. We are paying $3,800 for BOTH rooms including some OBC.

Our Disney cruise this past November was just 3 nights and we paid $3,200 for a third of the space

Be flexible with your dates if possible and have a TA do some work for you and price out different rooms. I realize this post is over a month old but if you have booked chime in with what you ended up doing!

You are going to love the Liberty! I really cannot day enough about how much my family enjoyed that ship!

What a great room setup you have! I’m sure you will love the extra space and flexibility of sleeping choices to accommodate a 3 year old who might need to be sleeping when others aren’t!

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

You are going to love the Liberty! I really cannot day enough about how much my family enjoyed that ship!

What a great room setup you have! I’m sure you will love the extra space and flexibility of sleeping choices to accommodate a 3 year old who might need to be sleeping when others aren’t!

Thank you for the encouraging words! I love LOVE DCL but the prices are just not feasible for us any longer. I was skeptical to try a new cruise line but the more and more I hear about RCCL and Liberty the more excited I get! (Why didn't I book it for THIS year??)

And about the room space - I am ECSTATIC! I'm a little concerned about room arrangements but I know it will all work out in the end. If my husband and I don't get to sleep together for a few nights no biggie! (Our balcony only sleeps 2 but I'm hesitant leaving my boys in there alone) DH doesn't like the thought of the boys having the balcony room but in a year and a half they'll be plenty mature and smart I'm sure. I think I'd be more concerned about adult children and alcohol with a balcony room

 

[Magical2017]

I have been pricing out cruises. We are 4 people (me, DH, and in summer of 2020 ODS will be 14 and YDS will be 11). On some lines, 14 is considered an adult. The price difference has been about $500-600 more for a second cabin. Most of my pricing is ocean view for comparison purposes. So far this has been less than a suite. I actually had to make a spreadsheet because we have others traveling with us, lol. We have a TA we will be working with but I wanted to get an idea of pricing.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Another recommendation for using a TA--especially one that knows cruising. Not all of them do. We just booked for June, 2020--there will be 8 of us toatl, including my sister/BIL. BIL has mobility issues, so they needed an accessible cabin, which was our motivation for booking early. FTR, we're doing the Baltic cruise on the Brilliance.

For our family of 6, we were initially thinking 2, 3-person cabins. My kids (ages 23, 21, 15, and 13) all get along, but DS21 has Asperger's and processing issues, so we felt him having quiet space in our cabin would be nice. Well, our TA looked at my sister's cabin, and says all the things she didn't care for, so she didn't put us near them (which is okay--the important thing is that they have the accessible room, and are close to the elevators). Instead, she goes, "Oh, I love the aft cabins!" Well, they're set up for 2 people each, so we ended up booking 3, 2-person rooms, all aft. This was a little more, but still within our budget. Now, we have the girls in one room, and the boys in the other--one of each is old enough to not need an adult. Added bonus, the aft cabins should be very quiet for DS21.

I had trouble getting straight answers on the website, as to which rooms were configured what way. Perhaps I didn't dig deep enough--I knew I was going to book through a TA, so I didn't want to make an actual online booking. But my TA was able to pull up much more detailed information.