Kids rooming with parents

[atinkerbellmom]

If you were to book one adult and one child in each room, would DCL charge this as two adults in each cabin for double occupency? This won't apply to my family for a while, but just curious for future travel.

Yes this is true. If the OP gets two rooms, she will be paying adult rate for all 4 of them. To some it is worth it as when the kids get to be older teens, the price for them as children is not much of a difference but with little kids it is a big difference. If one adult is booked in a room, the room surplus rate is a lot larger than placing two people in the room. The age categories are broken down into brackets of the rate that people are charged. I use to know them off the top of my head, but have since forgot.

Now to the OP, we cruise the same way you do in your upcoming cruise, with the kids with us. I think we will continue to do it that way until the kids are too big for the upper bunk. (I have VERY LARGE CHILDREN). We then may consider another room. On the other hand, we are not big privacy people either among our family. We do not even unhook the curtain at night as we do not do anything besides sleep in our room when we are on vacation. So, it is not a big deal to us. We would have a problem anyway as my DH uses a C-Pap and the only outlet is behind the tv, so the curtain would get in the way anyway. See we view our room truly as a place to retire for the night as we are too tired to do anything at the end of the day (couple time). So, we do not care about being in the room with our kids. If you are planning on "couple time" then room sharing can be a problem. When I am on the ship, I am trying to get so much in, that I am not thinking about things I can do at home (excluding eatting and eatting and eatting) . Now on RCCL, I think we would have to get two rooms as it is my understanding the kids would be stuck together on a sofa bed and my kids are too big to share a sofa together especially being a little girl and tween boy. We are comfortable with them sharing rooms though.

 

[lbgraves]

I took 2 of my kids on a Caribbean cruise in March and we shared one cabin. The kids were 17 and 23! Now if my husband had been along - I would've gotten two cabins - just so they wouldn't have to listen to him SNORE!

If that's the case I would be in the other stateroom with the kids.

 

[suzcruz]

gr8lwg8, i too have an only child (age 10) and am interested to hear what people are saying about the payment issue. when we did our cruise, i thought it was wonderful for only kids as, after an awkward first day, she met so many friends and had a fantastic time. on the other hand, she would love to bring a friend. normally, at home, if i invite her friend to do something, then i pay but this is a huge expense so not sure what to do, maybe offer to split the cost? any advice out there?

 

[Kphelps16]

i'm 16 and i haven't had a problem sharing a room with my parents...
Would i love to have a separate room? sure.
But only if i was rooming with a friend...my mom thought about it once before when we took a joint trip with friends but their son didn't like the idea..it was their first VACATION not just cruise...

 

[khakismum]

Please forgive me if this is too personal a question.
Do you pay for the best friend? I can see both sides.
If I invite her I would want to pay for her
or
If someone (I trusted completely) invited my daughter I would want to pay my daughter's way.

I can't address a cruise directly but we are doing something similar with DD and one of her friends in October. We are going to WDW and to MNSSHP and we invited her friend to join us. (Well we worked it out with her parents b4 we told the girls) But what we offered is; room, transportation, MNSSHP tix, dinner (or main meal) and breakfast everyday. Since the girls are 15 they will most likely be on their own in the parks everyday at lunch so they will buy their own lunch. So, all I asked the parents to purchase is park tix (for 6 days) and provide spending/"lunch"/snack money. Still a bit pricey, but nothing like the whole cost.

Since this was a birthday gift to both girls, grandparents pitched in $$ for spending money!

I'd say with a cruise to maybe ask the parents to pay the pp cabin charge (or if you can afford it, half the pp price) and spending money. You might agree to pick up excursions and incidental on board expenses (arcade, smoothies, a pin or two from the stores) as well as transport to port and any other accommodations before the cruise. (We always stay at a nearby hotel the night before to be able to get up and to port early!) Some might be able to provide the whole trip cost and that'd be great. But in our shoes right now, we'd have to ask for a little help $$$-wise. But like you, if our dd was invited to such a thing, we'd want to help pay. So don't feel bad talking to the parents of your intent to invite and then discuss the financial considerations. Just don't say anything to the kids until it is a go!!

HTH, at least another's perspective.

 

[phred52]

Through the years we have always shared our cat 10 cabin with our 2 DD's. However, for this upcoming cruise we have 2 cat 11 adjoining rooms. The thinking is ....the girls are older ((18 & 20)) and this will give them freedom as well as added responsibility.

By the way, back when we booked these 2 rooms onboard, I offered to put one parent in each room along with one teen, with the understanding we would be swopping and sleeping as husband/wife and 2 sisters. Nope, it was perfectly fine to book one room with the 2 girls. They did have birth dates in the system and knew exactly how old everyone was. My 20 yo is the lead on her reservation.

 

[CraftyMouse]

I am curious what folks do regarding their children sharing a cabin. Obviously, up to a certain age, they just room with their parents. We have a son (9) and a daughter (7). On our 2009 cruise they will be with us, no problem. But we are planning on cruising again in 2012 for my husbands milestone birthday and at that time they will be 13 and 11. So my question is at what point do most of you find that the kids are too old to room with you? Do you get adjoining cabins? Also, if they are brother and sister as we have, how do you handle that? Is it still appropriate for them to share a room? I'm just wondering what the conventional wisdom is on this. Thanks!

My kids won't ever be too old to room with us. Perhaps I am missing the point of your post, but I'm not sure why they would ever be too old to share our room. We are quite used to being around each other in pajamas, etc. When sharing a room we use the bathroom for changing our clothes. I guess I'm just wondering what would be inappropriate about sharing a room with your kids, even when they are adults. (Not attacking here...just curious.)

As for the brother/sister issue, they don't have to share a bed on board if that's your worry. The extra beds in each cabin (except for some of the suites, I believe, are bunk beds. Honestly, our kids (DD16 and DS13) still have no problems sharing a bed, if necessary. It doesn't happen often, but when it does there are no issues. It would never enter my mind that because they are male/female there would be any sexual issues. They are siblings (and good friends besides) and are very relaxed and comfortable with each other.