Connecting rooms or across the hall?

lovewdwfun

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jan 29, 2011
Messages
256
First, thank you all so much for answering all my newbie questions! I love this Board!

We have a family of 6 (4 little kids- 11, 9, 6, and 2) for an Alaska cruise. We have two connecting inside rooms booked for the first deck. Price is a definite issue since we are also doing another cruise in November (first cruise), Disney Land in 2018, and Disney World in 2019. So verandahs are out of the question.

I priced it out and for $600, we could book a second deck porthole window across the hall from an inside room.

Is this worth it? Will we think it is a terrible pain separating me and my husband into different rooms just so one room has an ocean view? My 11 YO loves birdwatching and is an early riser. I was thinking he would love being able to stay in the room and look outside while the rest of us get ready. While I could pay the $600, I don’t know if it worth it.

I could also pay an extra $1K to get connecting first deck oceanview rooms with two portholes. $1K is a little harder to swallow for the small portholes. Is it worth it? Do you see much wildlife from your room?
 
First off, we always do connecting rooms, so I'm a tad biased there.

However, we did our Alaska cruise with connecting inside rooms (10B) and didn't miss a thing. We spent all of our time on Deck 4 or Deck 10 with a telephoto lens on the camera and got some great shots.

The best place to see whales, orcas and dolphins is on Deck 10 forward, maybe over the bridge wings. But we saw most of our wildlife activity there. For getting awesome shots of the glacier bits and huge ice chunks, definitely Deck 4.

Cheers!
 
With the ages of your kids, I'd stick with connecting rooms. If you're happy with the 2 insides, stick with it. Yeah, $1K is a lot and could pay for an excursion for all of you. I'd say let your 11 YO turn the TV onto the bridge channel when he wakes up, and then he can see what they're seeing from the bridge.

DD18 and I are a little claustrophobic, so having a window is necessary for us, I'm not even willing to try an inside. We did deck 2 oceanview with the large porthole (category 9C) and will have one again this summer, and I'm happy with those--they're the cheapest rooms I'm willing to book, so I probably wouldn't recommend the deck 1 oceanview with the 2 small portholes.
 
Personally, and I know some disagree, but I think for Alaska, you either need an interior room or a balcony. The interior room is a) cheaper, and b) blocks out the God-awful sunlight which rises at the crack of dawn. The benefits of the balcony are obvious. To me, having the ocean view was just enough of a torture to be able to see outside but not really experience it, and also to let in a crack of light that woke me up early. So for me, I'd rather have 2 connecting interiors in your situation. It's really lonely at night when you're separated from your spouse (and this is coming from someone who always books two rooms everywhere we travel. Connecting = huge non-negotiable for our family).
 

I would stick with connecting. It's just so much more convenient all being together, yet able to retreat into one of the rooms when the littleies are sleeping.

There will be plenty of birdwatching opportunities on deck throughout the cruise, you never know, a peaceful early morning walk with your son may be one of the best memories. (Or in my case an early morning lie in as he goes out with the binoculars, bringing back a plate of pastries from cabanas when he returns :-) )
 
Unless you have very unusual kids, it won't be worth the pain of having people split into separate rooms. Especially with some of the kids realizing that they are in the "bad" room while 11 year old sibling is in the "good" room. Having had interior connecting rooms before, it was nice to have everyone controlled in one location. (Plus, one parent can run to guest services, make a coffee run, etc. while the other parent is still supervising everyone.)
 

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