Staterooms: Help me make a smart choice!

[carrielouhoo]

We, a family of five (8,5,3 at time of sailing), booked a deluxe family stateroom with verandah for our first cruise on DCL. Now, in perusing the DCL website, I'm realizing that we can get 2 deluxe inside staterooms for only a couple hundred dollars more than our single verandah room. I knew this was possible, but hadn't really given it full consideration until now, as I'm really starting to think about personal space, storage, and overall experience.

I understand there are distinct "camps" of people that prefer one category over the other, but I'm interested to hear everyone's thoughts. Would you keep the verandah room or change to two insides? In your opinion, would having inside rooms diminish a cruiser's overall experience? I'm particularly interested in opinions from other families of five.

 

[scrappinginontario]

What ship will you be on? How many nights?

 

[carrielouhoo]

What ship will you be on? How many nights?

We'll be on the Fantasy, Eastern Caribbean itinerary, for 7 nights.

 

[WallyBear]

I haven't been on our first cruise yet so take this with a grain of salt, but I would go with two inside rooms. For 7 nights I would want to make sure everyone is getting a good night sleep and two rooms increases that chance.

 

[tigerchic89]

We are a family of 5 but we cruise with a 6th, my mom. We get inside or outside deluxe (don't care either way, we aren't ever in the rooms). We keep the connecting door open the whole cruise, and it is awesome to have 2 showers, 2 waterclosets, etc. We also never have to use the "couch" as a bed so it's available for sitting or holding bags and stuff (that doesn;t have to be moved for someone to be able to go to bed). Works great for us, love having the extra space

 

[carrielouhoo]

We also never have to use the "couch" as a bed so it's available for sitting or holding bags and stuff

Thanks for your thoughts! This is actually something that I've been thinking would be a huge benefit for us! We could leave beds made up in the second room for kids that wanted to lounge or nap, but maintain the sofa in the first room for sitting, etc.

 

[Terapin]

And if you use an agent, you might get more in shipboard credits with the two rooms.

 

[darnheather]

Two rooms for sure.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

Given the age of your kids, I'd stick with one room. If you have two rooms, would they be connected by an internal door? Are those rooms still available? If your kids were older, they could all be in one room and you and your spouse in another, but with them that age, would you still do that, or would you and your spouse split up rooms? Also, how much will help will your kids need getting ready? Again, if they were teens, the extra bathroom would be a blessing, but with them being younger, you may have to be on hand anyway most of the time. I will say that their is a curtain between the two parts of the 5 person room, so you could still be up even when they are asleep, but of course that depends on how soundly your children sleep. Just my thoughts...

 

[tigerchic89]

I do think that connecting rooms are a must, otherwise the one 5 person is probably a better choice

 

[jrabbit]

I myself don't like the inside rooms, but these do have the Magic Portholes (I think) so not as "bad" (I sail in Port Hole Rooms)

I would go for the more space and double "everything" vs. the one room.

 

[olookasquirrel]

Does then 3 year old still nap (or will he/she need to on the very busy/exciting cruise)? One of the reasons we went with the verandah was so that whoever is on nap duty with our 2.5 year old has someplace pleasant to hang out....

 

[chamberlain]

We sailed on the Fantasy and had two inside connecting rooms. It was cheaper for us than a room with a verandah. We loved our girls having their own space and we really didn't mind not having a window/verandah. But that was just our experience.

 

[mevelandry]

In my opinion, booking 2 rooms would be a waste of space (and money)...

I would either keep the verandah (because having a verandah is awesome) or downgrade to OV or inside (and keep only one room.)

Because...

1) You don't spend that much time in the room except for sleeping, napping and showering.

2) There is a lot of room for clothes in the cupboards/drawers + you can store luggage under the bed as well.

-The woman living in a tiny house.

 

[Shanti]

Two rooms are better than one when traveling with three kids, especially for seven nights. The inside rooms on the Dream class ships (Dream & Fantasy) are nice.

 

[Cackyschmackers]

We've done your exact cruise plus two more on the Magic (one 7-nt and another 8-nt). Each time, we've had the family deluxe verandah, we just LOVE our verandah rooms!! They are absolutely perfect, esp with the young ages of your kids. All of the beds are real beds, the sofa is a day bed, so you just pull the cover back, and it's a sofa again (it's not a pull out). The Murphy bed can also be stowed by you so it won't be in the way to get to the verandah. Your kids are still little, you won't feel crowded whatsoever. Now that we have a teen and two tweens, for our next two cruises, we're getting two rooms. But one is a verandah (I just can't give it up, cruising to me is all about seeing the ocean ). It's very safe, too, there is a child lock on the door Maybe after this first cruise, you could consider not having a verandah, but esp your length of time and itinerary, you might really enjoy the verandah. .. nothing like it! I don't agree with the people who say you're only in your room to sleep. With 3 kids, you and your husband may take turns with activities with the kids if one might need a nap and the others want to keep going. ... Good luck whatever you decide!

 

[samily]

We are a family of 5 - my kids are all older now - oldest will be 19 shortly and youngest just turned 12. When our kids were your ages, we cruised in the one verandah room. We used to require daily family downtime mid to late afternoon which frequently resulted in naps for the kids and sometimes for the adults too If DH or I did not nap, we were able to use the verandah and still enjoy the sight and sound of the ocean, which is important to me when on a cruise.

I believe we sailed this way until my oldest was around 10 or so and then we started sailing in the one bed suite for the extra room.

We now usually get a verandah with the 2 older kids in an inside across the hall, or in connecting verandah rooms. Depending on the sailing, we have found 2 lower category verandahs to be not much more than 1 verandah and 1 inside (this seems to happen more frequently on the newer ships).

I will say that when we do get an inside room for them, I tend to get a litttle queasy if I am in there for an extended time. The kids do fine in it though.

 

[mrsp1030]

We are also a family of 5 (kids ages 10,8, 4) and we still get the one family verandah. We debated for our 7 night about getting two rooms but honestly, I think we won't be in there enough as this is a port intensive cruise to warrant the cost. I do think going forward as the kids gets older, we will consider two connecting rooms but my husband does not want to give up the verandah, even if its a navigators one.

 

[lorimay]

If it were me, I would pick the 2 rooms, with 5 people just the extra bathroom alone makes it a win.

Have fun!

 

[uscgrl93]

Family of 5 here too...my kids are older but I still go for one room with the balcony. With yours being so young, you might want to consider staying with that option. Think about some of the questions people posted above and see what would be best for your family.