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What's better for a family - two connecting cabins or spacious ocean view room?


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Hi All

 

We're sailing in October on Rhapsody OTS. We are 2 adults and 2 teenagers, and I'm conflicted between getting two adjoining cabins, or the large spacious ocean view room.

The one room is larger of course, but the total sq ft of the adjoining rooms is more space. And two adjoining rooms means two bathrooms, which is good. 

Anyone have thoughts on this?

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June was our first sailing with 2 kids.  One is a teen and the other 9.  For us, we didn't feel too cramped at all in a balcony room.  The cost of adjoining cabins was about $1,200 extra and we spent that money towards the UDP and the DBP.  We are contemplating 2 cabins for our next cruise, but do not feel it necessary for us to enjoy our cruise. 

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The thing is, it really depends upon your own family dynamic and ages of your kids.  

For us, we have raised our kids to earn and enjoy their own freedom and at the same time love spending time together.  So, if it is a family cruise, why not make it a FAMILY cruise? We enjoyed spending time together in small quarters playing card games and eating room service.  We enjoyed talking as a family for 30 minutes before lights out and recollecting highlights of the day.  For us, that is a family cruise.

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We decided to book two interior connecting rooms on our up coming oasis of the seas cruises.  This will be the first time taking our two kids (8,5).  We originally had one central park balcony booked but when checking prices found out that the two connecting rooms on deck 9 with central park window was actually about the same price, so we decided to change.  Having two bathrooms, three beds, two couches should give everyone enough room.  

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Rhapsody's deck plans show:

  • Ocean View: 126 sqft, max 4, 2 twins (convert to king) and 2 pullman beds
  • Spacious Ocean View: 193 sqft, max 4, 2 twins (convert to king) and 1 double sofa bed
  • Ultra Spacious Ocean View: 246 sqft, max 6, 3 twins, 1 double sofa bed, 1 pullman bed

Assuming you're looking at the first 2 options, getting 2 ocean view rooms is 63 sqft per person.  The spacious is 48 sqft per person and those numbers include the bathroom, furniture, and closets.  My personal opinion is a spacious would feel cramped with 4 people (counting the teenagers as adult-sized).  The extra bathroom would also be a huge factor.  Of course, budget can't be ignored.  I wouldn't do two rooms if it cost twice as much.

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1 hour ago, CruisingNewb said:

The thing is, it really depends upon your own family dynamic and ages of your kids.  

For us, we have raised our kids to earn and enjoy their own freedom and at the same time love spending time together.  So, if it is a family cruise, why not make it a FAMILY cruise? We enjoyed spending time together in small quarters playing card games and eating room service.  We enjoyed talking as a family for 30 minutes before lights out and recollecting highlights of the day.  For us, that is a family cruise.

Gnite John Boy!

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We also do two cabins - but, usually a balcony for us and a interior across the hall, or nearby down the hall.  It's generally ended up only being slightly more than putting all four of us together in a balcony and gets all the bonuses of a second room - more space, extra bathroom.

We get extra key cards so we effectively have one large room that everyone in the family can access.

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We booked two connecting balcony rooms for a cruise we took in July and it is definitely the way to go for our family of 4 (kids 15 and 12).  It really seemed to go well with them in their own space--own bathroom, own beds (king was converted to two twins), own TV, own keys, own closet, own everything.  We crammed into a balcony room 3 years ago on Symphony and between stepping over their beds (barely!) getting back and forth to the balcony plus their different sleep schedule, it was not the best situation.  So, highly recommend opting for the connecting rooms--the breathing room is welcome.  We booked the same setup for our cruise next year.  

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