Family of 6

[orlandochiro]

What is more cost effective, a 2 bedroom suite, or, 2 separate adjoining rooms?

[SpeedNoodles]

It'll vary from ship to ship and sailing to sailing.  Your best bet is to find a good travel agent and have them figure out what'll work best for you.

[Pattycruise]

family of 6 here.
I've never ventured over to the dark side to price out a 2 bedroom suite.

Depending on the ages of the kids I used to put 1 adult with 2 kids, 1 adult with 2 kids and then only 1 drink package needed to be purchased. (If one adult in a cabin buys a alcohol drink package the other must or they must buy the refreshment (non alcohol package)  This gives us 2 bathrooms.
Or, if I dared, I booked hubby and I in one cabin and the 4 darlings in an interior acorss the hall (it takes legwork to find that type of set up)....with them inthe interior I didn't have to worry about shoes, or kids being thrown over the balcony (kidding- they would throw shoes if mad, but not each other).  CAbin with kids only (no one over 21, must be booked directly next to or across the hall from you)

You could do a connecing cabin situation (interior door can be opened between the cabins) but those do tend to cost  a tad more.

There are some cabins that hold 6  (the superior spacious ocean view cabin or some such name)  They show as 5+ on the deck plans and are typically forward. BUT they only have 1 bathroom, so not always ideal, but the room can be ideal otherwise, bunkbeds in a "closet" with a curtain and a pull out couch. quite spacious.

When I used to look for cabins for my family I would look for 4 people to see what came up -some of those 5+ would show -that;s how I learned about them and they have to be booked with a travel agent or directly with Royal....or I would look for the configurations for what I wanted, checking availablity and then contact my TA with the exact cabin #'s that worked for me.    There are some ships that have the very large interior that sleep 7 or the very large promenade that sleep 6.....again, only 1 bathroom unless you can find a deck that has a public restroom nearby to help allevate that problem when someone's gotta go but someone is already in there!
My darlings are older now (youngest 20) so if we do travel together it is typically 2, 2 and 2,.  
 

[DoomSlayer]

How old are the kids?  I usually just book 2 rooms side by side with my kids.  They are an 11-year-old and 2 teens, so they enjoy their own space separate from mom and dad anyway.  And as someone else mentioned, 2 bathrooms really help -- especially with teenage girls.  I never worry about getting connecting rooms specifically, I just get two rooms side-by-side and ask guest services for an extra key to the kids' room.

I have 2 balconies on Adventure in March with the kids.  The 2 rooms together were cheaper than the panoramic suite I was looking at originally and a lot cheaper than a two bedroom suite when I booked.

[Ampurp85]

Connecting rooms often cost a lot more than booking rooms next to each other. if they are balconies, on most ships the dividers can be opened up. A 2br Aqua suite will cost probably what two separate cruises, with two balconies might cost you. 

[DunwoodyDad]

Family of 6 here. As folks have already pointed out, 2 cabins is the way to go. I started with adjoining for a few cruises, but then switched to a balcony for my wife and me with kids in an interior across the hall.  My experience is it needs to be directly next to or across the hall especially depending on ages of the kids.  You usually need to have your TA call if you don’t split the adult names across the cabins. That way you don’t have to change the names after you are on the ship. As my kids grew into big teens, we ended up getting 3 cabins (normally 1 balcony for us with 2 interiors across the hall with the kids) as it really wasn’t much more $.