Room for 3 People on Explorer

[blue_hole_punch]

Hi all - looking at the April 2019 transpacific from Sydney to Seattle on Explorer. It will me be me (32) and my parents (60 and 58) sharing a cabin.

I've been on Explorer previously, in one of the deck 12 balcony cabins.

I'm struggling to reconcile cabin size - the travel agent calls its a "spacious ocean view balcony" of 272 sq ft, 80 sq ft balcony. But I can't find that size anywhere else. So I'm thinking their website is wrong. Royal's website says 179sq ft, 42sq ft balcony. Cruise Critic says 188sq ft, 50sq ft balcony.

Room numbers the website is giving us is 7214, 7216, 7350, 7352, 6348, 6352 and many others. Room type 3B on the official deck plans.

Has anyone got any advice? Would these rooms be big enough for 3 adults for 23 nights? We would have the bed set up as a twin and then someone would sleep on the lounge. Based on my experience in 1838, which is a standard balcony cabin of 164sq ft I'm thinking it might be ok. We haven't cruised as a threesome yet - we're going to NZ on Princess in February in a Mini Suite which is 323sq ft total - 277sq ft room and the balcony is 46sq ft.

On the Royal website apparently all suites are sold out, hence why looking at balcony cabins. Getting connecting cabins or a balcony and an interior is simply not in the budget - we need to be in the one room.

If I can't convince my dad that the Explorer rooms are a better option, we'll be going on Carnival in an Ocean Suite and I really don't want to sail on Carnival. Dad's not happy with the room we're being offered either, and this cruise is his retirement present so we want it to be nice.

[Gears]

I would go with a travel agent specializing in cruises. You will find that they've worked with hundreds of people with exactly your questions and scenario.

IMO...three in the room of the size you noted, OK for seven to nine nights. More than that I wouldn't do it.

[craig403]

With travel agencies information sometimes will vary depending on the experience of the individual agent.  I generally will book with Royal after doing my own research to get an idea of what I want.  Then, up until final payment date, if I find a travel agency that is offering extra perks for the same cruise I can transfer the booking to that agent keeping the same room.  Whichever,  you should keep checking on what you booked so you don't miss a sale or decrease in price.      

Also, booking with Royal, It will will be easy to upgrade your room to a suite if one becomes available before final payment.  Booking this far in advance there is a good chance that someone will cancel. They may even have a waiting list you can get on.  

[RestingBird]

It might be a family balcony cabin (or whatever the official name is) which are bigger, but not considered suites.  Maybe it's one of those multi-bedroom balcony cabins.

[blue_hole_punch]

Thanks all for your replies.

The travel agent is a cruise specialist (considering the agency is called Cruise About you'd want to assume they're specialists!).

If the suites were available they'd be slightly out of our price range - the price is why my dad is looking at other lines, he's a Princess fanatic but the cost for the Princess cruise was way too high. That's why he was looking at Carnival, because we could get a suite on there for the price of a normal room on other lines. We've essentially looked at all the lines that do the Australia to Hawaii/US route and Carnival and Royal are the only ones where you can get a balcony room for under $20,000 for 3 people.

I personally think we'll be OK - my mum is a neat freak so she'll keep me in line for keeping myself organised and tidy. I'm applying the logic I apply to land holidays - I book cheap hotels, because if the hotel is too nice I won't want to leave. By booking a not so nice hotel I don't want to spend too much time there, I'll be out exploring. By the same logic I won't be spending much time in the cabin - I loved Explorer and last time I was on her I spent too much time in the cabin because my husband was ill (his first and last cruise). There were so many great spots I found to curl up with a book, both in and outside, to watch the time pass by. And there's always so much going on I don't think we'll be doing anything other than dressing and sleeping in the room! I think the travelling as a 3 is the problem as well - we've learnt trying to plan a few things as a threesome that the world is built for even numbers! Shame my husband didn't enjoy our cruise, because we'd be booking an inside and mum and dad a balcony and we'd be fine.

I did up a pro/con list last night and did a solid comparison of the two and I think I've got dad turned to looking at the Explorer more seriously. Rhapsody or Radiance (can't remember which one) sails at the same time doing a similar itinerary and the room on there isn't that much smaller than the one on Explorer which gives us another option. We are currently waiting for the travel agent to respond to my dad's email, will see what happens.