Want to know the best secret to going on a cruise ship with kids? Book a cabin for them and one for you.
I know it sounds like that would be expensive, but you'd be surprised how much better a deal it can be to get two connecting cabins instead of trying to book everyone into a single room.
This is one of my favorite family cruise hacks, and I've been using it for years.
We recently sailed on Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas for 5-nights and booked two connecting balcony cabins, which cost about $3,000 each. It was a New Year's Eve sailing, so that's why the price is higher than you might expect.
Here's why you should think about booking two cabins instead of one, and one thing I'll do differently after my latest sailing.
Two connecting cabins instead of a suite is usually cheaper
Ever since my kids started getting to an age where a little bit of privacy and separation was nice to have, we've embraced the two cabin idea. It's turned out to be a great decision, especially once we get on the ship and my wife and I get our own space from the kids.
The natural temptation is to book everyone in the same cabin, but that tends to be more problematic on cruise ships than at a hotel.
Cruise ship cabins are generally smaller than hotel rooms, so even before you consider alternative booking strategies, families have less space to contend with.
While Royal Caribbean has developed bigger cabins and cabins that are more family focused over the years (especially on Icon of the Seas), putting everyone in the same cabin usually results in the same two issues: not enough living space to be comfortable and sharing one bathroom.
There are suites that solve this problem by offering a separate bedroom and two bathrooms, but the prices for suites are anything but cheap.
Most suites don't have a second bedroom and/or bathroom, so it's really just the massive suites that work. And that means suites that are among the most expensive.
It's easy to just go for everyone in a single room and hope for the best. To be fair, I've done that with my family on occasion and while not ideal, it's not the worst experience either.
In my experience, booking two smaller connecting staterooms can be more affordable than a suite and offers exactly what families need: space for everyone.
Having a second bathroom is the best reason to book two staterooms
As my kids have gotten older, demand for the bathroom has gotten far more contentious.
Not only do teens compete for the shower, but when we get back from a shore excursion, there's more fighting over the shower than who gets to ride in the front seat of the car.
In standard cabins, the bathrooms are usually really small. This is definitely true of older Royal Caribbean ships, such as Voyager of the Seas.
Space on the counter is really limited, so booking my wife and I along with our four kids in the same room means the bathroom would be a giant mess of toiletries.
Every time I've booked us in a cabin where we share one bathroom, I have almost immediate regret once the fighting begins about who gets to use the bathroom first.
Next time, I'd change how I book my teenagers in the cabin
For a long time I've had my MEI Travel agent book me in one cabin with one kid, and my wife in the cabin with the other kid.
The reason we did this was to be able to buy a Royal Caribbean drink package without incurring the rule that requires all the adults to buy a drink package if one adult buys one.
This strategy was fine when my kids were younger and I bought a beverage package every sailing, but I've stopped buying them as much because of the higher prices.
But the real reason why this booking strategy is becoming an issue is because my kids are spending more time around the ship on their own.
Because my oldest daughter is booked with me in my room, her SeaPass card can only open my cabin. That's the cabin my wife and I share. So if she's in the teen club on the ship until midnight and we're in bed, she'll disturb us as she returns to the room before her curfew.
In the future, I'll book the kids in one cabin and my wife and I in the other cabin to avoid this issue.
While it's true minors cannot be booked in a cabin without an adult, Royal Caribbean allows only minors in the room if it's one cabin away from the adults. It can be one cabin away by connecting or adjacent cabins, or even across the hall.
