I've been taking my kids on cruise ships since they were young enough to cruise, and it's taught me a few lessons about which cabin is the best.
Going on vacation anywhere as a family presents its own sets of challenges, but I've found cruise ships to be the best way for our family to get away. As the kids have grown up, the ship experience has evolved to match our needs.
Over the years I've booked us in different cruise rooms for different reasons and at this point, my wife and I agree there's only option that works for us and our kids and it's definitely not stuffing all of us into one room, especially the cheapest cabin I can find.
I know exactly why parents would lean towards booking the lowest category room as a way to keep costs down. But after staying with my kids in small inside rooms, massive suites, and a few in-between, it's become clear to me going cheap in one room is never worth it.
Based on my experiences, here are a couple of the rooms I've tried and the one I'd recommend
All of us in an inside room
When my kids were younger, I'd usually book a small, interior room because it was cheap.
You can book these cabins that have no windows or balcony and can sleep up to four people. There's almost always beds that come down from the ceiling or wall for the third and fourth passenger.
These cabins are tight fits, as most inside rooms come in at about 164 square feet of space. A standard interior cabin on Icon of the Seas is 156 square feet, or 178 square feet if you move up to a spacious interior cabin.
If you're cruising with toddlers, sure, a small inside room works fine, but it's incredible how much space the pack 'n play, stroller, and all the baby supplies take up.
We used to joke about putting the crib in the closet if we had a spacious interior room because it would get a lot of things out of the way. Don't worry, we never did.
Besides trying not to trip over everything and everyone in the room, the sleeping situation is less than ideal. When your kids are very young, we felt we had to keep the room quiet and dark when the children were ready for bed, and then that meant my wife and I "playing the quiet game".
As the kids got older, the bigger issue arose and that's sharing one bathroom and one shower. Kids are okay with this when they are young, but as they get older, they seem to take an hour each in there.
I get why parents would choose to put everyone in one room to save money, especially if you're trying to cruise on a budget.
However, families with older kids (especially teens) should avoid trying to cram everyone into an interior cabin because of the lack of space and privacy.
A big suite
While a small interior room is a no-go, what about a big suite? Surely all that extra space would solve the problem.
I thought this was the solution when I took my family on Icon of the Seas for a summer cruise, and we booked the Icon Loft Suite.
This is a massive two-level suite that even has two bathrooms. We're still sharing the suite with my kids, but they're on the lower level on the pull out sofa and my wife and I upstairs on the bed.
This approach did solve the sharing a bathroom problem we had with all of us in an interior room, but we're still sharing one room.
My oldest child is a teenager and the younger one is almost there, and both of them love to sleep in and have their privacy.
I don't think book a mega suite is a bad idea for families, but we definitely overpaid for that second bathroom and extra space. This suite cost $5,000 per night, and it wasn't the ideal solution in the grand scheme of things.
All of us enjoyed the perks of staying in a big suite, such as priority embarkation, access to suite only areas, and the services of the Royal Genie. Heck, the Genie alone was arguably worth the cost.
And there are other suites that have two bedrooms and two bathrooms, such as the Aquatheater Suite, but they're still super expensive too.
Connecting staterooms offer privacy and plenty of space
For the money, the best choice for a family is to book two connecting rooms.
We usually book connecting balcony cabins, but we've stayed in connecting interior cabins too.
When we went on Liberty of the Seas this summer to Bermuda, I booked us in connecting balcony cabins.
The reason why connecting rooms work so well is it addresses the three major things families need in their cruise accommodations: space, privacy, and value.
Having two separate cabins means you're not climbing over as many people, and even the smallest cabins are manageable with just two people in there.
No matter how old your kids are, there's enough space there too.
Privacy is also perfect with connecting rooms as you have a common door between the rooms. When the kids want to sleep in, play a game, or call their friends, they have that. Plus, they have their own beds and aren't sleeping on a pull out sofa.
And the second cabin comes with its own full bathroom, so there's less fighting over the shower. Notice I said "less" because the kids still fight, but at least it's not among the four of us.
Booking two cabins is usually much cheaper than a suite. In fact, booking two rooms is not as expensive as you might think, especially if you book connecting interior rooms.
When we have connecting balcony rooms, we can not only open and close the connecting door inside the room, but also the balcony dividers. You can't do this on all Royal Caribbean ships, but most support it now.
Compared to trying to put all of us in a single inside room, the extra cost was completely worth the price increase.
