Room configurations on a cruise

[BorneoBound]

Have you cruised with teenagers before? Especially if you have kids of different genders? How did you / would you book rooms for a family of 4?

We are looking at a Caribbean cruise next year at Christmas. My DS will be turning 16 on the trip, DD will be almost 14. A suite is out of our price range. We have a few options...

1. 2 connecting ocean view rooms - parents in one teens in the other
2. 1 balcony room - all 4 of us in one room, extra space by way of a balcony
3. Pushing the budget, 2 connecting interior rooms for the kids, plus one balcony room for us across the hall - the kids would love their own privacy. However I'm not 100% sold from a safety perspective.

The cruise we are looking at is 11 nights so I'm not sure if we will drive each other nuts all in the same room, but equally my youngest will only be coming up to 14 and feels a bit young to be in a room on her own. Any other suggestions I haven't thought of?

That's a fab tip, thank you! Was just taking a look at the deck plans to see if we could get rooms opposite each other, will speak to an advisor before I officially book

We’ve booked the whole thing (cruise, flights, hotel, transfers) as a package with RC. Probably a bit more expensive but it was all done in one (longish) phone call and gives peace of mind re ABTA coverage etc. We did this last time too and it all worked perfectly.

I'm not sure if its an option, but could you look at a suite? We've found that sometimes its cheaper to get a large suite for 4 rather than 2 rooms, plus you then get the perks of being a suite guest.

We have just got off Explorer and had two adults and two big children in one room together. I wouldn’t do it in a normal room but we had room 1864 and if you can get that room we fitted no problem. It’s an ocean view panoramic on deck 12 and because it’s on the corner it’s twice the size of a normal room and the views from it were stunning (but it’s the same price as all the other panoramic ocean view rooms). I’ll try and attach a picture so you can see what I mean (just ignore the mess in the room)!

This is what I’d do.
I would not have a DD who might be on her period (or whatever) sharing with her brother. She needs privacy.
Surely for the duration the plan outlined above is bearable?
I wouldn’t have a teen(s) with a balcony either. Nooooo!

Im a single parent and we were all in one room with balcony - my boy is 19 my daughter was 17 last time. I think the 2 connecting rooms is best, though I'd miss the balcony , and agree with pp not sure a 16 and 14 year old can actually have their own room.
Not sure why you are worried about the kids having their own balcony though? They are old enough surely not to do anything stupid?

No way would I have four in the same room. Cabins are just so small. Previously we've had the teen kids across the hall from us, but if you had the option for interconnecting I'd probably go for that

We've had 5 in one room (2 adults, 3 teens) and it worked just fine. There could be a bit of a queue for the bathroom sometimes, but other than that, it really wasn't a problem. The cabin was an outside with window, around 250 sq ft. Wouldn't do it in a smaller cabin that that though. But the money it saved from having one cabin meant we could extend our holiday and have a few days in the Florida Keys after the cruise.

When my dad had a cruise for a significant birthday, they didn't have a balcony, but went for a drink with a couple who did. Turns out they had identical rooms, but the balcony was set back into the room to create the balcony, so you got less room space with a balcony than without one.

I wouldn’t consider that. Payi g and sharing with a child!
just get interconnecting rooms and kids share (we have similar age kids).

You can check the room sizes per cabin type, I think often the balcony cabins have the same room square footage as interior and the balcony is 'additional' space.

We do 2 balconies next door to each other, either with an interconnected door in the cabin or we ask to have the balcony divider open so end up
with one large balcony.

There’s no way I’d do that on a holiday.

just get interconnecting rooms. Ours share all the time.