Cruises - Quad cabins for Med Cruise

Who has the best set up for standard Verandah/Balcony cabins? WE are planning a Med (italy/Greece, maybe Turkey) cruise for this summer and will be bringing the kids (13 and 17). I've seen some ships that offer quad cabins, but very little in terms of how they sleep 4 people.

WE are looking at these ships right now:

Ruby Princess
Star Princess
HAL Noordam
Celebrity Equinox.

I am not looking to go to a full suite (unless there is some smoking deal out there I have yet to find), but would like a balcony

Thanks

We are cruising aboard the Equinox this summer on their Med/Greece itinerary.
We are a family of four, our children being 16 and 13. We have reserved a Royal Suite and asked for a rollaway to be brought into the living area in the evening. That way, each child (boy and girl) have their own bed and Mom and Dad have the bedroom. :) THis particular suite also has an additional 1/2 bath which will come in handy when everyone is trying to get out the door. Our family has cruised on 2 previous Med cruises (RCCL Splendour and Brilliance)
We had a grand suite on the previous and an Owner's Suite on the latter. We have come to enjoy the perks associated with the suite life... a very big one being a total made to order breakfast delivered to our suite while we were
getting ready for our shore excursion. This saved a lot of time for our family as we did not have to head up to the buffet for breaky nor settle for a small
continental bkfst that staterooms are allowed.

Our friends who will be joining us will be travelling with their 3 children. They have opted to have connecting concierge rooms, which allow for that precious 2nd bathroom. Each to their own.

Regarding the other ships, we have sailed Princess and Disney, but not HAL. We really enjoyed RCCL for their service and activities, but have shifted to their upscale cousin (Celebrity) for hopefully, much better food offerings. Whatever cruise line you decide on, make sure that after 2 or 3 days of port stops, that you allow a sea day. We have found that our kids needed a day to sleep in a little and enjoy the ship. Just my $.02. Good luck!

Our family was on the Noordam for a 13 day transtatlantic cruise last spring. We chose a balcony cabin for Mr. Tours and myself, but booked the interior cabin across the hall for the children (actually, the booking put one adult and one child in each cabin, after boarding, the front desk switched the bookings to put the kids together and the adults together).

I can't imagine four of us sharing a standard sized balcony cabin-- They are SMALL. Standard cabins that sleep four will have two twin beds that can be combined to make a queen and two wall berths above in a total room size of 150-200 square feet with an additional 40-50 square foot veranda. Storage in most cabins is workable for two people, but would be really tight for four.

A suite with a separate bedroom can be a good choice, but may cost substantially more than two separate cabins. Celebrity offers a handful of "Family Veranda" cabins that have a separate bedroom and a very large balcony, but only one bath (and you must go through the bedroom to access that bathroom).

Oh, on HAL, any passenger can order anything from room service at any time- you don't need to be in a suite to order a full breakfast.

Oh, on HAL, any passenger can order anything from room service at any time- you don't need to be in a suite to order a full breakfast.

Do you know if that policy is any different on the other cruise lines?

I know Carnival has free room service also for all cabins. You can pretty much order whatever you want. They do have a "limited" room service menu but breakfast was good and much more than a continental. I think you can get a sandwich and fries 24/7.

I think your best bet may be Holland America for the largest room size. Their standard rooms are about 200 square feet without the balcony. Either way, it will be tight.

I have only had four to a room one time, but we were in a Deluxe Verandah Suite on Oosterdam. At 700 square feet, it was the ideal size. I am not sure what your budget is, but I would be willing to bet a suite on HAL to the Med will run you around sis to eight thousand dollars for seven days. The additional space and amenities are worth it, in my opinion.

Do you know if that policy is any different on the other cruise lines?
Celebrity also has a full breakast menu for all cabins (minus Smoothies, that can only be ordered by the Concierge Cabins) and a full room service menu during the entire day and night.

IIRC, RCCL has instated a service charge for all very-late-night room service orders.

Celebrity also has a full breakast menu for all cabins (minus Smoothies, that can only be ordered by the Concierge Cabins) and a full room service menu during the entire day and night.

IIRC, RCCL has instated a service charge for all very-late-night room service orders.

Our experience on Celebrity Millienium Jan 14-24 this year was that room service menu differed by cabin class, particularly at breakfast. Our "concierge class" balcony cabin featured an "extended" breakfast menu that included multiple items (smoothies, smoked salmon are two examples) that were not on the room service menu in our daughter's interior cabin across the hall from us.

We did a transalantic cruise on the NCL-Gem in October. We were traveling with friends, and had connecting in the interior balcony rooms. That would give you two bathrooms- and you feel that you have a larger cabin. We enjoyed the ablity to shut the door for privacy when needed, but able to go back and forth during days.

How about a balcony cabin for you and an inside cabin for the kids? Chances are they won't care much and will only be there to sleep. Also, if you cruise with Princess, consider getting a cabin on the Baja deck at the very rear of the ship? The rear-facing cabins have larger balconies (big enough for 4 to sit) so your kids could join you for sail-away. The rear view can be tremendous at sail-away or any time for that matter. It is our cabin of choice, and you could certainly get an inside cabin nearby for the kids. Everyone wins - they have their own space (and bathroom!) and you have the balcony for the 4 of you to enjoy. (A bonus - Princess allows you to bring your own wine on board - a real plus when you get your own wine in Italy etc.)