We've booked a cruise in May as a family of 5 in a family oceanview room on deck 8. My MIL recently completed her chemo treatments and is doing well, so we decided to invite them on the cruise, at our expense. Given our family size and the approaching PIF date, there is not a lot of room choice left for us, but there is a lot of choice left for their party of 2. We decided to invite my in-laws and I'm torn on how to choose a room. I should say up front, I know it would be cheaper to get two smaller rooms and book one of the kids in their room but we are not willing to impose on them that way--they are private people and I know they would prefer their own room, plus, our kids are a total handful. I also should say I know the obvious answer is "ask them" but I know they would feel awkward and just say to get the least expensive option since we are paying. So I thought I'd pose the question, if you were in their shoes, which of the below options would you prefer?
Option 1: connecting room. I like the idea of a connecting room because it would be easy to coordinate on going to things together, and it gives them exact same room type as us so it is "fair" in that way. I also kind of selfishly like because they might be willing to babysit our kids one night via keeping the connecting door open so DH and I can go out in the evening together after their early bedtime. But is that too close and not respectful enough of their privacy?
Option 2: nearby verandah room. There are verandah rooms available about 10 doors down from ours for about $100 more than the family oceanview. They'd be a bit further away but still reachable. The room would be smaller than the family oceanview, but would have a verandah, so I'm not sure which is generally more preferable (I don't really view verandahs as an upgrade personally--which is why I booked us oceanview--but they are more expensive which suggests others do like them better).
Option 3: inside room right across from us. There is an inside room right across the hallway from us for about $400 less than the other two options. I like that they'd be right there so we can more easily leave together for activities, but the inside room would definitely be smaller and I wouldn't want them to feel slighted. On the other hand, being just two people, maybe an inside room wouldn't feel cramped, and it is on the Dream so has those magic porthole things.