Here's a Big Challenge You Might Face When You're Traveling as a Family of More Than 4

When I got pregnant for the second time and learned I was having twins, my first thought was something along the lines of "Yikes." Don't get me wrong -- I'm extremely blessed to have three amazing children. But through the years, we've encountered our share of financial challenges due to having a larger family.

Take summers, for example. Since my husband and I both work full-time, we need to pay for full-time childcare when school's not in session. Only instead of paying for one child or two like many of the families we know where both parents work, we have to pay camp tuition three times over. Needless to say, that tends to be a pretty large credit card charge.

Traveling can also be a challenge when you're a larger family. In fact, you'll often find that some seemingly affordable options become anything but when there are more than four people in your family.

When you can't fit into a standard room

If you book a lot of travel, you may have noticed that most hotel rooms are designed to fit four people -- not more. And if you try to cram a fifth person into a standard hotel room, you'll often either be charged a fee or told that you have to book a more expensive suite.

This also tends to be an issue when booking a cruise. Most cruise cabins are designed to accommodate up to four people -- no exceptions. And it can be difficult to find adjoining cabins on a cruise ship if you don't book your itinerary well in advance.

Recently, my family looked into taking a cruise and were told that our only option as a family of five was to book a suite at a much higher price point. We said no thanks and made different plans.

In fact, Cruise Blog Media priced out the cost of a balcony cabin and a suite on a 2021 Norwegian cruise to the Caribbean. It found that while a balcony cabin starts at $699, a suite starts at $1,546. That's more than twice the cost.

How my family travels more affordably

Clearly, hotel chains and cruise lines aren't all that friendly to larger families. So one thing we've taken to doing in the course of our travels is booking private vacation rentals through sites like VRBO and Airbnb. Often, these properties can not only accommodate larger groups, but there's no upcharge for a family of five versus four.

As a bonus, some of the properties you'll find on sites like these are dog-friendly. You'll often have to pay an extra fee or security deposit if you're bringing a dog on your travels. But the option to do so saves us from having to pay a dog sitter.

Traveling with a larger family can be a challenge, but it's something that's important to us. So rather than pay through the roof for hotel and cruise line suites, we've made some changes to the way we travel.

To be clear, renting a private home in the Bahamas is not the same thing as getting to take a Caribbean cruise and explore different islands. So if that's your goal and you have a larger family, you might have to eat the higher cost and spring for the suite. But if you're willing to be flexible, you might manage to save a nice amount of money in the course of your travels.