families of 5 question

[williamson_ja]

In WDW when we travel, they don't count children under 3 as part of the room count.... If the room only sleeps 4 but you have 5 one of them being an infant- it still works. Is this how it works on the DCL as well, or do I have to get a big expensive room just to take a baby? I hope this question makes sense.

 

[kcashner]

ON DCL, the baby counts. Everyone who has a place in the lifeboat counts. You have a couple of choices--a cat 4 or a suite, or connecting cabins (which start at cat 10), or finding another place to book one of your kids.

Downside--booking 2 connecting cabins means that you have twice the space, but also that you pay adult rates for 2 of the kids (since each cabin charges adult fare for the first 2 people.) This can still be cheaper than a cat 4 depending on your sailing dates, etc.

I'm also not kidding about finding another place to book one of the kids. I've had a friend ask if I would mind booking one of her kids in my cabin. The only point is that I have to take her kid to the safety drill. The child slept in their cabin--4 + a crib in a 4 person cabin. From my standpoint, it saved me from having to pay a single supplement. From her's, it meant that she could pay an adult rate for the oldest child only instead of for 2 kids (which she would have done if she's had connecting rooms). It was a win/win for us, but then you have to trust the person you are placing the child with to not cancel their cruise, etc.

DCL doesn't care where you sleep, only where you book! And, if you're wondering, the reason we booked the oldest kid in my cabin is that the oldest child pays the highest fare as a 3rd or 4th person...thus gave us the biggest savings!

 

[TnRobin]

One thing to consider if you choose to book one child with a friend. In the event of an emergency, the child must go to the muster station for the room he/she is booked in. You may want to make sure that your cabin and your friend's cabin are in the same muster station.

If you choose to book regularly, I have typically found that two connecting cat 10s are cheaper than 1 cat 4. Plus you have two bathrooms.

 

[love2driveinct]

Ditto what everyone here said... also for your info, our fare for two connecting Cat 8's was very close to the fare for one Cat 4 on the 3-day Wonder cruise we took last year. Obviously we went with the two Cat 8's for the extra space.

However, if you are able to take advantage of a Kids Sail Free deal, you will need to be in a Cat 4 regardless because the offer only applies to people sailing in the same stateroom.

Welcome to life with three children!

 

[williamson_ja]

Welcome to life with three children!

I was actually asking for a family member. We were thinking about a family reunion cruise. If you think 3 kids is bad, try having 7. You can see why we are cruising alone for our first time. We want to make sure we REALLY like it before we pay for our crew.In our defense, the oldest one is 19 now and doesn't travel much with us any more. So, we're down to a measly 6.

 

[Blanche_Neige]

Ditto what everyone here said... also for your info, our fare for two connecting Cat 8's was very close to the fare for one Cat 4 on the 3-day Wonder cruise we took last year. Obviously we went with the two Cat 8's for the extra space.

However, if you are able to take advantage of a Kids Sail Free deal, you will need to be in a Cat 4 regardless because the offer only applies to people sailing in the same stateroom.

Welcome to life with three children!

We also have 3 children and found very little option to lodge us and all seemed very expensive. That is mainly the reason we never booked a DCL before.

This is until the Dream came along and allowed us to dream of more affordable cruise option

On the Dream we can get a Deluxe family oceanview cat 8C stateroom(sleeps 3 to 5) for the same price as 2 connecting Cat 11 staterooms
For March 2011, 4 day cruise about 2500$

On the Wonder it was over 3600$ for a 3 night Cat 4 stateroom

We finaly decide to give up to oceanview and booked 2 connecting staterooms with virtual porthole. We gain more room (great for the morning when the kids wake up very early or when they go to bed we can still hang out), 2 bathrooms, x 2 the on board credits.

 

[atinkerbellmom]

The first two post, answer you 100% so I will not repeat it. I just want the to be prepared they will need to tip for the baby as well.

 

[lmhall2000]

We have 5, we have never sailed before b/c it was cost prohibitive..but with my parents approaching their 48th wedding anniversary we used it as an excuse to pay for all of us to go together..our hope is that we can upgrade at port to a cat 4...trying to sail on low demand dates helps your odds on that..it's still an awful long shot, but what a great time to share with the ones you love! We got an incredible Med deal for 7..4k for all of us with quite a bit of on board credit...if only we could convince the airlines to be as generous as Disney!

Tara

 

[Anj]

We're a family of 5 and did the connecting rooms, as baby counts as a person. We also tipped as a family of 5. Connecting rooms was great, as we had the 2 bathrooms and baby could sleep in the second room while the other 2 kids watched tv/played in the 1st room (no need to keep them quiet).