if kids are 7, 5 and 2 - Must you do cat 4?

[Ursula's Mom]

Please help if you can - this is for my Dear SIL

She wants to plan a Disney cruise and they are a family of 5. They want to cruise in 11/06 and at that time, the kids will be 7, 5 and 2. She told me a "friend" told her that because her son was going to be 2 that they could book any category stateroom and that the infant under 3 does not count toward the number of persons in the room.

I told my SIL that she better check with Disney - but I was interested to see if anyone had any experience with this? I did a search of infant and stateroom but did not find a post on this issue.

Does Disney allow 5 in a room for 4 when the 5th person is under the age of 2 or 3?

The option of 2 cat 11's is not appealing to her, as she does not want to "split up" with her husband if they cannot get connecting rooms (and I did not search to see if there is even such a thing as cat 11 connecting rooms).

Thanks in advance to anyone that can help! Kathy

 

[Michelle2]

Unfortunately, Disney does not allow 5 in a room for 4. Every person has to have a spot, as per maritime law-- even little babies. I know because I asked Disney a long time ago when my son was an infant. I thought it would be like in Disney hotels, where the baby does not count towards occupancy, but they do on a ship. And they are very strict on this.

And no, there are no connecting 11 rooms, but if she did not want to split up into 2 rooms which are not connecting, (we did that last cruise) she can do 2 connecting category 10s which we are going to do this cruise because DH wants connecting rooms. They are inside staterooms that are not much more than the 11's and they have a split bath and a little more room.

 

[jel0511]

What the previous poster stated is correct. If your SIL wants everyone in the same stateroom, they have to book a 4 regardless of ages. Everyone counts towards room occupancy, regardless of age. The cheapest option for family of 5 is connecting cat 10's. That way the adults don't have to split up, just prop open the connecting door and it's like a suite.

 

[Ursula's Mom]

Thanks so much for the quick replies - I thought that her "friend" was incorrect - it just didn't sound right to me.

I'll let her know about the connecting cat 10's - that would be nice - 2 bathrooms!

I appreciate the responses. Take care, Kathy

 

[CM_Mom]

The only other option is if another family (such as grandparents)with only two or three people are going with them. Then they could book one child in the other family's cabin and put the 2 yo in a pack and play in with the rest of the family. Depending on the size of the cabin, it might be a little crowded. The connecting 10s are probably the best suggestion.

If they want a verandah, they can request a cat 6 and a cat 11 across the hall from each other but with the ages of the kids, they would probably want a parent to sleep in each room.

FYI, if they do get two cabins, they will pay for 4 adults since the first two persons in a cabin are charged as an adult regardless of age.

 

[SueEllen]

You already have your answer here, but a funny DCL CM used to joke with me about this when booking reservations.
She used to say, if they breathe they count toward room occupancy regardless of age.

I know some people get confused because at WDW, a child under the age of 3 does not count toward room occupancy, but on DCL they do. They only pay taxes/port charges/fees, but you will have to have a cabin to accommodate 5 (category 4) or do 2 connecting cabins (and cabins begin connecting at category 10)

Sue Ellen

 

[BuzzLightYear3]

We have the same situation (family of 5), and we ended up booking adjoining Cat 8s because I wanted some visibility to outside. If I remember correctly, even two Cat 8s were less expensive than a Cat 4 (although I might be wrong about that).

In any case, I think the connecting approach is the way to go....more space, two bathrooms, two TVs, area that's physically separated from the kids. That's an especially big plus when you have young kids who might nap, go to be earlier or sleep later, etc.