Question on cruising with a big family

[becca1976]

We aren't a huge family, but we are too big to fit in one room...6 of us. I have read that an adult has to be booked in each stateroom. Our son will be just one year shy of adulthood. If you book two staterooms, are we allowed to put our kids in one, and hubby and I stay in another? Does DCL mind if we shuffle around? I'm thinking we should consider an adjoining pair of rooms. We can only afford inside staterooms. I'd love to hear feedback of those that have booked multiple rooms for your family and split the kids from the adults. Also feedback on adjoining rooms if anyone has some suggestions. Tia!

 

[party-of-five]

We are also a family of 6 - haven't cruised yet, but we will shortly!

You will have to book two rooms with one adult listed in each room. We did me in one room with 2 of the kiddos and DH in another room with the other 2 kiddos. Muster drill you will have to be with your assigned room,but otherwise it doesn't matter who sleeps in what room. We booked adjoining rooms and made sure one of the rooms can in fact sleep 4. So the plan is - DH and I in one room, kiddos in the other. I can let you know how it worked out when we return. But hopefully someone else who has all ready cruised will share their experience.

 

[alliecat523]

We are also a family of 6 - haven't cruised yet, but we will shortly!

You will have to book two rooms with one adult listed in each room. We did me in one room with 2 of the kiddos and DH in another room with the other 2 kiddos. Muster drill you will have to be with your assigned room,but otherwise it doesn't matter who sleeps in what room. We booked adjoining rooms and made sure one of the rooms can in fact sleep 4. So the plan is - DH and I in one room, kiddos in the other. I can let you know how it worked out when we return. But hopefully someone else who has all ready cruised will share their experience.

This. You just need to book this way and go to muster as such, but after that, you can mix up the rooms.

 

[xlxo]

The main concern I have is sleep arrangements. That is the size of the beds. That room with 4 adults might be kinda cramped.

You are smart to have two cabins as you will have dual washrooms.

 

[alliecat523]

An inside would be cramped. They usually have the lower beds and then pull down bunks up top. Very tight quarters.

 

[WIFamily]

You have a good plan - you will need two rooms. You can test with the DCL site to see if there's any price difference between doing 2 and 4 or 3 and 3, but my guess is that the price won't change between those two configurations.

Once you arrive at port, you will simply want to have the KTTW cards have access to both rooms - on our Fantasy cruise last fall that was done by giving everyone a second KTTW card with access to the other room.

Once aboard, Disney doesn't care who sleeps where - and I don't think they would care if you really wanted to cram all 6 people into a single room. The only thing to be mindful of would be muster stations - even if the rooms are next door, there is the possibility of being assigned differing muster stations. It's not a problem, just something to keep in mind.

Oh, one last thing to take into account - getting on and off the ship at ports of call. You'll have to do some additional paperwork to get the kids able to debark with adults from other rooms, but it's a simple form to fill out - do it once you get aboard and underway. Guest Services will help you.

 

[WIFamily]

I meant to add, that on our Fantasy cruise last fall, we had 15 people (7 were kids under 17) cruising in 4 rooms. We had 8 people (3 kids) that had previously cruised in the past with Disney, so what we did was mix up the kids so we had a previous cruiser kid in each room. That gave every cabin and member of the cabin the benefits of the CC gift bag, and the appropriate CC level online checking and registration windows (Silver CC in our case).

 

[momof2n2]

Family of 8 here. Booked two, adjoining/connecting (door between!) SPH rooms. DH & 3 kids in one and me & 3 kids in the other. It was only 4-night. We left it that way as the beds are so small and I got a whole big bed to myself. (Baby in p-n-p).

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

We aren't a huge family, but we are too big to fit in one room...6 of us. I have read that an adult has to be booked in each stateroom. Our son will be just one year shy of adulthood. If you book two staterooms, are we allowed to put our kids in one, and hubby and I stay in another? Does DCL mind if we shuffle around? I'm thinking we should consider an adjoining pair of rooms. We can only afford inside staterooms. I'd love to hear feedback of those that have booked multiple rooms for your family and split the kids from the adults. Also feedback on adjoining rooms if anyone has some suggestions. Tia!

We always cruise in connecting staterooms (inside) and it is perfect. I'm the listed adult in one and my wife is the listed adult in the other but we end up sleeping in the same room and kids in the other. It works great, we generally leave the inside door open do we can go back and forth between cabins. Just make sure you request "connecting" not "adjoining" cabins. Adjoining are next door to each other, connecting have the interior door. Enjoy your cruise.

 

[becca1976]

Awesome thoughts! Thanks for your input, everyone!

 

[asamklove]

We are cruising this fall with extended family. We are the only ones with kids & the only ones who are previous DCL cruisers. Our TA booked 3 of us in one room and our daughter in a room with my brother. Even so, she will be sleeping with us in our cabin and I have verified this with the TA multiple times. I can even set her up with charging privileges to our account.

HOWEVER - we do have to fill out a form to allow us to take our daughter off the ship since she's not booked in our room. Its called the PARENTAL DEBARKATION AUTHORIZATION. Even though we are her parents, my brother has to fill out, sign, & turn in the form so we can take her off the ship. I'm not sure if that would be the same since your reservations are together and your rooms are linked, but maybe someone else on these boards knows the right answer. It would be annoying if you were trying to debark on an island without your husband, but with one of the kids not booked in your room & they stop you.

I found the form in the online check in process and printed it out.

 

[WIFamily]

You're right about the form, asamklove. We had 4 staterooms all linked up, but had some of the kids scrambled to get a Silver CC in every stateroom, and it took us a while to get things straightened out at port, I think I had submitted two sets of those forms before things were correct

 

[becca1976]

So good to know about that form. Thanks for all the info. Knowing that stuff will save a lot of time, especially when the cruise is just a 4 day.

 

[lanejudy]

Our TA booked 3 of us in one room and our daughter in a room with my brother. Even so, she will be sleeping with us in our cabin and I have verified this with the TA multiple times.

Your TA is absolutely correct that DCL doesn't really care if the child sleeps in your stateroom or your brother's stateroom -- or with grandma or anyone else. However, since you have 3 booked into your stateroom, you might want to confirm that your stateroom actually has a 4th sleeping space; not all interior cabins have the drop-down bunk. If you are on the Dream or Fantasy, this thread may help: http://www.disboards.com/threads/dc...pdated-list-of-rooms-needed-1st-post.3194826/). Also be aware that your daughter will need to attend the muster drill with your brother.

Enjoy your cruise!