1 family room or two inside cabins? First cruise!

[tessieg]

Hi! We are planning our very first cruise ever for our family of 5. Three kids--6, 9, 14. It's about $1000 cheaper to do two inside cabins and I can imagine it will be nice to have the extra bathroom.but would we be better off with one larger room? Can the inside rooms really connect with an interior door? If not that would mean my dh and I would have to split up---we wouldn't be comfortable sleeping with kids in a whole different room.
What do other families of 5 prefer?
Thanks for your help!!

 

[Grandma4ever]

Hi! We are planning our very first cruise ever for our family of 5. Three kids--6, 9, 14. It's about $1000 cheaper to do two inside cabins and I can imagine it will be nice to have the extra bathroom.but would we be better off with one larger room? Can the inside rooms really connect with an interior door? If not that would mean my dh and I would have to split up---we wouldn't be comfortable sleeping with kids in a whole different room.
What do other families of 5 prefer?
Thanks for your help!!

I would book two "CONNECTING" inside or Ocean view stateroom. You will need to book earily as the connecting staterooms tend to get booked fast. You do NOT want ajoining staterooms as these are just side by side without the connecting door.

We did this once and had the kids in one room and the adults in the other. Used door stops to keep the inside doors open. Went to guest Services so the adults had the key to both rooms. You will need to book an adult in each room but DCL does not care where you sleep. Hope this helps

 

[FrenchSnowWhite]

Hi! We are planning our very first cruise ever for our family of 5. Three kids--6, 9, 14. It's about $1000 cheaper to do two inside cabins and I can imagine it will be nice to have the extra bathroom.but would we be better off with one larger room? Can the inside rooms really connect with an interior door? If not that would mean my dh and I would have to split up---we wouldn't be comfortable sleeping with kids in a whole different room.
What do other families of 5 prefer?
Thanks for your help!!

We have two inside connecting cabins for next week
Stateroom #7031+7033 inside door to connect them! Just perfect for our family of 5 and cheaper!

 

[3Mickeys]

I am in the minority but my family of 5 likes our cat4 verandah. Our first cruise was last year with kids 12, 10 and 8. Going again in April and booked the same exact room. We really enjoyed our verandah. When we were in port watching the crew work, when we left port. Early morning to wake up. Watching nature. We never had too much problem with bathrooms or feeling crowded.

 

[hopare]

I found that on the Dream it really wasn't much cheaper, however on the Magic it was. We just sailed the Dream and there was plenty of room in one cabin for the five of us! The bathroom was not a problem either because the way they split the shower and toilet, it is a great design! I also loved the verandah, especially on castaway cay day, it was so beautiful! So I think it depends on which ship you are booking.

 

[tessieg]

Thanks for the replies so far! We are planning to book Fantasy for summer 2013.

 

[cyclenut]

Completely agree that you want inside connecting staterooms over the single family stateroom. You'll have much more room and they work wonderfully. We did this for Alaska and it really can feel like you have a suite to some extent, but you can still close the doors for privacy.

 

[ilovetexas]

Under no circumstances would I share a stateroom with my DH and my three children. We've had ocean view connecting rooms on Disney but we also did side by side interiors that weren't connecting on Carnival. The kids were fine and "mommy" didn't go nuts sharing a space that small with people who wanted to have the TV on cartoons 24/7!

It's a safe bet that you will just be using your stateroom for sleeping and getting ready. Unless you share a bedroom and bathroom with your kiddos at home, I recommend splitting up into two different cabins.

 

[kcashner]

2 inside staterooms will be a lot more room. If you request connecting cabins, there is an interior door that can be propped open...so it's not really any different than having the kids in the next room at home provided they understand not going out in the hall without you. This set up can work with even young children as mom and dad are in the next room. Yes, you'll have to BOOK an adult in each room, but you can sleep wherever you deem best.

 

[Coconuts]

I am in the same boat as you (pun intended!).

We have a family of 5, but my kids are slightly younger.

We are going on our first cruise with the 5 of us, and our first on DCL. I did a lot of research, especially on the Disboards, before booking. We first booked on the Dream, and the cheapest option was 1 oceanview room. We changed our cruise to the Magic, so we booked 2 connecting inside cabins. For some reason 2 inside cabins on the Magic/Wonder is cheaper that their oceanview rooms that fit 5 people. This is the opposite on the Dream/Fantasy.

It wasn't easy getting connecting cabins. I booked our cruise within 2 weeks of it being announced and there were no more connecting cabins available in the category I wanted. I happened to snatch them when they popped up one morning about a week later.

We cruised before, with 4 of us, and it was a tight fit. I think I'd rather have the space and extra bathroom vs. oceanview. Even though we haven't cruised yet, I think I made the right choice after all of the research I've done.

Good luck.

 

[VMinick]

We are also a family of five (kids ages 11, 8, and 4), and we'll be going on our 4th Disney cruise in the inside connecting cabins in June. We love that option! When our little one was younger, I put her to bed and then watched TV or read a book in the other room without disturbing her. Having four sinks and two bathtubs is GREAT when getting ready, and we liked having extra storage. We did sail in a concierge 1-bedroom once, but we like the bed set-up in two inside rooms better! I highly recommend using that $1,000 elsewhere!

 

[Sarasein]

We have not gone yet, but booked. I chose to get 2 connecting cabins. Several reasons more room, 2 sets of split bathrooms and it was cheaper.

 

[bigtony777]

We are a family of 5 as well and sailed the Dream in October with 2 connecting interior cabins. We will be doing the same for spring break 2013. I like the extra space. If you compare the square footage you get much more with the 2 rooms versus the one family room. If you are on the Dream or Fantasy, the magical porthole does make the interior much nicer.

 

[Niebz]

We are not a family of 5 yet but hope to be soon. Right now we're 4 so we do a regular stateroom with verandah but we'll definitely be doing the family verandah when our family grows. We'd much rather have the verandah than the extra space. DH and I plan to relax out there while the kids watch cartoons. I'd rather have a private place to feel the ocean breezes and take in the ocean views than more room to get ready. I really don't mind being in close quarters with my family. DH and I usually get ready first while the kids sleep in anyways. The verandah makes for a much nicer place to hang out than in front of the TV while the kids sleep, play, eat or whatever. There's also the added convenience of having everyone in one room - one set of keys, one set of photos and so on.

 

[disneypoor]

We are currently booked with two inside staterooms. We've always stayed in a cat. 6 or 9, but we wanted to go the cheapest route this time. There is one difference though--our rooms aren't connecting but are side by side. However, I have two teenagers, so I didn't think that would be a major issue.

Can anyone tell me--how will the keys work? I know I had to put my husband in one room and myself in another, but ideally, we'd like our kids to have keys to their own room so we don't have to swap keys which could really mess up the teen club, charging, etc. Any suggestions? TIA!

To the OP, although I haven't stayed in the two inside staterooms yet, the reason I went with them was because it was cheaper and I felt we'd actually have more room. If my kids were younger, I'd definitely want connecting but was too cheap to pay for that this time.

Susan

 

[Lindsay]

We just came off the 2/16 3 night cruise. We had 5 people, a 4 year old, 7 year old and a 12 year old. We did two inside connecting staterooms. We were very pleased with it. It was nice to have 2 showers and 2 big beds. I would definetly do 2 staterooms. Have fun on your cruise!!

 

[FrenchSnowWhite]

We just came off the 2/16 3 night cruise. We had 5 people, a 4 year old, 7 year old and a 12 year old. We did two inside connecting staterooms. We were very pleased with it. It was nice to have 2 showers and 2 big beds. I would definetly do 2 staterooms. Have fun on your cruise!!

Would you have pictures????

 

[MommaSnowwhite]

We are trying to figure out the same thing - the one caveat is my DH is claustrophobic. He is worried the inside staterooms will make him crazy.. I really don't know what to do.

 

[lillygator]

We have two inside connecting cabins for next week
Stateroom #7031+7033 inside door to connect them! Just perfect for our family of 5 and cheaper!

do have a review of 7031 or any pictures? Thanks!

 

[professorandmom]

We are trying to figure out the same thing - the one caveat is my DH is claustrophobic. He is worried the inside staterooms will make him crazy.. I really don't know what to do.

Try this thread...
http://www.disboards.com/threads/inside-staterooms-and-claustraphobia.3422139/