7-night cruise, best time of year...

[3littlepeas]

We are a family of 5, 3 sons ages: 10, 6.5 and 4, and are seriously considering a 7-night summer cruise. Is this considered "high season" for DCL? (we were thinking end of July beginig of August, so will I pay higher prices and/or will the boat be over crowded?) also what kind of stateroom should we book to best accomodate our family? Anyone ever did this? ANY input would be greatly appreciated. I am now debating if it is worth paying the "high price" to be on DCL or if I should go with a "regular cruise line".
Thanks
Julie

 

[KelNottAt]

I can't answer all your questions, but I can say a little about crowds.

We were on the 3-night cruise Memorial Weekend this year and the ship was full to capacity. We couldn't tell, though. There was plenty of elbow room and some empty seats at the ship-board shows.

We're planning a 7-night cruise for July 2005 and I'm just as curious about rates as you are. Based on what I've seen, the summer seems to be an expensive season.

I compared a 2004 7-night Western at Eastertime to a 7-night Western in July and found the summer cruise to be $1250 more expensive. Easter was $3900 +/-. Summer was $5100 +/-. This was for cat 9, four people: myself, DH, DS12 and DD10.

Kelley

 

[lalapodip]

When I priced out next August 2004, I found that the 8/21/04 Eastern cruise was significantly lower in cost than both the Western cruise and the earlier weeks in August....next year Labor Day is late, and that may be a factor (we live in CT and school starts the week before Labor Day - so we are able to squeeze in the cruise then). We have 3 children and elected two connecting Category 10 rooms. We are totally psyched to go on the Disney Cruise! Good luck with your decision and planning....

 

[DanaJo37]

Hi,
We are a family of five. The first cruise we did the 4 day Wonder, my parents came with us and we booked two cat 10 staterooms and my oldest, 10 at the time, stayed in my Mom's room. My husband, myself and my other two children were together in my stateroom. They were adjoining rooms and we were fine. This year, we did the 7 day eastern and my stepdaughter (25) and her boyfriend came with us, so my oldest, now 13 stayed in their room and again, we had adjoining rooms. Both times we cruised in the fall and got the fall deals. My two youngest were 441.00 (incl tax and fees), my 13 year old was around $650 and my husband and I were each 991.00. This is a great price and the rooms are very spacious, but of course, we had other adults each time so we were able to take advantage of the lower fares for the regular rooms. The first cruise we were on deck 1 and this time we were on deck 2. DB
PS: We also do not take the vacation insurance and do not have transfers as we always drive.

 

[scottygirl]

3littlepeas

We are a family of 5 also. We are sailing in the Fall when the kids have a short break from school. They will only have to miss 2 1/2 days. I found it to be much cheaper than the Summer and the rest of the year for that matter. We are staying in a cat.4 stateroom because DH really wants the verandah. By cruising during this timeframe we are spend $2,000 to $3,000 less!! I have found very few other cruiselines that accomodate 5 people in one cabin. You can always get connecting cabins, but you will pay full fare for the first 2 people in each cabin regardless of age.