Another First Timer With Questions About Booking ($$$)

[Christine]

I am attempting to help my mom book a DCL cruise. I have some "gaps" in my summer daycare for my kids and my mom volunteered to take the kids on vacation for one of the weeks. She thought the cruise would be good. So yesterday (Easter Sunday) we started trying to get quotes for a 4-night cruise for July 25th. There are 4 people and we felt we needed a category 4.

The quote came back at roughly $5,100 (children are 12 and 9). I realize this is high due to my late booking. Do you think it is worth the price or should we just give up?

Secondly, do we really need a category 4 room? I see so many people getting the lower categories with at least 4 people. How do they do it when it says it only sleeps 3 (possibly 4)?

Also, we were unable to get the first dinner seating. Now my family are a bunch of early birds. They normally like dinner at 4:30 or 5:00 p.m. Waiting for the 2nd seating is going to be pretty rough on them considering they are not night owls by any means.

So, is it really worth paying top dollar for a cruise where they can't even eat when they want? Maybe I should be booking for NEXT summer.....

Your thoughts please??

 

[mickeyboat]

There are many lower category rooms which sleep four people. If you have four people in your party, DCL will give you one of these rooms if they are still available. Switching to a lower category room should significantly lower your cost.
We had a category 9 room (upgraded from an 11) and had no problem with the room. How long are you going to be there anyway?

If you can't get early seating, there are several options. Wait list for early, we did and were assigned early seating on check-in. Still no luck? Go to "dining changes" and ask to be changed. The dining room staff will try to accomodate you. Still no luck? There are many other dining options available. You could feed the kids early and put them in the clubs while the adults attend the late seating. You could order room service.

Good luck deciding. You have some lucky kids and a very generous mother.

Denae