best way to book for family of 5

[bex7583]

Argggh so frustrated so badly want to book a disney cruise keep seeing amazing deals posted but always for the family of 4. when i add my 3rd child the price tends to almost double .

the 5 people rooms are always verandah , do lower class of cabins exist that accommdate 5 ? are they just sold out when i look?

 

[tigerchic89]

There are a few ocean view rooms that have the murphy bed. I have one booked but I've yet to sail in one (we usually sail with 6 so we get 2 adjoining rooms), I had to book it on opening day. The price for the 5th person was really cheap (compared to passengers 1 and 2)

 

[DCSWO]

There's a pretty good and detailed article here about the subject. https://blog.touringplans.com/2015/09/15/traveling-disney-cruise-line-party-five/ One thing that jumped out for me in the article is that while you may be able to find a smaller room that can hold 5 people, you may not want to book it because of the very limited space.

As I've recently discovered, trying to book a hotel room in Europe for more than 3 people can be similarly challenging.

 

[Geomom]

Argggh so frustrated so badly want to book a disney cruise keep seeing amazing deals posted but always for the family of 4. when i add my 3rd child the price tends to almost double .

the 5 people rooms are always verandah , do lower class of cabins exist that accommdate 5 ? are they just sold out when i look?

It depends on what ships you're looking at. Wonder/Magic only have verandahs that sleep 5. (And their verandahs tend to cost a lot more than the oceanview/inside rooms.) Fantasy/Dream do have some oceanview family rooms that sleep5 as well as verandahs.

You might want to look at 2 connecting cabins (inside or oceanview), put 3 people in 1 cabin, 2 in the other. You need to book it with 1 adult in each room, but you can have people sleep however you'd like. (You'll also need to go to guest services to make sure all the keys work for both cabins and to sign forms so the adults will be able to take all the kids on/off the ship...otherwise it's just whoever you initially said was in the cabin with you.

 

[DCSWO]

Here are the room types that will sleep 5 by ship class:

Dream/Fantasy
Any Concierge room - Cat R/T/V
Deluxe Family Oceanview with Varandah - Cat 4
Deluxe Family Oceanview stateroom - Cat 8 - at 241 sq ft, this is really small for 5 people

Magic/Wonder
Any Concierge room - Cat R/S/T/V
Deluxe Family Oceanvew with Varandah - Cat 4

 

[xQuizx]

We are a family of 5, with 3 kids aged 5, 3 and under 1 at the time of our cruise.

On our last cruise (Merrytime Fantasy) I debated on booking a Veranda vs. 2 inside adjoining rooms, I went with the 2 inside adjoining rooms with the magic porthole Cat 11B.

The inside Cat 11B doesn't have the separate shower toilet rooms, you only get one bathroom but that doesn't matter since you've got 2 rooms.

All the kids stayed in one room and my wife and I stayed in the other. The room steward setup the bed couch, lowered the bed from the ceiling and we had a pack and play in there as well. The kids didn't want to sleep on the bed. There was still enough room to walk between the pack and play and desk.

Some of the benefits of having the second room is the extra closet/drawer space for clothes. We could put our baby down for naps and have him separated from us. At night we could put the kids down and still be able to watch TV and not wake them up.

My wife and I both agreed that going forward this was how we were going to book rooms.

We booked the rooms 2.5 months out from the sail date (we were on the cancelled September cruise), the price was the same between the 2 options. I just checked pricing for this years cruise and it's $150 more to go with the 2 inside room option.

I included 2 pictures below. 1 is with the bunk bed down, I wrapped a sheet around it so my son could be in a castle on the pull out sofa bed. The other picture shows the connecting door open. We made sure to keep deadbolt open so the door wouldn't accidentally close. The door is heavy so it doesn't swing easily.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

We're a family of 5 also, looking for summer 2019 on Fantasy (7 day).

After checking a bunch of different dates randomly, it seems 2 interior would cost about $700 more than a family oceanview.
Two interior would be about the same as a family oceanview with veranda

Right now we're leaning towards saving the $700. We use the cabin mostly for sleeping and changing, so the space isn't an issue. The only draw of the two inside cabins would be the extra bathroom.

 

[Elizakapeka]

we are a family of 5 and just stayed in a category 8b deluxe family oceanview on the dream this past June for a 4 day, we booked on opening day and it was about $300 cheaper than the verandah and I cant remember how much but it was cheaper than booking 2 inside rooms. my kids were 9,9,12. We had plenty of room and have booked the exact room for our 2019 cruise.

 

[bex7583]

There's a pretty good and detailed article here about the subject. https://blog.touringplans.com/2015/09/15/traveling-disney-cruise-line-party-five/ One thing that jumped out for me in the article is that while you may be able to find a smaller room that can hold 5 people, you may not want to book it because of the very limited space.

As I've recently discovered, trying to book a hotel room in Europe for more than 3 people can be similarly challenging.

i think 4 seems to be a standard room size all over, it is so annoying!. i live in the u.k so have collected a decent list of bigger rooms, where are you travelling to ?

 

[bex7583]

i will keep checking all these options out , thank you. I think i have priced up every combination over the last 18 month. i just want to go on a disney ship so we are swaying towards the transatlantic it came out about £900 more than the 4 day we looked at.

 

[lanejudy]

keep seeing amazing deals posted but always for the family of 4. when i add my 3rd child the price tends to almost double

Since you mention "seeing amazing deals" I wanted to point out that the last-minute *GT special offers are rarely available for a party of 5. You could split into 2 staterooms of 3+2 if you wanted to take advantage of a *GT but be aware that you run the risk of the staterooms not near each other.

Good luck finding what you want and enjoy your cruise!

 

[disneymagicgirl]

We have done it both ways. We sailed as 5 and as 6 in connecting verandahs. We also sailed as 5 all in one family verandah room. It was fine both ways, really. Obviously having 2 rooms is great, but I didn't miss the 2nd room when we only had the one, either. Having that curtain to pull between the bedroom and couch area made it doable in one room. That way the baby could nap or the kids go to bed earlier and we could still watch tv on the other side of the curtain. Conversely, having 2 rooms with 5 or 6 people is great because it is plenty of space, 2 bathrooms, and the kids go on one side while the parents go on the other....door opened in the middle.
If it is in your budget for connecting then go for it. I wouldn't give up my verandah for 2 connecting interiors though.

 

[DCSWO]

i think 4 seems to be a standard room size all over, it is so annoying!. i live in the u.k so have collected a decent list of bigger rooms, where are you travelling to ?

Thanks for the offer of assistance! We are taking the northern Europe cruise out of Copenhagen in August. I was able to find rooms for 4. I ended up booking a 2BR at the Adina apartment hotel before the cruise, and a junior suite at the Marriott for after. Quite pricey but at least we'll have a little room to move about and even 2 bathrooms at the Adina. Good luck on your cruise search!

 

[mickeymom22]

We are a family of five...so I feel your pain! Not all families come in size 4!

We had a verandah room on the Dream when my kids were: 6, 13, and 15. We had plenty of room.

We are scheduled to go on the Magic next year, and obviously the kids are older: 11, 18, and 20. We have decided mom and dad get the secret verandah room and kids are right across the hall in an interior room...the 11 year old will probably sleep in our room.

I think now that they are older, it will be nice to have the extra room.

 

[MUN]

You should consider 2 adjoining oceanview or inside rooms. We have found that 2 oceanview rooms for our family of 5 is often cheaper than 1 verandah.

MUN

 

[bex7583]

even though they are more expensive than other cruise lines we have been with the price for 4 people seems so much more reasonable. i know we have an extra person but i looked at the transatlantic as our local travel agent was doing a deal £5999 with flights for a family of 4 . i got them to quote for us with an extra person and the cruise part alone increased by 47% !!

 

[lanejudy]

even though they are more expensive than other cruise lines we have been with the price for 4 people seems so much more reasonable. i know we have an extra person but i looked at the transatlantic as our local travel agent was doing a deal £5999 with flights for a family of 4 . i got them to quote for us with an extra person and the cruise part alone increased by 47% !!

My guess is the promoted offer was based on an inside or oceanview. To quote for 5 they had to bump to a higher category, as only a few categories sleep 5 (and on the Magic I believe it's only 4A). It's also possible they have a block of staterooms to sell, and none are for 5 passengers, so they quoted you for 2 staterooms. Adding a 5th passenger shouldn't increase the total cruise fare that significantly if all are in the same stateroom.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[Blended Disney]

We are a family of five and have always done adjoining ocean view rooms. Nice to have the room for the kids (teens) separate from us and also the additional bathroom/shower.