Booking 2 rooms vs 1.. why not?

[EnchantedTikiGal]

So, I'm in preliminary planning for our cruise. I've played around online and if I book 1 stateroom for 2A 2C it comes out to one price. If I book a room for 1A 1C it comes out to only a little bit more. Couldn't I book 2 rooms with 1A 1C each, it's only about $200-$300 more total than it would be for booking the one.

Does anyone have an opinion on this? It seems all the extra space would be beneficial, especially at only a few hundred more for the trip.

thanks!

 

[jdybnsn]

It took me a while to figure this out (three cruises infact)...but now we always do this too.........seems crazy to me, but hey I'm not complaining


You would think that Disney would make it much cheaper to book just the one cabin, so they can maximize the number of separate families on board ?

Part of me wonders if this is the reason why there are so few inside cabins on the Dream ??? - as you can make even bigger savings if you booked a verandah/ oceanview and then an inside across the hall !

 

[NHdisneylover]

We are a family of four and we nearly always book two staterooms. I do price the difference--it has been as low as $60 more (TOTAL) for a week long cruise. Anything less than about $350 for a week will have us booking two (and often you can get an OBC for each stateroom booked from your TA, which really brings the net cost to you down much lower). We love the extra space and privacy and the second full bathroom.

It is not always possible to get a connecting door in between (this does not bother us as the kids are old enough--it is not like their rooms at home connect directly into ours anyway). You can also do things like booking a verandah room for the adults with the kids right across the hall in an inside stateroom.

Techinically you book one adult per stateroom. We have always been 100% honest about where we intended to sleep once onboard and no employee has ever had ANY issue with it. You will need to go to guest services once onboard to get extra keys made to open the other doors, so that everyone will have their Keycards (which you have to have to get on and off the ship, etc and which has to open the door the person is booked in--plus then half the group will need to carry and extra "blank" card which opens the room the person is actually sleeping in).

When packing you will want to think carefully about which things should go in which room--and you may need to pack doubles of some items so that you are not constantly running back and forth between rooms (hairspray, brushes, etc.).

Those are the only cons we have ever found to the arrangement (pretty minor I think).

 

[abdmom]

Techinically you book one adult per stateroom. We have always been 100% honest about where we intended to sleep once onboard and no employee has ever had ANY issue with it. .

Interesting. My family has 4 in it, only there is only one adult. The cruise line wouldn't let me book two cabins for the four of us, even though my oldest would be 16.

 

[calmpets]

Interesting. My family has 4 in it, only there is only one adult. The cruise line wouldn't let me book two cabins for the four of us, even though my oldest would be 16.

For liability issues they need an adult in each room. I'm pretty sure hotels work the same way.

 

[stacieps]

For liability issues they need an adult in each room. I'm pretty sure hotels work the same way.

Other cruise lines allow you to book kids in nearby rooms without an adult (I think the distance apart needs to be a certain # of rooms, but they let you do it).

 

[drparoo]

For liability issues they need an adult in each room. I'm pretty sure hotels work the same way.

Well, not only do you have to have an adult (18) in each room, but you can't even book an 18 year old with a 16 year old.....if you have ANY children booked in a room, the adult has to be 21.

And, yes, we've done our own arranging in the sleeping arrangements. We've always done connecting rooms.

 

[Hobbitmomma]

So, do you book the cabins through DCL or a TA? I don't see anywhere on the website that explains the cost of booking two adjoining cabins. Thanks!

 

[HallsofVA]

So, do you book the cabins through DCL or a TA? I don't see anywhere on the website that explains the cost of booking two adjoining cabins. Thanks!

You can book either way. You can price out up to 5 staterooms at once on the DCL site. First, enter the information for 1 room and search for the cruise and category you want. I know when you're in the stateroom section, where you can pick a stateroom or change your category, there is a button that says something like "Add another room". You enter the number of people in the 2nd room, search for a category, etc. You can repeat the process to book up to 5 rooms at once. For each room, you have to select the room (or GTY category) and the rooms can be in different categories (unless you're looking for connecting rooms.) Sometimes it's a bit of trial and error to find two connecting rooms available at the same time, but it can be done online.

The price shown at the top of the screen will reflect the total cost of the number of rooms you've selected. So if you've selected two rooms, you'll see the combined cost of booking 2 rooms, and can compare that to the cost of booking everyone in one room.

Or you can have a TA or DCL do the leg work for you.

 

[44disney]

Wow! Thanks so much for starting this thread! I just called and changed our 10A to two 11C (gty) rooms and actually saved $307! This will give us much more room to spread out (our party is me, DH, DS14, and DD11).

I know that our rooms may not end up next to each other (I wanted to book specific rooms but they are only doing the gty on my cruise) but we are ok with that!

Thanks again -- this pays for our parasailing on Castaway Cay!!!!!

 

[kcashner]

So, do you book the cabins through DCL or a TA? I don't see anywhere on the website that explains the cost of booking two adjoining cabins. Thanks!

I book thru my TA; it's easy to get quotes on various categories (do you want connecting rooms or a 7/11 across the hall from each other, etc. In addition, if your TA gives an onboard credit or other "thanks for booking" gift, you'll get one for each cabin!

And yes, above poster is right. There must be at least an 18 year old in each cabin, and a 21 year old in any cabin with a minor.

 

[dursin]

We're a family of 5 so getting a single stateroom can be a bit more, but we always book two connecting stateroom. Too many advantages not to, such as: Two comfortable beds vs one, two bathrooms, double the space, additional privacy, etc... With the new Wavephones you'll also have the advantage of having a phone for everything...just make sure nobody loses one!!