cat 11 or 12?

[Pammy jo]

I am booking 2 rooms for our family of 5. There seems to be a difference of $300 for cat 11 or 12. Is there a reason I don't want cat 12? Too noisy? Bad location? This is my first cruise so I have no idea! If I book cat 11 which level is best? Thanks for your help.

 

[Hygiene99]

I would go with cat 10 , they r on deck 5 called secret porthole rooms.. when u book your rooms make sure u ask for CONNECTING rooms not just Ajoinning that way u will have a door that opens in between the 2 rooms

and back to the secret porthole rooms u get a porthole at in inside price... and room 5022 and 5024 r connecting
it os ok to aks for certain rooms when u r booking
on the other side of the ship the rooms r 5522 and 5524

and u can see pictures of the rooms at this site www.castawayclub.com

 

[makaylee]

I believe the only reason for the different catagories is that the cat 11s are on higher decks than cat 12. The cat. 12 rooms are all far forward on deck 2 while the cat 11's are scattered around on decks 5,6,and 7. I personally would save $300 and get a cat 12, but thats just my opinion. We stayed in a cat 9 on deck 2 on our last sailing and it was great.

 

[Michelemouse]

I would also suggest asking for cabins 5022 & 5024 or 5522 & 5524 (the secret porthole rooms). There is a good chance, however, that they will be booked up for your sailing date as they go very fast! If you cannot get them then you are back to your Cat. 11 or 12 decision. Just FYI but there are no connecting Category 11 rooms so if having a door between the two rooms is important to you you'll have to go for Cat. 12 or upgrade to Cat. 10. I believe the Cat. 12 cabins are all on Deck 1. YOu can check at www.dcltribute.com to see if they are on the Noisy Cabins list. If not I'd probably go with the Cat. 12s.

Have fun planning!

 

[hydster]

Just my opinion here but we met some people on our last cruise in 2002 and they had a Cat 12. cabin. We went down to meet them before a show once and I couldnt believe how much smaller that room was AND the worst was it did NOT have the split bathroom. They are about 30 sq feet smaller than a cat. 10 cabin and if you have kids going I would imagine that a split bathroom would be nice. We are also a family of 5 and we have 2 connecting Cat 8 rooms booked with a porthole. It wasnt a lot more than the lower categories but there was a difference. For our family space is a HUGE issue so we wanted at least the 216 sq feet instead of the 186. We had a family suite the last cruise we were on and we felt cramped in there as well.

If price is a huge issue and it means going or not going then a Cat 11 or 12 isnt a big deal but if you have a few extra dollars then I would look into a higher category.

JMHO
Heidi

 

[mbaidacoff]

We always book cat 11 on deck 7 aft. There is a "secret" deck that we use as our "private" verandah. We order coffee from room service then go out there to wake up. It's the closest thing to having a room with a verandah without having to pay the big bucks.

 

[mbaidacoff]

PammyJo,

We were on the 3/13 Magic and getting 2 cat 11 rooms for the 4 of us was CHEAPER than getting 1 cat 10. If you have 2 rooms, the split bath is not an issue because you have 2 full bathrooms. We also had 2 x 184 ft instead of 1 x 216 ft. How old are your children? We have 2 sons - 16 and 13 and we were glad they had their own room. (Disney makes you book one adult per room, but they let the adults sleep together ) Our DS had friends in and out of their room all the time, while DH and I had our privacy. We did not have connecting rooms, just adjoining, but DH and I had keys for both rooms, while the boys only had keys for theirs. As I said we prefer deck 7 aft because of the secret verandah, which is why I choose cat 11 over cat 12. Hope this helps!

 

[Ladyhawke10]

Where is the secret verandah located? I looked on the DCL website picture of the seventh deck, but it didn't show where the verandah was. We have a choice of stateroom 6541 (mid cat 11) or 7621 (aft cat 11). I had heard the sixth floor center location was better because it is closer to everything, but that verandah sure sounds nice!!!

 

[cdnmickeylover]

On our first cruise last October we stayed in a category 12. We thought the cabin was perfectly fine. Category 11 and 12 are the same size, it's the location that's different. We found the location to be great on deck 2 because you are one floor down to get off the ship and 1 or 2 decks up is the restaurants. The theatre was 2 floors directly up which we found really convenient. Our next cruise we are booked in cat. 11 simply because at the time of booking it was cheaper than cat. 12 -- I would go with whatever is cheaper and believe it or not sometimes the category 11 is cheaper than the cat. 12. $300 buys a lot a souvenirs.

 

[Cruisin]

When we cruise we do not spend a lot of time in our cabin. It is basically for sleeping, showering and changing.

That is why we always go for a Cat 11. I always thought the Cat 12's would be too noisy being under the nightclub area but now I don't think that would be a problem. On our last cruise we got moved to a Cat 9 porthole cabin that was under the nightclubs. We didn't really find it that noisy at all.

So I would vote for going with the cheapest cabin possible and having the extra money for souvenirs, excursions or whatever.

 

[mbaidacoff]

For the secret verandahs look at:

http://www.castawayclub.com/

and look under DCL secrets.

 

[kmc33]

Originally posted by cdnmickeylover
On our first cruise last October we stayed in a category 12. We thought the cabin was perfectly fine. Category 11 and 12 are the same size, it's the location that's different. We found the location to be great on deck 2 because you are one floor down to get off the ship and 1 or 2 decks up is the restaurants. The theatre was 2 floors directly up which we found really convenient. Our next cruise we are booked in cat. 11 simply because at the time of booking it was cheaper than cat. 12 -- I would go with whatever is cheaper and believe it or not sometimes the category 11 is cheaper than the cat. 12. $300 buys a lot a souvenirs.

I second this... We too were in a cat. 12 on our first cruise and it was fine. We liked the location and didn't find it to be noisy. Then for our second cruise, it was cheaper to book the cat. 11 then a cat. 12. We booked an aft deck 7 cabin and did like the close proximity to the secret verandah. I went out there in my pjs every morning to check the weather! Sometimes there was one other person out there that early, but never more. And even during the day it never got incredibly busy -- sorry to digress.

Anyway, the point I wanted to make, is that the interior of our cat 11 stateroom was identical to the cat. 12. So, given the choice again, I would book whichever is cheaper. There are advantages to the deck 2 location too. Also, I agree that since you are booking two cabins for your family of 5, that the split bathroom isn't as big of a deal since you will have two full bathrooms for your family.

And to Ladyhawke10 -- on the same sailing that we were on deck 7 aft, my sister's family was midship on deck 6. They really liked that location. I think both are very convenient. She is prone to motion sickness and liked the idea of being midship. They still came up to the secret veranda; it wasn't far from their stateroom -- but they didn't do it in the pjs

 

[Jillpie]

To Mbaidacoff, thanks for that verandah tip! We will be booking our first cruise this May for next April, 2005 on the Wonder. We are a family of 5 and need two rooms, cat 11. Is this verandah on both ships? Our boys are 16, 12 and 13. Can you suggest two rooms specifically that I can ask for that would be great for this verandah? I went to that link and boy, does that look nice . We'll be going through DVC on points, I hope that won't make a difference in requests. thanks!

 

[TimonTracy]

I love category 12's and category 11's. I've been lucky enough to have a Category 9 (free upgrade). Price matters to me - so I take the room that is the cheapest.