Cat. 11 vs. 12???

[mfern4]

Hi,
My Sister and I are planning on taking our families (both families have 4) on the Eastern Disney Cruise Nov. 2006.
We are getting ready to book but not sure whether to book a Cat. 11 or a Cat. 12. We are both on a strict budget (like most of us...lol), and a Cat. 12 is around $400 less then a Cat. 11. The travel agent is saying we should book a Cat. 12 as "guaranteed" with hopes to getting bumped to a better Cat.
However, I saw on another site that Cat. 11's sleep 4 and Cat. 12 sleep a max. of 3 (which would not fit our families). But then I get conflicting descriptions from our agent who says that there are some that can sleep 4.
I see that Cat. 12 is up front on deck 2 - I am also afraid of getting motion sickness.
If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at mfern4@aol.com

Thanks
Michelle

 

[mommasita]

Hi, just wanted to say that yes..some cat 12's do sleep 4, but there are few, so you would "almost" be guaranteed a cat 11.. Being on a strict budget myself (always) I always go with the cheaper..

THe lower you are on deck, the better the motion is..Higher is much much worse...You could always ask your travel agent to note in your reservation your preference for a cat.11 if upgraded...Disney is very good with the requests, and I was told that it is all in the computer...

HTH

 

[aprilgail2]

I would not book a cat. 11 with 4 four people....we just had one this month with 3 people-2 adults one 5 year old- and we were tripping all over each other in tehre. There was no steamer trunk to store the clothes so that was a big problem too, and we are light packers! It doesn't have the split bath either so that was another bad point for us. Luckily I brought the over the door shoe holder since ther was no place in there to store all the things we needed in the bathroom!

 

[lbgraves]

The 13 category 12 rooms on the ship sleep either 2 or 3 people. They cannot assign a family of 4 to a specific category 12 stateroom for this reason. That is why you would get a GTY assignment. DCL lets some TAs make this impossible reservation knowing that the people will be put in at least a category 11 and they are happy because they have saved some money. If I was you, I would book the 12 and save the $400. You can use that money to cover your parking, hotel stay the night before the cruise, & your tips onboard for your servers & stateroom host.

 

[mketting]

IF money is an issue book what you can afford. We were only in our cabin to sleep and change clothes. If I had all the money in the world I would book a delux suite but alas I do not and so we were perfectly happy to simply be on the ship, something most people in the world will never get to do. Also, if you've never cruised on DCL before you really won't know what your "missing" anyways and a cat 12 would due.

How many TA's did you check with? When we booked ours for may 2006 I checked with 7 different ones and got 7 different prices! For us Dreams unlimited was by far the cheapest. Sue Ellen is the TA we work with. Some people do not like the fact that communication is by email, but I love it. I can email her any time with questions 24/7 and she always gets right back back to me.

Book right away though, the prices go up constantly. Waiting just a week could make a difference. If you change your mind later you can always upgrade then.

 

[mketting]

Forgot, we were in a cat 11. From the sounds of it based on the earlier post you can't lose booking a gty cat 12!!

 

[scrapperjill]

If you are able to book the cat 12 gty...then book it...because the cat 12 do ONLY sleep up to 3 people...therefor you would be bumped to at least the cat 11 that your trying to pick between. From what I understand your not always able to book the cat 12 gty with 4 people...but at times you can. We did for our first cruise and recieved an upgrade to a cat 8 The way I figured it...we were only getting the cabin to sleep and change in..not to hang out or spend much time in at all so size didn't really matter.

 

[deelam]

We were in a cat 11. It was me, my husband, my 9 year old and my 2 year old. Not to mention, I had 4 suitcases and a full sized stroller. We were fine. We had a hard time putting things away because I overpacked. I would book a cat 11 again. You really are not in the room much. And the savings are really worth it. I would be a little leary of booking a cat 12 in hopes of getting an 11. What would happen if you don't get upgraded.

 

[cdnmickeylover]

In terms of size a cat 12 is the same size as a cat 11 -- the only difference is the location of the cabin on the ship.

For our first cruise we booked a cat 12 and we actually loved the location. No problems with motion either.

 

[scrapperjill]

We were in a cat 11. It was me, my husband, my 9 year old and my 2 year old. Not to mention, I had 4 suitcases and a full sized stroller. We were fine. We had a hard time putting things away because I overpacked. I would book a cat 11 again. You really are not in the room much. And the savings are really worth it. I would be a little leary of booking a cat 12 in hopes of getting an 11. What would happen if you don't get upgraded.

Only thing is...the Cat 12 ONLY hold up to three...so if you are a party of 4 and book a cat 12gty...you will be bumped up to at least a cat 11. It is the only way to get an upgrade for sure. And like I said before your not always able to book a cat 12 gty if you have 4 people...because they know they will HAVE to bump you up...but there are times when they will allow a TA to book guests this way.

So IMO...if your intrested in a cat 11....theres no reason not to book the cat 12 gty...save the $$$ and spend it someplace else.

 

[fcrouch]

we just did a cruise in a category 11 (which I am told is the same size as 12) - I don't think the size was a problem at all and we are heavy packers and had plenty of place to hang clothes, etc. My question is - if no category 12 will sleep 4 people (as I seem to read) - how is it that an TA can book 4 people into a category 12?

 

[scrapperjill]

I'm not sure how they can book that way...but they can. From what I understand they only let a limited number book this way...so it's not always an option. But I know it can be done....we booked a cat 12 for our family of four last fall...Sad thing is...I didn't even realize it only slept 3 until a month or so before we were to sail....it was a nice suprise though.

 

[lbgraves]

This is just something that DCL does. Maybe a TA can chip in here & give a better answer.

 

[jeast]

You can also book a cat 12 for four people online. You don't have to go through a TA. Also on the phone. I have done it both ways.

My impression after talking with a CM is that they allow you to book this way when you book early. That way they have the flexibility to sell cheaper rooms later to fill up the ship. Most often, later customers want the cheaper rooms (last minute decisions are less planned for thus they have less money).