Cat 4 vs Cat 5&6

[ashman]

I am in the process of planning for my first Disney cruise and my first cruise for my daughters 5 and 3. We are looking to go in Spring of 2007. My inlaws are going on an Alaska Cruise with Princess next month and my wife’s brother just got back from Mexico so I got the cruise bug bad!

Anywho wanted input from the vets on the board, Is there a big difference between the Cat 4 and the Cat 5&6 stateroom? My girls will be 7 and 5 when we go. Thanks for any help and advice you can offer!

 

[kcashner]

Are we correct in thinking that there will be 4 people in this cabin? The biggest difference between a 4 and a 6 is that a 4 has a fold down (murphy type) bed to hold a 5th person. The DCL site shows room layouts and square footage for all cabin types.

If you have 4 or fewer people, the difference between a 4 and a 6 is basically cost. The difference between a 5 and a 6 is a location on the ship.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

Since you only have the two children, I'd think you would want the Cat 6 cabin. Cat 5 your paying to be one deck higher and have fewwer inside staterooms share your floor, but that's the only difference between a Cat 5 and 6. (The only time I've ever stayed in Cat 5 was years ago DCL offered Fall discounts that would include selling Cat 5 at the discounted Cat 6, so basically they were offering free upgrades).

Moving up to a Cat 4 gives you the same cabin execpt it's a little deeper to make room for the murphy bed. Pluses include a little more floor space and noone is forced to sleep in the upper bunk, but the minus is that when the bed is pulled down, it blocks your access to the verandah.

While the extra space would be nice (would have made a great extra space for the 2yo to play), I just can't justify the extra cost.

 

[DVCDawn]

We just got back last week from a 4-day cruise on the Wonder. We stayed in a cat 4 stateroom with our two children -- 3 yrs old and 6 yrs old. We were in room 8068 and I can't complain at all. For a cruise ship, I was impressed with the space. My 3 year old spent a lot of time playing on the floor.

Also, I disagree with HooKooDooKu. When the Murphy bed was down, we had no problem accessing the verandah. And my DD6, just LOVED sleeping on it.

DVCDawn

 

[HooKooDooKu]

Also, I disagree with HooKooDooKu. When the Murphy bed was down, we had no problem accessing the verandah. And my DD6, just LOVED sleeping on it.

DVCDawn

Thanks for the information. I had heard that the bed was in the way (and it certainly looks like it from the maps of the cabins).

 

[tamu91]

And my DD6, just LOVED sleeping on it.
DVCDawn

Is it safe for kids to sleep on the murphy beds? Are there rails to keep them from falling off

 

[kritter]

anyone stayed in this room or cat. 4..I have twins who will be four when we sail...is there railings on the side of the beds so they will not fall out..
I assume one will selep on the coach and the other on the murphy bed??AM i correct??
I am thinking it is worth the extra money for the larger room..thanks for any input..

 

[my3kids]

Is it safe for kids to sleep on the murphy beds? Are there rails to keep them from falling off

The murphy folds down out of the wall and creates a 'twin' bed on floor level.

kritter: The extra room is very small. Only enough for the twin bed to fold down and sit on the floor. For a family of 4, my opinion would be the space of a twin bed was not worth the extra money...I'd get the category 6. JMO, of course.

 

[kritter]

I am thinking thought that the extra room would be worth it..

 

[Tiggeriffic]

On our first cruise we had a Cat 4 for the four of us. On our second cruise
we had a Cat 6. For my family, the extra cost of the Cat 4 was not worth
the space. Also, we found the location of the Cat 6 (on Deck 6) to be
as convenient as the location of the Cat 4 (on Deck 8), but each was
slightly more convenient to different things.

Just my opinion.

 

[kritter]

I am thinking that it is worth it when youhave kids and all..

 

[HooKooDooKu]

I am thinking that it is worth it when youhave kids and all..

It's going to be a matter of where you want to put your money. The debate of "is Cat 4 worth it for a family of 4" is the same debate for those that ask "is a Verandah worth it?" when you spend so little time there.

The last time I ran the numbers, I seem to recall that you wind up paying about a $100/day premium to upgrade to a verandah. You then pay about another $100/day premium to upgrade to a Cat 4. For some people, that's alot of money and decide keeping the money is more important that the upgrade. Others prefer the "nicety" of a verandah or additional space and would rather have the "nicety" than the money. For each of us, it will be a personal choise.

In any case, it only takes a few mouse clicks on DCL web site to find out how much a particular upgrade is going to cost you and then you just have to make the personal choise.

 

[kritter]

I understand the money is an issue but you have to remember that I have twins who will only be four at the time of sailing and I think they will be spending more time in the room than just sleeping.
thinking that there may be afternoons when they need to just veg out and this way they can have room to play on the floor, etc..
When I go on vacation I am always thinking how I could have made it a bit more glamourous..So when I get my time away with my family I want it to be top notch.. I had orginally looked into the one bedroom suite but that is pricey for only four of us..
Also friends of ours stayed in this cat. and highly recommended it over others since they had more room and were located where the suites were..They said the people in the suites are nice and quite and it is a different class of people staying there..Hope that does not sound to harsh but that is what a neighbor told me..
Thanks for the input thinking I will stay in that cat. and maybe if I can I wil even upgrade as iot gets closer if they are not booked up..

 

[HooKooDooKu]

kritter,
So for you, the space is worth more than the money, and because of the issues you sight, I think you've made the right desicion for you. Our resent trip was with one 3yo in a Cat 6. We definitely had "play time" in the cabin, and more space would have been nice, but for us, it was not going to be worth the $$$$ required to upgrade (for us it would have been a four figure difference because it was the 14 day repo).

About the only flaw you might be overlooking is how much "play time" your twins might have in the clubs and therefore not need "play time" in the cabin. Of course you know your kids, so again you have to decide for your self if it's worth it. Just wanted to point out the issue of the clubs incase you had not considered it.

As for the beds and bed rails...
There are a limited supply of bed rails available (they use the kind that just slide under the mattrise). I can't speak for the murphy bed, but the height of the couch bed was low enough to the floor that we decided to not bother with bed rails for our 2.5yo. But once again, its a judgement you have to make based on what you know of your kids. In our case, DS has been sleeping in a twin bed since 18 months. We started with just a mattrise on the floor. He fell out a couple of times, but those small falls were enough to train him to not fall off the bed. Since then we've added the box springs and we're already considering a complete setup (headboard, rails, box springs, mattrise) for a 3yo, but that's us, your milage may vary.

 

[kritter]

Thanks for pointing out the issue of the kids club..I will consider it,..

I do I go about asking for a bed rail do I have to wait till we get there??

You have made me think about the other categories..

 

[HooKooDooKu]

For sure you can request them once you are on-board and talk to your cabin host/hostess. It might also be possible to researve one with your reservation ahead-of-time. When it comes to infants, there's bed-rails, diaper geinie, and portable cribs. I seem to recall that some of those you can researve ahead of time, others they just have you wait until you see your cabin host.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

I went and looked up the square footage Cat. 4 is 304 sq. ft and Cat 5 and 6 268 sq. ft but I don't know if that includes the verandah or not.

Looking at the pictures the difference is the size of a twin bed.

 

[DVCDawn]

Regarding bedrails:

The Murphy bed has a built in bed rail which kept my DD6 (whom we call "The Windmill" in bed, because she usually rotates 180 degrees during the night) safely in the bed. For our DD3, who slept on the couch (which converted to a twin bed) we requested a bedrail ahead of time and it was waiting in the room for us.

While you're at dinner, your steward comes in and does a turn down, including setting up the Murphy bed -- it requires a special key that only they have -- and sets up the bed rail on the lower bed. It was great to come back from the show or dinner and have the room ready for the kids to jump in bed.

DVCDawn

 

[my3kids]

They said the people in the suites are nice and quite and it is a different class of people staying there..

Oh my gosh...you did really say that! I thought I misread it.

 

[outahere]

I went and looked up the square footage Cat. 4 is 304 sq. ft and Cat 5 and 6 268 sq. ft but I don't know if that includes the verandah or not.

Looking at the pictures the difference is the size of a twin bed.

As I recall, those measurements do include the verandah. The verandah is about 40 sq. ft +/-.