Cat 4 vs Cat 6

[HookedonMagic]

We're a party of four, so we have the option of either category stateroom. I've read about both and wonder whether the extra five feet in room length is worth the extra money. What is your experience? I'm especially interested in hearing from those that have stayed in both types of rooms!

Thanks for your help.

 

[mmouse37]

We have stayed in both..the rooms are identical except for the extra few feet and I feel they do not make up for the added price!!!

MJ

 

[SeaSpray]

I have only stayed in a category 6. But I have read that when the Murphy bed is pulled down from the wall, in the cat 4's, it blocks access to the verandah. If you don't plan on using the Murphy bed (since you said you are a party of 4), then that wouldn't be an issue. What is the price difference between a 6 and a 4? If it's not a lot, then maybe the extra 5' would be nice, but if it's a lot, then I don't think it'd be worth it.

Not sure how old your kids are, but we're also a party of 4, (DSs are both teens), and for our next cruise, we booked them into an inside cabin directly across the hall from us. It came out to almost the same price to put them in their cabin as compared to adding them as the 3rd and 4th people in our cabin.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Had a CAT 4 before, just ot confirm the Murphy bed when down didnt block our verandah, as soon as we were getting up we often went straight outsdie to see where we were.

They are a nice size, havent been in a CAT 6 so cannot compare.

 

[mamalle]

Im glad to hear some reviews also. I just bumped us up from a cat5 to a cat4 for our trip. I was wondering about the murphy bed too.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

You have made a good choice there are no bad CAT 4 rooms, I have booked one again for my next cruise, enjoy.

 

[HookedonMagic]

Boy, on the DIS, ask and you shall receive! Thanks for the FAST and informative replies! Keep them coming, please. I'm still on the fence.

Seaspray--When we travel with the kids, we like to get two rooms, as well. We have a teenager and a toddler, so we can really fill up a room with all of our extra gear. The trip I'm planning for now is actually just a 3 day Wonder cruise this February (using the great FL resident rate) for myself, my DD (15), my brother and his wife. My brother is not a FL resident, so to get the great rate, we have to stay in one room. Yikes! My brother is on a tight budget, so he had me book the lowest available category (9). As a surprise for he and his wife, I'm upgrading us to a verandah. They are BIG WDW fans and I just know they'll love DCL, too. We don't plan to spend much time in the room on a quick three day, but I really want us all to be as comfortable as possible in our situation!

 

[SeaSpray]

You're a nice brother! I know they will love and enjoy that verandah

I was only reporting what I had read on here many times; that people said they were disappointed because the Murphy bed blocked their access to the verandah, when it was folded down out of the wall. I've seen pictures too, and I guess you can squeeze past it, but I think DCL should've designed this a little better. In fact, here are threads that I saw, which is what I based my comment on:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=597519&highlight=+murphy++bed++pictures

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=249924&highlight=+murphy++bed++pictures

 

[missyoh8]

We have stayed in both...........family of five and when we travel alone we get a cat 4.........travel with grandma and grandpa cat 6 (give them a kid or two, lol). The cat 4 is very much NOT worth the price! There is a few feet but we were hindered by the murphy bed getting out to the verandah. This was only an issue when DH and I stay up late and have a few boat drinks on the verandah and the kids are already asleep. Good thing they are usually so tired that when we trip over them they don't even stir! Next time we go and need accomodations for five, we will book a cat 6 with a cat 10 across the hall........this still saves us several hundred dollars compared with a cat 4! Good thing grandma and grandpa plan on going on the next few..........

Good luck,
Missyoh8

 

[mmouse37]

Andrew....I have stayed in Cat 4 a few times in different areas of Deck 8 and each cabin when the Murphy Bed (the one that pulls down from wall, not the ceiling) was down did indeed block access to the veranda....

Just curious which Cat 4 cabin's murphy bed did not block access to veranda?

MJ

 

[Denise W]

We have stayed in both a Cat 4 and Cat 6 and agree the extra few feet (I think it is even less than 5 feet, more like 3 feet) is not worth the difference in price. If you click on the link below my signature and go to our website, we were in a Cat 4 on our first Magic cruise and a Cat 6 on our Wonder cruise. We have lots of pictures of both, so you can check it out.

Enjoy whichever you choose!


Denise

 

[HookedonMagic]

Thanks for sharing your terrific pictures, Denise!

And thanks to SeaSpray for sharing the link about Cat 4.

The so-called family stateroom really doesn't seem to offer much more, although I "wonder" whether the murphy bed might be more comfortable for an adult than the sofa sleeper? Does anyone have an opinion?

 

[Ralph&Pam]

I think the sofa bed and murphy bed are basically identical in comfort. Both have a conventional twin mattress. The sofa is not the typical pull-out "hide-a-bed". Rather, a twin mattress is enclosed in a frame that makes up the back of the back cushion of the sofa. This sits in a nearly vertical position during the daytime. When making up the bed, the seat cushion "flips" downward as the back of the sofa pivots into a horizontal position so that the back side of the sofa back is now facing upwards, bringing the mattress into sleeping position. The murphy bed swings down from the wall to expose a similar mattress for use. I think either of these would be more comfortable than the bed that pulls down from the ceiling (not to mention the weight limit for the user of this bed). We were in a cat. 4 room last week with 3 adults in the room. The stateroom hostess suggested that the sofa bed would be preferable to the murphy bed because it's just as comfortable and makes it easier to walk around the room since when made up, the sofa bed takes up little more room than when in its daytime position while the murphy bed does block most access to the verandah. Our DS reported that the sofa bed was quite comfortable.

The main advantage we saw with the cat. 4 room was the location on deck 8, just one level down from all the action on deck 9. This was really convenient, since our stateroom was between the forward and midship elevator/stairway lobby, somewhat closer to the forward lobby. It was a quick walk to deck 9, and we exited the lobby right by the adult pool.

Ralph

 

[tcmata]

We have stayed in a cat 6 twice and a cat 4 once. We just returned from the 10/24 Wonder where we had originally booked a cat 6 and received a complimentary upgrade to a cat 4. There were two adults and an infant in our room. We did not use the Murphy bed, so I can't comment on it blocking or not blocking the verandah.

Although the extra space was noticeable, we discussed that it wasn't enough for us to change to a 4 if we were paying for it (if we weren't upgraded). If you spend a lot of time in your room, it might be worth it to you and depending on the ages of your kids you might want the extra space.

For us, I think we're happy enough with the cat 6.

 

[HookedonMagic]

Thanks for the great description of the Murphy bed, as well as the sofa bed, Ralph. My DD has slept on the pull down bed, but never the sofa bed, so we weren't sure how it worked.