choice of cabin category for family of 5

[mcfamily]

Planning trip in May 2003 for wife and I and 3 children (DD5, DD4 and DS 19mos at time of cruise) Travel agent has us booked in a Deluxe Family Stateroom with Verandah. Will there be room for a crib for DS? Should we upgrade to a One-Bedroom Suite with Verandah? (haven't priced that option yet)

 

[akasleepingbeauty]

Yes, you will have room for a crib in your Category 4 Family Suite. It may be tight to maneuver around the crib (which is actually a pack n play) to get to the murphy bed or verandah but it will work. We had essentially the same setup on our cruise last year and did fine.

If you are set on having a verandah, the cat 4 is a great way to go. If you would consider going without a verandah, you would most likely save money and get more room by booking connecting (not adjoining but connecting) cat 10 (inside rooms without a verandah)rooms. You can leave the door open between the rooms and you get two bathrooms, two closets, two tvs etc. Just something to consider. You do have to pay for 2 adults in each room and 1 child in one room but generally it is still cheaper than a cat 4 room. You could also look at porthole rooms for a little more money if you'd at least like a window.

An upgrade to a cat 3 one-bedroom suite would be very nice although not really necessary. The suites (cat 1-3) are all quite popular and book quickly though so you would have to check on availability. The cost, in general, to upgrade from a cat 4 to a cat 3 is several thousand dollars for a 7 day cruise.

I would suggest getting a quote on DCL's website (www.disneycruise.com) for the cruises you are considering. This way you can play around with combinations of rooms to see what will work best for you. You can compare the prices for the different category rooms and for different weeks etc. Be sure to make note of the inclusion of insurance and transfers if that is important to you. You cannot check prices for cat 1-3 online but can check them by phone as you explore your options.

Happy cruising and Welcome to the DIS boards!!!!!

 

[my3kids]

The cat. 4 might work out better for you than a family without a child in a crib. The murphy bed flips down from the wall in front of the verandah door, kind of blocking it. If the pack and play was placed in front of the still up murphy bed, then you could get outside to the verandah easily after the children went to bed or early in the morning for coffee before the kids woke up. The 2 beds for the other children would be the lower bed which is created when the cabin steward folds the back of the sofa down over the sofa seat. The 4th bed comes from the ceiling and creates a set of "bunks" with the beds along the wall, one over the other.

 

[mcfamily]

Thanks for the info. The literature I've read says cat 4 "sleeps 4, some sleep 5". Will I know ahead of time that my rooom has the murphy and the wall pull down bunk? When do you get your room number?

 

[wovenwonder]

If you have booked 5 people in the room then the room will be capable of holding five people. So YES you will have both pull down bunks in your room.