Considering a Cruise

[PartyofSix]

Could you offer your advise to help me get started. We are a family of six.
My Husband-35
Me-34
Jenna-10
Emily-2
Jessica-2
Mary-Clare-2

Yes Triplets. Okay I'm thinking I know absoutley nothing here. My husband and I have never sailed before and not to mention with 4 kids. I would like to do a holiday sailing maybe christmas 2003? Where to go? What ship to sail? What kind of room would we need? Possibly have to have the Nanny tag along this trip as I see that children's program would not work for my daughter Mary-Clare as she has Downs Syndrome and is not up to par for her age group and will not be included in those activities. Did I read that right? I would love a huge room. Can you get one on a ship? What's included in the prices? By then all my triplets will be 3 1/2. I hope you all can help me and point me into the right direction to start making plans for a cruise. I don't have a clue. Thanks

 

[ruvidu]

I ran the numbers - 3 adults and 4 children and came up with about $5000 for ocean view room. None of the rooms will sleep more than 5 people so you would need two. You can request connecting rooms and have a very large room.
http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/disneycruiseline/index?id=DCLRoot?clk=11808 This address will take you to the DCL site where you can price different dates and cabins. By the way, you only pay $250 per person down and the rest would be due in Oct. of 2003. This price did include insurance but not air or transfers.
I hope you get to do this dream vacation.
Russ

 

[llachance]

My 15 yo daughter and I are sailing Christmas Week 2003 and would love to meet your family if you decide to sail then. I think that you will find that every accomodation can be made for all your children.....just have to make your needs known ahead of time.

 

[el_tigre]

Actually, I think a catagory 1 and 2 can accomodate 7 people. They are difficult to obtain since there are only two in each catagory (so book early) and they are very pricey. They are both huge rooms. The catagory 1 is over 1000 square feet and the catagory 2 is over 900 square feet and both have two bedrooms. The more economical option is definitely to get connecting staterooms. Two connecting oceanview staterooms would give you almost 600 square feet of living space and would be much less money.

As far as where to sail, that's a decision you have to make. IMO, I would go for at least a four day. I just got off my first Disney cruise and I can't imagine only being on three days. I would think that it would feel like you just got there when you you'd have to leave. That said, if you've never cruised before and you're worried about how your family will like it, a shorter cruise can be a good taster. We loved our four day so much, we're coming back next year for a seven day Western.

 

[Hygiene99]

ok since it is your First time cruise and u r brand knew
we need to know is it going to be a 3, 4, or 7 day cruise
and here is what i suggest to see if u like cruising
i recommend no matter what lenght of cruise u pick that
u start with CATAGORY 10 on DECK 5 and u ask for CONNECTING rooms when u ask your agent or who ever u book threw u CAN request specific locatons......

the reason being is that the kids clubs r on deck five
and also these staterooms r sold at the inside rate even though they have a partially obstructed VERY little port hole
so ..... good luck peter

go to this Web site to check out pictures of the rooms and every thing else u could want to know

www.castawayclub.com

 

[PartyofSix]

Wow you all are so nice. Thanks so much for the advise and the help and well wishes. I would love to meet fellow DIs'' members on board. Okay stupid questions # 1 what is a state room and how can i find pricing and what do the different catagories mean. And were is the best rooms found? Someone mentioned cat 1 and 2 being large rooms. I sure did like the sound of that. Being on a ship and being couped up in a small even two small rooms does not appeal to me. What are the differences in the ships, I've seen Wonder and Magic in discussions here. Do they just go different places? IS the food better on one than the other? Were do the ships go to? Thanks so much for posting the site on Castaway Cay I had not known about it. I don't plan on using an agent to help me I will book thru this site if that's possible when I get more info gathered. When you say pricey? What exactly is pricey? More than 600 a night for the large rooms? You all all so nice here, I read the post and saw how you all helped the lady that needed to bring her daughter and was over occupancy that made me feel good about posting for my family. Thanks for making me feel welcome here. If you all ever need any US/IOA come to that thread and well be just as helpful.LOL

 

[llachance]

If you go to the Disney Web site and go to cruise vacations you can put in different scenarios and get quotes. Disney has some of the largets cabins afloat (rooms) so even the inside cabins (no portholes or verandas) are spacious. You might want to check with Dreams Unlimited, a sponsor of this board, for some help as they offer rebates depending on how much you spend for your cruise! Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

 

[el_tigre]

The stateroom is your room for the cruise. There are 11 stateroom catagories and they increase from price depending on size of the room, location on the ship and types of views they provide. The best place to find out about price would be the Disney Cruise Line site - click here. They don't however have prices for the top three catagories. According to the cruise brochure you can have Disney mail you, a four day for one of the top three catagories will run you anything from $2000 to over $3000 for the first two people in the cabin. They usually charge a fixed amount when you add additional people per stateroom, but that might be different for these catagories.

The Wonder and the Magic are almost identical ships, I wouldn't worry about the differences being a first timer and. It probably makes more sense to worry about what itinerary you want rather than which ship you want. The Wonder sails on 3 and 4 day Bahamian cruises while the Magic sails on 7 day Western and Eastern Caribbean cruises. Here's the itinerary for the Magic and the itineraries for the Wonder are on the left sidebar of that page.

If you book through this site, you are technically booking through a travel agent. The DIS is run by Dreams Unlimited. But that's not a bad thing. If you book by the end of the month, you'll also get a rebate