Deluxe Family Oceanview Recommendations

[Disney Obsession]

We are getting ready to book our first Disney Cruise on the Dream as soon as the remainder of the 2017 rates are released. There are 5 of us, so we need to book a Deluxe Family room. We are leaning more toward the Oceanview/Porthole option vs. Verandah to save a little bit of money (traveling with 5 is expensive!). However, we haven't completely ruled out the verandah. I've read reviews of many of the stateroom options, but I would love to have some updated experience from all of you. Please let me know if you have any personal stateroom recommendations or even ones I should avoid. As always, photos and videos are absolutely appreciated!

 

[anricat]

Can you tell us which ship you're sailing on and what part of the ship you might prefer (aft, mid, forward)?

 

[Disney Obsession]

Can you tell us which ship you're sailing on and what part of the ship you might prefer (aft, mid, forward)?

Ha! Helpful information that I didn't include. We think it is going to be the Dream, and from what I can tell, none of the deluxe staterooms with the porthole are midship. So, we are looking at forward for the porthole rooms and midship if we do verandah.

 

[BlondieinFL]

We are a family of 5 also. For porthole rooms, we have had connecting 5520 & 5522, and 5020 & 5022 - those are great rooms, they are wide, so they feel really spacious. And, you get two huge portholes with seating in each room. We have also all squeezed into one verandah room on deck 8, 8628. For only one room, that was as good as it could be - way better than a hotel room for us. And, we loved the view from the verandah of Castaway Cay and the fireworks.

 

[MommaoffherRocker]

We had connecting rooms 6666 & 6668, 6668 I believe sleeps 5. I loved them. They were close to the elevators, kids clubs, and cabanas. And they had a good view of Castaway Cay.

This was 6668, (we had the frozen decorations) it had the big bed, the couch bed, a bed in the ceiling and then a Murphy bed next to the window.

 

[2prettygirl]

We had 8166 on the Fantasy which is a sister ship to the Dream. We LOVED it! It was aft and the space was amazing! We are only a family of 4 so we did not get the room with the pull down murphy bed but in your case, the room and location will be similar.

 

[Disney Obsession]

We are a family of 5 also. For porthole rooms, we have had connecting 5520 & 5522, and 5020 & 5022 - those are great rooms, they are wide, so they feel really spacious. And, you get two huge portholes with seating in each room. We have also all squeezed into one verandah room on deck 8, 8628. For only one room, that was as good as it could be - way better than a hotel room for us. And, we loved the view from the verandah of Castaway Cay and the fireworks.

Thank you! It would be great to have 2 portholes! However, is it true that these rooms don't have split bathrooms?

 

[Disney Obsession]

We had connecting rooms 6666 & 6668, 6668 I believe sleeps 5. I loved them. They were close to the elevators, kids clubs, and cabanas. And they had a good view of Castaway Cay.
View attachment 154261
This was 6668, (we had the frozen decorations) it had the big bed, the couch bed, a bed in the ceiling and then a Murphy bed next to the window.

Those decorations are so cute! I see that this room was aft. Did you feel much movement from the boat? This is my husband and my children's first cruise, so we are trying to figure out where we will feel the least motion on the boat just in case someone gets seasick!

 

[Disney Obsession]

We had 8166 on the Fantasy which is a sister ship to the Dream. We LOVED it! It was aft and the space was amazing! We are only a family of 4 so we did not get the room with the pull down murphy bed but in your case, the room and location will be similar.

Thanks! I am putting that room on my list of rooms to check-out!

 

[MommaoffherRocker]

Those decorations are so cute! I see that this room was aft. Did you feel much movement from the boat? This is my husband and my children's first cruise, so we are trying to figure out where we will feel the least motion on the boat just in case someone gets seasick!

I was worried about the engines when I booked but I never noticed them. As far as movement I would say it was the same as the rest of the ship, the first night was a little bit of rocking but after that we never felt it again. The only "problem" we had was my mom in 6668 left her curtain open the last night and when we were docking at port Canaveral early in the morning the lights woke her up.

 

[Disney Obsession]

I was worried about the engines when I booked but I never noticed them. As far as movement I would say it was the same as the rest of the ship, the first night was a little bit of rocking but after that we never felt it again. The only "problem" we had was my mom in 6668 left her curtain open the last night and when we were docking at port Canaveral early in the morning the lights woke her up.

Ok good! I was worried about the engines, too, especially since some people have mentioned feeling vibrations. Glad to know you didn't experience that in this room. DH is a huge Disney fan like me, but not a cruise fan. It has taken me several years to convince him to take this trip, so I'm trying to make it the best experience possible so he wants to go again!

 

[BlondieinFL]

Thank you! It would be great to have 2 portholes! However, is it true that these rooms don't have split bathrooms?

Correct - no split bathrooms. We didn't mind because we had the two rooms, so two bathrooms. The spaciousness of those rooms and the double portholes outweighed the non-split bathrooms for us. But, now that we've had verandahs, we won't go back to non-verandah rooms - sadly, because we LOVED the spaciousness and location of those rooms.

 

[Disney Obsession]

Correct - no split bathrooms. We didn't mind because we had the two rooms, so two bathrooms. The spaciousness of those rooms and the double portholes outweighed the non-split bathrooms for us. But, now that we've had verandahs, we won't go back to non-verandah rooms - sadly, because we LOVED the spaciousness and location of those rooms.

I was afraid you might say that! We have not completely dismissed the verandah option, since I do think it would be nice. I just wasn't sure it was worth the extra money. Have you stayed in any of the Dream or Fantasy verandah rooms that you would recommend?

 

[2prettygirl]

I will also say that the split bath option was SUPER nice! Plus, the tub allows for young children to take a bath if preferred.

As for noise and vibration, we have only ever stayed midship when cruising so I had my hesitations on staying aft but we went for it and I would definitely not hesitate to stay in this same location again (Fantasy 8166). The vibration was hit or miss, more so when they were pulling into port. As for noise, the only thing I recall was the hangers banging up against the closet door on the last night heading back to FL. We had taken all of our clothes off and they clung around a little but once again, it didn't bother us.

 

[BlondieinFL]

I was afraid you might say that! We have not completely dismissed the verandah option, since I do think it would be nice. I just wasn't sure it was worth the extra money. Have you stayed in any of the Dream or Fantasy verandah rooms that you would recommend?

We stayed in 8628 on the Dream, which is Aft. We did feel motion in the room when we were in rough water. We've also had connecting rooms 7552 and 7554 which are forward/midship. We also felt motion there when in rough water. Both rooms had great views of the fireworks and Castaway Cay. We liked deck 7 better because it was easier for us to get to most of the places we were going. Aside from it's distance from things, our room on deck 8 was great - we liked that it was NOT a connecting room. We were recently on the Magic and had midship rooms, and we never felt any motion there. So, midship is the way to go if you are motion averse.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

We too are a family of 5 and always have travelled midship! We are midship verandah on the dream this October. We do Verandah simply because it makes the room seem bigger and we love to have that private space to ourselves. On this trip, we really didn't need it as it's such a short trip but it was not that much of a price difference, we really find it a necessity on the transatlantic though and on anything longer.

We find midship to be the most stable but at the same time, we are not prone to any type of motion sickness! Enjoy your cruise!!!!

 

[Disney Obsession]

We stayed in 8628 on the Dream, which is Aft. We did feel motion in the room when we were in rough water. We've also had connecting rooms 7552 and 7554 which are forward/midship. We also felt motion there when in rough water. Both rooms had great views of the fireworks and Castaway Cay. We liked deck 7 better because it was easier for us to get to most of the places we were going. Aside from it's distance from things, our room on deck 8 was great - we liked that it was NOT a connecting room. We were recently on the Magic and had midship rooms, and we never felt any motion there. So, midship is the way to go if you are motion averse.

Thanks! We may end up midship this time just in case someone has problems with too much motion.

 

[Disney Obsession]

We too are a family of 5 and always have travelled midship! We are midship verandah on the dream this October. We do Verandah simply because it makes the room seem bigger and we love to have that private space to ourselves. On this trip, we really didn't need it as it's such a short trip but it was not that much of a price difference, we really find it a necessity on the transatlantic though and on anything longer.

We find midship to be the most stable but at the same time, we are not prone to any type of motion sickness! Enjoy your cruise!!!!

Thank you! Have you had any rooms on the Dream or Fantasy that you would recommend?