First cruise family of five - selecting a cabin

[goofy4wdw2]

Any tips or suggestions for selecting a cabin when we book a cruise? We are a family of five (2 adults, kids will be 13, 11, and 7) and none of us have ever taken a cruise so this is all new to us. Thanks!

 

[PHamrick]

There can be a lot to consider in picking a cabin. How much time do you think you might spend in the cabin? To where are you cruising? How physically big are your kids? For a family of five, I might consider two inside cabins so you have more space. Often, those cabins will be the same or less than a cabin designed for five people. And you have the added bonus of extra bathrooms.

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

We're a family of 5 as well (me, DW, DS (13) & twin DD (11)). The category 4 verandahs fit us & the category 8B ocean view (large porthole) as well. We have no problem doing the 8Bs for a short cruise, but for longer ones we prefer the verandah to have just a bit more elbow room. The configuration is great for both the cat 4 & 8, pseudo bunk bed with a murphy bed for the kids while mom & dad get a king sized bed. Honestly, there's not much difference in price (big picture) between the two categories.

If you want to splurge, you can go Concierge, but that's a very large price difference (thousands of dollars).

You could also go with 2 adjoining interior rooms and for administrative purposes have dad in one room & mom in the other while splitting up the kids accordingly. There's paperwork there to insure you can take the kids off (very weird, but understandable rule; more on the DCL site). The cost difference seems to be more expensive than a cat4 (at least the times I've explored for our fam of 5).

The a, b, c... for the category tells you where in the ship you'll be (fwd/midship/aft).

We took a short 4 night to see if we liked it...beware. It's amazingly addicting.

 

[ACQUADUCK]

We're a family of 5 as well (me, DW, DS (13) & twin DD (11)). The category 4 verandahs fit us & the category 8B ocean view (large porthole) as well. We have no problem doing the 8Bs for a short cruise, but for longer ones we prefer the verandah to have just a bit more elbow room. The configuration is great for both the cat 4 & 8, pseudo bunk bed with a murphy bed for the kids while mom & dad get a king sized bed. Honestly, there's not much difference in price (big picture) between the two categories.

If you want to splurge, you can go Concierge, but that's a very large price difference (thousands of dollars).

You could also go with 2 adjoining interior rooms and for administrative purposes have dad in one room & mom in the other while splitting up the kids accordingly. There's paperwork there to insure you can take the kids off (very weird, but understandable rule; more on the DCL site). The cost difference seems to be more expensive than a cat4 (at least the times I've explored for our fam of 5).

The a, b, c... for the category tells you where in the ship you'll be (fwd/midship/aft).

We took a short 4 night to see if we liked it...beware. It's amazingly addicting.

^^^^This^^^

Not to forward, not to aft, get a travel agent who specialises in DCL to do a first booking.

 

[goofy4wdw2]

We're a family of 5 as well (me, DW, DS (13) & twin DD (11)). The category 4 verandahs fit us & the category 8B ocean view (large porthole) as well. We have no problem doing the 8Bs for a short cruise, but for longer ones we prefer the verandah to have just a bit more elbow room. The configuration is great for both the cat 4 & 8, pseudo bunk bed with a murphy bed for the kids while mom & dad get a king sized bed. Honestly, there's not much difference in price (big picture) between the two categories.

If you want to splurge, you can go Concierge, but that's a very large price difference (thousands of dollars).

You could also go with 2 adjoining interior rooms and for administrative purposes have dad in one room & mom in the other while splitting up the kids accordingly. There's paperwork there to insure you can take the kids off (very weird, but understandable rule; more on the DCL site). The cost difference seems to be more expensive than a cat4 (at least the times I've explored for our fam of 5).

The a, b, c... for the category tells you where in the ship you'll be (fwd/midship/aft).

We took a short 4 night to see if we liked it...beware. It's amazingly addicting.

Thank you! Sounds like the verandah would be a good fit for us. We are hoping to do 7 nights. Any recommendations on which deck or are the choices limited when looking for a verandah that sleeps 5?

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Thank you! Sounds like the verandah would be a good fit for us. We are hoping to do 7 nights. Any recommendations on which deck or are the choices limited when looking for a verandah that sleeps 5?

We have done deck 7 aft, as a family of 5, 3 times now. We really like it. Once we did connecting 4As (booked on the VGT rate) and that was amazing and so much space. The other 2 times we booked all in one room. The next time we had all 6 of us so we booked connecting 5c rooms. The last time we only had 5 of us as one was off to college and we all were in cat 4 again. Obviously the connecting 4As was wonderful, but I wouldn't pay extra for the extra space...there is too much to do onboard. One cat 4 will be fine for you guys, I think.

 

[Sarabi's Cubs]

Once our kids hit those ages, we found we were MUCH more comfortable in 2 cabins. We pick a cat5 balcony for us and the youngest and a nearby cat11 inside cabin. When we have done that, it's been within $200 of a cat4 that fits all 5 of us - once cheaper, once more expensive but well worth it for us.

Laurie

 

[goofy4wdw2]

All of this sounds like a totally different language! Cat, aft, etc Why did you choose aft vs mid and/or any tips on choosing between the two?

 

[ACQUADUCK]

All of this sounds like a totally different language! Cat, aft, etc Why did you choose aft vs mid and/or any tips on choosing between the two?

Midship, the middle of the ship has the least movement.
Forward the front of the ship.
Aft the back of the ship.
Cat is the stateroom category.

Aim if you can for Midship the price could be a bit higher, sometimes an Aft room pricing, maybe next to the Midship ones, so a jump in price but sellecting aft cheaper but the room is next door! So check all available rooms.

 

[goofy4wdw2]

Once our kids hit those ages, we found we were MUCH more comfortable in 2 cabins. We pick a cat5 balcony for us and the youngest and a nearby cat11 inside cabin. When we have done that, it's been within $200 of a cat4 that fits all 5 of us - once cheaper, once more expensive but well worth it for us.

Laurie

So you select those types of rooms and request adjoining/connecting if you split between two rooms?

 

[disneymagicgirl]

All of this sounds like a totally different language! Cat, aft, etc Why did you choose aft vs mid and/or any tips on choosing between the two?

I like aft because we can take the stairs up a few levels to get to the pool/cabanas/drinks/etc and down a few flights to get to kids clubs or main atrium. I avoid midship because that is a busy area for stairs and elevators. Aft is less busy but still good proximity.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

So you select those types of rooms and request adjoining/connecting if you split between two rooms?

There are not connecting insides and verandahs that I am aware of. If there were, they'd sell like hotcakes!

ETA: I haven't done the inside/ver combo simply because I'm not comfortable with my 10 and 8 year olds being in there without me...even with their teen sister in there. She sleeps like a log so I don't trust her to wake up if needed.

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

Thank you! Sounds like the verandah would be a good fit for us. We are hoping to do 7 nights. Any recommendations on which deck or are the choices limited when looking for a verandah that sleeps 5?

All of our Verandah cruises have been on the deck below the pool deck (10 for Fantasy/Dream & 8 for Magic/Wonder). It makes it easier to hop up for sun/fun/pool/food/sodas. DW mentioned that she hears some morning noise; I've never noticed it. If you're not a sound sleeper and wake easily, it may behoove you to go a deck down. We did deck 7 for our cat8 and while it made getting down to the MDRs and the theaters easier, going up to 11 as often as we did provided a workout. We didn't gain much weight on that cruise!

I go to the DCL website and see the availability (5 ppl, 1 stateroom) to see what's available. Talk it over with the boss (DW) and go from there.

Must admit, I'm excited for you and your family

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

All of this sounds like a totally different language! Cat, aft, etc Why did you choose aft vs mid and/or any tips on choosing between the two?

On the DCL site you can download plans of the ships and the staterooms are color coded by category (cat). I did that and it helped a lot. I wanted to be near the stairs, but not too close. A cat4 (party of 5) and so on. Must say, when the stateroom is aft, there's a lot of walking to get anywhere. I prefer mid and will take forward, but aft only if the price is right.

 

[bethy]

Once our kids hit those ages, we found we were MUCH more comfortable in 2 cabins. We pick a cat5 balcony for us and the youngest and a nearby cat11 inside cabin. When we have done that, it's been within $200 of a cat4 that fits all 5 of us - once cheaper, once more expensive but well worth it for us.

Laurie

We've done 3 cruises with a family of five and have done this each time. Works perfectly for kids your kids' ages and above.

We did one cruise with connecting balcony cat 5 cabins and I was too worried about them having access to a verandah in their own room. So the inside room across the hall was perfect!

We spend a lot of time in our rooms so space and having access to a verandah for me and DH is important to us.

 

[Sarabi's Cubs]

So you select those types of rooms and request adjoining/connecting if you split between two rooms?

We just picked specific rooms that were across the hall from each other. On the Fantasy, the doors were not directly across, because the inside cabins are in a little hallway but they were extremely close. I believe they were 9544 and 9543. Just FYI, you would have to book one parent in each room and then get your key cards straightened out on board. That was no problem.

Laurie

 

[Dug720]

Just as a technical point..

If you require a door between the cabins, you are looking for CONNECTING cabins.

If you want them next to or across the hall from each other but do not require the door between them, that is ADJOINING cabins.

There is a huge difference between the terms in travel-speak, and having worked at a hotel MANY people use the wrong term (usually “adjoining” when they mean “connecting”) and then yell at hotel staff when they in actuality got EXACTLY what they asked for.

 

[CinderellaDreamer]

We are a family of five, twins (17) and a 13 year old. We did our first cruise two years ago and had a verandah on deck 7 midship. We just booked the same for our cruise this fall, both cruises being 7 days. My kids are all very big (all above 5'8"-6'1"), but we still felt like we had plenty of room staying all together. I priced two adjoining inside rooms, and the verandah was cheaper for our sailing. We didn't make full use of the balcony, but it was still lovely to have and made the room feel even more spacious. We were not in the room enough to justify any further expense as there is so much to do on the ship. We each had two pieces of luggage, and we had plenty of storage space for it all. The bathroom situation was fine due to the split design. That gave us two sinks to use. Again, we weren't all in the room at the same time very often as my children really enjoyed the kids' clubs.

I liked the view from deck 7, but some people are offended by the lifeboats being a couple of decks below you. It made me more comfortable as it wasn't so far of a fall from the balcony! (I'm a little afraid of heights) I also feel like there would be a lot of walking from any room on the ship as it is very large and the places you want to go are on many different levels. We always took the stairs since we were enjoying so many delicious meals on board. It was a good balance.

Congrats on your first cruise! Two very fun things to consider would be magnets for your door and searching for an FE gift exchange for your cruise. The magnets help personalize your door (makes it fun and easier to find in the endless corridors of doors!) and the gift exchange was really exciting for even my big kids! Have fun!

 

[xQuizx]

We booked 2 connecting inside rooms on our last cruise on the Fantasy. We had our kids DD5, DS3 and 10 month old in one room and we were in the other.

We were only in our cabins to change and sleep so we didn't mind not having a balcony.

Our cabins did have the magic portholes which is a tv that shows you the outside like an oceanview window but smaller. It's nice because you can turn it off at night and occasionally Disney characters would appear.

We enjoyed having the extra space and the extra bathrooms to get ready.

 

[MomOTwins]

We found the family rooms that fit 5 were PLENTY of space for our family of 5. The configuration for 5 is typically a queen bed for parents, plus three twin size beds: a couch that converts to a bed, a pull-down bunk bed on top of it, and a murphy bed by the window. The stateroom host will set up the kids' beds each night and then fold them all away into the walls/couch during the day so you have more room to move around. There is also a split bath with a sink and tub/rainforest shower in one and sink and toilet in the other. Every cruise I have looked at, it is cheaper to get a family room with verandah for 5 than two of any other kind of room.

There are two options for family rooms: "Deluxe Family Oceanview" or "Deluxe Family Oceanview with Verandah." We enjoyed ocean view which has a large round porthole with a window seat, and it can be anywhere from 200-500+ cheaper than a verandah, but if you have motion sickness, you may want to avoid as it is either at the forward or back (aft) of the ship--though not an issue if a ship's motion does not bother you. In terms of what floors they are on, both the family oceanviews and verandahs are located on most of the decks on the Dream and Fantasy so you will have a lot of choices, but on the Magic and Wonder I believe they are only on the uppermost floor (deck 8).

The simplest way to start planning and pricing is to go to DCL's website. If you enter in the number of adults and children in your party and specify you want one stateroom, then select a cruise from the list, it will show you an interactive deckplan with all of the available staterooms family size that you can click on see prices.