Hi!
Your plans sound very nice and exciting!!!
I wanted to elope to Fiji, but........
We're planning a cruise with over 60 people.
We were able to get all the inside staterooms (Cat 11) together down one stretch of hallway, and two families opted for the outside staterooms with verandas and they are right across from us.
I watched the DVD (better than watching the video, much more info) and ALL the rooms, inside and out, are very nice. Remember, you're talking Disney here.....
Also, I've never cruised, but my husband and a lot of friends have and they said you are only in your room to sleep and shower, so the fact that the inside staterooms are small should not even come into your consideration.
I would book everyone together. When you book, it is $200 per person down, and you can pay the rest off later. If you let each family take care of their own, then you won't be rooming next to each other and you know something will get screwed up.
We checked out
AAA, the
Disney Cruise Line website and multiple travel agents for the best price. Believe it or not, a
travel agent gave us a better deal than AAA! So I emailed all the families involved, gave them all the info and told them that if they wanted to come on the trip they had to get their money in to Ginny the travel agent by a certain date. If they didn't get it in on that date, then their reservations would be lost and they would have a far less likely chance to be rooming next to us.
Then two weeks later, Ginny came over my house and I invited the moms over and we talked all about the cruise, ironing out any information we were still not sure about.
We're also doing the land and sea with the Land part of the trip coming first (Thursday through Sunday) and then the cruise is Sunday through Thursday.
When you book land and sea, the Hotel is included (inside staterooms get the Carribean Beach or Port Orleans and another one I think) Length Of Stay Park Hopper Tickets are Included, Transportation from Disney to Port Canaveral and then from Port Canaveral to Disney are included, and of course, the cruise with all meals is included.
Every family on the cruise also booked one extra night at the Carribean Beach resort on Wednesday night, this way everyone can get to the resort on Wednesday, have a relaxing dinner and start out bright and early Thursday morning to make sure we get the full three days available to us. Our agent got us a price of $110 for one extra night at the Carribean Beach.
Here's another tip:
Some of our families have three children and there are a few grandparents coming. With the inside staterooms, you are only allowed 4 people to sleep in there. If you have a family of 5, they automatically place you in a higher catagory, meaning more $$$$. So three of our families have one of their children bunking with someone else in our party, like the two sets of grandparents who are coming. The parents paid the grandparents the extra money, and everything worked out well.
I would book ASAP. Become a AAA member for $50, it's well worth it! Also try every single travel agent in your area. I still cannot believe a local travel agent got a better deal than the other agencies, AAA and
DCL did!
