Have I picked a good configuration for our family reunion on the Wonder to Alaska?

[DisneyFave]

Please help me figure out if I am making a bad choice for my 14 family members on our Aug 2024 Alaska sailing from Vancouver:


inside stateroom: Family 1 - 2 adults, 2 kids ages 9 and 12
inside stateroom: Family 2 - 2 adults, 2 kids ages 4 and 7 (extreme car sickness in kid)
inside stateroom: Family 3 - 2 adults, 1 kids age 5
inside stateroom: Family 4 - 1 adult
verandah stateroom: Family 5 - 2 adults, mom and dad celebrating 70th bdays, across the hallway from the rest of us. Mom needs a quiet space.


My questions:

1. Will families 1-4 really regret not having verandahs when we can all bug mom and dad and check out their verandah? The extra $4k per family ($16k total) for that verandah is VERY hard to swallow given how little time we want to spend in our rooms with 5 rambunctious kids!
2. What side of the ship is best for the best Alaska views?
3. Is Deck 6, midship, the best section to be in so that we have good views AND aren't subject to a lot of motion (for my car-sick kid)?
4. Any other stateroom location considerations given our very energetic kids ages 4-12 who we hope will love the kids clubs and various moments of Disney magic (pools? food?)
5. Unrelated: Will we all sit at the same table for dinners?

 

[happycamper47]

Depending on life boat loading you may not get the cabins together. When we did our family cruise our TA could not even get us all on the same deck. As to dining yes with the reservations linked you should be at one long table, we had 15 and all sat together.

 

[Geomom]

You will all be fine without verandahs. (We did deck 2 Oceanview and loved that, especially with a verandah costing thousands more!.) For outside views, go enjoy deck 4 promenade views (closer to the water and protected from the elements!) as well as deck 10. I agree with having Mom and Dad in a verandah to enjoy quiet time. Midship should be good for seasickness. The families should check with the pediatrician for seasickness meds for the kids. For adults, OTC Bonine (meclizine) is a good option and non drowsy. Day 1, 2 (morning) and 7 are the only "iffy" days at times, when the ship is going full speed and exposed to the Pacific for a little while. The inside passage itself is smooth. Views are great from both sides since it's a round trip cruise. They will turn the ship around at the glacier so both sides will face it.

 

[KGmomoftwins]

We loved our deck 6 midship starboard side veranda. On a side note both our girls are extreme car sickness. Neither of them (knock on wood) has ever had a problem on a ship. However, drive home from airport coming back from Alaska I’m frantically throwing a ziplock bag into back seat. they both wear sea bands which you can get on Amazon and they wear on the wrist.

 

[DisneyFave]

We loved our deck 6 midship starboard side veranda. On a side note both our girls are extreme car sickness. Neither of them (knock on wood) has ever had a problem on a ship. However, drive home from airport coming back from Alaska I’m frantically throwing a ziplock bag into back seat. they both wear sea bands which you can get on Amazon and they wear on the wrist.

That's super reassuring to hear!! And I feel you on those airport rides!!!! Every time!!

 

[RedHead0186]

One thing that can help with seasickness is being able to look at the horizon. Then your brain can better 'calibrate' with the movement of the ship. Fresh air can also help. Having an inside room doesn't offer ready access to either-you'll either have to go to one of the decks or to the verandah in mom and dad's room.

It's hard to know if the kid that gets carsick will also get seasick, and there are things to you can do ahead of time to mitigate. Just wanted to mention that as a consideration.

 

[holula]

To save some money, I would add an adult from family 1 or 2 into stateroom 4. If there is only one person in the room you are paying double occupancy anyway.

Then just let the stateroom host know when you board and get another key from GS.

 

[Carohs]

We love deck 6 because of it's proximity to everything. The only thing I would add to consideration is weather those staterooms have the split bath insides. We made the mistake of booking the lowest category once and really missed the split bath setup!

 

[kiford]

One thing that can help with seasickness is being able to look at the horizon. Then your brain can better 'calibrate' with the movement of the ship.

Yup - if your brain/inner ear (vestibular system) says you're moving but your eyes say you're not, it can cause nausea (the opposite can be true with VR - your eyes say you're moving but your brain/inner ear says you're not - same result). On the other hand, interior rooms can be made very dark so it might be easier for younger kids to sleep especially if they tend to easily wake due to light. I will say that the curtains are reasonably good at keeping light out though I still usually pull the additional curtain across the bed for double certainty as I do wake easily with light. I find sleeping on a ship more like very gently rocking in a hammock rather than a violent motion so it may not be too bad once the kids are in bed, in the dark, being gently rocked to sleep (how I miss that).

I assume this is on the Wonder? Deck 6 is perfect IMO not necessarily because of lack of movement but because it's not too far to go either up or down especially if taking the stairs. We got upgraded once on the Magic from deck 6 to deck 8 and it's not fun coming back after a day at port when everyone wants the elevators so you walk up the stairs eight decks. Two fewer decks does make a difference. And kid's club IIRC are on deck 5 which is very convenient.

 

[lklgoodman]

Get ginger candy for the child that gets motion sickness. I would still get sick when I only used Bonine and the seabands. Last 2 cruises I used ginger candy and never got sick, and we sailed through 2 bad storms with really rough seas. I get the brand Tummy Drops from Amazon. The ginger-peach and ginger-pear are good but they have a really strong ginger taste. I don't know if a child would find it too strong. They also have a tropical ginger variety one that is good and the ginger taste isn't so strong. I saw they now have a strawberry one, I haven't tried it yet but am getting it for our next cruise. Dramamine also makes ginger chews that you could have them try. They will have barf bags like on planes on the ship. The only place I've ever seen them is in the public bathrooms by the adult bars. I always get some to carry with me on the ship and then I put one by my bed. You can probably get them at the med center or guest services(but there's always a long line at gs on the first day)

 

[DisneyFave]

To save some money, I would add an adult from family 1 or 2 into stateroom 4. If there is only one person in the room you are paying double occupancy anyway.

Then just let the stateroom host know when you board and get another key from GS.

omg so smart!
that saves $800 for my sister's family! they are overjoyed! thank you!

 

[cmph]

To save some money, I would add an adult from family 1 or 2 into stateroom 4. If there is only one person in the room you are paying double occupancy anyway.

Then just let the stateroom host know when you board and get another key from GS.

I was going to say this same thing.

Also - I agree that car motion sickness doesn't equal ship motion sickness, so I would be prepared but not fatalistically so (if that makes sense).

We did DCL Alaska with extended family just prior to covid. We didn't have a verandah among us. My honest opinion is that it's even less useful for a large group b/c you can't fit enough people on one verandah if you wanted to gather there for any length of time. If one of the older folks needs quiet space away from the others, then that totally makes sense (different issue entirely). But if family will be gathering in groups bigger than 2-3 most of the time - they'll need to be elsewhere anyway. We were happily on deck 2 in oceanviews. Easy to take the stairs up to deck 3 or 4 (restaurants, deck 4 outside, French Quarter Lounge, etc.).

 

[Flcruising]

Please help me figure out if I am making a bad choice for my 14 family members on our Aug 2024 Alaska sailing from Vancouver:
I'm

inside stateroom: Family 1 - 2 adults, 2 kids ages 9 and 12
inside stateroom: Family 2 - 2 adults, 2 kids ages 4 and 7 (extreme car sickness in kid)
inside stateroom: Family 3 - 2 adults, 1 kids age 5
inside stateroom: Family 4 - 1 adult
verandah stateroom: Family 5 - 2 adults, mom and dad celebrating 70th bdays, across the hallway from the rest of us. Mom needs a quiet space.


My questions:

1. Will families 1-4 really regret not having verandahs when we can all bug mom and dad and check out their verandah? The extra $4k per family ($16k total) for that verandah is VERY hard to swallow given how little time we want to spend in our rooms with 5 rambunctious kids!
2. What side of the ship is best for the best Alaska views?
3. Is Deck 6, midship, the best section to be in so that we have good views AND aren't subject to a lot of motion (for my car-sick kid)?
4. Any other stateroom location considerations given our very energetic kids ages 4-12 who we hope will love the kids clubs and various moments of Disney magic (pools? food?)
5. Unrelated: Will we all sit at the same table for dinners?

Please help me figure out if I am making a bad choice for my 14 family members on our Aug 2024 Alaska sailing from Vancouver:


inside stateroom: Family 1 - 2 adults, 2 kids ages 9 and 12
inside stateroom: Family 2 - 2 adults, 2 kids ages 4 and 7 (extreme car sickness in kid)
inside stateroom: Family 3 - 2 adults, 1 kids age 5
inside stateroom: Family 4 - 1 adult
verandah stateroom: Family 5 - 2 adults, mom and dad celebrating 70th bdays, across the hallway from the rest of us. Mom needs a quiet space.


My questions:

1. Will families 1-4 really regret not having verandahs when we can all bug mom and dad and check out their verandah? The extra $4k per family ($16k total) for that verandah is VERY hard to swallow given how little time we want to spend in our rooms with 5 rambunctious kids!
2. What side of the ship is best for the best Alaska views?
3. Is Deck 6, midship, the best section to be in so that we have good views AND aren't subject to a lot of motion (for my car-sick kid)?
4. Any other stateroom location considerations given our very energetic kids ages 4-12 who we hope will love the kids clubs and various moments of Disney magic (pools? food?)
5. Unrelated: Will we all sit at the same table for dinners?

Will families 1-4 really regret not having verandahs....
Have you asked them? Can they make the decision or is it all up to you?

 

[polynor]

Are you working with a travel agent? You can get onboard credit that way too for each booking. They can also make sure all your reservations are linked. We did the same cruise with 21 people -- 7 different family units.
Only one family booked an inside and the rest booked oceanview, with myself and my parents booking connecting rooms. We got rooms almost all in a row on deck 2. The one booking the inside was concerns about seasickness and booked an upper mid -- they were fine. But agree with other posters inside passage is pretty smooth.
Dining -- because we were all linked, we got either one big table or two (still big) tables together.

The chaos inside the room mainly is in getting ready for dinner. If there are family units that are close, you might want to get some inside connecting rooms just to get a little more elbow space if the cousins like playing together. Verandah for the parents is a nice touch. We liked the oceanview rooms -- depending on the weather and how cold your parents get -- you may not use it as much. We found liked looking out the window and when the weather was nice, we wanted to be on the deck for panoramic view.
All view are beautiful -- becasue you're inside passage, you're really sailing along the inlets.

 

[auntlynne]

 

[lady9]

My car sick kiddo has done great cruising! I hope the same for you. We haven't done an inside cabin but we have had cabins on deck 2 and most recently deck 5, ocean view and verandas. She has done very well. We found giving her dramamine after the cruise helped her get her "land legs" back. She seemed to suffer the most with feeling off balance afterward. We checked with her doctor first. To all sit together at dinner, just make sure your reservations are linked. If you are working with a travel agent, ask him/her. If not, just call Disney and ask to be linked.