Have you stayed in a Category 3 or 4??

[Popovich]

The DH and I are trying to determine if a category 3 is worth the extra $$$ over a category 4??? There will be 4 of us traveling on a 7 day (son 4, daughter 5). The longer verandah sounds nice and having the extra space would be convenient.

What does conceirge service include?

We'd be interested in your thoughts. Thanks!

 

[thedisneymom]

Of course if you can afford it a Cat 3 is nice. Although, your children are young and the Cat 4 is quite large and there is a split bath. It is definitely large enough for the 4 of you. The extra bathroom of a Cat 3 seems to help us with showers , but my youngest is 14. We are more like 4 adults. We didn't spend that much time in the room, but the extra room is nice. The concierge makes your spa appointments, kids club registration, and excursion reservations, and Palo(while you enjoy a drink). On the other hand, if the difference in the $ is important you can make the same reservations yourself upon boarding. I would think in under an hour. I guess what I'm trying to say is either way you are going to have a great time, and the decision of whether or not to spend the extra money on a room or other things is entirely up to you. Hope this answers some of your questions.

 

[my3kids]

This is my opinion. I'd either decide if I wanted the category 3(there really isn't any comparison to the regular rooms.) If I decided against the suite, I'd probably get a category 6. The category 4 really isn't much different than the 5 and 6. The only difference is a small area at the end of the sofa for the murphy bed to flip down from wall in front of the verandah door. There are no special ammenities with the category 4, it doesn't prevent your children from having to share a bed(the sofa is a single, and the 4th bed in all the regular rooms comes from the ceiling) One thing to think about....in the category 3 room, unless you get one of the 4 in the center of the ship, the 5th bed is in the master bedroom, so your children likely would be sharing a double sofa bed in the living room.

Again, my opinion, but decide if you want the suite. If that is what you decide, it would be great and make the trip even more special. If you decide not to splurge, I wouldn't pay more for the category 4 over the category 6. It just really isn't that much more room(unless you have 5 people and have to get it.)

 

[Popovich]

my3kids and disneymom,

Thanks for your reply. I definitley do not think that a cat 4 would be worth the extra $$. It looks like we will be deciding between a cat. 3 and a cat. 6. If we did a cat 6 cabin for 4, is the 4th bed a pull down or a double sofa?

I'm trying to visualize the size of a cat 6 cabin. Would it be similar to a studio at BWV or the size of a regular hotel room?

I know we'll be happy with whatever we book. The weather has to be better than Northern Ohio in the winter or spring!! We're supposed to get snow tomorrow!

 

[BeanoC]

We definitely think the cat 3 is worth the extra $$, but as stated before, it is really a matter of affordability. All that extra room is wonderful!! We always felt so much more relaxed in the suite.
We stayed in a cat 5 before, and it was fine, but still kinda tight. Absolutely no comparison to the cat 3. Even without the concierge perks, we are staying in a cat 3 again this year mainly for the comfort of the room. The verandah we had last year was literally bigger than the entire cat 5 room!! I believe 8102 and 8602 have the biggest verandahs of the cat 3's. Standing out there, watching the ship back into Castaway Cay was priceless!




'Beano'

 

[DVC4US]

We're with BeanoC on this one. We love the Cat 3 and will never cruise again without being in a Cat 1, 2, or 3. But again, like everyone else has said, it depends on what you feel you can afford. We loved the concierge service and we really appreciated all the extra room in the cabin. We were in 8102 in March and like BeanoC posted, it has an extra long verandah. 8100, 8600, 8102, & 8602 are all handicap accessible 1 bedroom suites. They have a little extra moving around room than the other Cat 3's and you lose out on the whirlpool tub, but we loved the cabin. We are going again next March and right now we are in 8100, but we are waitlisted for a Cat 1 or 2. A Cat 6 is similar to the layout of the studios at BWV, but a whole lot smaller. The Cat 3 is similar in layout to the 1 bedroom at BWV, minus the kitchen, but again the cabins on the ship are smaller than hotel rooms. If you go to DCL website you can view layouts of the different cabins. Also, Barb & Tony have some pictures of cabins on the website www.castawayclub.com.

We really liked the concierge service. I know you can make ressies on your own, usually without to much trouble, but the concierge service made it so much more enjoyable. When we boarded we went to Sessions, and while the kids had juice and cookies we made all of our ressies. This included wine tasting, tea with Wendy, hairbraiding, brunch at Palo, and spa ressies. I made our Palo dinner ressies before we even went on the cruise. And then when all this was done we sat right there and signed the kids up for the clubs. The concierge ladies also check on us every evening, they left sodas in our cabin the first day, and goodies every evening. They also called every day to remind us of any ressies we had the next day. And if I needed anything done all I had to do was call them. Okay, I could go on forever. Hope all this helps, and IMHO if you can afford it go for the
Cat 3.
LeiLani

 

[ducklite]

We enjoyed the extra service and amenities in the Cat 3 that we have booked it again, back to back for October 2004...and one of the weeks it will JUST be DH and I.

We were in 8032 on our last cruise, we booked the same suite again for the back-to-back.

We spent quite a bit of time in our room, just relaxing on the triple wide verandah and reading.

Anne

 

[thedisneymom]

They are the wheelchair rooms therefore larger, but definitely for the handicapped ONLY I've heard DCL does book these sometimes within a certain period of time before cruising. People have sometimes been put in these rooms by DCl. Now, you need several medical forms from doctors stating your special needs. and DCL decides if you need it or not. I think this is fair because many would try whether they needed it or not for the extra space.

 

[BeanoC]

LNaylor863,

We were in 8102 last October. Isn't that a great suite??

I loved that verandah. Fortunately, they backed into CC when we were there. I have seen lots of pictures of the ships docked there, and it appears they usually go in "head-first" at CC.
Anyway, I stood out there for over an hour with a hot coffee and watched the ship back in to this beautiful island! Really an unforgettable thing. That verandah also allowed us to have our DIS meet in the suite, as we held 18-20 people there at once with plenty of room.

We'll be in cat 3 again this October, and already have a cat 2 reserved for next year... we're on the waiting list for cat. 1 for both cruises!!



'Beano'

 

[my3kids]

The bed for the 4th person in the category 6 room is one that folds from the ceiling. Each child gets their own twin bed and the parents get what DCL calls a queen....but it actually larger than a queen, I think. Maybe not a king, but bigger than a queen.

 

[Popovich]

LeiLani,

Smaller than a studio- I'm sold on a category 3. Our kids our now 3 & 5 so we will be spending a fair amount of time in our room. The last time we went "home" to BWV we stayed in a 2br. villa with grandma and grandpa and it was perfect. I don't think I want to sacrifice the extra moving around space.

Did you mind not having the whirlpool tub? Was the shower bigger ? What were the other differences?

Did your daughter like the tea and the hair braiding? I think with two little ones in tow having a cookie and juice distraction is probably a nice thing so that ressies can be made smoothly.

How was brunch and dinner and Palo? I know we want to try to schedule a dinner, but I did not know they also offered brunch!

I hope our kids aren't too young to enjoy the cruise.

 

[Popovich]

BeanoC,

Thanks for your input. I think we'll be booking a category 3! I think with two young children we'll like having the extra space. How many were in your group?

Oh, is there a small refrigerator in the category 3?

Thanks!

 

[DVC4US]

Popovich,

I agree about having the extra space. Our DD's are 14 & 7 so it tends to get a bit more crowded in the room. They did okay sleeping together on the fold out couch, but we are definitely looking for a cabin with more beds in the future. We stay in a 2br at the BWV also, because Granny and Papa ususally come with us. But now that the girls are getting older, I think we will need a 2bdr even if the grandparents don't come. That's why we just added-on 200 pts at the BWV this weekend.

Okay, I know I digress. We did not seem to miss the whirlpool tub. There is a bath tub and separate shower in the bathroom attached to the bedroom. In the other bathroom the shower is larger and both showers are considered roll-in showers. (This means there is no barrier from the bathroom floor to the shower floor) The only other thing I noticed different in these rooms, was the hand rails and fold-up shower seat in the bathrooms. Of course, I have not been in any other Cat 3 rooms, but I have been in Cat 6 rooms. I know Barb & Tony have pictures of cabin 8602 on their website.

My youngest DD who is 7 really enjoyed tea with Wendy (although she didn't like the tea to much). Both of my DD's got their hair braided and they looked great. Making the ressies at Sessions was so easy. This is one thing that sold us on the concierge service, and we said we will never cruise again without being in a suite.

We really enjoy dinning in Palo. We had dinner reservations for 3 nights, but our Head Server and Server talked us out of going on Friday. They said we could get anything we ate at Palo in the main dinning rooms. So, on Friday at dinner when I did not see the great pizza's that they have in Palo I made a joking comment about not being able to get one. The next thing I knew Christophe (Head Server) was at our table with a pizza. I almost asked for a souffle, but I thought I would let that one go. They do have brunch in Palo on the 7 day. I would highly recommend the brunch. They also have High Tea, but we were to busy on this cruise.

I do not think your kids are to young, and I bet they will have a great time. One last thing, there are not many suites on the ship so they book up early. If one is not availabe ask to be put on the waitlist. That is how we got the handicap room. We booked in Jan 2003 for a March 2003 cruise and booked a Cat 4 and waitlisted for a Cat 3. After a certian date Disney will release the handicap rooms and we got one. Now, a funny thing to this is on our cruise in March 2004, we already have a handicap room assigned to us. (BTW - No one in our family is handicapped.)

Boy, this post is getting long. Sorry everyone, but I told you I could talk forever about the cruise and Disney.

BeanoC,

That verandah was awesome!!! We also backed in CC and it was really wonderful to stand on the verandah and watch us pull in. Yeah, we have a Cat 3 booked for next year also, and wait listed for a Cat 1 or 2. We also have a request in for a Cat 1 for 2005 when they release those dates. Hopefully we will get it.

LeiLani

 

[DVC4US]

Popovich,

One thing I forgot in all my ramblings. If you go to Palo ask for Marco, he is excellent. Every evening he brought us a specialty pizza (see where I get those pizza's from), an extra entree, and an extra dessert.

LeiLani

 

[TChrist05]

Hello all....was anyone assigned a category 4 and then upgrade to a category 3 when you board the ship? I wonder how much they would charge you the day you sail to upgrade the 1 category on the 7 day Magic? Anyone have any idea?
Thanks all.....
Tom

 

[DVC4US]

TChrist05,

I don't think this happens very often. From my experience trying to book a Cat 1, 2, or 3, they sell out very quickly. Not that it would never happen, but I would not count on it. Like I posted earlier, we booked a Cat 4 in Jan 2003 for a Mar 2003 cruise, end of Jan or early Feb we got the upgrade to a Cat 3. At this time it cost us an extra $2,000 for the 4 of us.

While we were on the cruise in Mar, we had Donna bring up all the dates in 2004 that had a Cat 1 or 2 available. There was only 1 week with a Cat 1 and it was in Oct and I think there was only 1 or 2 weeks with a Cat 2 available. There were not many weeks with a Cat 3 available and she said that Disney was already releasing the handicap rooms for some of the weeks.

There are only 2 Cat 1's, 2 Cat 2's, and 18 Cat 3's on the whole ship so they sell out fairly quickly.
LeiLani

 

[Popovich]

LeiLani,

Thanks for the information. We'll be sure to ask for Marco. Also, thanks for the tip about BYOB. I think we'll bring a couple nice bottles from home and do the reserve package the other nights. We like Caymus wines. We visited their vineyard in CA and we both like the Mersoile Chardoney and the Canundrum (although I know I must have mispelled both

Thanks again!