Help a first-time booker pick a verandah room! DREAM!

[jgh]

We're going to book the Disney Dream for an April 2014 cruise for our honeymoon. This will be my third Disney cruise, though it's been about 6 years since my most recent one and we stayed in a standard inside stateroom both times.

There are so many different options I'm confused! We're pretty sure we want a Duluxe Oceanview Stateroom w/ Verandah (Cat 5, 6 & 7), mid ship. Any deck is fine...

Our only must haves are:
*Starboard side (to see the beaches at Castaway Cay from the room)
*Plexiglass verandah so we can sit and see the water instead of standing

How can you tell if the verandah is plexiglass or solid white? Also...what EXACTLY are the Categories? Do they represent different rooms or are they simply there to organize the rooms (I did see there are a LOT of Deluxe Ocean View Staterooms w/ Verandahs!)?

Thank you SO much for your help! No matter the amount I read I just can't seem to answer my own questions! Figured it might be easier to ask.

 

[mom2jcg]

We stayed in 9628 which is cat 4a (I know not what you're looking for) and while it was considered aft, if was about half way (maybe a little closer to aft) between the mid elevator and aft staircase which made it extremely convenient. We ended up taking the stairs more than anything, which was great. It had a plexiglass railing. Even if you don't want 4a, this area would be good and it is on the starboard side of the ship, so maybe you could find one on a different deck that fit your category. I read the stateroom reviews on this board to find out about railings. If I can figure out how to do the link, I will add it.

 

[Lisa Lisa]

We're going to book the Disney Dream for an April 2014 cruise for our honeymoon. This will be my third Disney cruise, though it's been about 6 years since my most recent one and we stayed in a standard inside stateroom both times.

There are so many different options I'm confused! We're pretty sure we want a Duluxe Oceanview Stateroom w/ Verandah (Cat 5, 6 & 7), mid ship. Any deck is fine...

Our only must haves are:
*Starboard side (to see the beaches at Castaway Cay from the room)
*Plexiglass verandah so we can sit and see the water instead of standing

How can you tell if the verandah is plexiglass or solid white? Also...what EXACTLY are the Categories? Do they represent different rooms or are they simply there to organize the rooms (I did see there are a LOT of Deluxe Ocean View Staterooms w/ Verandahs!)?

Thank you SO much for your help! No matter the amount I read I just can't seem to answer my own questions! Figured it might be easier to ask.

We like category 5C on the Dream/Fantasy. Those are verandah rooms on deck 7. We prefer rooms on the starboard side near the aft. IMO, 7650 back to about 7662 are all great choices. We like deck 7 because you can take the stairs pretty much anywhere. The location near the aft stairs/elevators is very convenient to the MDRs as well as to Cabanas and the pool deck.

If you go through the motions of booking on DCL's site, you will get a list of the categories showing what deck(s) the rooms are located as well as what type of verandah (if it just says "Private Verandah," none of the rooms in that category have whitewalls). If you take it a step further and go through the motions of choosing a room, you can see the deckplan so you will be able to tell exactly where each room is located.

 

[socaintexas]

We were in room 5546 (category 5E) last year on the Dream and it was fantastic. It was convenient to everything. Our deck was HUGE (oversized verandah) and really made the room feel a lot bigger!

 

[Kim1964]

We were in 9574 last week, plexiglass verandah, pretty much midship, category 4A. Excellent views and great service. I booked the same stateroom for next year's cruise. We loved it.

 

[PlutosMom319]

This doesn't fit any of your must have criteria, but I absolutely positively recommend an aft balcony. We had 10162 on the Dream and it was AMAZING.

The balconies are enormous and have 2 lounge chairs, 2 regular chairs and a small table and it is still plenty spacious. We were on a 4 night cruise so the only two ports we went to were Nassau and Castaway and the ship backs into those locations so we had a front row seat to everything. We also found this area of the ship to be very quiet - it's a short hallway that only has the aft balconies are off of so it's not a heavily walked through area. The only thing that we would think about doing differently is moving down to the 8th or 9th floor because we did have a little overhead noise from Cabanas right above (chair and table moving) but I'm a heavy sleeper so it didn't really bother me. I think they are considered category 5E but I'm not positive. Good Luck!!

 

[Sea-Donkey]

Ours says "6A" on Deck 9, which per the stateroom categories on this site is:
Deluxe Oceanview with Verandah (Solid Verandah).

So is it worth calling to change to a plexiglass? What is the difference? Is one better for small children, view, or what?

 

["Cinder" Ella's Mom]

We loved 6542. It was close to the forward (I think)elevators which were not at all busy. Some verandahs on 6 overlook lifeboats, but ours was a clear view. And yes, it is starboard.

 

[joech]

We were in 9574 last week, plexiglass verandah, pretty much midship, category 4A. Excellent views and great service. I booked the same stateroom for next year's cruise. We loved it.

So glad I saw your post. I also booked the same room as well, the DCL vacation planner told us this is one of the best room in cat 4A. She said mid ship non connceting rooms are hard to come by. Do you have any pictures of the room that you can share?

 

[Husurdady]

We were in room 5546 (category 5E) last year on the Dream and it was fantastic. It was convenient to everything. Our deck was HUGE (oversized verandah) and really made the room feel a lot bigger!

Room 5546 is now in the 4e category.....with those longer varandahs , DCL upgraded it to a 4E cat.........Had that room booked two differant times once on the Dream in 2011 and once on the Fantasy in 2012. For some "un-lucky" reason , had to cancel both times. Look like a good location to every thing. I use to kid my Dw that we where so close to the up stairs balcony of the movies that I was going to put my PJ's on and sneek down to the movies each nite late.

 

[tdunaway]

This doesn't fit any of your must have criteria, but I absolutely positively recommend an aft balcony. We had 10162 on the Dream and it was AMAZING.

The balconies are enormous and have 2 lounge chairs, 2 regular chairs and a small table and it is still plenty spacious. We were on a 4 night cruise so the only two ports we went to were Nassau and Castaway and the ship backs into those locations so we had a front row seat to everything. We also found this area of the ship to be very quiet - it's a short hallway that only has the aft balconies are off of so it's not a heavily walked through area. The only thing that we would think about doing differently is moving down to the 8th or 9th floor because we did have a little overhead noise from Cabanas right above (chair and table moving) but I'm a heavy sleeper so it didn't really bother me. I think they are considered category 5E but I'm not positive. Good Luck!!

We were just assigned this cabin today! Do you have a picture of the verandah that you could share?! Thanks!

 

[labdogs42]

I am notvery helpful either, but I booked cabin 7192 aft verandah cabin because I heard such good things about it. Everyone seems to rave about the aft cabins, so if you can snag one, it seems like a good idea to me!

 

[jenf22]

Ours says "6A" on Deck 9, which per the stateroom categories on this site is:
Deluxe Oceanview with Verandah (Solid Verandah).

So is it worth calling to change to a plexiglass? What is the difference? Is one better for small children, view, or what?

I'm not sure on the Dream/Fantasy, but on the Magic/Wonder the railing was right at eye level for our then 5yo son (who is tall). He would either bend down to look under it or stand on his tip toes to look over it. For that reason, we book the verandahs with the plexiglass.

 

[maggie_sam]

You need to work with two browser windows open so you can switch back and forth. My advice is to go to DCL website, click on the ship you want to sail on and select "Deck Plan." Select a deck, then scroll over the room and category types, and start by finding a verandah room, starboard side. When you mouse over, it will give you the stateroom #. Now go to the 2nd browser window, and go to this link: http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/cruise-new/roomlist.cfm Type in the stateroom # and see if you can find a review. Next suggestion is to search on YouTube, lots of folks post videos of their staterooms.

Finally, I booked last night for October 2014 and it did not give me the option to select my room, but assigned one. I had to call DCL and my first two choices were booked already, but was able to get my third choice, so keep this in mind and have some backups. I spent probably about 3 evenings doing the above and read lots of stateroom reports, but am very confident that I will be very happy with the room, the location, etc. The reports are very helpful because sometimes the things you can't see in a picture, noise from the deck above, or worse, noise from elevators or other ship equipment are the things people mention in their room reviews. Good Luck! Let us know how you make out and what you decide. And, Congratulations. I went to Disneyland on my honeymoon, way before DCL, and I will always remember it

:l​

 

[MeLaNie9]

We stayed in 6188 and loved it - it was aft and just to the port side. The verandah was huge. It was fun to be aft as you can just sit there and watch as the ship backs into CC and ports. I don't really remember what the verandah wall looked like, but I don't recall my kids not being able to see (they were 5 and 8 at the time). I would have re-booked into this room but it only has 3 bedspots (no pull down bed) and we needed 4 spots for the next cruise so I chose 9172 which is basically the same room just on the 9th level. Another nice reason to be aft is that the stairs and elevators are not crowded (although we almost never took the elevators) and you can easily get to Cabanas.

 

[slindamood]

We had 5542 and 5544 on the Dream - as earlier poster stated (re 5546) these cabins are on starboard side and the verandahs are HUGE. We spent so much time out there when we usually would not have. You can lean back and lounge in comfort. And room service breakfast is great out there - plenty of space for everything.

The category was 5E when we booked, but DCL changed it to 4E (lucky us - a free upgrade!). I would book these cabins as 4E because the extra veranda space is worth it.

 

[jgh]

Nice, guys! I didn't even remember this thread until I saw it bumped back up.

We JUST ended up booking room 7578 on the Dream for the April 6 voyage! Super excited! Thanks for everyone's help.

 

[KarenW]

Nice, guys! I didn't even remember this thread until I saw it bumped back up.

We JUST ended up booking room 7578 on the Dream for the April 6 voyage! Super excited! Thanks for everyone's help.

This is the room we have for our trip in Sept. Super excited here, as well!

 

[jgh]

This is the room we have for our trip in Sept. Super excited here, as well!

Awesome! Let me know how you like it! HAVE FUN!