How do you choose a cabin?

[Chim Chiminy]

We are planning on a cruise in summer 2006, either late June or August.
I have started looking at prices from several different sites.
The choices for cabin location and all are mind boggling to me. It gives me a headache trying to decipher all this.
We will be needing in the least three cabins, as my BILs and parents will be going as well.

I had looked into Cat 7 for everyone, but seems that since we have 4 in our family we can't book it. It is available to book for parties of 2 or 3 though, which I thought was weird.
So I guess we are looking at Cat6 or Cat 5.

I don't know an awful lot about the ships, so I don't even know what a good location would be for those categories.
We do like a bit of quiet. My mom and dad, who would have their own cabins, are older and it is hard for my mom to climb stairs because of arthritis.
And we of course would like a nice ocean view.
Any advice?
Are there any cat 7's located near to cat 6 or 5? That way I could book my family in those rooms and still be close by.

Any help is appreciated.
Oh, my BIL was wondering how much better are the 7 day cruises than the 4 day, which is what I was looking at. He thinks the 7 day would be better value for the money.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I'm at about the same stage in my planning as you are, so I'm not much help, but from I've read here and discovered by do some pricing the 7 day isn't really a better price per day than the 4 day. I was kind of bummed to figure that out.

The Cat 7 rooms do not have the pull-down bed, which is why they only sleep up to 3 people.

We'll need 2 rooms since there are 6 of us, so am looking either at 2 connecting Cat 8 rooms or one Cat 5-6 for 3 of us and the other 3 (teenagers) across the hall in an interior room. I keep going back and forth as to which would be best, but have until the 2007 rates are released to figure it out.

T&B

 

[smchan]

I'm at about the same stage in my planning as you are, so I'm not much help, but from I've read here and discovered by do some pricing the 7 day isn't really a better price per day than the 4 day. I was kind of bummed to figure that out.

Keep in mind the 7 night cruises bring additional amenities you won't find on a 4 day: a character breakfast, free (watered down) drinks on formal night, better ports (I'll take anything on the 7 day over Nassau), tea in Palo, and more opportunities to visit Palo for brunch and dinner (in other words, 7 nights of Palo for ~2,000 passengers vs only 4 nights).

Don't forget to include fixed costs of getting to your destination. For example, airfare is airfare regardless of whether you're sailing 4 nights or 7. Subjectively, a 4 night also kills about the same amount of vacation as a 7 night for me. (For the 7 night cruise, I miss 5 days of work. For the 4 night, I miss 4. So for 1 more day of vacation cost to me, I get an extra 3 days of cruising. The 3 day is the best option vacation wise; only costs 2 days for 3.)

Sam

 

[DrCavin]

If your combining a few days at Disney along with a 3/4 day cruise then it may be something to consider. I would take a cat 6 over the cat 5 for your situation. The cat 6 's are cheper than the cat 5's and are pretty close to the same. Cat 5's have about 30 sq ft more than the cat 6. You could also look into some of the inside staterooms, would not have a verandah.

 

[SeaSpray]

Regarding cabins: You said you want a "nice ocean view", so does that mean that you don't necessarily want or need a verandah? There's a decent sized price difference between having a porthole (window) and having a verandah. (If you ask me, if you can afford it, the price is worth it for the verandah, but you will still have an excellent cruise with only a window, or even in an inside!!)

As far as your mom not being able to go up stairs, there are elevators on every deck. I recently was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (didn't know it during our cruise last year!) and while I did use the stairs daily, I found it was worth it to wait for the elevators rather than cause myself more pain. So your mom will not have any problems getting around the ship because of her arthritis

Regarding the lenth of the cruise, I totally agree with the reasons given by smchan. We originally were looking at booking a 4-night cruise but the additional cost to change it to a 7-night cruise was minimal when compared to what the FIX costs would be anyway! We thought it was more than worth our while to cruise for 7 nights since we'd be paying out the same money for airfare, the pre- and post- cruise hotel, limo expenses to get to and from the airport here in Boston and down there in Florida, etc. So, by adding on a (relatively) little amount of money, our cruise almost doubled in duration.

P.S. In case you haven't seen it yet, take a look at the web site for All Seasons Travel because they list cruises by date AND give you the exact price for each cruise according to date, cabin, AND cabin occupancy (2 people, 3, 4, etc). Also, if you call them they have an 800# and are very helpful in answering your questions. I've used them twice now to book our Disney cruises and have been very pleased with their service. Here's the link to their site: http://www.allseastravel.com/

Hope this info is helpful, and don't be afraid to ask more questions!

 

[Pacha]

Actually cat 5&6 are the same size (http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/d...ex?id=C56DeluxeStateroomWithVerandahStateroom).Cat 6 rooms are on decks 5 and 6 while all cat 5 rooms are on deck 7.

Pacha

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Keep in mind the 7 night cruises bring additional amenities you won't find on a 4 day: a character breakfast, free (watered down) drinks on formal night, better ports (I'll take anything on the 7 day over Nassau), tea in Palo, and more opportunities to visit Palo for brunch and dinner (in other words, 7 nights of Palo for ~2,000 passengers vs only 4 nights).

Don't forget to include fixed costs of getting to your destination. For example, airfare is airfare regardless of whether you're sailing 4 nights or 7. Subjectively, a 4 night also kills about the same amount of vacation as a 7 night for me. (For the 7 night cruise, I miss 5 days of work. For the 4 night, I miss 4. So for 1 more day of vacation cost to me, I get an extra 3 days of cruising. The 3 day is the best option vacation wise; only costs 2 days for 3.)

Sam

I'll remember all this in case I decide to try and convince my DH that we should do the 7 day. Hmmm, I think that a 25th anniv deserves more than a 4 night cruise, don't you? Of course I'd still need to tack on some days at WDW and we will have a DD in college along with a son who will be a year away from college. Yikes, now I'm scaring myself!

Seriously, though, we've never cruised before so don't know for sure if we'd like it and have the stomach for it (really think we'd like it and would probably be ok with motion sickness, but just don't know for sure).

One of my strategies is to get my DH on the 4 day cruise, then, assuming we like the cruise, then get him to agree to a 7 day. Maybe even book onboard while he remembers how much fun it is. Worth a try!

T&B

 

[aprilgail2]

Keep in mind that the midship elevators are much busier than the aft or forwad ones. Picking on a room goes by personal preferance....we prefer aft and I don't want a connecting room since I heard they are noiser through the connecting doors. I don't like a room right by the elevator since there is less traffic then...all depends on your individual likes and needs....

 

[2kidsrgreat]

We just got back from sailing on the Magic. We were in a cat 6 in room 6118. This was near the elevators and steps which I was worried would cause a lot of noise. We found that it was the PERFECT location. We did not have noise problem at all. We LOVED the verandah and being so close to the aft elevators (less wait time) was great. However, for us, we only used the elevators three times the entire cruise so the steps so close is what we really appreciated.

I highly recommend this part of the ship to anyone who is going on the Magic

Enjoy!

 

[DrCavin]

Actually cat 5&6 are the same size (http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/d...ex?id=C56DeluxeStateroomWithVerandahStateroom).Cat 6 rooms are on decks 5 and 6 while all cat 5 rooms are on deck 7.

Pacha

My source for the 30 sq more feet was:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/cruise-new/cr-staterooms.htm#cat

 

[ann-e-mator]

Honestly, I don't care what kind of room I have as long as it has a window. We were hardly in our rooms anyways... But you said you are looking for late june 2006... We are June 17th, 2006...

 

[smchan]

My source for the 30 sq more feet was:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/cruise-new/cr-staterooms.htm#cat

Which reads "the only major difference between cat 5's and cat 4's is about 30 square feet at the end of the cabin towards the verandah."

sam

 

[Pacha]

Which reads "the only major difference between cat 5's and cat 4's is about 30 square feet at the end of the cabin towards the verandah."

sam

Thanks Sam. I was trying to be brief, but guess I should have said it all. All you are paying for between a 5 and 6 is to be closer to the top of the ship. Which depending on when you cruise could be a lot of money.

Pacha

 

[smchan]

Thanks Sam. I was trying to be brief, but guess I should have said it all. All you are paying for between a 5 and 6 is to be closer to the top of the ship. Which depending on when you cruise could be a lot of money.

Agreed, I wouldn't pay it. (I'm a deck 2, cat 9 kind of guy. I can't see paying for the 8; the only difference being the deck.)

Sam

 

[crisi]

The one advantage of a shorter cruise is that if you discover it isn't for you, you've invested less time and money in it than a longer cruise. DVCajun just got off a seven day and really didn't enjoy the cruise - turned out to be not a great choice for that family. It is a pretty lousy vacation to be stuck on a ship if you don't enjoy it - because you are pretty stuck.

 

[mamalle]

it depends on what you want for a cabin and location. we like our cat 4 stateroom and being close to the mickey pool, etc so we will stick staying on 8. we just have to walk one flight of stairs up and we are there. Plus I did find the elevators very busy at times so we pretty much stuck to the stairs.