I have a family of 6, but the ship cannot accomodate us.

[chuckies 6]

My family consists of my wife and 4 children, ages 8, 7, 6, and 6. Although I am prepared to book a cruise in November, the cruise line has informed us that they cannot accomodate the six of us in one room. I am not prepared to spend the required amount for 4 adult fares. If anyone has a suggestions that they could pass along it would be greatly appreciated

 

[CarolAnnC]

Hi chuckies 6 and Welcome to the DIS!

There really is no way around this. Many families of 5 or 6 do book two Category 10 connecting rooms, however. These are inside rooms, therefore not as costly and give you the feeling of a two room suite, with two bathrooms. Definitely a plus for a family of 6. Good luck with your decision!

 

[MFan]

From the sound of it, I would guess you have never cruised before. If you have you would know there is just no room to fit 6 people in a standard cabin. Disney's cabins are a bit bigger than other mainstream cruise ships, but are still tight for 4, much less 6.

DW and I have 3 children (DS 4, DD 2 & DD 1). For our next cruise (our 1st with a 3rd child), we decided to go with 2 adjoining cat 10 (inside) cabins instead of 1 cat 4. We'll be paying only slightly more. Actually, my DW prefers inside cabins because it helps our kids with nap/sleep. Also, two cabins will provide much more space and flexibility than a cat 4. We can watch TV while our kids sleep in the other cabin.

 

[bev r.]

For our family of 5, it was actually cheaper for us to book 2 connecting cat 10's instead of 1 cat 4 cabin for the Nov 16 Eastern cruise.

 

[tiggerz]

Why not book a category 10 secret porthole connecting rooms? They are a category 10 but with partially obstructed view on deck 5 near the kids clubs. It's a great way to book a less expensive room with larger size for a family your size on the Disney ships. I don't think you would be disappointed.

 

[Kaa]

The only staterooms that will accommodate your entire family are Categories 1 and 2. The cost for these staterooms FAR exceed the cost of two lower category staterooms, even with the 4 adult fares. The least expensive staterooms that connect (door between the staterooms on the inside) are Category 10.

 

[chuckies 6]

The two adjoining rooms are what we chose during our cruise in 2000. The difference was that we had other adults traveling with us which offset the cost. I guess this post was basically a flame because I felt as though Disney was not accomomodating the larger family. The cost factor increases dramatically when adding two adult fares Vs. two childrens fares and I felt that this was not appropriate.

 

[bethsg]

We are in the same boat with 4 children, and really it's not only Disney which seems to be based on a family of 4. Most regular hotels also only allow 4 in a room. Most restaurants, have booths for 4, as a group of 6 we often have to "wait" for one of the few larger tables to accomodate us. We have found, it's much easier to accept it, and work around it. For example, when I go to Disney I will get 2 rooms at All Stars so we have the 2 bathrooms. When we go out to eat, sometimes we take 2 booths, near each other. There are suite type hotels but they do always cost more. When we fly, we have to pay for 6 full fare tickets. So it's just not Disney.. Bottom line, is life costs more whn you have 4 kids vs. 2 kids.

 

[Fawn]

Bottom line, is life costs more whn you have 4 kids vs. 2 kids

Tell me about it! My late hubby and I bought a camper and took up camping simply because we were tired of getting 2 and 3 hotel rooms a night for our 6 kids and us! Let's not TALK about college!!

Wouldn't change a thing, tho...worth every extra cent!

 

[zurgswife]

We also are a family of six and have found that there are many times we have felt that it is unfair to do the Disney thing....

After looking into it, it is not only Disney....Most hotels require 2 rooms fro parties over 4 or 5, All other cruise lines don't have accomodations for parties of 6 (unless you count the highest cat.)...It is just the cost of having a family of 6 or more....

We decided that a cat 10 secret porthole adjoining room is the most economical way to take a cruise for 6 people...We are DVC members so we never spend as much at Disney for 7 days that we are going to spend for a 4 day cruise...But I want to try it so I'm biting the bullet.....The 7 day seemed way to expensive...maybe if you get room credit for booking on ship it might make it worth it...we will have to wait and see....

 

[Mic]

I feel your pain! We have 4 kids, too, and after "dreaming" of a Disney cruise for 2 years (7 days, Family Suite, etc.) I finally woke up and faced reality...the kids were not getting any younger, and we were not getting any richer. I bit the bullet, and compromised. My DH and I managed to do the 4-day using our DVC points in Jan. for our 10th anniversary, and received a certificate for a future 3-day cruise for $99 each(found out about the promo on this board ) which we used to book a 3-day for all 6 of us in Oct. in 2 cabins. Although the second cabin is not discounted, we did receive an early booking discount and we are sailing in the low season. The only drawback to this promotion was having to pay for the cruise in full at booking, but in our case that came to a little more than the deposit of $200 each, so I was prepared. My advice to you would be to book really early for the low season, in 2 lower category rooms, and shorten the cruise, perhaps putting together your own "land" portion of your vacation. A few days at Cocoa Beach before or after the cruise would be relaxing and relatively inexpensive (my DH would prefer to do this). We opted for 4 days at WDW before our cruise(using DVC points and some left-over days on previously purchased hoppers) for me and 3 of the kids, and hubby will fly into Orlando the morning of the cruise to join us. Having a large family has more pros than cons: when you pay twice as much as most other folks, you enjoy things twice as much. My youngest daughter's comment to her only-child friends sums it all up best: "Yeah, I always have somebody to fight with."

 

[Julie 363]

We also have 4 children. We decided to go with two connecting rooms because we felt it would be nicer to have 2 bathrooms and 2 televisions. More space was a plus!

 

[howardk613]

While having 4 children might to a "burden" because most rooms are designed for 4, the joy of having a big family far outweighs the inconvenience of having 6 in your family. Our family was me DW DS and DD and while the 4 of us had many great times together, we were always sorry that we did not have more kids. Now that both of our children are married and both have 2 children each, our family consists of 10 and although it costs a lot to go on vacation together, we count our blessings and enjoy every minute of our cruises with our family so the moral of this story is that while 6 in your family is tough, price wise, having a large family , makes life terrific.

 

[4nana]

howardk, oh how true

I can certainly sympathize with how expensive it is to travel w/a large family and Dis not cutting much slack. We also raised 4 children and even tho it was a struggle we were blessed in many other ways than wealth. We have many priceless memories. Now they are all out of college, on their own and have blessed us with 7 grands and it is finally our turn for a Disney cruise

 

[tezb]

We are a family of 5 and twice have stayed in the Cat. 4 Family Suite. I read that they can accommodate 5-6 people. Was that not offered to you? We are 5 and my boys are older now..2 are teenagers...if we can fit, you certainly can w/ younger children. It is just now ( our 3rd DCL cruise next year) that we will be getting 2 rooms for the first time. They are just getting too big for comfort in the Cat 4. It is doable for just a week but it is nice to have 2 bathrooms and more privacy, etc. Good Luck...you will enjoy the 2 bathrooms but I'm just curious why DCL didn't offer the family suite...

 

[my3kids]

tezb: the family suite is accomodates 4, some sleep 5. Unfortunately that wouldn't work for the family of 6. It really is 2 connecting rooms or a cat. 1 or 2(ouch!)

We got connecting cat. 10 rooms and booked really far in advance. The price was almost identical to a cat. 4 room, even with paying 4 adult fares. For adding 1 more child to the reservation(we're only 5, not 6) it would have only been the $399 extra(although it seems like we are paying less than that per kid with the early savings) If you could have swung the cost of a cat. 4 room, check into the 10's. You might find the price is comparable plus the cost of the 1 additional child.