Multiple Stateroom Help

[stardust190]

I've been lurking on this board since I booked my cruise in Feb, but this is my first time posting. We will be taking our first cruise on the Disney Fantasy. The trip started out just me and my family of 4. My mother decided she would like to go as well so we booked her a cabin. We were NOT able to get a connecting cabin. Since my mom is alone in her cabin we are pretty much paying for an imaginary person to be in there with her (at least if I understand how this all works - never cruised before at all so I'm fairly confused about a lot). I'm considering moving one of my children into her stateroom as it would save us about $700 - we are paying for my mom as a thank you for all her help with our kids. I thought I read on here people doing this, but then were able to have the person on the one reservation sleep in the other stateroom. Is this officially allowed? Does it only really work with connecting staterooms? We are currently on Deck 7 and my mother is on Deck 8 so if we put one of the kids on my moms reservation would they have to sleep with my mom? The kids will be 3 and 5 if that matters. We want two staterooms as we think 3 adults in one room would be a bit much, but with the categories we have booked there are no connecting rooms. We have a ocean view family stateroom and don't want to upgrade to a verandah - I don't like the idea of the kids and a verandah.

I guess I am trying to not have to pay for an imaginary person, but I don't want to stick one of my kids with my mom as they get up early and can be a pain at bedtime. I'd prefer them to sleep in our room. Not sure if I can do this with the way the muster stations are set up. Any thoughts on this? You all seem to be experts!

 

[KLB9]

When my extended family goes its a Chinese fire drill on what kid stays in what room on what night. There is absolutely nobody who will know or care.

 

[lanejudy]

Yes, you can sleep in whichever stateroom you choose - and even switch around throughout the cruise if the kids want to take turns having a "sleepover" with grandma. I suggest making the switch sooner rather than later; 1) to make sure the rates on grandma's room haven't increased (you'll pay the current price when you add the second person even though the single-supplement charged her double-fare), and 2) make sure there is still room in the muster station/lifeboat to add a person. Note that whatever child (or adult) is booked with grandma MUST attend the muster drill with her, which could be a different station than your own. You might put you or DH in grandma's room if you'd rather have the kids remain with a parent (and one parent can manage both alone).

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[stardust190]

Thank so much for the responses! If I do put my husband on my mother's reservation will that affect his ability to have a key to our stateroom? What about charging privileges? We will NOT give children charging privileges, but my husband will have them. And although we are paying for my mother's stateroom I plan on having her put her own credit card on her on board account. We're giving her the cruise not a free bar and souvenir account! I'm also assuming that in the event that there is a need to get on the life boats you have to go to the one designated with the muster station. As in whoever is split up will stay split up in the case of an emergency correct? My kids might be ok to handle myself for the muster drill, but in a real emergency it might be a bit much. And being on different decks I'm assuming that we'd also have different muster stations.

 

[lanejudy]

You can get an extra stateroom keycard for access to your stateroom. DH can put his own credit card down for his charges, mom use her CC for her charges.

You are correct about an emergency situation as well as the muster drill. There is only so much space in each lifeboat, and it is planned out by who is booked to which stateroom. There is a thread with muster station assignments...I'll see if I can find it for you. But you'll have to decide what's more important -- saving money, or the potential to be split up if an emergency occurs (will Mom be ok all by herself in an emergency?). No right or wrong answers there, just what's best for your family.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[lanejudy]

here's the link for the Fantasy muster stations thread: http://www.disboards.com/threads/dream-fantasy-muster-stations.2639344/

 

[smootenloopers]

And being on different decks I'm assuming that we'd also have different muster stations.

No necessarily. Different sections of a single deck will have different muster stations. Similar locations (forward, aft, port, starboard) on different decks will have the same muster station. Think of it more like vertical slices of the ship going to the same muster station versus each deck going to different stations.

 

[stardust190]

Thanks for the link. Our staterooms aren't listed so it's hard to tell, but one is forward and one is aft and they are deck 7 and 8 so I wouldn't be surprised if they were different muster stations. Is there an easy way to see what connecting rooms are available on a ship? I'd maybe consider connecting rooms if I thought they were available. We have 8C rooms now and I'd want to keep ocean view, but there are no connecting ones. I'd consider a cat 9 as with two rooms now we'd have enough space and mostly booked 8C because of the added space (although I really like the window in the 8C). I've only been able to find 9B rooms that connect and are available. 2506 and 2504 and 2004 and 2006. I've read some things that say those might be noisy rooms and I don't think I want to switch. Am I missing how to find available connecting rooms?

 

[houseofduck]

Thanks for the link. Our staterooms aren't listed so it's hard to tell, but one is forward and one is aft and they are deck 7 and 8 so I wouldn't be surprised if they were different muster stations. Is there an easy way to see what connecting rooms are available on a ship? I'd maybe consider connecting rooms if I thought they were available. We have 8C rooms now and I'd want to keep ocean view, but there are no connecting ones. I'd consider a cat 9 as with two rooms now we'd have enough space and mostly booked 8C because of the added space (although I really like the window in the 8C). I've only been able to find 9B rooms that connect and are available. 2506 and 2504 and 2004 and 2006. I've read some things that say those might be noisy rooms and I don't think I want to switch. Am I missing how to find available connecting rooms?

There are many rooms that connect on the Fantasy. If you look at the deck plan, you can see the rooms that connect by looking for the triangles that point toward each other.




If you look at the flash version of the deck plans on the DCL site, you have to hover over the rooms to see the connecting rooms. For example, 7516 connects to 7514.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I've been lurking on this board since I booked my cruise in Feb, but this is my first time posting. We will be taking our first cruise on the Disney Fantasy. The trip started out just me and my family of 4. My mother decided she would like to go as well so we booked her a cabin. We were NOT able to get a connecting cabin. Since my mom is alone in her cabin we are pretty much paying for an imaginary person to be in there with her (at least if I understand how this all works - never cruised before at all so I'm fairly confused about a lot). I'm considering moving one of my children into her stateroom as it would save us about $700 - we are paying for my mom as a thank you for all her help with our kids. I thought I read on here people doing this, but then were able to have the person on the one reservation sleep in the other stateroom. Is this officially allowed? Does it only really work with connecting staterooms? We are currently on Deck 7 and my mother is on Deck 8 so if we put one of the kids on my moms reservation would they have to sleep with my mom? The kids will be 3 and 5 if that matters. We want two staterooms as we think 3 adults in one room would be a bit much, but with the categories we have booked there are no connecting rooms. We have a ocean view family stateroom and don't want to upgrade to a verandah - I don't like the idea of the kids and a verandah.

I guess I am trying to not have to pay for an imaginary person, but I don't want to stick one of my kids with my mom as they get up early and can be a pain at bedtime. I'd prefer them to sleep in our room. Not sure if I can do this with the way the muster stations are set up. Any thoughts on this? You all seem to be experts!

I would look into inside rooms also to see if you can find any connecting. With the magical porthole on the Fantasy the views are great with those rooms. That is the only cabins we have ever booked and we love them. We also always travel in connecting rooms and they are great to have, can't recommend enough how convenient they are. Just my $.02

 

[ciniminis]

We have a ocean view family stateroom and don't want to upgrade to a verandah - I don't like the idea of the kids and a verandah.

In a verandah room, there is a sealed and firmly latched glass door to open before you can get out to the verandah - if you keep the door closed I wouldn't be worried about young kids running out on their own. It's of course your call though, I just thought it may be easier to find connecting verandah rooms since those tend to sell out later

one is forward and one is aft and they are deck 7 and 8

Even if you can't get connecting rooms, I'd really suggest not getting ones so far away from each other! Going up and down decks aren't too bad if you're close to one of the staircases/elevators, but going from forward to aft of a ship as long as the Fantasy can be a longer trip than you'd expect.

 

[annacali]

We are sailing on the Fantasy next month. We have 3 8d family ocean view staterooms on deck 6. 2 of them connect (6166 and 6168). My travel agent suggested putting one of my kids in my brothers room to avoid paying the single occupant rate. They will both actually be staying with me. When you do that you have to sign a special form to take your child off the boat with you since Disney has it set up that kids can only leave the ship with an adult in the same stateroom. Haven't figured out the whole muster station thing but hoping we will just all be together.

I have also heard it recommended to book an outside room and the inside room across the hall in the event that connecting rooms aren't available.

Have a great cruise!

 

[stardust190]

Thanks again for all the information. My biggest problem is that the cruise is already fairly full. I can figure out which rooms connect, but it's been a big pain to find which ones are available. Right now we have an inside room and a family ocean view. It really isn't in the budget to do two verandah rooms. The only 2 connecting ocean view rooms I can find are on deck 2, but I've heard they can be noisy. I can also find some inside rooms that connect, but I'm not 100% sure I want to go that route as I like the idea of the ocean view. I could possibly swing a cat 4 that sleeps 5. What are your opinions on 3 adults and two children (ages 5 and 3) sharing a cat 4? The rooms seem super tiny, but I think we could handle the close quarters. I question the single bathroom though. I just wish it was easier to figure out which connecting rooms are still available.

 

[MelSpees]

Thanks again for all the information. My biggest problem is that the cruise is already fairly full. I can figure out which rooms connect, but it's been a big pain to find which ones are available. Right now we have an inside room and a family ocean view. It really isn't in the budget to do two verandah rooms. The only 2 connecting ocean view rooms I can find are on deck 2, but I've heard they can be noisy. I can also find some inside rooms that connect, but I'm not 100% sure I want to go that route as I like the idea of the ocean view. I could possibly swing a cat 4 that sleeps 5. What are your opinions on 3 adults and two children (ages 5 and 3) sharing a cat 4? The rooms seem super tiny, but I think we could handle the close quarters. I question the single bathroom though. I just wish it was easier to figure out which connecting rooms are still available.

I wonder if a TA could help you with finding the connecting rooms, or maybe call DCL directly and ask them. It seems they would be able to pull up that information for you.

 

[houseofduck]

Thanks again for all the information. My biggest problem is that the cruise is already fairly full. I can figure out which rooms connect, but it's been a big pain to find which ones are available. Right now we have an inside room and a family ocean view. It really isn't in the budget to do two verandah rooms. The only 2 connecting ocean view rooms I can find are on deck 2, but I've heard they can be noisy. I can also find some inside rooms that connect, but I'm not 100% sure I want to go that route as I like the idea of the ocean view. I could possibly swing a cat 4 that sleeps 5. What are your opinions on 3 adults and two children (ages 5 and 3) sharing a cat 4? The rooms seem super tiny, but I think we could handle the close quarters. I question the single bathroom though. I just wish it was easier to figure out which connecting rooms are still available.

I don't think it would be difficult to share a cat 4, but you might find that it is more expensive than what you already have. I agree with MelSpees. I think a travel agent or DCL would be able to help find connecting rooms.

 

[stardust190]

I wonder if a TA could help you with finding the connecting rooms, or maybe call DCL directly and ask them. It seems they would be able to pull up that information for you.

I don't think it would be difficult to share a cat 4, but you might find that it is more expensive than what you already have. I agree with MelSpees. I think a travel agent or DCL would be able to help find connecting rooms.

I'll try calling DCL and see if they can help me. Actually for our cruise because of when we booked and how much the prices of the cruise have gone up since then moving to a cat 4 and having my mom in our room will save us a LOT of money. We booked my mom's room after prices had gone up quite a bit. So being that she is in her room alone we are paying the penalty of a single traveler. If we move one of us into her room we save about $500 total. That is with keeping a 8C and an 11A room. If we move both of us to a cat 9 and get connecting rooms we would save about $450. If we put all of us in a cat 4A and have 1 stateroom we save about $1000. At least that's what it looks like to me. I pulled up on the webpage moving our current cat 8C stateroom to a cat 4A and got that price and then looked at the current price for a third adult in a cat 4A stateroom when I did the math. So it would save a lot of money for us, but a single stateroom would be a little bit of a tight fit and I'm not sure if my husband would be up for that. Especially with only having 1 bathroom.

 

[timrousbeastie]

Once you get your husband moved to the second cabin, I'd keep checking the DCL website for cancellations once or twice a day. We stayed in two cabins on opposite sides of the ship for our first cruise and in connecting cabins on our second. The latter was very nice. I can understand why you feel nervous about the kids and a verandah. I felt like that before our first cruise, just like I did before our first stay at a high floor at one of the Disney World resorts. But there really isn't anything to be afraid of. Since we often ended up 5 or 6 in one cabin, including 3 kids, the verandah was amazingly nice to go to once in a while. In fact, two connecting cabins with verandahs was essentially like having 3 separate rooms, and the connecting verandahs made it much easier to socialize across the rooms.

 

[A11ison]

Call the DCL agent they are extremely helpful I've only booked through them and call them if I have any questions they have always been helpful. No one cares or checks who sleeps where. The verandah has a couple of latches one high up before the door opens and once unlocked takes more muscle than a 3 & 5 r old has to actually open the door.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

For $1000 savings, I'd put everyone into 1 4A. You (your husband, your mother) could shower in the spa area if that's a concern. You could also vary shower schedules - kids in the afternoon (after their nap), your mother in the morning and you and your husband before bed. Everyone stays together, everyone has the same muster station plus you end up with enough to cover alcohol, souvenirs, and even an excursion. Plus you end up with a balcony which is nice for the adults while the kids are napping or in bed early (maybe mom could spend a late night in the cabin watching the kids sleep while you and hubby go out and enjoy a little night life - or hubby could watch the kids while you and mom hit up the night life).

 

[Flossbolna]

Especially with only having 1 bathroom.

There are very nice showers in the spa locker room that are free to use for everyone. I have used them a few times and the ones of the Fantasy were really nice. Also, the split bathroom concept DCL has really makes it easier if there are more people getting at the same time.