Need advice for first time cruisers.

[hilltopfamily]

We are in the process of booking a 3 day land/4 day cruise for a family of 5. This will be our first cruise and any help that anyone can offer us would be appreciated. Specifically, we received a quote including Polynesian Resort and catagory 4 stateroom #8072 which appears to be directly below the Mickey pool/waterslide. Can anybody offer advice, thoughts or experiences about this as well as early vs. late dinner seating?

Thanks in advance

 

[floridaminnie]

First I would recomend you seeing how much it would cost you too book them separately. You might save some money that way!

 

[my3kids]

You can also investigate 2 connecting rooms instead of the only room that will hold 5 people. We booked 2 rooms instead(and even though we had to pay for 4 adults and 1 child instead of the 2 A and 3 C that we are, it was still less) We got more space, 2 full split bathrooms..... Just another thought. But definately book the land part by itself and the cruise as cruise only. Look at mousesavers.com for discount codes for the hotel room. Shop around for the best price on the cruise too. Many travel agencies will discount the cruise.

 

[hilltopfamily]

sdoane & My3kids:

thanks for the ideas. I initially did look @ seperate pricing but couldn't get quotes on less expensive hotels than "deluxe" due to 5 people in room. With deluxe stays and park hopper tickets for 5, it looked like I was almost as well off with the package deal. Now you've got me seriously thinking............I had not even thought of 2 rooms. If you do it this way, you pay adult prices for 4 and kid prices for 1 for the staterooms? How do I get around the hotel issue (again, do I book 2 adjoining rooms?) I love this board!!!! I knew I was completely "green" and could learn so much from the "veterans" I'll go to mousesavers.com right away!

thanks again!

 

[Gillian]

For the land part, 2 connecting rooms at the All stars or moderates is often less than 1 deluxe. Especially with a code! This is for room only. Many people get the passes separately. I get them at AAA for the tiny discount. For hotels there isn't an adult or child rate for the room, unless you actually have more than 2 adults in a room, then there is an extra fee.

Another advantage to booking them apart is that you can take as many disney world days as you want (or can afford)!

For the sea part, if you get 2 cabins, you end up paying the adult rate for the first 2 people in each cabin. That's why it's 4 adults & 1 child (the 3rd person in one of the cabins).

 

[floridaminnie]

Also if you do decide to book them individually, buy your tickets before you go even if you can't buy them through AAA. WDW does offer "cheaper" tickets through their website versus buying them at the gate. You didn't say how far off you are going. If it is sometime in the way future, they currently don't have any discounts for rooms. We always booked way in the future and bugged WDW whenever there were discounts.

 

[stancan]

We stayed in #8076. Excellent location for easy access to topsiders buffett, kids pools, and parrot cay/animaters pallette. We did not notice any unusual noise or smell, there was 5 of us. The baby slept in our bed. If one of your kids cannot sleep with you then you should get the adjoining rooms.

 

[SweetSpot]

We stayed in roon 8576 (same location other side of ship as stancan) and loved the location. We were right near the elevators and the stairs that led to the drink station, Scoops, pools and Topsiders (which I ran to every morning to get breakfast to eat on the Verandah).

I've never seen it mentioned here on the boards but another option you might consider when going to WDW is staying outside the park. We are also a family of 5 with small children. I never liked the option of adjoining rooms and wasn't thrilled with paying top dollar at the deluxe in park hotels that had rooms big enough for 5. We were able to find a 3 bedroom, 2 bath condo just five minutes from the park for $79.00 a night. It allowed us not only space but also a full kitchen and washer and dryer.

I would also buy my tickets outside of the park. AAA sells at a discount and there are places locally in Orlando that sell the tickets at a discount.

 

[hydster]

and we found that going through Dreams Unlimited and booking the whole package with them was cheaper than doing our own booking. For some I know they say it is cheaper doing it on your own but for us it wasnt and having dreams do all the leg work was nice as well. It was great to stay at the Poly with the Monorail line there into WDW since we have 3 smaller kids (9,7 and 3) so for us it was nice. We stayed in 8550 on the ship and I do have to say the ONLY thing I HATED about that room was that we could hear EVERYONE on the deck above us walking (more like running) and the sail away party was TERRIBLY noisy in our room. Thankfully our kids were wiped out and we took our travel sound machine which drowned out the sound but we HATED that part of it. Sometimes the top isnt always the best and for us we found that true for that! Not really a help I guess but after our cruise we stayed in Port Orleans Riverside and it was a nice room that we got off of expedia for 90 a night and it slept all 5 of us. I did NOT like the idea of connecting rooms for the 3 kids and us...just because my 3 year old is um..adventurous to say the least!

Heidi

 

[hilltopfamily]

Thanks all so much for the great info--- you have already saved me $$$ and helped avoid potential errors.

I explained this on my other "thread of the same name"---AOL timed out on me during initial submission, hence I ended up submitting twice and wasn't able to figure out how to delete one of them---
I have been working w/Dreams Unl. and looks like I'll do best w/2 adjoining Category 9 rooms rather than 1 cat. 4 family room. This way my family of 5 will enjoy 2 bathrooms each morning while trying to get cleaned up & go. Plus, it does end up being less expensive and less crowded for us.

I am doing the 4 day cruise and booking the hotel seperate (also a money saver as suggested by you guys!) We'll get 2 adjoining rooms @ All Star-Movies for much less and again will enjoy 2 bathrooms, 2 TV's, more space, etc.

Anyway, thanks SO MUCH! your help has been invaluable.