Need your help!

[Bill K]

Please help! We are a family who really want to take the Disney Cruise! My family consists of 3 children (7,7,12) my wife and myself.
What do you recommend! what catagory cabin should we get? Should we take the 7 day cruise (prefered) or should we do the land and sea package !
We are looking for the biggest bang for the buck, so price is an issue!
We are DVC members so we are not sure if we are going all cash or a mix of points and cash if possible.
I know there is a wealth of info on these boards, and look forward to all your input! Thanks in advance for all your help!!!

 

[DisneyGator01]

Welcome to the cruise boards!!

First, in regards to which category... since you have 5 family members, you would either need two staterooms (cat 5-12), or get a Cat 4 family stateroom that sleeps 5. I would look into different price combos and see which one works out best. Keep in mind that with the two staterooms you would be paying adult fare for two of your three kids since the first two people in a stateroom pay adult fare regardless. But sometimes it can end up about the same price for two lower cat. staterooms then one higher cat. stateroom. All depends, so shop around. I have read about a lot of people opting for the two staterooms, saying it wasn't much more and they enjoyed the extra room, especially the extra bathroom.

As far as finding a good deal, being a DVC member you should already know that anything Disney is more pricey then the competition. But if you book early and shop around a little you can find a decent deal. I know many people on the dis board tend to pay cash for the cruise, saying its a better deal then using points, but not being a DVC member, I am not too familiar with that aspect. But might want to look into the difference with going with a TA and finding a good deal paying cash, or booking directly with Disney using your points/cash combo.

 

[hydster]

We are a family of 5 and did the land/sea last year. We stayed in the Poly before the cruise and then had a Cat 4 Family stateroom. It was nice to have the verandah (had we had more time to use it it would have been even better) but for our 7 day surprise cruise we have opted for 2 cat 8 cabins. It actually turned out to be about 800 less to get the 2 connecting cat 8 cabins than 1 cat 4 cabin on the same sailing. We booked pretty early however and got a stateroom credit for each room totalling about 175 dollars AND a rebate from Dreams Unlimited. I agree that being flexible with dates and rooms and length of cruise will definitely help!!!

Heidi

 

[MO Disney cruiser]

If $$$ is an issue, check into the off season rates. Usually Sept - early Nov are the best rates. Also, I would recommend 2 adjoining Cat10s. They are inside, but roomy. This will give you 4 sinks and 2 showers. They are the least expensive of the cabins that can be connecting.

A verandah is nice, but not a necessity to have a good time. We've stayed in both and have an inside booked for our next cruise.