New to the Disney Cruise

[heartsy77]

I am intersted in booking a 4 day on land 3 on sea cruise for Feb 07. We have never been the cruise before , and wants some tips. We are a family of 4 @ 2 adults and 2 kids( one will be 10 by the time we leave), however we are taking my mother along for the cruise, so should we book sperate packages? I have checked some of the rates ( Feb 07 is not availble yet) and it looks like it is cheaper for my mom to book her hers with my older daughter, and my husband , daughter and I book ours. Why is this? Also anybody have any ideas how soon we can book and is it cheaper to do so? Also has anybody gotten a better rate by booking the cruise and disney world seperate? Any hekp will be greatly appericated!

 

[DrCavin]

Having one room for 5 requires a Cat 4 or higher, so that is why it is usually cheaper to book 2 lower category rooms. Most people have reported that it is cheaper & offers more flexibility to book the cruise/WDW seperate than to book it as the package.

 

[bytheblood]

If you go with a category 11 room, make sure you do not get on level 2. The noise and heat will make you insane. We did level 7 and it was great.

You should do two rooms unless you want to spend more so that all 5 of you can be together. If you really want to go all out, you can get a suite.

 

[krhardy]

we are a family of 5, and have stayed in a cat 4 room...we are sailing again, and also bringing my mother. We definitely decided to go with 2 lower cat rooms...by the time we sail, my oldest DD will be 11...very into the "bathroom" thing...fixing hair etc. Generally speaking it's less money to get 2 lower cat rooms, and I have to say that I am looking forward to having the extra space and being able to spread out a bit!

 

[noahsmom]

You should also look into booking your land and sea portions separetly. You can save a great deal of money this way and you can be more flexible. YOu have more resort choices and you can stay at WDW as long as you want.

 

[LCTsMom]

We are also new to cruising. We are a family of 5 and also decided to take my mom. We booked two connecting "secret porthole rooms" on deck five for 4 days in Sept. 2006. I had done a lot of research and for us this was the most cost effective way to go. I got prices from AAA, Costco, Mousesavers as well as a bunch of different online websites. We ended up using AAA though Costco was about $50 cheaper. The rooms are priced as inside rooms because the portholes are obstructed. This gives us the lower price of inside staterooms yet we have the view. From everything I have read the obstruction is minimal and well worth it. As for the "land" portion of your trip I have read that it is sometimes cheaper to book separately. Good luck!

 

[RichNKatHolly]

we just booked for 11/27-12/4 this year. I spent about 2 weeks researching, pricing, etc. I found it cheaper by about $500 to go through Small World Vacations (as referred by mousesavers.com). She said that up until recently it was possible to save a lot of money by booking the WDW and cruise components separately but that has changed (from what I found, she was right, even with AAA discounts, Costco, codes, etc.). Apparently the resort room is very heavily discounted when booked as a land/sea package.

We are looking forward to it and I feel we made the best of it. Trust me, I will not stop until we get the BEST deal possible. My DH laughs that I will spend 7 days researching day in and day out to save $10~

We are traveling as 5 and booked the cat 4 family room. This is our second cruise and we really didn't need much more room than the non-suite offered as we did not spend much time in it. Last time we had a standard outside cabin on deck 7 - excellent!

Best of luck! You should have fun!

Katrina

P.S. I like the 3 night cruise because I did find the sea day on our 4 night a bit boring and I felt a little closed in not being able to get off the ship.

 

[RichNKatHolly]

Don't forget that 2 cruise cabins will translate to 2 resort rooms and you may like that as long as your mom is staying for that part as well.