Same itinerary very different price questions, how busy are you during a cruise w/ kids?

[SG131]

There is tons to do on the cruise and the rooms are small, so unless you need downtime or your child still naps, I wouldn't expect to be in your room that much. Especially on a short cruise, you'll want as much time as you can to enjoy the ship. I also learned after my first cruise that the verandah was totally wasted on me. I ended up having a bit of seasickness so I couldn't sit out there when the ship was moving anyway. Not sure I would spend the extra money on it for the first trip.

 

[tvguy]

We are a required verandah family. Nothing better than having coffee and breakfast (we get room service on all sea days for breakfast) out on the balcony before even getting dressed. We also usually have pre-dinner drinks out on our verandah while everyone is getting ready.

Cost is also an issue as well as family preference.
Our first experience with a balcony (veranda) was on the Disney Magic. We booked an oceanview, and two weeks before our cruise Disney called our TA to say we had been upgraded to a Veranda cabin for free. We used it, but the catalogue price for that stateroom was a $1,000 more for a 7 day cruise if we had booked it ourselves. We all agreed it was not worth the cost. But the Magic is an older ship, with 354 out of 875 staterooms having a balcony, less than half.
Our last cruise was a 7 day on Celebrity in 2019 on the Eclipse, and the catalogue price difference between an oceanview and a balcony was just $25 a person. But that is a newer ship and 85% of the staterooms having balconies, so at that price we felt it was worth it.
Our next cruise is on the Enchanted Princess, a newer ship where 81% of the cabins have balconies, and the cost to upgrade from an oceanview to a balcony was less than $100 on a 7 day cruise, so we felt that was worth it too.

 

[VGCgroupie]

. But I'm more introverted and can find the pool deck on sea days to be a mad house and send me into sensory overload.

This is me.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Thanks everyone. We homeschool so I tend to forget about how school breaks work and how Easter changes so that can change breaks, but I do know we always travel during expensive times for his birthday. This particular year Easter happens to be those days. Im thinking maybe to book early for a 2026 cruise instead of 2025, Easter falls differently in 2026.

 

[sponica]

This is me.

Not for nothing, even on castaway cay day, it was nice to hang out on the verandah between when we got back on board and when we ate dinner (we do early seating)

 

[VGCgroupie]

Not for nothing, even on castaway cay day, it was nice to hang out on the verandah between when we got back on board and when we ate dinner (we do early seating)View attachment 889886

This is so beautiful. I could see myself actually sitting here and letting my husband and son stay at the beach.

 

[auntlynne]

This is so beautiful. I could see myself actually sitting here and letting my husband and son stay at the beach.

But on that day, the ship is not crowded.

 

[Carohs]

Sailed with both a verandah, an ocean view, and an inside room. What we found was that we made use of the verandah when we had one but when we didn't it was NBD to leave the stateroom and find a quiet spot somewhere on the deck. The time we had a verandah I spent time looking for wildlife and saw a sea turtle. That was special for sure, and not something I would have spotted from a window. I also don't spend the mindful time looking out into the ocean while around the ship. There's just too many distractions. The time we had an inside room, I was on the deck above the pool deck relaxing and was surprised several times with characters walking past. If I hadn't already been up there I would have missed seeing Stich and Hook altogether that cruise. Both experiences brought joy to me for different reasons. I think just getting on the ship is the first priority. An inside room or a verandah is what you make of it but on a Disney ship there's certainly enough going on that a verandah isn't going to make ot break the experience.

 

[unrequited23]

I would want a verandah for cruises that are 5 nights or longer. We tried an inside room on our last cruise to save some money and would probably not book that category again. (And we ended up in a large HA inside stateroom due to booking an IGT rate.) If I were to put a dollar amount on it, I would pay an additional $100-$125/night to have a verandah.

My kids need some downtime in the late afternoon, so we are usually in the room for 2 hours to chill/get ready for dinner or the show/have a snack. I'm an early bird and love to enjoy my coffee while looking at the ocean. If we have a verandah, I can order room service coffee the night before (the carafe keeps it pretty hot) and enjoy it in my PJs without disturbing anyone.

 

[nancipants]

We have done oceanview and veranda rooms. For the Caribbean cruises we've done, the difference between categories wasn't that large, so we got the veranda. But when we did Alaska and the Panama Canal, the price difference was too much to justify a veranda. My son loved the porthole and would sit there and play with his cars. I worried that only having a window for two weeks would be rough, but between going to the pools and Deck 4, we never had an issue. (It helped that the PC cruise had a lot less children, so my son often had the Aqua Lab and Twist and Spout slides to himself in the morning.)

 

[VGCgroupie]

I would want a verandah for cruises that are 5 nights or longer. We tried an inside room on our last cruise to save some money and would probably not book that category again. (And we ended up in a large HA inside stateroom due to booking an IGT rate.) If I were to put a dollar amount on it, I would pay an additional $100-$125/night to have a verandah.

My kids need some downtime in the late afternoon, so we are usually in the room for 2 hours to chill/get ready for dinner or the show/have a snack. I'm an early bird and love to enjoy my coffee while looking at the ocean. If we have a verandah, I can order room service coffee the night before (the carafe keeps it pretty hot) and enjoy it in my PJs without disturbing anyone.

We would be so a 3 night for our 1st cruise since none of know how will will like it. That coffee tip is great! I like coffee asap when I get up.

 

[ngl]

Thanks everyone. We homeschool so I tend to forget about how school breaks work and how Easter changes so that can change breaks, but I do know we always travel during expensive times for his birthday. This particular year Easter happens to be those days. Im thinking maybe to book early for a 2026 cruise instead of 2025, Easter falls differently in 2026.

For whatever it is worth, most FL schools (and many in the South) have Spring Break in mid March. Prices can be higher then too.

 

[VGCgroupie]

For whatever it is worth, most FL schools (and many in the South) have Spring Break in mid March. Prices can be higher then too.

I feel like maybe things changed over the years too. My daughter (25 years old now) has a March bday and I remember when traveling for her birthday it was always spring break and expensive.

 

[Carohs]

Spring Break tends to be around Easter, either the weeks up to or following. But Easter varies from year to year, too. According to a web search, "Easter is determined by the first Sunday after the first full moon that occurs on or after the spring equinox. This means that Easter can fall on any Sunday between March 22 and April 25." What I see more often in our school district is that they will schedule SB the two weeks after Easter Sunday if it falls on an earlier date and the two weeks up to Easter Sunday if it falls on a later date. On average we go the first two weeks of April but there is some fluctuation.

 

[lanejudy]

Any year that you cruise March or April will find spring break crowds. Booking early will help with cost but just be aware that while some schools tie their spring break to Easter and it changes each year, probably just as many other schools have more set spring breaks that will routinely fall the same week each year.

 

[mmouse37]

I've cruised about three dozen times and I love a veranda if I get a good deal, but I don't spend a lot of time on it or a lot of time in the room. The enjoyment of a Verandah is also weather dependent. Too windy, to cold or to hot you probably won't use it. That being said April is usually perfect weather.

The ocean view rooms are the same size or bigger and you still get natural light. The insides are fine for two. I'd never do 4 in one inside room. When we first started cruising we always did a verandah as prices increased and the more experienced we got at cruising we realized it's not that important.

For a first cruise I would go with at least an Oceanview. I think that 's the best compromise. You get the view without the extra cost. I'm an experienced cruiser and have cruised a lot. I'm fine in an inside room. I've learned that the room isn't that important to me. Not everyone is like me and for some people the room is everything. You need to figure that out for yourself. You will after you've cruised a few times.

This is EXACTLY how I feel and could have written this word for word. My go to is an Ocean view. If I have some extra and feel fancy I'll book a verandah but I always feel I didn't get my money's worth when I do. I am perfectly happy getting an ocean view cabin so I have natural light. We spend most of our time out on deck or doing activities around the ship. YMMV.

MJ

 

[sponica]

Any year that you cruise March or April will find spring break crowds. Booking early will help with cost but just be aware that while some schools tie their spring break to Easter and it changes each year, probably just as many other schools have more set spring breaks that will routinely fall the same week each year.

As I like to say, someone, somewhere is on school break from mid-February to the end of April, with peaks in mid march and before/after Easter

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Spring Break tends to be around Easter,

Around here Spring Break is always around St. Patrick's Day time frame though it has no bearing on it I just tie it to that because we were never in school during that particular holiday. Easter has never been a consideration. All 3 big school districts in my county have Spring Break in 2025 March 17th-21st. Two districts have the 14th off as well with one of those also having the 24th off.

What I have found is that when Spring Break is tends to follow when kids get out of school for the year for the ones that don't go year round. For instance school ends around the 3rd to last week of May around here only going into June if too many excess snow days are used up. For schools that get out in June it may be more common to have Spring Break in April. But that's just my casual observation.

 

[DCLMP]

This is EXACTLY how I feel and could have written this word for word. My go to is an Ocean view. If I have some extra and feel fancy I'll book a verandah but I always feel I didn't get my money's worth when I do. I am perfectly happy getting an ocean view cabin so I have natural light. We spend most of our time out on deck or doing activities around the ship. YMMV.

MJ

Most of my sailings have been on the older ships with the better itineraries. The price difference can be pretty staggering on the older ships especially in Europe and Alaska. Now on the newer ships the price gap is smaller. We were able to book an ocean view on the Dream last year in Europe. The year before on the Magic I went with an inside.

The large port hole windows on the Dream and Fantasy people have posted pictures of may cost more than a regular balcony room.

 

[auntlynne]

We would be so a 3 night for our 1st cruise since none of know how will will like it. That coffee tip is great! I like coffee asap when I get up.

If you can swing a 4-night instead of 3, I would recommend it. There is a fairly common belief that longer is better - but they mean 7 nights. My sweet spot is 5 nights with 2 stops at Disney beaches. It just feels like a beach vacation on a floating hotel. I am talking Bahamas, not Europe or Southern Caribbean, etc…

I did a 3-night Bahamas as my first cruise. Four months later, went back with a different set of family members (my Venn diagram did have 2 common elements) and did a 4 night. Same ship and ports (Nassau and Castaway Cay), but a real Sea Day. Which does feel different than staying in the ship while docked at Nassau. It also makes Pirate Night more of a thing. You see some pretty good costumes. And some people pick the Pirate Dinner as a favorite. I am not into pirates, but I appreciate the place it holds in 25 years of DCL tradition.

Three nights can feel like arrived- unpack - turn around and it’s time to repack. And it’s not 3 days of cruising. Unlike going to WDW, when you leave the hotel, it’s over. At the parks, you can do things on check-in and check-out day. Boarding day is not a relaxing ship day.

There may be a difference between weekend crowds and those during the week. It is true in other cruise lines, but I’d need some input on whether it is true on Disney.