Stateroom help!

[elastigirl]

hi all!

I am sailing in November with my husband and two boys. They will be 4 and 1 and I need to book ASAP. Dear friends are getting married on the cruise.

I am 99% sure I want a verandah room. My questions are about category - deluxe, deluxe GTY or deluxe family. And about location in ship.

It is not my first cruise, but my first with children.

What category and location (aft/mid/forward) and floor would you recommend for us? Is the extra room really that much of a difference in the family stateroom? Is level 5, forward a good place to be (least expensive family stateroom right now).

Any other tips and tricks for my family?

Thanks all!!

 

[Trera]

This is one of those topics where 100 people can answer you and you will get 100 answers. Everyone has a reason why they book rooms in the locations they do.

We always like a higher deck for a better view and proximity to things like the pool deck and cabanas. We also prefer mid ship as it is centrally located.

 

[NCConch]

We sail in 5 forward on the Dream. Very low traffic and the forward elevators do not get as congested as the others at dinnertime.

 

[MichelleCanada]

What ship are you on? With young kids I would agree that selecting somewhere with a bit less foot traffic would be better for sleeping/napping.

Other tip - room service can be super handy for kids! Breakfast so you can relax in the am; snack while you get ready for dinner; cookies or ice cream before bed

 

[elastigirl]

What ship are you on? With young kids I would agree that selecting somewhere with a bit less foot traffic would be better for sleeping/napping.

Other tip - room service can be super handy for kids! Breakfast so you can relax in the am; snack while you get ready for dinner; cookies or ice cream before bed

We are on the Dream.

 

[DietCokeMommy]

I don’t think the deluxe family is necessary with 2 kids. We did a regular verandah room in February with our 4 year old and 1 year old and the space was fine. Personally, I wouldn’t do GTY because you can’t pick out your specific room.

 

[lanejudy]

My questions are about category - deluxe, deluxe GTY or deluxe family.

Categories are "Inside" (cat. 10-11), "Oceanview" (cat. 8-9) and "Verandah" (cat. 4-7), plus "concierge". Standard insides are the smallest and usually least expensive; I believe everything else is tagged "deluxe." Inside cabins have no visibility to the outside (no windows). Oceanview will have one or two port hole windows, depending on which deck it's located. Verandah rooms have a balcony. "Family" is only 2 categories -- category 8 (Oceanview) or category 4 (Verandah) and are slightly larger with either an extra murphy bed (to sleep a 5th guest) or a chair at the end of the room beyond the sofa.

Categories are numbered, and then lettered. For example, category 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D. The letter may designated higher or lower deck (As are typically higher deck than Bs), and location forward-midship-aft (As tend to be higher and midship, Bs may be same deck but forward/aft or lower deck midship).

"GTY" means you are allowing DCL to choose a stateroom for you, in that category or higher. *GT (IGT, OGT, VGT) are last-minute special-offers with restrictions.

Is level 5, forward a good place to be (least expensive family stateroom right now).

Are you asking about deck 5 or category 5. Deck 5 will be close to the kids' club/nursery, and only a couple of decks above the main atrium and MDRs for dining.

We typically book Oceanview rooms, and DD loves the ones with the larger window-seat port hole.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[cadien]

We just booked a deck 5 forward because it's as close to the kids club as you can get and that sounded really handy after all the walking too and from the club we did last time.

 

[kboo]

We were on the Fantasy in a midship verandah room on Deck 6 last year with a 5yo and a 1yo. Midship is nice not only because you're centrally located but because there's less movement if the ship is going through waves. I do remember walking around doing fish extenders and laundry and thinking it would have been nice to be near the laundry or in a quieter area. That said, noise from the hallway was still a nonissue for naps and nighttime.

Being close to the kids' club and nursery are nice too.

The verandah was nice for sitting outside after the kids went to bed. We were traveling with another family of 4 and got connecting cabins; 2 adults would hang out on the verandah after the 4 kids went to bed while the other 2 adults went "out". So it's nice to have that space, although you will have to walk past the sleeping children to go in and out of the verandah.

I can't speak to the extra inside space in the family rooms, as we didn't get it, but I was fine in the regular ("deluxe") size verandah room. It's tight with a pack and play, but doable, and I'm glad we saved the $.

 

[elastigirl]

Are you asking about deck 5 or category 5. Deck 5 will be close to the kids' club/nursery, and only a couple of decks above the main atrium and MDRs for dining.

We typically book Oceanview rooms, and DD loves the ones with the larger window-seat port hole.

Enjoy your cruise!

Thank you!

Asking about deck 5, specifically 5048 as it is the only available family room forward.

 

[xQuizx]

On the Dream and Fantasy we like to stay on Deck 5. It's the same deck as the clubs. It's only a few decks away from the main dining rooms. You can easily get elevators going up, and it's not too far to travel on the stairs coming down.

 

[lanejudy]

Thank you!

Asking about deck 5, specifically 5048 as it is the only available family room forward.

If you are looking for less expensive, with young kids I think you can easily skip the "family" rooms and look at other categories. I forget the size difference of the family staterooms, but it's maybe about an extra 3 feet longer (essentially the width of a twin bed). That said, deck 5 is a nice location.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[GPaLarry]

Don't know if this applies to the Dream class ships, but on the Magic & Wonder had an issue with smoking areas. On our Alaska cruise last year we were forward on deck 8, just below the smoking section and during our glacier day (dead calm in the water) smoke and ashes came raining down on our verandah. So, just a caution, check where the smoking sections might be on the Dream in selecting your stateroom.

 

[mevelandry]

hi all!

I am sailing in November with my husband and two boys. They will be 4 and 1 and I need to book ASAP. Dear friends are getting married on the cruise.

I am 99% sure I want a verandah room. My questions are about category - deluxe, deluxe GTY or deluxe family. And about location in ship.

It is not my first cruise, but my first with children.

What category and location (aft/mid/forward) and floor would you recommend for us? Is the extra room really that much of a difference in the family stateroom? Is level 5, forward a good place to be (least expensive family stateroom right now).

Any other tips and tricks for my family?

Thanks all!!

Which ship? On the Dream, deck 5 is near the kids club which is very practical when you have kids.

 

[hubbard53]

you can never find the perfect cabin... i just booked my 6th cruise and still agonized on location. We always say we're going to book inside but then always end up booking a verandah b/c we're afraid we'll feel claustrophobic. Then we want to be close to kids club but not too close and not above the threatre ... then we want to be close to the pool deck but then we dont want to be under the pool deck. We overthink it. We ended up on the 7th floor which we figured it mid-way between 5 and 11

 

[mmmears]

We booked the family (larger) room when the price difference was minimal compared to a regular verandah stateroom and really liked the extra space. The difference on our upcoming cruise is $2K-$3K more, so we're going with the regular verandah. Worth is too subjective to comment on. It all depends. I think either one would be fine. Honestly.

 

[lklgoodman]

Since you are on the Dream, your cruise will be either a 3 or 4 night cruise. I wouldn't bother with getting the larger family room for that short of a cruise.

 

[MomOTwins]

Preferences on this really vary person by person, but we sailed forward with my family and I don't think I would do it again. If any of you have motion sickness, forward is the worst place to be in terms of ship movement. We also felt a bit uncomfortable about the fact that the forward elevators open up into the adult-only pool area, which is a little awkward as there is no designated path for families to use to walk around to the family pool area, and some people can be mean about it. Also, I've heard deck 5 forward can get a bit noisy on nights when they are showing a late-night movie in the Walt Disney Theater, which is one floor below on deck 4 forward.

Based on that, we booked deck 6 midship for our next cruise, since this is a quick walk down one flight of stairs to the kids club, but hopefully avoids the issues we had with being forward last time.

Agree you do not need a family (i.e., extra large) room for a family of 4.