Verandah room or joining rooms (5 people)

[AP77]

We are first time cruisers and need some advice. We are a family of 5. Our kids will be 7, 6 & 4 at the time of our cruise. We are doing a 7 night Western Caribbean cruise on the Disney Magic.

We are trying to decide if we should stay in a single room with a verandah (which can sleep 5) or for about $300 cheaper we can get 2 joining inside rooms (no windows). We have never seen the room sizes and can't decide.

Our thoughts...the verandah would be nice to get the view & we could sit out there while at night when the kids are going to sleep. The joining rooms would give us more beds, more room for luggage, and if we put the kids in one room, we could stay up in the other room to watch tv. If one child wakes up super early, we could also take them into our side and let the others sleep in a little. Those are the advantages we see for each.

I was wondering if some experienced cruisers could give us their opinions and/or advice.

Thank you!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We are first time cruisers and need some advice. We are a family of 5. Our kids will be 7, 6 & 4 at the time of our cruise. We are doing a 7 night Western Caribbean cruise on the Disney Magic.

We are trying to decide if we should stay in a single room with a verandah (which can sleep 5) or for about $300 cheaper we can get 2 joining inside rooms (no windows). We have never seen the room sizes and can't decide.

Our thoughts...the verandah would be nice to get the view & we could sit out there while at night when the kids are going to sleep. The joining rooms would give us more beds, more room for luggage, and if we put the kids in one room, we could stay up in the other room to watch tv. If one child wakes up super early, we could also take them into our side and let the others sleep in a little. Those are the advantages we see for each.

I was wondering if some experienced cruisers could give us their opinions and/or advice.

Thank you!

A Deluxe Family Oceanview with Verandah on the Magic (sleeps 5) is 306 square feet (including the verandah).

A Deluxe Inside room is 214 square feet. You would have two rooms = 428 square feet. You would also have two bathrooms, two TVs and the ability to separate kids in one room, adults in another.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

We are first time cruisers and need some advice. We are a family of 5. Our kids will be 7, 6 & 4 at the time of our cruise. We are doing a 7 night Western Caribbean cruise on the Disney Magic.

We are trying to decide if we should stay in a single room with a verandah (which can sleep 5) or for about $300 cheaper we can get 2 joining inside rooms (no windows). We have never seen the room sizes and can't decide.

Our thoughts...the verandah would be nice to get the view & we could sit out there while at night when the kids are going to sleep. The joining rooms would give us more beds, more room for luggage, and if we put the kids in one room, we could stay up in the other room to watch tv. If one child wakes up super early, we could also take them into our side and let the others sleep in a little. Those are the advantages we see for each.

I was wondering if some experienced cruisers could give us their opinions and/or advice.

Thank you!

We're a family of four and our first 3 cruises were 2 connecting insides. For our most recent cruise we decided to try 1 verandah (Cat 4A), instead. At the end of the cruise we all talked about it and voted unanimously that we are going back to connecting insides. The verandah was nice but not nice enough to make up for the extra bathroom and all the room we had.

 

[rwthompson82]

Another option is a regular verandah room with an inside room across the hall.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Another option is a regular verandah room with an inside room across the hall.

But, IMO, the kids are really too young to be in a separate room from the parents. Even if it's "just across the hall". Unless Dad & Mom want to split up for the cruise.

 

[cruisingtwins]

I would not do one across with kids so young. I would do 2 inside just for the 2 bathrooms alone the rest is extra. We liked the verandah but it's not a must have
for us.

 

[krisinparis]

We shared a cabin our first cruise, and then decided that we'd much rather have 2 inside versus 1 verandah. For our family, it works great!!! The 2 tvs shouldn't be such a big thing, but it is as our kids are 4 years apart and don't like to watch the same shows. During the day, they can each use a tv and at night my hubby and I get to watch what we want while the kids are in their cabin. My kids are 8 and 12 and I still don't think I'd be comfortable with a room across the hall, we always do adjoining cabins. An added plus, is that the inside cabins stay really dark and your kids will probably sleep in!!

 

[MickeyEarrings]

Do you realize you have to crawl over the Murphy bed to get to the verandah?...if you can even get the verandah door open. I would definitely take two adjoining inside rooms.

 

[AP77]

Wow...thanks for all of the advice! We had originally booked the Verandah but I just called our agent and switched to the joining rooms. This forum is amazing!

 

[AP77]

But, IMO, the kids are really too young to be in a separate room from the parents. Even if it's "just across the hall". Unless Dad & Mom want to split up for the cruise.

I agree. I would never put my kids across the hall and we definitely don't want to split up. We will do joining inside rooms.

 

[AP77]

We shared a cabin our first cruise, and then decided that we'd much rather have 2 inside versus 1 verandah. For our family, it works great!!! The 2 tvs shouldn't be such a big thing, but it is as our kids are 4 years apart and don't like to watch the same shows. During the day, they can each use a tv and at night my hubby and I get to watch what we want while the kids are in their cabin. My kids are 8 and 12 and I still don't think I'd be comfortable with a room across the hall, we always do adjoining cabins. An added plus, is that the inside cabins stay really dark and your kids will probably sleep in!!

I appreciate your response! So nice to hear from people that have tried both!

 

[AP77]

Do you realize you have to crawl over the Murphy bed to get to the verandah?...if you can even get the verandah door open. I would definitely take two adjoining inside rooms.

Thank you! We are going with the adjoining rooms!

 

[AP77]

We're a family of four and our first 3 cruises were 2 connecting insides. For our most recent cruise we decided to try 1 verandah (Cat 4A), instead. At the end of the cruise we all talked about it and voted unanimously that we are going back to connecting insides. The verandah was nice but not nice enough to make up for the extra bathroom and all the room we had.

This is so helpful. Thank you!

 

[AP77]

A Deluxe Family Oceanview with Verandah on the Magic (sleeps 5) is 306 square feet (including the verandah).

A Deluxe Inside room is 214 square feet. You would have two rooms = 428 square feet. You would also have two bathrooms, two TVs and the ability to separate kids in one room, adults in another.

Great points! Thank you.

 

[bethy]

If you are claustrophobic like me then do the Verandah - other wise definitely do the adjoining insides.

We are a family of 5 and we prefer to do adjoining verandahs. I actually couldn't cruise with an inside cabin - I wouldn't sleep and would probably pass out - I have to be careful in all inside venues on the boat. Plus we spend a lot of time in our rooms for various reasons. Our kids are much older and have experience cruising and so we are trying a room across the hall for the first time next trip. We shall see how it goes!

 

[drsmileswife]

It looks like you already have your answer, it's what I would do Our first cruise we chose a verandah room with our 3 kids, it was really cool BUT we were definitely a little crowded and had to be on the kids' sleep schedule. There is a curtain that separates the bed from the rest of the room, but our tv kept our kids awake. The next cruise, we tried 2 inside rooms. We loved it! The extra space was so nice- and 2 bathrooms was so handy. We just left the doors between the rooms open most of the time because I was a little paranoid about sleeping away from my kids. I was really worried about feeling claustrophobic with no window, but it really turned out nice. IF we had a late night, the kids actually slept in the next morning with no sun to wake them up. That is something to be aware of- those inside rooms get dark with no lights on. We liked it, the kids seemed to sleep better, but i think you can bring a little night light if darkness is a problem. We are actually going on your cruise! And this time (with 5 kids now) 2 inside rooms was really our only option. But I am way excited and hopefully you will love your choice. You will love the cruise no matter what, though! Disney cruising is amazing, there really is no comparison.

 

[trayece]

We are a family of 5 (13, 11,7) and wrestled with the same decision before our western Caribbean cruise. We had a verandah room and loved it! We felt we had plenty of room and adored being out on the veranda. We enjoyed watching movies together in the room at night and sharing room service pre-breakfast each morning.