What would you choose? Alaska

[Rachel6236]

Which room(s) would you choose & why? Disney Wonder - family of 5 (kids 18,15,11) - 4th Disney cruise - first on the Wonder. Alaska May 2023


A. one deluxe family verandah room $12,991 (after placeholder)

B. two guarantee verandah rooms (Disney chooses- can’t change or cancel) $10,950

C. Two oceanview rooms deck 2 - we choose. Use placeholder 10%. $9390

D. one guarantee verandah, one guarantee inside $8598

E. two guarantee oceanview rooms (Disney chooses - can’t change or cancel) $7411

 

[dcassetta]

With the ages of the kids in your family, I would definitely go with two staterooms. You’re going to find people that say you shouldn’t sail Alaska without a verandah, but we have never sailed Alaska with the verandah and I have had amazing cruises. If you’re comfortable with the nonrefundable portion, I would book the two GT oceanviews and use the money you’re saving for some incredible excursions.

 

[Disneychick13]

If you book 2 guaranteed staterooms is there a possibility that the rooms will be very far apart/on different decks?

 

[tvguy]

With the ages of the kids in your family, I would definitely go with two staterooms. You’re going to find people that say you shouldn’t sell Alaska without a verandah, but we have never sailed Alaska with the verandah and I have had amazing cruises. If you’re comfortable with the nonrefundable portion, I would book the two GT oceanviews and use the money you’re saving for some incredible excursions.

I agree. I would go with the cheapest options. We've sailed twice to Alaska on HAL, which is THEEE cruise line for Alaska since they have been cruising there longer than any other line, so they get the best glacier permits, berths for docking and best on board nationialists.
No need for a verandah. You'll miss half the beauty of Alaska if you plan on watching just from your stateroom. When the ship is cruising the Alaskan passages, the place to be is outside on the top decks so you can see all around , the views and wildlife are amazing. And at least on HAL, they have blankets and hot soup, coffee and hot chocolate stations set up on the top deck. Although both our Alaska cruises were in June during "heat waves" when daytime temperatures were in the low 70s. I was wearing shorts outside.

 

[Carohs]

I would book the cheapest also. While having your own private outdoor space is nice, there's plenty of space on the Wonder with outside viewing areas. I also wouldn't expect the kids to spend much time in the room, so getting a second Verandah does seem unnecessary.

 

[TikiThunderPirates]

Choice C 2 Ocean view rooms. Less on rooms means more for excursions and in Alaska there are some awesome (and expensive!!) Port Adventures. D and E are also good choices, but I don't like not being able to cancel and I don't want DCL picking my room unless I can at least pick the exact category (7A, 11B etc). My reason for this is there are some less than ideal places to stay on the Wonder and no matter what the savings, it wouldn't be worth it to me to have a week of a loud and disruptive room. If you can book a guarantee that has rooms in an area you like, then I'd do that for the savings. The exact room doesn't matter as much to me, but the location of the room definitely does!

 

[Drfate102]

I would go C, that way you can pick connecting rooms, unless you don't want to be anywhere near the kids.

 

[Anna131517]

C, although it’s a shame not to have a balcony for Alaska. Given your kids ages I agree you will probably be more comfortable in 2 rooms. I never do guaranteed just because location does make a difference on a cruise.

 

[cmph]

I may be an anomaly, but I still prefer to have my teens nearby, so I'd go with C (assuming adjoining or nearby rooms are still available). I wouldn't worry about the 18yo, but I doubt all 3 of the kids stick together the whole time. The 18yo will want to do adult things, and the other 2 are in different club categories. Plus it's so hard to predict teen schedules in May this far out.

If you don't need to worry about change/cancel abilities or the kids being nearby, I'd pick E and put the money toward excursions and pre- or post-days. Not sure the verandah in D is worth $1100+ more than E. I definitely wouldn't pick A over any other scenario that gives you two rooms and two bathrooms.

 

[jimmymc]

I would go with D. The verandah rooms on Disney don't have any of what I would consider bad locations. There is a chance the guaranteed inside or oceanview rooms could be near the engine or a service area and noisy, but that could be the kid room.

 

[Cheburashka]

Two guarantee verandahs. Verandahs are important in Alaska. If you can afford it, it's much better than just having a window. I'd save the money and get guarantee because your kids are old enough to be separated from you, and any verandah will be a good verandah imo. We sailed the Wonder in a navigator's verandah and it was great. And you'll definitely have a better vacation with two staterooms instead of five people squeezed into one stateroom.

 

[auntlynne]

Two cabins.

You pick - not guarantee. (Guarantee = They could be decks apart and opposite ends of the ship.)

I‘d look at a combination of one inside and one oceanview (depending on price). I like Deck 5 (or 6) Forward with the Inside Sideways cabins. They have a single bathroom, not the split, but you only lose a sink. But they seem a bit roomier - I think it’s more open floor space. Two oceanviews is nice, too; just a greater chance on Deck 2 that you could be under a kitchen.

I sailed in a Deck 2 oceanview on a Transatlantic; the perspective of being close to the water is nice.

 

[holula]

I agree with everyone else that you’ll be fine with the cheapest. I’ve also done Alaska without a verandah and I didn’t miss it at all.

 

[AgentMama]

Our experience, we had inside rooms when we went to Alaska, we hardly spent any time in our rooms and spent a lot on excursions. For us, personally, excursions really helped make this trip. Our family likes rooms nearby, we would do inside, with choice.

 

[tink1970]

When I took DD (10-ish) and my parents, we did an inside room and a verandah room across the hall. DF and DD slept in after being up late while DM would come across the hall and she and I would enjoy morning on the verandah. We were there in July and the sun rose early so the inside room was appreciated by the non early birds!

 

[DCLMP]

I'd go with the cheapest. Honestly, at those prices I'd go with another cruise line and get a suite, but.....that's just me.

 

[Anna131517]

I'd go with the cheapest. Honestly, at those prices I'd go with another cruise line and get a suite, but.....that's just me.

We’re going to alaska on NCL this summer and found that two adjoining balconies was thousands of dollars cheaper than a two bedroom family suite, have more room, and come with more perks (specialty dining and drink packages for four rather than two guests, more shore excursion credits, more devices can use Wi-Fi). So sometimes two lower category room can actually be better.

 

[DCLMP]

We’re going to alaska on NCL this summer and found that two adjoining balconies was thousands of dollars cheaper than a two bedroom family suite, have more room, and come with more perks (specialty dining and drink packages for four rather than two guests, more shore excursion credits, more devices can use Wi-Fi). So sometimes two lower category room can actually be better.

I was actually kind of joking about DCL prices. I have no idea what suites cost I'll probably never experience one. I'm doing a Greek Isles cruise on Royal next Summer for about 1/4 the cost of DCL. I'm thinking if I could afford DCL prices I could probably do a suite on Royal though. I've cruised on DCL 28 times, but the current prices shock me.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I’d go with either option C or D, or almost certainly another cruise line lol. It’s soooo much cheaper for a family of 5 to Alaska!

 

[holula]

I'd go with the cheapest. Honestly, at those prices I'd go with another cruise line and get a suite, but.....that's just me.

I’m not the OP but I looked at NCL for Alaska and their port times are terrible. The stop in Victoria makes it such a squeeze elsewhere. I assume it would be the same for all ships leaving Seattle vs Vancouver.