Which Stateroom for 1st time cruisers

[jewelray]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the cruise line forums but quite familiar with the other dis forums from my recent trip to WDW Love these boards!!! Right now I need some help with choosing a stateroom for my dd and my first ever cruise please!!! I was thinking that because we've never cruised before, it woudl be better to book a room with a port hole view at least (I'd love to get a verandah but don't want to spend the $$ for that)!!! Do you all really think it's necessary to have that view or is it just a matter of personal preference? Please help me decide??? I'm wracking my brain over this!! I'd love to save $$ if I can of course.

 

[Doctor P]

I would save the money and get a category 10 or 11. You really don't spend that much time in your stateroom, and the 10's and 11's are quite adequate for changing, sleeping, and resting.

 

[ALBA]

Hi jewelray

Welcome to the cruise forum.

We cruised for the first time in sept 2002 and decided to book an inside cabin, my DH's suggestion which I was a bit wary of at first but it was absolutely fine.

Like Doctor P said you hardly spend any time in the cabin as there is so much going on.

The advantages to booking a lower grade cabin is that you spend less $$'s which means you may be able to cruise again sooner than you think and I also found that as there is no daylight in the inside cabin I slept really well.

We have booked again for may 2004 and had no hesitation in requesting an inside cabin, unfortunately the lowest available was a Cat 9, so we booked that. I believe it has a large porthole window, so I'll see how I get on with that.

Good luck in choosing, I'm sure you'll make the right decision.

Alba

 

[Kimnicki]

We have just a few more days until our first cruise, but we originally booked a cat 11 and upgraded a few months later to a cat. 9 after I had saved a little more money. I thought the porthole would be nice to have. We're a family of 4 and it only cost us $500 to upgrade, I figured it would be worth it, we'll see!


Kim

 

[drdelsol]

My wife and I were in a cat 11 last year. It was more then big enough for the two of us. We booked the same room for this year while on board. I would rather have the extra money for pictures,etc. We were on a 3 day- most of the cruising was at night so there wouldn't have been that much to see anyway. plus its a good excuse to have to go on a moonlight stroll together on deck.

 

[Hygiene99]

JEWELRAY.....

here is the anwser to your Question..

book a Secret Porthole room,

these rooms r sold AS Inside deluxe staterooms so they r cat 10 ..

u will get the porthole u would like and not have to pay for Cat 9

Go to this site to see pictures of the rooms


www.castawayclub.com and look under staterooms

there r only 6 of them and they book fast they r on deck 5
room #'s r 5020 , 5022, 5024 5520, 5522, and 5524
when u book request them to see if they r avaliable if they r they will let u have one.... i was on the phone the other day with DCl
and ask the Castmember if i could have a secret porthole room and she knew exactly what i meant...

the porthole is slightly obstructed , that is why they r sold that way but not enough to make a difference u still get a good view ......

 

[DVCLady]

Delete

 

[mickeymo]

my dh and I have previously cruised 2x, both non-disney, both w/o kids in the cheapest interior category. He wasn't sure he'd like cruising, so we did a short cruise for our first. He was hooked. For the 2nd, a 10 day, he made the arrangements, and specifically requested an interior cabin. His preference echoes what others have said - spend the $ on other things and we were only in the cabin to sleep so, he didn't see the need for a balcony. He also discovered that he slept better than he did at home in the pitch-black interior cabin. I didn't care where I slept as long as I had some "book and beach" time during the vacation.

We're taking the kids (6 & 9) w/us on the Magic in March. we'll see if we like an interior cabin with kids -

 

[Mickeyhugger]

The porthole rooms are great (I don't know anything about the 'secret' porthole rooms), we're booking another one for our family of three in May.

However, I agree w/the others who suggested cat 11, if it's just the two of you. You most likely won't spend much time there with all of the other activities there are to do.

Happy sailing!

 

[Zandy595]

On our first cruise (Carnaval) we had an inside cabin and I hated it. I never realized how much I could miss sunlight. I found it extremely hard to wake up in the morning with the room being pitch black. I guess if you're used to getting up when it's dark you might be ok with it though.

On our second cruise (Disney Wonder) we got a cat. 9 on deck 2. It was perfect! I had no problem waking up in the morning with a little bit of daylight coming through the curtains I left open just a crack. The sunsets were beautiful. One evening we even saw flying fish out our porthole. DS thought it was so cool. I will never again have an inside cabin.

If you book a cat. 9 make sure they put you on deck 2. Deck 1 has cat. 9's, but they have two mini portholes instead of one giant one. I'm guessing the big one is about 3 feet in diameter and the little ones are about 1 foot in diameter. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

And if you only want the porthole for the daylight and not the view I would definitely book a secret porthole cabin, like Hygiene99 sugested.

 

[DMS_cruisers04]

don't spend much time in the cabin, so we've always opted for an inside room. It really is personal preference. It you want quiet time away from everyone else, get a balcony. If you want a little view and sunshine in the morning, get a window. If it doesn't matter and you just need to sleep, shower and change, get an inside room.

 

[manchurianbrownbear]

As with most decisions, it depends on your situation.

Are you going on a 3-day, 4-day or 7-day cruise? On a short cruise, you'll probably spend VERY little time in your room. On a longer cruise you may have more opportunities to relax in the room and enjoy a porthole or verandah.

Have you been on a cruise before? Do you think you'll probably cruise again in the future? If this is a "once in a lifetime" cruise, you'll spend a lot less time in the room than if you're a frequent cruiser.

 

[jewelray]

Thanks to all of you for your replys and the more I thought about it the more I liked the idea of having the extra $$ to spend on say anything I changed over to a cat 11 and we got room 6015 which is aft. Now I don't know much about the rooms in particular so I hope this is a good one???? Any comments are welcome. Oh by the way this is for the Oct. 30th Eastern Sailing!!!

I'm sooo excited now and since I'm a planaholic I better get planning lol ---- Thanks again!!!

 

[Zandy595]

On Disney's Deck Plan it looks like cabin 6015 is deck 6, forward.