How do families of 5 cruise?

[gopherit]

We have looked from afar at Disney cruisin' and thought it looked swell - but I confess, every time I looked deeper and got in to the issues of a party of five, I chickened out.

What do fams of 5 do? Get a Cat 4 room (I think that's it, right - the lowest version of the family room?) or get two Cat 9s? And if you do the latter - do you pay for 4 adult fares (since the rooms are usually based on per-person, double occupancy), and then pay one kid fee? Our kids are now 10,9 and 5.

Educate me!

[UsedtobeSmith]

If we get two rooms we pay for 4 adults. Oh yeah baby... woo hoo!

We just sailed on the Wonder with 2 connecting cat 6's (needed a veranda) It was a small space mostly filled with BEDS but then again we are 2 bedroom DVC snobs who really like our space. LOL

I toyed with a cat 4 for all of us, but it scared me, maybe when the kids are older and we are out of our room more than we are now...

So we are trying a Mid Ship Cat. 3 for our 7 day cruise in 2007. I am hoping it will feel like more space since there is only one bed durning the day. It will cost a bit more, even with paying for just 2 adults, but we feel it is worth it, and will rent some points to offset the difference

Did that help at all??

[jnrrt]

I just posting to say I want to know this too. We've been looking at the same thing. We've only cruised once on Carnival, and I have no idea how you would ever fit in those rooms with 2 kids, let alone 3 (I know you're not allowed to have three). They made the Pop Century look like a mansion. I'd like two rooms, but I'd be scared of having kids next door. Do they have connecting rooms?

[ripleysmom]

Actually some of the Carnival ships do have room for 5. The sizes of their rooms are not too bad either.

A lot of times what people do on DCL is book 2 inside connecting cabins. Just as an FYI, DCL has the biggest standard staterooms in the cruise industry if that's any comfort.

[DSNY FN]

We did 2 cat 11's for our trip in Dec 06.

[bmalonef45]

Okay, so paying for 4 adults doesn't seem like a great option for us, would our family fit in a cat 7? How about a cat 5 or 6? I have been on a Royal Caribbean cruise and our cabin was small but we didn't have the kids with us. I am willing to drop the points on a larger cabin but really don't like the idea of paying for 4 adults. The cat 4 is doable but would like to get by cheaper while the kids are young. Any thoughts from those of you that have been on DCL?

Thanks in advance!

[crisi]

Okay, so paying for 4 adults doesn't seem like a great option for us, would our family fit in a cat 7? How about a cat 5 or 6? I have been on a Royal Caribbean cruise and our cabin was small but we didn't have the kids with us. I am willing to drop the points on a larger cabin but really don't like the idea of paying for 4 adults. The cat 4 is doable but would like to get by cheaper while the kids are young. Any thoughts from those of you that have been on DCL?

Thanks in advance!


We did a four day with a four and five year old in a Category six. While I loved having them sleep on the hideabed in a different room at WDW, one room on the cruise was "doable." There is a curtain between the bunk area and the big bed - the cabin steward was very good at getting the beds up and down to make the bunk area functional living space for the day. The kids spent enough time in the kids club that we had our space.

We have a seven day booked and I'm suspecting I may go a little stir crazy - but my parents will be staying next door and we can give our kids to them one evening.

[ripleysmom]

Okay, so paying for 4 adults doesn't seem like a great option for us, would our family fit in a cat 7? How about a cat 5 or 6? I have been on a Royal Caribbean cruise and our cabin was small but we didn't have the kids with us. I am willing to drop the points on a larger cabin but really don't like the idea of paying for 4 adults. The cat 4 is doable but would like to get by cheaper while the kids are young. Any thoughts from those of you that have been on DCL?

Thanks in advance!
We were in a Cat 9 on DCL for a 7 day with our children. DS was 9 and DD was 5 and we were fine. It's not spacious but the kids are in the club much of the day anyway.