TA quoted $8,000 for cabin for 5, yikes!

[chattycathy1]

Wanted to sail early summer with spouse, 7, 5 and 15 month old. Most economical price was deluxe family stateroom with veranda. TA suggested two adjoining cabins (with each adult in a room, with then each kid paying higher fares to satisfy double occupancy rule)... that was $6,000. There has got to be a better way... has any one traveled with 5 on Disney? Baby sleeps in a pack and play so we don't need an official bed.

 

Is a Disney cruise worth that kind of money? Does Goofy sleep in your bed?

[vossjemi]

Try 2 category 12's and see what the price is. That is as cheap as it will get. Also, summer is usually more expensive. You might check an off peak sailing.

[TrentS]

That's an insane price! You may want to try another cruise line. The kids in our family and friend's kids all love Royal Caribbean's Voyager class ships better than Disney anyway, which is fine by us - They're not the cheapest, but a lot cheaper than THAT! :eek:

 

Here's a recent thread about which line for kids you may like to read... http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=218944

[Wennfred]

Sounds very high, have her change the batteries in that Calculator, maybe that will fix it. :)

[oscarmoraz]

Sounds very high, have her change the batteries in that Calculator, maybe that will fix it. :)

l

lol..it may be time to switch TA's

[Host CJSKIDS]

That is about the price for a summer cruise. That is the one thing about Disney, unless you book the cruise the minute the date is released, you will pay! I love Disney, we've done 4 cruises with them, but economical they are not. To give you a good comparison, I have checked into 3 different cruises for my family of 5 in March. DCL wants just shy of $10,000 for the 5 of us on a 7 night Eastern Caribbean, 3 in a Cat 11 inside and 2 in a Cat 6 verandah cabin! DCL wants $5000 for a 4 night in the same set up. Princess wants $5400 for the 5 of us, 2 in Cat AA minisuite and 3 in a Cat J inside across the hall for a 7 night Western Caribbean cruise. Guess which one we're going on?!!!!

[TheWog]

I was going to suggest the same as cjs that if you want Disney and a verandah, look at the Cat. 6 (or 7) and an inside room across the hall. That may bring the price down.

[oscarmoraz]

That is about the price for a summer cruise. That is the one thing about Disney, unless you book the cruise the minute the date is released, you will pay! I love Disney, we've done 4 cruises with them, but economical they are not. To give you a good comparison, I have checked into 3 different cruises for my family of 5 in March. DCL wants just shy of $10,000 for the 5 of us on a 7 night Eastern Caribbean, 3 in a Cat 11 inside and 2 in a Cat 6 verandah cabin! DCL wants $5000 for a 4 night in the same set up. Princess wants $5400 for the 5 of us, 2 in Cat AA minisuite and 3 in a Cat J inside across the hall for a 7 night Western Caribbean cruise. Guess which one we're going on?!!!!

 

 

Thank you for preparing me for when the grand children get older! lol :)

 

C

[chattycathy1]

Thanks to all for the good info. I guess I just can't get over needing two cabins... especially when one is a baby and doesn't need a bed. Are there any ships that allow 5 in a room without the ultra family suite upgrade?

[falcon5travels]

Carnival allows it. We did it about 4 years ago on the Destiny. We booked an outside cabin and got upgraded to a balcony. Now that the kids are older we get one inside and one balcony. My 3 kids are girls so it is much nicer to have 2 bathrooms. Good Luck

[Host CJSKIDS]

Thanks to all for the good info. I guess I just can't get over needing two cabins... especially when one is a baby and doesn't need a bed. Are there any ships that allow 5 in a room without the ultra family suite upgrade?

 

 

The Disney room that sleeps 5 (Cat 4) isn't an ultra family suite, it's just a bit larger than the Cat 5 and Cat 6 rooms.

[Jules123]

ChattyCathy,

I am in the same boat you are. I was shocked when I checked the price on a cruise for my family of 5. I could buy a small car for that price.:) I REALLY want to cruise DCL, but I'm not sure my pocketbook can handle it!

I've heard so much about the early booking discount, but exactly how much cheaper is it? $100's or a $1000 or what? Looking at the same time for next year, May, Disney's website quotes about $7500 for a Cat. 4. How much cheaper would it have been if we had booked when rates first came out? (A rough estimate would be great!)

[goofy4wdw59]

We are a family of five (2 adults, 8yo, 6yo & 3yo) too, and have a choice of "family" cat 4 or 2 connecting rooms. The cat 4 is more money than 2 connecting 10's (inside staterooms), so we booked 2 cat 10's as we'd rather have extra space and two bathrooms. (Also, we booked the "secret porthole" cat 10 rooms that have windows with obstructed views.)

We are cruising in the value season and are paying approx. $4,600 (includes tax&ins) for a 7-day eastern. We did early booking so that we can get the SPR cat 10s--could probably take off some by transferring ressie to a travel agent. I think that's about as cheap as we can cruise on a 7-day Disney.

We do enjoy Disney cruises--especially with younger children, but, we may consider cruising on another cruise line if we go during a high season time or when the kids are out of school.

[chattycathy1]

To Jules 123

I don't know the answer to your question about booking early. I was booking for next summer and ran into the $8,000 price. The ship was filling up fast... so I don't know how "early" is early. That would be a good question for a TA.

To Goofy

I think booking off season is the answer. I wish we had that kind of flexibility with school schedules.

 

We have been on three different cruiselines with our kids (when we were a family of 4) and all ships treated our kids like royalty. In fact, I think it was because there were not alot of other kids. Right now, we are looking at a 7 day Royal Carribean for $3,000.

[gatour]

5 people in one cabin is dicey. At that level on any cruise line you need to go to a full suite. At the least the cabin is the same size of two normal cabins "glued" together. The decor is upgraded and the amenities may be better.

 

Having said that, Disney prices are usually more expensive than other lines for comparable cruises/cabins.

[Jsme]

Disney is very expensive in the summer. So the price you mentioned is about par. And yes you do have to book a Cat 5 or better to get one room for 5 people. As suggested you can book adjoining rooms. You do not have to have the best staterooms with Disney. The rooms are larger than most cruise ship's staterooms. You also get a split bathroom in cat 9 or above. Inside rooms are very nice. The lowest deck staterooms are normally larger than other crusie lines. Disney also have SPR's which are secret port hole rooms you can book. They have two sets of SPR's that are adjoiners. SPRs are booked at a cat 10 price but it is an obstructed view on Cat 9.

 

Other cruiselines are a nice but if you want the Disney experience you will have to bite the bullet and pay the price. We have cruised DCL 3 times. Certain months are less. I love to cruise in hurricane season. I hate to lose out by a hurricane but the weather is prefect. Another plus is the pricing.

[GottaLuvCruising]

And yes you do have to book a Cat 5 or better to get one room for 5 people.

 

With DCL, you have to book a Cat. 4 or better to accomodate 5 people in one stateroom.

[Jeanne S]

Wanted to sail early summer with spouse, 7, 5 and 15 month old. Most economical price was deluxe family stateroom with veranda. TA suggested two adjoining cabins (with each adult in a room, with then each kid paying higher fares to satisfy double occupancy rule)... that was $6,000. There has got to be a better way... has any one traveled with 5 on Disney? Baby sleeps in a pack and play so we don't need an official bed.

 

Is a Disney cruise worth that kind of money? Does Goofy sleep in your bed?

 

 

Most cruise lines do not care where the baby sleeps. Baby is counted as a passenger and has to have an official bed. So if the cabin is a quad and bab makes 5, they will generally not sell you the cabin.

[Jeanne S]

Carnival allows it. We did it about 4 years ago on the Destiny. We booked an outside cabin and got upgraded to a balcony. Now that the kids are older we get one inside and one balcony. My 3 kids are girls so it is much nicer to have 2 bathrooms. Good Luck

 

We tried this on the Triumph in 2002 and our TA told us Carnival told us no way could we have 5 in a quad - baby or no baby.

[Jsme]

With DCL, you have to book a Cat. 4 or better to accomodate 5 people in one stateroom.

 

Thanks for the correction. I do not know why I put in Cat 5. LOL

[CruiseFever]

"Is a Disney cruise worth that kind of money? Does Goofy sleep in your bed?"

 

That's a question that can be difficult or easy.

 

Not the Goofy part, the money part. Goofy sleeps at the foot of your bed....or is that Pluto?

 

Before I was aboard the Magic I thought the prices were high and compared to other lines they are. But you get more than the mouse with a Disney cruise, much more. Not to demean Mickey and friends; they DO add an extra element you won't find on other ships for sure.

 

Personally I think what, to me, makes a Disney cruise a good value is just the way Disney does things. First Class all the way. Their cruise terminal alone is almost a destination. The attention to detail these people are capable of is nothing less than amazing to me.

 

My daughters, who started working for Disney a few months ago have totally bought into "spreading the magic", something DCL does from the time you walk on the ship and are announced as boarding.

 

In addition, I was surprised to come to the conclusion that someone without kids or even someone that didn't even like kids could take a Disney cruise and have a fabulous time.

 

To compare a Disney cruise to other lines, say Princess or Carnival just doesn't make sense to me. I think it's kind of like saying that you could go to a Six Flags amusement park in any one of a number of locations around the country and have a good time but to compare them to Disney World would be unfair. Disney is so far over the top.

 

Surely, Disney is not the place to be for bargain hunters. I have friends that are struggling to make the Disney Decision. They want a Disney cruise in the worst possible way but can't get over the price hurdle. It's not that they can't afford it, it's just that they have a hard time justifying paying so much more for a 7 day cruise than they can get on a number of other lines.

 

That was the difficult answer

 

The easy answer to "is it worth that kind of money" is

 

Absolutely. Nobody does it like Disney.

 

For that answer to work you've got to believe

[M4Travels]

My partner and I just made a reservation for a 4-day cruise, (Jan 22 - 26, 2006) and we did it because we wanted to have the Disney experience on a ship. We've been annual passholders at Disneyland for years (usually going at least 3 times a month) and just recently became members of Disney Vacation Club. We knew the cost of a Disney cruise was going to be more than other cruiselines (I worked for Princess Cruises for 3 years.), but we were willing to do this for the experience.

 

Could we save money and go with another cruiseline? Sure, but we did make the conscious decision not to. Will we suck it in for the next few months to make sure that we'll be able to do something else later in 2006? Well, that's the plan, but....

 

I fully understand the sticker shock. Personally, I don't see how families with 2+ kids can do things like cruises if they wish to do Disney. And you families that bring infants, I am in awe of you. The planning, saving, preparing is more than I would be able to do and I salute all you families (2-parent, single-parent, whatever-parent) who are able to handle this. I'd be freaking out on the first day of the vacation!

 

Best to all!

Michael

[Luv4dacruise]

Wow that is really harsh, nothing at all against all of you disney fans, but its just not my cup of tea. For the money i would just assume check out other lines. Someone said it earlier on here, but, check out the Voyager Class ships. Have a great vacation.......

[NJBill]

We had 6 people on our Disney Cruise. We booked two inside Guarantee Cabins and wound being upgraded to (2) oceanviews at no cost..........could happen to you also.................

[Koalagal]

We used our vacation club points last year to cruise-navigator's veranda(I think cat 7), it was awesome...I am almost afraid of next month's carnival cruise, because I don't know what the comparison will be like. I have figured out how many points we will get over our 40yrs(we're not in Saratoga) and that each point is worth like $3.70...and then figured out how much the cruise would be, based on that & annual maintenance dues...we did 7nts in W Caribbean for about $2k...about 1500 less than booking would be.

 

To everyone else...Never, ever book directly with Disney for ANYTHING! They charge you waaaaay more than any ta:eek: ...if you don't have a travel agent, go to your local AAA office & book thru them, trust me, it is still cheaper, I compared before I used my timeshare points!

 

That having been said, I felt like an Empress/Tsarina/goddess when we were on our cruise! Do Palo without your kids if you can...it was the best $20 I have ever spent!