Questions from Newbie Cruisers (repost)

[Family-of-4]

Hello all,

 

(Title in first post was incorrect - said 'for' and should have said 'from')

 

This is our first post - glad to have found cruise critic. We are planning to take our first ever cruise in Nov 2008 either on the Nov 8th 7-day Eastern Caribbean cruise or on the 4-day Nov 9th Bahamas cruise. We are a family of 4 - kids 9 & 6 at time of cruising. We are Florida residents, AAA members and are military.

 

Questions:

1) Is it warm enough for swimming, particularly on the ship, in November?

 

2) Is Oceanview worth the extra cost?

 

3) What is the difference in category levels (8 versus 9 for Oceanview and 10 vs 11 vs 12 for Inside)?

 

4) Being Florida residents, AAA members, and military - are there any discounts available? If so, where best to find them and when best to book the cruise? Is it best to book now even if we're a year out?

 

5) What kind of travel insurance do we need and what is the best company. The Travelex Travelite was the cheapest on insuremytrip.com - is this a good and sufficient policy?

 

Sorry for all the questions, but we are newbies and could use the help. Thanks in advance,

Fam4

[NCmom]

I'll try to answer some of your questions.

 

I've never cruised in November, but have in January, and it was definitely warm enough to swim onboard when we did the Eastern itinerary. Castaway Cay was a little cooler, but once I got used the the water, it was good.

 

Oceanview: our first couple of Disney cruises were in veranda cabins, which we enjoyed, but then we liked to cruise more so we now book inside cabins. I think with 4 in a room, you might like the window.

 

Category differences: 8 and 9 are the same layout, they're just in different locations on the ship. Cat 10 are inside cabins (except for the secret porthole cabins forward on Deck 5 which actually have porthole windows). The Cat 10s have the split bath--one room with sink and toilet and a 2nd room with a sink and bathtub. The Cat 10s will also have a steamer trunk for clothing storage, which is very handy with 4 in one room. The Cat 11s and 12s are very similar, again location is the difference. Also, none of the Cat 12s hold more than 3 people, so if you book a Cat 12 with 4 people, you'll automatically be upgraded.

 

Discounts: the main ones are early booking and Florida resident rates.

 

Can't help with the insurance; we've always bought it with our cruise thru DCL.