I'm having a really hard time telling what the differences are between the room catagories on the cruise.

We will be booking a cruise for two families. Two adults each with two children between the ages of 6-8. I've heard there are suites, but can't see that choice for booking on the website.

Any information on rooms and opinions on what worked for you would be great.

TeaCupper

The suites that would fit that many people are usually booked up far in advance. You should be able to book suites through the site though (but it might not be large enough for eight people)
The deluxe staterooms comfortably sleep 4 -- so each family would have their own cabin (and they have verandahs). The cabins on DCL are larger than average ships (and all except the inside ones have two bathrooms).

Deluxe stateroom with Vernadah:
Sleeps: 3 or 4
Room Configuration: Queen-size bed or 2 twin beds, single convertible sofa, wall pull-down bed (if sleeping 4), split bath with tub and shower
View: Private verandah
Amenities: Remote-control color TV, ample closet space, cooling box, in-room safe, hair dryer, phone with voice-mail messaging and individual climate control, privacy divider

Deluxe Family Stateroom with Verandah
Stateroom Category: 4
Sleeps: 4 or 5
Room Configuration: Queen-size bed or 2 twin beds, single convertible sofa, wall pull-down bed, split bath with tub and shower
View: Private verandah
Amenities: Remote-control color TV, ample closet space, cooling box, in-room safe, hair dryer, phone with voice-mail messaging and individual climate control, privacy curtain

I would encourage you to play around with pricing on disneycruise.com to get a better feel for your budget for the time of year that you are going. Quite often, two connecting staterooms is more economical than one suite.

When breaking down the categories, I use the following as a very broad guideline:

Do you want a verandah? (balcony - Cats 6-1)
Do you want a porthole? (window= Cats 9 & 8)
Is the size of that window important? (one large, or can you go with two smaller ones? Deck 1 has Cat 9's with two smaller portholes; the others are 1 large porthole)
Do you care if you are inside? (no window - Cats 12-10)
Do you care if you sleep in a broom closet? (just kidding but it's generally the lowest price on the ship; Cat 12's and they go quick)

Once you get into the verandah category, you can start splitting into separate living areas/rooms/bedrooms/suites/etc, but playing around on disneycruise.com will give you a very rough idea of the prices based on each level, split according to stateroom category.

Also, bear in mind that Cat 12's can be anywhere on the ship. Cat 11's do not connect. There are some Cat 10's with obstructed view portholes on Deck 5, but they are hard to get.

Hope this helps! :D

bumping this up...

are there any floorplans of the rooms / suites anywhere?? I just can't get a good feel from the pictures online.

Thanks!

bumping this up...

are there any floorplans of the rooms / suites anywhere?? I just can't get a good feel from the pictures online.

Thanks!
The free Free Disney Cruise Line DVD (https://secure.disney.go.com/dcl/en_US/vpk/landing?name=VPKLandingPage)is a wealth of information. It'll have everything you need on it. We're going this Spring and the kids keep asking us to play it over and over, LOL!

Here is a link (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1002071) that will have a lot of information about cruising on the Magic and Wonder, including the floorplans and pictures of some staterooms. I found it very informative.

HTH!

There are some Cat 10's with obstructed view portholes on Deck 5, but they are hard to get. I'm so happy to have landed SPH rooms for our 09/27/08 double-dip... can't beat natural light and a partial view for the price of an inside cabin!

Aloha everybody,

Got up at 450pst on 01/31/07 to start dialing for cat 10 #5020 and going online at the same time. Phone was too busy, got online faster. Got #5020 at cat 10 price :) didn't take to long, just about ten minutes.
Tried again for cat 5 got a great room for a reasonable price. Talk to my wife she said either one is fine and she told me if we stayed in cat 10 #5020 the money we saved could go to a flat screen tv for my birthday. What a great wife huh!!!
We're booked on June 29, 2008 my birthday. What a great birthday present from my wife.

Aloha,

hawaiian mickey

bumping this up...

are there any floorplans of the rooms / suites anywhere?? I just can't get a good feel from the pictures online.

Thanks!

We also had this same problem when we were looking at the 360 degree view of the staterooms before our Mexican cruise in 05. I got the feeling the room was much larger than it actually was. When we got to the stateroom, I remember standing in the doorway for what seemed like a looong stunned time, thinking, "Ohmygod, how are we all ever going to live in here for a week?" (We had a family stateroom for 5). We managed but it was like living in a puzzle.

Next time, we are getting a stateroom with a verandah (that was the saving grace for me on the Mexico cruise) for DH and me; and an inside stateroom across the hall for the kids! :D