Most Inexpensive time and way for our family of 7 adults, 3 teens, 1 3yo and 1 1yo?

[wendya2J]

Hi What would be the best time of year and the best priced cabin for our family to take the 7 day cruise? we dont mind sharing the kids in the various cabins with the adults, and dont mind taking the kids out of school...are 3 yo free? how about 1 yo's?

thanks, wendy

[MickeyMark]

We found our cruise date of 4/30/05 to be the least expensive during that time of year.
From what I understand September and October are even less expensive.

[ducklite]

Even infants and toddlers have to pay some fees and count as passengers in the cabins, and need to be tipped for as well. No one gets a totally free ride. Also as an FYI, the kids three and under can't take part in the kids clubs, and there is a few for group babysitting for that age.

Probably four inside cabins would be your best bet price wise.

Anne

[TheWog]

Look at inside cabins and Sept, Oct, Nov, Jan and Feb non vacation times.

[kristen821]

Kids two and under a almost free. You have to pay port fees and taxes for them for the 4 night cruise it came out to be about $100.00. You will have to pay for the three year old but he can go to the kid clubs. They 1 year old will have to go to flounder reef (babysitting) for about $6.00/hr. the kids clubs for 3 and up are free. and you should tip for the one year old

[captaincrash]

The costs for young children are GRADUATED. At under 2 I believe it is port and tax only. At 2-3 it's a little more; at 3-4? a little more because they can now use the kid's clubs; and so on. We are on a sailing starting next week (departing Sept 4th). We believe this time is right at rock bottom plus it utilizes the labor day weekend. Searching various cruise agencies booking engines will reveal all the pricing through-out the year... then having selected a date you can shop the TAs to see who comes in lowest with a probable cabin credit.

Other $ conserving ideas: Don't buy transfers from the Orlando Airport to Port Carnaveral. Rent from either Budget or Avis as they are the only 2 agencies with offices in both places and NO DROP fee. They are close enough in Port Carnaveral to run a shuttle to the cruise terminal for you. Cost for a full size 4 door booked in advance is $47.05 with all taxes. You may need a van however and that is currently $94 without taxes (est. 16) but it's a Chevy Venture - good for 7 with luggage (roof rack and tarp for excess). You'll have to buy gas at $15-25 plus pay tolls enroute plus potential parking at your hotel (unlikely). However, the alternative of using a Disney transfer is about 40 or 50 per person. So if there are more then 2 of you then you save... If you have a 3 and 1 year old as of sailing time them your situation is exactly like ours as we have a 3.5 YO and 9 month old sailing next week. The full size 4 door is safe, comfortable and ceap - you'll save $100 on a round trip plus have mobility the whole time.

Once you book - if you can tolerate an inside cabin that will be your lowest cost option. HOwever, it seems some folks speak of receiving a free cabin upgrade - but those folks (as I recall) seem to have mentioned who their TA was - and I think those TAs are NOT known for being very price competitive.... So I suspect if they over-paid then they are not really getting much with a possibility for an up upgrade. More likely that if you're sailing a discounted cruise then Disney already knows they can cut price because they usually do NOT fill the ship (another plus). But really, with a partially empty ship they will be offerring folks checkin in at port a chance to BUY a cabin upgrade. I vbelieve the cost quoted is likely to vary a bit based on what you paid - but maybe not. It's just a suspicion based on what I observed while being nosey yet descrete at the counter. Just be prepared with data on what various upgrades cost several months ago when you booked as well as just before sailing. This will enable you to make a comfortable decision about upgrades at the pier.

Other considerations: Disney doesn't really seem to run truly deep discounted cruises... like other lines. Their cheapest 7 day is about 1/3 to 1/2 more then others who are probably using older ships and similar port calls. But I must say having sailed last Sept with a 2.5 year old there was NEVER a more enjoiable week for parents AND child! Here's a link to an edited photo album:

[url]http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=nma4cnc&p=ABC&AID=1136939[/url]

We only wished we could have left our child in the organized play rooms - alas she was too young - needing to be 3 and take direction in a large group setting. Right now we know she's old enough - well adjusted for large settings - so we'll now get the pager to recall us in a "crisis" and be left with just the 9 month old while we wander the ship. Excepting the occasions when we pull her out for swimming, eating, character meetings, shore visits, shows (which are among the very best and most professional we have witnessed at sea) and of course, we'll pull our daughter out when it's time to sleep!

Oh, another $ saving idea - if you really like to surf the web - even on vacation or if you're like me and could benef9it from keep touch with business while away - then you can "buy" unlimited web time for about $100. BUT, the smart thing to do is find other cruisers in advance and propose SPLITTING a single unlimited account to cut you costs in half or by 2/3rds. You are unlikely to be able to surf at the same time but that should not be a serious problem as everyone is on vacation - right?

I gotta go fed my daughter - I'll post more good ideas when I return later.

[captaincrash]

ok -

my spouse is preparing a meal for the older daughter and I have the 9 moth old on my tummy.

Other ideas: contact DCL (live or on line) and get their free DVD. It's quite informative and makes a great souveneer.

More on pricing strategies and history:

Last year we sailed the same labor day holiday sailing as we are this year. Difference however was last year we bought the 2nd lowest inside catagory 3 weeks before sailing. It was really cheap IMHO and i wanna say it was 6 something before taxes but inclusive of port! With our 2.5 year old i think it was well under 2K - maybe about 16. At the pier we were offerred upgrades and I thought the pricing was fair but I was not prepared with info on current rates for original booking into the other cats so we passed. Plus we had just sailed Alaska 4 weeks prior so did not want to spend too heavily for this 2nd trip.

Now, this year's booking and data are different. Last year we could have reserved while ON the prior sailing and we vaguly think THAT was our lowest net cost. However it meant paying a bit more for the cabin but getting our largest cabin credit. At the time we had not ascertained how much fun the cruise was going to be so did not committ. After we left the ship we decided this had been our best family vacation since having a child! So (without naming specific TAs or specific prices as i think board rules prohibit such disclosures and indirect promotion) we settled on the same weekend because it had a special limited offer schedule that included San Juan PR (which we really enjoy). PLus it benefited from one holiday and enjoied shoulder season wih others returning to school AND for a cruise ship it was still hurricane season in the carib! A Perfect confluence of factors to make for low air fares and cruise rates.

So we booked about 9 months in advance. The rates were evenly graduated from inside to low veranda from about 12 to 8 months out. We settled on a cat 10 window with the larger single 3' round versus the 2 smaller port holes. Our current ship position is relatively unfavorable at ship front for sea motion and convenience to facilities at the rear of the ship. HOwever the ratio of savings and total price were optimal for our preferences. Once we were inside of 8 moths - right after we booked - we noted an INCREASE in all of the cabin catagories EXCEPT our 10. Odd coincidence... but the only remaining catagory 10s were the less desirable twin portholes. At any rate this condition continued until about a month before sailing when all catagories went into a near book rate - all cats being just about 300 discounted (nuttin' really, eh?). Another varying consideration: When trying to price quotes over time for a cabin taking 4 (we have 2 kids) the pickings were far narrower. At this time with a week to go it is not surprising there are NO cabins taking 4 but every catagory is available for 2 with about a 300 cut off of book rate.

The moral of this is that in 2003 the situation was completely different with cheap cabins (for 3) available on an inside basis. NO othyer catagories were similarly discounted. Advance pricing data is not available for the 03 sailing. And in the case of the 2004 sailing the best rates were pretty far out - especially if you needed 4 capacity.

I have not mention ANY TAs - and will not now - but I will encourage you to shop around. We saved several hundred from the highest to the final low ball agent we went with. And our agent in 04 is different from our agent in 03.

Aside from this... other ways to shave a dime - we're flying in from the west coast - so it is tough to come in the same day and make the ship without doing a red eye - which is not a nice thing for your fellow air mates if you have kids like us. Although our kids fly very well it sinmply is very uncomfortable to red eye and if we have any difficulty enroute then many passengers will not sleep well. So we are coming in 2 days early to allow for hurricane delays or diversions - time zone adjustments - and if everything goes as planned - then we come in - shuttle to the airport hotel - get a rebntal car the next day for ONE day and visit a local amusement park one day. We dislike the high humidity inland and can only tolerate so much fun at a park - plus we live close to LA in California so we have the original versions of Disneyland and Universal studios to visit. Although smaller - they are cheaper and drivable for us - and we have annual passes to Disneyland. So, on this visit we're just visiting Universal Studios in Orlando.

Oh, on hurricanes and sea motion from rough seas. In extreme cases the ship will retask their port calls to avoid bad weather and seas. Air schedules are another matter. In 03 we had a hurricane hitting a few hundred miles north of central florida and we were watching the flight schedules with interest up to our departure - that is why we schedueled to come in 2 days early.

Hotels are a non- issue for us as we are happy we discounted mystery selections from Hotwire or any reservation service. This time of year everyone seems to lots of vacancy (= low rates everywhere). Also, we dislike crowds if avoidable.

Hmmm... what else can I come up with for useful ideas.... On the islands for eastern sailings we have always avoided the inflated cruise tours - and used taxis to get around... although you have to watch them too for price gouging. Oh, when you do your 2nd sailing be certain to get and record with DCL your "Castaway Club" number as a return cruiser with DCL.... you'll get a free beach towl in your cabin ($20) plus invites to semi-private castaway club cocktail parties where you'll meet other repeat cruisers who may share some gems of insight. AND... if you want to book a dining reservation at Palo's WITH a baby sitting reservation you'll have to check in ASAP on day of departure. We were so laxidasical about checking in there were no slots together to book. BUT, the rotating dining was sufficiently varied that we didn't really miss the fine Italian dining option. Oh, another thing we liked was that the DCL ship prepared the lobster perfectly - unlike the hit n' miss cooking and serving size on other cruise lines. We were pleasantly surprised that so many things were well done on DCL!

Right now I can't think of anything else useful - except it was interesting ow "in-tune" the DCL management was - AND the absnce of NEGATIVE attitude crew staff. We were pleasantly surprised that everyone maintained a clean front. Even on debarking - I stopped to ask the folks at the exit gangway for a comment card - and they hustled and enquired WHY I didn't have one in the room. I responded - "what does that matter" - then they replied that they were concerned that an out of "color" cabin steward may be trying to avoid bad feedback - and I immediately replied I wanted a comment card to tell DCL how EVERYTHING was SO PERFECT for our family cruise (including an amazing cabin steward laboring with folks in the cheap cabins). Nice stewards in big verandas I expect as we've had a couple of nice big cabins before - but we've often encountered unhappy crew on most sailings.

Well - I hope this long discussion is of iunterest and use to you or others. ALSO, if anyone posts corrections of contrasting opinions I would be quite interested in reading them!

Sail Disney with your kids - it's a really great trip - bring lots of film or digital storage capacity! The photo staff will always shoot a shot for you with YOUR camera so you don't really have to buy the cruise photos - but they do take some nice shots! We bout about $70 in pix last year even though I shot 1000 images with my Canon G1. This year I have aq digital rebel so look forward to shooting more pix!

Have a nice day!

[captaincrash]

Oh...

Just noticed you have a family of SEVEN... so you'll be renting a van. If so then the rental / gas and toll cost should be near 230-240. But the transfer cost would have been 350. Another option is to try a LIMO. They hire for flat rates. This may be a nice option for comparable but higher cost - probably worth the novelty IF anyone in your party cares. We don't and prefer the 48 hour freedom and mobility at a slightly lower cost.