Best way to book - for March 2011

[junebaby07]

We are considering a March 2011 cruise - maybe a 7 night EC cruise on the magic. This would be our first cruise ever and we'd have our almost 4 year old and 18 month old daughters with us. Probably want to get 2 adjoining rooms. What is the best way to book?

[mom x4,grandma x4]

You wont need 2 adjoining rooms.

You can get a room (dont know the category since they have changed them) that has the queen bed, couch thats a bed and a port a crib thats free for the 18 month old. Tell them when you book that you need the crib.

Or you can get a room with the queen bed, the couch that fold down to a single bed and bunk bed above the couch.

 

If you still want 2 rooms you will have to list one adult in each room because they cant book a room without an adult in it. It would cost you double and its not needed. There are plenty of rooms that hold 3 and a crib or even 4 with the bunk. With 2 rooms your suppose to have one adult sleeping in each room.

 

 

You can book with a TA and get a nice room credit or direct through DCL. Both have advantages to them.

 

We prefer to book directly through DCL. The room credit is small but if we hve a question or need to make a change it is fast and easy to call them.

With a TA you can get a large room credit and if you get a good TA they will be able to answer your questions. But many have to call DCL then get back to you.

 

Most TA's are great and the room credit is a nice boost to the budget but both times we used one we ran into problems. They made mistakes on our reservations, didnt pass on information we needed to know and never did get back to us with answers to questions.

We had to bug them everyday to get a response. Finally we called DCL, got the answer but since we used a TA DCL couldn't take care of the problem. We had to bug the TA to do it. Evenutally 2 days prior to the cruise they did. I dont need that kind of stress.

 

We decided after 2 bad experiences we would only book direct with DCL and it has worked great since then.

 

But most TA's you wont have that kind of problem with. We just had some bad luck I think.

So the choice is yours. Good luck!

 

Have a Magical cruise.

Kathy

[junebaby07]

Hmmmm....We really don't want a traditional cabin because our kids go to sleep at 7 or 7:30 PM. It is nice to have separate space at night to read, watch a movie, etc....It seems cheaper to get 2 adjoining rooms then to get a suite??? Is that not the case?

[seba1]

We cruised with our DD (then 2.5) and DS (5). We were fine sharing a cabin. We did let the kids stay up later than their normal bedtime, but it was fine because the had a blast and didn't want to go to bed. They also slept in later in the morning. We all went to bed around 10 at night and woke up at 8 (usually our whole house is up at 6 am so this was great!).

 

Honestly, I don't know how comfortable I would be with my kids in another room. Since the cabin is not their bedroom, I wouldn't want them to wake up in the middle of the night and get scared. I am not sure how the adjoining cabins work and if the doors would stay open or not with the ship moving.

 

Cruising with the kids will be so much fun though!

 

Have a great time. :)

 

Stephanie