Staterooms on Disney vs. Other Lines

DietCokeMommy

Mouseketeer
Joined
Apr 19, 2017
Last week our family of 4 did our first Disney cruise. We loved it and can't wait to do it again. I was also considering other cruise lines, but I keep getting stuck on the setup of the staterooms. One thing we really liked about Disney was the bunk beds and the separating curtain were great. But I don't see that on other lines like NCL and RCI.

So if you have a family of four and you've cruised other lines, how do you manage? What do you think of the rooms?
 
Last week our family of 4 did our first Disney cruise. We loved it and can't wait to do it again. I was also considering other cruise lines, but I keep getting stuck on the setup of the staterooms. One thing we really liked about Disney was the bunk beds and the separating curtain were great. But I don't see that on other lines like NCL and RCI.

So if you have a family of four and you've cruised other lines, how do you manage? What do you think of the rooms?
The rooms are smaller, generally, on other cruise lines for similar category rooms. We miss having the dividing curtain on other lines. But you learn to live with it.

Other cruiselines do have bunk beds, just not in as many rooms onboard as DCL does.
 
Another thing we really like about DCL is having a split bathroom. I really did appreciate the extra space on DCL as well. I will always miss the Aqua Theater Suite we had on RCCL, LOL, but I would rather sail DCL any day of the week!!!
 
On Harmony the sofa had a trundle. It was a small cabin and I’d wager smaller than Allure’s cabin, never mind DCL. There was loads of closet space though so I guess that’s something.

At the end of the day it wasn’t our goal to stay in the cabin so the only time we really felt the size was after waking up and when packing our luggage on the last day
 


Last week our family of 4 did our first Disney cruise. We loved it and can't wait to do it again. I was also considering other cruise lines, but I keep getting stuck on the setup of the staterooms. One thing we really liked about Disney was the bunk beds and the separating curtain were great. But I don't see that on other lines like NCL and RCI.

So if you have a family of four and you've cruised other lines, how do you manage? What do you think of the rooms?
Because the other lines are so much less expensive, we get 2 connecting rooms and have 2 full bathrooms and tons of room for our family of 4.
 
One thing different about Disney is that every state room has the couch that turns into a bed. We sailed Royal Caribbean a couple of years ago and got two connecting rooms and were surprised that there was no couch, just a wing chair in addition to the two twin beds, so each room truly only slept two people. Not that I expect all couches to turn into sofa beds on cruises, but Disney has spoiled me with having at least a larger couch to sit on.
 


It really depends on the type of stateroom you book. As PP mentioned, because you typically find lower price points on other lines, you can get a bigger bang for your buck in terms of staterooms on other lines. We've sailed on NCL a few times and have always gotten suites with a separate space for my DS. The cost of that stateroom was the equivalent of, say, a verandah stateroom on DCL. We are going on DCL in about a month and are sailing in a deluxe family verandah. For the price I paid, we could have gotten a large suite with concierge amenities on RCCL. But - we chose DCL because we just enjoy cruising with them more than with other equivalent cruise lines.
 
We sailed Disney 5X and Royal (Anthem) 1X. Loved our stateroom on Anthem, in many ways it was superior to Disney's. Just had better closet storage, sort of his and hers closet on each side of the bed, rather than in the narrow hallway.
We only had 3 in the room and the sofa was basically a double sofa bed. Two kids could sleep on it, mind you they might not want to ;)
I know they have many different types of staterooms, some with bunk beds too. You could probably get a Jr. Suite for the price of ocean view on Disney.
Our stateroom on Anthem was about the same length as Disney staterooms, but a little more narrow.
 
We have concerns about this, too. I don't love that several other cruise line staterooms have the kids' bunk (pullmans, 3rd berth, whatever cruise term you want to use) directly over the adult bed.

That said, many lines offer a "deluxe" or "family" room, or a mini-suite, that places the couch and pullman away from the larger bed, like Disney does, and that the price may still be less than Disney. On many of them, I would still miss that curtain that gives DD her separate sleeping space. It's nice to be able to turn off the lights in "her" area, while we keep the light on to read, peruse the Navigator, etc. I think that some mini-suites on Princess have the dividing curtain; we are considering Princess for Alaska in 2019 or 2020, so if the budget allows, we'd probably book at mini-suite.

Then again, the idea of connecting rooms is a good one, too.
 
carnival bunk.jpg We sailed Carnival a few years ago - the two twin bed were pushed together, and 2 bunks came down from the ceiling. One was directly over our heads, and the other was over the foot of the bed. Never mind privacy... can't tell you how many times I hit my head (hard!) on those bunks! My sister had 5 in her room, so they had a trundle bed that room service would pull out every night - you couldn't walk in there at all.
 
View attachment 302377 We sailed Carnival a few years ago - the two twin bed were pushed together, and 2 bunks came down from the ceiling. One was directly over our heads, and the other was over the foot of the bed. Never mind privacy... can't tell you how many times I hit my head (hard!) on those bunks! My sister had 5 in her room, so they had a trundle bed that room service would pull out every night - you couldn't walk in there at all.

Would NOT like this set up at all :(
 
On Royal's Allure of the Seas the 4 of us shared one room. There was a pull out sofa (younger one used) and a Pullman bed (older one used). It was tight but we managed fine. We also had a Promenade room and there was an extra little seat by the window which worked well. We don't spend a ton of time in our room and our kids don't nap so it's not an issue.

I agree with starvenger, there is lots of shelving and space for your items so no issue for storage and unpacking.

On our upcoming cruise, we'll have a Boardwalk Balcony (but I think a single sofa bed).

I admit that the sink outside the washroom is nice on Disney.
 
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So ... we've only sailed DCL as a family, but this time around I was looking at Royal Caribbean, and for the price of one Disney cabin for the 4 of us (me, husband, and two kids), I could get two connecting staterooms on the Royal Caribbean cruise. So that would solve the problem of the space, beds, privacy, and bathrooms! We would have done that this time, but we liked the itinerary on this Disney cruise, so we're back to DCL again. I'm going to keep an eye open for potential RCCL cruises though after this one.
 
As others have posted, on other lines you can often book a higher category (or an additional cabin) for the same price as Disney - giving you more space. We booked a suite on NCL last summer with a completely separate bedroom and living room for about the same as what we'd have paid for a balcony room on Disney. When you factor in all the free stuff NCL gives you (alcohol, specialty dining, OBC, internet, excursion credits) we paid significantly less than what a cat 5 would have cost on Disney. We loved the extra privacy have having an actual door vs just a curtain between us and our son.

I do think you have to be more vigilant on other cruise lines, though, in selecting your particular room. On Disney, basically all of the rooms are set up to accommodate families so you are pretty safe to just choose a category and location and forget about it. That's not necessarily so on other lines, as a large portion of their passengers are sailing as a couple and don't need the extra space / bedding (and don't want to pay for it). While it might take a little more research to find the best accommodations on other lines, it's certainly possible. Thousands of families sail non Disney ships each week, and they make it work just fine.
 
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But I should add we only paid $69/per person (before taxes and gratuities)... so great example of you get what you pay for!
I could probably handle that room at that price.

for the price of one Disney cabin for the 4 of us (me, husband, and two kids), I could get two connecting staterooms on the Royal Caribbean cruise. So that would solve the problem of the space, beds, privacy, and bathrooms!
We had connecting rooms on the Allure a few years back, as it was about $2-300 more to do that vs all 4 of us in a room. Well worth the extra cost, in this case.

I do think you have to be more vigilant on other cruise lines, though, in selecting your particular room. On Disney, basically all of the rooms are set up to accommodate families so you are pretty safe to just choose a category and location and forget about it. That's not necessarily so on other lines, as a large portion of their passengers are sailing as a couple and don't need the extra space / bedding (and don't want to pay for it). While it might take a little more research to find the best accommodations on other lines, it's certainly possible. Thousands of families sail non Disney ships each week, and they make it work just fine.
It's a good point. It's for this reason that I like using a TA for cruises. I can handle everything else, but finding the right rooms (especially when my parents come with) can be a real pain.
 
View attachment 302377 We sailed Carnival a few years ago - the two twin bed were pushed together, and 2 bunks came down from the ceiling. One was directly over our heads, and the other was over the foot of the bed. Never mind privacy... can't tell you how many times I hit my head (hard!) on those bunks! My sister had 5 in her room, so they had a trundle bed that room service would pull out every night - you couldn't walk in there at all.

Look at the bright side:

For those on other threads who have worried about their children sleeping in the top bunk and falling out...

In a setup like this, they couldn't possibly hit the floor!

Of course, they might land on you or your spouse...
 
One thing I noticed is that DCL lists the square footage of their verandah staterooms with the verandah size included, rather than separately, like I have seen on NCL and RCL. This makes the DCL room appear to be much larger. Make sure to compare apples to apples.
Denise
 
I couldn’t deal with that room at any price! It’s pretty much my nightmare, I’m really claustrophobic.

I also have little kids (4 and 1) and just couldn’t deal with having them right over me. We really liked the DCL stateroom because we could put them to bed at their typical 7:30 bed time and close the curtain. I could still keep my light on the far side on and once they fell asleep we could move around the cabin or one of us could leave, without bothering them. Plus they wake up early and when they wake up super early and can see us, they’re up for the day, instead of laying back down like they normally would.

I did some preliminary searching for the family room/suites on other lines and for the Caribbean itineraries they were impossible to find.
 

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