Ahoy Michelle, and welcome aboard planDisney! It's always great to see another landlocked Missourian in these parts - as the weather turns cooler here in the middle of the country, my thoughts tend to drift far offshore as well!
When it comes to large parties, there are really three ways to go about booking sailings:
- Book up to four staterooms on a single reservation. Depending on how your crew of 16 is divided into adults and kids, you MIGHT be able to fit into four staterooms, which is the maximum number you can book on a single reservation!
- Have each part of the family reserve their own staterooms and link your reservations together afterward.
- Let the magic of the Disney Cruise Line crew members be your guide!
But that's getting a little ahead of ourselves - taking a step back, I'd definitely suggest using the "Find a Cruise" tool, selecting 5-nights as your desired number of nights, and "Bahamas" as your destination to find a sailing that works the best for you and your crew! Currently, it looks like there's only one itinerary that fits that description: the 5-Night Bahamian Cruise from Fort Lauderdale with 2 stops at Disney Castaway Cay during New Year's in 2023! If that sailing won't work in your schedule or budget, you may want to cast a wider net with a different number of nights!
With 16 crew members of your own, though, I'd suggest calling a Disney Cruise Line crew member directly from the start to help you make your family's reservations for this incredible adventure. This way, the crew members will know everyone's reservation should be linked together, and specific requests like keeping all your staterooms as close to - or as far from - one another as possible!
When my "large" family of around 15 castaways was planning our last trip, we found it easiest to have each part of the family book their own staterooms through the Disney Cruise Line website. If your family is anything like mine, everyone's got an opinion on EVERYTHING. With so many opinions, we all decided to agree on two things: which sail date worked for everyone and that we'd pick the First Seating for dinner. For everything else, we knew it was up to each family unit!
Well, Michelle, that's about all the chain we've got on our anchor! I hope that helps you at least get a start on setting a course for you and your crew! Thank you so much for your question, and if you need any more help, please drop me another line - it's what we're here for at planDisney!
SEA ya real soon!
Andrew