Ahoy there, Johanna, and welcome aboard planDisney!
Ah, it's not every day that a crew like yours decides they'd like to pull alongside and cast off toward adventure! I'm so excited that such a large family is ready to take advantage of everything that's included on a Disney Cruise Line vacation! There's so much to discover, so "all hands to stations, and make preparations to get underway! Weigh anchor and come about!"
Oh, those are just a few sailing terms for "Let's get to it!"
There are really two ways to go about booking large groups: Have each part of the family reserve their own staterooms and link your reservations together afterward, OR Let the magic of the Disney Cruise Line crew members be your guide! With 20 in your crew, you MIGHT be able to fit into four staterooms, which is the maximum number you can book on a single reservation!
But that's getting a little ahead of ourselves - taking a step back, I'd definitely suggest using the "Find a Cruise" tool and selecting September 2023 and the Bahamas as your sail date and departure port to find a sailing that works the best for you and your crew! In September 2023, you can sail out of either Port Canaveral OR Miami to visit the Bahamas, so be on the lookout for those options! Once you select the sailing, your next step is staterooms!
When it comes to staterooms, most family stateroom categories across the ships of the Disney Cruise Line fleet hold up to five castaways, but some (like Standard Inside Staterooms) only hold up to three or four. Since you know your crew best, you'll be able to decide if five-to-a-stateroom will work, or if you'd like some extra breathing room to let everyone spread out!
With 20 family members, though, I'd probably 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! Doing this is easy - just be sure to have the last name of the person who booked the stateroom and their reservation number when you call! Linking your reservations also will let you book activities with those in other staterooms, assuming everyone's booking windows have opened!
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. From what deck they want to stay on, to whether they like an Inside Stateroom, Oceanview, or a stateroom with a verandah, to which dinner seating time they want. 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, Johanna, 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