Welcome back to planDisney, Marina! The only thing that makes cruising on
Disney Cruise Line more fun is bringing along other families with you. It is the perfect multi-family vacation destination.
Normally, I would say you can easily book everything yourself online. With multiple families, I would recommend working with an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner. A travel agent can advise on staterooms that are connecting, if you desire, or generally close enough to have meeting places like the same elevator bank. It makes it easy to chat and say "
AquaMouse? Meet me at the elevators" and find your friends. If you are looking for staterooms with a verandah, you can also ask your travel agent to look for rooms where connecting balconies are possible. Once onboard, your stateroom host can adjust the divider between your verandahs for a larger space and a place to spend time with your family and friends right outside your door.
As you mentioned, connecting your reservations for your dining experience is something a travel agent knows how to do. They can make sure you are assigned to the same seating time and request you be assigned the same dining rotation and the same or nearby tables as the other families in your travel party.
When I did this before, our travel agent worked with each of the families separately for payment processing and other business functions while keeping the reservations linked, making it easy for everyone.
Another option is calling Disney Cruise Line and getting assistance with
Land and Sea reservations. When you call, they can help coordinate your hotel, ground transportation to the port and your cruise reservations.
If you decide to do everything on your own, you can book your four staterooms at the same time. On
Plan a Cruise >> Find A Cruise, once you have entered the number of adults and the number and ages of the youth for the first stateroom, you can select "Add Another Stateroom." You can reserve up to four staterooms online. You would then need to arrange your hotel rooms at
Walt Disney World Resort or another hotel and arrange ground transportation if needed. This is why I think a travel agent or Disney Cruise Line assistance is just easier.
Happy planning. I hope your vacation is everything you WISH, and please come back to
planDisney with any other questions you have.
SEA ya' real soon!
Jana