Hi Gail!
So happy to have you onboard here at planDisney! I SEA you are considering a Bahamian 4-night cruise...great choice! What a fun sailing it will be with a large group of family onboard.
If you would like someone to handle the heavy lifting for your travel planning, then I suggest a Travel Agent who can handle all aspects of your cruise vacation. The other idea would be to
contact a Disney Cruise Line Vacation Planning Specialist to make your group reservations and then
link the reservations together. Either way, it makes sense to have someone handle the booking on your behalf since having a large party means multiple staterooms.
Go ahead and scope out which itineraries and dates are going to work best with your travel party and compare costs. A great deal will depend on how many staterooms you need and what
stateroom categories you want. You can have different staterooms located throughout the ship depending on your family’s budget.
As a large group, you may want to coordinate the stateroom locations and select connecting staterooms. The advantage to connecting rooms is that you can leave the door open between rooms to feel more connected with your party and offers the sense of extra space. Using the
Deck Plans and choosing your ship in the upper left-hand corner, you can go ahead and scope out which staterooms are connected. Another genius idea for making larger spaces for hanging out is choosing Oceanview staterooms with Verandahs and asking the stateroom host to remove the partition to create one large balcony.
Another key component to your family gathering at sea is dining together! With a few flicks of the magic wand, arrangements can be made for all of you to be seated together or in close proximity in the
rotational dining rooms. Your dining team will deliver superb service AND learn all your preferences as they rotate with your crew to each of the restaurants every night.
My final bit of planning advice: download the
Disney Cruise Line Navigator app. It’s an incredible resource onboard for finding showtimes, dinner menus, activities, character greetings, and deck parties. With a large group, it’s also a key tool in keeping your family connected throughout the day. Simply use the chat feature to communicate plans on activities you all might want to attend together.
Let’s reunite again here at planDisney if you have more cruise planning questions, Gail. Wishing you and your family the most magical experience at sea together!
Sherry