Hello, Brooke,
Believe me, I understand your concern. When our large family began cruising over a dozen years ago, my wife and I fretted a bit over how to book stateroom configurations that we felt comfortable with. With major hotel brands on land, we were used to easily finding mini-suites and larger studio suites that could affordably accommodate our family of six. But we quickly found that cruise ships are a somewhat different paradigm. To safely and comfortably accommodate Guests, cruise ship staterooms tend to have beds for fewer people than what we are used to in typical hotels on land.
Except for the Disney Adventure, which sails exclusively out of Singapore, most of the Disney Cruise Line ships only have four or five staterooms that can accommodate six or more passengers. There are even a couple of ships with a maximum stateroom capacity of five. We also find that the larger staterooms are not only quite popular, and therefore tend to sell out quite quickly, but they are also usually a bit outside our family's budget.
So what is a family of six or more to do? We find that it is imperative to get creative when selecting staterooms for our Disney Cruise Line vacations. Naturally, we book two staterooms instead of one. But, as you indicated, many families would prefer not to split up. After all, vacations are a time for family bonding, right? For our family, the solution turns out to be very simple: we like to construct our own "mini-suite" by booking two staterooms that are not only adjacent but also connecting. That is, they have interior doors that connect between the two staterooms. We request doorstops from our stateroom host to keep the interior doors propped open so we can freely pass between the rooms and enjoy each other's company.
Of course, each stateroom must have at least one adult booked in it. So my wife is usually booked in one room and I'm booked in the other. But since it's as if we have a shared multi-room suite, we end up being able to share the queen-sized bed in one or the other room. The kids can then fill in the remaining available beds. Often, the upper bunk bed available in most staterooms is very popular with the daring little ones!
There's another special feature of booking two connecting staterooms for a large family. With that arrangement, you will have not one, but two bathrooms. Even better, if you book "deluxe" stateroom categories, you'll enjoy the benefits of the Disney Cruise Line's innovative split bathroom design. With split bathrooms in two staterooms, it's almost as if you have four bathrooms. Along with privacy curtains between sections of each stateroom, that means you end up with as many as six separate spaces where members of your family can enjoy privacy at the same time. It's a huge convenience when everyone needs to quickly change right before dinner in your rotational dining room.
Enjoy the cruise with your dear grandchildren, Brooke. You're sure to have a wonderful time making magical memories together.
~Tony