Disney Cruise Stateroom 9088 Review On the Disney Fantasy
My family and I recently returned from our first Disney Cruise and we had a great time! We sailed aboard the Disney Fantasy for 6 days and 5 nights, with stops in Nassau, Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point and Castaway Cay. For our stateroom, we chose to stay in a Deluxe Family Oceanview room with a Verandah.
In this post, I’ll explain how we selected our stateroom, give a detailed overview of the layout, and share our overall thoughts about how the room worked for our family, including some fun surprises we discovered along the way!
Selecting a Stateroom
After choosing your itinerary, sailing dates, and the ship for your adventure, the next step is selecting a stateroom. You have the opportunity to select the exact cabin in which you will be staying on the ship. There are four different stateroom categories offered on Disney Cruise ships. These include Concierge, Verandah, Oceanview and Inside. In addition, there are ten different room types that fall within those categories. Types can vary from a multi level suite to an inside room with basic accommodations and no exterior view.
When selecting our stateroom, we took into consideration two main factors: pricing and room size. Ultimately, we decided that selecting the Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with a Verandah would provide our family of four with the space that we needed, and fall within a price point that fit our budget.
The last step is deciding on a deck level and position for your stateroom. Take a moment to consider what factors would be most important. For my family, we wanted to stay within walking distance to Deck 11, where the dining options and swimming pools are located, but not directly underneath them in order to reduce the chance of hearing noise from the floor above us. My husband is prone to motion sickness and we chose to stay midship in an effort to reduce the motion we might feel from the waves.
Stateroom Layout
We ultimately chose stateroom 9088, which is located on Deck 9, Midship. The overall layout of the room maximized space, provided a lot of storage and the verandah offered a lot of light, even more space, and beautiful views. This particular stateroom had a queen size bed, a pull down sofa bed, and an additional pull down wall bed located above the sofa (bunk bed style). There was plenty of space for a pack and play and the bathroom featured a round bathtub, which was great for the kids’ baths at night.
As you enter the stateroom, the first door on your right will be one of two bathroom doors. This one features a toilet and sink. Be careful of the step up into the bathroom, I tripped on more than one occasion. It’s also worth noting if you have curious toddlers like I do that the light switches for the bathroom are located outside of the door in the hallway. Not only is it bright if you need to get up and use the restroom during the middle of the night, but my toddler quickly figured out the switch was there and would turn it on and off. Just something to keep in mind! As you continue down the short entry hallway, you’ll find the second bathroom door. Inside, there is a shower/bathtub and a sink. There’s a retractable clothing line inside the shower that worked out great for hanging up our wet swim suits each day.
Directly across from the two bathroom doors is a large closet. Inside you will find wooden hangers, a tremendous amount of storage and the safe. The safe is wide, but is not very high. We didn’t have any trouble fitting a couple of tablets and other smaller items, but just note that it isn’t that large.
The room then opens up to the main living area. The queen size bed was comfortable, the linens felt like decent quality and each night stand featured outlets, making it easier to find places to charge phones and tablets. The queen bed can be separated from the rest of the living room area by a privacy curtain. It is worth noting, that this is not a blackout curtain. If you have a light on above the bed, you can see it through the curtain to a certain extent.
Once in the living area, you will see a desk with a lot of drawers for storage, as well as even more shelves above the desk for storage. A large mirror is in the middle and a flat screen TV that swivels is also featured. The desk comes with a small chair and there is a sofa along the other wall that pulls down into a bed. An oval shaped, moveable coffee table provides some additional table space, but can also easily be tucked into the corner when not in use. Lastly, there is a comfortable armchair that provided a great spot to sit with the baby to feed him. Additional items that can be found in this area include a set of four drinking glasses, a hair dryer and a beverage cooler.
I was really happy with the verandah, if for no other reason than the windows provided so much light and made the room feel even bigger than it was. The kids loved being able to look outside as we docked or when we were leaving port. It comes with two chairs and a small table. One feature that I really appreciated was that in addition to the standard door lock, the door leading out to the verandah also featured an additional lock at the top that would be out of children’s reach as an added safety feature. The curtains covering the verandah were very effective blackout curtains that made the room quite dark during the day for naps.
Sleeping Accomodations
As I previously mentioned, this stateroom featured a queen bed, a pull down sofa bed as well as a pull down wall bed above the sofa, reminiscent of bunk beds once it was open. There are additional items you can request that Disney Cruise Line will provide in order to help your little ones sleep more comfortably and safely too. We requested a crib (folding pack and play) as well as bed rails. Our room attendant took care of setting up my older son’s bed each day and on our first day, asked what our napping schedule was to see if we wanted the pack and play left set up. It was extremely convenient and helped them both feel more at home.
Special Discoveries
Take special care when booking your Disney Cruise and review all the amenities offered with each stateroom type. In addition, I was able to request a crib (pack and play), high chair for our sit down dinners, as well as bed rails for my older toddler. Upon boarding the ship, I was prepared to ask our room attendant for a Diaper Genie, but was pleasantly surprised to see there was one already set up for us in the room. On our first night aboard the ship, I was able to go to Guest Services and request a bottle warmer at no extra charge. Those are available on a first come first serve basis. That is one item you are not prohibited to bring with you, so if a bottle warmer is important, I recommend stopping by guest services that first day to ensure they have one available.
Did you know that on a few of the Disney Cruise Ships, the walls of some of the staterooms are magnetic? This was a special discovery that we made and my kids absolutely loved. I like to bring magnets and a small magnet board with us when we eat at restaurants, but it was such a fun surprise that they also worked on the walls of our stateroom. What a fun activity that turned into when we were taking breaks in between adventures and relaxing in the room. Just note, this does vary by room and by ship, so it’s definitely not a guarantee but it is worth checking out once you get into your room!
Final Thoughts
I highly recommend both this stateroom type and our stateroom specifically. It’s located a short distance from the elevators, which makes it convenient but also means you don’t hear an unnecessary amount of people walking in the hallways. We didn’t hear any loud noises from the floor above or from either of the rooms next to us. The size of the room was more than enough for myself, my husband and our two children (ages 4 and 1 at the time of sailing). The split bathroom design allowed for larger spaces and multiple people using the bathroom at one time. The room has so much storage from the closet, to the desk with drawers, the shelves located throughout and the Queen bed is raised, allowing you to store suitcases and your stroller underneath. The verandah offers additional space, a lot of natural light and some great views as you’re arriving or leaving port. The additional lock located out of children’s reach offers much needed peace of mind.
Keep in mind that if you bring a stroller, it does need to be stored inside of your room. Ensure that the one you bring can be easily folded. It is also worth noting that the doorways and hallways where the staterooms are located are quite narrow and would be challenging to navigate with larger strollers.
We had a fantastic experience sailing with Disney Cruise Line and we’re already in the process of looking for our next cruise adventure. I hope this information will help in planning your own cruise when it comes to selecting a stateroom!