Sleeping in other's suite?

[flyhelper]

I just booked my first Princess cruise, and have a rather embarrassing question. :o Well, maybe not quite as embarrassing as the title suggests. I hope some of you cruise experts are able to help me out.

 

Well, we have six in our party - my husband and I, our three young children, and my mom. I booked two suites, and a cheapest inside, with the intention of only using the two suites. Had I booked only the two suites and put three persons in each, I would have to pay $,$$$ more. It's ridiculous that the third person rate is even higher than the first two persons'! I'm not going to pay that kind of price for 2-year old and a 3-year old.:mad:

 

Here comes my question: knowing that each suite can accommodate 3 persons, will we have any problem by having three persons sleep in a suite even though we only booked for 2? Also, my DD and I are currently booked in an inside cabin; if we never use that cabin, will we get into any trouble? Of course, we are going to tip all our room attendants very well, since we might add to their workload.

 

Please don't make any moral judgments on me. All I want to know is if there will be any potential risk with my arrangement - if I actually have to sleep in that faraway inside cabin, my poor DH won't be a very happy man!

[Pam in CA]

If you're in two full suites, you shouldn't have any problem sleeping more than two because I believe they are all rated for more than two passengers so there'll be the accommodations. Even if someone sleeps in a full suite, unless they are originally booked in the suite, they cannot get any of the suite perks.

 

If you're in mini-suites, make sure they have accommodation for 3 or 4 people. Some don't. Not all mini-suite couches are sleepers and even if they are, they sleep only one person, and not all mini-suites have pull-down beds for a 4th person. FYI, mini-suites are not really suites but are balcony cabins with a larger sitting area. On other cruiselines, they'd be designated as a "Superior verandah" cabin.

 

Once you board, there's no problem asking for extra cabin keys or switching the sleeping arrangements around... as long as there is a bed for the person(s) in the cabin.

[Toto2Kansas]

That shouldn't be a problem depending on the ship. I know the OS suites on the Smaller ships do not have a pull out sofa and only sleep two, at least the Royal Princess did not have any sleeping arrangements for a 3rd in the OS. If it's a bigger ship, probably not a problem at all, but definitely check to make sure there is a sofa bed in the suites.

You can send your hubby to the inside to shower and use it for storage of luggage and other things..... ;) Enjoy!

[flyhelper]

Pam and Toto, thanks! What a relief!

We are booked in two window suites, and they can both accommodate three persons.

 

As for suite perks, could someone please tell me how the priority tender tickets work? Do they check the tickets and names? If my mom and my 2-year-old son (they are booked in the suites) stayed on the ship, can I and DD (we are booked in inside cabin) use their priority tender tickets?

[Toto2Kansas]

You will be given the amount of priority tender tickets depending on how many are booked in the actual suite. They do not have names on them but usually you do have to show them when you board the tenders if you are trying to get off the ship while they are still handing out tender tickets. ;)

 

The main problem you will have with the suite perks is that only those listed as booked in the full suite will be able to have breakfast at Sabatinis (guests are not allowed). And they definitely check for your name on the list if you attempt to have breakfast there. No name as booked in the full suite on the list, no entrance. So, that might be one perk that does give you a problem onboard if two of you are booked in the inside cabin.

[Bucky3]

OP says she booked Window Suites - do they have the same perks as a full suite?

[Murphey]

OP says booked Window Suites - do they have the same perks as a full suite?

 

Yes, Window Suites are full suites...

[Toto2Kansas]

OP says she booked Window Suites - do they have the same perks as a full suite?

Definitely. Window suites, family suites as well as the regular VS, PH, OS etc all receive full suite perks. ;)

[pms4104]

And the double cruise credits will be granted to those who are booked in the suites, not to those actually sleeping in them.

[Pam in CA]

On some ships, instead of tender tickets, your black card is your tender ticket.

[flyhelper]

Thanks all for your replies.

 

For me, the most valuable suite "perks" are (1) sofabed for the third person (rather than a pull-down), (2) bathtub (easy to wash kids), and (3) free internet. I don't care about other perks or the extra credit.

 

I felt somewhat bad about booking an extra cabin that we won't use. So I called Princess and offered to give up the inside cabin if they put my DD and me as the 3rd person in the two window suites that we booked. Well, they said they can do that if we pay the extra $$$$; or if I don't want to pay extra, they'd be happy to rebook the six of us into two inside cabins. --No, thank you! :rolleyes: --So the end result is Princess lost a cabin that they can sell for $$$$.

[Toto2Kansas]

On some ships, instead of tender tickets, your black card is your tender ticket.

Pam, although this is true. We have found that in full suites, even if we have a black card (Elite), they still give us priority tender tickets. ;)

[Cruise Raider]

I have never thought of this before but what a great question. Just of note....2 & 3 yr old children are not cheaper than an adult?? Never done that before as we have no children ...but just seems like they should be cheaper. If your cruise is off in the future, just keep checking the pricing -- they may offer a '3rd and 4th guests travel for x amount of dollars' special in which case, you can cancel that inside cabin.

[cindep]

Just a reminder since Sabatini's probably won't work for you for breakfast, you can still order full breakfast (from the dining room breakfast menu) and have it delivered to your suite (as well as lunch and dinner). With small children, this may be a nice convenience. Enjoy your trip!

[flyhelper]

Thanks all for your great tips! We are so looking forward to the trip.

 

Princess doesn't have reduced rate for children; and the 3rd and 4th person rates are not at much of a discount. That's a very effective way to discourage families traveling with kids, I guess.

 

I'm still somewhat disappointed that their agents don't have any flexibility in dealing with customer issues like mine. Look, we are going to use two cabins anyway and offering to give back the 3rd cabin to Princess for free. The cruise we are on is almost sold out. Isn't it a no brainer that they should take my offer? But, no. I guess that's the way how big corporations work :rolleyes: I had a good time using the case to teach my 9-year-old the concepts of "arbitrage" and "agency problem.":)

[Loonbeam]

Actually there are two issues..

 

1> Their rez system isn't set up to handle that easily without a lot of overrides. It still could be doable except for..

 

2> By doing that as policy, they risk an overbook on capacity for the ships. I won't get into the technical details of the rez programs but in short, any override would end up as a special charge on the suites, not as an extra person booking (because of the way overrides have to be handled beyond a certain discount point). Which means that the suites would count as two souls booked, even though three were in there. If this happened in a few cabins on a given cruise, while not likely the ship could be over the rated capacity. There are also implications regarding port taxes, etc.

 

The reason it works this way (at a very basic level) is that pricing is determined by total number of rated souls factored by cabin class and occupancy. That's why there's not as much discount on a 3rd and 4th person in a cabin based on category, those cabins are expected to return X per soul and overriding that requires several levels of approval.

 

In short, its probably more hassle to handle the exceptions cost-wise then the revenue for cabin X inside would be.

 

Thanks all for your great tips! We are so looking forward to the trip.

 

Princess doesn't have reduced rate for children; and the 3rd and 4th person rates are not at much of a discount. That's a very effective way to discourage families traveling with kids, I guess.

 

I'm still somewhat disappointed that their agents don't have any flexibility in dealing with customer issues like mine. Look, we are going to use two cabins anyway and offering to give back the 3rd cabin to Princess for free. The cruise we are on is almost sold out. Isn't it a no brainer that they should take my offer? But, no. I guess that's the way how big corporations work :rolleyes: I had a good time using the case to teach my 9-year-old the concepts of "arbitrage" and "agency problem.":)

[Pam in CA]

Pam, although this is true. We have found that in full suites, even if we have a black card (Elite), they still give us priority tender tickets. ;)

Thanks. Wasn't aware of that.

 

I have never thought of this before but what a great question. Just of note....2 & 3 yr old children are not cheaper than an adult?? Never done that before as we have no children ...but just seems like they should be cheaper. If your cruise is off in the future, just keep checking the pricing -- they may offer a '3rd and 4th guests travel for x amount of dollars' special in which case, you can cancel that inside cabin.

I've never seen a Princess promotion with a reduced rate for a 3rd or 4th passenger in the cabin. Occasionally, I'll see a 2:1 promotion but that's not usually available to singles. When I cruise, I do so as a single in the cabin and pay between 180-200% more even though there isn't a 2nd person in the cabin. That's the cost of cruising.

[hillslife]

Darn - by just reading the title I thought we were gonna get some good smut from this post....but, alas, just a mom doing her thing....oh well...made me look!!! tee hee

 

Enjoy -

[flyhelper]

Interesting. That was my guess as well. Most likely my situation is not a very common one, so it's probably not cost effective to allow work-arounds. I know there are experts here at CC. Thanks!

 

Actually there are two issues..

 

1> Their rez system isn't set up to handle that easily without a lot of overrides. It still could be doable except for..

 

2> By doing that as policy, they risk an overbook on capacity for the ships. I won't get into the technical details of the rez programs but in short, any override would end up as a special charge on the suites, not as an extra person booking (because of the way overrides have to be handled beyond a certain discount point). Which means that the suites would count as two souls booked, even though three were in there. If this happened in a few cabins on a given cruise, while not likely the ship could be over the rated capacity. There are also implications regarding port taxes, etc.

 

The reason it works this way (at a very basic level) is that pricing is determined by total number of rated souls factored by cabin class and occupancy. That's why there's not as much discount on a 3rd and 4th person in a cabin based on category, those cabins are expected to return X per soul and overriding that requires several levels of approval.

 

In short, its probably more hassle to handle the exceptions cost-wise then the revenue for cabin X inside would be.

[flyhelper]

LOL!

The title was made for exactly this reason! ;)

Darn - by just reading the title I thought we were gonna get some good smut from this post....but, alas, just a mom doing her thing....oh well...made me look!!! tee hee

 

Enjoy -

[compozer]

I've never stayed in a window suite so where do you eat? There isn't a balcony so you have no table - right? We aways eat on the balcony when in a suite. That could be messy having kids eat on the sofa. Or do the window suites have a table and chairs in them??

[Sans3]

Does anyone know if all the mini-suites on the Caribbean sleep a third person? I booked an AA mini and an ocean view for an upcoming cruise. We are taking my daughter and her boyfriend along. I want her to sleep in our cabin with us but I booked two in each cabin to save money. I just thought it would be fine to have her name listed with her boyfriend, but sleep with us. After reading this thread, I'm a little worried! :confused:

[flyhelper]

You can get this info from Princess website. Find your assigned mini-suite on the deck plan, a red dot (black triangle) means the room can accommodate 4 (3) persons.

 

check this out:

 

http://www.princess.com/learn/ships/cb/deck_plans/index.html

 

Does anyone know if all the mini-suites on the Caribbean sleep a third person? I booked an AA mini and an ocean view for an upcoming cruise. We are taking my daughter and her boyfriend along. I want her to sleep in our cabin with us but I booked two in each cabin to save money. I just thought it would be fine to have her name listed with her boyfriend, but sleep with us. After reading this thread, I'm a little worried! :confused:

[Sans3]

Uh oh...thanks for the info, but none of the AA minis on the Dolphin deck have the red dot! I'm just a little old fashioned and since I'm paying, I thought I could make the sleeping arrangements! I guess this plan just back fired! lol

[Toto2Kansas]

Uh oh...thanks for the info, but none of the AA minis on the Dolphin deck have the red dot! I'm just a little old fashioned and since I'm paying, I thought I could make the sleeping arrangements! I guess this plan just back fired! lol

 

All of the Dolphin Deck mini suites on the Caribbean Princess sleep three (not four though). The black triangle means there is a pull out sofa bed. The red dot would mean a pull out sofa and a drop down bunk over the sofa. So, if you are looking for your mini suite to sleep three, you have it made as no matter which AA mini suite you have booked, it will sleep three. ;)