Totally confused on Minors, ANY ADVISE IS APPRECIATED

[ilovecraig929]

I should know this but I've been getting conflicting answers from Royal Caribbean so I'm hoping for some personal experiences to figure out what to do.

 

I booked a group of 6 rooms for a family on the Enchantment. Two of the rooms are teenagers, all under 21. When I made the booking Royal Caribbean let me book the teenager rooms with no problem. Afterwards my senior travel agent told me she was pretty sure that wouldn't work, that they needed to be in connecting rooms with their parents.

 

So I've talked to Royal Caribbean several times and keep getting different answers.

 

One rep told me that the rooms were fine the way they were.

 

When changing something else on the ressie a different rep told me it wouldn't work the way I had it and that the parents of the MAJORITY of the minors had to be in a room directly across the hall or right beside but it did not have to be connecting. So I could move one of the sets of parents and fix one room.

 

I didn't think the other room was a problem because it is connecting to an adult room. The room has three boys, all with different parents (2 sets of parents are on the ship, the other boy's parents are not). The boys are currently connecting to one set of parents but now a rep from royal is telling me that this won't work because the "non-related" minors will still out number the "children of the adult in which the room is connecting"...

 

Is this a brand new rule? I thought for sure as long as they were in a connecting room with one set of parents this would work???

 

So the only solution I could come up with was putting an adult in each room and when I mentioned this to the rep at royal he was really snappy and said "you realize if you do that the adults HAVE TO SLEEP in the room in which they're assigned OR THERE WILL BE STIFF PENALTIES...now I know that, that may be the official stance but isn't booking an adult in a room with a child and then the adults sharing a room and the children sharing a room a pretty common thing that people do, LIKE EVERY SAILING??? He acted like I was some kind of criminal or something...and I wasn't even suggesting that I was going to do that, I guess I just sounded shady or something :rolleyes: hahahaha

 

Anyway, help!!!!! Any advise or experiences is appreciated!!!

[galavant3]

"you realize if you do that the adults HAVE TO SLEEP in the room in which they're assigned OR THERE WILL BE STIFF PENALTIES..

 

I don't know the official answer but we've never had any trouble putting kids in another (non-adjoining) cabin.

 

However, in all my cruises, I do not remember a single room check.

[ACruiserinFL]

I would rearrange rooms now so that you are "legal" and then let people sleep where they want on the cruise. After the grandmother of some teenage girls had to cancel their trip because of a similar problem I wouldn't mess around.

 

Let me see if I have this right. You booked 6 rooms and 2 of those rooms contained nothing but teens, right? One room has 3 boys and only one of those boys won't have his parents on the trip? I'm not quite sure on the rest of the people or room arrangements but I'd make sure that any rooms with teens, especially the teen with no parents on the trip was in a connecting, nearby or adjacent room. If you gave more info about who was in each room or the proximity to the other rooms you might get better answers!

[ilovecraig929]

Okay

Room 1) 2 ADULTS (PARENTS A )

Room 2) 2 ADULTS (PARENTS B )

Room 3) 3 TEENS (one is child of parent A, one is child of parent B )

Room 4) 4 TEENS (three are children of parent A)

Room 5) other family members (aunt/uncle to teens)

Room 6) other family members (grandparents to teens)

 

 

I would rearrange rooms now so that you are "legal" and then let people sleep where they want on the cruise. After the grandmother of some teenage girls had to cancel their trip because of a similar problem I wouldn't mess around.

 

Let me see if I have this right. You booked 6 rooms and 2 of those rooms contained nothing but teens, right? One room has 3 boys and only one of those boys won't have his parents on the trip? I'm not quite sure on the rest of the people or room arrangements but I'd make sure that any rooms with teens, especially the teen with no parents on the trip was in a connecting, nearby or adjacent room. If you gave more info about who was in each room or the proximity to the other rooms you might get better answers!

[runnerandme]

The problem is that the child traveling without her parents has to be in a cabin with an adult. It can't be adjoining, connecting, across the hall.

 

Only children of parents that are in an adjoing, connecting, across the hall can be booked in their own cabin.

 

My niece had to be booked in my cabin, while she actually slept in the connecting cabin.

 

Also make sure you get a notarized letter from the parents of that child giving permission,with dates, where the ship is going, medical , etc.

 

They will not bend these rules at all.

[ACruiserinFL]

Okay

Room 1) 2 ADULTS (PARENTS A )

Room 2) 2 ADULTS (PARENTS B )

Room 3) 3 TEENS (one is child of parent A, one is child of parent B )

Room 4) 4 TEENS (three are children of parent A)

Room 5) other family members (aunt/uncle to teens)

Room 6) other family members (grandparents to teens)

 

Thanks that makes much more sense! I would make sure that Parents A are near room #4 and that Parents B are next to room #3. That would probably be the easiest. Or maybe book it so that an aunt/uncle over age 21 is in their room or a teen is in with a grandparent?

[newbiecruiser09]

Okay

Room 1) 2 ADULTS (PARENTS A )

Room 2) 2 ADULTS (PARENTS B )

Room 3) 3 TEENS (one is child of parent A, one is child of parent B )

Room 4) 4 TEENS (three are children of parent A)

Room 5) other family members (aunt/uncle to teens)

Room 6) other family members (grandparents to teens)

 

 

Who is the other teen in room 3? and who is the other teen in room 4? I would make sure that the teens rooms are adjacent or across from the parents' rooms (even if it is in name only). There have been threads that folks have been denied boarding cause there were minors who were not adjacent/across from their parents. No one is going to care who sleeps where UNLESS the teens get out of control and then there may be repercussions for them being alone in a room and causing problems.

[jellyfish39]

Royal Caribbean can get really picky about the proximity of rooms. We had our two "adult" sons aged 18 and 2o booked in their own inside cabin a few cabins away from us. We had a chance to upgrade them at no cost to a Central park view cabin - same deck but at the other end of the ship. To upgrade their booking we had to switch cabin occupants with one parent officially booked in each cabin.

We found this to be a bit "over the top", since our 20 year old had previously spent 2 months traveling Europe with a friend- 3,000 miles away from any parental supervision!

On another cruise our teen son was booked in a cabin with friends (near one parents cabin) but 4 decks away from our cabin, so their is some leniency if at least one responsible adult is nearby.

 

The suggestion that a non-related teen be required to be booked and stay in a cabin with two married adults (rather than with other teens) - just sounds wrong ...and even a little creepy

[cb at sea]

The reason behind the odd booking regulations is to ensure that an adult is responsible for the under-aged kids on a ship...Once you're onboard, you can switch the cabins around to suit you. That's NOT a problem. They just don't want you to book adults in one room, kids in the other, and then cancel out the adults, leaving kids sailing alone. Stupid rule? Probably , but there's some sort of liability there, so that's how they do it.

 

Book the cabins with 1 adult in each kids room. You do NOT have to sleep that way! Once your check in, go to customer service and get the correct keys for everyone.

[ilovecraig929]

Okay thank you everyone for the input. I guess the absolute safest thing would be to put an adult in each teen room.

 

So customer service will adjust the keys once they're on board?

 

It just annoys me to no end that Royal Caribbean doesn't train their reps so that they can an answer (THE SAME ANSWER) when you ask a question. For that matter the online rep making the reservation should have never let me make a booking that wouldn't actually work!!!

 

But at least it came to my attention BEFORE it was too late!!!

 

Thanks again!

[Starry Eyes]

Okay thank you everyone for the input. I guess the absolute safest thing would be to put an adult in each teen room.

 

So customer service will adjust the keys once they're on board?

 

It just annoys me to no end that Royal Caribbean doesn't train their reps so that they can an answer (THE SAME ANSWER) when you ask a question. For that matter the online rep making the reservation should have never let me make a booking that wouldn't actually work!!!

 

But at least it came to my attention BEFORE it was too late!!!

 

Thanks again!

I think having an adult in each room (on paper for reservation purposes) is your best and most flexible option. Ideally, an adult responsible (notarized letter from parents for travel, medical, etc) for the unrelated teens is in their cabin...that may be easiest at checkin. Once on board, rearrange at guts services. If the teens behave, all will be fine. If the teens misbehave, adults will, of course, need to step up and supervise them day and night...that may encourage good behavior.

[uksimonusa]

I should know this but I've been getting conflicting answers from Royal Caribbean so I'm hoping for some personal experiences to figure out what to do.

 

I booked a group of 6 rooms for a family on the Enchantment. Two of the rooms are teenagers, all under 21. When I made the booking Royal Caribbean let me book the teenager rooms with no problem. Afterwards my senior travel agent told me she was pretty sure that wouldn't work, that they needed to be in connecting rooms with their parents.

 

So I've talked to Royal Caribbean several times and keep getting different answers.

 

One rep told me that the rooms were fine the way they were.

 

When changing something else on the ressie a different rep told me it wouldn't work the way I had it and that the parents of the MAJORITY of the minors had to be in a room directly across the hall or right beside but it did not have to be connecting. So I could move one of the sets of parents and fix one room.

 

I didn't think the other room was a problem because it is connecting to an adult room. The room has three boys, all with different parents (2 sets of parents are on the ship, the other boy's parents are not). The boys are currently connecting to one set of parents but now a rep from royal is telling me that this won't work because the "non-related" minors will still out number the "children of the adult in which the room is connecting"...

Is this a brand new rule? I thought for sure as long as they were in a connecting room with one set of parents this would work???

 

So the only solution I could come up with was putting an adult in each room and when I mentioned this to the rep at royal he was really snappy and said "you realize if you do that the adults HAVE TO SLEEP in the room in which they're assigned OR THERE WILL BE STIFF PENALTIES...now I know that, that may be the official stance but isn't booking an adult in a room with a child and then the adults sharing a room and the children sharing a room a pretty common thing that people do, LIKE EVERY SAILING??? He acted like I was some kind of criminal or something...and I wasn't even suggesting that I was going to do that, I guess I just sounded shady or something :rolleyes: hahahaha

 

Anyway, help!!!!! Any advise or experiences is appreciated!!!

 

The problem is that the child traveling without her parents has to be in a cabin with an adult. It can't be adjoining, connecting, across the hall.

 

Only children of parents that are in an adjoing, connecting, across the hall can be booked in their own cabin.

 

My niece had to be booked in my cabin, while she actually slept in the connecting cabin.

 

Also make sure you get a notarized letter from the parents of that child giving permission,with dates, where the ship is going, medical , etc.

 

They will not bend these rules at all.

 

Absolutly NOT TRUE, minors, either related or un related, have to be in a cabin, next to, or across from the parent or guardian, the person named in the notorized letter giving permission for the minor to travel, is their guardain for the length of the cruise.

 

 

To the OP.

 

It appears that this is not a new rule, it's just one that they have started enforcing, we always take our daughter and 1 or 2 of her friends with us, never a problem until our last cruise, after booking I called c&a to have the balcony discount applied to our cabins and was told the arrangement we had would not work, you can only supervise and be temporary guardians for the number of your own children you have travelling with you, we have 1 daughter so could only take 1 friend, if we had 10 daughters we could have taken 10 friends, strange way to look at things but that's how they do it.

 

After a lot of emails between us and Miami, the only way we could board was to have me and our daughter in one room and my wife and the friends in another, then swap when we got onboard, even thought the rooms were next to each other

[Racing fan]

Stiff penalties? Doesn't RCI make you fell really good about spending thousands of dollars and treating like a common criminal? Go ahead put the teens in their rooms and get the room keys later worked out. Just make sure your teens behave themselves.

[precious89904600]

We have 3 cabins book my sister and her boyfriend is in on cabin ( way over age limit:D ) my 3 grandsons booked on deck below ours their ages are 19 , 21 and 21 . Two of the boys have same last name that would be the 19 and 21 old so my question is do I need a notorized letter from parents if he is traveling with his brother who is 21?:confused:

[richardb]

The bottom line, there was a post from an unhappy grandmother back in May who had her cruise canceled by RCCL just days before the sailing because she didn't have an adult in a cabin with her grand daughter and four friends.

 

So the question is "Do you feel lucky"?

 

Here is the thread:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1635089&highlight=monarch+graduation+cruise

 

It was titled "Royal kicked us off". You can argue the point all you want here on the boards, but the fact is Royal wouldn't let them board.

[QuinnR]

I should know this but I've been getting conflicting answers from Royal Caribbean so I'm hoping for some personal experiences to figure out what to do.

 

I booked a group of 6 rooms for a family on the Enchantment. Two of the rooms are teenagers, all under 21. When I made the booking Royal Caribbean let me book the teenager rooms with no problem. Afterwards my senior travel agent told me she was pretty sure that wouldn't work, that they needed to be in connecting rooms with their parents.

 

So I've talked to Royal Caribbean several times and keep getting different answers.

 

One rep told me that the rooms were fine the way they were.

 

When changing something else on the ressie a different rep told me it wouldn't work the way I had it and that the parents of the MAJORITY of the minors had to be in a room directly across the hall or right beside but it did not have to be connecting. So I could move one of the sets of parents and fix one room.

 

I didn't think the other room was a problem because it is connecting to an adult room. The room has three boys, all with different parents (2 sets of parents are on the ship, the other boy's parents are not). The boys are currently connecting to one set of parents but now a rep from royal is telling me that this won't work because the "non-related" minors will still out number the "children of the adult in which the room is connecting"...

 

Is this a brand new rule? I thought for sure as long as they were in a connecting room with one set of parents this would work???

 

So the only solution I could come up with was putting an adult in each room and when I mentioned this to the rep at royal he was really snappy and said "you realize if you do that the adults HAVE TO SLEEP in the room in which they're assigned OR THERE WILL BE STIFF PENALTIES...now I know that, that may be the official stance but isn't booking an adult in a room with a child and then the adults sharing a room and the children sharing a room a pretty common thing that people do, LIKE EVERY SAILING??? He acted like I was some kind of criminal or something...and I wasn't even suggesting that I was going to do that, I guess I just sounded shady or something :rolleyes: hahahaha

 

Anyway, help!!!!! Any advise or experiences is appreciated!!!

 

I sailed on the Voyager in March with three other friends (All of us are 18), and a few of our moms. I shared a room with my three friends, but one of our moms was assigned to our room even though she did not sleep in the room. It all worked out fine, and I wouldn't anticipate you having problems doing the same thing we did.