Two teens in a room

[BaltoTraveler]

I'm sure this has been covered in other posts, but my search didn't find it. Our two sons will be 15 and 20 in December, when we are considering a cruise on Explorer. Is it a fact that we can't book them for an inside cabin by themselves? We REALLY don't want to have to share a cabin with them.

 

I suppose we could fib and say I'll be in a room with one of them, and my wife in another room with the other. Do we have to be sneaking around for the whole cruise, or is this something that's commonly winked at? If it's winked at by the room steward, will it also be winked at by the booking agent when I call to make reservations? (i.e, can I be honest with these people or must I be deceitful... or else abandon the idea completely.)

 

Seems like a strange rule. Hotels never have a problem with kids staying in a separate room.

[vmom]

As long as the parents in are in cabin next door or across the hall there is no problem. We were on the NOS last year and had our 20, 18, and 13 year old children in the cabin next door to us without a problem.

 

Our NOS cruise was booked through a TA who said no problem and our next cruise on the VOS I booked through RCCL directly and they also said no problem.

[Boo's Mom]

In order to book them how you want them....one child must be 25.

 

"Guests under the age of 21 must be booked in a stateroom with an adult who is 25 or older"

 

The exception to this: is when the cabins are connecting.

 

But, what you are asking is done all the time. Book one child/one parent in each cabin. Then....sleep wherever you choose.

 

Nobody will ever notice...or care. No sneaking required. :o

[chubbycheeks]

That's a good question. My parents were able to book my brother and his friend in an inside stateroom by themselves with no problem....they are both 18. I remember on our cruise last year that I had to be booked with them when they were 17. I would ask if it's necessary and if they say that it is then you might have to book with them. I don't think it's a serious issue unless the kids become unruly. I remember seeing posts where teens were staying in rooms by themselves. How far away would your room be from them? Can you get a connecting room? If you do that then you ocan shut the door when you need privacy. :D

[stargate fan]

We are four families, 14 in all, cruising together. We have our two sons, 15 & 17, plus two other teen boys, both 15, booked in an inside cabin for our February cruise. (I would so hate to be the room steward cleaning that room!!) :eek: I had no problem booking the room. Our agent put my name on the room to pay for it, but that's it. The four boys are listed as the passengers. The Royal Caribbean agent even split up the cost amongst the three sets of parents for the room.

 

I don't know if this helps since we are cruising after you, but maybe the info on how we booked will help.

 

I'm sure this has been covered in other posts, but my search didn't find it. Our two sons will be 15 and 20 in December, when we are considering a cruise on Explorer. Is it a fact that we can't book them for an inside cabin by themselves? We REALLY don't want to have to share a cabin with them.

 

I suppose we could fib and say I'll be in a room with one of them, and my wife in another room with the other. Do we have to be sneaking around for the whole cruise, or is this something that's commonly winked at? If it's winked at by the room steward, will it also be winked at by the booking agent when I call to make reservations? (i.e, can I be honest with these people or must I be deceitful... or else abandon the idea completely.)

 

Seems like a strange rule. Hotels never have a problem with kids staying in a separate room.

[Boo's Mom]

RCI has an official stand on this issue...as stated in my post above.

 

But, lots of TA's will book two young folks in a room. And...apparently RCI often allows. Not always.

 

Personally, I cruised a few months ago...with two children in a separate cabin (ages 12 and 21). Booked with the child/parent names. The cabin was on the same deck...not anywhere near, though. Put the appropriate luggage tags on our luggage, so that we did not have to exhange luggage for the two cabins.

[K&RCurt]

In order to book them how you want them....one child must be 25.

 

"Guests under the age of 21 must be booked in a stateroom with an adult who is 25 or older"

 

The exception to this: is when the cabins are connecting.

 

But' date=' what you are asking is done all the time. Book one child/one parent in each cabin. Then....sleep wherever you choose.

 

Nobody will ever notice...or care. No sneaking required. :o[/quote']

 

That may be the WRITTEN policy, but our TA and RCCL had no problem with booking either adjoining cabins, adjacent cabins (not connected) or cabins across the hall from each other. We (after much lobbying from our daughters) chose adjoining balcony cabins, but both the TA and RCCL were willing to book them any of the 3 options. This avoids the hastles of switching sign & sail cards or having to return to the rooms together if you book in seperate rooms as you suggest.

 

I believe the reason the policy is written that way is to avoid young adults 18 - 24 booking cabins on their own. It's really a form of age discrimination, but U.S. society has apparently accepted that it's OK to discriminate against the young but not the old.

[mommabean]

On our first cruise a year and a half ago our daughters were 17 and 13 years old. The closest room we could get was 3 doors down. I made the reservation direct with RCI on the phone. I was told that we had to make the reservations with one parent in each room. AND I was also told that when we got to our rooms that we could move our bags and sleep where we wanted. It was just for legal reasons that we had to be booked this way but I was specifically told by the RCI cruise agent that no one would mind where we slept.

[Boo's Mom]

And..... (I kid you not): I had a conversation with a TA just yesterday who did not want to book my two younger children in a connecting cabin.

 

:confused:

[goodml]

We had our kids in an inside cabin directly across the hall from our balcony cabin on the Jewel last December. They were going to allow us to put only the kids names on the inside cabin but I chose to put one adult's name on each because that was the only way we could get the Crown & Anchor discount on both cabins. When we got on board we went to guest relations and they gave us an extra key for each cabin so we could sleep where we wanted.

[Peggy13]

We were on the Mariner a few weeks ago - our 3 boys were next door - not connecting - and when we booked we didn't even have to put one of us on the docs in that room - she said it didn't matter as long as they were next door.

[Steve&Karen]

We too said on the paper that each one of the adults was in a room with one teen But of course we put our two boys in one room across the hall. It was AWESOME!!!

They could sleep in and do their own thing without disturbing us. They ordered room service and just had a great time Of course we tipped the steward double for their room .......they were a little sloppy ;) He was great though and said they were better than most he has seen. Without mom there picking up the towels who is there to do it???

Cruising without them this trip...... We are sure going to miss them :o

[caviargal]

A bit off topic, but still on the subject, for those of you allowing your teens to room without you, PLEASE have a talk with them about being respectful of their neighbors.

 

On a recent cruise, there were two teens next to me and their parents were down the hall. These kids were totally obnoxious and I cannot even imagine the state their cabin was in based on the loud noises and crashes day and night. I called security four times in a week, most often in the middle of the night, when they were shreiking like animals with no concern for anyone but themselves.

[mommabean]

We had our kids in an inside cabin directly across the hall from our balcony cabin on the Jewel last December. They were going to allow us to put only the kids names on the inside cabin but I chose to put one adult's name on each because that was the only way we could get the Crown & Anchor discount on both cabins. When we got on board we went to guest relations and they gave us an extra key for each cabin so we could sleep where we wanted.

 

That also worked to our advantage on a Carnival cruise we took. As Carvival stockholders we are entitled to ship board credit. One credit per cabin. Since both of our names are on the stock statement and we were booked in separate rooms, we got shipboard credit for each of our rooms since he was "in" one and I was "in" the other. :)

[mommabean]

A bit off topic, but still on the subject, for those of you allowing your teens to room without you, PLEASE have a talk with them about being respectful of their neighbors.

 

On a recent cruise, there were two teens next to me and their parents were down the hall. These kids were totally obnoxious and I cannot even imagine the state their cabin was in based on the loud noises and crashes day and night. I called security four times in a week, most often in the middle of the night, when they were shreiking like animals with no concern for anyone but themselves.

Really, the same could be said about adults. Even though I do realize the problem would be more likely with teens.

 

It was a room between us and our daughter's room where an adult woman, probably 40something, spent her time smoking pot on the balcony. She was quiet though. But our daughters were quieter and more well behaved.

 

Anyone may do anything on a ship, regardless of age. But I agree, parents should still watch the kids just to be sure they aren't being disruptive. I guess there's nothing we can do about the adults.

[justaknucklehead]

Why is it when someone mentions noisy kids without supervision, somebody always jumps in with "could have been adults too". I think you should have to be next to your kids, that way then they're noisy, they keep you awake and not others.

[gerif]

A bit off topic, but still on the subject, for those of you allowing your teens to room without you, PLEASE have a talk with them about being respectful of their neighbors.

 

On a recent cruise, there were two teens next to me and their parents were down the hall. These kids were totally obnoxious and I cannot even imagine the state their cabin was in based on the loud noises and crashes day and night. I called security four times in a week, most often in the middle of the night, when they were shreiking like animals with no concern for anyone but themselves.

 

Had I been in your situation, I so would have called their PARENTS' cabin, too! Why should they get a good night's sleep?

[bplazo]

I have always preferred my daughter and her friend in the same cabin so that I can keep a close eye on them. However, we decided to add them to our cruise in December (at first I was going to leave them at home) but when we tried to book them in our cabin we were unable to because the third and fourth quota on the ship was met. We had to book them an inside two floors down.

 

They will be 17 when we cruise but I will be checking in on them all the time. I will notify their steward what room we are staying in etc. Maybe even a hidden camera (just joking, I think). I have warned my daughter about staying out past curfew, making noise etc. Disobeying any rules will result in me selling her most prize possesion, her car.

[Onessa]

Why is it when someone mentions noisy kids without supervision, somebody always jumps in with "could have been adults too". I think you should have to be next to your kids, that way then they're noisy, they keep you awake and not others.

 

Probably for the same reason why when anyone starts a thread that has to do with anyone with a stated age of less than 25 someone always has to jump in with a story of how poorly behaved some kids were on one of their cruises.

 

Guess they are both collaries of one of the prime rules of posting - Every board has posters who have a soap box upon which they are all too eager to climb! :D

[BaltoTraveler]

Well, I just made the reservations - December 18 on the Explorer. Must be filling up fast, because we couldn't get a balcony cabin with an across-the-hall inside cabin. We decided to shell out the bucks for adjoining balcony cabins. (Hope the kids appreciate their Christmas present!)

 

When I asked about the "over-25" requirement, the RC agent said it wasn't an issue with adjoining rooms.

[goodml]

A bit off topic, but still on the subject, for those of you allowing your teens to room without you, PLEASE have a talk with them about being respectful of their neighbors.

 

On a recent cruise, there were two teens next to me and their parents were down the hall. These kids were totally obnoxious and I cannot even imagine the state their cabin was in based on the loud noises and crashes day and night. I called security four times in a week, most often in the middle of the night, when they were shreiking like animals with no concern for anyone but themselves.

 

I agree completely. We actually had the perfect location for our cabins as we were all the way forward at the end of the hall so I knew there'd only be one cabin beside them. When we were in our cabins we just propped both doors open and we'd come and go between the two cabins (not in the middle of the night of course!:) )

 

:D I was like an army sergeant holding inspection in their room every evening before dinner and once in the mornings. I had them make sure that the room was straightened up enough for the steward to come in and do what he had to do and let me tell you if I hadn't done that he might as well have not even opened the door. My son wasn't bad but the two girls were absolute pigs!!:) We all laughed about it all week - me standing at the doorway arms crossed while they ran around and tidied up.

 

I also approached the people in the cabin beside the kids and told them that while we knew there might be some giggling and carrying on, they certainly should not be disturbed by our kids in any way and that if they were, to please come to our cabin or call us and let us know. Then we read the kids the riot act:D . The neighbours were great, they came to our cabin for a drink that first day and were friendly to us and the kids all week. At the end of it all they came and told us it was a pleasure to have travelled with all of us. It just takes a bit of work on the part of the parents and everyone can enjoy their vacation.

[boxer_mommy]

We were on the Mariner last June. My step-children (ages 14 and 11) were booked an inside cabin while hubby and I were across from them with a balcony cabin. We didn't have any issues then.

[Ship2Shore]

I just think it's funny that Mom and Dad get the balcony room, while the kids are relegated to the windowless dungeon across the hall.

 

Hey Kiddies - don't complain, or we'll leave 'ya home next time ! ! !

[boxer_mommy]

I just think it's funny that Mom and Dad get the balcony room, while the kids are relegated to the windowless dungeon across the hall.

 

Hey Kiddies - don't complain, or we'll leave 'ya home next time ! ! !

 

Your darn right! :D It was their first cruise and trust me, they were more excited about actually being there. Step-daughter graduates from high school in 2007. We're going to take her to Alaska (graduation present) and definitely get her a balcony cabin so that she can truly enjoy it.

[caviargal]

Had I been in your situation, I so would have called their PARENTS' cabin, too! Why should they get a good night's sleep?

 

Actually, each time I did ask security if the parents were being notified of the problems. I was, of course, told yes. I did overhear part of one conversation between security and the parents. The parents insisted one of them was staying in one room with one teen and the other teen was rooming with the other parent. Even when confronted with a problem, the parents lied and accepted no responsibility! It is no wonder the teens behaved as they did. Apparently, accountability is not a lesson taught in their household.

 

I feel that the parents should have offered an apology for the behavior of their children. Instead, I got nasty looks each time I ran into a family member in the hallways.

 

This is another "rule" the cruise line bends too often; they make a rule that an adult of 25 is required in each cabin and then look the other way when that rule is violated. Really, what is the point in having a rule at all? If you ask the cruise lines, it is because of so many problems with unsupervised teens and kids. I guess just making the rule is good enough for them. Then they can ignore the problem that still exisits.

 

It is not fair to penalize other passengers for the lack of good behavior displayed by these unsupervised young adults. Someday surely there will be option for adults only decks, cruises, ships, etc.