Charging for 1 and 3 year olds

[alexspepa]

Wow.

 

Thanks for the answers! Cruise critic folks never let me down!

 

Didn't mean to open a can of worms! :eek:

 

Don't worry about it. Cans of worms open so easily around here. Lol

 

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Tapatalk

 

yeah...sometimes I think even the worms carry a can opener...

[BlueRiband]

IMO they should not charge a fee for babies under 18 months. Unless I am not thinking of something what could they possibly cost Carnival other than Milk which most are still on mommy milk or formula which the parents bring. The parents bring baby food anyway. Maybe a small gratuity for laundry and a crib fee.

 

Toddlers will eat, drink, sleep and bath. Bedding and bath towels need to be freshened. Many young children will wasted food and have more on them then in them. And every "soul" still counts towards ship lifeboat capacity.

[Daisyloo]

yeah...sometimes I think even the worms carry a can opener...

 

Funny!:D

[spookwife]

My son was thinking about a cruise for his family of 4...kids are 3 and 1. The price they had was pretty expensive I thought, but I was never able to put age of kids. Do they pay the same amount as the adults?

 

a body is a body. does not matter if it is six months old or, 6 years old or 60 years old. 1st 2 people in a cabin will pay the same rate (Royal currently does a bygoho sale) and persons 3 and up will pay a reduced rate.. not always a greatly reduced one at all.

 

on occasion a line may run a special where the third and 4th passenger in a cabin sail free or greatly reduced(like a $99 fare) but those are usually few and far between. I think one line does not charge anything but taxes and fees for anyone under 2, but it is not a line I sail so can't ID off the top of my head.

[cruiseondude]

Thank you Tapi! Very good hints/tips/learning's -- Truly appreciate the feedback!

[spookwife]

 

Oh and a parent is going to have a child under 2 sit on their lap in a life boat god forbid they ever had to get into one. So that doesn't really take up another seat.

 

the coast guard disagrees with your interpretation. and only the CG's opinion matters.

 

it isn't the lack of eating/taking up space. its the EXTRA work generated by them.

 

the cabin steward now gets to deal with dirty diapers, and the additional work of setting up the pack play and taking more effort than the pullman or a fold out couch which can be 'made up' and then returned to its original configuration. thus making turn down go relatively quickly.

 

most parents bathe junior daily. that means extra towels every day that generate extra work for the behind the scenes laundry crew.

 

It's the ground in cereal and cracker crumbs in the carpet.

 

its the fact that the waitstaff bring out extra toddler friendly food immediately and spend extra time entertaining them so you can cut your meat in peace.

 

its the fact that the kids club/nursery staff are NOT paid out of the gratuities and in fact earn a full salary which their fare pays for.

[Tapi]

I don't think Carnival wants their "fun ships" teaming with babies though. It changes the dynamic greatly

 

 

I actually think that I've seen more families with babies on Carnival ships than on other cruise lines . We actually joked about that on our Fascination cruise because there seemed to be baby strollers parked everywhere. Even though Carnival's programs may be lacking, and they may not offer kids free pricing, their overall cost is still budget friendly, specially for families.

 

We haven't seen it on Carnival yet simply because they are chronically behind the curve, but I think that it won't be long before we see an expanded kids program on Carnival that includes babies and the youngest cruisers. Other family friendly cruise lines have already done, and very successfully, so it's a matter of time before Carnival follows suit.

 

And having sailed on other cruise lines that do have expanded children's programs, I can tell you that it doesn't affect the dynamic greatly, at least in a negative way. If anything, I think that I saw less toddler aged children. Why? Three reasons. First, they do seem to charge a considerably higher 3rd and 4th passenger rate. Second, the baby nurseries and children's program for those under 3 are not free. And third, many of the babies that do come onboard have a place to go and be entertained, keeping them out of sight, unlike on Carnival where you have no choice but to push your baby around in his stroller all over the ship because they have zero activities or facilities for them.

Edited October 9, 2015 by Tapi

[legaljen1969]

Unlike on an airplane where a child under the age of 2 can sit on a parent's lap and does not occupy an actual seat, on a cruise ship EVERYONE, regardless of age, does occupy an actual space and counts towards the passenger total. That means one adult less generating revenue from ancillary expenses onboard. Most cruise lines will attempt to recover some of that lost revenue by charging a cruise fare regardless of age.

 

Yes, small children will most likely be traveling as a third or fourth passenger in a cabin already booked by 2 paying adults, so in theory any extra bunk in that cabin would've sailed empty had the adults decided to travel without kids. But that's not always the case. Carnival imposes what they call a Maximum Occupancy Restriction on many sailings which will prevent any passenger from booking a cabin for less than its intended capacity. That means that if a cabin holds four passengers, a family of three can't book it.

 

Perhaps I am missing something. What if a cabin technically only had room for 2 people? You could not have a third person. My family has sailed many times with everyone in the family have the same class of room- 3 cabins all in a row. My husband and I have only 2 in the room. My parents have only 2 in the room. My brother and SIL have 4. So, it seems that neither my parents nor my husband and I should have been able to book our cabins because they could potentially hold 4 people. Should the cruise line have made us book one room for two couples?

 

So what happens if you have double occupancy, or the next occupancy is 4 people? If you have three people, you can't cruise? What about parents who have an only child? They can't cruise? By this poster's logic- that seems to be the case. That sounds a little weird to me.

[ronandannette]

I'm of the opinion that a child under 2 years old uses such little resources that it would be worth it for Carnival to let them cruise free. This would be a great incentive to parents with young children to still cruise. Yes they take up space and eat a little bit of food but come on it's a small child and they don't eat much. Some might not eat at all because you can bring a six month old on a cruise. The staff really aren't doing too much if anything at all for a child 6 months of age - 2 years old. I have family members with small children who won't cruise because they think the price is too high. If they were free they would be cruising right now and carnival would be making money. So in the end I think if they let very small children cruise free it would make them more money then not. I'm not interested in changing anyone's mind on this topic I'm just sharing my opinion.

 

Carnival's not having undue difficulty filling the ships; when and if they do, they offer incentives like any other cruise line. It doesn't matter to the accountants who sails, as long as somebody does. Very few cabins sit empty on any given sailing.

[AdGuyMG]

...Unless I am not thinking of something what could they possibly cost Carnival other than Milk...

 

The one thing that is almost always overlooked on these "kids fares" discussions is the #1 cost to all the cruise lines. That's the FUEL to sail the ship and keep the electricity running.

 

Not the food. Not The laundry. Not the crew or Camp counselor salaries.

 

Last I heard for Carnival, the fuel expenses to run a ship average about $52 per person per day. That's regardless of age.

[klepton]

Perhaps I am missing something. What if a cabin technically only had room for 2 people? You could not have a third person. My family has sailed many times with everyone in the family have the same class of room- 3 cabins all in a row. My husband and I have only 2 in the room. My parents have only 2 in the room. My brother and SIL have 4. So, it seems that neither my parents nor my husband and I should have been able to book our cabins because they could potentially hold 4 people. Should the cruise line have made us book one room for two couples?

 

So what happens if you have double occupancy, or the next occupancy is 4 people? If you have three people, you can't cruise? What about parents who have an only child? They can't cruise? By this poster's logic- that seems to be the case. That sounds a little weird to me.

 

This will vary by cruise, and there are a few factors.

 

First, not all of the same category room have the same occupancy. You can absolute have three 8B balcony cabins in a row, two of those are double occupancy and one is quad occupancy. Other's may hold three, some more rare rooms might hold 5. It has to do with the number of beds in the room. So one room might have a non-convertible sofa. Another might have a sofa that converts to a twin bed (one extra person), and yet another room might have a sofa sleeper that folds out to a queen size bed, which would make the room quad occupancy. Other rooms may have a murphy bed (folds down from the wall), others still have pullman (pulls down from the ceiling).

 

Secondly, if the line doesn't believe they'll be able to sell all rooms at their allotted occupancy they may open up higher occupancy rooms for all bookings. So a couple could book a room with additional beds, and those additional beds would likely never be opened or made up. This is common on cruises which won't be popular for families, like in the fall, Jan-Feb, Early May, etc. During times and itineraries where the cruise line thinks they can sail completely full, they'll only let you book into a cabin where the passengers meet the occupancy.

[dorisis]

Kids under 13 sail free on MSC.

 

That is good to know.

[iheartbda]

Details about children sailing free on MSC

That is good to know.

 

No longer true except for certain cruise itineraries and dates and then the first and second passenger fares are higher to cover the "free" children.

[brepri_h]

Carnival's not having undue difficulty filling the ships; when and if they do, they offer incentives like any other cruise line. It doesn't matter to the accountants who sails, as long as somebody does. Very few cabins sit empty on any given sailing.

 

Actually on my last cruise the cruise director said that there are usually a “decent” amount of empty rooms now because Carnival doesn't drop prices ultra-low at the last minute to fill rooms anymore. Instead they are offering those cabins to the crew for them to bring their family on a cruise for an incredible discount. At least that is what the cruise director said.

[DopeyRN1]

yeah...sometimes I think even the worms carry a can opener...

 

:D Where's the "Like" button when you need it??

 

Tapi, you are the voice of reason here, and gave some great tips!!