Adding/Cancelling passengers

[benona]

I am planning a cruise later this year on Voyager but before I book I would like your views on what the outcome of this situation would be:

 

I am planning to book a Family Oceanview for 5 people (us and our three kids) - but my husband is not sure if he will be able to get holiday leave from his job yet. If he could not go, I would like to take my parents (i.e. swap one adult for a different two adults).

 

How will this work? Should I book for 6 (incl one of my parents) now and cancel one of my parents (if my husband can go) or book for 5 and try to change it from 5 passengers to 6 later (if my husband can't come). Would there be much extra cost of adding passengers later? Would there be a time cut off for the change?:confused:

 

Thanks fellow CC'ers in anticipation of your help.

 

Fiona

[Clarea]

So much depends on booking rules, and I'm not familiar with Australian bookinfg rules. If you can cancel without penalty up to some date, I would book the max amount of passengers initially. This would ensure that your price would be frozen and your muster station would not run out of capacity to add passengers later.

[Ourusualbeach]

I am planning a cruise later this year on Voyager but before I book I would like your views on what the outcome of this situation would be:

 

I am planning to book a Family Oceanview for 5 people (us and our three kids) - but my husband is not sure if he will be able to get holiday leave from his job yet. If he could not go, I would like to take my parents (i.e. swap one adult for a different two adults).

 

How will this work? Should I book for 6 (incl one of my parents) now and cancel one of my parents (if my husband can go) or book for 5 and try to change it from 5 passengers to 6 later (if my husband can't come). Would there be much extra cost of adding passengers later? Would there be a time cut off for the change?:confused:

 

Thanks fellow CC'ers in anticipation of your help.

 

Fiona

 

Just realized that you had non North American booking rules.

Edited April 4, 2016 by Ourusualbeach

[clemcruiser]

I don't know all the ins and outs of the rules for your example, but I would like to suggest some ideas to consider.

 

I AM TALKING FROM MY LIMITED EXPERIENCE WITH AUSSIE RULES ONLY.

 

I would book direct with RCI so that you are in control of your booking. Most (not all) travel agents here charge some sort of fee for making booking changes and cancellations, and Royal will not speak to you if your booking is with a TA. If the TA tells you that you can't have some sort of change/deal then you have no way of asking to be escalated to a higher level at RCI. You have to take what they say.

 

Be very aware of the difference between "final payment date", and "no penalty cancellation" dates. They are totally different.

 

Royal will usually not allow for a change of booking from one ship to another, they will insist you cancel your booking and start a new booking. Just in case you were thinking you could transfer your deposit after the no fee cancelation date. They are very uncompromising with us in Aus. This has also applied when looking at changing anything on a booking from my experience. Aussie rules are so different from USA rules. And they keep changing them.

 

Have you considered adjoining rooms instead. What setup is the Family Oceanview? Would all the adults actually be comfortable in the configuration? Two adjoining rooms can give you two bathrooms, and larger bedding if the configuration is for bunks/pullmans or pull our sofa beds? The children can sleep in their space without the adults waking them if they want to watch TV or whatever.

 

I think it may be an idea to book the grandparents in a separate room so that if your husband can come, they may still like to come as well? That is your call.

 

Sometimes the multi occupancy rooms are more cramped than people think, and the extra people in the room are not saving a lot compared to the extra space of even some being in an inside across the hall.

[benona]

Thanks for your responses everyone...

 

Is there anywhere I can see the fineprint booking rules for australian customers before booking?

[goodycruising]

I would suggest having a good read of the Australian website terms and conditions. There are sometimes contradictory clauses, and I wish I could advise a phone call to the company, but I feel like the Guatemala call centre people are just flying as they go with all the different rules around the world.

 

A dummy booking on the date you are looking at will give you a schedule of cancellation dates/penalties. I personally have found them to be very good with refunds if you book online and cancel online before the penalty date, or even if you ring to cancel. (money back on the credit card in about 8 days roughly) I have found them very bad if want to make changes after the penalty times kick in. Even in one case refusing to even look at changing a booking to a higher cost cruise.

 

Even if you get a verbal answer you could find next time it is a different answer. I wish I could say email them and you would have it in writing, but their reputation of not answering emails is pretty bad. You could be lucky. Do not take what people say on here as fact. Many people will be able to tell you what their experience has been, but that may not make any difference to your situation when you come to do the same thing. I know this from personal cost.

 

Only if you want to share your info, no offence if you don't. Sometimes 2 cabins, or even 3, with all 6 of you, can be better value. How old are the kids? What date are you looking at, and is this under the kids cruise at $33 rate or something? How much are you looking at for 5 or 6 in the FO cabin? What deck is it on? Is it one of those right up the front? Are the grandparents pretty fit for a long walk if it is? If you want to give more details then a few relevant options might be thrown up by people on here. :)

Edited April 4, 2016 by goodycruising

[Clarea]

.. A dummy booking on the date you are looking at will give you a schedule of cancellation dates/penalties....

Excellent idea.:)

[southnam]

Sometimes I think the best thing to do is call and make sure there is a note on you file about what you asked.

 

 

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