Switching Room assignments on board?

[snoopy5386]

We are a group of 11 cruising in 5 cabins this summer. We have 6 adults and 5 kids and booked two people in different rooms to save on the singles supplement since we have two solo cruisers.

 

Basically we are booked like this:

Cabin 1 - Family A - myself and 2 DDs

Cabin 2 - Parent from family B and 1 child

Cabin 3 - Parent from family B and 1 child

Cabin 4 - Single Guy 1 and 1 child from family B

Cabin 5 - Single Guy 2 and my husband from Family A

 

And once on board we will be switching to

Cabin 1 - Family A - myself, DH and 2 DDs

Cabin 2 - Family B - one parent and 2 kids

Cabin 3 - Family B - one parent and 1 kid

Cabin 4 - Single Guy 1

Cabin 5 - Single Guy 2

 

Obviously we need to go to Guest Services once we are on board, but who exactly needs to go? Just the people being moved? A parent from Family B who needs to move their child and my DH from family A? Or do all parents needs to be there? My biggest issue is about who will be able to take kids on and off the ship. I want my husband to be able to take my kids on and off the ship without me, but he is not booked in my cabin. And the parents from Family B want to be able to take their kid off the ship, but she is not booked in a cabin with either parent right now. What are we asking Guest Services to do exactly? Will they actually move bookings or just give us extra keys to the rooms that DH and the DD from Family B will be moving to? How do tips for the room steward work in this situation?

 

Thanks

[rdcruisin]

Overall, did you really save money over the single supplement, since the 3rd and 4th passenger in the same cabin is usually considerably cheaper than the first and second passengers?

 

As far as gratuities go, they are a per person per day charge on your shipboard account, so it doesn't matter who is in what cabin -- unless you have mini suites or full suites.

[1025cruise]

Another thing to consider: Are the cabins booked capable of supporting everyone?

Also, you will need to go to the muster station that the person is assigned to, not the one they are sleeping in.

 

Just curious, why didn't the two single guys bunk together?

[paul929207]

You will need to verify that cabin 1 will hold 4 passenger and cabin 2 will hold 3 passengers. Also are the cabins assigned to the same muster station? Is there enough lifeboat capacity for the boat each person would go to?

[skynight]

We are a group of 11 cruising in 5 cabins this summer. We have 6 adults and 5 kids and booked two people in different rooms to save on the singles supplement since we have two solo cruisers.

 

Basically we are booked like this:

Cabin 1 - Family A - myself and 2 DDs

Cabin 2 - Parent from family B and 1 child

Cabin 3 - Parent from family B and 1 child

Cabin 4 - Single Guy 1 and 1 child from family B

Cabin 5 - Single Guy 2 and my husband from Family A

 

And once on board we will be switching to

Cabin 1 - Family A - myself, DH and 2 DDs

Cabin 2 - Family B - one parent and 2 kids

Cabin 3 - Family B - one parent and 1 kid

Cabin 4 - Single Guy 1

Cabin 5 - Single Guy 2

 

Obviously we need to go to Guest Services once we are on board, but who exactly needs to go? Just the people being moved? A parent from Family B who needs to move their child and my DH from family A? Or do all parents needs to be there? My biggest issue is about who will be able to take kids on and off the ship. I want my husband to be able to take my kids on and off the ship without me, but he is not booked in my cabin. And the parents from Family B want to be able to take their kid off the ship, but she is not booked in a cabin with either parent right now. What are we asking Guest Services to do exactly? Will they actually move bookings or just give us extra keys to the rooms that DH and the DD from Family B will be moving to? How do tips for the room steward work in this situation?

 

Thanks

The easy stuff first:

Going off the ship: Every passenger, including youth, has their own cruise card. Any parent can accompany their child off the ship. The cruise cards are just scanned to indicate the passenger is off the ship. The cabin assignment isn't used for this purpose.

Gratuities: Every passenger, including youth, has an on board ID number and an on board account. Every passenger is charged $12.95/pp/day hotel service charge (the auto-tip). This charge is posted each day to the folio account. Make sure the parents link the youth's accounts to their credit cards so in the end there will be one summary account. Again, the cabin does not matter. If at the end of the cruise you wish to provide the cabin stewards additional tips you may do so. The hotel charge is $13.95/pp/day if you are in a mini suite or full suite. So, if you are moving people between mini suites or full suites and any other cabin the amount charged is an issue.

 

As far as moving passengers around you are going from one cabin with 3 passengers and 4 cabins with 2 passengers to one cabin with 4 passengers, one cabin with 3 passengers, one cabin with 2 passengers and two cabins with one passenger. Passenger Services really needs to do this so the cabin stewards and others know where each passenger is supposed to be.

These are the issues I see:

Assume you have booked cabins that can accommodate 4 and 3 passengers.

You must have the proper amount of life jackets in each cabin.

The Steward has to know how to arrange the cabin each evening, how many towels, and how many passengers he/she will be credited for in the auto-tip pool.

The muster roster has to have the proper passengers in the actual cabins in case of an emergency. It can happen, we have been through a head count, where each passenger is counted in their cabin.

Edited June 6, 2016 by sknight

[snoopy5386]

Before we booked we verified each room held the number of people that we plan to sleep in each cabin. Aka my cabin does sleep 4 and one of family B's cabins sleeps 3. In fact I didn't realize the trip was booked this way until I went online to reserve shore excursions and saw DH wasn't in my cabin and looked more closely at the paperwork. The cabins are all in a row (4 balconies and an inside across the hall) so we hope they all have the same muster. If they don't we're fine with the folks being moved going to their original muster station for the drill and in the event of an emergency. As for why the singles aren't bunking together - one of the single guys booked and is paying for the entire trip so he wants his own room. Both single guys are also very heavy snorers so that factors in as well. His travel agent booked the trip this way so I am going to assume it was cheaper to book this way. I was under the impression that a minor could only leave and reboard the ship with someone who was booked in their same cabin, is this not the case on Princess? Should we track down our steward on day one and let him know about the switches in person?

 

Thanks!

[snoopy5386]

Also hoping we have the same steward for everyone as well to make things easier, but won't know steward or muster station till we get on board.

[mariakitty]

On our last cruise we booked two cabins: one mini with me, DH, DS, and an inside for our other DS and MIL. We did this to avoid MIL paying a single supplement since we paid for her cruise fare. Both of our sons stayed in the mini with us, which was our intention when we booked and no one at princess was bothered by this (booking agent, cabin stewards and passenger services were all told and were fine with the situation). We did tip our mini cabin steward and MDR staff extra to make up for the difference in mini vs. inside tips.

 

Assuming cabins are sufficient for the number of passengers and you have life jackets for all, the only real issue will be the key cards. Everyone who is moving to a different cabin will need to visit passenger services to have their cruise card "re-keyed". Now our son who was booked into the cabin with MIL is a minor (10) so there was no question about changing his card to get into our cabin. Not sure if this will be the same for your party if adults are involved. Princess aims to please so I doubt you will have any issues.

 

Have a wonderful cruise!

[Nāmaka]

Well, wasn't it nice of you all to pay the single supplement for 2 people that will now have cabins to themselves. :confused:

[snoopy5386]

Well' date=' wasn't it nice of you all to pay the single supplement for 2 people that will now have cabins to themselves[/color']. :confused:

 

You are misunderstanding me. One of the single guys is paying for the entire cruise. For all 11 of us. To Alaska. It's about 35K all in so he's welcome to book however he wants!

[chamima]

We are a group of 11 cruising in 5 cabins this summer. We have 6 adults and 5 kids and booked two people in different rooms to save on the singles supplement since we have two solo cruisers.

 

Basically we are booked like this:

Cabin 1 - Family A - myself and 2 DDs

Cabin 2 - Parent from family B and 1 child

Cabin 3 - Parent from family B and 1 child

Cabin 4 - Single Guy 1 and 1 child from family B

Cabin 5 - Single Guy 2 and my husband from Family A

 

And once on board we will be switching to

Cabin 1 - Family A - myself, DH and 2 DDs

Cabin 2 - Family B - one parent and 2 kids

Cabin 3 - Family B - one parent and 1 kid

Cabin 4 - Single Guy 1

Cabin 5 - Single Guy 2

 

Obviously we need to go to Guest Services once we are on board,

1 but who exactly needs to go? Just the people being moved? A parent from Family B who needs to move their child and my DH from family A? Or do all parents needs to be there?

2 My biggest issue is about who will be able to take kids on and off the ship. I want my husband to be able to take my kids on and off the ship without me, but he is not booked in my cabin. And the parents from Family B want to be able to take their kid off the ship, but she is not booked in a cabin with either parent right now.

3 What are we asking Guest Services to do exactly? Will they actually move bookings or just give us extra keys to the rooms that DH and the DD from Family B will be moving to?

4 How do tips for the room steward work in this situation?

 

Thanks

 

No one has answered your (fairly simple) questions.

I numbered and highlighted them so maybe someone who knows could do that.

 

I'm following along because we are taking our children and grandchildren on a cruise next year and we might be switching who is staying in which cabin.

In our case all the cabins are the same type but the people who are prone to seasickness want to make sure to have the center most cabins.

I was wondering if we should have the TA change cabin numbers now or just do it once we get on the ship (which I think is your question).

I was under the impression that that's easily done but have no personal experience.

 

In answer to your question about who needs to go - better safe than sorry - I would have EVERYONE go but have one person as the spokesman so as not to confuse anything. Better yet bring a written list of old and new cabin numbers to make it easier for the Guest relations people.

[nanabananna]

One of the single guys is paying for the entire cruise. For all 11 of us. To Alaska. It's about 35K all in so he's welcome to book however he wants!

 

Yeah to you and your family and or friends! How wonderful for you all to enjoy this trip together. Will you all be doing the same excursions or going in different directions. Take plenty of pictures. The trip of a lifetime may never come again. I am happy for you all. Have a wonderful trip! Alaska is BEAUTIFUL. :)

[TracieABD]

Well' date=' wasn't it nice of you all to pay the single supplement for 2 people that will now have cabins to themselves[/color']. :confused:

 

No need to be snarky.

[goodmud]

We booked three mini suites to Alaska. We had two passengers that we had to switch rooms for. They were each tied to their own credit card and cruise key. We just asked for a second key to each room saying that we wanted them to be able to come and go between each room. They just gave us a second key to each room - I don't believe this key was tied to an account as they both still had their original cruise card.

[Lucky TGO]

I guess I'm getting old this it to confusing for me :eek: I hope you all have a great cruise.

Tony

[caribill]

I was under the impression that a minor could only leave and reboard the ship with someone who was booked in their same cabin, is this not the case on Princess?

 

No such requirement on Princess.

[hansi]

I guess I'm getting old this it to confusing for me :eek: I hope you all have a great cruise.

Tony

Me too Tony, They lost me after the first post:rolleyes:

[Lucky TGO]

Me too Tony, They lost me after the first post:rolleyes:

 

I thought it was only going to be me Ed.

Tony

[Lucky TGO]

No such requirement on Princess.

Wow I don't think that safe. Maybe years ago not today. Just my way of thinking.

Tony

[sherryf]

Wow I don't think that safe. Maybe years ago not today. Just my way of thinking.

Tony

 

They have to be with an adult, just not specifically an adult in the same cabin. I'm not sure if any cruise lines have this specific requirement.

 

On my first cruise, back in 2001, my 8 year old son was "booked" in his grandparents' room for similar booking-convenience reasons. His father and I were both able to take him off the ship with no problems. I don't know if they even look at that when you leave the ship, just that the child is with an adult. Obviously, as his parents, we had his key card to scan when taking him off the ship.

[Lucky TGO]

sherryf,

Just to be safe. I think they should have to prove there traveling together. It's just me better to be safe then sorry.

Tony