Under what circumstances would you switch cabins?

[LMaxwell]

In another thread, someone made the suggestion of asking a guest to switch cabins. This elicited a wide variety of responses and got me thinking about the topic. While I would feel awkward being asked, I wouldn't be offended, but what would the circumstances have to be to get me to switch the cabin?

 

If I did not have a connecting cabin or nearby kids to contend with, if the switch could be made quickly / painlessly (under 20 minutes at GS), if it did not screwup my Seapass account, orders, room deliveries for the week (and I have doubts on that), if the switched location was comparable (not under or over any lounges, not next to housekeeping closets) etc., and if there was financial incentive to do so offered by the person wanting to switch (I always study deck plans and hand pick my own cabins and pay a premium to do so). Not sure what would happen with luggage if it wasn't yet delivered, or if it was I wouldn't want to drag it across the ship. And usually as soon as we get our luggage we fully unpack.

 

But, yes, there are circumstances I'd consider doing the switch. Or maybe it is better to say "criteria"? I doubt I'd switch under any circumstance for a downgrade in cabin category however.

 

What's your opinions on this? Interested to hear other perspectives.

[Clarea]

... room deliveries for the week...

This is the one that would bother me. We were on a B2B once and were told of an upgrade from an OV to a JS during the changeover. Never got any of the letters we were supposed to get (including a dinner invite) the entire cruise. The JS was a very nice upgrade though.:)

Edited July 2, 2016 by clarea

[marci22]

Honestly, there are so many possible variables, I don't think anyone can give a yes or no answer without all the details.

 

I think a better question would be: would you be offended if you got onboard and someone asked you to switch cabins for a specific reason.

 

No, I wouldn't be offended. I might or might not switch. Depends.

[LMaxwell]

This is the one that would bother me. We were on a B2B once and were told of an upgrade from an OV to a JS during the changeover. Never got any of the letters we were supposed to get (including a dinner invite) the entire cruise. The JS was a very nice upgrade though.:)

 

I think that's the one that would potentially bother me the most. Excursion tickets, dinner invites, C&A gifts, etc...whatever it may be, that's the one area that could get botched fastest I think. To be honest, dealing with the potential aggravation is why I'd want a financial incentive to make the move.

[LMaxwell]

Honestly, there are so many possible variables, I don't think anyone can give a yes or no answer without all the details.

 

I think a better question would be: would you be offended if you got onboard and someone asked you to switch cabins for a specific reason.

 

No, I wouldn't be offended. I might or might not switch. Depends.

 

Would I be offended, absolutely not. Would I feel a bit put out? Yes.

 

But the point here is to ask people to detail out what the circumstances would have to be. What is your "depends" in this question.

[marci22]

Would I be offended, absolutely not. Would I feel a bit put out? Yes.

 

But the point here is to ask people to detail out what the circumstances would have to be. What is your "depends" in this question.

 

But you can't detail. There are just too many variables. Any one variable changing might change my answer. I could be all set for a 'no' and something about the person might make me say 'yes'.

[Alter Ego]

As I responded in that thread, that experience really happened to us, but it was crew staff who made it happen, not some random guy waiting by my door.

 

I probably would have still switched, but I probably would have been left with the bitter feeling of getting the short end of the stick as the other cabin was in a less desirable location. With the crew involved, we were given perks for our move and even checked up on. Whether RCCL would do that now, have no clue. But it was nice that they tried to make both of the cabins happy.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[impatientlywaiting]

No I would not switch. When we book cruises (and there is a group of us), we book the very first day the cruise opens up so we can get specific cabins all together in a row. We have researched the exact cabins we want on the ship and I definitely would not appreciate being contacted by RCI, or another passenger at my cabin door, asking me to change cabins. :)

[bob brown]

An interesting thread. I can relate to this....

A number of years ago, I was sailing with my elderly mother on the HAL Maasdam. We were booked in an inside cabin, which had a stall shower. When we checked in at the pier, we learned to our delight, that we had been upgraded to a nice midship ocean view cabin.

 

When we checked out our cabin, my mother took one look at the bathtub, which had extremely high sides, and announced she could not climb in to use the shower. I went immediately to guest relations, and explained my dilemma, asking to be switched back to an inside. The clerk said, sorry, the ship was fully booked, and there were no insides available.

 

Just then, a woman in line behind me, approached and said that she overheard our problem, and said she had an inside, and would be glad to swap cabins with us. I asked the clerk if that would be okay, and she said yes, and made the arrangements, issuing us all new seapasses, and having the stewards help us move.

 

So the lesson I learned from that, was to be sure to mark "no upgrades" on my future reservations....:)

[ducklite]

If a random passenger knocked on my door asking to switch, I would tell them sorry, no and then call ship security. Perhaps I am overly paranoid, but to me that is a sign of someone up to no good. If a person had a legitimate reason to need to change (as opposed to want) the ship should be doing the one asking.

 

If the ship made the request but I were already unpacked or had chosen the cabin for a specific reason, there would have to be a very good incentive offered, a cheap bottle of wine delivered to my cabin would not be enough.

 

I would also want to see the cabin being offered for exchange before agreeing to it. I had a flight attendant try to pull a fast one on me a few months ago as she asked me to switch seats with an extremely obese man. Uh no. My seat was an aisle second exit row standard seat (meaning standard width and recline.) The seat she wanted me to move to was 2-3 inches narrower with solid fixed armrests with the tray table in the arm. It also didn't recline. I looked at her with utter dismissal and told her absolutely not unless she wanted to offer a considerable cash incentive. That was a problem between the obese man who should have purchased a second seat to begin with and the airline who didn't notify passengers in advance that seat is considerably narrower that standard seats, and I wasn't going to be involved in drama created by other people's lack of planning.

[fragilek]

I wouldn't be embarrassed or feel awkward if asked - But there is no way I would change cabins - Getting a cabin change on our last RCL cruise nearly ruined our trip - It caused soooo many problems at one point I even thought about leaving the ship - never ever again!!!!

Edited July 2, 2016 by fragilek

[S.A.M.J.R.]

I agree with "too many variables"...

 

* Are there other people I'm travelling with in different cabins?

* Did I choose my cabin for a specific reason (balcony, location, certain feature, etc)?

* Have I already unpacked/settled in?

* Is the "new" cabin in the same class (or an upgrade)?

 

If the answers to any of the first three are "yes", I'm not willing to move. If the fourth answer is "no", I'm not willing to move.

 

I would not be offended by someone asking. I think it should go through the ship/TA, but even if someone asked me outside my door, I'd think it was strange, but wouldn't be offended.

[mollyeilis]

I wouldn't be offended, but I doubt I would switch.

 

The only cruise we've taken so far that I would have switched for was the one we did a GTY for (or whatever it's called on Royal). That was our first cruise and we didn't have a clue! We got an interesting room, 7100 I believe, on Radiance, overlooking the helipad area. But it wasn't chosen by us.

 

All other rooms I've hand picked LONG in advance, and there's just no way I'm giving them up.

[islandgirl70]

Why would another guest ask you to change cabins?

[time4u2go]

Why would another guest ask you to change cabins?

 

So that they could be closer to the cabins of others in their party.

[luvscruising2007]

I would not change unless the request was made prior to embarcation day, preferably at least 2 weeks in advance. I would have be able to research the new cabin before accepting and I would expect some monetary compensation.

Once on board I would not switch cabins.

[Desert Cruizers]

I suppose if there were a family and it meant 1 room maybe two, we wouls switch out providing the category wasn't changing. Both parties would need to check their rooms for tickets etc. We have never asked nor been asked and wouldn't be offended. Since I pick our cabin of choice prior to booking, I would have no need to change.

[ducklite]

So that they could be closer to the cabins of others in their party.

 

 

 

Why wouldn't this be addressed in advance?

[critterchick]

I might switch, but I would want Guest Services, room service (who delivers C&A goodies) and the Loyalty Ambassador involved in the move. We have been visited by the upgrade fairy a few times and twice our amenities were delivered to our old cabin. It got to the point on cruise that a friend of mine would call to let me know that she had gotten xxx and I would call room service to have another one delivered to me - they never straightened it out over 4 days. When I got back, I read a review of my original cabin and the woman wrote, "we got all sorts of goodies, a bottle of wine and gifts - I don't know why!"

 

We usually book as soon as itineraries open so we can get the cabin we want. For somebody like the OP of the other thread, who was booked one door down from his kids on a GTY and wanted the cabin in between (which connected to his), I would change unless I knew something awful about the cabin he was offering up. But my "team" would have to be involved to make sure that all deliveries/invitations/etc. we're coordinated with the move.

Edited July 2, 2016 by critterchick

[fragilek]

I might switch, but I would want Guest Services, room service (who delivers C&A goodies) and the Loyalty Ambassador involved in the move. We have been visited by the upgrade fairy a few times and twice our amenities were delivered to our old cabin. It got to the point on cruise that a friend of mine would call to let me know that she had gotten xxx and I would call room service to have another one delivered to me - they never straightened it out over 4 days. When I got back, I read a review of my original cabin and the woman wrote, "we got all sorts of goodies, a bottle of wine and gifts - I don't know why!"

 

We usually book as soon as itineraries open so we can get the cabin we want. For somebody like the OP of the other thread, who was booked one door down from his kids on a GTY and wanted the cabin in between (which connected to his), I would change unless I knew something awful about the cabin he was offering up. But my "team" would have to be involved to make sure that all deliveries/invitations/etc. we're coordinated with the move.

 

We were the ones in the other cabin (some ones old cabin that they had changed from)- read my old posts to see the hell that it caused us , including getting refused entry to the MDR dining room - 3 nights in a row, calls to say we hadn't turned up for meals - charges that we had to fight (and I mean fight!) our way out of. It got so bad that we were compensated when we got home and it has taken a lot of persuasion from my husband for me to get up the courage/stamina to use the future cruise certificate and try RCL again later this year.

This time I booked early and nothing is moving me to a different cabin l;)

Edited July 2, 2016 by fragilek

[time4u2go]

Why wouldn't this be addressed in advance?

 

I'm not sure I understand what you are asking. If you mean why didn't the group book cabins near each other in advance, it may be that when they booked, there were no available cabins near each other.

[stowite]

I would not be offended to be asked but I might feel awkward if I was asked by a fellow passenger rather than a crewmember.

 

I agree there are many variables.

If just my husband and I are traveling, we would be more likely to be willing to switch provided the rooms are equivalent or new room was better.

I also would want to be sure there were not a lot of things scheduled to be delivered to the room like excursion tickets and tux that had not already been delivered so I could take them with me. Delivery of luggage would also be a consideration. Certainly if I had unpacked the room is going to have to be an upgrade for me to even consider it.

 

I do agree that last minute changes can make for problems with deliveries as I upgraded my Dad's room a week before sailing on our last cruise. I spent quite a bit of time on our first day tracking down his tux rental that was delivered to the wrong room and getting his room key fixed as it was not coded correctly for the right room. I think his luggage would have been delivered correctly only because we wrote the correct room number on the luggage tag ourselves. My husband and I spotted my Dad's checked bag in a pile of bags awaiting delivery and took it to the room ourselves since so many other things about the room change had created issues.

 

If we are traveling with friends, it would depend upon where the new room is in relation to our friend's room.

 

For our upcoming cruise I would consider it as long as it was a Jr Suite that was closer to our friends cabin than our currently assigned Jr Suite or a full suite almost anywhere on the ship.:D

[ducklite]

I'm not sure I understand what you are asking. If you mean why didn't the group book cabins near each other in advance, it may be that when they booked, there were no available cabins near each other.

 

 

If being next to each other was important, I would either book earlier or if that wasn't possible, choose a sailing where I could achieve my goal. I wouldn't put someone else out because of my lack of planning or foresight. I guess others have a different sense of personal responsibility.

[CrazyCruiseCanuck]

I might switch, but I would want Guest Services, room service (who delivers C&A goodies) and the Loyalty Ambassador involved in the move. We have been visited by the upgrade fairy a few times and twice our amenities were delivered to our old cabin. It got to the point on cruise that a friend of mine would call to let me know that she had gotten xxx and I would call room service to have another one delivered to me - they never straightened it out over 4 days. When I got back, I read a review of my original cabin and the woman wrote, "we got all sorts of goodies, a bottle of wine and gifts - I don't know why!"

 

We usually book as soon as itineraries open so we can get the cabin we want. For somebody like the OP of the other thread, who was booked one door down from his kids on a GTY and wanted the cabin in between (which connected to his), I would change unless I knew something awful about the cabin he was offering up. But my "team" would have to be involved to make sure that all deliveries/invitations/etc. we're coordinated with the move.

 

I totally agree, Jean.

 

We (my partner and I ) got upgraded from an E2 balcony to a JS on Freedom in 2014....I was notified 48 hours before embarkation. And while I really appreciated the upgrade, it was so close to sailing that NOTHING got delivered to my cabin......no D+ letters, invitations, amenities, the tux I had rented for David, excursion tickets....I spent far too much time on the phone and at Guest Services on the first day, tracking down my 'stuff'.

 

I don't think I could agree to change cabins once onboard.....unless, as you said, the 'team' would make everything right !

 

Just to be fair, once I had everything re-arranged on the Freedom, we got random bottles of free wine/juice and bottled water delivered to us all week...although I had been polite and patient with Guest Services, and had asked only for my tickets, tux, etc , someone must've had their wrists slapped ! ;)

[Fouremco]

We are another couple that books very early to get our choice of cabins, so the first criterion would be swapping for a cabin at least as good as the one we had booked. The second would be involvement from the start with the ship's officials. If another passenger came to the door to make a request, I'd politely tell them to see Guest Services. Finally, I'd be looking for something in the way of compensation. Nothing ridiculous, but certainly more than a verbal thank you.