Booking Question; Covering my Bases

[RS182]

I am looking at booking a family cruise for myself, my spouse, 2 kids (adult) and mother-in-law in January 2018. At this point both of my kids will be 21 and they are still looking forward to a family vacation where we are footing the majority of the bill (on your own for cheers).

 

We will be booking 2 rooms (1 with me and my DH and 1 with my MIL, DD and DS). My daughter has an full-time adult job and it is too far in advance for her to guarantee that she can get off for the week. My DS is in college and his time off is pretty easy to gauge.

 

What is your advice for booking this cruise where if my DD has to cancel we aren't out any $$? I understand we will lose the 3rd person in the room discount.

 

I assume NO ES and probably need to get insurance. What else am I missing?

[springs741]

My suggestion would be to book past guest. By the time final payment is due your daughter should know if she can have vacation time. While there is always a chance those in the 3 person room might have to move if you cancel #3 this is usually during high volume sailings like Thanksgiving and Christmas.

[momof4girls]

I was also going to recommend "past guest". I just booked a cruise for this November using the past guest offer. It was $40 more than the VIFP deal, and I obviously won't get the $100 OBC. However, I don't know 100% at this moment if we'll be able to make it. I will definitely know before final payment time though...

[RS182]

Thank you for your reply. I was thinking past guest was my best bet, just shy of the gotcha things I may not have thought about. Moving their room, if necessary, wouldn't affect things much.

 

I was thinking of doing it at the future cruise desk on my next cruise but I found that they booked me under ES for my July cruise however I was under the impression that I could move that booking to any other cruise in the future. Thankfully I don't need to move it but a tad misleading.

Edited January 30, 2017 by RS182

[Schoifmom]

Thank you for your reply. I was thinking past guest was my best bet, just shy of the gotcha things I may not have thought about. Moving their room, if necessary, wouldn't affect things much.

 

I was thinking of doing it at the future cruise desk on my next cruise but I found that they booked me under ES for my July cruise however I was under the impression that I could move that booking to any other cruise in the future. Thankfully I don't need to move it but a tad misleading.

 

They can book you at the Past Guest rate at the future cruise desk, but you have to be very clear with them regarding that. I'm sure that I am annoying to them, but I clarify that point multiple times whenever I book at the FCD.