Kids moving rooms after boarding (within same group)

[bmsm6]

We have a large family group of 10 adults and 8 kids wanting to take a cruise and are trying to figure out the best way to book it.  2 of the adults are single and each want their own rooms, so if we put one kid on each of their rooms on the reservation, will RC care if those kids don’t end up sleeping in those rooms?  Likely the kids would move to their cousins’ rooms to sleep.  

 

Scenario 1) I was thinking if we book one cousin room with 3 pax and another cousin room with 3 pax, that those rooms should each be able to hold 4 so it shouldn’t be a problem when the 2 other cousins want to join those rooms.  

 

Scenario 2) If we book one cousin room with 4 pax and another cousin room with 2 pax, could the 2 other cousins come sleep in those rooms, even though the rooms aren’t supposed to hold any more?

[Clarea]

Once onboard, they do not care where guests sleep.

 

You can go to Guest Services and get extra keys for those who want to move.

[stevea36]

There are many issues that would affect this.  including the fact that not all cabins designed for 3 would hold 4 as well. 

 

I would recommend that you deal with an experienced Travel Agent (one that is certified by RCI) to best work out the details.  

[Ourusualbeach]

If the kids are 12 or under and there is a kids sail free promo look at maximizing the kids cabins with 4 per room or get a family room that hold 6.  This is where a good TA can really help and they may even have access to group pricing on the double occupancy cabins.  With 18 pax you could even qualify for a tour conductor credit.

[mjkacmom]

Most of the time, if you book 3 to a cabin, there will be beds for 3, not 4. The cruise line doesn’t care where folks sleep, but make sure you don’t have to squeeze 2 in a twin.

[time4u2go]

21 minutes ago, bmsm6 said:

We have a large family group of 10 adults and 8 kids wanting to take a cruise and are trying to figure out the best way to book it.  2 of the adults are single and each want their own rooms, so if we put one kid on each of their rooms on the reservation, will RC care if those kids don’t end up sleeping in those rooms?  Likely the kids would move to their cousins’ rooms to sleep.  

 

Scenario 1) I was thinking if we book one cousin room with 3 pax and another cousin room with 3 pax, that those rooms should each be able to hold 4 so it shouldn’t be a problem when the 2 other cousins want to join those rooms.  

 

Scenario 2) If we book one cousin room with 4 pax and another cousin room with 2 pax, could the 2 other cousins come sleep in those rooms, even though the rooms aren’t supposed to hold any more?

Invalid assumption. May or may not be true.  Most likely not.

Edited November 10, 2019 by time4u2go

[broadwaycam]

And remember if the room is only booked for 3 people you are making more work for the cabin steward having to make a 4th bed.

[bmsm6]

4 minutes ago, broadwaycam said:

And remember if the room is only booked for 3 people you are making more work for the cabin steward having to make a 4th bed.

True but in the single adult rooms that were originally booked for 2 people that become 1-person rooms, the cabin steward will have less work to only make 1 bed up.

Also I'm assuming the 4th bed wouldn't really be a 4th bed...it would just be 2 kids on the pull-out sofa instead of 1.

 

The only reason we'd rearrange would be for those single adults to not have to pay for a "no show".

[gerif]

13 minutes ago, bmsm6 said:

True but in the single adult rooms that were originally booked for 2 people that become 1-person rooms, the cabin steward will have less work to only make 1 bed up.

Also I'm assuming the 4th bed wouldn't really be a 4th bed...it would just be 2 kids on the pull-out sofa instead of 1.

 

The only reason we'd rearrange would be for those single adults to not have to pay for a "no show".

You’re really making a lot of assumptions. How do you know that the same room steward will be servicing the cabins with one occupant as well as the cabins with four? There may also be a lifeboat issue. 

[Homosassa]

Hold on a minute.

 

There was a thread on here by someone in a similar situation with multiple adult and child rooms.

 

If I member correctly, the way the scenario played out is that while some how the cabins were booked, either once on board (or maybe before boarding), the OP was notified  that the room switching would not be allowed as the minor children were required to be in the cabin adjacent to their parents (legal guardians). 

 

It did not matter if the adults that were next to the rooms were other family members or the parents of some of the children in the room; all the children needed to be in a cabin that met the booking requirements for a child in a separate room.

 

As there has now also been recent threads on this forum that Royal Caribbean is now enforcing the restrictions on cabins for children, I would not assume that you will be allowed to blithely switch sleeping arrangements onboard ship.

 

Besides the stated requirements for booking minor children in a separate cabin and the  actual number of beds in a cabin, you will also need to consider the muster station each cabin is assigned (cabins next to each other can be in different muster stations) and the allowed capacity for each station.

 

If you want a hassle free trip, book the cabins you need in the configuration that meets the booking requirements and do not be upset if you find that cabin roulette is not allowed once on board. 

[cello56]

You also need to remember the rules of where minor children can be booked. They need to be adjoining or across the hall from their parents. If you are thinking of putting several cousins together in one cabin on the bookings from different families, you might have a problem. 

[Ourusualbeach]

20 minutes ago, bmsm6 said:

Thanks for the quick replies!  We're looking at Oasis class, so i was assuming the inside rooms that say "up to 4" would be safe to book as they come up whether I do a mock booking with 3 or a mock booking with 4.  But I'll be sure to confirm first.

 

How do I tell if a travel agent is certified by RCI?  I've used several different ones in the past (from cruise compete) but never looked up whether they were certified.

 

Good point about kids sail free.  If kids sail free isn't available, I've found in the past that it was cheaper to book 2 2-person rooms than 1 4-person room, so we'll have to price out the different options.

Oasis is currently recategorizing.  If you book a room for 3 you can’t add a 4th guest later and chance are it will not even have a sofa-bed.   They just make the sofa into a bed.

 

The only certification that Royal has is some online courses and once completed you get a certificate.  In my experience having taken those they do not make your TA any better.  Lots of experience in dealing with Royal beats haven taken those courses.

[Ourusualbeach]

22 minutes ago, bmsm6 said:

True but in the single adult rooms that were originally booked for 2 people that become 1-person rooms, the cabin steward will have less work to only make 1 bed up.

Also I'm assuming the 4th bed wouldn't really be a 4th bed...it would just be 2 kids on the pull-out sofa instead of 1.

 

The only reason we'd rearrange would be for those single adults to not have to pay for a "no show".

As long as it’s done properly it won’t be an issue.  I’ve done this in the past for this exact reason. 

[bmsm6]

Yes, we would only book if the parent rooms were directly across from the child rooms.  Ideally we'd have 4 balcony rooms directly across from 4 inside rooms so we can all be near each other.  But I do share the concern regarding muster station differences...we'd likely book 1 parent in each child room (and 1 child in each parent room, who would later switch for sleeping) to mitigate that risk.  

[bmsm6]

11 minutes ago, Homosassa said:

There was a thread on here by someone in a similar situation with multiple adult and child rooms.

 

If I member correctly, the way the scenario played out is that while some how the cabins were booked, either once on board (or maybe before boarding), the OP was notified  that the room switching would not be allowed as the minor children were required to be in the cabin adjacent to their parents (legal guardians). 

 

 

If you can find this thread, please share the link.  I'll try to search for it as well. 

[mjkacmom]

52 minutes ago, bmsm6 said:

True but in the single adult rooms that were originally booked for 2 people that become 1-person rooms, the cabin steward will have less work to only make 1 bed up.

Also I'm assuming the 4th bed wouldn't really be a 4th bed...it would just be 2 kids on the pull-out sofa instead of 1.

 

The only reason we'd rearrange would be for those single adults to not have to pay for a "no show".

I believe the sofa sleeps one, usually their is a Pullman in the ceiling to sleep the 4th, only some cabins have them. When you see sleeps 2 - 4, only a limited number sleep 4 and have the Pullman. You can check the symbols on the deck plans.

[matj2000]

Put the two adults to together.

 

Maybe they will hook-up....

[Ourusualbeach]

1 hour ago, mjkacmom said:

I believe the sofa sleeps one, usually their is a Pullman in the ceiling to sleep the 4th, only some cabins have them. When you see sleeps 2 - 4, only a limited number sleep 4 and have the Pullman. You can check the symbols on the deck plans.

The sofa sleeps 2.  On the few cabins on Oasis and Allure that had a sofabed and a Pullman Royal would book 5 guests in that room.

[brillohead]

On 11/10/2019 at 11:57 AM, Ourusualbeach said:

The sofa sleeps 2.  On the few cabins on Oasis and Allure that had a sofabed and a Pullman Royal would book 5 guests in that room.

Except for the sofa that they just take the cushions off the back and make it up as a bed.... it's basically like a "day bed"  -- twin size, no pull-out.

 

[brillohead]

As for the RCL rules about proximity to a parent, blah blah blah, I wouldn't try to "switch rooms" on board so much as "get extra keys" to family members'  rooms.

As long as room capacity (number of available beds) and proximity to parents is confirmed in the Cousin Rooms before booking, the two extra kids who are booked in rooms with single adults can just use an Extra Key to move into a Cousin Room, rather than officially switching rooms on Royal's books.  (If doing this, I would be sure to tip the Cousin Room cabin attendant extra cash for the extra work of making up the fourth bed, since the room would only be qualified for the gratuities/daily service charge from the three assigned occupants.) Any purchases made on the room key would be charged to their original room account, which can be paid for by their parents rather than the single adult in the room -- each passenger has a separate account.

Muster station capacity is also not an issue -- the child would go to the muster station of the single adult they are booked with, not the muster station of the room they are sleeping in.  And the child doesn't have to be within proximity of a parent's room if the single adult is considered to be their guardian for the purposes of the cruise -- I've taken my son's girlfriend on a cruise without her parents, and I'm her guardian on the cruise.

It will take lots of research to find room configurations that work, and I definitely recommend working with a travel agent who is familiar with Royal's booking policies (some special "certification" course is not needed -- just familiarity with how Royal works), but there is nothing wrong with avoiding Single Supplement for the single adults by booking a child into their rooms and having the child sleep in an available bed* in a different room (*or even on a couch that isn't technically a bed,  or on blow-up pool raft, or on a pile of blankets on the floor.... kids can and do sleep ANYwhere -- I think most of us have been to a slumber party / sleepover as a child where there are 5-10 kids on sleeping bags in the middle of the living room floor!!!).   Just make sure to compensate any affected room attendants with cash for their extra work, and enjoy the family cruise!