Advice on booking multiple staterooms for growing family

[CruisingDad]

I am seeking advice on booking a cruise for our growing family. My wife and I have done several RCCL cruises with our young adult daughters in their own stateroom. Now one is getting married, so the new couple will get their own stateroom, and our younger daughter will have her own stateroom. We will allow her to bring a friend if she wants, but the cruise in question is nearly a year away.

 

If we designate the name of her suitemate now, can that be changed later? If so, how late?

 

If she ends up being solo with a no-show suitemate, will there be unexpected costs? I realize that we will not be able to recoup any costs (eg gratuities) going from two in the cabin down to one, but I just want to make sure that there aren't any unusual fees for a cabin-mate that simply does not appear.

 

For the married couple - I assume we can pay for their stateroom ourselves, then have them set up their stateroom account with their own CC for incidentals?

 

[Biker19]

14 minutes ago, CruisingDad said:

If we designate the name of her suitemate now, can that be changed later? If so, how late?

Yes, about two days out.

 

No extra costs for a no-show - you'll get a refund for taxes for the no-show.

 

Yes, you can pay for all the cabins and the occupants pay the rest.

Edited May 20 by Biker19

[kitkat343]

I think the only "cost" associated with the no show versus booking as a single is that some cruise lines allow you to get double points when booking a double cabin as a single passenger.  However, ships are sailing fuller these days and if the overall lifeboat capacity is reached, if your daughter's cruise is initially booked as a single, then she might not be able to add a friend later.  So you are better off adding a friend at booking and changing the reservation or no showing the friend later.  As noted above, all taxes and fees will be refunded on a no show and as long as the original passenger remains the same, RC is good about letting you switch (I think pretty late but am not certain of the exact date).

 

Edited May 20 by kitkat343

[cruiseguy1016]

5 hours ago, CruisingDad said:

I am seeking advice on booking a cruise for our growing family. My wife and I have done several RCCL cruises with our young adult daughters in their own stateroom. Now one is getting married, so the new couple will get their own stateroom, and our younger daughter will have her own stateroom. We will allow her to bring a friend if she wants, but the cruise in question is nearly a year away.

 

If we designate the name of her suitemate now, can that be changed later? If so, how late?

You can change the name up to 72 hours prior to the cruise.

If she ends up being solo with a no-show suitemate, will there be unexpected costs? I realize that we will not be able to recoup any costs (eg gratuities) going from two in the cabin down to one, but I just want to make sure that there aren't any unusual fees for a cabin-mate that simply does not appear.

Gratuities are charged per person, not per stateroom. You will only pay gratuities for the number of guests actually in the cabin. If you prepay gratuities before the cruise, they will be refunded along with taxes and port fees.

For the married couple - I assume we can pay for their stateroom ourselves, then have them set up their stateroom account with their own CC for incidentals?

Correct.

 

[CruisingDad]

Thank you all very much!

[brillohead]

19 hours ago, kitkat343 said:

However, ships are sailing fuller these days and if the overall lifeboat capacity is reached, if your daughter's cruise is initially booked as a single, then she might not be able to add a friend later.  So you are better off adding a friend at booking and changing the reservation or no showing the friend later.

 

This is actually incorrect.  Other than the "studio" single rooms, all room are automatically allowed two lifeboat spots, even if only one person is booked in the room.  

The problem arises if it's a room that holds 3-4 passengers, but only two people are initially booked.  When they try to add a third person, they may run into the lifeboat capacity issue.

But anytime you book a regular (non-studio) room with just one person, you can ALWAYS add another person up until the time the manifest is closed out for that cruise.  

[NorthStarStateCruiser]

4 hours ago, brillohead said:

 

This is actually incorrect.  Other than the "studio" single rooms, all room are automatically allowed two lifeboat spots, even if only one person is booked in the room.  

The problem arises if it's a room that holds 3-4 passengers, but only two people are initially booked.  When they try to add a third person, they may run into the lifeboat capacity issue.

But anytime you book a regular (non-studio) room with just one person, you can ALWAYS add another person up until the time the manifest is closed out for that cruise.  

I had never heard this before, so thank you for the information.

 

It is interesting though because it doesn't seem like it would be in Royal Caribbean's interest to "reserve" a spot for solo passengers in double occupancy rooms as they could gain revenue by allowing additional passengers in rooms that accommodate more than two.

[brillohead]

22 minutes ago, NorthStarStateCruiser said:

I had never heard this before, so thank you for the information.

 

It is interesting though because it doesn't seem like it would be in Royal Caribbean's interest to "reserve" a spot for solo passengers in double occupancy rooms as they could gain revenue by allowing additional passengers in rooms that accommodate more than two.

 

I found out about the differentiation between a solo in a double room and adding a third/fourth to a room about ten years ago.  I mostly travel solo, and was looking into the need to book a "just in case" name in the event that I wanted to add someone to my room down the road... that's how I learned about two lifeboat spots for each room regardless of booking.

I'm guessing that there is probably a SOLAS regulation in this regard?  Because as you note, it's not in Royal's best (financial) interest to limit the amount of revenue they could be getting.