How Worried Should I Be????

[luvbrady]

Booked a cruise back in Nov. There were 13 of us. Booked a connecting cabin for hubby and me, with the 4yr old and 8 year old next door with an Aunt. In Jan. the aunt decided to take her grandson. Okay-great! The more the merrier! We called and got her taken out of the kids room that connected with ours and put her in the cabin next to us (non-connecting).

 

Fast forward to today. Same said Aunt asks "Hey, where are our cabins?" We go to look at the deck plan only to realize that the luggage tags for our 4 yr old and 8 yr old are NOT for the connecting cabin- but for one 3 cabins down! WHAT????!!!!!

 

As it turns out, when the moved the aunt, we lost the cabin becuase it slept 3. #1 Clearly this was not communicated at the time, because we would have jumbled cabins and worked it out right then and there. #2 the booking agent who did not communicate the change violated their own policy by booking two minor children down the hall.

 

We're leaving in 3 weeks. The ship is very full. I was handling it very calmly until some idiot agent decided to use words like "children denied boarding" and "split the family up, down the hall" At which point my frustration level rose, although I am freaking out more here than I did with them.

 

Anyone have any experience with how RCCL fixes problems of their own creation? I may not hear back until Tuesday. No sleep for me!

[cruiseguy1016]

Until a couple of weeks ago you were allowed to book your children in a room " in the same general area" as yours. They changed the rule a couple of weeks ago so that now your children must be booked in an ajoining room or directly across the hall. So, by booking the kids in a room down the hall a couple months ago, it was allowed. I personally, would not have a problem with my kids being three doors down. My wife, on the other hand, would probably freak out.

[Merion_Mom]

You have my sympathies.

 

You booked this directly with RC yourself? No travel agent?

 

Are you C&A?

 

The offices are open today, but I don't know until what time. Try calling the C&A number.

 

You probably need the Resolutions Department, and they may only work Mon-Fri, though I don't actually know.

 

I wish that I had some specific words of wisdom for you; good luck is all I can say at 3:15 on a Saturday afternoon. I know that they CAN move other people if they need to, just as they moved you. Whether they will is another matter.

[Merion_Mom]

Until a couple of weeks ago you were allowed to book your children in a room " in the same general area" as yours. They changed the rule a couple of weeks ago so that now your children must be booked in an ajoining room or directly across the hall. So, by booking the kids in a room down the hall a couple months ago, it was allowed. I personally, would not have a problem with my kids being three doors down. My wife, on the other hand, would probably freak out.

 

She said that her children are FOUR and EIGHT years old! No way would I put kids that age more than a connecting door away from me!

[luvbrady]

Until a couple of weeks ago you were allowed to book your children in a room " in the same general area" as yours. They changed the rule a couple of weeks ago so that now your children must be booked in an ajoining room or directly across the hall. So, by booking the kids in a room down the hall a couple months ago, it was allowed. I personally, would not have a problem with my kids being three doors down. My wife, on the other hand, would probably freak out.

 

If they were 14 and 18 I'd be happy with them booked on another deck ;) But they're 4 and just 8. And when little dude wakes up the first thing he does is jump into bed with Mom.... I'm really not even comfortable with them being next door. I'll have a 4 year old out being Johnny Knocker at 3AM....

[trvlgrl422]

Are they staying in the room with the aunt? If so, that shouldn't be a problem. There are phones in the room.

[luvbrady]

You have my sympathies.

 

You booked this directly with RC yourself? No travel agent?

 

Are you C&A?

 

The offices are open today, but I don't know until what time. Try calling the C&A number.

 

You probably need the Resolutions Department, and they may only work Mon-Fri, though I don't actually know.

 

I wish that I had some specific words of wisdom for you; good luck is all I can say at 3:15 on a Saturday afternoon. I know that they CAN move other people if they need to, just as they moved you. Whether they will is another matter.

 

Thanks for the optimism..... Booked direct with RCCL Resolutions has been working on it since about 10:30 this AM (after an hour on hold). We are C&A... I like to be nice about things. I like to be patient and understanding. But if they tell my husband he's going to have to come running down the hall for a mid-nite booty call his head is going to explode LOL! I really don't want to be the ballistic shrew. I am hoping they will make this right. We had 8 cabins in our group last year, 7 this year..... Not that that makes us special, but still......

[trvlgrl422]

Oops, I reread the original post and realized that the kids are booked alone. Can't they move someone else? I would think that they could make a few phone calls and switch this for you. They do it for upgrading. Good luck. Let us know how you make out with this.

[EscapeCruises]

I use a travel agent! I know, there's the whole debate, but a good one knows that the young kids need to be adjoining... the RCI agents, or ordertakers as my TA likes to call them... don't know diddly squat!

 

And, they have no common sense at all. I hope the prob gets fixed, otherwise maybe a little creative configuring is needed.

 

You say there are 13 of you, possibly you can creatively swap rooms... How old is Aunties grandson? Maybe he is older and you can put him into a room with a young one, and auntie in another?

 

Maybe someone else in you party is in adjoining rooms and don't really need them?

Good luck.

[luvbrady]

I use a travel agent! I know, there's the whole debate, but a good one knows that the young kids need to be adjoining... the RCI agents, or ordertakers as my TA likes to call them... don't know diddly squat!

 

And, they have no common sense at all. I hope the prob gets fixed, otherwise maybe a little creative configuring is needed.

 

You say there are 13 of you, possibly you can creatively swap rooms... How old is Aunties grandson? Maybe he is older and you can put him into a room with a young one, and auntie in another?

 

Maybe someone else in you party is in adjoining rooms and don't really need them?

Good luck.

 

Would not put the kids in with the grandson. He's not a mature 12.

 

One of the couples has 2 girls, the other 2 boys. Maybe there's the solution LOL!!! Put my daughter in with the girls, my son in with the boys and viola! Adults only vacation for hubby and me LOL!

 

Here's hoping the upgrade fairy visits the people booked in the adjoining room we originally had booked!! Otherwise I might end up subconsciously giving them dirty looks all week

[Sea Island Lady]

Are the other children, in your group, staying in a stateroom with their parents, or do they also have connecting rooms?

 

Perhaps you could ask RCCL to upgrade your family into a suite that holds 4. Worse case, they put you all together in your stateroom. I'd be hesitant to have young children even in a connecting room.

[pmfan]

Good luck and keep us posted.

[dirtgirl]

You can put your DH in one room, and you in the other. No way in the world would I have kids that young on their own! I feel sorry for you, as obviously this is not what you planned.

[mmcipdn]

how about when you get on board, ask the people next to you to switch, or just bribe them with a few on board credits...

[luvbrady]

Thanks all. I will give an update as soon as we have one. They said it could be as late as Tuesday :( .

 

In the meantime- I'm calmer today. A six pack and flowers from hubby will do that! Starting to get re-excited, even though the reality that this might not go as planned has sunk in. You know the deal. This happens to other people....You hear about this kind of thing.... Guess it was my turn to be other people LOL

 

Still guardedly optimistic it will work out as planned. Either way, we're still going on a cruise. And there's no such thing as a bad cruise unless you allow it to become that way......Right???

[luvbrady]

Just an update for those who were interested......there is NO UPDATE :mad:

 

They said it could be as late as today.... I was really hoping for a case of under promise OVER deliver, but alas, alack... Counting the minutes until I can go home and call them. This call has the makings to not be as plesant as the others. I think I have been very patient....But it's running thin. I have had unwaivering faith it would be resolved in a highly satisfactory manner...now starting to faulter.

[kbt2]

WORST case scenerio...DH in with one child in cabin and u and the other child in another...not ideal, but better then no cruise, right? trying to be an optimist. LOL

Yes, we always have adjoining cabins for our 3 young children, with ours and does work well...so heads up to stay on top of it next go round.

Good luck and will be interested in outcome.

[CaribeDiver]

Booked a cruise back in Nov. There were 13 of us. Booked a connecting cabin for hubby and me, with the 4yr old and 8 year old next door with an Aunt. In Jan. the aunt decided to take her grandson. Okay-great! The more the merrier! We called and got her taken out of the kids room that connected with ours and put her in the cabin next to us (non-connecting).

 

Fast forward to today. Same said Aunt asks "Hey, where are our cabins?" We go to look at the deck plan only to realize that the luggage tags for our 4 yr old and 8 yr old are NOT for the connecting cabin- but for one 3 cabins down! WHAT????!!!!!

 

As it turns out, when the moved the aunt, we lost the cabin becuase it slept 3. #1 Clearly this was not communicated at the time, because we would have jumbled cabins and worked it out right then and there. #2 the booking agent who did not communicate the change violated their own policy by booking two minor children down the hall.

 

We're leaving in 3 weeks. The ship is very full. I was handling it very calmly until some idiot agent decided to use words like "children denied boarding" and "split the family up, down the hall" At which point my frustration level rose, although I am freaking out more here than I did with them.

 

Anyone have any experience with how RCCL fixes problems of their own creation? I may not hear back until Tuesday. No sleep for me!

 

Since your aunt and her grandson are in the room next to yours, why don't you have her & grandson switch with your kids? The room won't be connecting but, it will be right next door.

[luvbrady]

Since your aunt and her grandson are in the room next to yours, why don't you have her & grandson switch with your kids? The room won't be connecting but, it will be right next door.

 

We will probably end up doing that, but still splitting up. I'm just not comfortable with out an open door between the 2. If the 4 year old wakes up he b-lines for me. They're just way to young to be unattended, even next door. I'm one of those nervous Nellies.... You know the kids you see unattended at the pool? Yeah, well. They're not mine. I don't even like to get up to get a napkin or silverware with out a constant eye on them. It's a jungle out there LOL! We had 6 kids with us last year and I spent the entire pool side time taking inventory. 1-2-3-4-5....wait, ohhh there's 6. I felt like Rain Man :D

[kbt2]

ITA...lvbrady...no way would or should anyone leave a 4 & 8 yr.old in a cabin w/out connecting door. But, still a good idea to be next door with an adult in each room, as opposed to hauling it down the hall. Good Luck!

[pach]

Wow, good post, looking forward to the resolution.

[Apoggi]

I do hope you get the resolution you are hoping for. I would never put my young children three cabins down from me. I would keep on fighting RC until they give in the change things around.

 

Good luck.

[luvbrady]

Alrighty..... Now I REALLY need advice. So I called again :mad: And after yet another hour it would seem that the only progress made was confirming what I already knew, that the cabins we are booked in are not adjoining. :mad: DUH. No kidding.

 

So the question now becomes, how low do you go? I am used to being on Deck 6 and up. The current reservation is on deck 4- but it put all 7 of the cabins in our party on the same floor. And it still has a window.

 

Their solution(which was created and offered this evening on my 4th phone call) is to move us to adjoining cabins on Deck 3. So we go from window to porthole and are now seperated from the rest of the group- all who only know eachother through us.

 

Do I suck it up and just be thankful and take the cabins? Do I angle for something for the trauma and inconvienence? Do I tell them their solution kinda sucks (which I think she gathered when I suggested this was a downgrade).....

 

Advice appreciated. I am a bit miffed, I will say, not only at the "resolution" but mostly at the process. I get that the ship is very booked, but I spent a long time and there are a few key phrases that go a very long way.... "I'm sorry, I understand how frustrating this must be for you" "I appreciate your patience while I look into this" "I'm sorry no one got back to you when they thought they would be able to" Nothing. Only "Oh, that won't do" when they figured out THEIR BOOKING AGENT moved 2 little kids.

[dirtgirl]

Alrighty..... Now I REALLY need advice. So I called again :mad: And after yet another hour it would seem that the only progress made was confirming what I already knew, that the cabins we are booked in are not adjoining. :mad: DUH. No kidding.

 

So the question now becomes, how low do you go? I am used to being on Deck 6 and up. The current reservation is on deck 4- but it put all 7 of the cabins in our party on the same floor. And it still has a window.

 

Their solution(which was created and offered this evening on my 4th phone call) is to move us to adjoining cabins on Deck 3. So we go from window to porthole and are now seperated from the rest of the group- all who only know eachother through us.

 

Do I suck it up and just be thankful and take the cabins? Do I angle for something for the trauma and inconvienence? Do I tell them their solution kinda sucks (which I think she gathered when I suggested this was a downgrade).....

 

Advice appreciated. I am a bit miffed, I will say, not only at the "resolution" but mostly at the process. I get that the ship is very booked, but I spent a long time and there are a few key phrases that go a very long way.... "I'm sorry, I understand how frustrating this must be for you" "I appreciate your patience while I look into this" "I'm sorry no one got back to you when they thought they would be able to" Nothing. Only "Oh, that won't do" when they figured out THEIR BOOKING AGENT moved 2 little kids.

 

Take the connecting cabins. Yes, it is a downgrade, but the cruise is coming up rapidly, and you don't want the kids in a non-connecting room. That is what I would do. Whether you want to fight for further compensation is up to you.

 

If you want to stay on the same deck, put you in one cabin with one child, and DH in another with the other child.

[Suzanne74]

But if they tell my husband he's going to have to come running down the hall for a mid-nite booty call his head is going to explode LOL!

 

That is what the Kids Club is for. :D Seriously, there are a lot more times during the cruise for booty calls then late at night. :p

 

You can either keep the rooms to be close to everyone and put a parent with each kid at night (and do Kids Club Booty Calls) or take the connecting rooms. If you do take the connecting rooms, I would ask for the price difference in OBC.