Unique Room Swapping Question

Hello! I'm currently in the process of organizing and booking a family cruise for approximately 12 people. Most of it is pretty straightforward except we have one single cruiser and one family of three that includes a two year old. I've found a great deal on the sailing we're interested in but all that is left are cabins that accommodate two. I spoke to a planner and they suggested why not just book two rooms and put the single person with someone in the first room and the remaining two in the second room.

This sounds like an intriguing idea but it's still not quite ideal. We know that we could book the two rooms as connecting rooms, so my question is if it would be possible for the toddler to stay with her parents in a pack and play and let the single person have the 2nd room by themselves? Obviously we're paying full fare for all 4 people, but it's just a matter of comfort and logistics. Any thoughts or insight are appreciated!

The ship people don't care about the sleeping arrangements, you should have no problem moving the child.

It won't be a problem on the ship. When our kids were little, there weren't any quad rooms available and there weren't any connecting doubles left either. We ended up booking two doubles with me in one with one child and my husband in one with the other child. Once on the ship, we just stayed in one cabin and the other stayed empty. Our two year old slept in the bed with us and the room steward brought us a trundle for our 4 year old. It worked out perfectly for us and no one on the ship cared.

Would you be able to get a key to the other room if you are booked in a different room?

Can't see any problem with that.

Would you be able to get a key to the other room if you are booked in a different room?

Yep provided the person booked in the room authorises it.

Would you be able to get a key to the other room if you are booked in a different room?

Yes, you just go to Guest Services once onboard. They'll give you a card that says KEY ONLY.

We did it with 4 sisters. Two of the sisters had never cruised before and the other two had the status which qualified for the upgraded room. We separated ourselves so we actually had two upgraded rooms. Once on board we asked for the change at the pursers desk. No problem.

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Would you be able to get a key to the other room if you are booked in a different room?

Yes, Guest Services can issue the extra key.

This is great news! I head read that room swapping wasn't an issue, but I was concerned that, even with connecting rooms, when we asked the room steward to set up a pack and play in a room that already had 2 people, they would not allow it. Sounds like that shouldn't be an issue, which is good!

As everyone has said, no problem, RC doesn't care where the child sleeps. Lots of people switch cabin members around.

Just a heads up though - pack and play is not real big. Make sure the child can sleep in one. You might have to improvise and make a "bed" on the sofa in the cabin. Used to be they had height and weight requirements for the pack and play.

Also can affect muster stations if child was not officially listed in the cabin.

Which ship? Harmony and Anthem (and Quantum and Ovation) have cards with RFID chips. They are not keen (won't???) give an extra "key card".

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Which ship? Harmony and Anthem (and Quantum and Ovation) have cards with RFID chips. They are not keen (won't???) give an extra "key card".

 

 

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Good point, I hadn't thought that myself...

Bringing this back from the dead! We actually booked today, using the arrangement referenced in my first post (woo for officially booking!) However, I am now looking at the pack and play details on the Royal Caribbean site and nervous that the toddler may be too large for the pack and play. At the very least it seems like she might be a little uncomfortable in it.

Doing a little more research, I've seen people referencing the same issue and that they asked the room steward to simply put sheets on the couch and set it up for the toddler. (It's not a room with a sofa bed couch, but it does seem like the couch would be plenty of large for a 36 month old.) Then they either used the pack and play or something like it as a barrier to deal with any issues of falling off.

Anyone have experience with this? Again, based on what I'm reading it seems to be fine, but I'm a worrier, so gotta check. Thanks again for everyone's help!

Bringing this back from the dead! We actually booked today, using the arrangement referenced in my first post (woo for officially booking!) However, I am now looking at the pack and play details on the Royal Caribbean site and nervous that the toddler may be too large for the pack and play. At the very least it seems like she might be a little uncomfortable in it.

 

Doing a little more research, I've seen people referencing the same issue and that they asked the room steward to simply put sheets on the couch and set it up for the toddler. (It's not a room with a sofa bed couch, but it does seem like the couch would be plenty of large for a 36 month old.) Then they either used the pack and play or something like it as a barrier to deal with any issues of falling off.

 

Anyone have experience with this? Again, based on what I'm reading it seems to be fine, but I'm a worrier, so gotta check. Thanks again for everyone's help!

Recently on Harmony and our cabin steward made up the couch for toddler (3 yr. old) and rolled up a couple of bath towels and put them under the sheet for an improvised bed rail....this worked easily and well.

Well, the question wasn't nearly as fun as I thought it would be based on the title..;p

Which ship? Harmony and Anthem (and Quantum and Ovation) have cards with RFID chips. They are not keen (won't???) give an extra "key card".

 

 

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we got around that by getting wow bands.

My DS, DD and Me registered in one room

FIL and DH registered in another 3 doors down...so close but not attached. We did it that way in case FIL backed out could not have just a 13 YO registered for a room.

Went to guest services and got 1 wow bands for each room. DH gave his to DS and vise versa. Since we didn't care about room charges it was no big deal.

although our cabins where close together (3 doors apart) we actually had 2 different muster stations. We each went to our assigned muster station. No issues at all.

In fact it worked out great since all 5 of us had the dinning plan and DH and I had the drink package. At every specialty they needed a room key from each room. FIL didn't have to bother or worry about what was going on.

We did a RCCL cruise with 3 families 13 total people. Each family booked their own cabins. Once on board the kids wanted to swap rooms, so sister and brother weren't in the same room. Guest Services had no problem swapping out room cards.

We did something similar are a carnival cruise. We put my 2 year old on my sisters reservation, but she stayed in out cabin. I don't remember the full sleeping arrangement from 10 years ago.

I know we might do some switching on this years cruise. My dad is booked in a jr spa suite. My sister and her husband have a balcony cabin. I think my dad wants to give my sister the bigger cabin.

Book however it gets you the lowest price...and you can move folks about once on the ship. For instance, if 2 couples are traveling and one couple is entitled to a "senior" discount, you can book those 2 people in separate rooms, with the other couple split so that BOTH rooms get the discount. Once on the ship, you simply switch back to the correct couples in each cabin. It's done all the time, and it's not a problem.

We booked our 4-year-old in a room with my father-in-law. Once we get on the ship, he'll just remain in the room with us. He's too young to even walk around with his own key. I will carry his sea pass card accordingly. I also made all our reservations where it linked my father-in-law's and sons together with ours. I also had my younger sister do the same thing with her 4-year old daughter. She is reserved with my brother, on the ship she will remain with my sister and hubby.

Well, the question wasn't nearly as fun as I thought it would be based on the title..;p

we got around that by getting wow bands.

 

VERY clever. Kudos. :)

We did something similar on Oasis- 2 adults and one child booked in junior suite. A month before sailing my sister wanted to go... we moved the child into an inside room with her so she wouldn't have to pay double price. Our room steward for the junior suite had an absolute fit when he found out my son was going to sleep in our room (we asked him to make up the pull out couch). He was really quite nasty about it and insisted we move him into our room at guest services so he would get his tips! Those were his words. He was the worst room steward I've ever had!!

We did something similar on Oasis- 2 adults and one child booked in junior suite. A month before sailing my sister wanted to go... we moved the child into an inside room with her so she wouldn't have to pay double price. Our room steward for the junior suite had an absolute fit when he found out my son was going to sleep in our room (we asked him to make up the pull out couch). He was really quite nasty about it and insisted we move him into our room at guest services so he would get his tips! Those were his words. He was the worst room steward I've ever had!!

No excuses for him being nasty - that should never happen. However, I wonder when people move family members around, especially kids, do they think to make the appropriate adjustment to the daily billing of tips. Even cabins next door to each other could have different stewards.

In the case above, your son's tips would go to the room steward for your sister's room, and yet the work went to your steward. Definitely he shouldn't have been nasty, but he might have had a lot of cabins and feeling pressure from his supervisor if he wasn't quick enough.

No excuses for him being nasty - that should never happen. However, I wonder when people move family members around, especially kids, do they think to make the appropriate adjustment to the daily billing of tips. Even cabins next door to each other could have different stewards.

 

In the case above, your son's tips would go to the room steward for your sister's room, and yet the work went to your steward. Definitely he shouldn't have been nasty, but he might have had a lot of cabins and feeling pressure from his supervisor if he wasn't quick enough.

I was going to move him into our cabin anyways so we could be in the same muster station, so he would have gotten the tips anyways. We were really put off with his horrible attitude and he got zero extra tips besides what the cruise line charges us. He was so surly the entire trip and we were kinda scared of him!