Carnival's Crazy Key Caper

[CasinoDiver]

What is the deal with Carnival's policy of not allowing young adults to register in a cabin unless accompanied by someone 25+?? Just back off the Carnival Conquest and our 18 & 23 yr old daugthers were not allowed to register in the same cabin! So, my wife was registered in one cabin with one daugther and the other daugther with me. What a ridiculous policy that caused nothing but key swap problems!

 

Imagine paying that many thousand $$ for a vacation and NOT having a key to your own cabin!! Does Carnival really believe I'm sharing a cabin with my 18 yr old and not my wife? How bout' the time my wife goes to the bar with my daughter's S&S card (the one that opens the door to our cabin) and can't by a drink because the card says she's not over 21?!?

 

Trips to the Purser's desk where futile. They simply said there was nothing they could do. Just an extra key to our cabin (not linked to the charge card) would have worked.

 

I've got to believe this policy can be amended to a bit more guest friendly. My 18 yr old can lose all the money she can muster in Carnival's casino- but can't register to share a cabin with her 23 yr old sister?

Am I the only one that thinks this is insane?

 

I think next year it will be another cruise line- even if Carnival owns that one too. :confused:

[kujobie]

Yea, this is a lame policy/procedure. They made us book this way for our upcoming cruise in April '06, with myself and DS in one cabin and friendgirl and DD in another. But Dear PVP says it will not be a problem, just inform the staff at check-in and they will get it straightened out. Then I read posts like this and I get worried. And yet others don't seem to have a problem. I think I will have DPVP put something in writing prior to the cruise so we don't have to deal with this. Between the wedding and the rooms, I am handing them around $6,000. I am NOT going to have to struggle to get a couple extra room keys.

[big_duck]

What is the deal with Carnival's policy of not allowing young adults to register in a cabin unless accompanied by someone 25+?? Just back off the Carnival Conquest and our 18 & 23 yr old daugthers were not allowed to register in the same cabin! So, my wife was registered in one cabin with one daugther and the other daugther with me. What a ridiculous policy that caused nothing but key swap problems!

 

Imagine paying that many thousand $$ for a vacation and NOT having a key to your own cabin!! Does Carnival really believe I'm sharing a cabin with my 18 yr old and not my wife? How bout' the time my wife goes to the bar with my daughter's S&S card (the one that opens the door to our cabin) and can't by a drink because the card says she's not over 21?!?

 

Trips to the Purser's desk where futile. They simply said there was nothing they could do. Just an extra key to our cabin (not linked to the charge card) would have worked.

 

I've got to believe this policy can be amended to a bit more guest friendly. My 18 yr old can lose all the money she can muster in Carnival's casino- but can't register to share a cabin with her 23 yr old sister?

Am I the only one that thinks this is insane?

 

I think next year it will be another cruise line- even if Carnival owns that one too. :confused:

 

I had no problem booking my Daughters in a seperate cabin at all and I booked direct through Carnival.

[momof4boys]

Just back from the Elation. Our first stop was Purser's desk and they made the additional keys there with no problem. However, I have read many posts re: The Conquest and it seems that ship does not allow extra keys--for any reason. I read one mom's post saying her son was hard of hearing and they still would not issue a duplicate key to her (in event of an emergancy!)

[momofzeke]

I also booked my DS's in one cabin, and myself and DH in another. That was on our Pride cruise in 2004. I'm getting ready to book the Miracle, at the time of sailing our sons will be 23 and 20 ~ hope I don't run into this problem! I used a TA last time.

[Astronomer]

Don’t mean to defend Carnival on this one... but I can tell you why.

 

 

It really isn’t Carnival, it is the insurance company that covers them. Same thing with Car Rental, notice you have to be 24 years old to rent a car from most places?

 

It is the same deal.

 

If Carnival violates this, it skyrockets their premiums and they raise the cruise rates. So they will look the other way if you work it out yourself, but they cant help you do it, if they help you, they are then liable without insurance.

 

Realize that a lot of policies like this for any major company is not necessarily driven by the company itself, but regulations from insurance, government etc.

[CasinoDiver]

We too booked directly with Carnival and were not allowed to book the daughters together. If you TA tells you that you can "straighten it out" at check-in, I'd take that as a warning sign that it might not be that easy.

 

Overall the Conquest was OK....but they certainly aren't issuing extra keys for any reason at the Purser's desk...and when we tried to "straighten it out" they said "sorry, no can do".

 

Back to Princess!

[jess43]

On my first cruise on the Triumph I was only 20 and was allowed to stay in the room with my boyfriend (husband now), he was 23 then. With No problems. But my parents did book the cruise, so maybe that had something to do with it.

[tribbs1]

We had 2 triples on our June 12th Conquest sailing. We were able to take all 6 keys to the pursers desk and get the 3 teenagers keyed for 1 room, and the rest of us (me, hubby, and 10 yr old) keyed for the other cabin. They would not issue an extra key to me for the kids room. Others have said they were able to get extra keys. The purser told me the computer would not allow more keys than occupants to be coded. Now if it really is a question of an age requirement then how in the world did all those girls on a H.S. graduation trip w/o adults manage to get their cabins? The real problem is that there is no consistency and that confuses and annoys everyone. If the cruise lines want an adult in each cabin then they need to make their cabins more family friendly. What they really need is to add more adjoined cabins. That would solve a lot of the problems that us w/larger families have.

[CasinoDiver]

Well...it sure does appear to be a consistency issue because they certainly make it clear they would not be re-keying our cabins. The car rental insurance answer analogy doesn't make any sense....sleeping in a bed does not equate the same insurance risk as climbing behind the wheel of a rental vehicle. But, I did get a good chuckle.

 

Oh, well.....next time we'll just make sure we're not caught in that trap because it IS a hassle.

[big_duck]

If anyone gives you are hard time when booking just refer them to article 2(f) of Carnival's T&Cs

 

http://www.carnival.com/CMS/Static_Templates/ticket_contract.aspx

 

(f) Carnival shall refuse boarding to any Guest under the age of twenty-one unless: (1) the Guest is traveling in the same stateroom with an individual twenty-five years or older; (2) traveling in the same stateroom with their spouse; or (3) traveling with a parent or guardian in an accompanying stateroom. Proof of age and/or proof of marriage are required. Carnival shall not be liable to make any refunds or for any damages with respect to any Guest’s failure to provide proper proof of age or marriage or otherwise comply with this provision.

[silentbob007]

The rule makes sense to me (as long as family's can still get keys made) ... it keeps the "college" crowd (that I'm still apart of ;)) from having the token 21 year old book the party room for the rest of the underage group.

[MrsBoo]

We book our ds & dd (teens) across the hall from us thru PVP. No hassle at all. BTW Carnival is not the only cruise line with the age requirements.

[joepeka]

We booked two adjacent cabins on our next cruise - one for DW and I, the other for our DD's (18, 23) without any problem through our TA.

[nybumpkin]

When we booked Conquest last year, the policy still permitted minors to be booked in cabins as long as parents/guardians were booked on the same cruise. The policy has since changed; for our Legend cruise, I'm booked in the inside cabin with older 2 sons, while DH is booked in the balcony cabin with youngest son. (We book guarantees; I know it's different if you book specific cabins.) Our 2 youngest are young enough that it's not a problem; DH and I will carry the younger sons' cards (they have no charging privileges and aren't in the cabin by themselves) while older son carries his own card.

[Susky]

We booked one cabin with myself and my son (16) and another cabin with my DW and daughter (19) because the TA said they could only book that way. Like other said, I was told that the purser's desk would fix it easily.

 

Also like the others, it was quite a pain to get things changed. I originally just tried to get an extra key for each cabin, and the guy at the desk didn't want to do that. He did reluctantly move the kids into the interior cabin and the DW into my balcony cabin.

[mc'smom]

Ok so your only complaint is your wife had your daughters sail and sign card that is clearly printed with your daughters name on it and could not get a drink ?

 

Could your wife not have used her own card ?

this arrangement was simply to follow Carnival's Policy.. It's not like the sail & sign card isn't legible ...

 

What would have happened if your wife had your DD's card disembarking in one of the ports ? Or better yet embarking in one of the ports with her ( DD ) picture encoded on it.. Your wife could still be at the pier...

 

If your only complaint was that you had to register one adult and one minor ( according to carnival ) to a cabin.. I would say you had a fabulous vacation...

By the way I think that is the policy on most if not all cruiselines....

:)

[BrendaB1]

Cruising is affordable to the younger generation now. More high school & college kids are cruising now, especially around Spring Break. Just like many hotels.....age restrictions should help prevent kids gone wild. Seems they are protecting their best interest, insurance & property wise. Getting extra keys for your cabin should not be a problem.

[Hootsie]

If anyone gives you are hard time when booking just refer them to article 2(f) of Carnival's T&Cs

 

http://www.carnival.com/CMS/Static_Templates/ticket_contract.aspx

 

 

Thank you! I printed this out "just in case". We booked two triples on the Valor for spring 2006. We want our two daughters and friend in one room (across the hall) and one in our room. I've heard it can be done, but don't want any problem when we board.

[momofzeke]

I just booked the Miracle for March 2006, 2 cabins ~ 1 for DH and myself, 1 for DS #1 (23), his girlfriend (22), and DS #2 (20). My PVP said it was no problem to have the kids in their own cabin as long as they are travelling with us and our cabin is next to them or nearby. We did book specific cabins, and not Guarantee cabins. Not sure how that would work with Gty cabins.

 

Miracle, here we come!