Cancelling 5th person in family oceanview - cabin reassignment?

[karebare22]

Sailing on Serenade in March (11-day Southern Caribbean), final payment is due next week :eek:. Our family of 4 + my mother-in-law are booked in a family oceanview stateroom. Unfortunately, MIL has had some health issues the past couple of months and the decision was made to cancel her booking. My question/concern: If we cancel her from the reservation (she actually has a separate reservation number since she is the 5th person in the room), will we be reassigned to a standard OV cabin since we no longer meet the 5 person minimum for the family oceanview? I'm hoping we'll be able to keep the cabin since we prefer the higher deck 8 location, whereas the available OV cabins are on deck 3. We're also considering booking a balcony cabin for the 4 of us, but there are only a couple of cabins left, and it will cost $3000 more! Thanks!

[jticarruthers]

Don't have a definite answer for you, I know on a recent cruise I asked about cancelling the third person in my E1 balcony and was immediately warned that this would cause me to be moved to an E2/E3 which would trigger a reprice and a steep increase.

 

Think as in all things RCI it will probably depend on who you speak to and whether they know their own rules, technically I believe the answer is yes you "should" be moved out of the Family cabin, but it probably depends on a whole lot of variables ...

[Paul65]

Sometimes they release cabins like this for booking with fewer than the normal minimum passengers. You can also book a cabin with a 5-person minimum for fewer people, if you're willing to pay the base fare of five.

 

So, the answer is basically that it depends. They might be willing to let you stay in the same cabin paying for one less person, or they might not. You will almost certainly have the option of keeping the cabin if you don't get a refund for the 5th fare, though.

[John&LaLa]

Last night the Jan 31 voyage of Freedom would allow 1 person in a FO.

[robtulipe]

I suspect at this late date RC will allow the four of you to stay in your FOV as they are unlikely to sell it to a five person group prior to sailing. The two of us were allowed to book a FOV on Navigator around the same time as they usually relax the occupancy requirement to fill the ship. One other time the two of us were assigned a FOV for Y Gty.

IMO, RCI feels it better to have two in such a cabin rather than none so to have four is even better occupancy wise. :D

The same goes for accessible cabins, which we don't require, but have been assigned these for a couple of our guarantee bookings and were able to select accessibles around the final payment date for four of our cruises.

If not booked by then the cruiseline will release these to the general population, again to fill the ship for that sailing.

Edited December 18, 2015 by robtulipe

[Coralc]

I think you will be fine, especially since it is a different reservation number.

[karebare22]

Thanks everyone for your replies, very helpful! Still not decided, but we still have a few days to think about it. Leaning towards keeping my MILs reservation (thanks for the suggestion dada2199cc) since it was a 50% off fare so not a huge loss, I wasn't aware that we could get the tax portion back. However, we are booked for my time dining so gratuities need to be prepaid with our final payment. Will we be able to receive a refund for that too (once onboard)?

[John&LaLa]

Thanks everyone for your replies, very helpful! Still not decided, but we still have a few days to think about it. Leaning towards keeping my MILs reservation (thanks for the suggestion dada2199cc) since it was a 50% off fare so not a huge loss, I wasn't aware that we could get the tax portion back. However, we are booked for my time dining so gratuities need to be prepaid with our final payment. Will we be able to receive a refund for that too (once onboard)?

 

I don't think grats need to be prepaid for MTD anymore

[Coralc]

Will we be able to receive a refund for that too (once onboard)?

 

Not unless she is cancelled.

 

If you cancel her before final payment she will receive the full amount back.

 

Depending on the cancellation schedule, after final payment she will receive all amounts, less deposit back.

 

And then the refunds decrease. The last option would be a refund of taxes and fees and gratuities shortly before sailing. But I don't think you will be able to claim a refund of the gratuities onboard, if you leave it as a no show. You might be able to argue for a refund of them after you return home.

 

That is true, you could drop the gratuities portion before final payment. That would be the better thing to do.

Edited December 18, 2015 by Coralc

[Retired LEO]

However, we are booked for my time dining so gratuities need to be prepaid with our final payment. Will we be able to receive a refund for that too (once onboard)?

 

I don't think grats need to be prepaid for MTD anymore

 

Correct. That is no longer a requirement for MTD.

[karebare22]

I don't think grats need to be prepaid for MTD anymore

 

Thanks, I'd forgotten about that. The reason we added the prepaid grats to the reservation is because it is paid in CDN dollars....saves us over 30% with the exchange rate. We'll make the final payment, but exclude the gratuities. If we happen to find someone to take MILs place, I imagine it's ok to change the name on the reservation?

[robtulipe]

Thanks, I'd forgotten about that. The reason we added the prepaid grats to the reservation is because it is paid in CDN dollars....saves us over 30% with the exchange rate. We'll make the final payment, but exclude the gratuities. If we happen to find someone to take MILs place, I imagine it's ok to change the name on the reservation?

 

Yes, as long as one original person remains in the cabin all others can be change.

[warezbabe]

We sailed on the Freedom recently. We originally booked a family cabin for 5, but had to drop to 4 after the final payment was made. We received the appropriate refund, but we're forced out of the family cabin and put into a similar costing cabin at the current market value. After the final payment you will not receive a reimbursement but any used funds. I know the rooms open for booking to lesser occupants, but in our case this argument didn't get us anything. Good luck!