extra key card for family members in different cabin?

[CCJack]

We have 3 cabins booked for our family 1 interior (for our two college kids - this one is all set), 1 interior and 1 balcony. The last two are for my wife and I and our two high school kids. MSC has required us to split up and have one parent with one teen assigned to each room. They are all on the same floor - even if right across the hallway they do not allow the teens to be assigned a room ( RCCL will if I recall.)

 

So my question is will they assign an extra room entry key card - (total of 3 keys to get into the room.) So at least the two parents can get in both rooms. I know some cruiselines will do this. I am not concerned about charging, we will allow everyone to charge to their room and all goes on the same credit card.

 

I think if you ask for a replacement, then the original is deactivated, and that won't help us.

 

thanks.

[OneParticularHarbour 71]

We were on Divina last week and had the same situation in that we had 2 rooms booked for the 5 of us. Our kids are 19, 15, 12 and we were told we needed to book one parent in each room. (We booked my husband, 12, and 15yo in one room and me and 19 yo in the other.) When on the ship, the two oldest were in one room, and our youngest was in with my husband and I.

 

We went to guest services the first evening to see if we could get an extra room key for each room (so my son and I could each get into the room we are sleeping in). We were told it was not something that they normally can do and he went off to check with his manager. Before he left to check, he told us that they have had issues with the child losing the extra key and charges being made in the card.

 

When he came back from speaking with his manager, he said he would be able to give us 1 extra key only (and to only one room) and that I needed to write out a statement that I would be responsible for any charges made to that card.

 

So in the end, my 15 yo gave me his room key so I could get into the room I was sleeping in, and we gave him the extra room key that was printed that had my name on it. (So I then had 2 cards - the one with 15yo's name on it and one with my name on it, and my 15yo had one card with my name on it.)

 

I needed to give him his card when he needed to get on/off the ship or wanted to make purchases.

 

Sorry if this is long and confusing - the whole process was very odd. On other cruise lines we have always been able to get extra dummy keys that just open the room. I had read ahead of time that MSC couldn't do it, so I was happy to get that one extra key from them, but it wasn't the most convenient situation.

Edited June 7, 2017 by OneParticularHarbour 71

[CCJack]

thanks for the excellent reply, sounds like I may need to do some talking.... I am not sure I understand the cruise lines concern about charging, because in our case they will all have purchasing privileges and it all comes back to my credit card anyway. So the extra key card doesn't seem like more risk of losing than the kid's originally assigned card.

 

Worst case, if they don't give us extras my wife and 16 year old daughter will just swap cards while on the ship. We will always leave the ship as a group and they can swap then. This brings up another question.... while purchasing on board, does your photo come up for the employee to see? If so, then a permanent swap may prevent my wife from purchasing things. They do both have female sounding names and look somewhat alike, so maybe that will help ! Same question for the casino, do you need to provide your key card at the casino if my wife wants to play?

 

thank you.

[Beamafar]

............... question for the casino, do you need to provide your key card at the casino if my wife wants to play?

 

thank you.

 

Can't answer some of your questions, but this one I can. You don't need your cruisecard to play the slots if you're using cash. However, you miss out on accumulating points on the casino "loyalty" programme. Not a big deal as the rewards aren't particularly worth it. You won't be able to order drinks, either, while playing.

 

On the subject of your photo coming up in the system, I believe that that is what's supposed to happen to prevent others from purchasing items on someone else's lost (or stolen) card.

[wetwash]

We are also travelling with 4 teens (our two daughters and two friends) in July so my husband and I will be assigned different rooms and will need to get an additional card as well. Sounds like a pain. On RCL we received an extra card, no problem. Oh well. Thanks for the answer Oneparticularharbour. And CCJack, maybe they will change the policy by the time we go ;-)

[OneParticularHarbour 71]

I haven't filled out my online comment form yet but I will be sure to mention the extra card issue, hopefully if enough people mention it, they will fix it.

 

Hope you guys all have wonderful cruises!

[wetwash]

Thanks so much!!