Booking children in connecting cabin

[indual]

I had researched this previously and had not found any information in the forums that was conclusive on whether minors could be booked in an adjoining room without an adult in the room with them.

 

Our travel agent was able to book 2 cabins on the Norwegian Bliss with my wife and I in one room and my two children (10 and 13) in an adjoining room. 

 

I wanted to do this so we had didn't have to get the UBP for both rooms for my wife and I to have the beverage package, while that selection would go to waste for our children.

 

A couple of cautions:

1. you will have to call to book entertainment as you cannot create an account online for anyone under 14.
2. I was able to find a way to do most of the check in documentation online using NCL.com/oci but the minor cannot agree to the T&C so i called in and a reservation agent sent our info to documentation-NCL@ncl.com and asked them to email us the documentation to approve.  I responded to the email, then they sent the edocs we will need for boarding.

Edited May 17, 2019 by Host Carolyn
Fix title for op

[Turtles06]

Whew, I thought from the thread title that the kids next door were harassing you!   🤣

[Bowmanvilletravel]

Actually if you get the promo UBP they don’t force you to buy a soda package for the kids. Just a heads up for next time. 

[mjkacmom]

Lucky you, they made us book our 19 and 20 year olds with one of us in each cabin, they were connecting.

[mjkacmom]

1 minute ago, Bowmanvilletravel said:

Actually if you get the promo UBP they don’t force you to buy a soda package for the kids. Just a heads up for next time. 

They booked 2 cabins and have the kids in a separate cabin so they wouldn’t have to waste a UPB perk on a soda package, which is usually the case.

[Two Wheels Only]

Please report back after boarding the ship and let us know if you were given a hard time durjng check-in. Some people have gotten through and others have had to (on paper) put 1 adult in each stateroom.

 

NCL has conflicting info throughout their website which leads to different answers and results.

[bluesea777]

9 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

They booked 2 cabins and have the kids in a separate cabin so they wouldn’t have to waste a UPB perk on a soda package, which is usually the case.

 

Surprised the travel agent was able to book 2 kids in a room without an adult. NCL's policy is that kids must be booked in a room with an adult aged 21 or over. No exceptions.

 

One reason is lifeboat muster drills. Adjoining cabins may not be assigned to same muster station. Therefore an adult must be with the child when attending to same muster station.

 

Please check your cruise documents. Or maybe the travel agent didn't put in the kids' ages/DOB when booking the cruise for you?

 

 

 

[mjkacmom]

1 minute ago, bluesea777 said:

 

Surprised the travel agent was able to book 2 kids in a room without an adult. NCL's policy is that kids must be booked in a room with an adult aged 21 or over. No exceptions.

 

One reason is lifeboat muster drills. Adjoining cabins may not be assigned to same muster station. Therefore an adult must be with the child when attending to same muster station.

 

Please check your cruise documents. Or maybe the travel agent didn't put in the kids' ages/DOB when booking the cruise for you?

 

 

 

I’m curious too. Before the UBP was a perk, NCL allowed children under 21 to be booked in connecting, adjoining, or across the hall cabins. After the USB perk, it was no longer allowed.

[bluesea777]

8 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

I’m curious too. Before the UBP was a perk, NCL allowed children under 21 to be booked in connecting, adjoining, or across the hall cabins. After the USB perk, it was no longer allowed.

 

Not sure if the UBP was the reason, but they have built more newer and BIGGER ships and the inside cabins are no longer opposite the balcony cabins which meant the kids would be further away from parents. Also there are too many people on the big ships so the new policy was created for safety for families with children.

 

Also, "adjoining" doesn't always mean the cabins are connected by a door within the cabins. Adjoining means two cabins next to one other without internal connecting door.

Edited May 16, 2019 by bluesea777

[mjkacmom]

2 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

 

Not sure if the UBP was the reason, but they have built more newer and BIGGER ships and the inside cabins are no longer opposite the balcony cabins which meant the kids would be further away from parents. Also there are too many people on the big ships so the new policy was created for safety for families with children.

But there should be no reason why they couldn’t keep the policy for connecting or adjoining cabins, or across the hall on the smaller ships. The policy changed right around the time of the free perks. My 19 and 20 year olds ended up with the soda package, although they were allowed to drink beer and wine because I signed the waiver, but had to pay for it.

[YankeesFan4Life]

I booked two adjoining balcony rooms on Deck 12 of Breakaway (WAY aft of the Splash Academy) for my family of 4.  Wife and 13yo daughter in 1 room, myself and 15yo son in the other.  This was fine because wife and I both got UBP and kids got soda.  No problems at all booking any entertainment online (sailing Aug 11). And yes, they did say that we had to do it this way, due to the muster.  ALSO.....it affected our OBC if we did it another way.  Wife and I get Latitudes promo OBC in each room.  My son was the only past guest, but he was 3, so wouldn't qualify anyway...

[NLH Arizona]

2 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

But there should be no reason why they couldn’t keep the policy for connecting or adjoining cabins, or across the hall on the smaller ships. The policy changed right around the time of the free perks. My 19 and 20 year olds ended up with the soda package, although they were allowed to drink beer and wine because I signed the waiver, but had to pay for it.

My guess would be that something happened during the old policy, lawsuit possibly, and that is why they changed the policy.  Now if people break the policy and something happens, NCL would not be held respondible.

Edited May 16, 2019 by NLH Arizona

[Newleno]

6 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

Whew, I thought from the thread title that the kids next door were harassing you!   🤣

yeah that is the only reason why i looked at the thread

[bonvoyagie]

Long before the perks - I am talking 2003 we had to have an adult in each room for documentation purposes - there were very few connecting cabins on the Sky and the rules then were either connecting or nothing - we were in a balcony and our teen aged kids were in an inside about 8 cabins away. Once onboard, we went to the front desk and had extra room keys made for each room - that way we all had keys to both cabins - one key could be used to charge things the other could not.

 

I do remember sometime afterwards they relaxed things to allow kids in adjacent cabins or across the hall or within a given number of rooms. Now it appears that they don't.

 

However the workaround we used still works once onboard.

 

BTW their room steward always let us know which direction and when they left the cabin.

[scuba vaca]

My family was able to book adjoining cabin for there children, 18yo and 16yo. I called and talked to the cruise consultant. He said the "kids have to be in adjoining cabin, did not have to connecting. Also can not be across the hall. My niece is 18 so it is different. Haven't cruised yet so well see. 

[indual]

A couple of clarifications on my original post.

 

These are connecting rooms, not just adjoining.  As others have mentioned the wording on NCL is not completely clear on whether this is allowed and I have seen conflicting feedback on it.

 

 

16 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

Whew, I thought from the thread title that the kids next door were harassing you!   🤣

Ha yes, one letter can make a big difference (Booing Vs. Booking)

 

16 hours ago, Bowmanvilletravel said:

Actually if you get the promo UBP they don’t force you to buy a soda package for the kids. Just a heads up for next time. 

Yes but we would have to use the free perk of UBP in both rooms vs. using a different perk in the minor's room

There is also no NCL previous cruiser credit, if there was it probably would have negated the value of getting wifi vs UBP in both rooms

 

 

15 hours ago, Two Wheels Only said:

Please report back after boarding the ship and let us know if you were given a hard time durjng check-in. Some people have gotten through and others have had to (on paper) put 1 adult in each stateroom.

 

NCL has conflicting info throughout their website which leads to different answers and results.

I will report back, hopefully this won't be the case.

 

15 hours ago, bluesea777 said:

 

Surprised the travel agent was able to book 2 kids in a room without an adult. NCL's policy is that kids must be booked in a room with an adult aged 21 or over. No exceptions.

 

One reason is lifeboat muster drills. Adjoining cabins may not be assigned to same muster station. Therefore an adult must be with the child when attending to same muster station.

 

Please check your cruise documents. Or maybe the travel agent didn't put in the kids' ages/DOB when booking the cruise for you?

The documents are clear with birth dates.  The 2 kids are in one room and the adults are in the other.  Also when I called Norwegian 2 times (once to book shows, and once to figure out how to do check in since the kids could not create an account under 14) and this didn't seem unusual to the representatives I talked to.  They knew the procedure to get the documents to approve via email, and then emailed me the boarding documents.

 

I will let you know the results after we cruise on Jun 2.

[phillyguy31]

Did this as well for our 202 cruise, the only thing our TA said they had to do is have a supervisor authorize it. We found out the checkin and booking issues then. We when my DW heard about the issues she just said let's move to an Aft Haven and then there was no issues. Oh well it is only money.

[LeesaB]

If you try to book something with NCL and they give you static about needing an adult in each room, I would quote the Guest Ticket Contract, which is much more clear than anything else I've seen on their website:

 

Any Guest under 21 years of age is considered a minor. Any Guest under the age of 21 must be accompanied in the same, connecting, or side by side stateroom by a Guest 21 years of age or older at the time of embarkation who expressly agrees to be responsible for the under-21 Guest throughout the cruise. The Guest agrees that this responsibility includes, but is not limited to, preventing the under-21 Guest from violating the vessel's rules, including preventing the under-21 Guest from purchasing and/or consuming alcohol and/or gambling on board the vessel, except as set forth herein.