How do you share a room with an acquaintance?

[cruisehopeful]

Seeking help from anyone who has shared a cabin with an acquaintance or a stranger. I am thinking of asking my meet up group if anyone wants to share a cabin with me. I do have a TA that I could refer the person who accepts to, or we can just book with DCL if it is easier. Would we both just put our deposit/payment down? What happens if they end up cancelling? How do we each pay our own on board charges and tips?

I know people on other cruise lines do this often. Hoping someone with DCL experience can give me some pointers.

 

[Cackyschmackers]

Seeking help from anyone who has shared a cabin with an acquaintance or a stranger. I am thinking of asking my meet up group if anyone wants to share a cabin with me. I do have a TA that I could refer the person who accepts to, or we can just book with DCL if it is easier. Would we both just put our deposit/payment down? What happens if they end up cancelling? How do we each pay our own on board charges and tips?

I know people on other cruise lines do this often. Hoping someone with DCL experience can give me some pointers.

Not sure if you already know this, but none of the beds on DCL split apart anymore. They are all Queen size beds. That would mean someone would have to be in the day bed (twin).

 

[Dug720]

I would only share with someone I know well - not from an online forum. Way to risky IMHO as you have no way to truly verify they are who they say they are or what they might be hiding.

That said, if you want to do it and find someone else who wants to, then yes. If they cancel you would be responsible for paying the total cost of the cabin.

You can each set up your own credit card, so that isn't a problem.

And as @Cackyschmackers stated, none of the DCL beds split. Someone's going to be on a twin (and honestly I would not expect that person to pay quite as much - like if I was cruising DCL with a friend and they were going to be on the twin, I'd pay a hundred or so more of their cruise fare).

 

[Rob1872]

Sorry, I don't think that Disney supports any process to let 2 people divide charges and responsibilities. Someone has to be the responsible person. As I recall, I could say during check-in that I wasn't giving charging privileges to my kids but I don't think that I could deny stateroom charging privileges to the other adult in the room. (Even though I would have liked to cut my DW, the mad shopper, off!!!)

 

[Napoleon Dynamite]

Sorry, I don't think that Disney supports any process to let 2 people divide charges and responsibilities. Someone has to be the responsible person. As I recall, I could say during check-in that I wasn't giving charging privileges to my kids but I don't think that I could deny stateroom charging privileges to the other adult in the room. (Even though I would have liked to cut my DW, the mad shopper, off!!!)

Not true, each adult can set up their own CC number on the account.

I also could never share with someone I didn't know well. Awkward IMO. Especially if they like to sleep with the TV on, or like to party all night and come in late, or stink up the bathroom a ton LOL. I personally would rather pay full price to be honest!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Sorry, I don't think that Disney supports any process to let 2 people divide charges and responsibilities. Someone has to be the responsible person. As I recall, I could say during check-in that I wasn't giving charging privileges to my kids but I don't think that I could deny stateroom charging privileges to the other adult in the room. (Even though I would have liked to cut my DW, the mad shopper, off!!!)

If there are two (or more) separate adults in a room, each person has his/her own KTTW card. Each KTTW card can have it's own back up. So, person A can use his VISA card, while person B can use cash, or gift cards or some other card, for example.

Yes, you can deny stateroom charging to any KTTW card, as the "responsible person".

 

[jdb in AZ]

Since the beds don't split, person A could take the bed for half the cruise with person B on the day bed, then switch places. Not sure how often the sheets are changed, but I would factor that in.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Since the beds don't split, person A could take the bed for half the cruise with person B on the day bed, then switch places. Not sure how often the sheets are changed, but I would factor that in.

Well, they could work out with the room host to be sure the sheets are changed out on the switch day (if they go that route).

 

[bbel]

Since the beds don't split, person A could take the bed for half the cruise with person B on the day bed, then switch places. Not sure how often the sheets are changed, but I would factor that in.

Ive shared a couple of staterooms with fellow CMs as a returning CM.
This is what we did, (we only got houskeeping once through out the cruise but saw him all the time in the hall) we asked if it would be possible, he said of course, no problem, and fitted us in halfway through the week and changed the sheets even though it wasn't our day. If they do it for lowly half-stripe crew they'll do it for guests.

I will say it was kinda cosy and slightly awkward sharing even with another CM (I didn't know them before, they were a different department and a transfer), and that was with working and not being in the cabin most of the day. Didn't really know were to put stuff, and how much I could 'spread out', and if they would be in or not when I went back to the cabin.
The split bathrooms were great tho, especially with getting ready at the same time! We need those in crew cabins lol!

 

[stephmarty]

Sounds like my first college dorm room experience. People room in cozy conditions with strangers all the time on college campuses and elsewhere. im sure the OP appreciates our concerns, but it sounds like this is something they are willing to do. I'm sure the drawbacks and advantages have been considered.

 

[Neptune's Fork]

Ive shared a couple of staterooms with fellow CMs as a returning CM.
This is what we did, (we only got houskeeping once through out the cruise but saw him all the time in the hall) we asked if it would be possible, he said of course, no problem, and fitted us in halfway through the week and changed the sheets even though it wasn't our day. If they do it for lowly half-stripe crew they'll do it for guests.

I will say it was kinda cosy and slightly awkward sharing even with another CM (I didn't know them before, they were a different department and a transfer), and that was with working and not being in the cabin most of the day. Didn't really know were to put stuff, and how much I could 'spread out', and if they would be in or not when I went back to the cabin.
The split bathrooms were great tho, especially with getting ready at the same time! We need those in crew cabins lol!

Do you have to share cabins in crew area? If so, with how many?

 

[bbel]

Do you have to share cabins in crew area? If so, with how many?

Yup.
The majority of crew share two to a cabin, with someone from the same department, and you can request to live with someone (but like guest services always say, it's just a request, not a guarantee haha).
A few departments have cabins of four but they're pretty rare at DCL (a server i did traditions with was in a cabin of 4).
Then, depending on department, 2 or 3 stripe officers and above have their own cabin.

 

[Neptune's Fork]

Yup.
The majority of crew share two to a cabin, with someone from the same department, and you can request to live with someone (but like guest services always say, it's just a request, not a guarantee haha).
A few departments have cabins of four but they're pretty rare at DCL (a server i did traditions with was in a cabin of 4).
Then, depending on department, 2 or 3 stripe officers and above have their own cabin.

4 to a cabin on board ship seems like it would be pretty tight

 

[cedricandsophie]

From a cost perspective I guess it's worthy of consideration but I would never do it. I'd much rather get the lowest category of room and pay the single supplement. I dont mind sharing bedrooms and bath with good friends but a stranger? Absolutely not. Too many variables that could go wrong...snoring, talkative or not, want to follow you around, don't like early or late seating, complain it's too hot or too cold. Weird bathroom habits. Or just plain psycho. There are several cruise lines that have single rooms or have a relatively small single supplement.

 

[tigerchic89]

I think that if the 2 of you plan ahead of time, it could be awesome. Plan out the sleeping.. switch halfway through, pay less to sleep in the twin, etc. Plan on bringing some kind of bathroom spray... when I traveled and had to room with coworkers, we always kept packs of matches in our toilitery bags, and we would light a match when were were done in the bathroom as a courtesy. Talk about normal sleep.wake times, favorite times to shower, favorite times to watch TV. Bring earplugs and leave them on the bathroom counter in case either of you finds the need for them in the night. Agree to invite each other to do things together, but agree that it;s ok to do things solo without hurt feelings. I think it could work and you'd save a ton of money

 

[lanejudy]

I do have a TA that I could refer the person who accepts to, or we can just book with DCL if it is easier. Would we both just put our deposit/payment down? What happens if they end up cancelling? How do we each pay our own on board charges and tips?

It's do-able but as PP says it will take some planning. And a lot of trust for the financial aspect. As mentioned by others, the onboard charges are easily split and use separate credit cards.

I don't think DCL has a way to differentiate who is responsible for paying what portion of the reservation. One name will be listed first and that is the primary guest with responsibility for payments. At booking, fares are shown per-passenger, so you can easily get that breakdown. You can make payments using different credit cards and specify the amount to be charged on each. But DCL will lump it all together without designated $X paid for Sally and $Y paid for Jane. Same for deposit and any/all subsequent payments. I would think you'll want to really trust the person and hammer out a payment plan. If you are the primary, you could be left with balance due at PIF if the other person hasn't made his/her payments or backs out; if the other party is listed as primary, I'd need to really trust them to to remove me as a passenger after I paid.

Good luck and enjoy your cruise!

 

[ludari]

I have completed 11 solo cruises and only once did I share with a friend. As much as I like the idea of splitting the cost of the cruise with someone I don't think I would ever share with a stranger or an acquaintance. One of the reasons I hope that the new DCL ships will have some single staterooms like RCCL ships.

 

[cruisehopeful]

It sounds like we'd probably need a contract between the 2 of us, separate from DCL when it comes to paying and not getting a refund past a certain date, etc. Anything that I've arranged previously that cost $ and doesn't allow refunds, I've always had people make their own reservation and pay for it themselves. I've never had anyone cancel when doing it that way. Cruises are a bit different in that we book so far in advance and life can change, people get sick, etc. I'll talk to a couple people that I know I wouldn't mind rooming with about it and see what they all have to say about how they'd handle cancelling, etc.

In some ways, it wouldn't matter if they cancelled and I had to pay the entire fare as a single fare, since that's what would happen if I booked solo. Just thinking about when the cruise line refunds a small amount for the port fees (seems they always do) or if the cruise gets cancelled and the money just went back to one person.

 

[Carrie in AZ]

I work for a travel company and have first-hand knowledge of people who met on previous tours while traveling solo and decided to share a room together on future tours. Our company sends out one set of documents to the lead passenger. The other person does not like this, she asked that we don't assume two people traveling together are a couple when in fact they are not. This is just how it is, our systems cannot change. So, in your case, that would be something to think about: Does DCL send out cruise documents and luggage tags to just one person? If so, are you both ok with it?

It would be awesome if it could work out for you so that you both could save a nice sum of money and be able to go on another cruise again sometime soon, either together or solo, but just be able to go again. I wish you nothing but the very best!

 

[elaine amj]

Sounds like a great way to save some money and meet a new friend!

Hope u find someone compatible.