kids on different reservation

[rdaky]

So my in-laws are taking us on a cruise and they made two reservations. One has my husband and I together, with our 8 year old, and the other reservation is in their name, with our 4 year old. I am really not ok with this, but they seem to think it's not a big deal (they said that it was cheaper to book it that way??) and that once we get onboard, we can let them know that both kids will be staying with us.

So my questions- is it going to be a big pain to change her over to our room?

Is it really cheaper to do it this way on Disney?

And is booking an excursion is going to be a real pain, because my 4 year old is not on my reservation? So can my ILs book her to go with us on a port adventure, even if it's not something they're doing?

And is this going to affect dinner reservations or anything else? This will be our first Disney cruise, but my ILs have been on lots of other brands of cruises so they think they're experts on everything.

 

[stsomewhere]

It could be that there were no 4 person cabins available.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

So my in-laws are taking us on a cruise and they made two reservations. One has my husband and I together, with our 8 year old, and the other reservation is in their name, with our 4 year old. I am really not ok with this, but they seem to think it's not a big deal (they said that it was cheaper to book it that way??) and that once we get onboard, we can let them know that both kids will be staying with us.

So my questions- is it going to be a big pain to change her over to our room?

Is it really cheaper to do it this way on Disney?

And is booking an excursion is going to be a real pain, because my 4 year old is not on my reservation? So can my ILs book her to go with us on a port adventure, even if it's not something they're doing?

And is this going to affect dinner reservations or anything else? This will be our first Disney cruise, but my ILs have been on lots of other brands of cruises so they think they're experts on everything.

Link your reservations together, ( if not already done) then you will all eat together, and who sleeps where is up to you when on the cruise, just tell your stateroom host.

Guest services can get you extra keys for access.

If linked ressies then shore trips can be booked together.

Subject to you paid in full, and Castaway Club /New cruiser window for booking shore trips.

 

[canadiandisneyfamof4]

Be sure that your room actually sleeps 4, some rooms only sleep 3.

 

[Weedy]

This is fine it's done all the time because it does save money. Have your MIL "link" the reservations. That way you will all sit together at dinner and can make excursion reservations at the same times.
You will need to go to Guest Services when you board to have them note that your children can get off the ship with both you or the In-laws.

Also have your MIL check that the cabin she booked your family in sleeps 4 people. Some of the cabins only have a queen bed and the couch pulls out for one bed. (no bed that folds from the wall)

 

[rdaky]

We're in the Deluxe Family Oceanview room with the pull down bunk, so it definitely sleeps 4.

So if I understand correctly, I will have to tell Guest Services that my daughter has permission to leave with me, even though she is my daughter? Because my in-laws booked her in their room?

How do you know if two reservations are linked? She gave me the res number so I could create a account, but I didn't see anything about.

Thanks for your patience. I'm a total newbie!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

You can't link reservations online, you have to call DCL and have it done. Easy peasy!

 

[Weedy]

All of this is very easy to do. You will have a great cruise.

 

[ocspartan]

We're in the Deluxe Family Oceanview room with the pull down bunk, so it definitely sleeps 4. So if I understand correctly, I will have to tell Guest Services that my daughter has permission to leave with me, even though she is my daughter? Because my in-laws booked her in their room? How do you know if two reservations are linked? She gave me the res number so I could create a account, but I didn't see anything about. Thanks for your patience. I'm a total newbie!

So this permission to leave the ship thing bugged me too since I booked our kids in a cabin with my mom to save money, again no problem with seating sand room swapping etc. as others have stated. But the ability to disembark the ship caused quite a bit of confusion for Disney. So much so that I got different answers from different reps and supervisors, even got different emails confirming which is right.

According to the official policy minors are not allowed to leave the ship (ex in port) with adults not booked in the same cabin without prior parental permission from an adult in the same cabin. The catch 22 is that since I the parent am in a different room I need approval to take my own kids off the ship, not a problem until you get to the authorization form that says it needs a signature approval from an adult in the same cabin, but the signer needs to be the adult with legal custody of children. So in our case the form requires an adult in the sme room to sign, which would be granny, problem is that she isn't authorized legally to sign, so I as the parent need to sign, but then that violates disney's policy that an adult in the same cabin needs to sign....

Didn't get a clear answer not sure if anyone has had any issues leaving the ship with your own kids booked in different rooms, final advice I was given was that guest services would know what to do, I'm planning on filling out he form and authorizing all adults in our family and then also have all of the adults in our family sign it too just to cover all bases.

 

[Disney Canadian]

So this permission to leave the ship thing bugged me too since I booked our kids in a cabin with my mom to save money, again no problem with seating sand room swapping etc. as others have stated. But the ability to disembark the ship caused quite a bit of confusion for Disney. So much so that I got different answers from different reps and supervisors, even got different emails confirming which is right.

According to the official policy minors are not allowed to leave the ship (ex in port) with adults not booked in the same cabin without prior parental permission from an adult in the same cabin. The catch 22 is that since I the parent am in a different room I need approval to take my own kids off the ship, not a problem until you get to the authorization form that says it needs a signature approval from an adult in the same cabin, but the signer needs to be the adult with legal custody of children. So in our case the form requires an adult in the sme room to sign, which would be granny, problem is that she isn't authorized legally to sign, so I as the parent need to sign, but then that violates disney's policy that an adult in the same cabin needs to sign....

Didn't get a clear answer not sure if anyone has had any issues leaving the ship with your own kids booked in different rooms, final advice I was given was that guest services would know what to do, I'm planning on filling out he form and authorizing all adults in our family and then also have all of the adults in our family sign it too just to cover all bases.

What if you were to change the reservation so that your DH and FIL and DS are in the same cabin and you, your MIL and DD are in the other cabin? Cost would be the same and should eliminate any issues with taking your children off of the ship.

 

[Weedy]

We had to sign paperwork so our teens could leave the ship at Castaway Cay without us. The people at Guest Services knew less about the paperwork than I did. I think it's a good idea to cover you bases but I feel it more for Disney to cove their (different word)

We also called Guest Services the day before Castaway to make sure the info was in the computer.

 

[Missypyxi]

We did this with our MIL, DS, my hubby and I. MIL wanted her own room and the TA said its cheaper to book our DS with MIL, so we did that and linked our reservations. It was fine on the ship, you would never have known that we were on separate reservations. Wasn't an issue at all for the kids club. But, we did everything together anyway, even excursions, so we never ran into trouble getting DS off the ship.

It was annoying during the land part of our vacation, though, since DS was on MIL's meal plan, so she always had to be the one getting his food. We'll try to do that differently next time.

 

[michellekcm]

We had 4yo DD booked in my mum's cabin so my mother didn't have to pay the single supplement. There was no issue taking her off the ship. At check-in we all checked in together and I asked then. They did whatever they needed to do so when DD's card was swiped all three of our photos came up as authorised (me, DH, and mum). Did the same for our 1yo DS who was booked in our room. No hassles at all.

Because our reservations were linked I just booked our excursions for DD with us, and mum booked her own.

 

[llqool]

Wow...weird -- this never even came up when we took a Western Caribbean cruise with my mom and daughters in one cabin and my husband and I in the connecting cabin next door. My mom stayed onboard when we went on an excursion in Grand Cayman. No one said anything about us taking our daughters off. I don't think my mother ever checked them in and out of the clubs, we always did that. It was seamless -- we were one party, we sat together at dinner, I was able to make Palo reservations for my mom to eat with us (even though she wasn't a Castaway Club member at the time).

 

[ilovetexas]

So my in-laws are taking us on a cruise and they made two reservations. One has my husband and I together, with our 8 year old, and the other reservation is in their name, with our 4 year old. I am really not ok with this, but they seem to think it's not a big deal (they said that it was cheaper to book it that way??) and that once we get onboard, we can let them know that both kids will be staying with us.

So my questions- is it going to be a big pain to change her over to our room?

Is it really cheaper to do it this way on Disney?

And is booking an excursion is going to be a real pain, because my 4 year old is not on my reservation? So can my ILs book her to go with us on a port adventure, even if it's not something they're doing?

And is this going to affect dinner reservations or anything else? This will be our first Disney cruise, but my ILs have been on lots of other brands of cruises so they think they're experts on everything.

While I understand your frustration, you may want to take a deep breath or count to ten or something. Your in-laws are paying a lot of money to take you on this vacation and nobody is going to have a good time if you're already angry/irritated. If you've never cruised before, now would be a good time to read these boards and go to Cruise Critic and read those, as well. You need to get a good feel for how things work day to day on a cruise ship so you can see where you need to have a plan in advance. By plan, I mean that you and your husband need to work out how much time you want to spend with his parents on the trip. Also how much time you want your kids to spend with them. You should all take time to spend alone so you aren't ready to throw them overboard after three days. You and your DH should have some understanding of this prior to discussing it with them. Having cruised several times, they DO actually have more expertise about it than you do but hopefully will understand you need some space to enjoy yourself.

All that said, I'm not trying to lecture, just offering suggestions to ensure you and your family have a good trip. There is no way I would cruise with my in-laws, I barely speak to them!

 

[4HppyCamprs]

We just had this on our 1/6 cruise. It was Dh, myself and dd in one room and ds1, ds2 and my mom in the second room (on reservations). The cm made sure to list Dh and I as financially responsible for all kids so all their charges came to our stateroom. We authorized my mom for pickup and leaving the boat. Only my oldest slept in my moms room as both boys wanted the bunks so it all worked out great. As others said it was painless and seamless.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[lanejudy]

We're in the Deluxe Family Oceanview room with the pull down bunk, so it definitely sleeps 4. ...

Are you sure your specific stateroom has a pull down bunk? Not all Deluxe Family Ocean view rooms have one.
As to booking excursions, just link the ressies and you can select any or all of the 6 of you.
For leaving the ship, just speak to the CM at port when you check in, they'll note it appropriately. It's dine all the time.
Enjoy your cruise!

 

[Weedy]

We had to sign paperwork so our teens could leave the ship at Castaway Cay without us. The people at Guest Services knew less about the paperwork than I did. I think it's a good idea to cover you bases but I feel it more for Disney to cove their (different word)

 

[lanejudy]

We had to sign paperwork so our teens could leave the ship at Castaway Cay without us. The people at Guest Services knew less about the paperwork than I did. I think it's a good idea to cover you bases but I feel it more for Disney to cove their (different word)

Permission for teens to leave the ship unaccompanied is different than permission for a young child to leave with a non-parent adult.

 

[Weedy]

Permission for teens to leave the ship unaccompanied is different than permission for a young child to leave with a non-parent adult.

I understand that. My point was that we know more about the paperwork than the people at Guest Services.