Pros and Cons of splitting people into other cabins

[Rob1872]

We are planning to book an early summer 2019 cruise when the dates are released. My mother-in-law said that she wanted to try a cruise with her grandchildren while they are still kids. (I hadn't planned on a 3rd cruise this soon; however, at least we will be able to get the onboard booking discount.)

Current thought is that we will try for a verandah room and mother-in-law will be in an inside stateroom on the same deck. Just trying to make sure that I'm aware of all of the plusses and minuses of having my wife registered in the same cabin as her mother instead of with us.

Pros:
1. Should save my mother-in-law a lot of money. (Instead of her paying the single supplement, I'd just ask her to pay the difference between the fare of my 13 year old travelling as the 3rd passenger and him being the 2nd full fare in the cabin so I'm not paying for 3 adults and 1 child.)
2. Having a Silver in each cabin will allow her to book events with us.

Cons:
1. Won't be able to have family pictures on a photo package since my wife will be in a different cabin. (May not matter since my wife would probably want her mom in the pictures anyways.)
2. Wife would probably be in a different life boat station. (Should not matter since I am not anticipating the ship sinking.)
3. Need to fill out paperwork so my wife could take the kids off of the boat if I wasn't there. (Should not matter since we would be going everywhere as a family.)
4. If my mother-in-law changed her mind about going on the cruise, might be difficult to cancel the one room and move my wife back into our reservation.

Can anyone else think of other impacts of my wife being registered in my mother-in-law's stateroom but staying with us?

 

[KathyTX]

You're overcharging your MIL in this example. The second person in the inside is less $$ than the second person in the verandah. Your actual difference in cost is the second adult in your MIL's cabin minus the third person in yours...

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We are planning to book an early summer 2019 cruise when the dates are released. My mother-in-law said that she wanted to try a cruise with her grandchildren while they are still kids. (I hadn't planned on a 3rd cruise this soon; however, at least we will be able to get the onboard booking discount.)

Current thought is that we will try for a verandah room and mother-in-law will be in an inside stateroom on the same deck. Just trying to make sure that I'm aware of all of the plusses and minuses of having my wife registered in the same cabin as her mother instead of with us.

Pros:
1. Should save my mother-in-law a lot of money. (Instead of her paying the single supplement, I'd just ask her to pay the difference between the fare of my 13 year old travelling as the 3rd passenger and him being the 2nd full fare in the cabin so I'm not paying for 3 adults and 1 child.)
2. Having a Silver in each cabin will allow her to book events with us.

Cons:
1. Won't be able to have family pictures on a photo package since my wife will be in a different cabin. (May not matter since my wife would probably want her mom in the pictures anyways.)
2. Wife would probably be in a different life boat station. (Should not matter since I am not anticipating the ship sinking.)
3. Need to fill out paperwork so my wife could take the kids off of the boat if I wasn't there. (Should not matter since we would be going everywhere as a family.)
4. If my mother-in-law changed her mind about going on the cruise, might be difficult to cancel the one room and move my wife back into our reservation.

Can anyone else think of other impacts of my wife being registered in my mother-in-law's stateroom but staying with us?

Sounds like you've got it pretty much covered.

I'm not sure I understand the rationale behind her paying the difference for your child, though. If your mother-in-law was in her own room, you'd be paying 4 adult fares and 1 child fare. The way you want to set it up you'll be paying 4 adult fares only. So you're saving the cost of the child's fare. But having your mother-in-law pay the difference from the child's cost to the full adult will "give" you more money back.

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

The way I do costs with my MIL is I do a dummy booking of what the cost would be for our cabin with our entire family in it minus MIL. Then I book how it's going to be with the two rooms, add up the cost of both and subtract our original cost from the cost of two cabins. That would give me her total. Hope that makes sense.

 

[Rob1872]

The way I do costs with my MIL is I do a dummy booking of what the cost would be for our cabin with our entire family in it minus MIL. Then I book how it's going to be with the two rooms, add up the cost of both and subtract our original cost from the cost of two cabins. That would give me her total. Hope that makes sense.

Yes, that makes sense; basically what I'm trying to do. I was going to have some extra steps; your way is cleaner.

 

[chunkymonkey]

I have a crazy booking situation too. My husband and I each booked a stateroom with an onboard discount last year. We're cruising with my MIL, FIL, and Aunt (who joined last minute) who are all sharing one stateroom, however, "officially" my name and my MIL's name is on one room, and DH, his dad and Aunt are in another stateroom. A bit messy but that's how it worked out to keep the discount. Our cabins are both on deck 6 Aft but one is near the elevators and one is towards the back. I didn't even realize we could potentially be at different lifeboat stations! I can't remember, do they scan your card or do you just have to give them your cabin number during the drill? I'm wondering if I can just go with DH or if I need to have my MIL with me and DH has to go be with his dad and Aunt.

 

[Capt_BJ]

I can't remember, do they scan your card or do you just have to give them your cabin number during the drill? I'm wondering if I can just go with DH or if I need to have my MIL with me and DH has to go be with his dad and Aunt.

A PRIMARY reason for the drill is to validate the muster lists for the 'boats' .... They have a list and check it twice! Not sure if it has moved to electronic for DCL but that really does not matter .... they are required to check and recheck. This is a biggie in USCG inspections. And why they KNOW if you skip and chase you down .... Go to the place assigned by your stateroom number and as noted on your "card" ... it's important.

If you cruised a few times and sometimes the drill seems to be much longer than other times ..... guess what?????

 

[laceltris3]

If registered your child in the room, the pictures including your wife would be included.

We've done that in the past. we just paid what the kid would have cost in our room towards the other reservation. And you could book a TBA passenger in your room just in case, and delete it out before PIF, in the event your MIL decides not to go. You pay a little more in deposit, but you reserve that spot in your room and life boat.

 

[seacruise]

We've done something similar many times and never had any problems. We book one of our kids in with my mom as she would be paying the single supplement anyway. Then we make sure we are booked in a quad so the kids can both sleep in our cabin, and mom ends up with her own cabin.

We typically book connecting cabins so haven't had the issue with being at different muster stations.

On DCL we do fill out the form for taking kids off the ship who aren't booked in the same cabin.

 

[lanejudy]

I'm not sure how many kids are in your party, but if more than 1 you'll want to make sure the stateroom you book for your immediate family has enough beds. Not all have the bunk or the murphy.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[MUN]

You're overcharging your MIL in this example. The second person in the inside is less $$ than the second person in the verandah. Your actual difference in cost is the second adult in your MIL's cabin minus the third person in yours...

Sounds like a good strategy!

 

[moosecrouse]

Why not put a dummy person in your cabin just if you're worried about MIL canceling. That way the space would be available for the lifeboat and you'd just be changing the name on the rez or canceling that person before PIF

 

[Rob1872]

Why not put a dummy person in your cabin just if you're worried about MIL canceling. That way the space would be available for the lifeboat and you'd just be changing the name on the rez or canceling that person before PIF

OK, not sure I understand the concept of putting a "dummy person" in my cabin. If I am putting a 4th person in my cabin as a placeholder, then wouldn't I end up having to pay a cruise fare for my wife to be in our cabin as well as a 2nd fare for her to be in her mom's cabin???

 

[PrincessShmoo]

OK, not sure I understand the concept of putting a "dummy person" in my cabin. If I am putting a 4th person in my cabin as a placeholder, then wouldn't I end up having to pay a cruise fare for my wife to be in our cabin as well as a 2nd fare for her to be in her mom's cabin???

Only if you don't cancel the dummy person before the PIF date.

 

[lanejudy]

OK, not sure I understand the concept of putting a "dummy person" in my cabin. If I am putting a 4th person in my cabin as a placeholder, then wouldn't I end up having to pay a cruise fare for my wife to be in our cabin as well as a 2nd fare for her to be in her mom's cabin???

Only upfront for an increased deposit. If MIL sticks with the plan to cruise, you drop the "dummy" passenger before PIF. If MIL backs out, you can replace "dummy" with your wife and cancel MIL's stateroom. Bed available in your stateroom, spot available in your muster station, original pricing instead of "current" pricing at the time change is made.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[jetskigrl]

OK, not sure I understand the concept of putting a "dummy person" in my cabin. If I am putting a 4th person in my cabin as a placeholder, then wouldn't I end up having to pay a cruise fare for my wife to be in our cabin as well as a 2nd fare for her to be in her mom's cabin???

We have done this twice when booking multiple rooms. Once when my DD's friend was joining us, so we put DH and DD's friend in an inside room across the hall. Then we booked my Mom in our room as a dummy person (if dd's friend decided not to go, we would drop the inside room and change my Mom to DH in our room). When it was confirmed she was going, we just dropped my Mom from the reservation. We did it again when my DH decided to join us on an already booked cruise. Our original room only slept 3 so we added an inside room across the hall and put DH and DS in that one. But we left a "TBD" person my DS's age in our original room just in case my DH changed his mind (he does that, LOL).