paying full fare for a baby? seriously?

[honkanen]

I was told that since the coast guard counts a baby as an "additional person" on a ship, that means Holland America and many other cruise lines will charge you for this 3rd "person".

 

Our baby will be just over 6 months old at the time of sailing from Vancouver - San Diego. He will not be sleeping in a bed, he won't be eating their food, he won't be using their facilities, he probably will barely even touch any part of the ship.

 

C'mon, serious? What do you guys think?

[Kerry's Girls]

You'll find another thread below that discusses which lines will let you sail with your baby for reduced rates or for taxes, etc. only so you can choose one of those lines or specific cruises.

 

I think one of the joys of cruising is that it's not a la carte (one of the reasons I'm not a big NCL fan) - they don't charge more or less depending on how much you eat etc. The cruise I took with my twin babies (where I paid full fair for one and 3rd passenger fare for the other) was much more fun and relaxing, and a better value, than the resort vacation we took where they didn't cost anything extra to stay in my room. I do think the cruise line is reasonable to charge for a 3rd person who will take a space away from a passenger who will be spending any money on board - that's why fares are so inexpensive, because the cruise line expects to make money on board. It's worth it to me to pay to cruise with a baby, it may not be worth it to someone else.

 

Best,

Mia

[6rugrats]

I think this has been discussed ad naseum and you can pull up many, many threads, including the one a few down from yours, if you do a search. Yes, a baby is counted as a person, because they are.

 

Is this the cruise on the Zuiderdam, leaving 24 September for four days? I show the third person fare to be only $52.97, which is just the taxes and fees.

[mjkacmom]

You'll find another thread below that discusses which lines will let you sail with your baby for reduced rates or for taxes' date=' etc. only so you can choose one of those lines or specific cruises.

 

I think one of the joys of cruising is that it's not a la carte (one of the reasons I'm not a big NCL fan) - they don't charge more or less depending on how much you eat etc. The cruise I took with my twin babies (where I paid full fair for one and 3rd passenger fare for the other) was much more fun and relaxing, and a better value, than the resort vacation we took where they didn't cost anything extra to stay in my room. I do think the cruise line is reasonable to charge for a 3rd person who will take a space away from a passenger who will be spending any money on board - that's why fares are so inexpensive, because the cruise line expects to make money on board. It's worth it to me to pay to cruise with a baby, it may not be worth it to someone else.

 

Best,

Mia[/quote']

 

I'm curious as to what you think you pay extra for on a NCL ship that you wouldn't pay extra for on other mass market cruiselines? NCL has 2 free MDR's, free bbq, free diner-style restaurant, free buffet, and free room service. Like other lines (including DCL), you pay extra for specialty dining, the difference is, NCL just offers way more specialty dining than the other lines.

[DizzyDallasDi]

I was told that since the coast guard counts a baby as an "additional person" on a ship, that means Holland America and many other cruise lines will charge you for this 3rd "person".

 

Our baby will be just over 6 months old at the time of sailing from Vancouver - San Diego. He will not be sleeping in a bed, he won't be eating their food, he won't be using their facilities, he probably will barely even touch any part of the ship.

 

C'mon, serious? What do you guys think?

 

I cruise solo and have to pay the same fare that two people would but I'm only one person. Does this make you feel any better?

[6rugrats]

On the OP's cruise, her baby's fare is only the $52.97 in taxes. I don't know what she is complaining about.

[ShelbysMom]

From other posts, it sounds like they are taking the grandmother and booking the infant with the grandmother in a second cabin, so the infant is full fare.

[6rugrats]

I was told that since the coast guard counts a baby as an "additional person" on a ship, that means Holland America and many other cruise lines will charge you for this 3rd "person".

 

 

From other posts, it sounds like they are taking the grandmother and booking the infant with the grandmother in a second cabin, so the infant is full fare.

 

That may be; I answered with the info provided by OP in the first post, where he was complaining about his baby being charged as a "3rd person".

[kitty9]

If what others are saying is the case, and your baby is in a cabin with grandma, the baby isn't a third person, but a second person in a double cabin. Even if you kept the baby in your cabin, and kept grandma in the cabin alone, you'd still be paying double, because grandma would be charged the full two person fare, known as a single supplement. If grandma wasn't cruising, and you kept the baby in your cabin, like 6rugrats said, the baby would be paying under $60.

[bplazo]

I see nothing wrong with charging a full fare for a baby, toddler, etc.

[ccartman2]

I look at it as paying for a seat on the life boat. But your room steward still has to dispose of dirty diapers, and the cruise line is losing out on a money spending passenger. I didn't really like it much either, but I saw that my daughter did command some service from the people on board once we did it.

[SusieV]

*shrugs* I paid $799 to take my 14 month old on an 11 night cruise. That was the 3rd person rate. But c'est la vie.

 

Either it's worth it to you, or it isn't.

[B_Mc]

Shop around if you can. We paid ~$75 + taxes for our baby in a balcony room on RCI.

[Julienatul]

The 3rd/4th rate is usually minimal compared to regular rates. The ports charge the cruiseline for every person onboard regardless of age, size, how much they eat etc. I have never had any qualms about paying for either of my children when they were infants for cruises. Its one of the easiest ways to travel with an infant!

[lglancy]

I happen to agree with OP. While I don't mind paying the reduced 3rd pax fare of around $300 or so for my four year old, as we did get our money's worth simply from the kids program, what really torks me off is how adding the 3rd pax makes the 1st and second pax rates skyrocket. On several cruises that we have looked at, if there are just 2 of us in the cabin, the fare is say $699. But add our 4 year old, and not only is there a fare for her, but our fares jump to say $1099. So, it ends up costing around $1000 just for my 4 year old. I have yet to figure out how that makes sense. The one cruise we've taken her on last year (we ended up trying Carnival because they were the only line we could find that did not gouge us on the 1st and 2nd pax when we added the $299 3rd pax) did not even have a bed for her. She was expected to sleep on the couch, which did not fold out BTW. It was fine, but I would have been angry to have to pay inflated rates for that. So, OP, I for one feel your pain. We have resorted to shopping other cruise lines instead of staying Loyal to Royal as I'd like to be, for this very reason. Keep looking around. Eventually you'll find a deal you can live with, but I know what you are going through.

[kitty9]

I happen to agree with OP. While I don't mind paying the reduced 3rd pax fare of around $300 or so for my four year old, as we did get our money's worth simply from the kids program, what really torks me off is how adding the 3rd pax makes the 1st and second pax rates skyrocket. On several cruises that we have looked at, if there are just 2 of us in the cabin, the fare is say $699. But add our 4 year old, and not only is there a fare for her, but our fares jump to say $1099. So, it ends up costing around $1000 just for my 4 year old. I have yet to figure out how that makes sense. She was expected to sleep on the couch, which did not fold out BTW. It was fine, but I would have been angry to have to pay inflated rates for that. So, OP, I for one feel your pain. We have resorted to shopping other cruise lines instead of staying Loyal to Royal as I'd like to be, for this very reason. Keep looking around. Eventually you'll find a deal you can live with, but I know what you are going through.

 

There's a big difference between what you experienced and the OP. In their case, the baby is not a third passenger sharing mom and dad's cabin. The baby is sharing a cabin with grandma, which for every cruise line means the baby pays the full per person fare, because prices are based on double occupancy. If the baby were sharing the cabin with mom and dad, they would pay the lower third person fare.