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Booking a cruise with unborn baby

glituner32
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glituner32

glituner32

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Hi guys,

 

Quick question. Me and my wife want to book a cruise for Jan 2017. Our baby due next month. Can we book a cruise for an unborn child with no name yet? I guess you would have to book over the phone?

 

or should I just wait till the baby is born? Just trying to book early for a better deal in prices.

 

Thanks

Stan

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Clarea

Clarea

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I thought 3rd and 4th can be TBD from previous experience. If not, enter whatever name you want and change when you know.

That's what I would do.

 

You want to book the cruise ASAP so as to freeze the price. If you add a 3rd person later, you will have to pay the then current prices.

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mtsublueraider Great Review Rare

mtsublueraider

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We've actually done this before and we set sail this weekend on freedom with our BORN baby.... HA HA!

 

I think we just put a random name in there with our last name and we were able to change it to the actual name with real birthday when we actually knew it.

 

We booked on board during a cruise last year. The only thing you need to do is put a birthday in from the "past" if that makes sense. Basically just a place holder and not a big deal at all.

 

Hope this helps. Can't believe we're getting on board for the first time with our nine month old. Seems like an eternity ago since we booked!

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RCI_FADM_76

RCI_FADM_76

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I thought 3rd and 4th can be TBD from previous experience. If not, enter whatever name you want and change when you know.

 

We had the same situation. I booked our upcoming cruise on Anthem before our second child. I booked 2 staterooms - 1 adult and 1 child in each. I was able to put the newborn as a TBD second guest in my stateroom. Once the child was born, I just had the reservation updated with the actual name birth date.

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MagicMike

MagicMike

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Keep in mind, that the minimum age for infants is 6 months as of the date of the sailing and 12 months for transatlantic, transpacific, Hawaii, select South American, other selected cruises and any cruise that has 3 or more days consecutive at sea

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cheezwiz

cheezwiz

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Every time I glance over this thread title on the main page I see "Booking a cruise with unicorn baby".

 

I have to keep rereading to make sure I'm not losing my mind. :p

 

I had the same problem!! But then I cleaned my glasses & it's all fixed :)

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Ashland

Ashland

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Book with A "TBD" this works not just with a yet to be born baby, but with anyone.

 

We booked a family cruise for March 2017 back in June 2015 and booked my adult son's cabin with a TBD. We just need to give that TBD guest's name before final payment.

 

I wasn't going to take a chance on trying to add that 2nd person with the possibility that they would have to pay going rates (YIKES have they gone UP) or that the ship was full to capacity (it's the HOTS during spring break so that could indeed happen).

 

Many on these boards have said they didn't have to pay the going rate when adding someone to their reservation....but I'm not too sure.

 

So better safe than sorry.

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Cruzin-K

Cruzin-K

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Book with A "TBD" this works not just with a yet to be born baby, but with anyone.

 

We booked a family cruise for March 2017 back in June 2015 and booked my adult son's cabin with a TBD. We just need to give that TBD guest's name before final payment.

 

I wasn't going to take a chance on trying to add that 2nd person with the possibility that they would have to pay going rates (YIKES have they gone UP) or that the ship was full to capacity (it's the HOTS during spring break so that could indeed happen).

 

Many on these boards have said they didn't have to pay the going rate when adding someone to their reservation....but I'm not too sure.

 

So better safe than sorry.

 

That's interesting because a few years ago I wanted to do this and was told that I couldn't, so I had to book solo and wait until I knew for sure if a friend would be coming with me.

 

So, I was thinking of booking my next cruise with a made up name as my cabinmate, and then just changing the name when I know for sure which person will be joining me - sort of like the unborn baby scenario except my person would be the second person in the cabin, not the third.

 

I think that would work out better than booking solo and trying to add someone, which I'm darn sure RCI would reprice at the going rate at the time.

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Clarea

Clarea

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... I think that would work out better than booking solo and trying to add someone, which I'm darn sure RCI would reprice at the going rate at the time.

You would be correct about the re-pricing.

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Clarea

Clarea

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Thanks....I was pretty sure about this fact but recently some on these boards have really disagreed with me.

Every policy can be overridden. I had a friend who had booked two people in his stateroom, and his roommate cancelled. Royal wanted to re-price the solo at the then current rates, which were ridiculous. The TA took it up the chain and they finally relented and left the price alone. So stupid because he could have just had the person be a no-show and the net result would have been the same. I guess the company feels some percentage of people would just accept the price increase without thinking it though, and it's worth it to the company to go through the exercise.

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akcruz

akcruz

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We did the same thing as above. My son wasn't sure who he would bring when we booked a year out. Booked the second in his cabin as TBD. Did this over the phone so not sure if you can do this any other way but this worked for us. Haven't called to change the name yet, need to shortly.

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

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Ashland

Ashland

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Every policy can be overridden. I had a friend who had booked two people in his stateroom, and his roommate cancelled. Royal wanted to re-price the solo at the then current rates, which were ridiculous. The TA took it up the chain and they finally relented and left the price alone. So stupid because he could have just had the person be a no-show and the net result would have been the same. I guess the company feels some percentage of people would just accept the price increase without thinking it though, and it's worth it to the company to go through the exercise.

 

If there's a "no show" are port fees, taxes & gratuities returned ?

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Clarea

Clarea

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Thanks everyone, So is it possible to do TBD online or will I have to book over the phone?

I don't know if you can actually enter TBD online, but you can certainly enter a fake name.

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TigerLady

TigerLady

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Keep in mind, that the minimum age for infants is 6 months as of the date of the sailing and 12 months for transatlantic, transpacific, Hawaii, select South American, other selected cruises and any cruise that has 3 or more days consecutive at sea

 

Ok, thank you for clearing that up. as I thought you couldn't sail with a "newborn".. You're too tired the first 3-4 months anyway.. At least I was..

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