What to do? Booked room won't be big enough.

[Mainergirl]

Hoping you experienced cruisers can help a newbie...

 

Will be going on 2nd cruise of my life in 5 weeks, 7 nights to Alaska on NCL pearl. We are a family of 4 (kids 11&9) and our 20 yo nanny. I spent a LONG time on the phone with an NCL rep when I booked back in November to get a room configuration that would allow us to have both of our kids in our room, and we ended up booking an aft penthouse suite (SF) and an inside room across the hall for our nanny. We divided our party up for the reservation as 3 in the suite and 2 in the room as we were told that was most financially advantageous. Of note, some SF suites state they hold 3 and some 4, but I painstakingly chose one that holds 4, so I thought... Now, 5 weeks before we sail, a different NCL staffer is telling me that our suite only holds 3. She's checking with the ship to see if a rollaway can be put in that room, but she states that our only other option would be to move to a 2 br family villa (presumably on our dime).

My husband is frustrated and feels that NCL made the error and should pay for our upgrade to the family suite. In reality, one of our kids could share the room with our nanny, but neither wants to, and it kind of ruins our plans for family time. I'm feeling like I might be ok if they can do a rollaway in our existing suite, but I might be kicking myself if that makes our room crazy tight.

Anyone with an experience like this?

[SNJCruisers]

The fact that you booked it directly through NCL instead of a TA is a good thing because now NCL can't blame the TA for the mix up. The NCL rep you booked your cabin with is the one that dropped the ball and you should not be inconvenienced by having to have a rollaway cot brought in which will take up precious floor space. If by some slim chance there is an SF available on your sailing that has an inside available, they could move you, but if the 2 bedroom family villa is truly available, then I would get on the phone with a supervisor of some sort and sternly, but politely state your case and see what happens. If they are going to play hardball and say that the cot is your only option, then try to get as much OBC out of them as you can. Good luck.

Edited July 3, 2016 by SNJCruisers

[NCLfamily]

Leave the nanny at home and the kids use the inside?

 

 

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[luvtheships]

Tell them they made the mistake and they need to fix it on their dime. Period

 

Alternately threaten to cancel and tell them exactly what what your airfare costs are so they can reimburse them to you

 

 

Ncl can solve this with very little effort btw.....

 

Just put you in appropriate level cabins that work....sort of like those free upgrades we are always hearing about.

Edited July 3, 2016 by luvtheships

[luvtheships]

Leave the nanny at home and the kids use the inside?

 

 

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Lol ....exactly....the op did say they wanted family time didn't they?

[rvsullivan]

The one thing that catches my eye is this, OP states that she picked the suite that she believed held four guests and not three. Cost wise putting one child in the inside could have made a difference, but if the suite chosen was a 3 person suite and not a four, it appears the OP made the choice. Perhaps I've missed something? For the OP, good luck, this close to sailing time room availability could be an issue.

[NCLfamily]

The one thing that catches my eye is this, OP states that she picked the suite that she believed held four guests and not three. Cost wise putting one child in the inside could have made a difference, but if the suite chosen was a 3 person suite and not a four, it appears the OP made the choice. Perhaps I've missed something? For the OP, good luck, this close to sailing time room availability could be an issue.

 

 

Good point. I missed it. She 'painstakingly' chose a room that she thought held 4.

 

Unless you have proof the agent said it held 4 then you're on to a loser.

 

 

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Edited July 3, 2016 by NCLfamily

[sanger727]

I think what you are running into was that while, yes, you saved money by booking it the way you did (3 in one room and 2 in another), now it's coming back to bite you because if you had originally booked 4 in the suite and 1 in the inside it would have only let you book a room that would have suited your needs.

 

They can't police who actually spends the night in which rooms, so if you can find an arrangement with bedding in the room that works (maybe a parent shares with each child, or perhaps they would agree to a rollaway bed for the third person in the room) there's nothing to stop the children from sleeping in your room. Since the two rooms are across the hall should have the same room steward and muster station.

 

I'm not entirely sure what you are trying to accomplish at this point, if you just want the bedding to work out I imagine it can. If you actually want the child to be officially switched to your room so they have access to suite benefits, that isn't going to work. You booked them in the inside to save money so for purposes of the booking they have to stay in the inside. Otherwise you would have to pay extra anyway, pay 4th passenger suite rate for the child and solo rate for the nanny.

Edited July 3, 2016 by sanger727

[emcelh]

The SF suites on the Pearl have a queen size bed and a small sofa (more like a love seat) that opens into a bed. It would be tight for two kids unless they were very small. I think you'd be OK with a rollaway.

[LrgPizza]

Since these kids have a nanny, I'm guessing they are very young? If so, they should be able to share the 3rd bed.

[mom2tcdx2]

[/b]

Since these kids have a nanny, I'm guessing they are very young? If so, they should be able to share the 3rd bed.

 

OP said they are 11 and 9

[NLH Arizona]

Since these kids have a nanny, I'm guessing they are very young? If so, they should be able to share the 3rd bed.

The OP stated the kids are 11 and 9, which might be a little too big to share the pull-out love seat in the SF cabin.

 

I would suggest asking the Butler or Cabin Steward for a cot and if questioned, they can say they would rather have a cot then use the pull-out love seat and then have one child on the cot and one on the love seat.

[Leavethekidswithmom]

So how much does NCL want to move you from the SF to the SC? The SC is twice the space and the kids will have their own room and bathroom.

[Sauer-kraut]

Perhaps a better solution is to put the nanny on the sleeper loveseat and the two children in the inside cabin at night just for sleeping.

[Colorado Beach Bum]

I had this issue on another line. We booked a room that was supposed to sleep 10, when we boarded it only slept 8. I was FURIOUS. They attempted to try to fix issue by offering us a free balcony down the hall. I REFUSED. We as well wanted quality family time. We met with senior staff while on the cruise. The best they could offer while on board was a free photo package and 50% off of a future cruise. I couldn't stress enough that unless they made this cruise right I would never use a 50% off of a future cruise. To make a long story short, my 5'10" , 200 lb 22 year old slept on a cot and my 2 year old grandson shared a queen bed with his parents. When we got home I was on the phone with customer service. I finally got 50% of my money refunded from the cruise. It was the first and last time I will ever cruise Royal.

[GeezerCouple]

Get a supervisor to listen to the calls.

 

NCL *does* keep phone recordings.

 

That will show if the NCL told OP that the family cabin was indeed one that held 4 people.

Then it is clearly on them to fix it, with upgrade if necessary, or at least guarantee a roll-away will be possible.

(The steward can pack it up and remake it each evening, so it won't get in the way.)

 

We had to have NCL go back and listen once when a cold call PCC tried to tell us that our *great* PCC had left the company and we should now use this new one who had just called.

 

Huh?

 

Our great PCC was still happily at NCL.

 

Someone's head flew...

[df5250]

At the same time the OP is addressing the cabin issue, they may also need to address another issue...the two booked in the inside across the hall won't be eligible for suite perks. I just went through this with one of my bookings!

[luddite]

Perhaps a better solution is to put the nanny on the sleeper loveseat and the two children in the inside cabin at night just for sleeping.

 

Yikes. I don't think it would be fair to give the kiddo's primary care-giver the short straw.

[LMaxwell]

I had a similar situation with Royal Caribbean where I booked direct and they assigned me a room based on our criteria only to be told later the room would not work and we'd have to pay the difference for the proper room. I contacted everyone I could find in the corporate suite (I always keeps names/dates when I have phone conversations with customer service) and let them know in a factual way what happened and what my ideal outcome would be.

 

RCI made it right by moving us to the correct room at no additional charge to me since they were the ones who made the initial error on the booking.

 

OP, hope it all works out for you. If NCL told you something was ABC, you should get ABC, not XYZ.

[sanger727]

At the same time the OP is addressing the cabin issue, they may also need to address another issue...the two booked in the inside across the hall won't be eligible for suite perks. I just went through this with one of my bookings!

 

 

Correct. It really doesn't matter whether the suite is permitted to hold 3 or 4... There is no way to have the second child's booking moved from the inside to the suite for free. And I am assuming that is what they are trying to do since they are having an issue with whether the cabin has the capacity for 3 or for 4. The way to have booked it for the kids to have suite privileges with the parents would have been to double pay for the second child. So there will be no way to correct this without paying additional money

 

 

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[triptolemus]

Perhaps a better solution is to put the nanny on the sleeper loveseat and the two children in the inside cabin at night just for sleeping.

 

That's hot!

 

Edited July 3, 2016 by triptolemus

[NCLfamily]

Perhaps a better solution is to put the nanny on the sleeper loveseat and the two children in the inside cabin at night just for sleeping.

 

 

If I had a 20 year old nanny for my kids I would be suggesting this to my wife. Or that I draw the short straw and share the inside with the hired help.

 

*if you read this honey, I'm only joking [emoji5]

[dexddd]

If I had a 20 year old nanny for my kids I would be suggesting this to my wife. Or that I draw the short straw and share the inside with the hired help.

 

*if you read this honey, I'm only joking [emoji5]

 

That would be my vote. Time to get a nanny for our kids - 17 & 13.

[mommyto2kids]

Don't let them make the upgrade be at your cost. We had this issue with a forward facing penthouse on the Escape this past Jan and they gave us the connecting balcony room for free.

 

 

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[bonvoyagie]

First let me say that cabins for a odd number of people are hard to find - usually you have to look for larger cabins than you need. We did the SF to AK with my MIL - there were three of us and it was crowded - the only barriers in the room were curtains - one between the bed and sofa and another that sort of cuts of the area near the bathroom to make a changing area.

 

Having minor children complicates this even further. NCL still requires that at least one person on the booking for each cabin is 21 - I have heard of agents faking kids ages to make the booking work and then entering the correct information later - we simply put an adult and a kid in each cabin and switched when we got on board. Also, whoever is registered in the inside will not get the suite perks.

 

The SF suites used to be called Romance Suites - that implies they are cozy - translation - small. By the time you get a table with chairs, another chair and the sofa there is barely room to walk around. The sofa bed only sleeps one person. I am not really sure where you would put a cot or rollaway bed - unless they moved something out - like the table and chairs. As a solution to the sleeping issue you could have a child sleep with the nanny - trading off each night.

 

Better solutions would be a single SC family suite or a Family Balcony with an inside. If you have to keep your current arrangement then another solution would be to have the kids trade off sleeping with the nanny in her inside.

 

I applaud you for taking your nanny on vacation - hopefully it will be fun for all of you.