question about booking two rooms online through third party

[KsucAts]

I have always booked through Royal's website directly, but am likely going to book through another website the next time (mainly to earn bonus airline miles, but also is a little cheaper).  Unfortunately, this website doesn't let me book two rooms at once and says I need to call.  The second room is for my adult (21 & 23) children.  I really don't want to call and would prefer to book it all online.  

 

My question is, what are the disadvantages if I book them as two separate reservations instead of them being linked together?  

[DaKahuna]

In my opinion, none.  Once the reservations are booked, you can link them on the Royal Caribbean Website.  

 

However, if I were in your situation, I would call because once you book through the 3rd party, you will need to go through them for any / all changes or questions regarding your reservation.  

 

[brillohead]

I would book through an actual human travel agent rather than an website-only agency. 

[KsucAts]

Just now, brillohead said:

I would book through an actual human travel agent rather than an website-only agency. 

 

They have a phone # to talk to a human and I am forced to do that if I want to book two at the same time.  I prefer to do everything online rather than talk to somebody.  

[brillohead]

2 minutes ago, KsucAts said:

They have a phone # to talk to a human and I am forced to do that if I want to book two at the same time.  I prefer to do everything online rather than talk to somebody.  

I have a human travel agent that I've booked 20+ cruises with and I've only ever spoken to him on the phone I think twice, and one time was because I was driving and couldn't email him.

I just email him what I want, and he books it for me.

[DaKahuna]

3 minutes ago, KsucAts said:

 

They have a phone # to talk to a human and I am forced to do that if I want to book two at the same time.  I prefer to do everything online rather than talk to somebody.  

 

 That is your choice but just be aware that you may run into issues linking the cruises through the 3rd party if you do it any way other than how they say to do it.  Not saying it cannot be done, just saying they may have that rule in place for a reason. 

 

[DaKahuna]

1 minute ago, brillohead said:

I have a human travel agent that I've booked 20+ cruises with and I've only ever spoken to him on the phone I think twice, and one time was because I was driving and couldn't email him.

I just email him what I want, and he books it for me.

 

Same here but OP seems to be going through an airline website vice a travel agent. 

 

[KsucAts]

3 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 That is your choice but just be aware that you may run into issues linking the cruises through the 3rd party if you do it any way other than how they say to do it.  Not saying it cannot be done, just saying they may have that rule in place for a reason. 

 

I guess that is what my question was.  What are the concerns if I am not able to link the cruises to each other?  Does it really matter?

[brillohead]

5 minutes ago, KsucAts said:

I guess that is what my question was.  What are the concerns if I am not able to link the cruises to each other?  Does it really matter?

You might have to go to the MDR upon boarding to try to get seated at the same table.  

Nothing else really matters.  You can book excursions and drink packages and make reservations for shows on board individually by room, instead of doing all four at the same time.

[KsucAts]

Just now, brillohead said:

You might have to go to the MDR upon boarding to try to get seated at the same table.  

Nothing else really matters.  You can book excursions and drink packages and make reservations for shows on board individually by room, instead of doing all four at the same time.

 

Thanks.  That is what I was thinking as well.  

[Ourusualbeach]

25 minutes ago, brillohead said:

I have a human travel agent that I've booked 20+ cruises with and I've only ever spoken to him on the phone I think twice, and one time was because I was driving and couldn't email him.

I just email him what I want, and he books it for me.

Usually at midnight.🤣

[firefly333]

27 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Usually at midnight.🤣

I think I'm more of a 3 am type. Do you ever sleep?

[Fouremco]

54 minutes ago, KsucAts said:

I guess that is what my question was.  What are the concerns if I am not able to link the cruises to each other?  Does it really matter?

Linking should be painless. Our coming family cruise has five separate bookings, three with different TAs, one with a big box agency and one directly with RCI. I subsequently linked them all effortlessly.

 

 

[buttemontana]

Exactly HOW do you link them? Could not find it on the app.

 

 

 

[Merion_Mom]

5 hours ago, KsucAts said:

I guess that is what my question was.  What are the concerns if I am not able to link the cruises to each other?  Does it really matter?

 

1 hour ago, buttemontana said:

Exactly HOW do you link them? Could not find it on the app.

 

 

 

 

I just went on the RC website.  Since I booked all of the cabins, I have the invoices which have their reservation  numbers.  Since they are members of my family, I know their names and birth dates.  That is the data that you need to link them online.

 

[Fouremco]

10 hours ago, buttemontana said:

Exactly HOW do you link them? Could not find it on the app.

 

 

 

On the app, tap on the person icon. Under the name of your cruise, tap on "Select a different cruise". Scroll to the bottom of the page and tap on "Don't see your cruise? Let's add it now". Next, you will need to provide the "Last name/Surname", "Date of birth" and "Reservation number" for the reservation you are trying to link to. Repeat for each of the other reservations in your party.

[KsucAts]

I just wanted to follow up with my results.  

 

First, I noticed that I was going to get charged a $25 booking fee for each reservation online, so I decided to go ahead and call and book them together to save $25 (or so I thought).  After about 20 minutes on the phone giving all info (the reason I wanted to do it online) for the first room, they were going to charge me $25 and then go through it all again for the second room and charge me again.  So I thanked her for her time and said I would just do it online if I had to pay that booking fee twice either way.

 

In less than 5 minutes, I had both rooms booked online.  Nowhere did it ask for our Royal #'s.  Then I log into my Royal account online & it had my reservation there already (assuming it matched name & birthdate).  Then I searched and found my kids' reservation on my computer.  Right after that, I opened my app on my phone and it had both reservations there.  Much easier than I expected.

[Tree_skier]

So you did the work twice and still had to pay the $25 twice?

[KsucAts]

Just now, Tree_skier said:

So you did the work twice and still had to pay the $25 twice?

 

Not exactly.  I only did one reservation twice.  I hadn't given them the info for the second one.  And also I was much more confident in the info being entered by me rather than taken by somebody else over the phone.  Not only was I certain it was accurate, it was so much quicker.

 

And yes, I had to pay the $25 twice, but the savings were over $200 per person and I don't have to pay the deposit for a year and is refundable other than the $25 (twice) until 3 months before the cruise.  So, not the end of the world to have to pay the $25 twice.