Does an infant count toward cabin capacity?

[mousecrazy]

We're a family of five including a one year old considering a Mexican Riviera cruise on the Star. Does she count toward cabin capacity? If so, is the only option to reserve two connecting cabins? Also, does she pay full price?

[katiel53]

Any person, including infants count as passengers. Every ship has a limit of people including infants. Most times infants are the third person in a cabin and pay the 3rd person rate if he/she is the third person. If he/she is the second person, then it's full fare for the child. I believe the Coast Guard counts each "soul" and I don't mean that from any religious standpoint.

 

A one year old though can create quite the mess with food. I say this because we babysat for our now 2 year old grand and she made messes all the time with her snacks. My guess is that there aren't any cabins for 5, unless it's some kind of suite. So, probably you will need to get 2 cabins.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[DAGVBSB]

We're a family of five including a one year old considering a Mexican Riviera cruise on the Star. Does she count toward cabin capacity? If so, is the only option to reserve two connecting cabins? Also, does she pay full price?

 

Not all cabins can handle a crib/pack n play, especially those for four people. On a recent cruise my sister had two boys, one of which was in a crib. They would not allow the four of them in one balcony cabin because the crib would not allow the sofa bed to open. So she had them assign her 5 year old to our cabin (3 of us) since our cabin would handle 4. When we got on board, the cabin steward had no problem opening the sofa bed with the crib in the room and so the 5 year did stay with his parents alhtough he was officially assigned to our room. (we had connecting rooms.)

[Cuizer2]

We're a family of five including a one year old considering a Mexican Riviera cruise on the Star. Does she count toward cabin capacity?

Yes. Every person counts.

 

If so, is the only option to reserve two connecting cabins?

Either get a Garden Villa (very expensive), some AB cabins sleep five, or get two connecting cabins.

 

Also, does she pay full price?

No, even though NCL charges young children a certain rate, they usually don't try and collect it from the children. Usually NCL expects the parents to pay whatever the children are being charged though. However, since you are going to have at least three in one cabin, the cabin with three will have one passenger who is charged the reduce 3rd and 4th person rate.

[DAGVBSB]

No, even though NCL charges young children a certain rate, they usually don't try and collect it from the children. Usually NCL expects the parents to pay whatever the children are being charged though. However, since you are going to have at least three in one cabin, the cabin with three will have one passenger who is charged the reduce 3rd and 4th person rate.

 

When my sister took her 6 month old on the cruise, all she had to pay was port charges. (about $250 for a 7 day cruise she said.)

[Cuizer2]

When my sister took her 6 month old on the cruise, all she had to pay was port charges. (about $250 for a 7 day cruise she said.)

$250 for a seven day cruise is a lot more than just the port charges.

 

Okay, I checked the price of a family of three with a one year old on the Dawn and found the 3rd and 4th person rate was $140. Then I aged the family eight years, and the 3rd and 4th person rate for the nine year old was $400 to $500.

 

So I guess there is an extra discount for babies, but if you can get a nine year old on board for $400, then the port charges are a lot less than $250 for a one week cruise.

[PattyW]

I believe (see below) that you can book 5 to a room if one is a baby as long as there is enough room. Here's my experience.

 

According to their website, NCL does not charge the cruise fare for children under 24 months. They do charge all taxes, fees, port charges, etc. Their website says there is no service charge for those under three.

 

I looked into NCL when our youngest was under 2 to try and take advantage of this, but if you want a balcony (which I did since I had a still napping child) and you would be a family of four on the cruise, you really have to go into an AB suite. NCL explained that they HAVE to book you in a cabin that will allow the third person to sleep on the sofabed pulled out AND have room for the pack n play. I know you are a family of 5 so it actually makes more sense for you, but for me, it aggravated me to no end because my child was perfectly capable of sharing the sofabed with his sister. I kept telling them - there is no need for a pack n play. But, their rules and regs REQUIRE that they book a child under 2 in a cabin that will allow for the pack in play to be open. If it were just the 2 adults and one baby, I think they would have let us in the minisute because the sofa would not need to be pulled out, but they wouldn't do it because we had 4 passengers.

 

Anyway, we ended up booking a repositioning cruise on RCCL for about 6 months later (had to pay the cruise fare for the little guy) and their minisuites were large enough to accommodate both the pulled out sofabed and the pack-n-play (Radiance of the Seas actually has the larges minisuites I have ever been in). With all the trouble I had with NCL, I kept asking for reassurance that booking the mini was OK. To finally shut me up (I think) RCCL's customer service told me that they would happily book 5 people in that cabin as long as one of them was a baby in a pack n play.

[newmexicoNita]

We're a family of five including a one year old considering a Mexican Riviera cruise on the Star. Does she count toward cabin capacity? If so, is the only option to reserve two connecting cabins? Also, does she pay full price?

Very much she counts as part of the cabin capacity. What she pays depends on the cruise line. Some (only a couple btw) will wave all fees except non commissionable charges and government taxes. These are charges the cruise lines legally have to charge. Other lines will give a discount but will have a fee even for infants and still others charge full extra person charges.

 

Nita

[newmexicoNita]

$250 for a seven day cruise is a lot more than just the port charges.

 

Okay, I checked the price of a family of three with a one year old on the Dawn and found the 3rd and 4th person rate was $140. Then I aged the family eight years, and the 3rd and 4th person rate for the nine year old was $400 to $500.

 

So I guess there is an extra discount for babies, but if you can get a nine year old on board for $400, then the port charges are a lot less than $250 for a one week cruise.

Depending on the ports, $250 isn't a lot more. I think what she meant was port charges plus government taxes which normally run from $50 to about $80.00. That would be about $250. Normally NCL doesn't charge a third person charge for anyone under 2. Most other lines do. It is important to remember port charges do vary according to the itineray. sometimes they are as little as $100, Panama Canal they are about $250.

 

Nita

[mousecrazy]

Thanks for all the info. We really like NCL Freestyle, so would like to stick with the Star. I was hoping for a mini-suite and pack-n-play...darn. An AB suite is more than a mini + an inside...so I guess I'll look at that route instead.

[DAGVBSB]

 

So I guess there is an extra discount for babies, but if you can get a nine year old on board for $400, then the port charges are a lot less than $250 for a one week cruise.

 

I do remember that it was $250 for the baby, so it obviously included more than just the port charges, but from what I thought she said, it was all for charges by the government and NCL couldn't do anything about it.

[newmexicoNita]

I do remember that it was $250 for the baby, so it obviously included more than just the port charges, but from what I thought she said, it was all for charges by the government and NCL couldn't do anything about it.

you are right, NCL does not charge, but the fees are controlled by various governments and have to be paid by the passenger.

 

Nita