PAT for child in another adults stateroom

[shaunacb]

My daughter is in my mom’s stateroom. We will be arriving the night before embarkation day, but my mom is flying in the day of embarkation. Do we have to wait for my mom to arrive at the port in order to board the ship, or can my daughter board with us (her family in a different stateroom) at an earlier time without my mom? I guess another way of asking the question: Can members of a single stateroom board at different times or must they check in together?

 

[SteveMouse]

I would not expect a minor to be able to check in. If your child is a real adult (not “just” a Disney adult), there should be no problem.

 

[Dug720]

I would not expect a minor to be able to check in. If your child is a real adult (not “just” a Disney adult), there should be no problem.

That is the glitch.

And assuming the daughter is NOT an adult who could occupy the stateroom alone, what is your back-up plan if your mother’s flight is cancelled or delayed such that she misses the ship?

 

[lklgoodman]

That is the glitch.

And assuming the daughter is NOT an adult who could occupy the stateroom alone, what is your back-up plan if your mother’s flight is cancelled or delayed such that she misses the ship?

Very good points. I would call Disney directly and ask them, just for my own peace of mind. If they say your dd can't check in without your mom, then I would ask about changing the reservations. Put your dd in the cabin with your dh and you with your mom. That way the 3 of you can check in without your mom and if she would miss the ship because of late flight, you all will still be able to go without her. Hopefully everything will go ok with her flights, but we almost missed out first cruise due to a flight being cancelled when we flew in the day of the cruise. I would check to make sure that the cost wouldn't change if you were to switch you and your dd cabins. Your dd could still stay with your mom in her cabin even if you switch cabins on the reservation. Once you all get on the ship then you can switch you back to the cabin with your dh and your dd with your mom, hope that all makes sense.

 

[owensamo]

Another option would be to swap yourself for your daughter on the second stateroom. That way you can check in both staterooms when you get to the port (as an adult in the second room) and your daughter would be able to check in with the rest of the family in your current stateroom. Assuming you have similar PATs, your family can board together and your mother can check in and board whenever she arrives. Once on the ship, you can go to guest services to get room-only key cards for anyone who is sleeping in a room different than they are registered in.

We did something similar on our last cruise to ensure both staterooms (ours and my in-laws) had the same Castaway Club level. We actually checked in both staterooms at the same time (my husband's and mine) with our whole party, but there's no reason that we couldn't have checked in just our family in both staterooms separately from my in-laws (also in both rooms). It was also easy to get the right credit card set up on each person's account, as well as get a room-only key card from guest services once on the ship.

One thing to note: if your daughter is not in a stateroom with either parent, the adult in that room will have to sign a form to allow her parents to take her off the ship, as well as the form to allow others to check her out of the kid's clubs. So it might make more sense to make sure she's registered in a room with at least one parent.

 

[shaunacb]

This is extremely helpful, thank you! The story is slightly more complicated than my original question, because my brother's family of 5 (FAMILY B) are also coming and they are on the same flight as my mom (let's call her "C"), so will be arriving together. Our family of 5 (FAMILY A) are flying in the day before we leave, and we are the only Castaway Club members. All 6 children are minors (age 7 and under).
Here is the current situation with 3 staterooms:
1. AAaa
2. Cab
3. BBbb

If we do as you suggested and switch me with my daughter so that my family of 5 can check in early, it looks like this:
1. Aaaa
2. CAb
3. BBbb
It sounds like the early port arrival time I want for my family (A) will work, as an adult can check in alone for a stateroom before the rest of the party checks in? I hope I have that right, and the ENTIRE stateroom doesn't need to check in together?? (Adults in a stateroom can check in at separate times?)

An even better solution, considering the issue where my mom would have to sign a form for my nephew's parents to take him off the ship and check him into the kids club, is if my SIL was in the same room as my nephew. It would look like this:
1. Aaaa
2. CBb
3. BAbb

The only issue I might see with this is regarding stateroom charges... We would want each family's credit card charges to stay separate (ie my brother won't want to pay for my wine, port adventures, etc). How would we get around that problem with 5 different credit cards? Once on the ship, can we change everyone back to their original rooms, or would that negate the advantage of not having my mom sign a form to allow the child's parents to take them off the ship/sign them into the kids club?

The benefit of each stateroom having Castaway Club status would be great for booking Port Adventures together, however I can't see a way to make all 3 staterooms get my Castaway Club status, without having one of my kids in a stateroom without me, and thus the original problem of check in time would remain. At least 2 of the staterooms will have CC status.

Another benefit I am thinking about is whether we could pay for the photo package in advance to get the better price, and have one photo package cover all 11 people... If I bought a photo package for stateroom 3 (BAbb) in the last example, could we get photos also covered for stateroom 1 (contains my kids "aaa") and stateroom 2 (contains one of my brother's kids "b")?

I have so much to learn! Do I have this right? What would you do? TIA!

 

[owensamo]

That does sound more complicated! It may make sense to swap around so the kids are all in a stateroom with a parent to make things easier - but it's not a huge *problem*, just more busywork and paperwork if left the way it is. Unless there's some popular shore excursion you're worried about getting - or booking for on board meets - the difference between silver and new cruiser for bookings isn't that big. You'll be able to book everyone as soon as they're paid in full and their booking window is open. There's usually plenty of availability for most activities, and some things (like Palo) aren't all available in advance anyway.

If you do switch people around, it's very straight-forward to arrange credit cards and keys. All you need to do is go to guest services with your key cards and credit cards and they can apply different cards to each individual person's account, as well as make room-only key cards for anyone not sleeping in the room they're registered to. You will need to muster with your registered room, as well as use it for room charges, etc - and be aware that any Fish Mail for you may be in another room's Fish Mailbox - but other than keeping that straight (which isn't has hard as it sounds), it's really not a big deal. Disney deals with this often as it seems to be a regular occurrence - they didn't even question us when we did it in November.

 

[gotomu212]

My advice on this:

1. link all the staterooms. Then you can allow all adults to check kids in and out of the clubs (very helpful if you’re all a dinner and Uncle Bob is going to grab his kid and yours and meet you at the show). This can also help book excursions together, although you would have to wait for their check in date.

2. The first day everyone needs to go to guest services to sign forms to take any children off the ship that aren’t in their room- this is needed under all your different scenarios because under none of them are all 3 children in the room with both their parents. (Even in your Aaaa scenario the other A wouldn’t be able to reboard with their only kids which can get annoying if you’re at Castaway Cay for example and trying to run back with just one kid) and in your BAbb scenario you still can’t take your own kids, brother can’t take 1 of his and SIL can’t take 2 of hers without the form.

3. When checking in you can assign each person a credit card so no problem keeping charges separate, and honestly the CC privelages arent really worth arranging all 3 rooms with an A so I’d leave brother as BBbb.

4. For peace of mind in case the flights ran into problems I’d do Aaaa and CAb. That way you know your family will absolutely make it on. Cab could leave you in trouble if the plane doesn’t arrive in time. This will also let you all board together and not wait for the rest of the party. (When does their flight arrive and how are they getting to port?)

5. I don’t think you’re going to be able to get one photo package for all 11. You could cover your own kids but if you start swapping spouses I don’t think they’ll allow you to add the other full family to yours.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Another benefit I am thinking about is whether we could pay for the photo package in advance to get the better price, and have one photo package cover all 11 people... If I bought a photo package for stateroom 3 (BAbb) in the last example, could we get photos also covered for stateroom 1 (contains my kids "aaa") and stateroom 2 (contains one of my brother's kids "b")?

When purchasing photo packages, when one room (with different family individuals in it) purchases the full digital package, The person who is actually purchasing the package is whose package it is. That person's nuclear family will be included in their package. That is, minor kids in a different room would be covered, but I've read reports that the other parent (if in a different room) is not covered. Any photos taken that have at least one of the covered individuals in it will be included in the package.

If one room purchases the full digital package, a second room can purchase the full package for 50% off.

 

[DVC Jen]

Which room they actually sleep in is not important (really). What matters is that the minors are listed in the same cabin as a parent. You will not have anyone knocking on your door in the middle of the night to make sure everyone is sleeping in the room they are registered in. The only time it really matters is during the safety drill.

 

[n2mm]

Last year we cruised and our granddaughter was booked in our room because we needed 2 cabins, but only 3 person cabins were available. Our granddaughter (10 yo) HAD to check in with us at the terminal. She HAD to board with us also. They did our security picture as the 3 of us. And WE had to fill out a form onboard giving our permission for her to get off the ship with her parents since she was not assigned to their cabin. I suggest you call dcl.

 

[shaunacb]

Thanks everyone for your advice! I am going to do as suggested and switch myself and my daughter so that we don’t run into problems getting onboard as a family. (Aaaa and CAb). I will also get all the adults to sign the forms at guest services to take kids off the ship. The reservations are linked so that will help with kids club check in’s. I’ll forget about trying to get the photo package to cover all of us. Again thank you!