please would somebody advise me. We, a family of four, aree looking to book on the Emerald Princess end December. We have sailed Princess once before and thought that this time we would book a "guarantee" and take our chances for an upgrade. Our travel agent has offered us a category BF for the balcony cabin and a JJ for the inside childrens room. Previously we looked at a BG and an II. I am not sure how these categories differ. Our agent says there is a better chance of BF and JJ being close together. I do understand that with a guarantee you may be placed near a noisy spot - under the dance floor etc but I will be onthat dance floor and will take ear plugs!- I am confused - any help or advice would be appreciated.

I may be wrong but since you are booking two completely different rooms and want them to be together, you might be better off actually picking two cabins and not going for a guarantee upgrade. If you go the guarantee route, only one of your rooms might be get upgraded and then you will be separated.

How old are the children? Will you worry if they will be on the other end of the same floor? 2 levels above or below you?

If they are too young to be on their own, I would pick the cabins.

Have you tried to call Princess and ask them this question? Just don't tell them you're working with an agent, or they won't talk to you.

You can make reservations with Princess directly, and then release the reservation to the agent of your choice. Don't know if there is a time limit on that.

The other thing to check - most cruise lines don't allow children unaccompanied in a cabin. They usually insist that an adult must be with them. Before you book I would ask the question.

Thanks for your responses. The children will be 17 and 13 at the time. We don't mind them being away from us on a ship - we will get a key for their room so we can pop inand out. We are making the reservation as 1 adult and 1 child per cabin as per Princess rules but then we will just swap

The Emerald is a huge ship. I personally don't think it would be at all convenient to be in rooms on opposite ends of the ship from the rest of the family - no matter what age the children are.

I'm booked on the Emerald Dec 20 sailing. You said "end December". The Dec 20 seems to be nearly sold out and I'm expecting any "end December" sailings will be the same. In my opinion, your chances for upgrade are nil. Choose two rooms you like and be sure of getting what you want.

As far as how a BF varies from a BG and how a JJ varies from an II --- they don't --- the rooms will be identical (BF and BG will be the same and JJ and II will be the same), they will just be in slighly different locations on the ship -- such as on a higher deck or more midships than fore or aft. I'd say the location differences between those two categories are very slight.

Capetownfolk, can you email me at [email protected]?
I have some questions about your SEA trip.
thanks so much.
Alison
p.s. you were kind enough to respond to some questions on you TR thread when you came back. We are laving in 2 weeks and I'd like to ask you some more questions.
thanks again.

swaymock - we sail on 30th December. I think your points about the ship being sold out and so little chance of an upgrade is a very valid one.

I have now paid the deposit and gone for the "guarantee" option. The balance of money is due in September. Maybe what I should do at that point is relook at the costing and get some new quotes and see whatthe status is. What do you think?

capetownfolk -

Booking a guarantee is a very personal choice. I've made that choice in the past but I would probably not make it in the future as I got a room in a location I really didn't like. It was on the Crown (sister ship of the Emerald) and we got the very first cabin on the front of the ship. Perhaps not such a problem for everyone, but my husband has a bit of difficulty walking and it turned out to be a terrible location for us - especially in view of the fact that the traditional dining room is at the very back of the ship. It was quite a hike from the cabin to the dining room each night. Or from the cabin to nearly anywhere.

If you are totally flexible with the location of your cabin and don't mind if your children's cabin is really far away from yours --- then you might want to keep the guarantee and take your chances. Did your travel agent say that the guarantee vs booking a specific cabin would be any less expensive?

Lots of people book guarantees and are happy with them. Since I have to live in the cabin for 10 days, I prefer to choose my cabin - one that is near midship and near an elevator.

I think that the New Years Eve sailing will probably sell out early and there will not be a lot of opportunity for a good upgrade.

One question not mentioned: will they allow children of such young ages in their own cabin? Methinks each parent will be rooming with a child...

mcnyc I did mention that in my earlier post but they are going to register an adult in each cabin. Capetownfolk says the kids are 13 and 17 so as long as they behave themselves as far as noise goes they should be able to get away with it. I would just make sure an adults presence is seen there on a regular basis.

Why is there a need for an adult presence?? Who's watching??

Whose watching? Lots of people. I, personally, would not leave a 13 and 17 yr old in a cabin by themselves with me on the other end of the ship - and if the 17yr old is a female, not on your life. This is a big ship. There are too many people (other passengers and crew) out there looking for opportunities to do whatever. If an adult is not going to be in the cabin, make sure you are within calling distance. Pick your cabins and forget the guarantees of a POSSIBLE upgrade, it isn't worth the slight difference in cabins. Been there, done that.

Hi all, thank you for all your responses. I have given the matter much thought, and Charli it was your words of wisdom reminding us that weirdos are everywhere and so the children need to be closer to us. Our children are very grown up and responsible, but I don't need some crew member sussing out that they are two "children" alone and creeping into their cabin. I am sure this is unlikely but still........

Also I know we are not complying to the rules by having the children without an adult so if they are opposite to us we can pop in and out very often.

On our last sailing there were very many American families in the same position as us where the two teenage children shared a cabin alone, BUT they were opposite to the parents cabin.

So advice well headed I have asked our agent to make the changes and i will keep the "guarantee" experience for when the husband and I are traveling alone and off peak.
By the way the "guarantee" price was not chaper than a specifeid room booking

thanks again to you all

Capetown, another warning. If the location is important for you, pick the cabins yourself, on the ship's website, and follow up with a phone call to make sure you are not scheduled for an upgrade.

On the ship I met a woman who's traveling with a group of friends/relatives, they went to a travel agent to pick their cabins to be close to each other.

Somehow the agent missed the upgrade button, and they all got upgraded, meaning they were all on different levels and all over the ship.

When I made my reservations, I remember there was a button for upgrade, I either clicken on "no upgrade" or un-clicked "upgrade" something like this.