Connecting Rooms? or Atleast Nearby!

[jdfmn]

Long time reader... first time poster!   4x cruiser here and planning our 2nd on RC now!

We are about to book the Symphony sailing on Aug 22 2020 that goes to both Labadee and Coco Cay!  

We will have 7 people in our group... 4 adults and 3 kids.  I can’t find ANY connecting ocean view balcony rooms.  I was surprised by that, especially this far out? Maybe because it will be a popular sailing? 

Furthermore, I couldn’t seem to book 2 rooms on the same floor!  For example in 1 room we had 2 adults and 2 kids.   The balcony rooms came back available on decks 10, 11 and 12.   For the other room with 2 adults and 1 kid... all the balcony rooms came back on decks 6, 7, and 8!  Imagine this is because of room occupancy levels? 

Any suggestions?  I know a travel agent is an option... I just like booking everything myself!   I’d appreciate any help or tips! 

[melski94]

Because it is so difficult to book connecting rooms online, I use a travel agent.  

If you want to see true availability, look at Costco or the RC UK site.  They have much better options to see all available rooms on a deck.  Many times I tell my TA the exact rooms that I want to book and saves me from dealing with RC on the phone as my room situation always requires a phone call.

[wstephensi]

Call RC and discuss what you want. It helps to have picked the rooms ahead of time.  The rep may try to put you in different rooms due of occupancy requirements in their computer.  Ask for a supervisor to override.

I've done this more than once to get my two daughters in a connecting room.

[Neo]

The Royal Caribbean website can be challenging to work with, especially when trying to book multiple rooms. I never used a travel agent before listening to the Royal Caribbean Blog podcast, but boy oh boy I’m glad I found it.

We just used Michelle with MEI Travel to book connecting staterooms on our next cruise. It was so easy, she is wonderful and so helpful. The rooms we booked were not showing on the website, and we also had similar issues with trying to find multiple rooms on the same deck. Michelle was able to not only find connecting rooms, but gave us multiple options to choose from.

Do yourself a favor and try a travel agent! You only stand to benefit from it and you’ll be so glad you did. You can still use the cruise planner and plan out your entire vacation, the TA just takes all the hard work out of it so you can focus on the fun stuff

[RestingBird]

Use a travel agent for sure in this case...so much easier.

[Matt]

I definitely recommend using a travel agent.

Did you use the new connecting rooms option that was added to the site last week: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2019/05/07/royal-caribbean-adds-connecting-room-feature-website-search

I ask because I just used it for your sailing and found lots of options on the site with that feature enabled.

[joshvc]

I also went with a travel agent when we wanted connecting rooms, although I pulled up deck plans ahead of time so I could give him suggestions- "something like 9406/9404," and he took that and ran with it. I don't know how, but they just have access to better search tools, or just experience with the bad tools Royal offers, and can pull things together better than I was able to myself (and I'm one who loves booking my own arrangements too). Call MEI or fill out the form on the front page, they'll take good care of you.

[Matt]

2 minutes ago, joshvc said:

Call MEI or fill out the form on the front page, they'll take good care of you.

Love hearing that, thanks!

[FloridaMac]

Our family members were searching for connecting interior rooms 11 months out and none available.  RC's CSR and the TA both told them it's because RC will allow connecting rooms to be booked individually, there are no controls.  You'd think they would at least hold those open until all comparable non-connecting rooms are booked but alas no.