Website not showing Jr Suites/other oddities

[ArtVandelay]

Hello - Trying to book 3 cabins for a March 4 night sailing on Liberty out of Ft Lauderdale.  Will be myself and wife plus 2 kids.  Grandma+grandpa and the the other grandma.  7 people total.  

The ideal set up would be the four of us in a Jr Suite with two balcony rooms adjacent.  Realize not necessarily going to work out like that.  Just what first choice would be.  When booking, the website is only showing me the Grand suites as an option for the cabin that will have mom/dad/kids.  Ok.  Then I move to picking the cabin for grandma/grandpa and now Jr Suites are an option.  Seemingly dozens of Jr Suites available.  (The four of us did our first cruise in August on Freedom in a Jr Suite. So wouldn’t think it’s a no kids thing?)
 

Another suitable option for us would just be three adjacent balcony rooms.  Same issue.  Scattered choices when choosing the cabin with the kids and then when I move on to next cabin choice, there many more cabins being shown as available.  

Any thoughts on what’s going on here?

Cheers!

[AshleyDillo]

Some cabins are specifically only available for 2 guests, others require 3+. You may want to get a travel agent to help you out as it is easier for them to see what's available and occupancy requirements and location than the way Royal's website handles it.

[BrianB]

I agree. That’s a booking scenario where a good travel agent would be very useful. They have the experience and the knowledge booking these type of issues.

[ChessE4]

Definitely have a travel agent sort it...

[MaryCS62]

Yes, a TA is a good move, they can play around with it, & will know which cabins you can book for the # of people you want in each one.

  DH & I wanted to rebook the B2B we couldn't take this past August for next August on Oasis. Original plan was us & 2 DD's in connecting Jr Suites (was going to have to switch cabins, as we had decided on the 2nd cruise too late to book the same ones), but that had to be cancelled - older DD was hospitalized at the end of June, & was still there in August, so no go. 

Next August will be just 3 -- me, DH & younger DD, but she wasn't sure she could take the whole time (a 9 day & a 7 day), and trying to book the same cabin for both cruises was difficult, because if it was 2 of us, we could get and keep a 2 person jr suite, but if we were 2 on 1st or 2nd cruise, and 3 on the other, we couldn't keep the same cabin because it was either a 2 person suite for 2, or a 3-5 person jr suite for 3 and up - couldn't get the 3-5 person suite if you were only 2 people. 

So, DD had to decide what she wanted, & decided to come on both.  If she changes her mind & cancels one, then DH & I will probably get moved to a different cabin for the other cruise, since they won't want to sell a larger cabin to a smaller group of people.

[Atlantix2000]

14 hours ago, ArtVandelay said:

Any thoughts on what’s going on here?

You need to look at the icons that indicate the cabin capacity on the deck plans.

When you are booking a cabin for 4 people, they are only showing you the available cabins that can hold 4+ people.  (In other words, they aren't showing the ones that are only for 2 people.)

When you are booking a cabin for 2 people, they are only showing the cabins that hold 2.  They don't want 2 people to book a 3+ person cabin.  They may relax that rule once the cruise is closer but by then your odds of getting adjacent cabins will go down.

The website is going to follow these rules very strictly.  If you call and book over the phone with Royal (or if you use a TA), then you may find more flexibility because they have different search tools.

[ArtVandelay]

Thanks, all.   Still seems odd that they will let me book 4 people into an ocean view balcony or a grand suite but a Jr Suite is off limits.  It is what it is I guess.  

[DoomSlayer]

I have never been able to use the website for complex family arrangements.  I have called into their reservations desk and they always helped work it out.  However, I have since come to appreciate the benefits of having a TA and just work through him and let him sort it out.

[ArtVandelay]

Also a bit maddening that I can go in and book the four of us into a Jr Suite if I just want to book one cabin.  But as soon as I add more cabins that option goes away.

[FionaMG]

59 minutes ago, ArtVandelay said:

Also a bit maddening that I can go in and book the four of us into a Jr Suite if I just want to book one cabin.  But as soon as I add more cabins that option goes away.

Just do the three bookings separately. You can link them all afterwards.

I've had experience of trying to use the "more than one cabin" option and every time it priced the second cabin higher than the first despite being the exact same category and occupancy, so clearly some weirdness was going on. When I gave up and did the two bookings separately it all worked fine and I got the lower price for both cabins.

[Atlantix2000]

2 hours ago, ArtVandelay said:

Also a bit maddening that I can go in and book the four of us into a Jr Suite if I just want to book one cabin.  But as soon as I add more cabins that option goes away.

Well, now that's a different problem than how you previously described it.  I change my previous answer to - Royal's website is being goofy which is sadly normal.  On the plus side, there is absolutely NO benefit to booking more than one cabin at a time because each cabin will still become its own reservation.  You'll have to take the minor extra step of linking the reservations together so that you'll dine together.

[Baked Alaska]

8 hours ago, ArtVandelay said:

Also a bit maddening that I can go in and book the four of us into a Jr Suite if I just want to book one cabin.  But as soon as I add more cabins that option goes away.

It wouldn't be maddening if you use a good TA. I would stop, transfer what you've done and let them handle the rest.