Getting invited to the Captain’s Table.  Dealing with children, families and room assignments.  Accumulating stamps for your passport.  These are all questions that will be discussed in this edition of Mailbag Monday.

If we are traveling in the most expensive cabin available will we be invited to dine at the Captain’s table?

That’s not exactly how it works.  While staying in an owner’s suite certainly won’t hurt your chances of dining at the Captain’s table, there is a lot more to it than that.  No one knows the exact qualifications one has to have in order to be invited to dine with the captain but one thing that is for certain is they like to have as diverse a group of people at the Captain’s Table as possible, meaning how much you spend isn’t the end all be all.

Although this is all speculation, if you have one or more of the following characteristics your odds are much better of getting to dine at the Captain’s Table.

• You Are a Frequent Cruiser
• High-end Cabin
• Celebrating a Special Occasion
• You Have an Interesting Occupation
• You Have Great Connections
• You Are Just Plain Lucky

So, as you can see there are a myriad of reasons why people get invited to dine with the Captain.  If you are someone who cruises frequently you may be considered for dinner at the Captain’s Table as a token of gratitude for being such a loyal customer.  By frequently I mean someone who has hit one of the milestones like 25 or more cruises with the same cruise line.  Or, if you are celebrating a special occasion such as a 50^th wedding anniversary this may get you a special invite.  Also, if you have an interesting occupation or have done something, like being a surgeon or a decorated veteran your odds of being invited will increase.  Sometimes it’s just a matter of being nice to the right person as you never are sure who exactly is making the decision.  Now I’m sure if you are booked in the most expensive cabin onboard the ship you will warrant some consideration but sometimes being selected for the Captain’s Table is just a matter of being lucky.

If there is a group of us going on a cruise can we put the kids in rooms together and adults in other rooms?

Although this will always be subject to the policy of whichever cruise line you are sailing, chances are, according to the strict meaning of their policies you can’t.  Most (if not all) cruise lines require an adult to be booked in a room with passengers under the age of 21.  However, there is a loophole in this particular rule, one that I have personally used.

A couple of times I have been in this same situation as you.  Although I don’t have any children occasionally I do go sailing with a group. When traveling in this sort of group it has been necessary to book adults in the room with children due to cruise line rules.  We had 8 cabins and there were 8 adults and 10 children going on this cruise.  We booked with a mixture of adults and children in the cabins but when we boarded we just made up our own assignments.  The adults took 4 of the rooms and we split the children into the other 4 rooms.

After we made the switch we simply went to the purser’s desk where we had the room keys switched around to match the room assignments.  The purser didn’t seem to have a problem with the change so I’m sure this practice is pretty common.  However, a lot of how special arrangements are handled has to do with when and how you ask.

This physical rearrangement can be done on your own so there is no need to bother the purser until after you figure out what the arrangement will be.  As far as the timing goes you will want to pick a time to make the change when they aren’t completely backed up.  Although there always seems to be a line at the purser’s desk you will want to avoid asking for a special favor when they are dealing with lines 30 people deep.  That being said I believe this type of request is so common that you shouldn’t be shy about making having the switch made.

Special note: On certain cruise lines children can “legally” be booked into separate rooms if they are connecting rooms.  In any case the first thing you will want to do is check with your particular cruise line.  If preparations can be made beforehand it will eliminate any onboard shuffling of cabin assignments.

Do I you get passport stamps for every country visited during a cruise?

I wish this were the case, but unfortunately the answer to your question is no.  Typically when you cruise you will not get any stamps, unless you are leaving from a foreign country.  Any stamps I have been given usually come from the country of departure, not from countries visited during a cruise.

I am not certain of the exact procedure of needed to get a stamp but I assume it has something to do with passing through immigration.  The problem is typically you don’t pass through immigration when visiting ports of call, meaning you won’t have the opportunity to get a stamp.