Curious about partially empty ship

Hi everyone. My family and I are booked to sail on the Grand on January 3rd to the Mexican Riviera. Today is the final payment day, and just for kicks, I went on the website and looked around to see what was all available. I was shocked to see that there were over 220 balconies, 90 oceanview, numerous interior as well as more than 20 mini suites and a few suites still unsold. That seems like alot more than I have seen on other ships at final payment date. What are the chances they are going to have a bigger sale than is already listed to fill the ship? Any way, if there is, that it will be one I can get a credit for, or will they probably try to pull the "new booking only" game?

They may have a bigger sale. I typically stop looking after final payment date because I expect any deals to be new bookings only.

Often there are guarantees that have not been assigned a cabin making it appear there are more cabins available.

I would LOVE to sail on a ship that isn't full!

Often there are guarantees that have not been assigned a cabin making it appear there are more cabins available.

Absolutely correct. To my knowledge, there is no way, except for perhaps as a travel agent, to get a truly accurate look at how many cabins are actually still available.

Sales after final payment are almost always new bookings only.

Right after New Year's/holidays is a great time to cruise because prices are often low and bargains can be had. Even though there are probably guarantees to be assigned, this is one of the slower times of the year. Princess will likely have a big sale with great prices to fill the ship.

Hi everyone. My family and I are booked to sail on the Grand on January 3rd to the Mexican Riviera. Today is the final payment day, and just for kicks, I went on the website and looked around to see what was all available. I was shocked to see that there were over 220 balconies, 90 oceanview, numerous interior as well as more than 20 mini suites and a few suites still unsold. That seems like alot more than I have seen on other ships at final payment date. What are the chances they are going to have a bigger sale than is already listed to fill the ship? Any way, if there is, that it will be one I can get a credit for, or will they probably try to pull the "new booking only" game?

Have you located a site that shows vacant cabins for the complete deck and hence it was easier to add these up?

The Princess booking site only shows section by section, deck by deck and it would be a tedious exercise to count up all the categories.

Please email me as you can't post that information here.

Thanks,

They may have a bigger sale. I typically stop looking after final payment date because I expect any deals to be new bookings only.

For my existing cruise I am booked on... I was paid in full and a new deal came up about a week later. Price was the same, but the OBC was much higher. I called and they applied the additional OBC. :)

Sales after final payment are almost always new bookings only.

Princess has often been agreeable to upgrades after final payment. Keep watching prices. When they fall you can request an upgrade. We went from inside to balcony on our last Princess cruise.

we noticed at the weekend a whole section of the aft on our ship has suddenly been block booked. was hoping it was not a stag/hen trip. maybe a wedding or a very large, very large family gathering. so its good to think it might be blocked for resale if others are getting on at another port for a b2b.

Often there are guarantees that have not been assigned a cabin making it appear there are more cabins available.

The above is so absolutely true!

LuLu

No other website. I did the tedious counting section by section. I was waiting for my daughter to meet me for lunch, so I just opened up my ipad and counted away. :)

I would LOVE to sail on a ship that isn't full!

I love an empty ship.

I mean no disrespect. But I have to ask....How do you rack up 62,000 post??? I did the math, thats on avg. 14 post per day, everyday for over 13 years ! Amazing. Are you a Travel agent ? You have far more than the next closes I've seen which is around 45,000. Ill understand if you choose not to respond to my question.

I mean no disrespect. But I have to ask....How do you rack up 62,000 post??? I did the math, thats on avg. 14 post per day, everyday for over 13 years ! Amazing. Are you a Travel agent ? You have far more than the next closes I've seen which is around 45,000. Ill understand if you choose not to respond to my question.

There's an easier way... click on user name, click on View Public Profile, click on Statistics. It's showing as 12.77 posts per day.

They may have a bigger sale. I typically stop looking after final payment date because I expect any deals to be new bookings only.

I'm glad I didn't follow this - about 4 days after final payment we scored $420 refund to credit card and $100 on board credit, per person!

Check the final payment date vs. the cancellation penalty schedule. Princess doesn't charge a cancellation penalty until 75 days before sailing for itineraties under 30 days in length. Is final payment due at/before 90 days before sailing?

Maybe they're giving you benefits because you were still fully refundable even though you had paid fully. We often use "final payment" to mean the time when penalties for cancellation begin to apply but usually there's at least a couple of weeks in between.

Right after New Year's/holidays is a great time to cruise because prices are often low and bargains can be had.

There is a reason those "Bargains" can be had for such a low price.

I went on a Mexican Riviera cruise 5 years ago the first week in January on another cruise line. It was almost cold in Mexico and windy-cold at sea. Being out on the balcony or the ship deck was unpleasant so everyone got cabin fever being inside all the time. Two of the port stops had weather too coolish-cold to really enjoy it.

I understand that weather can be variable, but I wouldn't do it again that time of year. The Caribbean is reliably much warmer in January - I'd go there instead. Either that or wait a couple months for reliably warmer weather on the Mexican Riviera. The cheap price was no bargain.

- Just my two cents

Just curious, where do I look to find out which cabins are possibly still empty on a cruise? I've never seen a link for that.

I think if you start the booking process on the Princess website you can see all of the empty cabins in a given category during the cabin selection step. I saw this when I was looking into an Alaska cruise last week.

Help me understand why Princess offers lower prices for new bookings only after final payment - when I have sailed on them more than 15 times and booked my cruise back in July 2014. I would think they would take better care of their loyal cruisers.

To fill the ship. This is common procedure on most of the cruise lines.

And, if you do some reading on the board, you will see Princess will give some benefits if the price goes down after final payment. Upgrades or OBC are common. Just like a lot of other cruise lines.

Help me understand why Princess offers lower prices for new bookings only after final payment - when I have sailed on them more than 15 times and booked my cruise back in July 2014. I would think they would take better care of their loyal cruisers.

"New bookings" means someone making a brand new reservation on a given voyage; it doesn't mean a new -- as in, never before having sailed with them -- Princess cruiser. You, too, are free to get a lower fare after final payment . . . all you have to do is wait to book your cruise until then.

"New bookings" means someone making a brand new reservation on a given voyage; it doesn't mean a new -- as in, never before having sailed with them -- Princess cruiser. You, too, are free to get a lower fare after final payment . . . all you have to do is wait to book your cruise until then.

Well said!

Help me understand why Princess offers lower prices for new bookings only after final payment - when I have sailed on them more than 15 times and booked my cruise back in July 2014. I would think they would take better care of their loyal cruisers.

Because they don't want to sail with empty rooms and they've already got your money. I'm hoping that, once I finally retire, I will be able to snag some of the killer "after final payment" deals.