Call For Availability

When Seabourn uses this wording with respect to availability, what does it usually mean: nothing available, limited availability, wait list only.

We are on our 2nd Seabourn cruise crossing the Indian Ocean this November, and I believe last week or the week before, all selections showed available.

We were thinking of changing our stateroom.

Thanks,

Malcolm

When I've seen it for cruises I've been on its either been: 1. Very few rooms available in any category (or none in some, but some in others) or 2. Hello waitlist.

My December cruise on the Sojourn was showing availability on all cabins two days ago, now is call for availability on all cabins today. Somehow I do not think there have had a rush of bookings on all cabin choices.:D

Seabourn does really strange things with cabin availability and its computer system.

For example: I wanted to book the Legends final Caribbean cruise and TA. There were a few ways I could do that: Book the entire thing, or book the Caribbean and then book the TA portion. When I looked at rooms for the overall trip there were slim pickings. When I looked at the individual segments there was a lot of availability - including rooms not available had I booked the overall trip. I ended up finding a room I liked that was available on each individual segment but not for the overall cruise. I booked each segment and then had my TA combine the segments.

I pulled this from a TA's blog (so I can't name/credit the author)

Seabourn's "Dirty Little Secret" - It Blocks Suites and Sailings to Make Longer Sailing More Expensive, Appear Almost Sold Out...and Then Offers Less Desirable Suites

When it is a cruise that's also sold as part of a longer cruise, they allocate each suite to either the one or the other as they want a certain percentage of bookings on both. I've had some luck calling and asking for a Penthouse (Spa) Suite for a particular cruise, which was listed as "call for availability", but then released from a longer/combination cruise by a "supervisor" and assigned to me. So yes - calling in might just do the trick!

We decided to book a Penthouse suite for our next cruise which is a 31 day back to back. We were initially told that there was only availability for one of the legs. Our TA asked Seabourn how badly they wanted to sell 31 days in a PS and, magically, one became available.

We decided to book a Penthouse suite for our next cruise which is a 31 day back to back. We were initially told that there was only availability for one of the legs. Our TA asked Seabourn how badly they wanted to sell 31 days in a PS and, magically, one became available.

That makes me think of a scene out of Star Wars -

Seabourn: This isn't the penthouse you're looking for.

Roxburg: Waves hand holding money "This IS the penthouse we're looking for"

Seabourn: This is the penthouse you're looking for.

The vagaries of allocation is one of the reasons we are on SS over Christmas and not SB.

We couldn't get a suite in a location we preferred when I was trying to book and I wont pay for something i wont be happy with, nor am i good at gambling.

Lo and Behold 3 months later and online suites where I wanted to be were suddenly available…by then it was too late to jump ship because i had booked fixed dates for flights etc… (I should never have checked back, but I was looking at a different date and saw that there seemed to be suites available)

Hare to say it,but we jumped ship from SS to SB. Back to SS because we can get our desired suite.SB has some crazy prices.

The vagaries of allocation is one of the reasons we are on SS over Christmas and not SB.

 

We couldn't get a suite in a location we preferred when I was trying to book and I wont pay for something i wont be happy with, nor am i good at gambling.

 

Lo and Behold 3 months later and online suites where I wanted to be were suddenly available…by then it was too late to jump ship because i had booked fixed dates for flights etc… (I should never have checked back, but I was looking at a different date and saw that there seemed to be suites available)

It was changing when I was looking also. We ended up phoning SB Aus number and got what we wanted and booked then.

We couldn't get a suite in a location we preferred when I was trying to book and I wont pay for something i wont be happy with, nor am i good at gambling.

Lo and Behold 3 months later and online suites where I wanted to be were suddenly available…by then it was too late to jump ship because i had booked fixed dates for flights etc… (I should never have checked back, but I was looking at a different date and saw that there seemed to be suites available)

Similar happened to me last January, I wanted to book "Route of the Vikings" for this year, but only 2 x V6's available, so I booked Norway and the Baltic instead.

In June there were a number of suites in each cat. available, (over 30 from memory) but of course I had booked (& paid) for airfares to Copenhagen at an earlier time.:)

It was changing when I was looking also. We ended up phoning SB Aus number and got what we wanted and booked then.

I tried SB Aus, as my bookings have always been SB direct.

As a last resort I tried a TA...

yo and behold suddenly all suits from v2 and above now available

I tried SB Aus, as my bookings have always been SB direct.

 

As a last resort I tried a TA...

A good TA should be your first resort, not your last imo.

A good TA should be your first resort, not your last imo.

Better to have and need not rather than need and have not.

A good TA should be your first resort, not your last imo.

She is a good TA, but she had less choices available than SB……. I knew that from past experience when I went the other direction……

SB only releases certain suites to TAs….. (that was from both horses)

Advice re TA is good. Be sure to find one that works regularly with Seabourn.

A good TA to me is one who works closely with SB. Such an agent will be bale to get at most any available inventory.

(I should never have checked back, but I was looking at a different date and saw that there seemed to be suites available)

It had nothing to do with TAs and you are all making assumptions without knowing the calibre and connections of mine….. my TA was the last resort because if anyone could secure a suite I wanted, they could.

One of the things I dislike about SB is the no cost cancellation, it seems to free up suites that you may want later as people transfer their booking from one cruise to another… with no penalty.

This continues to be a frustration of mine with SB, unless you book early your suite choice can be limited due partly to people who want to hold a spot, but aren't committed.

(but that is a whole other topic, which has been discussed before)

A good TA to me is one who works closely with SB. Such an agent will be bale to get at most any available inventory.

Yes, and they can't get the unavailable, which those suites were at the time

We are on the wait list for a 32-day cruise on the Sojourn that is listed as “call for availability.” According to the Seabourn website, the two segment cruises both have room; last week, all but one category were listed as available.

Seabourn tells me though that not only is the 32-day cruise fully booked, but both of those segments are as well. “We do apologize for the website not being reflective of the current situation with your sailing. At this time, there is no space for sale, for certain, in our booking engine.”

So either their website is incorrect or somebody is not telling me the truth. Has anyone been in a similar situation and finally cleared the wait list? The cruise is November 18 so I guess I’ll find out soon enough. (We have already decided to use a different TA next time.)