10 Suites gone overnight

We are booked on the Oct. 10th r/t Hawaii cruise in 3 weeks. Yesterday there were still 10 full suites left onboard and today they are "SOLD OUT". How can that happen?:confused:

Princess might have done either complimentary upgrades or upsells to open up cabins in another category that was waitlisted.

Princess might have done either complimentary upgrades or upsells to open up cabins in another category that was waitlisted.

There weren't any categories waitlisted, just the Mini's were on a "Guarantee Only" basis.

Since there were 10 suites left and only 3 weeks to go I was sure hoping on one of those new "Meta Upgrades" from my Mini to a full suite. It looks like the Upgrade Fairy just flew right by me again!!! :rolleyes:

I would check again Monday morning and I bet a number of those suites are available again.

I have found on some weekends in the past inventory disappears only to reappear a day or two later.

I am guessing upsells happened.

Last week there were 11 suites left on my 16 day cruise in Asia. I was booked in a AA mini suite and was offered a paid up grade at A reduce price to a suite. Overnight myself and. 9 other people upgraded and booked 10 of those suites

We are booked on the Oct. 10th r/t Hawaii cruise in 3 weeks. Yesterday there were still 10 full suites left onboard and today they are "SOLD OUT". How can that happen?:confused:

Princess Cruise Line regularly markets their product to several BILLION people around the world, but their ships can carry only 50,000 people per week. That's only .0001% of the potential market.

Every Princess cabin is sold an average of 8 times before every cruise. With about 25,000 cabins in the fleet, that comes to 200,000 cabins actually sold every week.

If you work out the math, that's one sale every 3 seconds - around the clock.

You should be more surprised that there were even 10 suites left so close to sailing.

All Carnival Brands now have an internal policy requiring ALL cabins sold before a ship sails.

You should be even more surprised that it took them an entire day to sell 10 suites on a popular itinerary.

Cats come and go.

You may see more come open again.

I've seen similar activity 2 to 3 weeks before sailing on all of my cuises. I've been told by my TA this is when GTYs are typically being assigned and upsells/upgrades are occurring. I suspect that if you didn't get a call, the Upgrade Fairy visited others on your sailing.

I tried to book any Emerald deck mini on the Crown today, for any week in January--2014--, only to be told they were all booked. I know those are popular mini-suites, but is that not just a bit bizarre? Agent was surprised as well--put us on waitlist/hold till 9/20, just in case folks have put them on a 48 hour hold and then do not pay deposit. Amazing....:(

We are booked on the Oct. 10th r/t Hawaii cruise in 3 weeks. Yesterday there were still 10 full suites left onboard and today they are "SOLD OUT". How can that happen?:confused:

Princess Cruise Line regularly markets their product to several BILLION people around the world, but their ships can carry only 50,000 people per week. That's only .0001% of the potential market.

 

Every Princess cabin is sold an average of 8 times before every cruise. With about 25,000 cabins in the fleet, that comes to 200,000 cabins actually sold every week.

If you work out the math, that's one sale every 3 seconds - around the clock.

 

You should be more surprised that there were even 10 suites left so close to sailing.

All Carnival Brands now have an internal policy requiring ALL cabins sold before a ship sails.

You should be even more surprised that it took them an entire day to sell 10 suites on a popular itinerary.

Just askin' ... The highlighted quote sounds like a statement of fact. How do you know this?

What happens if not all cabins are sold? Does the ship wait at the dock until all cabins are sold? Do they fire the sales staff?

All Carnival Brands now have an internal policy requiring ALL cabins sold before a ship sails.

Guess I was lucky my Princess ship sailed.

Ship’s capacity based on two to a cabin is 2590 people.

The first segment of the b2b had 2281 passengers. The second segment sailed with with 1915 passengers .

Sure glad we did not have to wait for all cabins to be sold before we set sail.

Just askin' ... The highlighted quote sounds like a statement of fact. How do you know this?

 

What happens if not all cabins are sold? Does the ship wait at the dock until all cabins are sold? Do they fire the sales staff?

This is what happens when all of the cabins are not sold out. Once I got a call for a 3 day Carnival cruise. There were a few rooms left and I got lucky and got one of them. I ended up with a 3 day cruise for $99 dollars total! That was my lucky day.

This is what happens when all of the cabins are not sold out. Once I got a call for a 3 day Carnival cruise. There were a few rooms left and I got lucky and got one of them. I ended up with a 3 day cruise for $99 dollars total! That was my lucky day.

I understand that's what the cruise line will do in an attempt to adhere to the stated policy, but that may not always work, even if cabins go for only a dollar.

When a policy "REQUIRES" all cabins be sold before a ship sails, that's a "must do", not a "we want you to try hard to make this happen", which is more of what I would call a desire.

Maybe I'm just being picky but when the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when people or organizations make statements like that. I want to know how they back up those requirements.

I'm pretty sure ships in the lines under the Carnival Corporation umbrella still sail with empty cabins.

Just askin' ... The highlighted quote sounds like a statement of fact. How do you know this?

 

What happens if not all cabins are sold? Does the ship wait at the dock until all cabins are sold? Do they fire the sales staff?

I have managed many ships for 4 of the Carnival Brands.

Every time I attended a sales meeting, or met with our Sales and Marketing people, that is what they explained to me.

Every week as we approached the next sailing date, I was copied on emails with last minute fire sale offers to favorite travel agents, followed by hourly updates on the number of unsold cabins. The final few unsold cabins - typically the least desirable cabins on the ship - are usually sold for next to nothing about 2 days before the next departure.

There are occasional exceptions. The logistics of some back to back cruises and some world cruises sometimes do not allow us to fully sell out a ship. But these are very rare exceptions.

No need to fire the sales staff. They sell out every sailing where it is possible.

I no longer work for Carnival Corp, but my current employer has the same policy.

My ship has been sold out for the past 38 consecutive cruises. That is not unusual.

With today's business model, this "upgrade fairy" nonsense is just that - nonsense.

The only upgrades given today are for the cruise line's convenience - not yours.

Anybody over the age of 8 who believes in an upgrade fairy needs some serious counseling.

I would suspect that a last minute, targeted price-cut filled those suites or else Princess is holding them while trying to upsell to these suites.

I'm curious how very last minute works. I know cruise lines with ships based in Florida do this but do they still sell 24 hrs. before a cruise? I know they have major fire sales and people can get buses to the port.

We upgraded from a mini to a Vista Suite with about three weeks left before our cruise this year. They put the suites on sale and we just paid the difference between what we had already paid for the mini and the sale price for the VS. It was a bargain. This was a jeans and tee shirts cruise for us so the only night we ate in the MDR was boarding day. We had selected traditional seating and I wanted to see if the suite holders were assigned a nice table. It was dead center, against the aft wall with a wonderful view of the entire dining room. There was only one other couple at our table for dinner and they were very happy. The upgrade fairy visited them about two weeks before sailing and upgraded them from a mini to a VS. I was very happy for them (and a tad jealous).

We ordered every other meal from the 'extended' room service (MDR) menu and had Ulitmate Balcony Dining twice. It was a true joy to not deal with dressing up for dinner. :)

We upgraded from a mini to a Vista Suite with about three weeks left before our cruise this year. They put the suites on sale and we just paid the difference between what we had already paid for the mini and the sale price for the VS. It was a bargain. This was a jeans and tee shirts cruise for us so the only night we ate in the MDR was boarding day. We had selected traditional seating and I wanted to see if the suite holders were assigned a nice table. It was dead center, against the aft wall with a wonderful view of the entire dining room. There was only one other couple at our table for dinner and they were very happy. The upgrade fairy visited them about two weeks before sailing and upgraded them from a mini to a VS. I was very happy for them (and a tad jealous).

 

We ordered every other meal from the 'extended' room service (MDR) menu and had Ulitmate Balcony Dining twice. It was a true joy to not deal with dressing up for dinner. :)

That sounds absolutely wonderful!

Anybody over the age of 8 who believes in an upgrade fairy needs some serious counseling.

hmm I thought it was just an expression?

I would love to be offered an upsell... I am sitting on an AE GTY right now and there are lots of suites open on our sailing. I have yet to get an upsell call OR a Meta- upgrade. We will just have to wait and see...:)

I have a coveted AD mini for an upcoming Hawaii cruise. I'm perfectly happy with the cabin I have and look forward to enjoying it, but I still daydream about getting upgraded to a full suite. I know the odds are slim, but it doesn't hurt to dream about getting upgraded. LOL. There are still full suites available, so the dream continues....

Silly question: how many full suites are on the ship in total? I don't think there are very many. Mini-suites, yes, but not full suites. The OP is referring to full suites.

There are 33 full suites and 7 window suites. Of those, 10 full suites and 6 window suites vanished overnight.

I was just hoping with the new Meta Upgrade category that I would get an upgrade offer or yes I still believe in the Upgrade Fairy herself:p

I have managed many ships for 4 of the Carnival Brands.

Every time I attended a sales meeting, or met with our Sales and Marketing people, that is what they explained to me.

Every week as we approached the next sailing date, I was copied on emails with last minute fire sale offers to favorite travel agents, followed by hourly updates on the number of unsold cabins. The final few unsold cabins - typically the least desirable cabins on the ship - are usually sold for next to nothing about 2 days before the next departure.

 

There are occasional exceptions. The logistics of some back to back cruises and some world cruises sometimes do not allow us to fully sell out a ship. But these are very rare exceptions.

 

No need to fire the sales staff. They sell out every sailing where it is possible.

I no longer work for Carnival Corp, but my current employer has the same policy.

My ship has been sold out for the past 38 consecutive cruises. That is not unusual.

 

With today's business model, this "upgrade fairy" nonsense is just that - nonsense.

The only upgrades given today are for the cruise line's convenience - not yours.

Anybody over the age of 8 who believes in an upgrade fairy needs some serious counseling.

Bruce - thanks for the details. I took some time last night to review your other posts and they are chock full of good information, I learned quite a bit. DW and I often travel with a former colleague and we are always amazed at the logistics of the cruising business. From selling cabins, supplying ships over long distances, crew management, passenger service, the ability to handle Mother Nature's surprises, ship building and even making some money for the shareholders, it is an amazing business, an MBA's dream. If I was younger (but still knowing what I know now!), I'd seriously consider looking for a business position in a cruise line.