Dummy Bookings

I have read on a few occasions on this board of people saying they have made a dummy booking to find out which suites are still left on a particular sailing. How does this work, and is it something that can only be done in the US where it appears your access to Seabourn's site is somewhat different than that elsewhere?

I have read on a few occasions on this board of people saying they have made a dummy booking to find out which suites are still left on a particular sailing. How does this work, and is it something that can only be done in the US where it appears your access to Seabourn's site is somewhat different than that elsewhere?

I just speak to my TA and we go through what is available,

I always end up having the same suite on Seabourn ships

It's not US only. I've been able to check suite availability both here in England and at home in France. Just go through the booking process on the website, make sure you're not logged in to My Seabourn first. After you've arrived on the Suite Fares page, pick the category you're interested in and it will offer you a handful of applicable suite numbers. There's a blank box to put in a specific suite number. If that one is still available, it will show up. That's all you do, if you go any further into the process it will ask for your personal details on the next page.

I just speak to my TA and we go through what is available,

I use same TA as you in UK but also get quotes from, and have sometimes booked through, one in US. Have recently asked both to quote fares on a mid 2015 booking. Within the category that we want each has told me which suites are available - and in no case is there any duplication! So are there separate initial allocations?

Regarding booking "dummies" --- BTW not exactly the word I might have used to describe you and your brilliant wife --- what I have often done to check availability when it is the weekend and my TA is not available is to go to **********.com. Pick a cruise and the it will display a heading that reads" check availability." Once you select a particular suite class it will display a diagram of that deck level with available suites highlighted.

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There are numerous web sites that show you available/open suites for the sailing.

Easy and quick but I am not allowed to post these sites on CC.

MB

I find the easiest way is to use Seabourn...just go to the cruise page, press continue to bookings page. Don't bother with logging in to My Seabourn and just put pax names in. Mr Don Duck and Mrs Daf Duck have done this several times! For our next cruise we did not request a suite no for some reason. Our TA came with the booking, I checked Seabourn and saw there were cabins free mid-ships rather than our allocated first off the rank in our category forward on the ship and told TA who re-allocated to mid-ship suite:)

I use same TA as you in UK but also get quotes from, and have sometimes booked through, one in US. Have recently asked both to quote fares on a mid 2015 booking. Within the category that we want each has told me which suites are available - and in no case is there any duplication! So are there separate initial allocations?

Very interesting .

I use to always book with an American TA but prices became higher than the UK TA.

How are things comparing now with a stronger pound?

I suppose those of us who travel regularly and know what we want,book well in advance and just choose the suite that we like, pay the deposit and forget about it for a year.

Thanks both Nigella and AlbanyWA. I am quite clearly too old when it comes to using technology to the full. It had never struck me that one could do that; have now done so and found all the information I wanted. I'll buy you both a drink when I next run into you on Seabourn!

Chairsin, I had looked at the one you recommended but have found that the version available here where I live does not appear to give all the empty suites. When I did as N and A above suggested there was a greater selection available.

Mr Luxury - it's true exchange rates can have an impact particularly if they are volatile at the point at which payment is due. If we are booking through the US I use an existing dollar account set up for this purpose where I know the rate at which I bought the dollars and use that as my comparison point.

Specifically booked a couple of trips last year through US agent as needed to ensure they were in place as sectors of a longer itinerary, but I was undergoing some medical examinations and treatments so it made sense to have the ability to cancel without loss of deposit just in case.

For the 2015 trip, the current strength of sterling means the UK agent's price is approximately 7% less than the US using a rate of $1.70 to the £.

Thanks both Nigella and AlbanyWA. I am quite clearly too old when it comes to using technology to the full. It had never struck me that one could do that; have now done so and found all the information I wanted. I'll buy you both a drink when I next run into you on Seabourn!

 

Chairsin, I had looked at the one you recommended but have found that the version available here where I live does not appear to give all the empty suites. When I did as N and A above suggested there was a greater selection available.

 

Mr Luxury - it's true exchange rates can have an impact particularly if they are volatile at the point at which payment is due. If we are booking through the US I use an existing dollar account set up for this purpose where I know the rate at which I bought the dollars and use that as my comparison point.

 

 

Specifically booked a couple of trips last year through US agent as needed to ensure they were in place as sectors of a longer itinerary, but I was undergoing some medical examinations and treatments so it made sense to have the ability to cancel without loss of deposit just in case.

 

For the 2015 trip, the current strength of sterling means the UK agent's price is approximately 7% less than the US using a rate of $1.70 to the £.

Thanks Ian,

I can understand about the flexibility for health reasons.

For our upcoming trip it was very very price advantageous to book through an Australian TA rather than a US TA as we have done before. Not usually the case. Our onboard deposit could not be applied to our Australian booking, but the discount was honoured. The onboard deposit was refunded by Seabourn within 2 days:). Because the deposit had been paid at a time when our dollar was above parity the refund was $AUD150 more than I paid:):D. My smugness at having entered the world of international currency trader was somewhat dashed last night when I checked my pre-paid Euro Visa travel card from the last trip, which still had 690 Euros on it after the last trip, now had only 2 Euros on it!! Emptied out last October by persons unknown:eek::mad:. As we leave in 10 days unlikely to get this sorted by then!

I am not sure how helpful Seabourn's booking site is for learning how many cabins may be available for a future cruise. So I think that if you want to know the facts you need to as a TA.

I looked at a 2016 cruise and then within one cabin grade was shown a few mid ships cabins, the most desirable in my view. Four cabins were shown just forward of the one I had already booked which led me to think that there were only those 4 available. But then I thought about it and selected a cabin number forward of the 4. It was shown as not available. I chose another, even more forward and the same result showed- not available.

It seems that Seabourn is showing "next best" cabins but not all cabins.

Happy sailing!

It's really easy. Just go to cruise.com and check out the cruise and date you are interested in. They show you "live" availability right from Seabourn. We do this with all our cruises and then just tell our TA which one we want. 😁

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travelingduo,

I took up your suggestion and ran the same cruise, categories etc and found the same result that I found earlier. In fact, I found fewer cabins offered on this site than I did on the Seabourn site. And the same problem: what's showing as available are the more desirable midship cabins which suggests that the less desirable cabins are sold. Which we can safely assume they are not.

So it seems to me that it's best to call your TA to get the full picture.

Happy sailing!

travelingduo,

 

I took up your suggestion and ran the same cruise, categories etc and found the same result that I found earlier. In fact, I found fewer cabins offered on this site than I did on the Seabourn site. And the same problem: what's showing as available are the more desirable midship cabins which suggests that the less desirable cabins are sold. Which we can safely assume they are not.

 

So it seems to me that it's best to call your TA to get the full picture.

 

Happy sailing!

Markham,am I missing something here,you say that the more desirable midship suites are available,does that mean that you are looking for a not so desirable position on the ship?

Mr L,

I had booked a more desirable midship cabin. I wanted to see online what was selling elsewhere. Seabourn and the other site showed available cabins near mine but no availability on the less desirable cabins at the front of the grade.

This shows that there is no transparency because there is no way the less desirable cabins (for the same price) have been sold.

Of course it's possible that the online "supply" is the same as what my TA is seeing and offering to me. If that's so, then Seabourn is managing a drip feed of what they want to show when they want to show it.

Happy cruising!

Here is another thing to keep in mind when you book far in advance and the suite you want is not available. At around the three month precruise mark those who booked through an American TA have the option of canceling. Thus numerous suites are available that previously were not. You can look at the new inventory and have your TA change your suite if a better one becomes available.

And yes, I am rather cross with you Brits right now about your strong pound against the dollar. I book with a UK TA and have usually saved a good ten percent over booking with a US TA --- that is until my final payment last week! Having watch in disbelief the last few months as the pound gained against the dollar and SURE that at some point it would drop back under 1.6 I held off making my final payment on my upcoming cruise until the last moment when it was 1.71@#%*!!! So much for my crystal ball! Unlike Stamfordian I shall not take up a second career as a currency trader.

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If that's so, then Seabourn is managing a drip feed of what they want to show when they want to show it.

SB is definitely managing a drip feed. I just checked this on the SB website and on the other site.

We are booked on a back-to-back next year. I checked the availability in V1 and V2 for the cruise. Both sites showed the same two cabins available in V2, none in V1. (Thankfully, my reserved cabin is not listed as available!)

Then I checked each segment separately, There were three cabins in V1 and four in V2 that were available for both segments. The exact same cabins, so they could really be shown as available for the B2B. The two V2 cabins that were shown as available for the B2B were not shown as available by the segment.

So, what's the moral of the story? Check each segment and then you or your TA need to insist on getting what you want.

Quite correct, they only show part availability. If you have you hearts set on a particular suite and its not shown use your TA and if they say not available ~~~~ push again. Clearly as sailing date gets closer this can be less successful as the ships fill, don't forget they want your booking!