10 Suites gone overnight

[gliles]

Originally Posted by BruceMuzz

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

hmm I thought it was just an expression?

[TracieABD]

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...

[KruzPrincess]

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....

[BarbaraP]

Originally Posted by Pam in CA

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

[beg3yrs]

Originally Posted by BruceMuzz

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.

[highheel girl]

Originally Posted by BruceMuzz

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

Killjoy!

[TracieABD]

Originally Posted by highheel girl

Killjoy!

True that!

[caribill]

Originally Posted by highheel girl

Killjoy!

She exists

[mikjr]

Originally Posted by BruceMuzz

Every week as we approached the next sailing date, I was copied on emails with last minute fire sale offers to favorite travel agents,

so... BruceMuzz... sounds like you have an inside track on info... WHO are these favorite travel agents?? I know you can't provide names, but do they vary from time to time... or the same high volume TAs??

Can a person call PRINCESS and be put on a HOT LIST??

by the way... I am over 8, and am really sorry to hear about the UpGrade Fairy!! i'm not sure why my wife has been keeping that bit of news from me...

[EV2008]

I have to ask - what is a Meta-upgrade
thanks

[caribill]

Originally Posted by EV2008

I have to ask - what is a Meta-upgrade
thanks

From one class of cabin to another.
Inside to oceanview
Oceanview to balcony
Balcony to mini-suite
Mini-suite to full suite

[Woobstr112G]

Originally Posted by TracieABD

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...

If you get that Meta Upgrade, you might need some counseling.....

Bob

[Woobstr112G]

Originally Posted by caribill

She exists

I'll always believe.....

Bob

[kath00]

Complicating all this is that I believe cruise lines cannot sell cabins the last 24 hours due to the post 911 passenger manifest that must be turned in at the 24 hour mark prior to sailing. So new passengers cannot be added to the roster after about 5pm the day prior to sailing. That means upgrades for last minute cancellations that occur the day of sailing but no new sales are possible.

At least that is what I have been told as a TA.

Katherine

[caribill]

Originally Posted by kath00

Complicating all this is that I believe cruise lines cannot sell cabins the last 24 hours due to the post 911 passenger manifest that must be turned in at the 24 hour mark prior to sailing. So new passengers cannot be added to the roster after about 5pm the day prior to sailing. That means upgrades for last minute cancellations that occur the day of sailing but no new sales are possible.

At least that is what I have been told as a TA.

Katherine

It is my understanding that the list must be turned over to Homeland Security two hours before sailing. That is why passengers who did not fill out the personalizer and show up at the pier after that time will be denied boarding.

[Pam in CA]

Originally Posted by caribill

It is my understanding that the list must be turned over to Homeland Security two hours before sailing. That is why passengers who did not fill out the personalizer and show up at the pier after that time will be denied boarding.

Bill, I believe it's 60 minutes before sailing and cruise lines bump that up to 90 minutes to make sure passengers check in on time. You'd be surprised at how many people think you can show up minutes before sailing (my nephew included.) If there is a manifest change, the ship must submit a new manifest and it cannot sail until 60 minutes after that. At least, that's my understanding. My nephew showed up just before 3pm for a 4pm sailing last year and almost wasn't allowed to board. And he's Platinum. Go figure.

[cruzsnooze]

Originally Posted by BarbaraP

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?

Even though the suites do not have a GTY available now they may have when the bookings opened over a year ago. Those GTy may be getting assigned now.

[BarbaraP]

Originally Posted by caribill

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.

Still watching....................nothing yet It's funny there still are suites available for the cruise before ours.

[77Network]

Originally Posted by BruceMuzz

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.

This math is not accurate. There are less than 7 billion people alive and less than 1 in 1000 can afford to go on a cruise.

How can they sell a cabin 8 times for each cruise?

[caribill]

Originally Posted by 77Network

How can they sell a cabin 8 times for each cruise?

a) Someone books it and then cancels, so it is sold again
b) repeat "a" several times
c) Someone books it and is upgraded to a different cabin so it can be sold again