Are cruises ever cancelled due to lack of takers ?

[WATB]

Just as a matter of interest, has anyone ever known this to happen.......?

 

There must be a point where its not commercially viable to sail with not enough uptake.....

 

With the ships getting ever bigger and a continuing downturn in the ecomony its got to be hard to fill a massive ship especially in the non peak holiday times.

 

I've heard of cancellations on other types of tours for this reason, so was pondering what we would do if this happened to us.

[Rum Rat]

They would never tell you that it was cancelled for lack of take up. They would wait for as long as possible then it would be 'for technical reasons we have to take this ship out of service for at least x days and are therefore transferring you to yyyyyy ship with £ZZZ On Borad Credit .........

 

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ertc etc etc.

[WATB]

Cheers for that Rum Rat, that makes sense......its must be cause for a lot of disgruntled passengers when it happens.........I know we'd find it difficult to switch our leave dates to fit another itinerary even with the offer of extra on board credit..........here's to everyone sailing away happily on their chosen cruise :)

[ROSEBASKETS]

They would never cancel a cruise if it wasn't full. The logistics alone wouldn't be worth doing, plus cancellation charges in ports, cancelling food, staff with nothing to do.

 

There is ever hardly an empty berth on any of the ships which sail these days.

 

What happens is that they;-

1. Discount the cabins so that they are too good to refuse

2. Offer promotions and give away the cruise to magazines and newspapers.

3. Give journalists freebies

4. Offer families of crew members the chance to be with their families at "special" rates

5. Give travel agents the chance of on board "staff training" or familiarisation weeks :eek:

 

Unfortunately we were on an Island Star cruise when 250 travel agency staff were on for "staff training" Anyone who has to suffer these cruises has my deepest sympathy as the days meant facilities been closed to other passengers and the evenings were an excuse for debauchary with the crew joining in, which was no place for a family to be during the wet t shirt competitions, the vicars and tarts parties and the "Roman orgy nights" :eek:

It makes me shudder just to think about it!

[WATB]

Yikes !!.........another cause for alot of disgruntled passengers !!.......perhaps we should have looked at a smaller ship. We like it a bit lively in the evening but not really looking for that type of 18-30 style activities......although my hubby does look great in a wet t shirt, it would finish us off trying to keep up......:D

[davecttr]

They would never cancel a cruise if it wasn't full. The logistics alone wouldn't be worth doing, plus cancellation charges in ports, cancelling food, staff with nothing to do.

 

There is ever hardly an empty berth on any of the ships which sail these days.

 

What happens is that they;-

1. Discount the cabins so that they are too good to refuse

2. Offer promotions and give away the cruise to magazines and newspapers.

3. Give journalists freebies

4. Offer families of crew members the chance to be with their families at "special" rates

5. Give travel agents the chance of on board "staff training" or familiarisation weeks :eek:

 

Unfortunately we were on an Island Star cruise when 250 travel agency staff were on for "staff training" Anyone who has to suffer these cruises has my deepest sympathy as the days meant facilities been closed to other passengers and the evenings were an excuse for debauchary with the crew joining in, which was no place for a family to be during the wet t shirt competitions, the vicars and tarts parties and the "Roman orgy nights" :eek:

It makes me shudder just to think about it!

 

wet vicar competitions :eek:

[cruiser1955]

Excursions will be cancelled if there are insufficient takers. That happened to me for on in Grenada and one in Port Canaveral.

 

I was on a Yangtze cruise where there were just 23 passengers on a ship that could take over 200. This was just after SARS hit China and the owner was on-board and he said that he would be merging cruises. A few days later, he said there were so many cancellations, he was taking all of his ships out of service for a refit.

 

Also did a cruise on Lake Nasser with very few passengers - probably less than 25% full.

 

Heavy discounts can be offered - that happened on one I did in the Pacific. The discounts were so high that I cancelled and rebooked and still saved over £1700 even taking into account cancellation fees.

[southwinds]

YES..we booked a Baltic cruise on back in 2009 for 2010 when the new preview brochure came out.. but by the first edition there were insufficient numbers on that cruise so it was cancelled P&O gave us £100 obc against the cruise we did finally book. BUT we had lost discount and other offers so we then booked a late deal to the Baltics for 2010 instead.

[WATB]

Very interesting to hear about your experiences, it looks as though it pays to keep an eye on what's happening to the prices even after you book.

 

We are due to pay the balance of our cruise in March, think I will check out prices and the cancellation policy before we do this.

 

Its a difficult call to make I suppose, not being privvy to the take up rates.......only 3 of the cabin classes on our cruise have sold out, so I'm guessing they're maybe some last minute discounts in the pipeline...

 

while I'm happy to pay the going rate, if they begin to slash prices I think I will bail and rethink how I book in the future..........paying over the odds by a few £100s is a bit galling but if it gets more than this I'd be well hacked off....you live and learn, eh :(

[u2cruiser]

Very interesting to hear about your experiences, it looks as though it pays to keep an eye on what's happening to the prices even after you book.

 

We are due to pay the balance of our cruise in March, think I will check out prices and the cancellation policy before we do this.

 

Its a difficult call to make I suppose, not being privvy to the take up rates.......only 3 of the cabin classes on our cruise have sold out, so I'm guessing they're maybe some last minute discounts in the pipeline...

 

while I'm happy to pay the going rate, if they begin to slash prices I think I will bail and rethink how I book in the future..........paying over the odds by a few £100s is a bit galling but if it gets more than this I'd be well hacked off....you live and learn, eh :(

 

Is yours a Ventura Med cruise WATB?

 

We were watching the prices on Ventura last year and IIRC they did reduce the prices a little but not that much. We were watching out for a particular sailing in September and it hardly changed over a few months. The cheaper advertised prices were mainly for guarantee cabins (where they put you where they want to, or even non existent when we rang up!)

 

We booked our last Transatlantic 6 weeks before sailing. This time we've booked well in advance because we wanted to be sure of Freedom dining and a port side cabin, and we have paid no more for this year's Azura Transatlantic than we did last minute last year for Ventura, if that makes sense?

 

If you were happy enough with the deal when you booked, I wouldn't worry about price drops and certainly wouldn't cancel because of it. Concentrate on the brilliant time you're going to have and you'll see it's worth every penny. :)

[WATB]

Thanks for your reply U2, we're off to the Fjords in mid May and chose to cruise as the most relaxing way to do this and considering what I've read about the prices in Norway its likely to be the most cost effective too :D

 

For us, I agree that being able to pick your cabin and dining times is certainly worth booking earlier rather than later (to us all these small things make the difference) ......you see the price and make your choice, fair enough :)

 

I was originally concerned about them cancelling the cruise if they couldn't fill such a vast ship out of peak holiday season but if I see them offering massive discounts and I've missed out, I'll be kicking myself. It will definitely make me weigh up the pros and cons of booking later and probably do things differently next time.

 

Only time will tell I suppose and I'm sure I'll get a bit more savvy the more trips we take ;)

[Zouch]

Thanks for your reply U2, we're off to the Fjords in mid May and chose to cruise as the most relaxing way to do this and considering what I've read about the prices in Norway its likely to be the most cost effective too :D

 

For us, I agree that being able to pick your cabin and dining times is certainly worth booking earlier rather than later (to us all these small things make the difference) ......you see the price and make your choice, fair enough :)

 

I was originally concerned about them cancelling the cruise if they couldn't fill such a vast ship out of peak holiday season but if I see them offering massive discounts and I've missed out, I'll be kicking myself. It will definitely make me weigh up the pros and cons of booking later and probably do things differently next time.

 

Only time will tell I suppose and I'm sure I'll get a bit more savvy the more trips we take ;)

 

 

The prices can go 2 ways, we have booked the Arcadia for the Baltic in August and it has gone up twice since we booked

[englishgal]

Friends of ours were booked on Arcadia in balcony cabin. Nearer the sail date they saw a suite advertised for a lot less than they were about to pay, so they cancelled, paid £100 fee and booked the suite. They had a superb cruise, but are now spoilt to use the other cabins!!!!

 

I would have thought that P&O should upgrade people in deluxe balcony cabins to the suite and so on, to give them a taste of pricier cabins. Then let the lower priced cabins go for the bargains.

[Rum Rat]

 

I would have thought that P&O should upgrade people in deluxe balcony cabins to the suite and so on, to give them a taste of pricier cabins. Then let the lower priced cabins go for the bargains.

 

I was under the impression that PandO did that ??? :(

 

I had a top grade balcony cabin booked on one cruise and the next upgrade was a suite. We kept our fingers crossed, but the cruise sold out too soon :mad:

 

Popular ship, Aurora and popular cruise. Forgot which one it was, either USA and Canada or Iceland, Greenland and Norway.

 

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[WATB]

That seems a fair policy Englishgal and would keep everyone happy I'd have thought. We are more than happy with the cabin we've chosen so wouldn't be swayed by an upgrade unless it was to a swanky suite but I don't think that's on the cards for us, not in that league !!

 

So far the prices are steady but I will keep an eye on them.......I guess any major price cuts will be much closer to the departure date and too late for us to change our minds without losing out..............and of course price drops may never happen so we'll have nothing to moan about ;)

 

It is something we'll bear in mind for our next trip though......take a step back and watch the prices for a bit, after all every £ saved is one more I can spend at the spa :D

[WATB]

The prices can go 2 ways, we have booked the Arcadia for the Baltic in August and it has gone up twice since we booked

 

Too true Zouch.....and then I'd be congratulating myself for getting a better price...........I just want it all my own way ;)

[Macbie]

Sorry this is bringing up an old thread but I couldn't figure out how to start a new one!

 

My mum and dads booked a Christmas and New Year 2011 holiday one week aboard the Island Escape doing the Escape to the East cruise and one week in Paphos, both weeks were All Inclusive which they were paying extra forr. They booked via First Choice in Dec 2010, however my dad received a phone call on Monday from First Choice to say that they were no longer doing Winter cruises and that they were cancelling their cruise.

 

When my mum called them back she was told they could offer them a similar cruise but it would be at a hotel in Egypt and would cost an additional £500. My mum explained that she doesn't want to stay in Egypt she wants to stay in Cyprus but she was told they couldn't do that.

 

My mum has a copy of the Island Cruises brochure that the cruise they booked is advertised in!!

 

Really I wondered has this happened to anyone else and does anyone know what my mum and dads rights are?

 

They had only paid their deposit so I don't know if that makes any difference to their rights and they haven't received anything in writing yet to confirm that it has been cancelled.

 

I hope someone can offer some advice - thanks in advance...

 

Macbie

[Adammara]

Several years ago when Aurora was having a lot of problems and bad press we got a 60% discount, never had such a bargain since!

 

Richard

[berkshireboy]

Sorry this is bringing up an old thread but I couldn't figure out how to start a new one!

 

My mum and dads booked a Christmas and New Year 2011 holiday one week aboard the Island Escape doing the Escape to the East cruise and one week in Paphos, both weeks were All Inclusive which they were paying extra forr. They booked via First Choice in Dec 2010, however my dad received a phone call on Monday from First Choice to say that they were no longer doing Winter cruises and that they were cancelling their cruise.

 

When my mum called them back she was told they could offer them a similar cruise but it would be at a hotel in Egypt and would cost an additional £500. My mum explained that she doesn't want to stay in Egypt she wants to stay in Cyprus but she was told they couldn't do that.

 

My mum has a copy of the Island Cruises brochure that the cruise they booked is advertised in!!

 

Really I wondered has this happened to anyone else and does anyone know what my mum and dads rights are?

 

They had only paid their deposit so I don't know if that makes any difference to their rights and they haven't received anything in writing yet to confirm that it has been cancelled.

 

I hope someone can offer some advice - thanks in advance...

 

Macbie

 

Hi

 

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