When is a ship undersold?

[triple7tahoe]

Would you consider a cruise with about 20% (or more) of the cabins unsold, as being undersold? We are two months out from a cruise on the Pacific Princess and when I look at the cabins still available it looks 62 cabins are still available. A quick count shows a possible 275+/- cabins that could be sold? I would think there are going to be some great sales coming up;)

[jollyjones]

Don't forget about the GTY bookings, they probably haven't been allocated yet.

[Colo Cruiser]

Would you consider a cruise with about 20% (or more) of the cabins unsold, as being undersold? We are two months out from a cruise on the Pacific Princess and when I look at the cabins still available it looks 62 cabins are still available. A quick count shows a possible 275+/- cabins that could be sold? I would think there are going to be some great sales coming up;)

 

It is very misleading as the cruise will most likely end up sold out.

Plenty of time left.

What iteniary?

Edited February 19, 2014 by Colo Cruiser

[triple7tahoe]

It is very misleading as the cruise will most likely end up sold out.

Plenty of time left.

What iteniary?

HNL to VAN. I have seen three price changes since booking. Up then down and now back up again.

[BruceMuzz]

All the Carnival Corp companies - Princess included - have a policy that ALL cabins must be sold before a cruise begins. They do this successfully on nearly every sailing.

 

The average passenger cabin on every mass market cruise is sold 8 times before the actual occupant arrives.

If your ship has 1,200 cabins, they actually have to sell 9,600 cabins before every cruise begins.

Consider that the cruise lines are marketing to the entire world, those unsold cabins you mentioned could all be sold before you finish reading this post.

[Luvmyrotti]

All the Carnival Corp companies - Princess included - have a policy that ALL cabins must be sold before a cruise begins. They do this successfully on nearly every sailing.

 

The average passenger cabin on every mass market cruise is sold 8 times before the actual occupant arrives.

If your ship has 1,200 cabins, they actually have to sell 9,600 cabins before every cruise begins.

Consider that the cruise lines are marketing to the entire world, those unsold cabins you mentioned could all be sold before you finish reading this post.

 

I've seen it repeated that most Princess ships sail full. I just am not sure if I buy it. On our 2 transatlantics the ships seemed far from full. I'm curious if, as a publicly traded company, Carnival Corp has to make that sort of information available. If so, I'd be very interested in seeing the stats.

[Coral]

I've seen it repeated that most Princess ships sail full. I just am not sure if I buy it. On our 2 transatlantics the ships seemed far from full. I'm curious if, as a publicly traded company, Carnival Corp has to make that sort of information available. If so, I'd be very interested in seeing the stats.

 

I think there are some itineraries that do not sell well - spring transatlantics are one of them. A friend was on the Ruby a few years ago and they had closed off the Plaza deck and some sections of other decks because it wasn't full.

 

I looked recently at the Royal TA in April and it is very open.

[triple7tahoe]

I think there are some itineraries that do not sell well - spring transatlantics are one of them. A friend was on the Ruby a few years ago and they had closed off the Plaza deck and some sections of other decks because it wasn't full.

 

I looked recently at the Royal TA in April and it is very open.

I have also seen this on TA's. On our last one, they closed off an entire deck (or at least one side) and were doing carpet replacement.

[Pam in CA]

I have very rarely been on a Princess ship that wasn't sold out or close to it. I've been on cruises where due to weather, hundreds of passengers missed the ship. Or, like the Diamond last May from Beijing to Whittier when a large group of Russians disembarked the ship in Japan before crossing the Pacific. I heard that they couldn't get US Visas but really have no idea. Princess took advantage of their departure and replaced carpeting and made repairs. The hallways were full of bed frames. If you weren't aware of the group leaving, you'd assume the ship wasn't full. I saw them disembarking with all their luggage which is how I knew.

Edited February 20, 2014 by Pam in CA

[Coral]

I have very rarely been on a Princess ship that wasn't sold out or close to it. I've been on cruises where due to weather, hundreds of passengers missed the ship. Or, like the Diamond last May from Beijing to Whittier when a large group of Russians disembarked the ship in Japan before crossing the Pacific. I heard that they couldn't get US Visas but really have no idea. Princess took advantage of their departure and replaced carpeting and made repairs. The hallways were full of bed frames. If you weren't aware of the group leaving, you'd assume the ship wasn't full. I saw them disembarking with all their luggage which is how I knew.

 

Well - on this Ruby TA, my friend and his entire group went from inside cabins to balcony cabins via free upgrade. They were told by their room steward that their ship was 2/3 full.

[Luvmyrotti]

Well - on this Ruby TA, my friend and his entire group went from inside cabins to balcony cabins via free upgrade. They were told by their room steward that their ship was 2/3 full.

My British Isles TA a couple of years ago was he same way.

[avcruz]

Would you consider a cruise with about 20% (or more) of the cabins unsold, as being undersold? We are two months out from a cruise on the Pacific Princess and when I look at the cabins still available it looks 62 cabins are still available. A quick count shows a possible 275+/- cabins that could be sold? I would think there are going to be some great sales coming up;)

 

 

I'm on the same cruise and I just did a quick count of about 40 open cabins, half of which are balconies. I foresee some lucky people in Inside and Oceanview cabins getting a visit from the upgrade fairy. But there are still 9 weeks to go, plenty of time for others to book.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[hotdogworm]

I have been on a few that were not even close to full. It happens, but not too often and usually not on roundtrips.

[sfo2008]

I think overall the cruise lines (like airlines) have been getting better at matching supply and demand. Further, things like the 100% future cruise credit promotion on many sailings in Dec/Jan that they ran caused a lot of bookings.

 

The Carnival investor relations materials provide some insight on occupancy rates. EDIT TO ADD: over 100% occupancy reported in most recent quarterly report. (based on 2 per cabin occupancy)

Edited February 20, 2014 by sfo2008
add investor relations materils

[SwissDave]

Remember that sold out does not always mean all cabins occupied. sold out is when all the spaces in the life craft are allocated

 

If all 3/4 person cabins are fully occupied then there will likely be some empty 2 person cabins.

[Guest arowe6]

My last 2 cruises on the Ruby were not sold out. And it was definitely noticed. Especially our Ruby cruise in December. It was almost like sailing on a ghost ship.

 

But I agree, that was an exception to the rule. Most ships sell out. Money money money.

 

-Andrew :)

[Loonbeam]

Not every ship sails full, but most do. As noted, its passenger count as much as cabin count. Also, like sports stadiums, a berth is considered sold even if the passenger doesn't cruise, as long as the line is paid for it. It's also considered 'sold' as far as yield management if the cabin has been pulled from inventory for other reasons. I was told on RCCL that during noro and flu season they keep a few insides out of stock for medical quarantine reasons, I would assume the other lines do the same. And there are always a few empty cabins to give them some flexibility in dealing with operational issues.

 

But I'd say on average 95% to 97% of itineraries sell full or close enough to make no difference.

[OCruisers]

We've never been on a Princess ship that wasn't very full ... but we cruise at popular times of the year.

 

LuLu

~~~~

[Colo Cruiser]

I'm on the same cruise and I just did a quick count of about 40 open cabins, half of which are balconies. I foresee some lucky people in Inside and Oceanview cabins getting a visit from the upgrade fairy. But there are still 9 weeks to go, plenty of time for others to book

 

How do you know 40 cabins were empty?

If you are going by missing name tags that is not accurate at all.

[geoherb]

I just booked our cruise for the Ruby for next month. It was 29 days before sailing. We're sailing in a Caribe Deck balcony cabin on a 5-night cruise for less than we paid for 4 nights in December in an obstructed view. There are still a ton of balcony cabins showing up as available. They may be ones that people with guarantees eventually get--or they could be still unsold and the price may drop again until the ship fills up with a bunch of people who are close enough to drive to Fort Lauderdale and don't need to worry about last-minute airfare.

 

Princess will try to make a cruise as attractive as possible in order to fill every cabin. The problem for Princess comes with trans-Atlantic and other one-way cruises, where no matter how low the price goes it can't overcome the high cost of one-way airfare.

[AE_Collector]

How do you know 40 cabins were empty?

If you are going by missing name tags that is not accurate at all.

 

He isn't ON the cruise right now but will be on April 23. I too will be on it and keep using the Princess web site to view available rooms and as of a couple of days ago there were still 65 or so balcony and better rooms showing as available but less than 10 OV and Obstructed OV rooms available. I have an OV Guarantee and will be on the two cruises before this April 23 sailing as well. I don't know how the Princess site allows for the guarantee rooms when it shows available rooms. My guess is that it doesn't other than ensuring that they don't allow too many specific rooms to be booked so that they can still satisfy the guarantees.

 

The April 23 cruise is the one we make it to Elite on so an upgrade of some sort for that cruise would be perfect!

 

Terry

Edited February 21, 2014 by AE_Collector
Clarification

[Colo Cruiser]

He isn't ON the cruise right now but will be on April 23. I too will be on it and keep using the Princess web site to view available rooms and as of a couple of days ago there were still 65 or so balcony and better rooms showing as available but less than 10 OV and Obstructed OV rooms available. I have an OV Guarantee and will be on the two cruises before this April 23 sailing as well. I don't know how the Princess site allows for the guarantee rooms when it shows available rooms. My guess is that it doesn't other than ensuring that they don't allow too many specific rooms to be booked so that they can still satisfy the guarantees.

 

The April 23 cruise is the one we make it to Elite on so an upgrade of some sort for that cruise would be perfect!

 

Terry

 

Gotcha, I know some look at missing nametags while onboard and figure those cabins are unoccupied. There are many now that don't like their names displayed.

Never though to count the cabins on the website. ;)

[COMBOY]

Would you consider a cruise with about 20% (or more) of the cabins unsold, as being undersold? We are two months out from a cruise on the Pacific Princess and when I look at the cabins still available it looks 62 cabins are still available. A quick count shows a possible 275+/- cabins that could be sold? I would think there are going to be some great sales coming up;)

 

Unless you have direct access to Princess' computer and yield management systems (which I highly doubt) you have no way to know the true available of the ship's inventory. All those cruise websites the public has access to only show assignable cabins and in no way reflect the many reservations that are booked as GTY. Many people book GTY in the hope that the upgrade fairy will bless them as well as some certain fares can only be booked as GTY. The ship could be in fact oversold. As sailing date nears those available cabins will be assigned to GTY and will go bye bye fast. Believe me I work in the travel industry. It's no different then the airlines. You can request a specific seat when you make your reservation or get it assigned at check-in, but you would never know the actual # of tickets sold for a flight by just looking at the online available seating chart. The cruise lines could also offer deep last minute discounts to employees, friends, family entertainer of the cruise line, travel professionals as well as move-over passengers from other oversold cruises that have yet to be transferred. Many of those might be sitting in the queue to be assigned closer to departure. Also travel agents holding group space may not have sent in their final passenger's names to be entered and assigned cabins. So as you can see there are lots of variables to consider. Managing the inventory of a major cruise line can be a very complex process. Most cruises sail at or near capacity. Jim

[AE_Collector]

They must have assigned a bunch of Balcony and better rooms on this April 23 sailing as I only can see about 26 available now. I am still unassigned in my OV guarantee.

 

Terry

[triple7tahoe]

They must have assigned a bunch of Balcony and better rooms on this April 23 sailing as I only can see about 26 available now. I am still unassigned in my OV guarantee.

 

Terry

Well, you made me look;).

We are still unassigned with a mini guaranty.