How can a ship be over booked?

[familycruzer]

I am about to cruise on the Voyager of the Seas reposition cruise in November and was hoping to drop down from a JS to a lower catagory to save some money. I talked to RCL this morning and was told that the ship is over booked and closed and even once final payments are not met, there still wont be any cabins open. Can someone explain how a ship can be over booked?

[steve20832]

I am about to cruise on the Voyager of the Seas reposition cruise in November and was hoping to drop down from a JS to a lower catagory to save some money. I talked to RCL this morning and was told that the ship is over booked and closed and even once final payments are not met, there still wont be any cabins open. Can someone explain how a ship can be over booked?

Since the ship has over 1000 rooms, there are always going to be a couple people who don't pay, cancel at the last minute, miss thier flight, etc. There are always going to be people who don't show up.

[SLU Billikens]

I have had the same questions FamilyCruzer. When you book you book a specific cabin. To be overbooked that would mean the cruise line accepted a deposit on a specific cabin twice?? I have seen a number of posts discussing overbooked cruises. Is that just due to guaranteed category bookings?

[breal6]

even though there are a certain number of cabins and that limits the number they can sell, some of those cabins can accomodate third and fourth passengers. the coast guard sets the number of passengers that may sail with the ship. never do they set it high enough for all third and fourth berths to be filled. but.... if rccl sells more third and fourth berths than allowed, they are what is classified as OVERBOOKED.

[TPKeller]

I have seen a number of posts discussing overbooked cruises. Is that just due to guaranteed category bookings?

Interesting thoughts. Perhaps RCCL has a made up a new definition for the word "guaranteed"?

 

Theron

[CaptData]

Sometimes, yes, they can overbook. Airlines do this all the time. It is a known fact that many people who book more then 3-6 months in advance and more can, change their minds, lose a job, have a medical problem or miss a flight due to a number of reason (car trouble, sleep-in, traffic, weather).

 

 

On 10 flights a day there is at least 5 people who missed a flight usually more. It is the same with cruises. Cruise lines do have a stop gap in that you don't get your money back after a certain time frame. But you still have that last minute change of mind at the 90-75 day mark where you will not lose money. I book at least a year in advance (H/C) so if I change my mind it will be before final payment but not until then. The cruise lines want to make money so they over book by x amount (let's say 10 cabins in different cats). Six people change their minds. So now they are only overbook by 4 cabins at final payment. They wait until 2 weeks out to see if anybody else changes their minds. Another two do for medical/family reason (they were smart and bought insurance). Now they are over booked by two cabins. One inside and an OV. They go to a TA and make an offer (Cruise next week in an OV for the inside and balcony for the OV plus OBC of $100.00). The inside person accepts the offer. The OV says no. They increase the offer to a suite and $200.00 with their choice of when within the next six months. They accept. No overbooking when everyone show up, ship is full. Anyone who does not show up now loses all their money anyway so it does not matter.

[JeffHatfield]

even though there are a certain number of cabins and that limits the number they can sell, some of those cabins can accomodate third and fourth passengers. the coast guard sets the number of passengers that may sail with the ship. never do they set it high enough for all third and fourth berths to be filled. but.... if rccl sells more third and fourth berths than allowed, they are what is classified as OVERBOOKED.

 

Actually, the Coast Guard is not the limiting feature to the number of passengers, but the oddly enough the dining room is (or at least it used to be).

[worldsbestcandles]

So if I have a guarantee cabin and don't end up getting a cabin assignment before I get to the pier, I could show up and be told too bad? Do they have to give you anything? Does that happen? We have a repo cruise so we have no way home either....

[CaptData]

No, you will have a room but since it is a gty it will be the bottom of the cat you bought. ie inside will be lowest deck as far forward as you can go, unless someone picked that cabin. You will be on the ship but you may not know where until you get to the dock. If the ship is full you will get a room number before you leave (maybe the day you leave for the cruise).

[CaptData]

Oh, number of pax is based on life boats now. ie 10 lifeboats x 150/lifeboat is 1500 pax max cap. So say you are on a ship that is rated for 1850 pax but you will have 13 lifeboats for 150 each so in fact they can book 1950 pax on. The rooms are rated for 2 person each but we all know some hold 3/4 pax each. With 1850 pax that is 925 rooms. So some rooms can hold 3 or 4 people to bring the total to 1950. So you have a rated cap and a max cap. Rated is based solely on confort (this is where you want to be) where as max is based on what the ship can safely carry if full to the gills (holidays).

[TPKeller]

Oh, number of pax is bases on life boats now. ie 10 lifeboats x 150/lifeboat is 1500 pax max cap.

Bummer, maybe we should start overtipping the crew!

 

;)

 

Theron

[familycruzer]

So the chances of me getting a lower priced cabin is out of the question. Now I am glad that I picked the cabin that I did (1394) instead of a guarantee. At least I know where I will be.

[mandotsan]

I am about to cruise on the Voyager of the Seas reposition cruise in November and was hoping to drop down from a JS to a lower catagory to save some money. I talked to RCL this morning and was told that the ship is over booked and closed and even once final payments are not met, there still wont be any cabins open. Can someone explain how a ship can be over booked?

 

What I don't understand is why you did not ask the person who told you that at RCL instead of asking here where all you going to get is an opion not fact. If you did ask them that question and did not get a clear explanation as to what they meant when they told you that the "ship is over book" then you should have ask to speak to a supervisor. I think they were just blowing you off and did not want to loose the money from changing you to a lower catagory. I think we all know that whenever a cruise is nearing its departure date and the ship is not full the cruise lines will contact lower catagory passengers and offer them upgrades to free up the lower catagory cabins which move faster. I know this to be a fact..it happen to us in May..we had a inside cabin and one week before our cruise we get a call and are upgraded to a penthouse..explanation was.." we can fill the ship up easier when we have the much sought after lower catagory":rolleyes:

[familycruzer]

What I don't understand is why you did not ask the person who told you that at RCL instead of asking here where all you going to get is an opion not fact. If you did ask them that question and did not get a clear explanation as to what they meant when they told you that the "ship is over book" then you should have ask to speak to a supervisor. I think they were just blowing you off and did not want to loose the money from changing you to a lower catagory. I think we all know that whenever a cruise is nearing its departure date and the ship is not full the cruise lines will contact lower catagory passengers and offer them upgrades to free up the lower catagory cabins which move faster. I know this to be a fact..it happen to us in May..we had a inside cabin and one week before our cruise we get a call and are upgraded to a penthouse..explanation was.." we can fill the ship up easier when we have the much sought after lower catagory":rolleyes:

 

I did try and get the representative to explain, but I dont think he understood what it meant so I came here. Its not a big deal, I was just curious how they can over book a ship. Captdata explained it perfectly. Thank you.

mandotsan, your theory does not hold though because I never told him I was booked on the ship. I was looking for any cabin I could get my hands on to see what was available.

[JeffHatfield]

Oh, number of pax is based on life boats now. ie 10 lifeboats x 150/lifeboat is 1500 pax max cap. So say you are on a ship that is rated for 1850 pax but you will have 13 lifeboats for 150 each so in fact they can book 1950 pax on. The rooms are rated for 2 person each but we all know some hold 3/4 pax each. With 1850 pax that is 925 rooms. So some rooms can hold 3 or 4 people to bring the total to 1950. So you have a rated cap and a max cap. Rated is based solely on confort (this is where you want to be) where as max is based on what the ship can safely carry if full to the gills (holidays).

 

The lifeboat capacity is enough for every cabin filled to capacity, however the dining room can not accomodate that many. The ship will never sail at total capacity.

[bcc99]

The lifeboat capacity is enough for every cabin filled to capacity, however the dining room can not accomodate that many. The ship will never sail at total capacity.

 

Is this still true, in the current age of lido/Windjammer dining and cabin service? Seems like the cruise lines would be able to bet on a certain number of people passing on the dining room...which would remove it as a limiting factor.

[caviargal]

No, you will have a room but since it is a gty it will be the bottom of the cat you bought. ie inside will be lowest deck as far forward as you can go, unless someone picked that cabin. You will be on the ship but you may not know where until you get to the dock. If the ship is full you will get a room number before you leave (maybe the day you leave for the cruise).

 

 

There is no way to predict that a GTY on an "overbooked" ship will result in you getting a bad cabin. As a TA and frequent cruiser, I find this to be quite inaccurate.

 

Many cruisers prefer to have a cabin assignment and will take a far forward cabin in order to know where they are going to be.

 

It is true - but not common - that the cruise lines does not have to assign your cabin until day of sailing.

 

I would not worry and I have had many more people - myself included - get better than what they paid for and have not had any horror stories at all! When I cruise and am on a very tight budget, I will always chose a guarantee over a cabin assignment.

[steve20832]

There is no way to predict that a GTY on an "overbooked" ship will result in you getting a bad cabin. As a TA and frequent cruiser, I find this to be quite inaccurate.

 

Many cruisers prefer to have a cabin assignment and will take a far forward cabin in order to know where they are going to be.

 

It is true - but not common - that the cruise lines does not have to assign your cabin until day of sailing.

 

I would not worry and I have had many more people - myself included - get better than what they paid for and have not had any horror stories at all! When I cruise and am on a very tight budget, I will always chose a guarantee over a cabin assignment.

 

caviargal is correct!!! My parents go on several cruises a year and last year they booked an outside GTY and ended up in a mini-suite. This doesn't happen too often but you could get lucky...

[cruiseco]

Actually, the Coast Guard is not the limiting feature to the number of passengers, but the oddly enough the dining room is (or at least it used to be).

 

The Coast Guard is in fact just about the final authority in how many passengers a ship can carry. If a cruise line exceeds that limit they can be prevented from sailing. If a cruise line chooses to sail with fewer passengers because of operational considerations (dining room capacity, etc) they certainly can.

 

The Coast Guard limit is almost always less than the total beds available on the ship. For example, say the Coast Guard limits a ship to 2000 passengers and the ship has 800 cabins. At double occupancy capacity that's 1600. But the cruise line knows that some clients will want triple of quad cabins so the Coasties say they can have 400 more passengers berthed as 3rd/4th passengers.

 

The problem then is predicting what cabin categories these extra 400 passengers will choose. One week they might all want inside cabins, the next they might all want outside cabins. So the cruise line may in fact install 800 3rd and 4th berths spread around the full range of cabin options making a total of 2400 beds. But once that 2000 passenger limit is reached that's it. The ship will then sail with 400 empty beds.

 

Overbooking is usually the result of over-committed group space. The cruise lines know that upwards of 80% of the group space held by travel agencies is eventually returned to the general inventory as unsold. But every once in a while the TA's holding that space do a better than expected job and the sailing is short cabins. The cruise line will red-flag that sailing and allow as many cabins to open up as possible through normal attrition -- cancellations for one reason or another. If that doesn't solve the problem they'll start calling passengers with offers to move to another sailing. They keep bumping up the offer until they have moved enough to balance things out. It is EXTREMELY rare for someone to get bumber involuntarily whether they're booked as a gty or in an assigned cabin.

 

Back to the original question. Yes, if a sailing is red flagged for being over sold it may in fact not be able to make any changes in your cabin category without some intervention from a supervisor. For one thing, there would be no place to move you to and #2 the regular service reps probably wouldn't have authority to touch that sailing for anything but a cancellation.

[madforcruising]

The lifeboat capacity is enough for every cabin filled to capacity, however the dining room can not accomodate that many. The ship will never sail at total capacity.

 

When I first read your post about dining room capacity limiting the passenger capacity I thought you might be kidding but after you repeated this I think it was ment seriously.

 

Anyway it´s just no the truth. I don´t know how it was in the earlier days of cruising I can only speak for the last ten years I´m cruising.

 

Every ship i have been on had a dining room capacity which was even higher than the half of the max. capacity of the ship. So they could have handled even more passengers on the ship.

 

Like cruiseco said the max pass capacity is limited by authorities like coast guards and of course the ship classification agencies and insurers like De Norske Veritas or Lloyds, etc.

Their decision is based on the lifeboat capacity amongst others.

 

BTW a cruise ship has to have enough lifeboat/raft capacity to hold all passengers and crew on each side of the ship in case of situations where they can´t use one side of the ship for evacuation. So actually the ships have all in all double the capacity of all people onboard to get them in lifeboats and rafts.

[Merion_Mom]

BTW a cruise ship has to have enough lifeboat/raft capacity to hold all passengers and crew on each side of the ship in case of situations where they can´t use one side of the ship for evacuation. So actually the ships have all in all double the capacity of all people onboard to get them in lifeboats and rafts.

Gunnar, this is FASCINATING. But after seeing "A Night to Remember" (the REAL Titanic movie), I see why this is a requirement!

 

Carol

[Tahoestarr]

We also got this same response when we tried to book a 3rd person in our JR Suite on the Monarch. They told us the cruise was over booked and we could not add this person. The explaination was they had exceeded the coast guard requirements. We asked if we should wait until final payment was due, and see if there were cancellations, but they said it wouldn't do us any good. Just yesterday, my sister called the Crown and Anchor Society instead of RCI, and asked if we could add this person, and they said...NO PROBLEM! She told us the cruise was not over booked, and made the arragements right then and there. Just out of curiosity, I went to RCI and tried to book this same cruise, just to see what would happen, and there were plenty of cabins available....hmmmmmm....what is up with that. Sounds like someone just doesn't want to do their job.