Waitlist for US bookings?

[BlueRiband]

Has anyone here had success with clearing a wait list for a US booking? I've got a few hours to cancel one segment within the 24 hour window. The connecting segment was showing availability last night but the system kept returning errors when I tried to actually book. Today the telephone agent said it's "been sold out for weeks" and I'm #11 on the wait list. This does not sound promising.

[safarigal]

Has anyone here had success with clearing a wait list for a US booking? I've got a few hours to cancel one segment within the 24 hour window. The connecting segment was showing availability last night but the system kept returning errors when I tried to actually book. Today the telephone agent said it's "been sold out for weeks" and I'm #11 on the wait list. This does not sound promising.

We were able to clear the wait list for a US booking - but that was back in 2008, and it took several months before we were confirmed on the sailing. We were originally way down on the list, but 3 months prior to the sailing our TA let us know that we had a confirmed cabin. Good luck :).

[BlueRiband]

Thanks, in my case the sailing is less than one month away. I'll let the board know what happens.

 

On the US side Cunard no longer takes a wait list deposit but they do give a booking number. However it's not active in the voyage personalizer until the booking is actually activated.

[BlueRiband]

Here's an update which may be useful to others in the same situation: I was able to book the voyage through an online travel site that was still holding inventory.

 

Cunard's booking site still lists the NYC/QBC sailing as "sold out". A search of several online travel sites eventually hit on one whose name implies that cruises are their specialty. Evidently they must generate a lot of business for Cunard if they hold inventory less than one month out. Booked it, got a booking number, and now it's a matter of waiting for the VP to update.

 

Maybe the wait list would have given me a better deal, maybe I would not have cleared at all, or maybe the quoted fare may have been some inflated number because demand exceeded supply. Very often fares can actually increase the days before sailing. But this is a sure thing if getting on the ship is a priority.

 

The only down side is that I would not be able to call Cunard to make a paid upgrade since the online TA owns the booking until boarding.

[Host Hattie]

Glad it worked out for you, have a great trip

[safarigal]

Here's an update which may be useful to others in the same situation: I was able to book the voyage through an online travel site that was still holding inventory.

 

Cunard's booking site still lists the NYC/QBC sailing as "sold out". A search of several online travel sites eventually hit on one whose name implies that cruises are their specialty. Evidently they must generate a lot of business for Cunard if they hold inventory less than one month out. Booked it, got a booking number, and now it's a matter of waiting for the VP to update.

 

Maybe the wait list would have given me a better deal, maybe I would not have cleared at all, or maybe the quoted fare may have been some inflated number because demand exceeded supply. Very often fares can actually increase the days before sailing. But this is a sure thing if getting on the ship is a priority.

 

The only down side is that I would not be able to call Cunard to make a paid upgrade since the online TA owns the booking until boarding.

So glad you were able to get the booking - waiting to see if the wait list clears is very nerve racking, enjoy your trip :)

[abefroman329]

The only down side is that I would not be able to call Cunard to make a paid upgrade since

the online TA owns the booking until boarding.

 

Our cruise next week is sold out and I was advised by the TA today that they can't offer any upgrades since it's sold out, so that may be a moot point anyway.

[BlueRiband]

Our cruise next week is sold out and I was advised by the TA today that they can't offer any upgrades since it's sold out, so that may be a moot point anyway.

 

Yes, you're right. The only way a possible available upgrade can happen is if something bad happens to somebody and they need to cancel. I have always booked directly with Cunard before as I didn't need any TA services like flights or pre/post voyage hotels.

 

 

The TA site that I used was actually better when it came to locating the stateroom. On theirs a deck plan comes up and the available stateroom is indicated by a flashing green dot. On the US Cunard site one has to open the deck plan and hunt for it. Regardless, I'm happy to be boarding in New York rather than flying to Quebec.

[Lynnewob]

Well done for getting the NY-QBC section booked.

 

See you in the CC on 25 Sept.

[BlueRiband]

Some of these TA sites appear to use identical booking interfaces at least as far as cruises are concerned. Three of the heavily advertised sites were all identical even to the background images. There was one that didn't even list Cunard, perhaps because the fares would be too high for their target customer base. The one that I eventually used had a different user interface than the others and was very straight forward. It only holds a stateroom for 10 minutes where Cunard holds for 15.

 

And not one day too soon! Just out of curiosity I checked the TA site today and it now reads "sold out". Now that it's active in the VP I can exhale.

[ah030]

Some of these TA sites appear to use identical booking interfaces at least as far as cruises are concerned. Three of the heavily advertised sites were all identical even to the background images. There was one that didn't even list Cunard, perhaps because the fares would be too high for their target customer base. The one that I eventually used had a different user interface than the others and was very straight forward. It only holds a stateroom for 10 minutes where Cunard holds for 15.

 

And not one day too soon! Just out of curiosity I checked the TA site today and it now reads "sold out". Now that it's active in the VP I can exhale.

 

Which website did you find this on? I'm also trying to get on a sold out Cunard cruise :-\

[BlueRiband]

Which website did you find this on? I'm also trying to get on a sold out Cunard cruise :-\

 

We can't mention booking web sites here, and at this late date it's a moot point as they would have turned in any inventory to Cunard by now. (I booked about one month before sailing, not just days before.) Out of curiosity I did check back and they showed only "sold out". Your only chance of getting on board is to keep checking the Cunard site and be ready to pounce on anything that comes up.