No Deluxe Cabins Available for 2020 Cruise

[pizzalady1]

I had my TA look for a D4 deluxe balcony on a BI cruise for August 8, 2020. There were NO Ds any kind of deluxe balconies available. The trip I want boards in Southampton but also has a Le Havre boarding (Le Havre is the stop before Southampton). There were no D anything deluxe cabins for this cruise also. She tried looking at a August 20 2020 cruise and still no D anything.

 

What is going on? Do you think that these cabins are actually sold or is Princess holding them? When my TA called Princess, all she got was that these cabins were not available. Does anyone have any idea of what could be going on?

[paul929207]

I wanted a d4on the enchanted princess and none were available there either

[Colo Cruiser]

3 hours ago, pizzalady1 said:

I had my TA look for a D4 deluxe balcony on a BI cruise for August 8, 2020. There were NO Ds any kind of deluxe balconies available. The trip I want boards in Southampton but also has a Le Havre boarding (Le Havre is the stop before Southampton). There were no D anything deluxe cabins for this cruise also. She tried looking at a August 20 2020 cruise and still no D anything.

 

What is going on? Do you think that these cabins are actually sold or is Princess holding them? When my TA called Princess, all she got was that these cabins were not available. Does anyone have any idea of what could be going on?

What ship?

[tere247]

I had this problem all summer trying to book the Jan 26 2018 Royal Princess that went to Old San Juan. I blamed it on the $1 deposit promotion. I eventually booked a mini suite. 

[pizzalady1]

6 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

What ship?

For me it is Regal. 

[Colo Cruiser]

3 hours ago, pizzalady1 said:

For me it is Regal. 

I agree that is strange.....

[skynight]

When I signed in and then looked for the August 8th Regal voyage there are Deluxe balconies available for booking. But you could not select your choice of cabin, they are available as your cabin will be assigned later. It's really early in the booking cycle. I would try later.

Edited November 6, 2018 by skynight

[Daniel A]

16 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

I agree that is strange.....

I don't find it strange.  I prefer the Deluxe Balcony to the Mini-suite on the Royal Class ships.  Princess ruined the Mini-suite with the curtain for a room divider and the postage stamp sized balcony.  We also feel the Royal Class Minis are smaller than the Mini-suites on other class ships.  Certainly, the balconies are much smaller.  DW & I favor Mini-suites on other ships as we enjoy having a separate sitting area with the couch and a balcony you can spend time on.  The Deluxe Balcony has everything we want, a couch in a separate sitting area and the same sized balcony as the Mini-suite at a lower fare.  We don't need a bath tub, a shower works just fine for us.  So, no, I don't find it surprising that returning passengers are opting for Deluxe Balconies first.

[pizzalady1]

40 minutes ago, skynight said:

When I signed in and then looked for the August 8th Regal voyage there are Deluxe balconies available for booking. But you could not select your choice of cabin, they are available as your cabin will be assigned later. It's really early in the booking cycle. I would try later.

My TA did a D4 guarantee and we will both keep checking. I can't see anything right now since I am a mere peon with Princess, not elite.I just have to wait until Thursday.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Have your TA do a booking for a triple.  THEN the D categories will come up - at least this is what I had to do with mine.  Then, the agent can go back in and delete the third person.  It's a work-around and TAs should know this.

[helencruising]

So your TA was able to book a Europe cruise for you in August 2020?  I didysee them online over the weekend so will have to check. I did check with a TA who said these bookings weren’t open at least until next week. 

[helencruising]

8 minutes ago, helencruising said:

So your TA was able to book a Europe cruise for you in August 2020?  I didysee them online over the weekend so will have to check. I did check with a TA who said these bookings weren’t open at least until next week. 

Itineraries are now on Princess but no pricing or ability to book. Would imagine a TA that acttook interest in you could book for you. 

Edited November 7, 2018 by helencruising
Change

[pizzalady1]

15 hours ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

Have your TA do a booking for a triple.  THEN the D categories will come up - at least this is what I had to do with mine.  Then, the agent can go back in and delete the third person.  It's a work-around and TAs should know this.

I emailed my TA. and she got back to me right away with a D4 cabin. She said she forgot about that work-a-round.So, thanks DrivesLikeMario, you rock!

[DrivesLikeMario]

1 hour ago, pizzalady1 said:

I emailed my TA. and she got back to me right away with a D4 cabin. She said she forgot about that work-a-round.So, thanks DrivesLikeMario, you rock!

You're very welcome!  So glad it worked out for you and now you have the cabin you wanted!  (y)

[beckntom]

I had the same issue yesterday trying to book my first cruise as an Elite--there were no Deluxe Balcony cabins available on the Enchanted's 11-5-20 Transatlantic.  I was awake at 2:30 this morning and checked again.  Voila!  There they were!  Immediately wrote my TA to grab the one that was first on my list, which she did at 7:30 my time this morning.

 

Is early Elite booking always this problematic?

[DrivesLikeMario]

1 hour ago, beckntom said:

I had the same issue yesterday trying to book my first cruise as an Elite--there were no Deluxe Balcony cabins available on the Enchanted's 11-5-20 Transatlantic.  I was awake at 2:30 this morning and checked again.  Voila!  There they were!  Immediately wrote my TA to grab the one that was first on my list, which she did at 7:30 my time this morning.

 

Is early Elite booking always this problematic?

Not always.  The managers are being made aware of the problem with the Deluxe Balcony categories but I assume it's taking awhile to get the info. to the IT peeps and have them correct it.

[Daniel A]

On ‎11‎/‎6‎/‎2018 at 4:19 PM, pizzalady1 said:

I had my TA look for a D4 deluxe balcony on a BI cruise for August 8, 2020. There were NO Ds any kind of deluxe balconies available. The trip I want boards in Southampton but also has a Le Havre boarding (Le Havre is the stop before Southampton). There were no D anything deluxe cabins for this cruise also. She tried looking at a August 20 2020 cruise and still no D anything.

 

What is going on? Do you think that these cabins are actually sold or is Princess holding them? When my TA called Princess, all she got was that these cabins were not available. Does anyone have any idea of what could be going on?

 

I just looked at your sailing.  You can now book Deluxe Balcony cabins but you cannot select the cabin.  Web site says "Your stateroom will be assigned just prior to your departure."  But it looks like you can pick which part of the ship and what deck you want.

[pizzalady1]

7 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

 

I just looked at your sailing.  You can now book Deluxe Balcony cabins but you cannot select the cabin.  Web site says "Your stateroom will be assigned just prior to your departure."  But it looks like you can pick which part of the ship and what deck you want.

Thanks. My TA was able to get me my first choice cabin on Tuesday using DrivesLikeMario's trick. 

[onefine89]

Deluxe cabins seem to be pretty popular on the ships as I have just found out looking into the Enchanted Princess' maiden voyage for 2020!............all booked already and the ship's being built at this time!  Being a Platinum had to wait til this Thursday morning at 2:30am to view availabilities after Elite started booking yesterday or so for 2020 for the Med..........and 6 hours later was finally able to book directly thru Princess a Premium Mini-suite...........what a chore!

[Wishing on a star]

I went online early this morning...  And, I also am not seeing availability for the cabins that we would want for Europe 2020.

Wow!!!

If there are that many bookings, the instant it goes online,  that is crazy.

 

We are booked for Europe next year, on HAL.

I wanted the itinerary, and to not be on an older ship.

Thought about putting this off until 2020 if Princess offered something acceptable on a newer ship.

There is on option on Enchanted that would be good, covers all except for Rome.  (have to stop there pre-cruise)

But the more I think about it,  I think we will go ahead with our current booking for next year on HAL.

Edited November 8, 2018 by Wishing on a star

[zaks pack4]

This morning we booked the 7/27/20 BI out of Southampton on the Regal.  This will be our first time on one of the Royal Class ships (have 7 past cruises on Grand Class ships), so really excited about the itinerary and the ship!   We booked an inside (our first one - always had a balcony before), but it was the only way to make this trip more affordable for us.

By the way, so much trouble logging in to Cruise Critic this evening!  I had read CC is aware of the problem, but I got frustrated with it and just rejoined using the same User Name and Password.  But now it says I "joined"  CC today, when I've been here for about 10 years   Anyone else experience this?

 

[PaperSniper4]

On 11/6/2018 at 3:19 PM, pizzalady1 said:

I had my TA look for a D4 deluxe balcony on a BI cruise for August 8, 2020......

 

We had the same experience for a Feb 2020 cruise from SFO to Mexico. Odd. I am not sure what a D4 category is....we were trying to book Aft View Premium Balconies on the Crown Princess, category B4. In the past couple of years, it appears many cabin types, such as mini-suites and aft views, seem to get booked the moment the schedule is out! Used to be I planned our cruises 6-9 months in advance....now I am forced to do it 12-18 months in advance.