Oversold Ship

[memoak]

Have a 4 day cruise on the Ruby scheduled  for this Thursday in an inside cabin.  We are getting move-over e-mails to move from the 4 day to a 7 day in April on the Royal (totally different itinerary) in a balcony.  With this late notice many people cannot change plans and there is a large SF 49er fan group on with players who are cruising mostly to meet players.  If they don't get enough takers then what will the next move be ?

[JF - retired RRT]

13 minutes ago, memoak said:

Have a 4 day cruise on the Ruby scheduled  for this Thursday in an inside cabin.  We are getting move-over e-mails to move from the 4 day to a 7 day in April on the Royal (totally different itinerary) in a balcony.  With this late notice many people cannot change plans and there is a large SF 49er fan group on with players who are cruising mostly to meet players.  If they don't get enough takers then what will the next move be ?

They'll keep upping the ante until someone takes it.

TracieABD got a move over deal to die for: IIRC...TWO cruises in suites with all costs from the sold out cruise as refundable OBC and more!! It was amazing.

[voljeep]

21 minutes ago, memoak said:

Have a 4 day cruise on the Ruby scheduled  for this Thursday in an inside cabin.  We are getting move-over e-mails to move from the 4 day to a 7 day in April on the Royal (totally different itinerary) in a balcony.  With this late notice many people cannot change plans and there is a large SF 49er fan group on with players who are cruising mostly to meet players.  If they don't get enough takers then what will the next move be ?

is the 7 day in April a 'suggestion only'? or can you pick any 7 day cruise

 

did you call them yet ?

[memoak]

They specified 3 separate cruises - all Mexican Rivera on the Royal

[DrivesLikeMario]

IMO, this is NOT a great move-over offer.  Usually, you'll get your entire cruise fare (not the taxes) as an OBC for the cruise they move you to and you get to choose what cruise that is. 

With your move-over offer for the Ruby 2/14, they are only offering 3 sail dates to choose from (4-6, 4-13 or 4-20) and there's no mention of any cruise fare OBC at all.  IMO, they don't want cabins that badly yet.

[girlguide]

I received the offer this morning in an email. We have an inside for the Feb 14th sailing - booked long before the prices went up. Schedules don't work for us & I agree the offer isn't that exciting.

Ruby Princess! !!EXTEND YOUR VACATION 3 days for FREE!!

Princess is extending a special offer to guests booked on the February 14 2019 sailing of the Ruby Princess.

Move to THE ROYAL PRINCESS: April 06, April, 13, or April 20 and receive:

* 3 EXTRA CRUISE DAYS

* Enjoy upgraded accommodations in your private balcony (Categories DV-BY)

* Air change fees will be honored up to $150 per person

* EZ AIR Protected 100%

 

[Colo Cruiser]

2 hours ago, memoak said:

Have a 4 day cruise on the Ruby scheduled  for this Thursday in an inside cabin.  We are getting move-over e-mails to move from the 4 day to a 7 day in April on the Royal (totally different itinerary) in a balcony.  With this late notice many people cannot change plans and there is a large SF 49er fan group on with players who are cruising mostly to meet players.  If they don't get enough takers then what will the next move be ?

They will up the ante until they get enough takers.

They have it down to a science.

Princess does this week in week out.

They always get to where they need to be.

This is nothing new. 

[memoak]

Yes but like with upsells I usually see this further out -- not 3 days before the cruise

[frugaltravel]

I have been called on the phone the day before a cruise - literally as I was walking out the door to drive to the airport - for a moveover offer.  It just depends on who has taken them up on their offers so far, how oversold they are, etc.

 

[Colo Cruiser]

1 hour ago, memoak said:

Yes but like with upsells I usually see this further out -- not 3 days before the cruise

 Moveovers come based on how oversold the cruise is.

Aggressive offers are based on demand for a specific cabin/cat. (oversold status)

I see them within the last week.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Does anyone know if the OBC you get in a move-over deal is refundable or nonrefundable?

[satxdiver]

Usually it is refundable.  

 

Princess uses statistics to determine how many on a particular cruise will cancel before the ship sails.  An empty cabin generates no income but the costs of sailing remain the same.  So like the airlines, they will temporarily oversell the cruise with guaranteed cabins.  Occasionally they will get it wrong and end up with more cabins sold than is available.  At this point they start offering move-over deals until they get enough cabins for those that paid. At times they have to sweeten the offer to get enough to move over.  Sounds like in the OP's situation they are in this fix.  

 

One time several years ago the airline on a Friday night full of business people had oversold the flight.  The gate agent came on the ship trying to get 6 to take a later flight which meant the next day.  She came on the plane six times, each time sweetening the offer until she finally was able to get 6 to leave.  It was Friday night and we were all going home with many leaving again on Monday so no one was willing to take the offer.  Each time she came on, she said it was the final offer only to be followed again with the "final offer".  It actually was fun to watch.  In the OPs case it appears that the final offer has not yet been made.  

[DrivesLikeMario]

Move-over offers are usually a last-minute kind of thing, not months in advance like upsells.  This particular one was only for those booked in inside cabins.  They wanted those only and that's why this offer isn't as interesting as some of the others.  I'm sure it's due to the 49ers fans group that's onboard.  I'm guessing they needed more cabins at the last minute because they were selling them even when the ship was considered "sold out".

[voljeep]

Ours was the Monday before we were to sail on Sunday ... we took it and went from a 5 day to a 7 day leaving the following Sunday  ... got full fare of the 5 day as refundable credit on the 7 day

[BruceMuzz]

Note that in most cases, if they make you an offer and you either refuse or ignore it, they will move on to other passengers. However if you respond with a counter-offer or express interest, they may get back to you with a better offer.

[Silverspringcruiser]

We're on this cruise too. Didn't get an email. Couldn't change anyway.

[victory2020]

57 minutes ago, Silverspringcruiser said:

We're on this cruise too. Didn't get an email. Couldn't change anyway.

How did you book? Was it through a big internet agency? I understand a lot of times they don't forward the offers. For the people who did get the email - did you book through Princess?

[Ombud]

17 hours ago, girlguide said:

I received the offer this morning in an email. We have an inside for the Feb 14th sailing - booked long before the prices went up. Schedules don't work for us & I agree the offer isn't that exciting.

Ruby Princess! !!EXTEND YOUR VACATION 3 days for FREE!!

Princess is extending a special offer to guests booked on the February 14 2019 sailing of the Ruby Princess.

Move to THE ROYAL PRINCESS: April 06, April, 13, or April 20 and receive:

* 3 EXTRA CRUISE DAYS

* Enjoy upgraded accommodations in your private balcony (Categories DV-BY)

* Air change fees will be honored up to $150 per person

* EZ AIR Protected 100%

 

Thanks for posting that as I'm on an oversold ship & wonder how they'd handle EZAir tickets.

[Silverspringcruiser]

1 hour ago, victory2020 said:

How did you book? Was it through a big internet agency? I understand a lot of times they don't forward the offers. For the people who did get the email - did you book through Princess?

I booked through Princess.

[azbirdmom]

3 hours ago, Ombud said:

Thanks for posting that as I'm on an oversold ship & wonder how they'd handle EZAir tickets.

 

In Princess lingo, "EZ Air Protected 100%" means that they cancel your original airline ticket booked through them with no penalty.  The amount you paid for airfare is applied to the fare for the flights you select for the replacement cruise.  If the new fare is higher, you don't pay anything more.  If it is less, they will refund the difference to you either by check (which takes a while) or add it as refundable OBC on the replacement cruise.

[justafem]

Our last cruise, (Sept Northern coastal, the first time this itinerary had been offered and was sold out within a couple of weeks of release), we received a move-over offer 2 days before the cruise.  

 

We were only offered 2 dates, both 10 day Mexican.  

 

There were 4 of us booked in a suite, they offered us 2 balcony rooms with full refund.  I asked about other dates or itinerary's and was told "NOPE".  I asked about our club class status and our specialty breakfast dining on the subsequent cruise and was also given a great big "NOPE".  Suite perks, another NOPE.

 

The cost of the 7 day northern coastal was 2-3 times the cost of either 10 day Mexican, comparable cost to a 10 day Alaskan.  

 

Princess obviously didn't want our room bad enough to make us an offer we felt was fair, so our offer was a big NOPE!  

 

It seems like Princess is getting stingier with their move over offers, possibly because there are people who are able to change plans that quickly, but we couldn't.  If they had given us just a single day more, we could have done a 5 day disney for about the same cost, within the same time frame.  

 

The NOPE's won. 

[Little Rascal]

W We are also on this cruise but were not offered any move deal.  We booked with a travel agent maybe 8 months ago. We like to pick our rooms ourselves and like the back of the ship.  We would of not changed any ways. We wanted to celebrate Valentine's Day on the ship. Sounds like a good deal though. I have never heard of this before. Good to know they offer them. 

[Colo Cruiser]

42 minutes ago, justafem said:

Our last cruise, (Sept Northern coastal, the first time this itinerary had been offered and was sold out within a couple of weeks of release), we received a move-over offer 2 days before the cruise.  

 

We were only offered 2 dates, both 10 day Mexican.  

 

There were 4 of us booked in a suite, they offered us 2 balcony rooms with full refund.  I asked about other dates or itinerary's and was told "NOPE".  I asked about our club class status and our specialty breakfast dining on the subsequent cruise and was also given a great big "NOPE".  Suite perks, another NOPE.

 

The cost of the 7 day northern coastal was 2-3 times the cost of either 10 day Mexican, comparable cost to a 10 day Alaskan.  

 

Princess obviously didn't want our room bad enough to make us an offer we felt was fair, so our offer was a big NOPE!  

 

It seems like Princess is getting stingier with their move over offers, possibly because there are people who are able to change plans that quickly, but we couldn't.  If they had given us just a single day more, we could have done a 5 day disney for about the same cost, within the same time frame.  

 

The NOPE's won. 

I am sure someone took it.   😄

[Daniel A]

I think the 'upsell' is used when Princess wants to fill some empty cabins and 'move overs' are used when they want to empty some cabins.