Making reservations

[cajun4x4]

We are taking our son on a 7 day cruise in summer of 2021.  I started looking and went through process and there are not as many room available as I would have thought this far out.  My husband cannot pick his vacation until October so I cannot book until then.  I am just hoping it is the type of room we requested but does it appear that more rooms open up over time??

[ishap]

Some of it depends on the ship and/or itinerary you are looking at.  Ships like Horizon, Panorama, Mardi Gras will sell out much faster.  You can always book at one of their $50 deposit promotions and if you can't take that cruise, just cancel and move your deposit to another sailing.

 

I have also read that when you view online, not all the open rooms show.  However, I'm not sure if that is 100% accurate information.

[pe4all]

Travel agents sometimes book large blocks of room, which are released as the cruise gets closer. People also cancel as their cruise gets closer.  The newer the ship, the more people usually want to cruise on it, therefore it books up faster.    I think Carnival website will show up to 10 cabins that are open in whatever category you choose.  Other lines (NCL for example) will show more.

[jsglow]

2021?  No worries.  The Carnival website only shows 10 rooms, max on the booking engine for each category/floor.  It's ONLY when you see fewer than 10 displayed that you know capacity it getting tight.  You'll be absolutely fine booking anything for the following summer 9+ months out.  Most cruises have available cabins until well after the final payment date.  Now do note that summer is the busy time, especially for families.  So be proactive as far in advance as possible.

[Joebucks]

54 minutes ago, jsglow said:

2021?  No worries.  The Carnival website only shows 10 rooms, max on the booking engine for each category/floor.  It's ONLY when you see fewer than 10 displayed that you know capacity it getting tight.  You'll be absolutely fine booking anything for the following summer 9+ months out.  Most cruises have available cabins until well after the final payment date.  Now do note that summer is the busy time, especially for families.  So be proactive as far in advance as possible.

 

How sure are you of this? I've noticed the newer ships have been filling up fast. I was watching a Horizon cruise and watched it jump 30% and even sell out quite a bit in advance. The one I booked for later this year has already jumped about 15% in price from a few months ago, and rooms are more scarce.

[ABQrobin]

2 hours ago, cajun4x4 said:

We are taking our son on a 7 day cruise in summer of 2021.  I started looking and went through process and there are not as many room available as I would have thought this far out.  My husband cannot pick his vacation until October so I cannot book until then.  I am just hoping it is the type of room we requested but does it appear that more rooms open up over time??

 

what type of room are you trying to book?  That may be the issue.  Some types are in small quantities per ship, or some ships not at all.  

 

[luv2trvlnow]

2 hours ago, cajun4x4 said:

We are taking our son on a 7 day cruise in summer of 2021.  I started looking and went through process and there are not as many room available as I would have thought this far out.  My husband cannot pick his vacation until October so I cannot book until then.  I am just hoping it is the type of room we requested but does it appear that more rooms open up over time??

You could book the room you want with a refundable rate.  That way if you have to cancel you would get your deposit back.  After your husband has his vacation approved if your category is available and they have a ES rate you could switch to it if you want. You will have to pay the full deposit with this option.  I have never seen a reduced deposit if the deposit is refundable.

 

If you book with a $50 deposit you will not be able to move that to another cruise according to Carnival terms.  That would be lost with the service charge of $50 per person.

 

I do know that if you look at Carnival's site it will only show 10 rooms available for each category.  There could be more.  If it shows less than 10 than that is all that is available currently.  Sometimes you can see more rooms that are available if you use other sites. 

[rnr4thatsme]

Glad I read this!   I was getting nervous thinking they only had 10 rooms left in the category I wanted on a particular sailing in 2021.   Not a deal breaker if I needed to pick another category but this is helpful to know.

[jsglow]

12 hours ago, Joebucks said:

 

How sure are you of this? I've noticed the newer ships have been filling up fast. I was watching a Horizon cruise and watched it jump 30% and even sell out quite a bit in advance. The one I booked for later this year has already jumped about 15% in price from a few months ago, and rooms are more scarce.

 

 

I'm very confident.  Strong bookings will result in prices going up.  But no mass market cruise sells out a routine itinerary 18 months ahead of time.