Reduce occupancy who cruises and who doesn’t?

[Milwaukee Eight]

29 minutes ago, LXA350 said:

The system applied would very likely be the ones who paid lowest fares will be asked to move, but looking at the natural cancellations / shiftings to new bookings RCL likely will not even need to apply such measures.

How will they be able to determine this?  They can’t get refunds out in a decent timeframe. 

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

They can’t get refunds out in a decent timeframe. 

That's only true now, once they get back to sailing, the number of cancellations (and associated refunds) will likely drop to more manageable levels.

[Milwaukee Eight]

15 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

That's only true now, once they get back to sailing, the number of cancellations (and associated refunds) will likely drop to more manageable levels.

I was just saying, they can’t manage refunds so how in the heck can they manage capacity control?

[Baron Barracuda]

Wouldn't want to be the guinea pig.  If sailing resumed September 1st and I had a mid-September booking  would likely cancel and push it back a few months.  See how things go.  Satisfy myself that there are no outbreaks and  get  feedback on how much (if any) cruising experience changed.   Imagine many others would feel the same way.  That initial hesitation could  result in lower load rates.

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

I was just saying, they can’t manage refunds so how in the heck can they manage capacity control?

The system at RCI, and probably most businesses, is to have taking money easy/fast and returning money difficult/slow. Managing capacity is controlled by the booking system, which is a completely different system than refunds. Granted, they could still screw things up (like who gets bumped and the perks offered with such a bump), but controlling capacity is already something they can do - managing 10+x the normal refund volume, obviously not.

[bouhunter]

9 hours ago, leisuretraveler223 said:

 

This is where some of the cruising fanatics here lack perspective. It's going to be a long, LONG time before any cruise line encounters this "problem".  Their product is currently not even remotely marketable to most people.

Probably true.

 

Cruising fanatics do sometimes lack perspective. 🙂

 

[drrich2]

I imagine this will vary by ship, but since the possibility of cancelling people based on cost of stateroom came up, anybody got any rough idea of the % of rooms are inside, Oceanview, balcony and suites? They plan to start with big ships, so I'm thinking Voyager class and larger. 

[bigrednole]

My cruise is not until November. We paid in full for our August trip before this started then moved to November before cancellations. This is an open ended concern because if we are forced to bounce from our cruise, the next chance we would have is over Christmas, followed by Spring Break (which is Easter), then next Summer. I don't see accepting any potential offer to force getting bounced other than a directly comparable room regardless of cost. I know my November cruise is drastically cheaper than Christmas time. There are no cruises out of PC that I could drive to at Easter which means $1,200 flights that I shouldn't have to cover. Then rolling out until June of next year, the sailings are not really set, but that are 2x of what I am paying. I should not be forced off a paid reservation, given some odd 125% credit, then have to pay $2,500 more to go on a cruise. They should give me a free booking when I can travel and if airfare is now required, they pick up that tab as well.

[time4u2go]

Whoever gets to the ship first on embarkation day! 😁

[bigrednole]

11 minutes ago, time4u2go said:

Whoever gets to the ship first on embarkation day! 😁

I can be there are 12:00:01AM

[Ourusualbeach]

42 minutes ago, bigrednole said:

My cruise is not until November. We paid in full for our August trip before this started then moved to November before cancellations. This is an open ended concern because if we are forced to bounce from our cruise, the next chance we would have is over Christmas, followed by Spring Break (which is Easter), then next Summer. I don't see accepting any potential offer to force getting bounced other than a directly comparable room regardless of cost. I know my November cruise is drastically cheaper than Christmas time. There are no cruises out of PC that I could drive to at Easter which means $1,200 flights that I shouldn't have to cover. Then rolling out until June of next year, the sailings are not really set, but that are 2x of what I am paying. I should not be forced off a paid reservation, given some odd 125% credit, then have to pay $2,500 more to go on a cruise. They should give me a free booking when I can travel and if airfare is now required, they pick up that tab as well.

You have the option of shifting your sailing one year into the future at the same price.

[bigrednole]

5 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

You have the option of shifting your sailing one year into the future at the same price.

I am not looking to move or planning to move my cruise. My issue is if they choose to bounce me from my paid reservation, I will only be will to accept similar accommodations on the date that I can travel without incurring additional expense. Like I said, if RCL bounces me from my cruise, then there is ~$2,500 of financial impact based on the next times we can travel with current pricing. If they are willing to pick up that expense, I would be more inclined to be more accommodating.

[Ourusualbeach]

10 minutes ago, bigrednole said:

I am not looking to move or planning to move my cruise. My issue is if they choose to bounce me from my paid reservation, I will only be will to accept similar accommodations on the date that I can travel without incurring additional expense. Like I said, if RCL bounces me from my cruise, then there is ~$2,500 of financial impact based on the next times we can travel with current pricing. If they are willing to pick up that expense, I would be more inclined to be more accommodating.

Looks like you will be requesting a refund then as your requests will certainly not be granted. 

[PigsCanFly]

If they choose to prune occupancy re: price paid, we will likely be bumped since most of our cruise fares are casino funded.  If they look at the overall expenditure histories of our cruising (including contributions at the casinos & additional expenditures), we may not be bumped after all.  Who knows? I do know that my recent cancellation could not be shifted to next year at the same cost due to the club royale payments not being transferrable forward. 🤞 Oops, got to go, its 5 o'clock somewhere🕔

[SNJCruisers]

5 hours ago, bigrednole said:

I am not looking to move or planning to move my cruise. My issue is if they choose to bounce me from my paid reservation, I will only be will to accept similar accommodations on the date that I can travel without incurring additional expense. Like I said, if RCL bounces me from my cruise, then there is ~$2,500 of financial impact based on the next times we can travel with current pricing. If they are willing to pick up that expense, I would be more inclined to be more accommodating.

You will not have to worry about getting "bounced" by Royal for your November cruise.  Assuming that Royal is cruising then, you'll be in the "guinea pig" phase and ships will more than likely be sailing at 50% or less capacity.

The extra expenses that you incur that you would want Royal to pick up in the event of a forced switch will not happen.  They will just tell you to invoke the cruise with confidence and you would then get a refund.

[taglovestocruise]

On 5/24/2020 at 6:51 AM, leisuretraveler223 said:

 

This is where some of the cruising fanatics here lack perspective. It's going to be a long, LONG time before any cruise line encounters this "problem".  Their product is currently not even remotely marketable to most people.

Guess again...

On 5/24/2020 at 1:37 PM, LXA350 said:

The system applied would very likely be the ones who paid lowest fares will be asked to move, but looking at the natural cancellations / shiftings to new bookings RCL likely will not even need to apply such measures.

Maybe try a second guess, you are a little off...

Despite multiple outbreaks of COVID-19 on cruise ships in 2020, bookings for cruises are already on the rise of 2021, according to multiple reports.

In the past 45 days — as multiple cruise ships had serious COVID-19 outbreaks onboard — the cruise booking site *****.com saw a 40% increase in its bookings for 2021 over its 2019 bookings.

A recent report from UBS also found that 76% of the people who had a canceled cruise in 2020 have chosen to accept credit towards a future cruise in 2021 as opposed to 24% who accepted a refund.

[leisuretraveler223]

10 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

Guess again...

Maybe try a second guess, you are a little off...

Despite multiple outbreaks of COVID-19 on cruise ships in 2020, bookings for cruises are already on the rise of 2021, according to multiple reports.

In the past 45 days — as multiple cruise ships had serious COVID-19 outbreaks onboard — the cruise booking site *****.com saw a 40% increase in its bookings for 2021 over its 2019 bookings.

A recent report from UBS also found that 76% of the people who had a canceled cruise in 2020 have chosen to accept credit towards a future cruise in 2021 as opposed to 24% who accepted a refund.

 

Bookings are not indicative of actual travel.  There are a number of factors that skewed this:  First, as stated, a lot of the new bookings were because current cruises were canceled and people are applying a cruise credit.  Second, with more relaxed cancellation options, people are speculating on fares and embracing a "wait and see" attitude.

 

If you want a real barometer, watch for final payment stats. And the ultimate test will be actual sailings.  Don't kid yourself. The industry is about to fall off a cliff.  If you see a promising near future for the cruise industry, it means you've spent a lot of time here with a like minded group that is in no way indicative of the general public or even the majority of cruise customers.

[bouhunter]

21 hours ago, Dwight1 said:

If I was scheduled for this November I would probably would already be canceled. That is the let’s see how it all works out phase. I’m leery about my 1/30/21 cruise!


Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Agree.  We moved our October cruise to 2021.  As for the January/February cruises, we'll decide in October about making final payments, I'm not sure about:

 

1.  All ships/sailings will be going as scheduled

2.  Cruising will be something we are interested in (masks, "social distancing" restrictions, etc).

3.  Covid will still be around, what are the odds of being locked in a cabin with no port to get off.....

[Baron Barracuda]

17 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

Guess again...

Maybe try a second guess, you are a little off...

Despite multiple outbreaks of COVID-19 on cruise ships in 2020, bookings for cruises are already on the rise of 2021, according to multiple reports.

In the past 45 days — as multiple cruise ships had serious COVID-19 outbreaks onboard — the cruise booking site *****.com saw a 40% increase in its bookings for 2021 over its 2019 bookings.

A recent report from UBS also found that 76% of the people who had a canceled cruise in 2020 have chosen to accept credit towards a future cruise in 2021 as opposed to 24% who accepted a refund.

 

In recent business update to investors RCL said pace of future bookings was in line with recent history.   However they didn't break out how many are new money vs re-booking with FCC's.  Given 55% of RCL cancellations are choosing FCC over refund (not 76%), and FCC's need to be used within one year expect majority of new '21 bookings are FCC.

[taglovestocruise]

2 hours ago, Baron Barracuda said:

 

In recent business update to investors RCL said pace of future bookings was in line with recent history.   However they didn't break out how many are new money vs re-booking with FCC's.  Given 55% of RCL cancellations are choosing FCC over refund (not 76%), and FCC's need to be used within one year expect majority of new '21 bookings are FCC.

The Times also noted that a recent analysis from Swiss bank UBS found that in the past 30 days, the number of cruise bookings for 2021 are up by 9% compared to the same period in 2019, including a substantial number of people booking brand new cruises as opposed to simply re-booking canceled cruises. 

 

 

[suzyluvs2cruise]

2 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

The Times also noted that a recent analysis from Swiss bank UBS found that in the past 30 days, the number of cruise bookings for 2021 are up by 9% compared to the same period in 2019, including a substantial number of people booking brand new cruises as opposed to simply re-booking canceled cruises. 

 

 

 

Booking brand new cruises as opposed to re-booking cancelled cruises.  Can you share a link to how this was done and how they knew it was a new cruise being booked? Re-booking a cancelled cruise get you a new booking number as does booking a new cruise. 

[Baron Barracuda]

1 hour ago, taglovestocruise said:

The Times also noted that a recent analysis from Swiss bank UBS found that in the past 30 days, the number of cruise bookings for 2021 are up by 9% compared to the same period in 2019, including a substantial number of people booking brand new cruises as opposed to simply re-booking canceled cruises. 

 

 

Not a fair comparison.  Royal doesn't publicize what % of bookings are FCC so can only speculate.   However stands to reason that after cancelling more than 25% of total 2020 sailings (all of April - June) many customers used FCC's to re-book for next year.  With an uncertain re-start date,  additional 2020 cancellations yet to be announced, and many customers likely to cancel regardless of whether their sailing takes place, expect many more FCC's will be issued and redeemed this year.  Total bookings will skyrocket but don't expect much new money to flow into Royal's coffers.

[suzyluvs2cruise]

1 hour ago, Baron Barracuda said:

Not a fair comparison.  Royal doesn't publicize what % of bookings are FCC so can only speculate.   However stands to reason that after cancelling more than 25% of total 2020 sailings (all of April - June) many customers used FCC's to re-book for next year.  With an uncertain re-start date,  additional 2020 cancellations yet to be announced, and many customers likely to cancel regardless of whether their sailing takes place, expect many more FCC's will be issued and redeemed this year.  Total bookings will skyrocket but don't expect much new money to flow into Royal's coffers.

 

There has also been an option where a TA can hold a cruise/cabin....initial date was until May 31....in anticipation of an FCC.  Are these counted as "new" bookings? IMHO the re-booking of brand new cruises numbers  is inflated.

Edited May 26, 2020 by suzyluvs2cruise

[Computer Nerd]

2 hours ago, suzyluvs2cruise said:

 

Booking brand new cruises as opposed to re-booking cancelled cruises.  Can you share a link to how this was done and how they knew it was a new cruise being booked? Re-booking a cancelled cruise get you a new booking number as does booking a new cruise. 

I don't know how it works with an FCC but with a Lift & Shift, you keep the same booking number.

[suzyluvs2cruise]

10 minutes ago, Computer Nerd said:

I don't know how it works with an FCC but with a Lift & Shift, you keep the same booking number.

Lift and Shift is different and, yes, you do keep the same booking #. With cruises cancelled with Cruise w/Confidence and bt the cruise line the booking # is gone so a new cruise booked with an FCC is a brand new cruise. I'd be surprised if RCI'S computer systems can differentiate in payment methods.