Release of Cabins by Princess

[JRWLOBO]

We are booked on the short leg of a multi-leg cruise.  We have booked a cabin on the shorter leg but find that the cabin we would really like is available only on the longer leg of the cruise.  Does any one familiar with Princess know when these cabins open up for the shorter leg?  I understand that Princess wants you to take the longer cruise, but that is a bit too long for us.  Clearly there must be some logic as to when they decide that the longer leg cannot be booked and then open up the cabins for the shorter leg, but do not know when that might be.  May be too difficult a question to answer, but would appreciate any incite Cruise Critic members can give me.

[gotta cruise again]

I’m not sure if this is the same situation you have: we’re booked on a 10-day that is also sold as a 20-day. The cabins in the category we desired were all listed as “guarantee” with no specific cabins showing. In fact, most all of the 10-day is shown as “guarantee” in any category.

 

I initially spoke with a Princess agent, who was able to put a temporary hold on the cabin we wanted. I let that hold expire and later booked the cruise via my usual travel agency, who also was able to book the specific cabin.

 

So I would suggest you ask your travel agent, or if you booked online then call Princess, to ask for the specific cabin you’d like.

 

I hope this helps!

Edited October 13, 2020 by gotta cruise again
fix autocorrect error!

[JRWLOBO]

Thank you.  I will try that.  The cruise is a bit far out (2022) so they may not be amenable to that at this time.  But, never hurts to ask.

Edited October 13, 2020 by JRWLOBO

[Schonert]

There sometimes is no understandable reason for the cabin availability.  We wanted to book the 14 day version of two 7day Alaska trips.  The better cabins are only available for the 7 day cruises and not the 14.  You would think they would prefer to sell the longer time, but not always .

Edited October 13, 2020 by Schonert
Spelling

[AtlantaCruiser72]

@JRWLOBO if the cabin you are in is bookable for all the segments that make up the longer cruise you (or your travel agent) can call Princess and see if they can swap inventory for you so that you can get your preferred cabin. Sometimes it takes talking to 2-3 or more front line agents to get one who who understands what you want. The key is that your currently allocated cabin # MUST be available to book for all the segments that make up the longer cruise. 

[coo359a2]

We have been in your situation where the cabin we wanted was only available on a 28 day  cruise.  Called Princess and the agent contacted Inventory Control (believe that is the correct name) and they released the cabin from the longer cruise .  We then booked as a B2B (two 14 day cruises).  This was several years ago but imagine that they are still able to do the switching.

[MCC retired]

A good TA with Princess contacts can get this done for you .

[phabric]

When the new Sky can out, my cruise could be booked as 7 or 14 days.  The cabin I wanted for the 14 day was being booked for the 7 day.  My agent was able to get Princess to over rule their system  and was able to book the cabin for 14 days.

 

See if your agent to Princess change it for you.

[nini]

19 minutes ago, phabric said:

When the new Sky can out, my cruise could be booked as 7 or 14 days.  The cabin I wanted for the 14 day was being booked for the 7 day.  My agent was able to get Princess to over rule their system  and was able to book the cabin for 14 days.

 

See if your agent to Princess change it for you.

Does that mean that someone else "lost" their cabin choice

for the 7 day?

We also were not able to book our preferred cabin for a 14 day,

but only for the 7 day portion. Princess said that this particular cabin

was not available to book for the entire time, but would have to be

booked for two separate 7 days which of course cost a few hundred

dollars more.

[phabric]

1 minute ago, nini said:

Does that mean that someone else "lost" their cabin choice

for the 7 day?

 

I booked when the Elite booking opened up the day before the rest when the Sky cruise came out.   My agent was able to get it for me that is why I book with her.

[nini]

4 minutes ago, phabric said:

I booked when the Elite booking opened up the day before the rest when the Sky cruise came out.   My agent was able to get it for me that is why I book with her.

Nice! I have to agree that these multi- leg cruises can get confusing.

[Qextor]

If the price of the longer cruise isn't a deal breaker, and you just don't want to be on the ship that long, than book the longer cruise, and request to leave the ship at an earlier port. I was on a Emerald TP, which started from Sydney. We decided we wanted to spend the time exploring NZ's South Island, rather than crossing the Tasman to North NZ.  We could have boarded in Auckland, but that meant missing all the North NZ stops. So, we booked from Sydney, and requested to board at the first stop in NZ, which was Wellington.  We paid the full fare for the cruise, and got still the 29 cruise points for the whole cruise, rather than the 24 nights were aboard. 

 

As long as you have completed the online check-in, you can request to disembark earlier then the final port of the cruise. It takes about a week to process the request; ask your TA to put it through if you're using one, or you can request it yourself if you are booking directly with Princess.

[JRWLOBO]

You all have been very helpful and I do appreciate the information.  Right now we have the cabin on hold for the longer portion and have not used an outside TA.  

Thanks very much!

[caribill]

14 hours ago, nini said:

Does that mean that someone else "lost" their cabin choice

for the 7 day?

 

 

No.

 

What happens is when a cruise can be booked multi ways, cabins are allocated for sale to one of the ways and will appear sold on the other ways, even if not reserved so far.

 

Assume three consecutive cruises A, B, and C. They might be able to be booked in 5 ways:

1. Cruise A

2. Cruise B

3. Cruise C

4. Cruises A & B

5. Cruises B & C

 

So if, for example, cabin XYZ is set up to be sold for option 4 (a B2B of cruises A&B), it will not show up when looking for available cabins for options 1 (cruise A), 2 (cruise B) and 5 (cruises B&C) even if not yet reserved by someone for option 4.