Legitimately Sold Out Overnight?

[DairyCreamer]

This post is half-lamenting, but half also genuinely curious how something like this can happen.

 

A couple weeks ago, we were shopping for an sailing in early December 2023. Ended up really liking the December 4, 5-night itinerary on the Independence. Plenty of good room choices were available, so we wanted to talk to family about joining us. Tinkered with this and that idea over the course of a week or so and eventually said ok, let's do this.

 

The day we said let's book it, out of the blue the RC site says no staterooms available for 4 people, and shows all suites and outside view rooms as sold out.

 

Now, literally the night before there were tons of rooms available. Frankly we were looking at one of the 2 BR Grand Suites, of which all 6 were still showing available too less than 24 hours prior.

 

Not to belabor the point... It's just, I'm in denial that a cruise would sell out overnight like this. I can accept new ships when their first sailings come around, that I at least get. But this doesn't pass the sniff test.

A little plot twist perhaps... I call RC customer service and ask if it's some website problem. Guy I talked to puts me on hold for a while checking for me and says actually yes, it appears they're doing some sort of inventory with the rooms and sometimes these things happen and just give it a couple days and I should be able to book. Ok, great!

 

Well, it's been a week since that conversation and no dice. I called RC again today, and now they're saying they show it's basically sold out.

 

I'm short, I'm in disbelief.

 

I get that I should have booked when I first noticed it. I certainly take responsibility for missing out. I'm severely bummed though and struggling to find an itinerary that we like with a compatible time frame as well.

 

My biggest question though, sincerely... Does this actually happen? All the sudden a cruise pushing 1.5 years out that's been posted for weeks (if not months) goes from widely available to nothing except for 2-person rooms literally overnight?

 

What might cause this?

 

TL;DR - RC Independence in December 2023 goes from widely available to nothing but 2-person rooms basically overnight. RC CS says glitch, then a week later says it's actually all but sold out... For real? 🥲 

[perfect match]

Happened to us on a cruise we had booked on Brilliance.  It went from a very low number of cabins sold on the ship overnight to very few cabins remaining. Then to completely sold out a few days later. Shortly after that I got the email from Royal that I strongly suspected I’d be getting - that the ship had been sold out as a full ship charter, that we would not be on that sailing unless we rebooked with the charter croup, and a list of our options for what we could do with our booking. There were several price protected options on Brilliance, the ability to transfer to a different ship without price protection, or cancel for a full refund. The situation could very well be the same for the cruise on Indy that you were looking at. I have no inside information so I can’t say for sure, but it certainly wouldn’t surprise me if that is what’s going on. Royal will not come out and say the ship has been chartered until the contract with the group looking to charter the ship has been finalized. 

[DairyCreamer]

4 minutes ago, perfect match said:

Shortly after that I got the email from Royal that I strongly suspected I’d be getting - that the ship had been sold out as a full ship charter. . .

 

Well that's certainly not something I had considered. That's certainly a plausible explanation though. Damn though... That itinerary really floated our boat. 😕

 

Thanks for the insight!

[kruzerci]

 

Prior to covid, a couple of 4-5 night sailings in early December from Florida have been commonly chartered and subsequently cancelled every year. Generally Brilliance and Independence.

[Ourusualbeach]

31 minutes ago, DairyCreamer said:

This post is half-lamenting, but half also genuinely curious how something like this can happen.

 

A couple weeks ago, we were shopping for an sailing in early December 2023. Ended up really liking the December 4, 5-night itinerary on the Independence. Plenty of good room choices were available, so we wanted to talk to family about joining us. Tinkered with this and that idea over the course of a week or so and eventually said ok, let's do this.

 

The day we said let's book it, out of the blue the RC site says no staterooms available for 4 people, and shows all suites and outside view rooms as sold out.

 

Now, literally the night before there were tons of rooms available. Frankly we were looking at one of the 2 BR Grand Suites, of which all 6 were still showing available too less than 24 hours prior.

 

Not to belabor the point... It's just, I'm in denial that a cruise would sell out overnight like this. I can accept new ships when their first sailings come around, that I at least get. But this doesn't pass the sniff test.

A little plot twist perhaps... I call RC customer service and ask if it's some website problem. Guy I talked to puts me on hold for a while checking for me and says actually yes, it appears they're doing some sort of inventory with the rooms and sometimes these things happen and just give it a couple days and I should be able to book. Ok, great!

 

Well, it's been a week since that conversation and no dice. I called RC again today, and now they're saying they show it's basically sold out.

 

I'm short, I'm in disbelief.

 

I get that I should have booked when I first noticed it. I certainly take responsibility for missing out. I'm severely bummed though and struggling to find an itinerary that we like with a compatible time frame as well.

 

My biggest question though, sincerely... Does this actually happen? All the sudden a cruise pushing 1.5 years out that's been posted for weeks (if not months) goes from widely available to nothing except for 2-person rooms literally overnight?

 

What might cause this?

 

TL;DR - RC Independence in December 2023 goes from widely available to nothing but 2-person rooms basically overnight. RC CS says glitch, then a week later says it's actually all but sold out... For real? 🥲 

All except 2 categories are closed.  Looks like this could be a full ship charter.  This is around the time that a car dealership typically charters ships. 

[Morecruisesplz]

3 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

All except 2 categories are closed.  Looks like this could be a full ship charter.  This is around the time that a car dealership typically charters ships. 

Find out who the charter is before you book, if that turns out to be the case. It could be a BEAR cruise.

[perfect match]

1 minute ago, Ourusualbeach said:

All except 2 categories are closed.  Looks like this could be a full ship charter.  This is around the time that a car dealership typically charters ships. 

Our Brilliance cruise was in the same time period as well. IIRC, Brilliance was B2B country music charters. There was a Soca music charter around the same time as well, and, of course, that car dealership.

[Ourusualbeach]

18 minutes ago, fredmdcruisers said:

Find out who the charter is before you book, if that turns out to be the case. It could be a BEAR cruise.

Any of those are full ship charters.  Anyone booked beforevthe ship is chatered is moved from that saing.  You can't "accidentally" end up on those. 

[Morecruisesplz]

10 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Any of those are full ship charters.  Anyone booked beforevthe ship is chatered is moved from that saing.  You can't "accidentally" end up on those. 

Not so. We ended up on one with our young at the time grandchildren. Way too much pda!

[Ourusualbeach]

3 minutes ago, fredmdcruisers said:

Not so. We ended up on one with our young at the time grandchildren. Way too much pda!

Thst would have been a partial ship charter and not a full ship charter. 

[Morecruisesplz]

2 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Thst would have been a partial ship charter and not a full ship charter. 

So they are not always full ship charters.

[Ourusualbeach]

11 minutes ago, fredmdcruisers said:

So they are not always full ship charters.

When they are closed to bookings they are. 

[Morecruisesplz]

6 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

When they are closed to bookings they are. 

Duh

[coaster]

Car dealership guy is no longer around. Huge! Royal really catered to this guy in the past to bump those off with a future reservation outside of his promo for a free cruise if you bought a car from him.

 

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by coaster

[Morecruisesplz]

16 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

When they are closed to bookings they are. 

The OP said she could book cabins. Just not one for 4 people. So not full.

[Ourusualbeach]

2 minutes ago, fredmdcruisers said:

The OP said she could book cabins. Just not one for 4 people. So not full.

Read my post after that and you will see that I said there are only 2 categories available to book.  Everything else is closed.  That is exactly what happens during the initial stages of a full ship charter when it is in the negotian process.  

[Morecruisesplz]

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Read my post after that and you will see that I said there are only 2 categories available to book.  Everything else is closed.  That is exactly what happens during the initial stages of a full ship charter when it is in the negotian process.  

So the OP or anyone else could book any of the open cabins and unknowingly end up on a cruise full of some group they didn’t care to be with.

[Biker19]

Just now, fredmdcruisers said:

So the OP or anyone else could book any of the open cabins and unknowingly end up on a cruise full of some group they didn’t care to be with.

Some folks on CC seek out such sailings to book for the OBC and price protection on other sailings when the eventual cancellation comes. 

[molly361]

17 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

When they are closed to bookings they are. 

SIGH😇  Brings back memories

[Ourusualbeach]

4 minutes ago, fredmdcruisers said:

So the OP or anyone else could book any of the open cabins and unknowingly end up on a cruise full of some group they didn’t care to be with.

No, they would be booked and once the charter is finalized all the guests that had been booked are kicked off.  Royal offers them either a full refund or a choice of anywhere between 2 and 5 price protected cruises.

 

No one accidentally sails on a full ship charter.  You must book through the charter company to be on that sailing

Edited September 7, 2022 by Ourusualbeach

[molly361]

Just now, Biker19 said:

Some folks on CC seek out such sailings to book for the OBC and price protection on other sailings when the eventual cancellation comes. 

It seems the good old days when you could pick any other ship and sail date and still get the OBC are over😇

[Ourusualbeach]

1 minute ago, Biker19 said:

Some folks on CC seek out such sailings to book for the OBC and price protection on other sailings when the eventual cancellation comes. 

OBC has not been offered since pre covid.  The good old days are gone.

[Ourusualbeach]

1 minute ago, molly361 said:

It seems the good old days when you could pick any other ship and sail date and still get the OBC are over😇

There were several that were so predictable.

[DD]

19 hours ago, DairyCreamer said:

 

Well that's certainly not something I had considered. That's certainly a plausible explanation though. Damn though... That itinerary really floated our boat. 😕

 

Thanks for the insight!

Sorry - my mistake in replying. I missed that you were looking for quad cabins.

Edited September 7, 2022 by DD

[PhillyFan33579]

Several years ago friends were considering joining several of us on a 3 day cruise over Labor Day weekend. There were still lots of cabins available several weeks prior to the cruise according to the website, but when they finally decided to book the cruise a few days later the cruise was sold out. They checked every day right up to the cruise, but they were never able to book a cabin a missed a great cruise. Obviously the timeframe is different than the OP, but I think the lesson here is a lot of cabins can be sold for a cruise in a short period of time.