Are cruises now becoming fully booked or does Royal not go for full capacity?

[4774Papa]

1 hour ago, moposh said:

I was surprised that some shore excursions for an April cruising are sold out.  

 

Recent cruise was full.  I wouldn't mind cruising with fewer people.

Our TA from Ft. Lauderdale to Rome in April/May has not excursions available.

 

[moposh]

@4774Papa  I was first surprised that excursions were already available and then that some were sold out.

Edited September 15, 2022 by moposh

[bucfan2]

22 minutes ago, ChC said:

 

When a shore excursion shows sold out online, there are several reasons. One is that it could really be sold out for the pre-planned capacity. More seats could be added nearer the time once onboard. Supplier will update with Shore Excursion desk on how many extra seats available once the sourced transportation becomes certain on how many seats there are. 

 

Second reason is that the shore excursion does not have the confident on exactly how many seats they can sell and think there is a better chance to sell onboard. This could be due to a group indicated preference on partial capacity but can only know once every group member made choice once onboard, or the supplier is not willing to commit further vehicles. It could also be the sales is so bad they may pull it from sales (rarely happens but nevertheless is a possibility).

 

Third is to keep operation fluid. The reason could be the ship knows exactly which tour will be super popular and which tour may lag behind. So, shore excursion desk will close the tour that may lag behind in sales and shift capacity to the popular tours.  Also, it could happen when there are multi language tours, participants in tours that are offered in multi languages can be difficult to forecast. They will try to provide individual coaches for one language, occasionally they may have to merge two different languages tours into one single bus with a bilingual guide. 

 

Fourth reason is that many tickets are sold onboard historically, they have to reserve a certain percentage of ticket for people who either unwilling to book online or unable to book online. I am sure RCL has the statistics on how many tickets are sold in planner and how many sold on the ship. It would be cruel to sell every seat online when you know (let us say or speculate) that 50% or 60% tickets are sold onboard, whereas it would be fine (or less cruel) if 80% people prebook online.  

 

Finally, the reason can be the cruise is too far in advance, the supplier is not ready to release the tour yet. It could be the destination has extremely limited resources (like tour buses), or the supplier/contractor is going out of business or lack of credit, or simply it is not their way of working on release tour capacity or secure vehicles that far in advance. They might be working on a 30-days or 60-days rolling period. Anything outside their planning cycle might not be available.

 

So, there are many reasons why a tour is not available before the cruise start. The smart thing to do is once onboard, waitlist the tour you are interested with ASAP. Often the shore excursion will work with suppliers either shift capacity to over subscripted tour or find extra seats by sourcing bigger buses (it happens!). 

Paperback coming out soon.

Edited September 16, 2022 by bucfan2

[BND]

22 hours ago, 4774Papa said:

How can they cruise a more than 100%?

Every cabin booked is considered 100%.  Actual passenger counts can vary as long as they don't go over the lifeboat capacity.

[Cruise a holic]

we have been on two cruises on Royal.  May the Adventure- it was so crowded, and in August the Oasis.  Both seemed at capacity- fortunately we were in a suite on the Oasis, so it seemed less crowded then the Adventure which was like a mall on black friday.  Or how they used to be!