Only Balcony guarantees available on Dawn 6/26/24 sailing. Does this imply a partially chartered cruise?

[DMP609]

Hello! We're looking at a British Isles cruise on the Dawn departing 6/26/2024. When I go through a booking, all that is available in the balcony and club balcony categories are guaranteed balconies and the cost is very high compared to similar cruises with Celebrity and Carnival. Do you think this indicates the cruise is partially chartered?

 

I haven't called NCL since I recall from prior discussions they aren't forthcoming with that kind of information. Thanks!

[hallux]

Some trips, for some reason are like that.  The Panama Canal trip I have booked is guarantee-only for inside and balcony, and that's a 15-day trip...

[kjquilts]

Prices do look high on that cruise.  Various  on line travel agencies are showing balconies & club balconies available to book (not just guarantee). 

 

BA category    21 available on deck 10     66 on deck 9  

 

MA club balcony   39 available on deck 11

 

Not much difference between the balcony and club balcony pricing.

[TrumpyNor]

2 hours ago, DMP609 said:

Hello! We're looking at a British Isles cruise on the Dawn departing 6/26/2024. When I go through a booking, all that is available in the balcony and club balcony categories are guaranteed balconies and the cost is very high compared to similar cruises with Celebrity and Carnival. Do you think this indicates the cruise is partially chartered?

 

I haven't called NCL since I recall from prior discussions they aren't forthcoming with that kind of information. Thanks!

It is strange that you only get gty cabins available in those two categories.

I just tried to do a mock booking through an American cruise website (as I am in Europe I can not access the US version of ncl.com), and for balcony cabins it showed in addition to ONE GTY cabin PLUS 14 balcony cabins available in category BA (4 cabins on deck 9 and 11 on deck 10). Yes, the rates are veeeery high - could be because the ship is close to fully booked already. When it comes to Club balcony cabins, the same webpage shows 39 category MA available on deck 11 and 1 category MB on deck 11. So not GTY categories.... But yes - also very expensive (actually price for a regular balcony is almost the same as for a club balcony).

 

I have booked a similar cruise on the Dawn for August 2024, but have only booked an inside cabin because of the high rates for balcony cabins. Plan on bidding on a balcony cabin when the "upgrade advantage program" opens closer to sailing date, but I am fine with staying where I am as well.

[schmoopie17]

If you have a PCC, he/she can pull up additional cabins (assuming more are available).

[julig22]

Not sure anybody knows why NCL puts certain categories in GTY status months before a cruise.

[firstimer2009]

1 hour ago, julig22 said:

Not sure anybody knows why NCL puts certain categories in GTY status months before a cruise.

I just found that Balcony Guarantee on the NCL Escape sailing Sept 2024 from Barcelona.  Makes me wonder if they are going to switch ships soon and don't want a big mess with all these rooms booked.  Which gives me pause to book this trip.

[genealogyfan]

I wonder if sailings have alot of balcony g

10 hours ago, DMP609 said:

Hello! We're looking at a British Isles cruise on the Dawn departing 6/26/2024. When I go through a booking, all that is available in the balcony and club balcony categories are guaranteed balconies and the cost is very high compared to similar cruises with Celebrity and Carnival. Do you think this indicates the cruise is partially chartered?

 

I haven't called NCL since I recall from prior discussions they aren't forthcoming with that kind of information. Thanks!

I just tried doing a mock booking of that sailing, and gives me specific  balcony rooms for Deck 8 and 9, lots of them. 

[DMP609]

55 minutes ago, genealogyfan said:

I wonder if sailings have alot of balcony g

I just tried doing a mock booking of that sailing, and gives me specific  balcony rooms for Deck 8 and 9, lots of them. 

Thank you for looking at this. I failed to mention there are 3 of us. That seems to be making the difference. Maybe the rooms that can accommodate 3 people are almost all gone. Still seems really early for that to be the case. And the 2 person cost is also ridiculous.

[insidecabin]

This ones the waiting game,

 

Over double the price they should be.

 

NCL have been doing this high prices then drop them, not all the way for balcony, let the upgrade program keep them high, then discount the insides a lot.

 

The July Copenhagen to Southampton 10n Inside came down to around £560 this year with FAS and taxes.