Quantum of the Seas Overbooking

[ceeceeDee]

34 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

I agree with Geoff and Mic. We have never had a problem with a guaranteed booking and will continue to book that way if there is a reasonable saving.

Admittedly, this is the first time I have heard of this happening in Australia. However, Wonder of the Seas was overbooked twice in the last two years. I acknowledge that doesn't make it a common occurrence and in both those cases, guests were advised well before the ship was due to sail. Up until the Quantum debacle, it had never occurred to me that a guarantee wouldn't be honoured. To be honest, it wouldn't stop me from booking a guarantee, but we rarely do so as we prefer to choose our cabin location.

[beatleman]

I was on the cruise previous, which was 100 or so short of capacity. I was told that a promo on kids sailing free was done and going by the vast amount onboard it appeared successful. There was also a large contingent of Uni students. Strangely only 121 D's and 55 D+s on board. Maybe with so many newbies cruising from Brissy, Royal is counting on last minute dropouts, if so not a good practice.

[springaussie]

57 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

I agree with Geoff and Mic. We have never had a problem with a guaranteed booking and will continue to book that way if there is a reasonable saving.

I will continue to book Guaranteed Cabins.

My partner rang P&O to book a surprise Mini Suite and was told we would have a bath plus a queen bed. When we opened the door it was a disabled cabin with no bath and 2 permanent single beds with a walkway thru them. We went to Guest Services and was shifted to another cabin no problems. We were told the guaranteed booking conditions.

 

[rkmw]

8 hours ago, springaussie said:

I will continue to book Guaranteed Cabins.

My partner rang P&O to book a surprise Mini Suite and was told we would have a bath plus a queen bed. When we opened the door it was a disabled cabin with no bath and 2 permanent single beds with a walkway thru them. We went to Guest Services and was shifted to another cabin no problems. We were told the guaranteed booking conditions.

 

Lot of people like the disable cabin because of the extra room but you was lucky to get moved and they didn’t have to after booking a guarantee

[Aussieflyer]

On 11/29/2023 at 4:05 PM, MicCanberra said:

It is a shame it happens, but I think the letter is quite reasonable providing the various options. Of course for some people none of the options would suit.

I do wonder how much in advance the letter was sent. If it was only a few days, that may rule out some options for more people who do not live close to the ships home port.

From an earlier post, it seemed to be at the terminal - ie they were ready to board - and the letter was given to 13 couples. That is pretty poor IMO - a week or more should be minimum especially for those who have to travel.

[MicCanberra]

2 minutes ago, Aussieflyer said:

From an earlier post, it seemed to be at the terminal - ie they were ready to board - and the letter was given to 13 couples. That is pretty poor IMO - a week or more should be minimum especially for those who have to travel.

Or 2 days prior from what some said on the FB site.

[Aussieflyer]

On 11/29/2023 at 7:26 PM, arxcards said:

If it was for something unforeseen, it is dreadfully unlucky and I would hope that they are looked after with any out of pocket expenses. If it was from intentional overbooking, knowing that a % always cancel, it needs to be outed even if it was just an error from their booking systems. Even though the letter has a few options, being handed out at the wharf suggests it was because of something unforeseen.

 

I have seen this happen for a large number of passengers on Pacific Star out of Brisbane many years ago. One of their lifeboats failed an inspection and they had to lose some passengers in a hurry. They mostly received enough volunteers, but some passengers had to be disembarked before they could sail. P&O get bagged for their compensation, but in this type of instance it was a full refund PLUS a N/C move-over cruise of any of same length/departure port/cabin type. The compo applied equally for the volunteers and those given no option.

Strange though that these pax had non-allocated guarantee cabins when they arrived to board. I have only done guarantee a couple of times and always had the cabin number weeks before sailing. I wonder about something unforeseen as I would have thought that the pax would have already known their cabin numbers.

Edited December 3, 2023 by Aussieflyer

[Aussieflyer]

15 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Or 2 days prior from what some said on the FB site.

Ah so that is a bit different so could have been some issue identified at the end of the last cruise. 

[MicCanberra]

4 minutes ago, Aussieflyer said:

Ah so that is a bit different so could have been some issue identified at the end of the last cruise. 

Quite possibly.

[arxcards]

57 minutes ago, Aussieflyer said:

Strange though that these pax had non-allocated guarantee cabins when they arrived to board. I have only done guarantee a couple of times and always had the cabin number weeks before sailing. I wonder about something unforeseen as I would have thought that the pax would have already known their cabin numbers.

Friends have said with guarantees, that the later the allocation, the more chance of getting something over the odds. I am aware that there have been occasions where there has been a cabin allocated at the pier. It make little sense operationally, but with a sparse number of cabins still available, it allows them to offer the widest choice of cabins for sale till the last possible time.

 

Most guarantees I have booked have dropped me a poorly located bottom grade cabin within days after booking, that I have yet to be upgraded out of. Others have been allocated between final payment and three weeks to sailing.

[bazzaw]

10 hours ago, arxcards said:

Friends have said with guarantees, that the later the allocation, the more chance of getting something over the odds.

That has largely been my experience. The best one being -We once booked a "kind of" World Cruise with P&O UK (at least that was how it was "sold") - guarantee inside, 42 days Brisbane to Southampton  on Oriana, 19 days in London with my son in London over Christmas, and another 42 days on Arcadia back to Brisbane. $12K per person. We didn't have a cabin allocation for the voyage to UK until only 3 days before departure - a "superior" outside dropped for us - the "superior" being that it was an outside cabin the same size as a normal balcony cabin , including the balcony area. It was VERY comfortable. Much the same thing happened for our return - got a huge disabled interior cabin about a 50 meter walk to the Theatre entrance ( made going home after the evening shows very convenient ) 🙂  

[ceeceeDee]

14 hours ago, arxcards said:

Friends have said with guarantees, that the later the allocation, the more chance of getting something over the odds. I am aware that there have been occasions where there has been a cabin allocated at the pier. It make little sense operationally, but with a sparse number of cabins still available, it allows them to offer the widest choice of cabins for sale till the last possible time.

 

Most guarantees I have booked have dropped me a poorly located bottom grade cabin within days after booking, that I have yet to be upgraded out of. Others have been allocated between final payment and three weeks to sailing.

Don't know about RCL, but this is what P&O has to say about guarantee allocation time:

 

The room number can be assigned anywhere from 65 days up until the day of departure.

[MicCanberra]

5 minutes ago, ceeceeDee said:

Don't know about RCL, but this is what P&O has to say about guarantee allocation time:

 

The room number can be assigned anywhere from 65 days up until the day of departure.

That is the usual blurb. We have had an allocation on the dock.We went to check our bags in but had to find what cabin has been assigned first.

[ceeceeDee]

Just now, MicCanberra said:

That is the usual blurb. We have had an allocation on the dock.We went to check our bags in but had to find what cabin has been assigned first.

I'd have been a nervous wreck!😂 Our last guarantee was assigned about 4 weeks out from memory

[MicCanberra]

10 minutes ago, ceeceeDee said:

I'd have been a nervous wreck!😂 Our last guarantee was assigned about 4 weeks out from memory

The longer it goes on can make it frustrating but also gives you a better chance of an upgrade. We got a minisuite for an oceanview.

[Ondine]

Son and I have booked separate gty cabins on QE for Christmas cruise, 22nd Dec.  They stopped selling cabins several weeks ago so fully booked.  Mine (balcony) came through around 4 weeks ago (just showed up in personaliser) but his is yet to be assigned (inside).  Just over 2 weeks to go so fingers crossed.  Have been getting emails re dinner bookings for Christmas so everything seems to be in order.

[austromyrtus]

5 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

The longer it goes on can make it frustrating but also gives you a better chance of an upgrade. We got a minisuite for an oceanview.

a minisuite for an oceanview!! how lucky were you. we have a guaranteed oceanview booked on the celebrity edge xmas cruise. judt over two weeks until we sail & still waiting for it to be assigned. so one of the infinity balconies would be nice!!

[arxcards]

18 minutes ago, austromyrtus said:

a minisuite for an oceanview!! how lucky were you. we have a guaranteed oceanview booked on the celebrity edge xmas cruise. judt over two weeks until we sail & still waiting for it to be assigned. so one of the infinity balconies would be nice!!

After this thread, I would be happy just to see you get aboard. Good luck with an upgrade though.

[MicCanberra]

25 minutes ago, austromyrtus said:

a minisuite for an oceanview!! how lucky were you. we have a guaranteed oceanview booked on the celebrity edge xmas cruise. judt over two weeks until we sail & still waiting for it to be assigned. so one of the infinity balconies would be nice!!

Fingers crossed 

[NSWP]

13 hours ago, bazzaw said:

That has largely been my experience. The best one being -We once booked a "kind of" World Cruise with P&O UK (at least that was how it was "sold") - guarantee inside, 42 days Brisbane to Southampton  on Oriana, 19 days in London with my son in London over Christmas, and another 42 days on Arcadia back to Brisbane. $12K per person. We didn't have a cabin allocation for the voyage to UK until only 3 days before departure - a "superior" outside dropped for us - the "superior" being that it was an outside cabin the same size as a normal balcony cabin , including the balcony area. It was VERY comfortable. Much the same thing happened for our return - got a huge disabled interior cabin about a 50 meter walk to the Theatre entrance ( made going home after the evening shows very convenient ) 🙂  

Similar here Barry, in March 2012, booked gtee obstructed view on Arcadia, Sydney to Southampton. Around 6k each for the half worldie, via Africa. Got cabin allocation 3 days before sailing.. a clear oceanview. Great trip, had 6 weeks in UK

with car and  flew back. 

[MMDown Under]

14 hours ago, ceeceeDee said:

Don't know about RCL, but this is what P&O has to say about guarantee allocation time:

 

The room number can be assigned anywhere from 65 days up until the day of departure.

My guarantee cabin was allocated on the wharf, with the room number attached to my ports.  Being a normal "inside cabin" passenger, I had no idea of my win until I reached the cabin.