Act Now! Only a Few Left!

[startedwithamouse]

Haven't seen this before.

[LACruiser88]

Same here, first time to see this.

[Pushka]

Given people are searching for a particular cruise this could well just be a marketing tactic to push people to buy. It's used often in Australia and may or may not reflect reality. 

[startedwithamouse]

13 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

Same here, first time to see this.

Princess has a lot more cabins available in these areas than the amount shown. 

 

Is this like an airline now?

[SCX22]

Creating a sense of urgency to book.  Desperate for bookings much?

[NavyVeteran]

13 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Princess has a lot more cabins available in these areas than the amount shown. 

 

Is this like an airline now?

How do you know this? Princess may have sold guarantees in this category, so the list of available cabins is not the number of available cabins.

[startedwithamouse]

10 minutes ago, NavyVeteran said:

How do you know this? Princess may have sold guarantees in this category, so the list of available cabins is not the number of available cabins.

I can count. 

 

They're clearly visible on the website for that price.

 

 

[PacnGoNow]

26 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Princess has a lot more cabins available in these areas than the amount shown. 

 

Is this like an airline now?

Yep….like airlines and hotel rooms.

 

Seems like a cheap tactic to me.

[PacnGoNow]

46 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Haven't seen this before.

Someone mentioned this earlier today in a thread.

Thanks for posting this for us to see.

How far out is this trip you

posted above?

[BlerkOne]

I've seen similar with shore excursions. I believe them. It stays red once a waiting list opens.

 

[startedwithamouse]

27 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Someone mentioned this earlier today in a thread.

Thanks for posting this for us to see.

How far out is this trip you

posted above?

This is Grand Princess Sydney to Vancouver April 2nd.

 

There are a few others too.

[Outerdog]

40 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

I've seen similar with shore excursions. I believe them. It stays red once a waiting list opens.

 

 

I wouldn't believe those either.

 

Book one. Then come back and notice the count stays the same. Then come back the next day to be sure.

[NavyVeteran]

1 hour ago, startedwithamouse said:

I can count. 

 

They're clearly visible on the website for that price.

Just because more than five are visible as available on the website does not mean that more than five are available. For example, the may be 20 available on the website but Princess may have sold 15 guarantees cabins of that category. Once five more are sold, they are sold out, since Princess needs to keep enough to assign all of the guarantees. They can sell more than they have in one category if they have more available in a higher category, since they can accept bids to move some up (or give a complimentary upgrade if they don't receive bids).

 

Also, Princess cannot sell every cabin on the ship. They have limits on the number of passengers in each muster area. If they sell a lot of third and fourth berths, then they can't sell all of the first and second berths.

[NavyVeteran]

1 hour ago, BlerkOne said:

I've seen similar with shore excursions. I believe them. It stays red once a waiting list opens.

 

58 minutes ago, Outerdog said:

I wouldn't believe those either.

 

Book one. Then come back and notice the count stays the same. Then come back the next day to be sure.

I have booked an excursion that showed fewer than 20 available. The number was reduced immediately after I booked.

[kywildcatfanone]

2 hours ago, startedwithamouse said:

Haven't seen this before.

Fear marketing 

[Outerdog]

26 minutes ago, NavyVeteran said:

 

I have booked an excursion that showed fewer than 20 available. The number was reduced immediately after I booked.

 

You've proved my point. Those numbers aren't to be trusted.

[NavyVeteran]

30 minutes ago, NavyVeteran said:

I have booked an excursion that showed fewer than 20 available. The number was reduced immediately after I booked.

 

1 minute ago, Outerdog said:

You've proved my point. Those numbers aren't to be trusted.

I think it proved just the opposite. They showed a number of spaces available. I booked 2 spaces. The number was reduced immediately by two.

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, Outerdog said:

 

I wouldn't believe those either.

 

Book one. Then come back and notice the count stays the same. Then come back the next day to be sure.

I watched one go to zero and then display waiting list open. You snooze you lose.

[BlerkOne]

37 minutes ago, NavyVeteran said:

Just because more than five are visible as available on the website does not mean that more than five are available. For example, the may be 20 available on the website but Princess may have sold 15 guarantees cabins of that category. Once five more are sold, they are sold out, since Princess needs to keep enough to assign all of the guarantees. They can sell more than they have in one category if they have more available in a higher category, since they can accept bids to move some up (or give a complimentary upgrade if they don't receive bids).

 

Also, Princess cannot sell every cabin on the ship. They have limits on the number of passengers in each muster area. If they sell a lot of third and fourth berths, then they can't sell all of the first and second berths.

Cabins are trickier. Princess can reserve some for whatever reason and move GTYs around. Travel Agents can reserve a block. Etc.

 

But if it says only 5 left, there probably are only 5 left at the current time. Doesn't mean Princess can't shift things around to try to optimize revenue. There is no conspiracy 

[BlerkOne]

On the shore excursions, some really have a hard limit. For some another bus or time or whatever might be added.

[Outerdog]

1 hour ago, NavyVeteran said:

I think it proved just the opposite.

 

It didn't. I've watched that number stay the same after I've booked. It's not to be trusted because two different people are having completely different experiences with it.

 

The motivation is the same though regardless if it is calculating correctly or not: using artificial scarcity to create demand.

Edited February 28 by Outerdog

[capriccio]

1 hour ago, BlerkOne said:

On the shore excursions, some really have a hard limit. For some another bus or time or whatever might be added.

 

11 minutes ago, Outerdog said:

 

It didn't. I've watched that number stay the same after I've booked. It's not to be trusted because two different people are having completely different experiences with it.

 

And some may have a limit of over 20 but that is as high as the countdown number goes (or at least that I've ever seen).  If you reserve when there are 30 spaces available it won't be reflected on the website; it will still show 20. 

 

As others have mentioned, I've watched the number decrease under 20.  We had a group of 6 (3 different reservations) on a cruise last spring and we decided on the excursion where the availability was listed as 10.  I reserved first and let the other 2 couples know to do so immediately.  Within 15 minutes the count went from 10 to 8 to 6 to 4.  It was listed as sold out the next day.

Edited February 28 by capriccio

[BlerkOne]

8 minutes ago, capriccio said:

 

 

And some may have a limit of over 20 but that is as high as the countdown number goes (or at least that I've ever seen).  If you reserve when there are 30 spaces available it won't be reflected on the website; it will still show 20. 

 

 

This is true.

[startedwithamouse]

After the few are gone, does the price go up or down?

 

[startedwithamouse]

13 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

Just because more than five are visible as available on the website does not mean that more than five are available. For example, the may be 20 available on the website but Princess may have sold 15 guarantees cabins of that category. Once five more are sold, they are sold out, since Princess needs to keep enough to assign all of the guarantees. They can sell more than they have in one category if they have more available in a higher category, since they can accept bids to move some up (or give a complimentary upgrade if they don't receive bids).

 

Also, Princess cannot sell every cabin on the ship. They have limits on the number of passengers in each muster area. If they sell a lot of third and fourth berths, then they can't sell all of the first and second berths.

There's hundreds shown on the Princess website.

 

I understand number of berths, but these are long repositioning cruises during the school year, not family holiday ones.