Your Ship Overbooked....What Would YOU Do???

[SakeDad]

With reports of a few sailings being overbooked and offers coming from the cruiselines to change people's sailings what would YOU do if this happened? Would you see what the next date you could go is and take the same cabin type? Would you try to get upgrades and ship credits? Would you hold firm and insist you go on the date you booked? Would you cancel the trip all together and find another type of vacation?

 

I realize cruise ships want to go out 100% full and may overbook a few cabins, but the Oosterdam is reportedly 100 cabins oversold for the 5/12 Alaska trip. While airlines count on a large number of no-shows as reservations can be made without being paid for, I'm curious how cruiseships overbook when they require final payment a couple of months in advance?

[fcorey]

With reports of a few sailings being overbooked and offers coming from the cruiselines to change people's sailings what would YOU do if this happened? Would you see what the next date you could go is and take the same cabin type? Would you try to get upgrades and ship credits? Would you hold firm and insist you go on the date you booked? Would you cancel the trip all together and find another type of vacation?

 

I realize cruise ships want to go out 100% full and may overbook a few cabins, but the Oosterdam is reportedly 100 cabins oversold for the 5/12 Alaska trip. While airlines count on a large number of no-shows as reservations can be made without being paid for, I'm curious how cruiseships overbook when they require final payment a couple of months in advance?

 

I tend to be pretty flexible with my travel arrangements so it may not be as bad for me as someone else who gets 1-2 weeks off a year and thats it. I guess I'd see what they'd offer me. However, I'd change to another date if there were a significant upgrade involved :D

 

I've heard that overbooking has happened when there are groups aboard that arent taking the whole ship as the group sales didnt register properly in their system along with the normal passenger sales. Anyone who travels for work will tell you that flights have gotten considerably more crowded over the last few years, and full or oversolf flights are pretty much the norm now

[bepsf]

SakeDad--

 

I'd play "Let's Make A Deal" w/ the cruiseline...

...and book Volendam 11/3

;)

[SakeDad]

Anyone who travels for work will tell you that flights have gotten considerably more crowded over the last few years, and full or oversolf flights are pretty much the norm now

As I travel with Broadway touring shows I can attest to this!! I fly just about every single week of the year and can tell you that 90% of the time I hear airport announcements asking folks to give up their seat for a later flight and maybe a free ticket. The difference, as I see it, is airline passengers will get there that day or even the next, but cruise passengers might have to postpone for months, or even years, before rebooking. Also, the flight may have cost $100.00 where the cruise cost thousands!!:eek: As I'm usually with a group of 20-50 on the flight they never ask us to switch.:rolleyes:

Now that I think about it, it DOES make sense that if a company held a certain number of cabins for a group charter, then sold many more than they held originally I guess the ship COULD be oversold. But then wouldn't the cruiseline simply put the responsibility back on the TA that oversold since the cruiseline only gave them a certain number to begin with? (my brain is apparently working overtime and really needs to get on my sailing soon!:D)

[Krazy Kruizers]

As for upgrade -- we always book a suite so I don't think they would give us the penthouse suites.

 

Since we always have to fly to every embarkation port, no chance of us changing dates.

 

Also some of our upsoming cruises are offered only once a year.

[Odd Ball]

SakeDad--

 

I'd play "Let's Make A Deal" w/ the cruiseline...

...and book Volendam 11/3

;)

 

Me too.

[jhannah]

We, too, are flexible with when we travel. I'd join Brian and Odd Ball and put on my best Monty Hall performance.

[PDAZ]

I must be naive -- I didn't know this happens! How can they oversell 100 cabins? If you're a no-show for a cruise, they keep your money. I can understand an airline over-booking a few seats because if you don't show, they'll usually credit your fare towards another flight so they truly are out money by flying with an empty seat. But a cruise has your money -- true, they're missing out on the additional spending you'd do onboard, but I don't think this justifies them being able to overbook!

 

There's so much planning that goes into a cruise (especially if I've booked my own air) that I'd have a hard time accepting an offer to change unless they were really going to make it worth my while. I've never sailed with a balcony (sad, isn't it), so if they offered me one and an onboard credit to offset any air change fees that I incurred, I'd probably jump at that :D

[sail7seas]

I hate hypotheticals as we don't know the exact details. But, in general terms........IF DH was able to rearrange his schedule, IF we could get new CONVENIENT flight arrangements, IF the offer was good enough......we might.

 

 

 

Actually, we once did give up our mid-ship "S" Suite on Rotterdam's Transatlantic because they needed an "S" badly. We said No, Thank You to the first three offers. Then they suggested we tell them what our terms would be. We did. They accepted. We were VERY happy!!! We already had our docs so felt assured we would sail if we chose. The ship was sailing from Boston so we only had a return flight from Europe to worry about. That itinerary is only done once a year (Maasdam now does it) so we could not take the same cruise on a different date but we did substitute with another 14 days aboard a different HAL ship and had a GREAT cruise. We look back and say that 'it was meant to be'.

 

 

 

[gatour]

Both me and my wife work for companies and have supervisors that are fairly flexible with our vacation time so it most instance we would seriously consider it. The farther out the alternative was, the higher compensation I would want, because I would still consider using our already scheduled vacation to do something else.

[Tinknock50]

I am not understanding the overbooking thing.:confused:

 

Are all these people paid in full? Are many people waitlisted or on guarantees?

 

So say I am booked in cabin 4132.....does that mean someone else is also booked in my cabin?

[sail7seas]

Most usually it is people with guarantees. If you have an assigned cabin you picked when you booked, it is yours unless you agree to give it up or they upgrade you.

 

I have never heard of someone who was booked and paid not sailing.....except in cases where a ship was chartered after they booked or mechanical problem with the ship.

 

If they are overbooked and need cabins, they keep contacting guests making offers until enough people accept and they have all the cabins they need.

 

They keep upping the offers, if need be, to make it more tempting and attractive.

 

Don't worry. If you have a cabin assigned; you have paid; you will sail.......except for charter or mechanical problem or some other unpredictable situation.

[Philip217]

"reportedly" oversold by 100 cabins ???????

That certainly sounds official.

Who reported it????

[Tinknock50]

Most usually it is people with guarantees. If you have an assigned cabin you picked when you booked, it is yours unless you agree to give it up or they upgrade you.

 

I have never heard of someone who was booked and paid not sailing.....except in cases where a ship was chartered after they booked or mechanical problem with the ship.

 

If they are overbooked and need cabins, they keep contacting guests making offers until enough people accept and they have all the cabins they need.

 

They keep upping the offers, if need be, to make it more tempting and attractive.

 

Don't worry. If you have a cabin assigned; you have paid; you will sail.......except for charter or mechanical problem or some other unpredictable situation.

 

 

So basically when the ship is fully booked they go ahead and book and accept full payment for guarantees?

 

I wasn't worried.....just wondered where these people were "placed" when a ship is "full".

[Krazy Kruizers]

It is the guarantees that "cause" problems as HAL sometimes on some cruises take more reservations than they have cabins. They assume that some people will change their minds. But that doesn't always happen.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I remember reading here last year and the year before about a couple of Canada/New England and Caribbean cruises that were over sold.

[SakeDad]

"reportedly" oversold by 100 cabins ???????

That certainly sounds official.

Who reported it????

A poster on the roll call for that sailing posted...

 

Bumped to June

We just got bumped to the June 9th cruise due to overbooking bye 100 rooms. We got upgraded to baclony rooms, $200 credit and $100 for plane ticket changes.

 

Have fun and I will be watching your thread to see how your cruise went.

 

Blessings

Troy

[SakeDad]

So basically when the ship is fully booked they go ahead and book and accept full payment for guarantees?

 

I wasn't worried.....just wondered where these people were "placed" when a ship is "full".

 

It is the guarantees that "cause" problems as HAL sometimes on some cruises take more reservations than they have cabins. They assume that some people will change their minds. But that doesn't always happen.

 

When I booked a few months ago I wanted an SS. There were 8 GTY's left and none for pre-assignment. The cruise is 28 days away and they still haven't assigned me. I'm not worried at all as I'm hoping the wonderful Upgrade Fairy is lurking. But at the least someone else will get upgraded and we'll still have a great SS cabin.

But they do accept FULL payment even when all you have is a Guarantee cabin.

[bob brown]

Yikes! I have a guarantee on my upcoming 4May Maasdam Atlantic Coast Cruise. I never even dreamed there would be a possibility of not getting on. I would be very disappointed as there is only one sailing a year of this itinerary in either direction. Now I will sweat it out until I see a cabin assigned.:eek:

[Philip217]

Troy, a poster on the roll call for that cruise reported that the ship is "oversold bye (sic) 100 cabins".

Well that certainly makes it official..................................

 

Another poster on another roll call announced that the cruise lines have overbuilt to the point where they are going to have to give away cruises just to get us to travel with them. We should all start making plans today.

[hammybee]

Overbooking rumors run rampant because cruise lines have a tendency to say they are sailing, for example, at 124% occupancy, and people assume this means the cruise line sold a heck of a lot more cabins than they have.

The reality is that anything in excess of 100% occupancy means that some cabins have 3rd-4th pax in them, which is the objective of every cruise line, space permitting.

 

Of course all cruise lines, like airlines and hotels, will sell more cabins, seats, rooms than they have available because they know X% will cancel for some reason. I am disinclined to believe HAL, or any cruise line for that matter, would tell anyone the number of cabins they are short. Think about it. Why would a cruise line give that much leverage to pax when they MAY need those same pax to volunteer/accept a best offer to switch to another sail date? Does anyone here play poker?

 

I am not sure why anyone believes they can "reserve" space on an airline. This concept is long gone. Airlines no longer allow pax to reserve seats without payment in full, upfront. Even hotels are trending away from the reservation concept and offering nice discounts to guests who book, in advance, non- refundable rooms.

 

Having said all this, my reaction would depend upon the offer. As they say we all have our price :)

[Lurker1]

A poster on the roll call for that sailing posted...

 

Bumped to June

We just got bumped to the June 9th cruise due to overbooking bye 100 rooms. We got upgraded to baclony rooms, $200 credit and $100 for plane ticket changes.

 

Have fun and I will be watching your thread to see how your cruise went.

 

Blessings

Troy

 

In this whole thread so far that's the only experience with dealing with over-booked (unless I missed something-quite possible . . .;) )

Does anyone have any actual experiences to share?

[fatcat04]

I'm with all the other Monty Halls on here. If mom and dad get asked to move their cruise, not a huge problem for them time wise since they are retired but we will play Let's Make a Deal, no doubt. :)

[sail7seas]

Yikes! I have a guarantee on my upcoming 4May Maasdam Atlantic Coast Cruise. I never even dreamed there would be a possibility of not getting on. I would be very disappointed as there is only one sailing a year of this itinerary in either direction. Now I will sweat it out until I see a cabin assigned.:eek:

EVERYONE who has made their final payment will get a cabin. IF they have sold more cabins than they have, they start offering deals. If they offer you a deal to sail another date and it doesn't work for you, all you need do is say so and you will sail on the date you have booked.

 

If you are a guarantee, you will be assigned a cabin that is at least the category you booked.

 

HAL will keep making offers to others on the ship until they get enough people to accept their offer and cruise a different date. They don't 'get caught' overbooking every cruise. It really doesn't happen for that many cruises but it does from time to time.

 

Don't worry about it. You will have a cabin for the date you are booked.

You may not know which one until you get to the dock, but so what?? Doesn't matter.

[sail7seas]

In this whole thread so far that's the only experience with dealing with over-booked (unless I missed something-quite possible . . .;) )

 

Does anyone have any actual experiences to share?

 

Please see my earlier post..... I told of when we voluntarily gave up our "S" Suite for a Rotterdam Transatlantic/Europe cruise.

 

 

Here is the pertinent part of that post:

 

 

Actually, we once did give up our mid-ship "S" Suite on Rotterdam's Transatlantic because they needed an "S" badly. We said No, Thank You to the first three offers. Then they suggested we tell them what our terms would be. We did. They accepted. We were VERY happy!!! We already had our docs so felt assured we would sail if we chose. The ship was sailing from Boston so we only had a return flight from Europe to worry about. That itinerary is only done once a year (Maasdam now does it) so we could not take the same cruise on a different date but we did substitute with another 14 days aboard a different HAL ship and had a GREAT cruise. We look back and say that 'it was meant to be'.