Cabin Occupancy

[Williebill]

My wife and I are booked on a cruise aboard the Zuiderdam next year and I was wondering if there was a site that I could go to and see which cabins have been sold for that particular cruise.

[hammybee]

The status of cabin sales is proprietary information. For a cruise line to disclose this information to anyone is like showing your hand in a game of poker.

 

Travel agent consortiums and groups also option cabins. If they are unable to resell them, at a profit, they go back into inventory.

 

A cruise line employee who frequents this board, from time to time, once told us that the average cabin is rebooked/resold 7-8 times before its final occupancy.

[Williebill]

Thank you for the Info. That is amazing; to think that a cabin can be turned over that many times before it is finally booked for the cruise.

[bepsf]

Thank you for the Info. That is amazing; to think that a cabin can be turned over that many times before it is finally booked for the cruise.

 

When you consider all the guarantee cabins, paid and freebee upgrades, cancellations, etc. it's not so surprising that some cabins will change hands that many times.

No wonder they like me - I choose a specific cabin years in advance and stick with it!

;)

[Williebill]

What is also surprising to me Brian, is that I am more than a year from my planned cruise next December 9th and the only Veranda cabin that HAL could assign my wife and me had a steel rail that you couldn't see over when sitting. I thought I could merely ask to be moved this far ahead; but to my surprise, the better Veranda cabins had been given out to TA's to sell. I had to take a guarantee. Go figure!

 

Bill

[bepsf]

What is also surprising to me Brian, is that I am more than a year from my planned cruise next December 9th and the only Veranda cabin that HAL could assign my wife and me had a steel rail that you couldn't see over when sitting. I thought I could merely ask to be moved this far ahead; but to my surprise, the better Veranda cabins had been given out to TA's to sell. I had to take a guarantee. Go figure!

 

Bill

 

 

I agree - IMO, it's a crapolicy that lines allow big TA's to block off prime rooms for themselves without names or client deposits leaving everyone else to scramble for the dregs or wait till they drop the unsold inventory which the line then has to sell at a big discount in order to get bodies in there.

[Williebill]

I wish HAL would look out for their steady customers interest. Going through HAL instead of a TA may not be the best way to book a cruise.

 

Bill

[JimVrhovac]

Unfortunately you may be right.

 

We have always used a TA and have never had a problem. When we book we book a specific cabin thought and that could make the difference.

 

When you book a gurantee you just get a generic one that is left over....

 

Ruth & Jim

[Williebill]

The last time I went through a TA, my experience wasn't any better; this time, I thought I would go through HAL. Next time, I don't what to do. I know my wife and I are guaranteed a Veranda cabin, it may be the same cabin I turned back in or it may be an upgrade, who knows?

 

Bill

[lillulu]

Jim,

I was wondering if you and Ruth could sqeeze me into your luggage :-) LOL

I wanna go on all those cruises you have coming up.

[JimVrhovac]

Both of us have busted our buts all our lives and not it is the time to reap the benefits.

 

Her cruise allowance is about 60K per year and she is working on spending every penny of it.

 

She want 28, 26, 26 day cruises in 2009 but I do not know if I can deal with that long on any ship.

 

Semi Retirement is fun

 

Ruth & Jim

[LegalSailor]

 

No wonder they like me - I choose a specific cabin years in advance and stick with it!

;)

 

Brian, I'm in the same boat with you on that one! I book my rooms so far in advance, and I stick with them. Types like you and I are the ones that keep the turnover average down to 7-8, instead of 9-10!

[barbon2]

We have always been able to select our cabin on HAL, but we book way in advance, usually about a year, and in the case of the Eurodam 15 months. I know there were a lot of posts a couple of years ago about TA's holding rooms and then releasing them back close to sailings which caused a lot of cabins to be had at a very low price. There was a lot of threads on this topic because people were upset that the cruises were becoming so cheap that they were attracting guests that would not normally sail on the line. (If my memory holds correct, these posts were on the Celebrity boards.) Also, if I remember correctly, now TA's can only hold these cabins for a shorter period and unless they get deposits on the cabins must turn them in within a certain amount of time to prevent the underselling. I am sure that some others on this board will have more current information regarding this.

Barbara

[Williebill]

We have always been able to select our cabin on HAL, but we book way in advance, usually about a year, and in the case of the Eurodam 15 months. I know there were a lot of posts a couple of years ago about TA's holding rooms and then releasing them back close to sailings which caused a lot of cabins to be had at a very low price. There was a lot of threads on this topic because people were upset that the cruises were becoming so cheap that they were attracting guests that would not normally sail on the line. (If my memory holds correct, these posts were on the Celebrity boards.) Also, if I remember correctly, now TA's can only hold these cabins for a shorter period and unless they get deposits on the cabins must turn them in within a certain amount of time to prevent the underselling. I am sure that some others on this board will have more current information regarding this.

Barbara

The only thing I know is what a reservations person told me at HAL when I asked for a Veranda cabin on the Veranda deck; all of those cabins had been given out to TA's. Maybe if there is a time limit for holding these cabins, my wife and I won't have to wait until next December to find out what cabin that we will be in. HA!

[Tricia724]

I don't know how frequently this happens but I have read posts where cruisers talk about making bookings on two or three different cruises early on to make sure they get the cabins they want.....then as final payment approaches, they decide which cruise they want to take and cancel the others. That little trick also takes cabins out of inventory which may become available at a later date. If a person doesn't have any problem with laying out deposit money for a bunch of cruises, this could become problematic.....especially now that the $100 deposit is becoming common on many cruiselines.

 

I once read a post on another cruiseline thread from a woman who wanted to book an aft balcony cabin for her honeymoon and called exactly on the hour the bookings opened only to find that no aft balconies were available because a TA had blocked them all.....and the cruiseline wouldn't tell her which TA it was. Talk about an unhappy camper.

[Williebill]

I can understand that a cruise line would want to cater to large TA's; but, when savings are offered to the general public if they sign up more than a year ahead of time; would think some nice cabins would be offered.

 

Bill

[DOC & BABE]

bill,

 

i have booked veranda gy on both hal and x -have had the best results with cabins for less money than picking my choice of cabin. however, we are not picky, i just book the cabin based on if we get the bottom of our gy we will be happy. so far, we have had the best locations, better than if we tried to find room at time of booking. hope our luck holds for our 28 day cruise with hal in aprl 08.

 

sharon

[Kristibug]

I agree - IMO, it's a crapolicy that lines allow big TA's to block off prime rooms for themselves without names or client deposits leaving everyone else to scramble for the dregs or wait till they drop the unsold inventory which the line then has to sell at a big discount in order to get bodies in there.

From what I understand only the absolute TOP travel agents can block out specific rooms. These agents can responsible for over 50% of the cruise line revenue. Isn't it only fair to give them an advantage? These special circumstances also restrict the agent to ONLY sell the rooms that they are allocated which can also restrict their ability to sell at a promotional rates which are the rates we see on the cruiseline website or force their clients to buy a more expensive room if their allocation is sold out in the less expensive rooms. It evens out the playing field overall.

[Williebill]

All I'm looking for is a Veranda Cabin that has a Veranda that will allow my wife and I to remain seated while we gaze over the ocean; not have our view blocked by a solid steel railing. I would think the Verandas with the steel railing would be the last Veranda Cabins to be sold.

 

Bill