LostAgain

2 hours ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

The 6/12 departure GB4 land tour IS sold out. The 6/16 cruise that is part of the package is wide open. Each land tour # only has a set number of spaces availabe per date (usually between 40-120 people). Each cruise has MULTIPLE land tour options associated with it as well as being bookable cruise only. I think that may be where the confusion is coming from. 

I was also checking the cruise as a separate option, and it was sold out for a few days, then marked "pricing is not available", then back to sold out. Today the cruise had availability. 

2 hours ago, Thrak said:

I just looked at this and the JUNE 12 date the OP has specified shows as SOLD OUT when I look at it.

Thanks for confirming I am not insane haha

2 hours ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

 

Not sure where you are checking pricing/availability, but as per POLAR (travel agent res system) all category's except S1 suites are bookable as of just now

 

Here's availability from POLAR with Princess Plus fares:

 

Princess.com also shows sailing as bookable (fares shown are lead in Saver Fare):

I just checked and now it shows the land tour as sold out but the cruise only being available again. 

I seem to remember there was a website for checking group cruises but I can't remember what it was, and I have been googling Saphire Princess June 12 2021 to no avail. Perhaps the advertising for the group has not come out yet and that's why I can't find it.

On 3/2/2020 at 10:31 PM, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

 

If the sailing is the 6/16/21 sailing of the Sapphire it is wide open as "cruise-only" for new bookings, but yes the 6/12/21 departure of the GB4 tour is sold out as of today.  Could be that a family reunion, corporate incentive or church group, group of friends, etc has reserved enough space to sell that tour pattern out for that date.  As others have said the capacity for each tour #/pattern is limited for each departure date - typically about 40-120 people per tour # per date.  That's how they can offer so many different tour patterns/options per single vessel/sailing date.

I think now it is showing as the cruise sold out, as well. It has me very concerned what kind of group would book a whole ship.  I have heard of people getting bumped off their cruises by a group. Ugh.

On 3/3/2020 at 12:44 AM, caribill said:

 

Your friends can be put on as wait list in case someone cancels.

 

However, they should check availability daily as sometimes the waitlist is not looked at immediately when someone does cancel a booking.

I did not realize there was a wait list, thanks!

1 hour ago, disneyochem said:

It is not surprising that when you called Princess you got a rep that couldn’t answer questions about the land tour.  I found out last year when booking our land tour that there is a different division of the company that handles the land portion.  Every time I called to ask questions/make changes, I was always placed on hold while the rep called the land tour folks.  It was pretty funny—I asked for a phone number so I could speak directly to the knowledge folks but no!  The cruise people are the main contact.  

Oh geez, so much for logic and ease.

8 hours ago, BigGuy25 said:

It is surprising ... and it might just be a mistake ... BUT ... popular tours do sometimes sell out very early. Especially if it’s a tour that can only accommodate a limited number of guests.  We usually book only private tours and I almost always am working on booking the best guides (and then, through the Roll Call, offering other guests to join us) well over a year before the sailing date.

Thank you. I was not clear - I was referring to a Princess land tour portion of an Alaska cruise. Perhaps you are referring to private tour operators in Port?

8 hours ago, BigGuy25 said:

It is surprising ... and it might just be a mistake ... BUT ... popular tours do sometimes sell out very early. Especially if it’s a tour that can only accommodate a limited number of guests.  We usually book only private tours and I almost always am working on booking the best guides (and then, through the Roll Call, offering other guests to join us) well over a year before the sailing date.

Thank you. I think we might be talking about two different things? I was referring to the land portion of an Alaska cruisetour. I apologize for not being clear.

7 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Knowing how the Princess website sometimes shows sold out but hours or days later they are available again.

IMO.......Yeah they book far in advance but I doubt it is sold out yet.

 

Princess reps don't know?  😂  Thats not surprising.

Yeah, I was not surprised the reps did not know haha. And, at first, thought it was a glitch in the system but then it would be a glitch that lasted a few days which is less likely. 

6 hours ago, MCC retired said:

Some of the most popular Land Tours have very little capacity and have little relation to how well the cruise portion is booking.

You also will not see the Sales on popular cruise/tours that you will see on the cruise only.

 

I an glad I jumped on it - would have been so disappointed to have to start all that research and planning all over!

3 hours ago, Thrak said:

If it's a connoisseur cruise tour there is even more limited availability than the regular cruise tours.

Thrak, always helpful!

4 hours ago, PoohUnderstands said:

This occurred also on our cruise tour for Canada/NE to Florida itinerary last year.  We only had three buses with 40 people on each for the landtour portion so only availability was for 120 people so of course the land tour portion would sell out more quickly and sooner than the cruise portion itself.

 

Pooh

Thanks for the info!

2 hours ago, disneyochem said:

We booked a connoisseur tour last year for June 2020.  It was sold out over a year in advance, but I noticed that it would fluctuate between being sold out and available until September 2019.  I think folks put a courtesy hold on a tour and then don't follow through on it.  Or placed a refundable deposit and then changed plans.

Thanks for that info. I had no idea it would book so early. Glad I got on it and didn't procrastinate!

Thanks, everyone. It is a Denali Explorer tour. I have never done one before but didn't expect it to sell out this early. We had friends thinking about going with us. I dont know how serious they were, anyway.

To add to the puzzle, this morning after writing this post, I checked and the cruise portion is listed as "unable to provide pricing". Which makes me very concerned that it's been taken over by a group.

I have the June 12 2021 Alaska 11 day cruisetour GB4 booked. I have noticed that in the last few days, this is showing as sold out. I looked at the cruise part only, and that is not sold out. So why would a land tour be sold out this far out? I tried googling it to see if I could pick up on a large group going on that trip, but was not able to find anything. My travel agent called Princess and, of course, they said they did not know.

On 2/16/2020 at 4:19 PM, Essiesmom said:

On cruisedeckplans there are a few pictures of cabins with the bed on the side wall.  There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it.  EM

I've had a family emergency so I am "checking in" on Cruise Critic today to thank everybody for their help and comments, but don't have time to follow up or even finish my booking of this cruise. It will be back to normal soon, but meanwhile, I appreciate it.  

On 2/15/2020 at 1:42 AM, snoozecrooze said:

Hello again! I was looking up some YouTube videos of the Sapphire Princess and stumbled upon this one: https://youtu.be/l0-KpQRQyMw?list=PLkjr62m7shBxWFrGo9-GYr2AkJv-UGmqZ&t=17

 

 

In the short clip, there is clearly an oceanview room shown (not sure if it's an obstructed view) and the bed is not by the window...so this doesn't seem to support the earlier link I showed you. I really highly recommend you call Princess directly or get a travel agent to assist you, who might know better about Princess' deck plans. No guarantees either way, but I personally am not sure how to figure the bed-window position out. Hope this helps a little more!

Thank you for that! I will call Princess!

On 2/11/2020 at 1:24 AM, snoozecrooze said:

I'll bite, but hopefully others can help you out as well.

 

For the Sapphire bed question, I believe all beds are going to be against the window, unlike Ruby. Reference is below: 

 

 

For the balcony side debate of the ages, this might help:

There's many other search results as well. Overall, there seems to be a lot of varying perspectives, and some people also prefer aft views instead. Someone mentioned the views of the land were too far from the ship when cruising down the passage anyways, but of course, that can vary depending on where you are. I wouldn't personally have a particular opinion, because I think there are views to see on both sides, but a port side balcony may have more land to see along certain parts of the cruise, so you can go for port. But just remember that on glacier viewing days, the ship turns so everyone has a view, so it won't matter as much then. 

Thank you, SnoozeCrooze! It's been a busy week so I am just getting back to this thread today. I appreciate your help!

No replies yet. I am surprised.

So some of you may have noticed that I had a couple of other threads asking questions so we could book for an Alaskan one way with land tour. Now I have the Sapphire 11 night, southbound, booked for June 2021.  We do not want to spend the additional $1,000/pp for a balcony cabin. We rarely spend time in our cabin, and prefer to be on deck anyway. We did the Seattle round trip to Alaska in 2018 and had an obstructed oceanview on the Ruby that really wasn't obstructed, and it worked out amazing for us. One of the things I really liked about it was that the bed was not under the window, so there was room to stand at the window to look out, or even set up a chair there.  I am familiar with Renwar's website (I think that's what it's called) and I have checked to see what the views out of the windows are.  But now two questions - 1. how do you find a cabin with the bed away from the window? And 2. if you are going southbound, is it best to be port side to face the land? I would guess so, but I am double checking with you fine folks.  Thanks, as always.

On 2/7/2020 at 10:09 AM, Jnsplace1 said:

I echo this.  Last time I did NB, I know I was tired at the end of the cruise + cruisetour, not because I packed it in.  But because I didn't want to close my eyes and miss anything!!  It was spectacular.

That does sound amazing! Seems there are good points for both north and south bound, so I will have to see which date fits best into our schedule and let that be the deciding factor.

On 2/6/2020 at 5:22 PM, fishin' musician said:

I've done the Sapphire RT out of Seattle and Coral on a NB.  I've also done a SB on the NCL Sun and a NB on HAL Westerdam.  I only slightly prefer the Sapphire over the Coral, but not really sure why.  It may be that it brings back such fond memories of shocking my wife when our two kids knocked on our stateroom door just prior to the muster drill in Seattle!  (the most stressful thing I've ever attempted; see YouTube video in signature).  We also did a Mexican Riviera on her earlier that same year .  I'm glad to hear it is coming back!  On the Coral we had the last balcony, directly adjacent to one of the rear viewing decks and the location could not be beat as we could move to the rear of the ship and then to the other side by just turning right when we went out our door. 

 

XBGUY is spot on: 

 

"The best cruise I ever had to Alaska was wonderful."

 

"The worst cruise I ever had to Alaska was wonderful."

 

In Alaska it's much less about the ship and much more about what lies beyond!

Surprising your wife sounds so fun, but yes very stressful. That's wonderful. Your wife and kids must be so appreciative.  

When we sailed on the Ruby, we did an obstructed oceanview and took advantage of those "secret" viewing decks. It worked out so great!

While XBGUY is spot on, if I have the opportunity to do research and pick the "best", or at least the best for me, the best cruise can be not just wonderful but amazing. And since my husband and I take one big vacation a year, I want it to be amazing and not lacking. That's why I am so amazed at the amount of information you can find on the internet, and so appreciative of everybody who takes the time to write here and help a fellow cruiser.

15 minutes ago, BarbinMich said:

We've been on both ships, but not on Sapphire since 2005 so don't remember its features very well.  We've been on the Star several times, the last time (2014) in Alaska.  The ship has a wide "wraparound" promenade deck and I was out there often on our Alaska cruise--at Glacier Bay a waiter brought a trolley around with hot beverages as it was quite cool (May).  IMHO it was ideal for Alaska, certainly compared to the Royal which they're sending up to Alaska.

Thank you for the input!

46 minutes ago, Coral said:

I think she basically wants you to be the first person off the ship. I got in line about 25 minutes before we were supposed to dock and was probably the 5th person off. She picked me up in the parking lot and drove me to their dock.

Yes, she seems really helpful. The trick is to pick the ship/itinerary that will make this excursion a possibility.