Do they Overbook?

[cinnamon]

I just read on our RC for the Crown on 9th July that someone had been offered a 14 nighter on the Grand in exchange if they gave up their 7 nights on Crown. The 9th July is to Norway and the 23rd on Grand is to the Med. Seems an odd offer and the poster actually has a B2B already on the Crown so could not take it anyway.

 

Do cruiselines Overbook like the airlines? I have never heard of this before as they need to give cabin numhers to all but those on a Gty and I always assumed they only took reservations for the number of cabins available.

[paul929207]

Yes, cruise lines do overbook. They have found that there are almost always cancelations when final payment is due, so the sell extra cabins anticipating that. Sometimes there are fewer cancellations than they planned for. In that case they make what are called Move Over offers to passengers to free up the needed cabins.

[Toto2Kansas]

Yes, at times there aren't as many cancellations as they think there will be and most cruise lines (Princess included) do overbook. BUT, they will not boot you off a scheduled cruise. They make offers (and at times very good offers) to those booked in the category cabins that they need to fill their guarantee list. These offers are not mandatory to accept, and if you are made that offer and can not change your plans, they will just move down the list of passengers until they find someone. If no one accepts the first offer, they keep sweetening the offer until for some it is just too good to refuse. ;)

[scranger]

Princess can overbook their hotels, too. During the land portion of our Alaska cruisetour several years ago, we got a call from the desk at one of the lodges shortly after checking in. We were traveling with my brother and his wife, and having noticed the similarity in last names, they asked if we were related. I said we were and they asked if we would mind doubling up with them in a larger room because the lodge was overbooked. Since it was for only one night, we agreed and in return they gave us all a free meal plus a $200 per couple voucher which we promptly cashed out. Don't know what they would have done had we not agreed, but we chalked it up as part of our AK adventure with the a few extras thrown in for good measure.

[QueenCruiseAlot]

Yes, this just happened to me last week. Actually just about 2 or 3 days ago. I was in a Cat K Gty on the 7/6 Pacific sailing. They called and asked if I would move to the 9/4 Pacific (very different itinerary) and in exchange I got an actual balcony cabin, 1/2 the cruise price refunded, and up to $300 in air change fees. I accepted.

[moonglum]

A week before we were due to go to South America got a call from TA stating they had overbooked. Our offer was full refund and a free cruise to the same value. Basically a no brainer - immediately took the deal and a month later we jetted off to China for the Asian cruise from beijing to Singapore. Would have no hesitation in doing a similar deal if offered.

[sherryf]

We got a move-over offer last year. We were booked on the Golden to AK and they offered to move us to the Sapphire the following day, since we live locally and don't have flight restrictions. Unfortunately, we had all our excursions booked, some through private vendors, and didn't think we could rearrange them all at such short notice, only a few days before the cruise. We turned it down and didn't regret it.

 

We are booked on the Golden again this summer, but don't have any excursions booked yet. Don't know what we'd do if we got a similar offer this time. The biggest drawbacks would be 1) we are really looking forward to finally seeing Glacier Bay, and Sapphire only does Tracy Arm, which we've seen twice; 2) I think Sapphire doesn't have the International Cafe yet, which we do love! I guess it would really depend on just how good an offer they gave us.

[COMBOY]

I just read on our RC for the Crown on 9th July that someone had been offered a 14 nighter on the Grand in exchange if they gave up their 7 nights on Crown. The 9th July is to Norway and the 23rd on Grand is to the Med. Seems an odd offer and the poster actually has a B2B already on the Crown so could not take it anyway.

 

Do cruiselines Overbook like the airlines? I have never heard of this before as they need to give cabin numhers to all but those on a Gty and I always assumed they only took reservations for the number of cabins available.

 

Yes, all travel providers overbook including cruise lines. In the cruise line and airlines industry it's called yield management. They want to ensure that they sailed with 100% occupancy as an empty cabin as lost revenue forever. Since people can cancel up to departure for many reasons cruise (illness, job related, personal issues, etc) cruise line regularly over book their sailings. That why in a lot of cases you can only book a "guarantee cabin" as all the actual cabins are assigned in that category. As people cancel, passengers on guarantees will be assign cabins and in some rare cases up unto pier check-in. If not enough people cancel then Princess will starts offering move over deals to passengers on the oversold sailing to other ships and/or sailing dates. My aunt and uncle were booked on a 10-day Island Princess Panama Canal cruise and were offer to move to a 14-day cruise with a 50% refund of their cruise fare paid plus an on board credit plus they re-booked their air tickets to the new sailing. If you are offer a mover deal you can either accept it or decline it and continue to sailing as booked.

[tere247]

:rolleyes:

A week before we were due to go to South America got a call from TA stating they had overbooked. Our offer was full refund and a free cruise to the same value. Basically a no brainer - immediately took the deal and a month later we jetted off to China for the Asian cruise from beijing to Singapore. Would have no hesitation in doing a similar deal if offered.

 

 

Boy, are you lucky. About 4 days before our cruise, we were offered 1/2 our money back as on board credit for another cruise the following year. :eek: Seemed that all cruises out of Brooklyn for the rest of the season was fully/over booked.

 

Our bags were packed and no way were we going to wait another year for our cruise. Plus, they were going to hold all our money for a whole year:confused:!!!???

[Toto2Kansas]

:rolleyes:

 

 

Boy, are you lucky. About 4 days before our cruise, we were offered 1/2 our money back as on board credit for another cruise the following year. :eek: Seemed that all cruises out of Brooklyn for the rest of the season was fully/over booked.

 

Our bags were packed and no way were we going to wait another year for our cruise. Plus, they were going to hold all our money for a whole year:confused:!!!???

 

They continue to sweeten the offer if they don't get enough passengers to accept, until they get enough cabins so they can fill those guarantees. I have heard of some absolutely remarkable offers in the past that others have accepted also. :)

[Cruisin' Chick]

We got a moveover offer the day before our first Princess cruise. Full refund and an upgrade to a balcony (from the lowest, lowest category inside) if we waited a few weeks. We didn't take them up on the offer, even though my hubby had flexibility for his vacation schedule and we didn't have flights or hotels to change. But already packed, had the girl's kindergarten homework for the week, and just not interested in a balcony. I'm sure they found someone who took them up on the offer.

 

The message on our answering machine actually did say the cruise was overbooked.

[chamima]

While we were on a B2B on the Royal this last winter we received a move over if we would give up the 2nd 10 day portion. They offered to exchange it for the 26 day sailing in April, a cabin upgrade, if available and $300 toward air change fees. Our daughter was due to have (and had a healthy baby) during the 26 day so we couldn't take it but boy were we tempted!

[CanadaDeb]

They continue to sweeten the offer if they don't get enough passengers to accept, until they get enough cabins so they can fill those guarantees. I have heard of some absolutely remarkable offers in the past that others have accepted also. :)

 

They called us a few times the week before we were meant to set sail. We ended up accepting when they offered us a 14 day in a mini suite with 1800 OBC when we booked a 7 day in standard cabin. I'm happy with that!!!

[Toto2Kansas]

They called us a few times the week before we were meant to set sail. We ended up accepting when they offered us a 14 day in a mini suite with 1800 OBC when we booked a 7 day in standard cabin. I'm happy with that!!!

 

Yep, that would be a keeper in my book too. Congrats on holding out for a GREAT deal!

[ChrisB123]

3 years ago, we accepted an offer to move over for 6 weeks later. This was on a Monday. (our cruise was Saturday ). We were offered a full suite and $500 per person OBC. It didn't work out. :(

This time on our Sept 24th West coast, I could move over to the cruise on Oct 1st but none other. It would be HARD to say no but hubby will be out of town for a year starting Oct.

[scuba instructor]

Spoke to Princess today. They confirmed the ship is over booked. Have to see what they do....

[rkmw]

Spoke to Princess today. They confirmed the ship is over booked. Have to see what they do....

 

this thread is nearly 3 years old and i'd say they have had their cruise by now

[Colo Cruiser]

Spoke to Princess today. They confirmed the ship is over booked. Have to see what they do....

 

Princess cruises are consistantly oversold for most cruises.

They will offer move overs to people and make the deal sweet enough until enough take it that space frees up. They have it down to a science and they have been doing it for many years.

 

You can sit and do nothing and you will still have space onboard with a gty of at least what you booked or better.

Edited March 18, 2014 by Colo Cruiser

[58Piano]

Last year we were booked on the Crown for a 7 day cruise. About 6:30pm the night before they called us. They said they were overbooked. If we would choose to cancel they would move us over to the Royal. We had an inside on the Plaza Deck. They gave us a deluxe balcony on the Royal. Plus gave us

$1000 onboard credit!! Wow! We live in Florida. We were going to just drive to FLL. So we said yes. We booked for April 2014. They gave us $500 cash back when we booked. So we still have $500 onboard credit to use.

We still can't believe this really happened to us. This is totally amazing isn't it?

[AE_Collector]

And the best part is that your cruise would have been over now but instead you are just getting ready to go!

 

Terry

[Colo Cruiser]

And the best part is that your cruise would have been over now but instead you are just getting ready to go!

 

Terry

 

Thats a better way to look at it for sure. ;)