Does Carnival Really "Always Sail Full"?

[megmno]

Ok, I definitely need to get a life rather than sitting home on a Saturday night doing this, but....

 

We're booked on the Valor for the 8/21 sailing which is now two weeks away. Since we booked using ES I've been watching the rates like a hawk, but haven't seen any lower than what we paid. But I have noticed, when I do a fake booking, that there seem to be a lot of vacant rooms, even this close to sailing.

 

So I spread sheeted all rooms available in all combinations for two and four person occupancies, and I see that there are still at least 72 cabins that are unsold. (Several categories had ten rooms displayed which might mean there are actually more since that is the maximum that the web site displays at any one time.) I cross-checked to make sure that there were no rooms that were duplicated, but Carnival does not seem to be allowing underbooked rooms (i.e. two people in a room with a four person capacity).

 

So a couple of questions for those of you who are knowledgeable:

1) I know Carnival always claims that it sails full, but has anyone heard of this not actually happening?

 

2) When, if ever, will Carnival start cutting the prices? I'm not certain about other categories, but the ones we have cabins in are higher than we paid. As far as I remember the other prices look about the same too.

[firefly333]

Full in cruiseline earnings jargon means 2 pax to each cabin. Now you and I both know there are some cabins with more than 2 people... hence during earnings carnival can actually say, this past qtr, we sailed at 105 % capacity on average.

[cuyahoga11]

Ok, I definitely need to get a life rather than sitting home on a Saturday night doing this, but....

 

We're booked on the Valor for the 8/21 sailing which is now two weeks away. Since we booked using ES I've been watching the rates like a hawk, but haven't seen any lower than what we paid. But I have noticed, when I do a fake booking, that there seem to be a lot of vacant rooms, even this close to sailing.

 

So I spread sheeted all rooms available in all combinations for two and four person occupancies, and I see that there are still at least 72 cabins that are unsold. (Several categories had ten rooms displayed which might mean there are actually more since that is the maximum that the web site displays at any one time.) I cross-checked to make sure that there were no rooms that were duplicated, but Carnival does not seem to be allowing underbooked rooms (i.e. two people in a room with a four person capacity).

 

So a couple of questions for those of you who are knowledgeable:

1) I know Carnival always claims that it sails full, but has anyone heard of this not actually happening?

 

2) When, if ever, will Carnival start cutting the prices? I'm not certain about other categories, but the ones we have cabins in are higher than we paid. As far as I remember the other prices look about the same too.

 

Keep checking for price drops. They will do anything to sell them. On my last cruise I got a $500.00 price drop 4 days before sailing

[megmno]

Full in cruiseline earnings jargon means 2 pax to each cabin. Now you and I both know there are some cabins with more than 2 people... hence during earnings carnival can actually say, this past qtr, we sailed at 105 % capacity on average.

 

Hmm, good point, I hadn't thought of that. Still, I'd think that Carnival would start cutting prices on all those empty rooms just to get warm bodies in them -- since those warm bodies will be buying DODs and placing bets at the casino, etc.

 

Well, at least that's my hope!!!

[dude_hdt]

Considering you will have to make full payment 3 months before sailing, How does Carnival handle price drop close to sailing?

[megmno]

Considering you will have to make full payment 3 months before sailing, How does Carnival handle price drop close to sailing?

 

After final payment you would get onboard credit. This is only if you booked under an Early Saver rate.

[cruiserguy11]

After final payment you would get onboard credit. This is only if you booked under an Early Saver rate.

 

How do you know if the ES rate has dropped since the ES rate doesn't show up with less than 90 days left before the cruise?

 

Thanks

[megmno]

How do you know if the ES rate has dropped since the ES rate doesn't show up with less than 90 days left before the cruise?

 

Thanks

 

If you booked under Early Saver you can get price drops for any category which you qualify for such as past guest (if you are one), senior (if you are one), resident rates, etc...

 

You can check current rates here:

http://www.carnival.com/BookingEngine/FareViewer/

 

You will need to know your exact cabin category (check deck plans if you aren't certain). If your category is sold out it won't appear on the Fare Viewer. However there have been stories of categories reappearing if someone cancels, so you should probably keep checking until two days before sailing. After that there are no more price drops allowed.

[TTinAZ]

We are booked in a 7c, but when I look at the fare check it does't list them...does that mean they are sold out? We already got a $40 credit about a month ago, but would love to get another one if it comes along!

[Bobblefrog]

How do you know if the ES rate has dropped since the ES rate doesn't show up with less than 90 days left before the cruise?

 

Thanks

 

The ES rate doesn't have to be the one to go down - it can be any rate (with the exception I believe of Pack N Go - someone please correct me if I'm wrong).

 

So once the ES rate goes away, if you booked under ES, you would still be looking for drops of any other rate types. I think you can do this up until 2 days prior to sail date and if you find one for same category, ship, sail date you then get the OBC as posted.

[B and C Blake]

How do you know if the ES rate has dropped since the ES rate doesn't show up with less than 90 days left before the cruise?

 

Thanks

 

At this late in the game it does not matter only what the rate is that matches your Category. Which shows as Fun Select

Only exception is guaranteed Cat where you do not pick your stateroom. Which is Fun Saver

http://www.carnival.com/BookingEngine/FareViewer

 

If you booked 8C at 799 pp and it is now 749pp you would get the 50 in OBC.

 

ONLY if you booked ES.

[ccruisequeen]

Hmm, good point, I hadn't thought of that. Still, I'd think that Carnival would start cutting prices on all those empty rooms just to get warm bodies in them -- since those warm bodies will be buying DODs and placing bets at the casino, etc.

 

Well, at least that's my hope!!!

disabled cabins may not be full or post as available. When I booked my Oct cruise through my PVP, I looked at the website first to see what was available. THe HC cabin I ended up booking was not one of the ones available on the website.

[megmno]

The ES rate doesn't have to be the one to go down - it can be any rate (with the exception I believe of Pack N Go - someone please correct me if I'm wrong).

 

Yes, that is correct -- you CAN'T match against "Pack and Go" or "Fun Saver" because those rates only give you a guarantee that you will be in a particular class of cabin (i.e. balcony/ocean view/interior) not a cabin category (such as 8A, 8B, 8C etc.)

 

Also, you can only compare cabins with the same number of occupants as you booked at. For example, on our sailing there is one 8M aft extended balcony that is still vacant. Carnival is only allowing it to be booked to a group of three people. So even though one of our rooms is also an 8M, we can't price match against it because our 8M has two occupants. When you look at the fare viewer 8M doesn't appear if you select "two travelers" but it does appear if you select "three travelers".

 

(No complaints, I knew the rules when we booked!)

[B and C Blake]

We are booked in a 7c, but when I look at the fare check it does't list them...does that mean they are sold out? We already got a $40 credit about a month ago, but would love to get another one if it comes along!

 

Not sure when you are sailing.

 

But yes that is what that means.

 

HOWEVER, That could change and the Cat could open back up after TA's turn in their holds.

We had that happen for about 2 months our Cat was not showing then it was there again.

[Colorado Kat]

Yes, they always sail full. Pak & Go rates draw out people close enough to drive to the port, with vacation days/retired.

[kujobie]

Keep checking for price drops. They will do anything to sell them. On my last cruise I got a $500.00 price drop 4 days before sailing

 

That's a good piece of information right there..

[cruiserguy11]

Good information ... thanks.

 

Some years back, before we retired, we had lots of discretionary money and my wife "discretionaried" lots of it the casino. :)

 

We got to know the casino host and he gave us his email addy and told us to email him when we got home and he'd keep us on his list of available last minute cabins. So we did.

 

A few weeks went by and we received his offering. I don't remember which cruises they were but they were sailing within one week of his email and we could have gotten a 7 day cruise for just the port taxes.

 

This offer, I assume, was to all the casino "spenders."

 

So they do offer last minute cruises on the cheap...but they try first to fill them with "spenders."

[balcony bound]

From what I understand, many of the available cabins are also ultimately booked by cruiseline employees (they get two cruises per year as a perk, is my understanding).

 

Also, aren't there many folks who booked in the fun saver category (cruiseline assigns your cabin - i think that is fun saver) so there are cabins that are not yet assigned to folks who paid for this type fare?

 

Anyway, I would think either of thosse two things could account for it appearing that there are more cabins available than truly are. Just thinking that might be the case sometimes.

[SCUBA Mark]

 

 

So I spread sheeted all rooms available in all combinations for two and four person occupancies, and I see that there are still at least 72 cabins that are unsold.

 

That is a pretty good indicator but there are a bunch of people that booked a guaranteed cabin that may not have been assigned yet.

[zqvol]

Ok, I definitely need to get a life rather than sitting home on a Saturday night doing this, but....

 

We're booked on the Valor for the 8/21 sailing which is now two weeks away. Since we booked using ES I've been watching the rates like a hawk, but haven't seen any lower than what we paid. But I have noticed, when I do a fake booking, that there seem to be a lot of vacant rooms, even this close to sailing.

 

So I spread sheeted all rooms available in all combinations for two and four person occupancies, and I see that there are still at least 72 cabins that are unsold. (Several categories had ten rooms displayed which might mean there are actually more since that is the maximum that the web site displays at any one time.) I cross-checked to make sure that there were no rooms that were duplicated, but Carnival does not seem to be allowing underbooked rooms (i.e. two people in a room with a four person capacity).

 

So a couple of questions for those of you who are knowledgeable:

1) I know Carnival always claims that it sails full, but has anyone heard of this not actually happening?

 

2) When, if ever, will Carnival start cutting the prices? I'm not certain about other categories, but the ones we have cabins in are higher than we paid. As far as I remember the other prices look about the same too.

 

The sailing full thing is simply not true. I have been on ships that they claim are full and then on the same ship later and it had over 500 more people on the second week. It is a myth that the cruise lines want to perpetuate to make people book sooner.

[jetskier]

The sailing full thing is simply not true. I have been on ships that they claim are full and then on the same ship later and it had over 500 more people on the second week. It is a myth that the cruise lines want to perpetuate to make people book sooner.

 

 

A ship can sail full in two ways

1) Sell out all of its cabins

2) Exceed Coast Guard capacity in which there could still be cabins left vacant.

 

Remember capacity is based on two per cabin. (normal capacity). This is where the 100% comes from. Maximum capacity is the total amount of passengers that a ship can hold.

 

So say on the first week they sell out all of the cabins on the Fantasy. Her total number of passengers would be 2048.

 

The next week she sells out by exceeding capacity, she would have 2604. A difference of 556 passengers.

Dave

[407dm]

No not all of the rooms are full.

 

On my first back2Back I had to change rooms for the second leg. I was in a 1A port hole room and changed to an inside room.

 

On the morning that we got back to home port I figured that I would have to wait for my room but I went to check it out and found my new room steward and told him that I would be moving and what room that I had.

 

He told me that the room had been empty for the last cruise and took me to the room, let me in to see it and confirmed that it was empty. It had been made up and all of the Carnival capers from the last cruise were in a pile on the bed.

 

He went with me to my old room and we brought back my luggage and I started my new cruise in my new room EVEN before the ship had emptied from the last cruise.

 

I went to the pursers desk at the time that I had been told and was the last one of of the ship for that cruise, got my new card and was the first one on the ship for the next cruise.

 

I was into the hot tub before some of the people had even gotten to there cars to leave.

 

Technically yes the ships sail full but not all of the rooms have people in them but the rooms left open will most likely be inside rooms like E183, E185 on the Fantasy class ships.

[Bobblefrog]

Yes, that is correct -- you CAN'T match against "Pack and Go" or "Fun Saver" because those rates only give you a guarantee that you will be in a particular class of cabin (i.e. balcony/ocean view/interior) not a cabin category (such as 8A, 8B, 8C etc.)

 

Also, you can only compare cabins with the same number of occupants as you booked at. For example, on our sailing there is one 8M aft extended balcony that is still vacant. Carnival is only allowing it to be booked to a group of three people. So even though one of our rooms is also an 8M, we can't price match against it because our 8M has two occupants. When you look at the fare viewer 8M doesn't appear if you select "two travelers" but it does appear if you select "three travelers".

 

 

Excellent clarifications, thank you!

[mtlfire]

As mentioned above, seeing a cabin as available to book doesn't mean they are all free. Much like looking at a seat map on an air plane, only those cabins and seats that were pre-selected show up as not available. People who book a cabin category (but carnival picks the room) or purchase an airline ticket without picking a seat don't actually have anything assigned to them yet.

 

Simply that Carnival (or the airline) will let those willing to pay the extra pick their room, and the rest will get assigned whatever rooms weren't selected in the end.

[AdGuyMG]

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