Sold out cruise and no room assignment (Golden Princess)

[LoveByrds]

Hello fellow cruisers!

I am hoping an experienced cruiser might be able to help us. We booked our cruise on Golden Princess several months ago and paid in full at booking. This is our first cruise with Princess and it will be our Honeymoon! (EEK!)

 

Anyway, i just noticed that we have still not been assigned a cabin and the ship leaves June 30th.

 

The princess website shows:

"The selected departure date has sold out for the requested number of passengers per stateroom. Please select a different departure date or contact us for assistance."

 

Does this mean we didn't get a room? I'm calling first thing in the morning, but any ideas? Should we start panicking about our honeymoon cruise?

 

Thank you in advance!

[rkmw]

Hello fellow cruisers!

I am hoping an experienced cruiser might be able to help us. We booked our cruise on Golden Princess several months ago and paid in full at booking. This is our first cruise with Princess and it will be our Honeymoon! (EEK!)

 

Anyway, i just noticed that we have still not been assigned a cabin and the ship leaves June 30th.

 

The princess website shows:

"The selected departure date has sold out for the requested number of passengers per stateroom. Please select a different departure date or contact us for assistance."

 

Does this mean we didn't get a room? I'm calling first thing in the morning, but any ideas? Should we start panicking about our honeymoon cruise?

 

Thank you in advance!

 

you will get a cabin but it could be when you arrive at the pier so dont panic

[Pam in CA]

If you booked a GTY (Guarantee), you are guaranteed a cabin in the category you booked, or better. You may not know what cabin until you get to the pier but don't sweat it. The porters will have a list and will put a luggage tag on your bags.

 

If there are no cabins available, Princess will start calling other passengers close to the port with "move over" offers and keep sweetening the deal until they secure cabins for the GTYs.

 

Relax and have a wonderful honeymoon.

[LoveByrds]

Thank you for the replies and for easing my mind! We won't worry and will show up ready for a cruise!

Plus it might be better i don't know my room, because i would obsess over the details :)

[paul929207]

Just to add to the other comments. Yes, you will have a room. It will be in the category you booked or any higher category. You may not learn the cabin assignment until you get to the pier.

[GHDPeter]

On my March cruise we received a moveover offer 2 days before we were due to sail because the cruise was oversold. We took the offer because it was too good to refuse, the other 10 in our group were given the same offer but decided to sail.

 

The offer they made us was a full refund of our fare, a cruise in October twice as long as the first for free, an upgrade to the next class of cabin ( outside to BC) , and airfares of $150 each way.

 

You will get your cabin and your cruise, happy honeymoon.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

On my March cruise we received a moveover offer 2 days before we were due to sail because the cruise was oversold. We took the offer because it was too good to refuse, the other 10 in our group were given the same offer but decided to sail.

 

The offer they made us was a full refund of our fare, a cruise in October twice as long as the first for free, an upgrade to the next class of cabin ( outside to BC) , and airfares of $150 each way.

 

You will get your cabin and your cruise, happy honeymoon.

 

That is a great moveover offer and I would grab it too :)

Do they ever offer move over offers to the peeps booked in guarentee's?

I have read on the boards that the closer to sailing you get assigned a cabin the more chance of getting an upgrade - not sure how true this is :)

[NavyVeteran]

On my second cruise on Princess (14 days New Zealand to Australia on the Regal Princess (the old Regal Princess)), I booked a guantee Outside and did not have a cabin assignment before the cruise. We stayed overnight in Los Angeles before catching our flight to Auckland, New Zealand. While at the hotel in Los Angeles, we got a telephone call from our travel agent making us an offer. They offered us an Inside cabin for a couple of hundred dollars (for a 14 day cruise) instead of what we had paid. We were able to get an Inside about ten feet from an open deck on the stern and one deck below the Horizon Court. We accepted the offer - and used the money we saved to book another cruise the same year.

 

Not having a room assignment at the last minute for a guarantee on a sold out cruise is more likely to be good than bad. Princess will do one of three things for you:

• Assign you a cabin in your category (possibly after upgrading someone else in your category or making someone else in your category an offer that they voluntarily accept).
  
• Upgrade you to a better category where they have room.
  
• Make you an offer to cancel your cruise for a later one - with incentives that you can choose to accept or decline (if it's not good enough for you, they will find someone else to accept and make a cabin available).
  
• Make you an offer to downgrade to a lower category - with incentives that you can choose to accept or decline.\
  

Good things are more likely to happen than bad things. I haven't heard of any cases where Princess involuntarily bumped anyone from a cruise.

[poolreader]

I know how hard it is to wait when you do not have a cabin assignment, especially when it is for something special like a honeymoon. We had a cruise the end of March for our Anniversary and did not get an assignment until the night before. I waited until the night before to print my luggage tags because I wanted my cabin number on them, but when I went on line at 10 p.m. there was still no cabin number. I printed my tags, they came out with no number, then I printed my husbands, they had a cabin number, but I didn't even notice the number on his bags until the next morning when we were putting the tags on the bags.

We ended up with a much better cabin than what we had booked.

[as400guy]

...... because i would obsess over the details :)

 

My friends, you are learning a valuable secret to cruising. Relax, enjoy and *hope* for unusual things to happen... you'll talk about them for years!!

 

Congratulations and have a GREAT trip Raelane!

[azbirdmom]

We flew all the way to Auckland New Zealand without a cabin assignment in January. We found out about our cabin when I used my iPhone to check email while standing in line for customs at the Auckland airport, two days before the cruise. Others found out when they were standing in line at check in. Don't fret - if you have a guarantee, you'll be fine. Hope you enjoy your honeymoon!

[centralcalicruzer]

We sail on the Grand on the 29th and I don't have one yet either. Checking every day (ok, several times a day!;)). I know they will find a spot for me, but it's making me kind of crazy!

[las313]

I am not sailing on the Island Princess until Sept. Also guarantee....Checking several times daily also. Hard to wait.

Louise

[centralcalicruzer]

Finally got our room assignment! Still an interior, but we booked an IE and ended up with an IB - Baja Deck mid-forward, so a pretty decent upgrade. On other sailings of the Grand those same cabins are going for twice the advertised price of an interior guarantee!

[PescadoAmarillo]

Finally got our room assignment! Still an interior, but we booked an IE and ended up with an IB - Baja Deck mid-forward, so a pretty decent upgrade. On other sailings of the Grand those same cabins are going for twice the advertised price of an interior guarantee!

Glad to hear it. Have a wonderful cruise! :)

[Treven]

Finally got our room assignment! Still an interior, but we booked an IE and ended up with an IB - Baja Deck mid-forward, so a pretty decent upgrade. On other sailings of the Grand those same cabins are going for twice the advertised price of an interior guarantee!

Well that's better than my suggestion to another poster. That was deck chairs on the Promenade Deck with blankies. Congrats!

Edited June 25, 2013 by Treven

[Seafoam Green]

I am not sailing on the Island Princess until Sept. Also guarantee....Checking several times daily also. Hard to wait.

Louise

 

Yes, waiting is difficult. We booked a GTY on the Pacific Princess last January because it was just a small number of cabins that we might be sailing in. Our assignment didn't come until 10 days out - it was one of our top choices, so that was great. DH suggested not booking GTY again because of the uncertainty.

[chloe kitty]

On my March cruise we received a moveover offer 2 days before we were due to sail because the cruise was oversold. We took the offer because it was too good to refuse, the other 10 in our group were given the same offer but decided to sail.

 

The offer they made us was a full refund of our fare, a cruise in October twice as long as the first for free, an upgrade to the next class of cabin ( outside to BC) , and airfares of $150 each way.

 

You will get your cabin and your cruise, happy honeymoon.

 

The same thing happened to us, so that they had cabins for gty guest.

[HRPro]

Have a wonderful honeymoon and enjoy your cruise.

[GHDPeter]

Yes, waiting is difficult. We booked a GTY on the Pacific Princess last January because it was just a small number of cabins that we might be sailing in. Our assignment didn't come until 10 days out - it was one of our top choices, so that was great. DH suggested not booking GTY again because of the uncertainty.

 

Thats the part of a GTY booking that I like, the excitement of checking each day.

[Kamloops50]

Had booked a GTY for our Alaska cruise we just completed . The cabin was assigned three days before our cruise and got a 3 cat upgrade. One couple on our cruise didn't get their cabin assignment until the night before . You'll have cabin for sure . Enjoy your wedding then the cruise.:cool:

[Cruisin' Chick]

We've booked only specific cabins for our Princess cruises, and out of five cruises on this line, received two moreover offers, which we did decline. For the first one (which was for the lowest category on the ship booked through a "friends and family" discount, so we didn't pay very much to being with), the phone message started with a "Don't worry, you've got a cabin," before telling us that the sailing was overbooked. The offer was for a full refund of our fare and an upgrade to a balcony, if we waited for a couple of weeks. We were within driving distance of the port so no hotels or flights needed to be changed. But for us, we were already packed (the cruise was the next day) and raring to go. I even had my daughter's kindergarten homework packet for the next week. We weren't interested in a balcony, but I'm guessing they found others who wanted one and were as flexible as we were about which week we went.

 

The most recent cruise, the offer was for a half refund if we booked on a different cruise, but that was the only time we could go on a two-week cruise.

 

So: 1) if you're paid in full, you won't (or shouldn't) get bumped

2) if they're making moveover offers, they probably contact locals first.

3) if they're getting turn downs, they'll up the offer until they get a bite.

[Seafoam Green]

Thats the part of a GTY booking that I like, the excitement of checking each day.

 

DH wasn't doing the checking, but it bothered him more that we didn't have our assignment. It was a complete role reversal for us! :D

[LoveByrds]

Waiting is always the hardest part. Luckily with a wedding to plan and the "I do's" on Saturday i won't have time to worry.

I will watch for any 800 numbers calling though in case a crazy amazing offer comes through. We are within 5 hours of the port, so who knows what could happen. So many of you have had amazing experiences! :)

Whatever happens we are so excited to relax and unwind on this cruise. I can't wait to watch MUTS, eat lobster and desserts and enjoy my honeymoon. :D

[Coral]

 

So: 1) if you're paid in full' date=' you won't (or shouldn't) get bumped

[b']2) if they're making moveover offers, they probably contact locals first.[/b]

3) if they're getting turn downs, they'll up the offer until they get a bite.

 

I don't think they contact locals first - I don't think it matters. I live in Nebraska and have had a ton of Move Over offers. I have had Move Over offers when my friends who live close to the port were not offered any for the same sailing (same TA). I think they just grab a list and go through it and when those don't pan out, they grab another list or go back and up the offers.

 

Most of the time when I have been offered Move Over offers, I have a cabin booked, not a guarantee. So having a guarantee doesn't necessarily increase your odds of getting the call.

Edited June 26, 2013 by Coral