Royal Princess June 2014 Baltics - Why so many cabins sold already?

[lovestx]

We are trying to find a cruise to either the Baltics or the Med for 2014. Having previously cruised on Celebrity, we had planned to do an Aqua Class cabin again but only the Connie is available to us in the Baltics and we aren't loving her retrofitted Aqua cabins. So I have started researching Princess (thanks to all on this board for VERY helpful comparisons).

 

There is a great cruise of the Baltics on the Royal Princess which would work for our timing. But when I go to see what cabins (mini-suites or balcony cabins) are available, it appears that most of the ship is already reserved. Is that surprising to you Princess fans? Is it because Royal is new? Or could it be that some group has reserved a good portion of the ship.

 

Don't think I want to be in a charter group so any help would be welcomed.

 

Also, it appears that the Princess dining rooms are much more intimate in approach....not the two story dining rooms on most ships. Am I right about that? We love the AQ cabins on Celebrity because of Blu, their more intimate restaurant.

[Shogun]

Hi There

 

The Baltics is a very nice cruise, not many ships offer this cruise,

 

would not expect it to booked by a charter,

 

so lots of early bookings, expect a few will cancel due to air fare etc

 

yours Shogun

[Cruise Junky]

There are some monster sale pricing on her for June in the Baltics, $1,000 off per person with additional OBC. Maybe with the sale she's selling well?

[fishywood]

Several factors in play here, some of which you hinted at:

 

1. New ship

 

2. Fewer ships in Baltics than Eastern Med

 

3. Princess allows embarkation/disembarkation in either Copenhagen or Warnemunde. Staggered turnaround leads to many cabins initially being unavailalbe for just a portion of your sailing; this will sort itself out once guarantees are assigned closer to sailing.

 

4. Even without the above, Princess rarely has needed run discounts or last minute deals to fill up their Baltic or Northern Europe cruises.

 

And you are spot on about the smaller Princess MDRs being way more pleasant than on Celebrity. You will never see me in a Celebrity MDR again after the abominable service I received from their so-called "Select Dining" on Infinity. If you choose Anytime Dining, Princess handles it more efficiently than any other line by far.

[need2cruisesoon]

Try July as both sailings have ample cabin availability.

Here is our roll call.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1803837

[Astro Flyer]

Only a guess but the combination of a popular itinerary & a new ship could be reasons why it's selling well.