Sold out? - Question...

[Chat Noir]

Booked on Sapphire cruise Alaska May 2006. We have friends planning on joining us, but waiting until January to book. Two major travel websites show 'sold out' under the interior cabin listing. However, many more agencies don't, including the one we booked with.

 

Now for the question:

 

Do these truly 'sell out' this early (5 months away - and my understanding May is a shoulder season to begin with) or perhaps an agency / cruiseline is holding them until final payment is due and will then release them to fill the ship? Just seems odd to me that interior would be the first to go, especially in Alaska. When checking other cabins, there seems to be plenty of availability. Ideas???

 

Friends wanted interior for the cost...however, I've tried to get them to at least get an outside for Alaska... looks like that may be the case after all.

[cjh]

Check the Princess web site it shows all rooms available if it shows sold out then all the blocks are either out waiting to be booked or it is really sold out.

[Coral]

There may be a lot of agencies with Group Space which is why some of the agencies have insides while others do not.

 

Princess will mostly recall the space in the next couple of months. I don't think your friends will have a problem getting an inside but if that is their priority, I would encourage them to book soon. I think they will be fine if they book the first of January.

 

Unless there is a huge group on your cruise, I doubt your ship will sell out so far in advance and my guess is that their will be plenty of cabins available once groups release their space.

 

Just an FYI - I have always booked in April for my May cruises and have gotten them at fire prices with lots of availability - though once after I booked, a large Asian group booked and the ship went from being empty to being oversold just like that....