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Am curious. Cruise oversold?


EleanorWW
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We’re set for the Navigator Miami-Miami late November for the Amazon.  When we booked a year ago, we pretty much got the last open cabin.  I know guaranteed bookings were taken as they’re on the roll call. 

 

We've been offered cash incentives to take a different  cruise.  Woohoo, free money!  The catch is we won’t get our itinerary, so that was that. 

 

But this has me thinking.  It’s not like cruising is like air travel and the passenger gets bumped and another flight comes along.  Do people make a waitlisted booking and then just wait and hope?  We sail in less than three weeks!

 

I’m also wondering how does profit margin  work here.  Navigator doesn’t have a wide range of cabins.  If we give up our ph cabin and pick up $5k for a different sailing, what does Regent get besides goodwill?  Our spot wouldn’t resell for much.  

 

I’m just curious.  Opinions?  

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YES, We did a "wait and hope". Our timing was bad ( we usually book early)when we wanted to take the Explorer from LA to Miami this March. The web site said all wait list. I called Regent and they put us on the wait list they also said that there were 64 waiting but we could get closer to the front of the line if we made a deposit. We did and with final payment coming due for those already booked we cleared within 2 weeks. That was a first for us!

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Regent does not discuss their "profit margin" (and who can blame them?  It is really none of our business).  You are correct that the Navigator does not have a wide range of suites - most of them are the same size.  Once you get to the Navigator suites, they are larger but under the pool deck (with the exception of one Navigator suite) and the Navigator suites do not have a second 1/2 bath as the other ships have and sometimes get the "aroma" of chlorine since the "control center" for the pool is on the same deck as the Navigator suites.    

 

Since there is no difference in the suite size on Navigator from Concierge (or lower) and a PH suite, I don't see why people even book the PH suites ....... unless they feel that they must have a butler.  

 

In my opinion, what you are not considering is that there may be an opening for an upper suite (due to cancellation).  Since you are within the penalty phase, Regent would make money on selling the upper suite twice (once to the original passengers that cancelled and once to the second passengers that either had an upset or booked the suite that suddenly became available.

 

My advice is not to worry what Regent is getting out of this and simply decide if you want $5K (not much money in the scheme of things) to change itineraries.  We have turned down a lot more money to change itineraries and did not find it worth it.  

 

Suite size is only one reason why we no longer book Navigator.👀

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We had a Navigator suite on a TA a long time ago.   Suite was OK, no more.  The bathroom is across the living room from the bedroom and the balcony is minuscule!   Not one to take again IMO but though we were under the pool deck and not in the only on Deck 11, we had no noise from above and no smells of chlorine either in the suite.  Did smell chlorine when in the hall on the way to the suite...

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On 11/6/2018 at 9:35 PM, EleanorWW said:

We’re set for the Navigator Miami-Miami late November for the Amazon.  When we booked a year ago, we pretty much got the last open cabin.  I know guaranteed bookings were taken as they’re on the roll call. 

 

We've been offered cash incentives to take a different  cruise.  Woohoo, free money!  The catch is we won’t get our itinerary, so that was that. 

 

But this has me thinking.  It’s not like cruising is like air travel and the passenger gets bumped and another flight comes along.  Do people make a waitlisted booking and then just wait and hope?  We sail in less than three weeks!

 

I’m also wondering how does profit margin  work here.  Navigator doesn’t have a wide range of cabins.  If we give up our ph cabin and pick up $5k for a different sailing, what does Regent get besides goodwill?  Our spot wouldn’t resell for much.  

 

I’m just curious.  Opinions?  

 

Hi, @EleanorWW

Let me try to help with your original query.

 

Although I am not party to Regent's business model it is common knowledge that all cruise lines improve their profits by maximising their sales on each sailing i.e. the driver is to keep occupancy rates as high as possible on every ship on every sailing.

This makes sense as much the cost of running a cruise ship is fixed (capital cost, fuel, officers & crew, head office overheads etc) whether or not the ship is running with a full complement of guests or not.

 

The reason Regent are offering you an incentive to move to another cruise will be because:

1. They have "over-sold" your cruise and need to free up suites for those who have booked a Guarantee i.e. those with whom they are obliged to fulfil their contract of sale. (Offers will increase until they free up sufficient suites)

or

2. There is a healthy waitlist for your cruise and the alternative cruise they are offering you still has many suites available.

 

The cash incentive will be partly defrayed as I am sure that the cost of your suite on the Amazon cruise has probably increased since you booked it; so if you free up your suite then Regent will sell it for more than you previously paid.

 

 

Hope this helps, and enjoy your Amazon cruise  😎 .................. or enjoy the extra cash if you finally decide to take an "offer" from Regent  😉

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Just in case this may be a deciding factor, people either love or hate the Amazon.  It is definitely challenging and is not everyone's cup of tea.  I avoided doing this trip for years but am glad that we decided to do it.  In the past, Regent has done two Amazon cruises each year but this year is only doing one.  Unfortunately the Mariner is no longer doing the Amazon so if you want want to experience the Amazon, you will do it on Navigator.  This is likely why the cruise is oversold.

 

Note:  A couple of posters have mentioned that their suite on Navigator was like an oven.  This is not a good thing - especially not in this area of the world.  

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5 hours ago, captjohn said:

The Mariner is doing the Amazon in 2019. We are booked from Rio to Miami a Holiday cruise. You could also catch the cruise earlier on the way around S. America.

 

www.rssc.com/cruises/MAR191217/summary

 

Good to know!  I thought that having only one cruise this year might be the new "normal" but apparently, since the Navigator is oversold, they decided to put Mariner back for next year.  That is good news for people that have yet to visit that area.

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