How commonly do X bookings get canceled close to final payment?

[Aralim]

I noticed that unlike Royal, Celebrity doesn't mandate a non-refundable deposit for suites and other hard-to-come-by cabins. My understanding of why Royal instituted that policy was because of so many people doing advance bookings for a multitude of sailings, then canceling a bunch of them close to final payment once they decided which particular sailings they actually wanted to go on. That left Royal scrambling to fill those cabins, often at a big loss vs. the original booking prices.

 

Do certain cabin categories tend to open up again once final payment gets close, after being sold out or extremely expensive before then? Asking because the Aug 2, 2020 Summit TA to Iceland and Greenland is already showing as almost completely sold out for the suites, the family balcony rooms were sold out months ago, and even the basic cabins are getting down to a handful of balcony and OV rooms, plus some inside cabins. At the rate things are going, the ship will be sold out over a year before sailing date, even as the prices are getting absolutely nuts. On the one hand, it's not surprising for such a unique itinerary. On the other, this kind of smacks of a fair number of people saying, "Oooh, neat itinerary!" and just putting down a refundable deposit with no solid intention of going just yet.

 

Not gonna lie, I'd love a shot to snag an FV for my family of four; it would be a really sweet upgrade from our current pair of insides (which is all I can afford right now). I know X has its version of the Upgrade bidding system, so probably no chance of a simple price drop to take advantage of. But a guy can dream, right? 😉 

 

Speaking of the FV cabins -- if they have availability, do those show up if you go through the web site and put down that you want one cabin for four people? Or do those only get made available for parties of 5 or more (requiring a call to Celebrity to check on inventory)?

[Beachlover1989]

We actually have 2 cabins booked for a September sailing and will cancel one of them before final payment.  Once I decide which cabin to go with, I just transfer my deposit on the one I cancel towards payment on the other cabin.  Also, Celebrity makes it easy to transfer bookings (when using a refundable deposit) between sailings, you just have to be careful you don't lose any perks you might have.

[stevea36]

1 hour ago, Aralim said:

I noticed that unlike Royal, Celebrity doesn't mandate a non-refundable deposit for suites and other hard-to-come-by cabins. My understanding of why Royal instituted that policy was because of so many people doing advance bookings for a multitude of sailings, then canceling a bunch of them close to final payment once they decided which particular sailings they actually wanted to go on. That left Royal scrambling to fill those cabins, often at a big loss vs. the original booking prices.

 

Do certain cabin categories tend to open up again once final payment gets close, after being sold out or extremely expensive before then? Asking because the Aug 2, 2020 Summit TA to Iceland and Greenland is already showing as almost completely sold out for the suites, the family balcony rooms were sold out months ago, and even the basic cabins are getting down to a handful of balcony and OV rooms, plus some inside cabins. At the rate things are going, the ship will be sold out over a year before sailing date, even as the prices are getting absolutely nuts. On the one hand, it's not surprising for such a unique itinerary. On the other, this kind of smacks of a fair number of people saying, "Oooh, neat itinerary!" and just putting down a refundable deposit with no solid intention of going just yet.

 

Not gonna lie, I'd love a shot to snag an FV for my family of four; it would be a really sweet upgrade from our current pair of insides (which is all I can afford right now). I know X has its version of the Upgrade bidding system, so probably no chance of a simple price drop to take advantage of. But a guy can dream, right? 😉 

 

Speaking of the FV cabins -- if they have availability, do those show up if you go through the web site and put down that you want one cabin for four people? Or do those only get made available for parties of 5 or more (requiring a call to Celebrity to check on inventory)?

Contact X or whomever you booked with and see if they can waitlist you for a FV cabin.   Then, if it opens up, they will get notified and can work with you to see if you want to move.   Just be aware that the then current price and perks for the FV will be in effect.

[jcpc]

My personal opinion is that a lot of people put a deposit down on cruises that they are still up in the air about.  Depositing early usually gives you the lowest price and a good selection of cabins to choose from.  You have nothing to lose if you decide not to go as it's a refundable deposit.  I, myself, have done this for numerous sailings.  

 

Additionally perhaps travel agencies have group space blocked on the particular sailing you are interested in.  Celebrity has some sort of a "payment schedule" associated with group space meaning that at a certain date the travel agency must provide full deposit and names for each of the cabins they are holding.  If the travel agencies have not managed to sell all the cabins they are holding, you may also see a bunch of cabins become available around the date that full deposit and names are required.

 

Regarding FV cabins.  Your best bet would be to call Celebrity and inquire.  Sometimes they allow you to book them with less than 5 people, but worst case would be that you could be wait-listed for one.  But this cannot be done via the website - you need to make a phone call (or if you had a good travel agent that did a lot of business with Celebrity he/she might be able to get a FV released to you.)

[villauk]

This far out, you would need to call X to enquire about the FVs. They only open up for less pax closer to sailing if they haven’t been filled.

 

I think something strange is going on with the cabin inventory as many far, future sailings appear to be virtually sold out in certain cabin categories and then miraculously, a few weeks later, groups of cabins appear available. Trouble is, if X are doing this to keep prices high, it’s backfiring on them - just look at the Exciting Deal prices this week and all the recent Edge promotions.

[Jim_Iain]

Watching many cruises you will always see a large number of cabins open up just before final payment date.   Also prices have a tendency to drop about 2 weeks after final payment.

[Fogfog]

2 hours ago, Beachlover1989 said:

We actually have 2 cabins booked for a September sailing and will cancel one of them before final payment.  Once I decide which cabin to go with, I just transfer my deposit on the one I cancel towards payment on the other cabin.  Also, Celebrity makes it easy to transfer bookings (when using a refundable deposit) between sailings, you just have to be careful you don't lose any perks you might have.

Celebrity allows you to book (put down a deposit) with same names for 2 different cabins on the same sailing?

Had no idea

What is the advantage? Price changes?

[Fogfog]

3 hours ago, Aralim said:

I noticed that unlike Royal, Celebrity doesn't mandate a non-refundable deposit for suites and other hard-to-come-by cabins. My understanding of why Royal instituted that policy was because of so many people doing advance bookings for a multitude of sailings, then canceling a bunch of them close to final payment once they decided which particular sailings they actually wanted to go on. That left Royal scrambling to fill those cabins, often at a big loss vs. the original booking prices.

 

Do certain cabin categories tend to open up again once final payment gets close, after being sold out or extremely expensive before then? Asking because the Aug 2, 2020 Summit TA to Iceland and Greenland is already showing as almost completely sold out for the suites, the family balcony rooms were sold out months ago, and even the basic cabins are getting down to a handful of balcony and OV rooms, plus some inside cabins. At the rate things are going, the ship will be sold out over a year before sailing date, even as the prices are getting absolutely nuts. On the one hand, it's not surprising for such a unique itinerary. On the other, this kind of smacks of a fair number of people saying, "Oooh, neat itinerary!" and just putting down a refundable deposit with no solid intention of going just yet.

 

Not gonna lie, I'd love a shot to snag an FV for my family of four; it would be a really sweet upgrade from our current pair of insides (which is all I can afford right now). I know X has its version of the Upgrade bidding system, so probably no chance of a simple price drop to take advantage of. But a guy can dream, right? 😉 

 

Speaking of the FV cabins -- if they have availability, do those show up if you go through the web site and put down that you want one cabin for four people? Or do those only get made available for parties of 5 or more (requiring a call to Celebrity to check on inventory)?

 

Interesting that the sailing is booked. Have you looked at the Dublin to Boston direction? There are plenty of staterooms available

[Aralim]

1 minute ago, Fogfog said:

 

Interesting that the sailing is booked. Have you looked at the Dublin to Boston direction? There are plenty of staterooms available

 

That sailing doesn't work nearly as well for me. With the NJ to Dublin leg, I will be able to get a cab or limo to the port since I live only 45 minutes away from Cape Liberty. Then I just need a single one-way flight from Dublin (or maybe Shannon, depending on how long we stay in Ireland post-cruise and where we decide to wander).

 

With the return leg debarking in Boston, that would mean two one-way flights with attendant baggage charges; no thanks! That leg also gets back right around when my one daughter is going to be resuming college, don't want her to have to rush packing and getting ready for the move into her new dorm.

[Aralim]

2 hours ago, stevea36 said:

Contact X or whomever you booked with and see if they can waitlist you for a FV cabin.   Then, if it opens up, they will get notified and can work with you to see if you want to move.   Just be aware that the then current price and perks for the FV will be in effect.

 

Hmm, that might be an option. I'll email my TA and see if he can do that; I get the feeling he's a bit of a bigwig with X, so he might be able to pull it off.

[jimzgoldfinch]

We booked 2A at 2B price for this cruise whilst we were on the Reflection last week.There was plenty available staterooms. Having looked at website there is now no longer any 2A’s available and the price for 2B has increased by 20% - not many available!

Edited March 15, 2019 by jimzgoldfinch

[villauk]

6 minutes ago, jimzgoldfinch said:

We booked 2A at 2B price for this cruise whilst we were on the Reflection.  There was plenty available staterooms. Having looked at website there is now no longer any 2A’s available and the price for 2B has increased by 20% - not many available!

 

 

Honestly, I believe you can’t trust everything you see online anymore; it fluctuates so greatly from one day to the next that I think they are ‘playing games’ with the inventory. Not only that, but with the changes of cabin capacity (and pax being moved without any consultation) after the ships have been ‘revolutionised’, I don’t think anything is actually how it appears.

Edited March 15, 2019 by villauk

[jagoffee]

1 hour ago, Fogfog said:

Celebrity allows you to book (put down a deposit) with same names for 2 different cabins on the same sailing?

Had no idea

What is the advantage? Price changes?

I know that the Celebrity system allows you to do it.  Personally I think the policy is crazy and unfair to other people interested in booking at a later date.  Since pricing is impacted by supply and demand, it may cause inflated prices.  Perhaps this is why Celebrity allows the practice or perhaps it is just a IT system limitation. Of course, you cannot blame our  fellow cruisers for taking advantage of a silly policy.

 

Yes, you could wait and see if one of your cabin categories has a price reduction.

or just procrastinate deciding on which category you want.  

[Fogfog]

6 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

I know that the Celebrity system allows you to do it.  Personally I think the policy is crazy and unfair to other people interested in booking at a later date.  Since pricing is impacted by supply and demand, it may cause inflated prices.  Perhaps this is why Celebrity allows the practice or perhaps it is just a IT system limitation. Of course, you cannot blame our  fellow cruisers for taking advantage of a silly policy.

 

Yes, you could wait and see if one of your cabin categories has a price reduction.

or just procrastinate deciding on which category you want.  

Which is what the OPs frustration is....booking sailings you aren't REALLY committed to... Booking multiple cabins to "decide"...

I guess having multiple cabins booked--you can watch the rates/perks. We book when we know we want to sail and only on itineraries that are interesting OR if we are just booking to get away--a ship/and cabin position we like. One retired I suppose we can be more aggressive with bookings

 

[sanger727]

We had a similar situation on our last celebrity cruise. Unique itinerary. We booked 18 months out and by a year out the ship was looking close to sold out and cabin prices were sky high. After final payment the cabin prices dropped dramatically and there were tons of availability. Yes, I think the problem is people booking when they aren’t serious about going or booking multiple cabins so they have a choice. Personally, I think that’s selfish; had we not booked 18 months out we wouldn’t have gone. The prices at a year out were too high after being artificially inflated by extra bookings and we don’t ever wait after final payment to book since I have to get vacation time at work approved far in advance.

[yorky]

I’ve often wondered about the policy over in the US which allows a booking with no risks. I’m actually surprised the cruise lines still allow it because there must be a good number of people cancelling just before final payment or booking multiple cabins which blocks them off for others from other parts of the world who don’t have the same terms and conditions. As above we have to book our main holidays off work a good 10 months in advance and then can’t move those dates so have to book a cabin rather than taking a chance and waiting. Personally I think the cruise lines should offer the same terms worldwide but for some reason they chose not to.

[ipeeinthepool]

1 hour ago, yorky said:

...Personally I think the cruise lines should offer the same terms worldwide but for some reason they chose not to.

 

They probably would offer the same terms if government regulations were the same in each country.  

 

[yorky]

15 minutes ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

They probably would offer the same terms if government regulations were the same in each country.  

 

This point has been made before, refundable deposits have nothing to do with government regulations. Royal have started offering none refundable deposits in the states at a discount.

Edited March 16, 2019 by yorky

[ipeeinthepool]

32 minutes ago, yorky said:

This point has been made before, refundable deposits have nothing to do with government regulations. Royal have started offering none refundable deposits in the states at a discount.

 

So why don't you book with US travel Agents?

[yorky]

6 minutes ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

So why don't you book with US travel Agents?

 

The vast majority of cruisers would not know how to, there are cruise lines that don’t allow bookings from other countries, and why should you have to anyway ? It should be a level playing field.

Edited March 16, 2019 by yorky

[Fogfog]

4 hours ago, yorky said:

. Personally I think the cruise lines should offer the same terms worldwide but for some reason they chose not to.

I think its' gov regs

 

I know I see perks listed from TAs in the UK for a trans atl that  Celebrity doesn't offer the perks... And super low deposits... I called Celebrity asking them to match it (considering cancelling and rebooking) and Celebrity won't match...in fare nor perks

Edited March 16, 2019 by Fogfog

[ipeeinthepool]

12 minutes ago, Fogfog said:

I think its' gov regs

 

I know I see perks listed from TAs in the UK for a trans atl that  Celebrity doesn't offer the perks... And super low deposits... I called Celebrity asking them to match it (considering cancelling and rebooking) and Celebrity won't match...in fare nor perks

 

I agree.  Celebrity would only have one system if they could.

[Nachosdelux]

2 hours ago, yorky said:

 

The vast majority of cruisers would not know how to, there are cruise lines that don’t allow bookings from other countries, and why should you have to anyway ? It should be a level playing field.

 

How hard is it to find a US travel agent online????

 

answer: it is not hard at all

 

agreed it should be a level field, but it is not, so it is up to the consumer to be informed and level it.

Edited March 16, 2019 by Nachosdelux

[yorky]

5 minutes ago, Nachosdelux said:

 

How hard is it to find a US travel agent online????

 

answer: it is not hard at all

 

agreed it should be a level field, but it is not, so it is up to the consumer to be informed and level it.

 Actually disagree for many cruisers. I know many older cruisers over here that book with high street travel agents, they don’t go near a computer and many that do would not have a clue how to book with a US agent or would think it was too risky. Add in the fact certain cruise companies demand a US address and even on forums you are not allowed to name a US travel agent and it’s not that easy. I have never used a US agent and would have no idea which one to book with if I looked, no one on here can name even one and end up having to name simply a whole state. End of the day I don’t believe it is up to consumers to level it, I think it’s down to the cruise companies to play fair with everyone.

[Beachlover1989]

19 hours ago, Fogfog said:

Celebrity allows you to book (put down a deposit) with same names for 2 different cabins on the same sailing?

Had no idea

What is the advantage? Price changes?

Yes they do allow it.  This is a unique sailing that moves the Reflection from Northern Europe to the Mediterranean, and thus you have to book it far in advance.  Friends mentioned going with us, so we booked an Aft S1 and an Aft C1 - if they didn't come with us, we were staying with the Suite.  If they come with us, they didn't want to book a Suite, so why would we then pay the extra money for things we wouldn't use if they can't (Luminae, Michael's, etc.).  By booking super early, the price is so much lower and you can take advantage if there are price drops - I just call my Celebrity Vacation Planner and he reduces my fare.  If it goes up, I'm still good to go with the lower price.

 

I agree it seems odd that they allow someone to do it.  But until they don't, I might as well take advantage of it - in this particular case.  Someone booking at a much closer date is going to be able to pick up an amazing S1, granted it will probably be higher than I have it reserved for - but those are just the circumstances.  And in the meantime, Celebrity has had both my deposits for a year and a half.

 

I think if you're looking for a particular sailing, you have to pick it up as soon as they announce them, especially if you want a particular location on the ship.  Book them with a refundable deposit, if you can't get off work, you get your money back.  If you can't book with a refundable deposit, book it when they offer one of those $25 deposit specials.  I don't think it's selfish of us, I just think we are being smart to plan in advance - it's really what you have to do with some of these itineraries.  The Caribbean, not so much.