Overbooked? How does this happen?

[LeeW]

On 11/13/2019 at 5:46 PM, cb at sea said:

Airlines are NOT like cruise ships...this shouldn't happen.  I'm glad you declined their offer.

 

 

Actually it probably happens on every cruise.  As others have said, they intentionally overbook knowing some people will cancel and they can easily deal with a few bump offers either to another cabin or another ship.  Sail full = maximum revenue.

[The_Big_M]

On ‎11‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 9:00 AM, Host Clarea said:

 

Could be that their RoyalUP software has a bug.

 

Royal Up is optional so would not require someone to be shifted. They only assign from royal up if there is still availability.

[mugtech]

2 hours ago, The_Big_M said:

 

Royal Up is optional so would not require someone to be shifted. They only assign from royal up if there is still availability.

Unless there is a bug.

[The_Big_M]

5 hours ago, mugtech said:

Unless there is a bug.

Only if you're alleging a bug in human activity since they're the ones doing the assignment.

[Clarea]

1 minute ago, The_Big_M said:

Only if you're alleging a bug in human activity since they're the ones doing the assignment.

 

Supposedly the RoyalUp program is all done by computer, including assignments.

[DISFANS3]

Money talks..

[alfaeric]

Seems to me that they oversold guarantee suites.  Which means that the system is not capable of keeping up with itself- at some point, the number of bought specific suites + guarantee = the number of cabins available.  But that timing does not work out all that well- I would say.

 

Given WHEN the oversell starts to appear, it's about when the last of the last guarantee suites are assigned.

 

And then the company is forced to do *something*, and instead of canceling trips, it's probably easier to offer 100% refunds and allow people to cruise at a lower cabin.

 

The odd part is when they oversell GS and up, when those are rarely part of the guarantee pool, and are all non-refundable fares to start with.  That must be someone willing to overpay, and hope people go down....  Odd.

 

Still, if it's a trip you have been planning for a long time, and have had your hope and dreams set on a specific cabin, changing that would be almost impossible.  On the other hand, if this is something like your 60th cruise, and many multiple times on the same ship, a totally free cruise would be pretty nice- especially since you get to keep all of the original amenities from the original class. 

[CFIGuy]

Echoing other comments, if you are considering it, based on my experience, and others experience - their initial offer seemed weak.  Apples to Oranges, but we were asked to go from 2 balcony cabins (2 persons each) to 1 junior suite (4 people), and got our entire fare back minus taxes/port fees.  And the junior suite ended up being a Grand Suite. Best free cruise ever.

[beardedladies]

I am seeing more and more reports of this recently, both here and elsewhere such as on facebook groups - it seems to be an active policy on Royal's part to oversell.

 

And yes I think guarantee sales are largely to blame, and I've seen several reports of people being told their cruise is cancelled just days before they were due to leave, and always they were in a guarantee they booked late.

 

I've seen it enough now to be very wary about booking a guarantee in the last few months before sailing.

[scottbee]

There's also the very likely possibility that something in one of the existing suites prevents it from being used on your sailing (big flood etc etc), and now they're down a suite. 

 

 

[actuarian]

12 hours ago, LeeW said:

 

Actually it probably happens on every cruise.  As others have said, they intentionally overbook knowing some people will cancel and they can easily deal with a few bump offers either to another cabin or another ship.  Sail full = maximum revenue.

They often overbook guarantee cabins but GS guarantees are rarely offered so I doubt that this is the cause.  However. they may guarantee a block of rooms to a travel agent and then fail to set all of them aside.

 

IMHO, this would be a good deal if and only if the OP gets to keep all of the perks of the GS because in that case the OP would be getting 74% of the space (297/401 sq ft) for 50% of the price.  It would be a particularly nice offer if made to someone who was already a Pinnacle, since Pinnacles get all of the perks of a GS anyway.

Edited November 15, 2019 by actuarian
grammar

[Ourusualbeach]

17 minutes ago, actuarian said:

They often overbook guarantee cabins but GS guarantees are rarely offered so I doubt that this is the cause.  However. they may guarantee a block of rooms to a travel agent and then fail to set all of them aside.

 

Groups held by TA's do not include any suites except for in a few cases starting in January of 2021 where they have allowed TA's to hold group space for Junior Suites only.

 

Also any unsold group space is recalled by Royal 120 days prior to the cruise.  Far enough in advance that this would have no impact.

Edited November 15, 2019 by Ourusualbeach

[cruisegus]

On 11/13/2019 at 3:41 PM, HicksRA said:

Just got a phone message from RCI stating that their Grand Suites were overbooked and they were offering cash back of half what I paid plus $200 OBC to step down to a JS for my upcoming cruise in 4 days. If you book by specific cabins, how do they end up with more sold than available?  Maybe having to take a cabin out of service? 
I declined BTW. The wife would not be happy...

@HicksRA looks like we are on the same cruise as my wife got the same phone call.  Since it is my 65th birthday while on this cruise we certainly said NO. 

It does shock me that they can oversell in this category and above.  Their initial offer would have been about the same price in the end that I could have booked a JS for when originaly booked almost 2 years ago, so not really much of a deal in my opinion. 

Doesn't matter since I wasnt going to take it anyway

[The_Big_M]

22 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Supposedly the RoyalUp program is all done by computer, including assignments.

 

There's nothing to indicate that assignments are done by it, and given the way it is done, much to indicate it is done by humans.

 

It automates the drudgery of contacting multiple people in a timely manner - there's no reason for automation of allocation, especially as that's a separate system.

[HicksRA]

I’ve watched prices on this cruise almost daily since booking it in Sept of 2018 and have never seen a suite gty category offered. So I think the gty theory can be eliminated. 

[cruisequeen4ever]

I think you were wise to decline, not only for your wife, but also since the compensation didn’t seem to be enough at all! 

[Vexorg]

Not sure I'd take that one either.  Maybe for a 100% refund of the fare...

 

It might be interesting to compare and contrast how the different lines handle overselling.  As far as I can tell Princess seems to handle it mostly by trying to get passengers to move to other sailings.  I just took one of these recently where we went from a 5 night sailing in an interior cabin to a 7 night sailing in a balcony, with the entire fare minus taxes and fees as refundable OBC on the other sailing, and reimbursement of airline/hotel change fees.  And to make the deal even better, my parents (who were the ones who got us into cruising in the first place) booked the cruise we ended up moving to after we told them about it. 

[sdrocks]

On 11/13/2019 at 3:41 PM, HicksRA said:

Just got a phone message from RCI stating that their Grand Suites were overbooked and they were offering cash back of half what I paid plus $200 OBC to step down to a JS for my upcoming cruise in 4 days. If you book by specific cabins, how do they end up with more sold than available?  Maybe having to take a cabin out of service? 
I declined BTW. The wife would not be happy...

Ask for an Owners' suite or above for the price paid for the grand suite.  😊

[molly361]

2 minutes ago, sdrocks said:

Ask for an Owners' suite or above for the price paid for the grand suite.  😊

Their cruise has come and gone

[Petroplex]

I would be curious, though, to hear how this came out. Did the OP still get to sail in the original cabin? Was somebody denied boarding? What deal was ultimately accepted?

[sdrocks]

2 minutes ago, molly361 said:

Their cruise has come and gone

Oops, didn't even look at the date.  A little behind on CC.  Too much black friday & cyber monday on the brain to notice.

[HicksRA]

3 hours ago, Petroplex said:

I would be curious, though, to hear how this came out. Did the OP still get to sail in the original cabin? Was somebody denied boarding? What deal was ultimately accepted?

Yes, we stayed in our originally booked GS. Never heard anything about it on board. I wish I would’ve thought to ask Nadja, the Suite Concierge about it.