No choosing your cabin on short cruises

[cruzrbachoua]

52 minutes ago, Shmoo here said:

Just curious - at such time as you can book that longer cruise, and you find that you can't book the room you want because someone booked the room for the shorter cruise, how are you going to feel then?

 

 

I will understand that it is first come first served. As I stated this thread has gone off track...princess manages to offer the availability to open a cabin not booked yet for the entire leg and don't see/hear any issues on the princess pages...and is owned by same parent company so I was looking for a possible work around which some have stated to try again and perhaps I got someone who did not know or didn't want to help. 

 

So I will try again and see if I get a different response...I was looking for help not to be made to feel I was less than for wanting a short cruise vs the grand cruise...

[3rdGenCunarder]

Don't take it personally. HAL isn't trying to belittle you.  It's how they run their business. They know that they can sell a good number of B2B cruises and "collector" cruises that are made up of multiple segments. They're keeping their sales options open. Perhaps Princess sells more single segments and they know that they might as well go ahead and release a cabin for a short segment without risking turning away a sale worth more money. 

 

I've had the opposite guarantee situation. A few years ago, I wanted to book the final Alaska cruise of the season plus the coastal that followed it. All I could get was a guarantee. It was during a short sale, and after the sale was over, HAL sorted out their guarantees, and I got a cabin assignment--and a good one at that. 

 

[catl331]

1 hour ago, cruzrbachoua said:

So I will try again and see if I get a different response...I was looking for help not to be made to feel I was less than for wanting a short cruise vs the grand cruise...

I think you keep trying periodically. It's possible that someone will book not a full cruise (say FLL to VCR) but disembark in S.D., leaving an opening for you.

[cruzrbachoua]

52 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

Don't take it personally. HAL isn't trying to belittle you.  

It wasn't HAL making me feel that way right now it was the posters. 

 

16 minutes ago, catl331 said:

I think you keep trying periodically. It's possible that someone will book not a full cruise (say FLL to VCR) but disembark in S.D., leaving an opening for you.

Thank you for your kind help I will discuss with my DH and see what he wants to do. 

[*Miss G*]

10 minutes ago, cruzrbachoua said:

It wasn't HAL making me feel that way right now it was the posters. 

 

I don’t think that was the intent but it does sound like that’s the way it was interpreted.  For what it’s worth, the members who posted in this thread aren’t the type to put someone down.  Maybe if the posts were read from a different point of view or on another day you could see it in another light.  We all have “one of those days” sometimes.  I’m sure they meant no harm.

[boom_boom]

We had that problem on a 5-day Pacific Coast cruise,. We wanted one of the aft Neptune Suites and were told we couldn't pick a cabin. I made it clear to my TA that I would book that way for now, bu,t if at time of final payment, I couldn't get an aft Neptune I would cancel. It turned out on the last day before final they release the hold, so I did the cruise. It is SOP for HAL, but sometimes your TA can get them to budge just before final payment.

[kazu]

7 minutes ago, boom_boom said:

We had that problem on a 5-day Pacific Coast cruise,. We wanted one of the aft Neptune Suites and were told we couldn't pick a cabin. I made it clear to my TA that I would book that way for now, bu,t if at time of final payment, I couldn't get an aft Neptune I would cancel. It turned out on the last day before final they release the hold, so I did the cruise. It is SOP for HAL, but sometimes your TA can get them to budge just before final payment.

 

 

Correct, once HAL knows the cabins booked they can release them.

 

Your experience matches other friends’ I know who book the shorter sailings on the repositioning.

[T8NCruise]

On 11/25/2019 at 9:18 AM, cruzrbachoua said:

ok..yeah I have not even attempted to book anything because I can not pick where we will be.  I just thought it was odd.  I get wanting to make sure the longer b2b2b2b cruises have cabins...but to not even allow me to call in and pick a cabin and have it opened like princess does...just lost me.  I need to be able to pick where I will be at for various reasons so decision made I will stay with princess and await their schedule and just drive up to LA. 

 

They are not b2b2b2b2b cruises - they are usually cruises of 16 days or longer, with a short segment added on of 4 - 6 days when the ship repositions.  Having done the longer segments, I certainly understand why those who book 16+ days get to book the cabins they want, and those who book the shorter cruise get the cabins that are available at the beginning of that portion of the cruise - often, some passengers get off at that point.  It just makes sense that those onboard for the long cruise plus get to pick their cabin.