New Cabins Show Up On (almost) Sold Out Ship

[morfred]

I have been watching a cruise in 2021 that has been almost sold out for some time. All of a sudden this morning 30 Concierge cabins showed up out of nowhere. I am wondering if Celebrity purposely makes it look as thought a ship is sold out to create demand or is it just a travel agent releasing unsold cabins?

[Oville]

Or a TA booked a block and released them.

[jelayne]

Most likely a TA had a block and returned part of them or a small group cancelled.

[mom says]

This far out, I'm betting there was a group that cancelled.

[Denny01]

I track what cabins are available for the cruises I’m taking (yes, I’m a math-obsessive spreadsheet builder!), and see those type of changes throughout the roll up to the cruise. I believe it is a TA/discount website releasing a block they took up. And since it’s Concierge, my bet that is most likely. My upcoming Apex TA Oct cruise has 88% sold, and a larger number left is Concierge. 

 

There’s only 2 suites left, 4 of the 126 Aqua’s, 60 of 524 Infinities, 2 of 94 standard balconies, 14 of 140 Oceanviews and none of the 131 Insides available. For Concierge, there are 95 of the 276 or 34% available. I have a Concierge, but only because of location and it was not much more than a standard Infinity. And it was not much more than a standard over a year prior to the cruise, so I don’t see Celebrity holding off showing those cabins as available to sell them at a higher price.

 

I think you’ll find that pretty common on most of the cruises.

 

Den

[morfred]

The problem for me is that I had to book a more expensive cabin last week because there were very few cabins available. The lack of availability caused other cabin prices to rise. I am just hoping that Celebrity does not occasionally hold back cabins to make things look more scarce than they really are.

[Bo1953]

45 minutes ago, morfred said:

The problem for me is that I had to book a more expensive cabin last week because there were very few cabins available. The lack of availability caused other cabin prices to rise. I am just hoping that Celebrity does not occasionally hold back cabins to make things look more scarce than they really are.

It is not, usually, in their best interest to hold back cabins.

 

The goal is to fill cabins early and quickly so further planning can commence and prices are stabilized.

 

X cannot control what TA's who have blocked a group of cabins do, but take them back and try to maximize their 'profit' on the unsold inventory.

 

bon voyage

[Jim_Iain]

I would think it is the expiration of major TA's blocks of rooms that have been allocated (not booked) to the Agency. 

[morfred]

I don't know anything about big TA's but 30 Concierge cabins seems like a lot for one TA to have blocked if the rest of the ship is almost sold out a year and a half ahead of time.

[Bo1953]

1 hour ago, morfred said:

I don't know anything about big TA's but 30 Concierge cabins seems like a lot for one TA to have blocked if the rest of the ship is almost sold out a year and a half ahead of time.

TA's were most likely hedging their bets on selling their allocation at a good profit for them and below the established Rack Rate was for those cabins...

 

The release(s) most likely came from several TA's rather than just one.

 

bon voyage

[If only]

It’s not the TA’s we booked both TA cruises April & Oct for 2021 since the day they came out. We put an angle balcony on wait list & was told it would be out beginning of Dec.  We received a call yesterday that Celebrity had finally released them. So we got the Concierge cabin we wanted.  Celebrity was hanging on to them for some reason & it actually happened on 3 cruises we had booked.

Edited January 25, 2020 by If only

[morfred]

16 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

TA's were most likely hedging their bets on selling their allocation at a good profit for them and below the established Rack Rate was for those cabins...

 

The release(s) most likely came from several TA's rather than just one.

 

bon voyage

Maybe but all 30 cabins appeared two days ago and all at the exact same time. I am not saying that Celebrity did anything underhanded. I just find it being a rather unusual coincidence.

[If only]

2 hours ago, morfred said:

Maybe but all 30 cabins appeared two days ago and all at the exact same time. I am not saying that Celebrity did anything underhanded. I just find it being a rather unusual coincidence.

They never released the best C2 cabins in the middle of the ship until yesterday.  Don’t know why but I guess it’s their choice.  

Edited January 25, 2020 by If only

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

8 hours ago, morfred said:

The problem for me is that I had to book a more expensive cabin last week because there were very few cabins available. The lack of availability caused other cabin prices to rise. I am just hoping that Celebrity does not occasionally hold back cabins to make things look more scarce than they really are.

Can you not downgrade your cabin? Even with a NRD I was able (ok, my TA did it, but still) to downgrade my cabin on a future cruise. 

[JOVERNITE]

When we booked our Feb 2020 while aboard in Feb 2019 there were no C2's available. That has never happened before. We booked a C3 and kept an eye out for cabins to open up. For the longest time it showed balconies to suites sold out. Really?? Finally C2's opened up and we snagged one. Since then, categories opened and/or sold out repeatedly. It could be any of the reasons noted above but I think it's a shrewd way to make one think "I'd better hurry up and book before it's sold out". 

[If only]

Celebrity is playing games, we booked 3 cruises when they first came out for 2021 & there were only a very few C2’s available. We played their game & waitlisted the cabins we wanted & it worked, notified yesterday.

Edited January 26, 2020 by If only