Do they cancel if the ship has a lot of availability?

[kaerofan]

Looking at a last minute Alaska cruise and when I go in to look at available cabins there are A LOT (and in every category).  Is there a certain point where cancelling won't be a concern - like 30 days out?  Just don't want to book if it's not going to happen.  I guess I'm wondering if they have a break even point?  Also find it strange that there has not been a price drop in the last couple of weeks since its getting so close.

[rbtan]

1 minute ago, kaerofan said:

Looking at a last minute Alaska cruise and when I go in to look at available cabins there are A LOT (and in every category).  Is there a certain point where cancelling won't be a concern - like 30 days out?  Just don't want to book if it's not going to happen.  I guess I'm wondering if they have a break even point?  Also find it strange that there has not been a price drop in the last couple of weeks since its getting so close.

Currently MOST ships are still sailing with limited pax. I wouldn't worry about your ship cancelling out. When is this last minute cruise? We just did Oceania Riviera & will be on a "Circle the Caribbean" trip on the Emerald next year. Our ship was half full & we sailed. When on board I inquired about an upgrade. An amount of cabins were intentionally left empty. We went from an Ocean View up to a Concierge(kind of like Club Class) No one from the full suites were giving up their cabins(can't blame them)The cost was $560 total. Can't complain about that. This was a 14 day trip by the way. If you go on your trip, do inquire about an upgrade. You may find it worth your while.

[Tonsoffun44]

Might help to know what sailing you're talking about. 

[kaerofan]

May 02 - Royal Princess - Alaska (round trip Vancouver)

[CineGraphic]

6 minutes ago, kaerofan said:

May 02 - Royal Princess - Alaska (round trip Vancouver)

 

Ships have sailed all winter with as little as a few hundred passengers.

You have nothing to worry about.

[Honolulu Blue]

18 minutes ago, kaerofan said:

Looking at a last minute Alaska cruise and when I go in to look at available cabins there are A LOT (and in every category).  Is there a certain point where cancelling won't be a concern - like 30 days out?  Just don't want to book if it's not going to happen.  I guess I'm wondering if they have a break even point?  Also find it strange that there has not been a price drop in the last couple of weeks since its getting so close.

 

A couple of stories from earlier in the pandemic...

 

I was booked out on the NCL Gem that was scheduled to sail out of La Romana, DR last September.  A month after I booked, NCL decided to cancel.  The given reason was that they needed the crew for this ship to help staff another ship.  But there were rumors that the ship wasn't selling well.

 

Also, I sailed on the Celebrity Summit (15%) and Regal Princess (25%) last year with passenger counts far below capacity.  They were not canceled.  I've heard of ships sailing with even lower counts that were not canceled.  I have not heard of any ships on the major cruise lines that have explicitly canceled any sailings because of a low passenger count.

[wcflats]

No…they will sail..we’re booked on May 22 Alaska and still most of the cabins in our section available..discovery princess aft    Deck 10.   !😁.  

[Coral]

We had approx 450 passengers on our Grand Princess sailing over Christmas for 10 nights.

 

Your cruise will go on unless something else prohibits it.

[Tak8]

No worries, Be happy.  You can be a chair hog without passengers noticing. Plenty for everyone. 

[chengkp75]

2 hours ago, kaerofan said:

I guess I'm wondering if they have a break even point?

Typically, the "break even" point for covering operating expenses is 100% of double occupancy.  So, they have not been "breaking even" for months now.

[Ombud]

2 hours ago, kaerofan said:

... last minute Alaska cruise and when I go in to look at available cabins there are A LOT (and in every category).  ...

Sounds like there's a lot of free upgrades in that ship's future!! I've been booking minimum acceptable (unless I can snag E408-E5L425) and reassigned mini-suites 

[LACruiser88]

38 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

 

Error

Edited March 19, 2022 by LACruiser88

[Thrak]

On 3/19/2022 at 8:35 AM, kaerofan said:

May 02 - Royal Princess - Alaska (round trip Vancouver)

 

See you onboard. 😀

 

By the way, the Roll Call for this cruise is located here:

 

[deadzone1003]

On 3/19/2022 at 10:37 AM, chengkp75 said:

Typically, the "break even" point for covering operating expenses is 100% of double occupancy.  So, they have not been "breaking even" for months now.

If what you say is true, it would be impossible for cruiselines to be profitable.  I suspect it is  closer to 50% to cover operating expenses (which is to cover cash flow).

[AstoriaPreppy]

On 3/19/2022 at 11:50 AM, Honolulu Blue said:

I was booked out on the NCL Gem that was scheduled to sail out of La Romana, DR last September.  A month after I booked, NCL decided to cancel.  The given reason was that they needed the crew for this ship to help staff another ship.  But there were rumors that the ship wasn't selling well.

 

This is the most NCL thing I've ever heard. (other than the time they changed our departure port from Hong Kong to Singapore 11 days before a cruise, stiffed passengers with the flight changes after saying they'd pay for them, and then canceled the cruise outright 3 days before sailing). 

 

On 3/19/2022 at 11:20 AM, kaerofan said:

Looking at a last minute Alaska cruise and when I go in to look at available cabins there are A LOT (and in every category).  Is there a certain point where cancelling won't be a concern - like 30 days out?  Just don't want to book if it's not going to happen.  I guess I'm wondering if they have a break even point?  Also find it strange that there has not been a price drop in the last couple of weeks since its getting so close.

 

As a passenger booked on the 2 May sailing, I'm very confident the sailing is happening. Princess *really* needs that ship to run the North/South Vancouver-Whittier route that starts up after this sailing, and ties into hundreds of cruisetours and hotel booking throughout Alaska. If the Canadian government will let this cruise happen, there's no good reason to not run the sailing as a startup/shakedown cruise to get the ship back to routine operations.

 

Also, I can say the prices have dropped significantly from what they were selling for before final payment, but probably won't drop again at this point. 

[AtlantaCruiser72]

On 3/19/2022 at 1:46 PM, Ombud said:

Sounds like there's a lot of free upgrades in that ship's future!! I've been booking minimum acceptable (unless I can snag E408-E5L425) and reassigned mini-suites 

 

Don't count on it - I've not had a single client comp upgraded since the restart, unless their cabin was being reassigned due to being used as a "isolation" cabin and there being no more rooms in their original cabin category.