Cabin availability question - why are all deluxe-balconies GTY only.

[PRINCESS Sweet Pea]

There seems to be good availability on the cruise.  Plenty of regular balconies.

We would be booking a cheaper cabin, as this cruise seems pricey, especially as compared to pre-shutdown fares.

But, it just seems odd.   We usually would spring for the deluxe balcony for the extra seating and bit of extra room.

There is only the one desk-chair now in the regular cabins.

 

[Lady Arwen]

For some reason Princess does this quite often with the deluxe balconies.  We love the ones on Lido deck facing forward.  I contacted our CVP because we wanted to book this cabin on Royal Princess.  She was able to grab us our favourite one…..L101.  I suggest you contact your TA or CVP and request that they secure your cabin choice for you.  It can’t hurt to ask.

[PacnGoNow]

29 minutes ago, PRINCESS Sweet Pea said:

There seems to be good availability on the cruise.  Plenty of regular balconies.

We would be booking a cheaper cabin, as this cruise seems pricey, especially as compared to pre-shutdown fares.

But, it just seems odd.   We usually would spring for the deluxe balcony for the extra seating and bit of extra room.

There is only the one desk-chair now in the regular cabins.

 

I noticed it also on the longer cruises, especially the ones that could be a b2b. They hold those back for a GTY rate. 

[PRINCESS Sweet Pea]

GTY rate?????

Rates are same whether a cabin is selected, or it is a GTY, right.

 

I wonder if the possibility of a number of BTB cruisers is one reason.

If we did want to pay a bit more for a deluxe balcony, I might try again asking our PVPlanner!

[nini]

On 8/7/2022 at 2:27 AM, PRINCESS Sweet Pea said:

GTY rate?????

Rates are same whether a cabin is selected, or it is a GTY, right.

 

I wonder if the possibility of a number of BTB cruisers is one reason.

If we did want to pay a bit more for a deluxe balcony, I might try again asking our PVPlanner!

It seems like cabins become "Guaranteed" status as the cruise books up. In the beginning this is not the case.

[Yehootu]

Our 25day British Isle/TA was moved from the Emerald to the Regal. I couldn't move my balcony cabin from the Emerald to a Cat DD on the Rega for the 25day sellingl. I was able to cancel and book ANY DD cat cabin as a 10day and a 15day. More FCD OBC and more shareholders OBC. We also tried to book 3 B2B2B on the Majestic out of Sydney in 2024. No Deluxe balconies were available so my wife got her bathtub for all 44 days, in a mini. These days on Princess you never know if your cruise is going to get cancelled.

[lx200gps]

10 hours ago, nini said:

It seems like cabins become "Guaranteed" status as the cruise books up. In the beginning this is not the case.

I just checked the Princess site for the newly announced trips for late 2023/2024. IOW cruises that opened up for sale literally today. I could find NO Deluxe Balconies available for self-selection of cabin, they are only available as GTY the day the cruise opened up. No issue selecting standard balcony cabins, only the deluxe were GTY.

[nini]

7 minutes ago, lx200gps said:

I just checked the Princess site for the newly announced trips for late 2023/2024. IOW cruises that opened up for sale literally today. I could find NO Deluxe Balconies available for self-selection of cabin, they are only available as GTY the day the cruise opened up. No issue selecting standard balcony cabins, only the deluxe were GTY.

I have discovered that when I book through my TA's website, that I can find the balconies that I want, even though Princess has only guaranteed available.

[lx200gps]

1 minute ago, nini said:

I have discovered that when I book through my TA's website, that I can find the balconies that I want, even though Princess has only guaranteed available.

Interesting, thanks for the tip, I'll give it a try. Unfortunately, our TA's website is a lot more convoluted than Princess's, but at least I could determine which cabins we want and ask her to book them.

[PurpleHays]

We moved from a standard balcony to a deluxe just by doing a trial booking and calling my TA. No GTY involved. This was within 100 days of sailing.

[tutumomickey]

On 8/6/2022 at 11:25 AM, Lady Arwen said:

For some reason Princess does this quite often with the deluxe balconies.  We love the ones on Lido deck facing forward.  I contacted our CVP because we wanted to book this cabin on Royal Princess.  She was able to grab us our favourite one…..L101.  I suggest you contact your TA or CVP and request that they secure your cabin choice for you.  It can’t hurt to ask.

Thank you so much for this tip. We recently sailed Alaska in L101 and absolutely loved it. Tried to get it for Hawaii but, got the ' Guaranteed only' for deluxe on deck 16 foward. Had our TA call and L101 thru L104 were all available ! switched from a standard balcony and saved 200$. Thank you so much.

[Lady Arwen]

49 minutes ago, tutumomickey said:

Thank you so much for this tip. We recently sailed Alaska in L101 and absolutely loved it. Tried to get it for Hawaii but, got the ' Guaranteed only' for deluxe on deck 16 foward. Had our TA call and L101 thru L104 were all available ! switched from a standard balcony and saved 200$. Thank you so much.

That’s awesome!  So glad your TA was able to get it for you.  That balcony will be fabulous in Hawaii…..those views!!  Happy dance……enjoy your cruise!

[PRINCESS Sweet Pea]

lx200, wow, cruise just opened and all deluxe are GTY....

This is so confusing.

I asked a TA, and our PVP if they showed any Deluxe available,  and they both said that none were available for selection.  Just GTY.

 

We are happy with the standard balcony (extended angled balcony) that we have booked.  This is not a longer cruise. We are trying to keep cost down.  (purchases 10% off Princess Cards to pay for it) But our last cruises, pre-shutdown, we enjoyed the extra space and seating in a Deluxe Balcony.  I will kind of miss that!

[CruisingFromLA]

This is what I have noticed, if you try and book a room for 3+ the rooms are available for you to select. However, if you are booking for only 2 people then only the guarantee option comes up. It is super annoying as there is a ton of rooms available, but they want to give first dibs to those that are booking for 3+. Do another search for a room for 3+ occupants, I bet you will be able to see nearly all the rooms in that category are available. 

[tutumomickey]

This makes perfect sense but, I just tried a mock booking on my cruise and it didn't help.

[Paula_MacFan]

I had the same problem on Friday and contacted my PVP.  He told me there is currently a glitch in Princess' system for people trying to book 2 passengers in a room that will accommodate 3 or 4 passengers, such as a Deluxe Balcony or Premium Deluxe Balcony.  He said they are aware and are working on correcting it, and he's supposed to call me back tomorrow (Monday) to finalize my booking.  

 

 

[tutumomickey]

19 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

I had the same problem on Friday and contacted my PVP.  He told me there is currently a glitch in Princess' system for people trying to book 2 passengers in a room that will accommodate 3 or 4 passengers, such as a Deluxe Balcony or Premium Deluxe Balcony.  He said they are aware and are working on correcting it, and he's supposed to call me back tomorrow (Monday) to finalize my booking.  

 

 

But 

I tried to book for 3 and4 passengers. Still can only get guarantee

[PRINCESS Sweet Pea]

How soon is the cruise you are looking at, and how booked up is it.

Could it be possible in your case that the specific area of the ship, the Deluxe are actually be booked up?

I am going to try mine again to see what happens.

[Paula_MacFan]

46 minutes ago, tutumomickey said:

But 

I tried to book for 3 and4 passengers. Still can only get guarantee

Just telling you what the PVP told me.  I'm no Princess rep. 🙂

 

[Paula_MacFan]

12 minutes ago, PRINCESS Sweet Pea said:

How soon is the cruise you are looking at, and how booked up is it.

Could it be possible in your case that the specific area of the ship, the Deluxe are actually be booked up?

I am going to try mine again to see what happens.

In my case the booking window had just opened up, so there's no way that every Deluxe and Premium Deluxe Balcony was booked.  Which the PVP confirmed when he said it was a glitch in the Princess booking system.  

[PRINCESS Sweet Pea]

I looked for a Deluxe Balcony, and put in three passengers instead of two...

Voila!  Most all of the Deluxe Balconies then showed as available.

We are trying to keep the sky-high post shutdown fare down, so we might not change to the Deluxe.  But, I now know that we can!

 

But, here is another issue.  When I put in for 4 passengers, they all disappear again.

But, with no rhyme or reason, there are a few select Deluxe Balconies in other sections of the deck that do show up for 4 passengers.

 

The key is to try three passengers and 4 passengers.

 

I don't think there is consistency when categorizing/marking these cabins as either 3 or 4 passengers.

Aren't the sofa's pullout?  Shouldn't that make all Deluxe Balcony cabins at least 3 occupancy?  Or maybe some are pullout and some are not.

 

On another non-Princess website deck plan, the ones that will accept 3 passengers show the mark for 'third pullman'. The ones that will accept 4 passengers show the red circle mark for third and fourth pullman'.

[PRINCESS Sweet Pea]

Yes, we can see that is def. a glitch!!!   But, if by putting in additional passenger(s) this will get the system to pull up the cabin, maybe then we can go ahead and book them.

Make sure you try with both 3 and 4 passengers again, and see if that doesn't help.