Wonder of the Seas oversold 12/11/22

[bavrail18]

RCL does it again.

 

Edited December 6, 2022 by bavrail18

[crewsweeper]

Book It Dano!

[Biker19]

2 minutes ago, bavrail18 said:

RCL does it again, except this time the offer is not as good.

Folks probably keep taking the first offer RCI throws at them so there's no incentive for them to offer anything more.

[bigmoose7563]

What are they offering?

[Jimbo]

Hope they have the crew to handle that many passenger's otherwise get ready again for a lot of bad reviews.

[crewsweeper]

13 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Hope they have the crew to handle that many passenger's otherwise get ready again for a lot of bad reviews.

I think they just overbooked some OV or CP balconies.  But still have interior rooms.

For what they are offering, I'd jump. Yes, they may have offered better things in the past when this has happened.  And yes, they may improve the offer if no takers.   But free cruise, and OBC, would make up the difference as we don't lay around our cabin all that much.

IMM, sorta like the old airlines overbooking, fly the next flight to your destination first class instead of coach, free bag check and get a voucher for the bar while you wait. 

[orville99]

This cruise was originally scheduled to be on Harmony before they swapped ships. We booked the Harmony version back in July 2021, and the ship was fairly well sold out before the switch was announced. There were a lot of people who booked suites (including us) who were disenfranchised because Wonder's suite configuration eliminated quite a few CLS and GS suites. We decided to switch ships instead of fighting "city hall". Not surprised that the ship is sold out, considering it was almost fully booked before it was ever announced.

[molly361]

1 hour ago, crewsweeper said:

I think they just overbooked some OV or CP balconies.  But still have interior rooms.

For what they are offering, I'd jump. Yes, they may have offered better things in the past when this has happened.  And yes, they may improve the offer if no takers.   But free cruise, and OBC, would make up the difference as we don't lay around our cabin all that much.

IMM, sorta like the old airlines overbooking, fly the next flight to your destination first class instead of coach, free bag check and get a voucher for the bar while you wait. 

What are they offering? 

[MightyMike]

1 hour ago, orville99 said:

This cruise was originally scheduled to be on Harmony before they swapped ships.  

 

In the same boat here (pardon the pun). I booked Harmony and was initially excited about the switch to Wonder, but have been reading some negative reviews. When they pack 6,700 passengers onboard, shows get completely reserved almost immediately. Wonder's larger Windjammer has more seating, but is still a zoo. Lines form for almost everything. Guest Services is overwhelmed morning to night.

[bavrail18]

They were offering a move to inside cabin and a refund of cruise fare. Still have to pay taxes and fees, port charges and gratuities.

 If you don't mind an inside cabin ist's a great deal. 

 

 

[molly361]

8 minutes ago, bavrail18 said:

They were offering a move to inside cabin and a refund of cruise fare. Still have to pay taxes and fees, port charges and gratuities.

 If you don't mind an inside cabin ist's a great deal. 

 

 

What categories did they oversell?

[lcpagejr]

2 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Hope they have the crew to handle that many passenger's otherwise get ready again for a lot of bad reviews.

I wouldn’t worry about that… all their Thanksgiving week cruises were full and many with 3/4 occupancy.  They are fully staffed 

[crewsweeper]

14 minutes ago, molly361 said:

What categories did they oversell?

@orville99 seems to indicate that it's the remaining suites or OVs as many CS and JS cruisers were originally booked on the Harmony and that cruise was moved to the Wonder that doesn't have those classes of cabins and fewer other suites.  So I can understand a CS or JS cruiser not wanting an inside cabin.

[MightyMike]

2 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Hope they have the crew to handle that many passenger's otherwise get ready again for a lot of bad reviews.

 

It is already happening. One member of the social media group for our upcoming cruise posted a review of his recent Thanksgiving cruise. It wasn't pretty.

[bretts173]

2 hours ago, MightyMike said:

 

It is already happening. One member of the social media group for our upcoming cruise posted a review of his recent Thanksgiving cruise. It wasn't pretty.

A lot of bad reviews or a few really loud ones. I mean after all who bothers to post a satisfactory review.

[lovesthebeach2]

5 hours ago, orville99 said:

This cruise was originally scheduled to be on Harmony before they swapped ships. We booked the Harmony version back in July 2021, and the ship was fairly well sold out before the switch was announced. There were a lot of people who booked suites (including us) who were disenfranchised because Wonder's suite configuration eliminated quite a few CLS and GS suites. We decided to switch ships instead of fighting "city hall". Not surprised that the ship is sold out, considering it was almost fully booked before it was ever announced.

We were also booked in a suite on Harmony and we’re moved to Wonder and i absolutely loved the suite area!

[lovesthebeach2]

We were on the shortened by a day cruise last week on Wonder which was also oversold.

 

I asked the suite concierge for the stats for the week and he said that on our cruise there were 6,094 guests and 2,175 crew. And of that 6,094 guests, 3,173 were C&A members. There were lots of newbies and many many strollers on that cruise. 
 

Boarding was an absolute nightmare. The ship was in terminal 1 that was for Independence, which came in the same day as the delayed Wonder. No one could park in the garage, it was already full of the Wonder and Independence cars from the previous cruises. Traffic was all the way back to the highway. People sat in their cars for hours. Two large ships trying to disembark and embark on the same day. It was insane. 

 

I didn’t notice any lack of crew to service everyone thankfully. every crew member was friendly and helpful.

[orville99]

1 hour ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

We were also booked in a suite on Harmony and we’re moved to Wonder and i absolutely loved the suite area!

For people who were booked in a CLS on Harmony, the outcome of the switch was less than pleasant, and those booked in a GS were also miffed. When you go from ~30 CLS on Harmony to less than 10, on Wonder and you start bumping them down to GS and also go from 32 GS to the mid 20's and start bumping them down to JS, there was going to be mayhem. We were originally in a GS on Harmony and decided to switch ships rather than participate in the cabin carnage.

[bavrail18]

Booked an Oceanview gty. Still do not have a stateroom assigned. Definitely not going to an inside cabin. They said in the email that if they do not get enough people to move they may have to cancel some bookings.

At this point hoping that we will be lucky enough to have our booking cancelled.

[lovesthebeach2]

1 hour ago, orville99 said:

For people who were booked in a CLS on Harmony, the outcome of the switch was less than pleasant, and those booked in a GS were also miffed. When you go from ~30 CLS on Harmony to less than 10, on Wonder and you start bumping them down to GS and also go from 32 GS to the mid 20's and start bumping them down to JS, there was going to be mayhem. We were originally in a GS on Harmony and decided to switch ships rather than participate in the cabin carnage.

We got a great GS just down the hall from the suite lounge. We decided not to cancel because of the price we paid and we’re glad we kept our reservation. I know not everyone made the same decision. We’re glad we did. 

[cruisegirl1]

So how do they decide who has to move to an interior cabin and also who gets bumped ( if that is necessary) ?

M

[bavrail18]

There is a link in the email if you agree to move to an inside cabin.

As far as a booking getting cancelled I have no idea.

[SherriZ366]

I've seen OV and Neighborhood balconies get the offer on another social media site.  A good portion of the cruisers booked guarantee staterooms.

[Starry Eyes]

4 hours ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

We were on the shortened by a day cruise last week on Wonder which was also oversold.

 

I asked the suite concierge for the stats for the week and he said that on our cruise there were 6,094 guests and 2,175 crew. And of that 6,094 guests, 3,173 were C&A members. There were lots of newbies and many many strollers on that cruise. 
 

Boarding was an absolute nightmare. The ship was in terminal 1 that was for Independence, which came in the same day as the delayed Wonder. No one could park in the garage, it was already full of the Wonder and Independence cars from the previous cruises. Traffic was all the way back to the highway. People sat in their cars for hours. Two large ships trying to disembark and embark on the same day. It was insane. 

 

I didn’t notice any lack of crew to service everyone thankfully. every crew member was friendly and helpful.

Full?  LOL.  I assure you, the terminal one garage was not full for boarding on 11/28.  I was also on the shortened cruise, and I walked up the parking garage stairs for a quick look at level 2.  It was almost empty.  I could see a substantial part of the garage from my balcony…mostly empty.  Remember, disembarkation of Wonder started at 4:30am, so the garage at terminal 1 started clearing then.  Indy passengers cleared out later, but clear out they did.  The port did not reset the parking charge meter for the length of the Wonder cruise, so they would not let Wonder passengers use it.  It was set for the length of the Indy cruise, so if an Indy passenger wanted to wade through that horrid terminal one traffic that day, they were allowed in garage 1…of course they then had to find a way to terminal 5.  The port authority made a mess of things, even though they had plenty of notice of Wonder’s delay.  
 

 

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

2 hours ago, cruisegirl1 said:

So how do they decide who has to move to an interior cabin and also who gets bumped ( if that is necessary) ?

M

 Not for sure, but we were bumped from the Harmony to Wonder from a booking originally made in November 2019.  We were excited about going to the Wonder but then weren't sure if we would keep our OS or get bumped to a GS or lower.  We weren't and kept out OS.  If I were to guess I would think booking date counted for some of the bump.  At least that's what our TA told us once way back when.  The location of the "suite neighborhood" is awesome.  Not a big fan of the suite sun deck location.  We were on the "extra day" Thanksgiving week cruise and staff did an excellent job dealing with the unexpected.  We were also fully booked but it was handled well.  A lot of venues in the cruise planner showed "sold out", but if you personally go to the venue there's a good chance you will get in.  It seems "chair hogs" aren't limited to just deck chairs and fail to show up and don't cancel RSVP's.  We went to a couple of shows 20 minutes prior, got in the "stand by" line, and got in every time.  We adopted the "be flexible" mantra long ago.