Guarantee cabin booked and turned away at port because ship overbooked?

[tabprincess]

Has anyone ever had this happen to them or someone they knew? On Princess.  I thought I read somewhere that this happened to someone on another cruise line. I know you can get your cabin assigned as late as on boarding, but I am concerned for my sister who booked a B2B guarantee and got her cabin for 2nd week, but not first.  I wouldn't be concerned if I had not heard this happening on another cruise line recently! 

[NavyVeteran]

I have never heard of this happening on Princess. If Princess is overbooked, some passengers receive move-over offers shortly before the cruise, but these offers are voluntary. Princess will usually make the offer attractive enough that someone will accept it.

[cruise4mom]

We have done 3 back to backs and have no problem. Sometimes the guarantee cabins are the best. 

[Mud_Shark]

I have this same fear, since it did happen on Princess in November (2023).  We were in Australia and saw the report on Australian news of a couple being turned away at the port with a "guarantee", as the cruise was overbooked.  I think it may have been Majestic Princess, but for sure it was a Princess ship.  Doesn't seem to happen often, but we have a cabin for our first and third sections of a back-to-back-to-back in March, but are in a guarantee for the middle section, and the cruise is sold out.  So hopefully will not be an issue, but if it happened once....

[Torfamm]

22 minutes ago, Mud_Shark said:

I have this same fear, since it did happen on Princess in November (2023).  We were in Australia and saw the report on Australian news of a couple being turned away at the port with a "guarantee", as the cruise was overbooked.  I think it may have been Majestic Princess, but for sure it was a Princess ship.  Doesn't seem to happen often, but we have a cabin for our first and third sections of a back-to-back-to-back in March, but are in a guarantee for the middle section, and the cruise is sold out.  So hopefully will not be an issue, but if it happened once....

There was a Royal Caribbean ship that did that in November, but I haven’t seen any reports about that happening on Princess, neither in the news nor here on Cruise Critic.

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/devastated-guests-turned-away-in-brisbane-after-royal-caribbean-oversold-cruise/news-story/9fa154d210df073801a252ff66e69d67?amp

Edited February 21 by Torfamm

[Mud_Shark]

You are right - it was Royal Caribbean in Australia.  failing mind.... It was soo long ago (4 months????)

 

 

[PacnGoNow]

12 hours ago, tabprincess said:

Has anyone ever had this happen to them or someone they knew? On Princess.  I thought I read somewhere that this happened to someone on another cruise line. I know you can get your cabin assigned as late as on boarding, but I am concerned for my sister who booked a B2B guarantee and got her cabin for 2nd week, but not first.  I wouldn't be concerned if I had not heard this happening on another cruise line recently! 

Never heard of this on PCL.  Only on Royal Caribbean recently in Australia.  It was all over the news.

 

Cabin assignments for GTY can be anytime.  If the ship is running full, she may get the assignment up to even the sail date.  But, I wouldn’t worry.  We got ours 2 weeks before and a great cabin.

 

 

[tabprincess]

Thanks everyone!  I usually book guaranty and in over 30 years of cruising, I have never had a problem, but also never had the assignment as late as this. (We got our cabin assignment 2 months ago) We sail on Saturday. My sister doesn't get away much as she has a special needs daughter and I just want her to have a relaxing time away!  I guess she could always stow away with my husband and I !

[PacnGoNow]

18 minutes ago, tabprincess said:

Thanks everyone!  I usually book guaranty and in over 30 years of cruising, I have never had a problem, but also never had the assignment as late as this. (We got our cabin assignment 2 months ago) We sail on Saturday. My sister doesn't get away much as she has a special needs daughter and I just want her to have a relaxing time away!  I guess she could always stow away with my husband and I !

If she is leaving Saturday, she may hear really soon, because most of the time I’ve seen the GTY’s worked just before they work the bidding to Upgrade.  
 

Make sure she checks her online cruise personalizer, where the cabin number would be shown or the summary.

They usually advise the TA and then they advise you.  But, not always.  I found my cabin number in there.  They never advised the TA.  I checked my record every day 😂, as I don’t usually do those.  

 

 

Edited February 21 by PacnGoNow

[Cruise Raider]

As someone else mentioned, Princess sends out ‘move over’ offers and usually will get plenty of takers.  It basically guarantees you a similar cruise of your choice and you receive all your cruise fare back as refundable OBC on your chosen sailing.  
I was recently offered one of these, although it was a move down offer where if I gave up my balcony for an obstructed oceanview cabin on the same cruise.  I was way too late in responding, maybe 2 or 3 hours within the notification.  These offers are just way too good to pass up for those of us that are flexible and have no air travel involved.

 

I have heard about others being denied boarding during to over bookings on other lines but not on Princess.  

[HMSDingy]

Sorry deleted

 

Edited March 18 by HMSDingy

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 2/21/2024 at 8:38 AM, tabprincess said:

I usually book guaranty and in over 30 years of cruising, I have never had a problem

we no longer book guarantee, because when we did that at the beginning of our cruising history, we always ended up with the crapiest locations ever. 

Most of the time the guarantee rate on Princess isn't any cheaper than the rate which lets you pick your cabin (unlike RCI rates), so it makes sense to always book your desired cabin.

[memoak]

1 hour ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

we no longer book guarantee, because when we did that at the beginning of our cruising history, we always ended up with the crapiest locations ever. 

Most of the time the guarantee rate on Princess isn't any cheaper than the rate which lets you pick your cabin (unlike RCI rates), so it makes sense to always book your desired cabin.

Agree completely. Guarantee cabins are filled close to cruise date. I know some people are betting that the category the booked will be full and they will get a higher category but I think that is a foolhardy bet

[dockman]

Just like airlines that are overbooked if you offer confirmed passengers enough incentives then somebody will give up their seat/room and likely be quite happy about it.  A full refund and a future free cruise will likely get a lot of takers.

 

  Maybe they should have a box where confirmed passengers would check that yes they will consider an "offer" to give up their room.  Sign me up.

[PMGS247]

I think this isn't an impossible scenario....seems like someone pulled a single example out of Australia on RCI....but not one statistically significant enough to be concerned about. Thousands of guarantees are filled in the final days before sailing every day.  Once ever X years a single booking gets turned away? Yeah I wouldn't sweat it.

 

I've never done a guarantee but I've watched this scenario and discussion many times over the years and I feel like cruise lines should attempt to be more consistent with when they assign rooms.  I say this almost entirely tongue-in-cheek knowing it's just much more complicated than it appears on the surface and how early they can make official assignments varies from case to case but the fact that sometimes people get their assigned rooms 8 weeks in advance and sometimes 48 hours in advance creates stress & worry.  If everyone knew that it was ALWAYS 48 hours out that they would find out it wouldn't be a big deal, but when someone is 72 hours out and reads about how other people heard 2 months in advance they start to worry.

Edited March 18 by PMGS247

[Cruise Raider]

19 hours ago, PMGS247 said:

I think this isn't an impossible scenario....seems like someone pulled a single example out of Australia on RCI....but not one statistically significant enough to be concerned about. Thousands of guarantees are filled in the final days before sailing every day.  Once ever X years a single booking gets turned away? Yeah I wouldn't sweat it.

 

I've never done a guarantee but I've watched this scenario and discussion many times over the years and I feel like cruise lines should attempt to be more consistent with when they assign rooms.  I say this almost entirely tongue-in-cheek knowing it's just much more complicated than it appears on the surface and how early they can make official assignments varies from case to case but the fact that sometimes people get their assigned rooms 8 weeks in advance and sometimes 48 hours in advance creates stress & worry.  If everyone knew that it was ALWAYS 48 hours out that they would find out it wouldn't be a big deal, but when someone is 72 hours out and reads about how other people heard 2 months in advance they start to worry.

I have actually seen it happen on Celebrity in the past but never heard of it happening on Princess.  I don’t follow every other cruise line but know that Princess sends out Move Over Offers that are quite attractive and usually have more takers than needed.  It would have to be a bucket list cruise for me to turn one of those offers down.  

[Arizona Wildcat]

The couple in Australia in 2022 were actually denied boarding because of a passport issue. 

In 2023 several couples were denied boarding on a short cruise.  Cost $595 for a 3/4 night cruise.  A couple imoortant facts - Australian rules are very different and the people were offered $100OBC and a 25% reduction OR a free 7 to 9 day cruise before the cruise.  Those involved said they did not receive the email offer - certainly possible offer was not opened.

I was not able to find other instances of denied boarding.

Would not be concerned about denied boarding.  In the US the cruiseline would be liable for damages and millions of passengers without a gty cabin issue.  Offer me a free cruise and I live near the port, happy to move a week or two.

[Vexorg]

I've received and taken a move-over offer before on a Royal Princess cruise in December 2019.  We had an interior on a 5 night California coast cruise booked, ended up getting moved to a 7 night Mexican Riviera cruise in January (just weeks before the COVID shutdown) with a balcony cabin, all our cruise fare in refundable OBC and airline change fees paid.  To top it all off, when I told my parents about the deal they booked the one we ended up on too.  Best cruise deal I've ever had.

Edited March 19 by Vexorg

[Cruise Raider]

6 minutes ago, Vexorg said:

I've received and taken a move-over offer before on a Royal Princess cruise in December 2019.  We had an interior on a 5 night California coast cruise booked, ended up getting moved to a 7 night Mexican Riviera cruise in January (just weeks before the COVID shutdown) with a balcony cabin, all our cruise fare in refundable OBC and airline change fees paid.  To top it all off, when I told my parents about the deal they booked the one we ended up on too.  Best cruise deal I've ever had.

All four of my April cruises (one technically starts in March) are sold out.  Of these 4, I would accept a move over on two of them.  🤞  I’m actually hoping for those emails to hit my inbox!    

Both of the ones I would give up are out of my home port, so no airfare changes needed.  

 

[memoak]

My 16 day cruise in April has been showing as sold out for about a week

[voljeep]

1 hour ago, Vexorg said:

I've received and taken a move-over offer before on a Royal Princess cruise in December 2019.  We had an interior on a 5 night California coast cruise booked, ended up getting moved to a 7 night Mexican Riviera cruise in January (just weeks before the COVID shutdown) with a balcony cabin, all our cruise fare in refundable OBC and airline change fees paid.  To top it all off, when I told my parents about the deal they booked the one we ended up on too.  Best cruise deal I've ever had.

2 move-overs for us - one taken - the other (SKY inaugural 2.0 - 3 day) didn't work out

 

went from 5 day western carib on Crown to 7 day eastern on Regal leaving the next Sunday with the same - refundable OBC , Princess covered additional 2 days grats and the 2 extra days old drink package as I remember - kept same  cabin cat ( I tried ) - no airline involved

[BamaVol]

Like worrying about being hit by lightning. Of course it could happen. But will it happen to you?  Not likely.