Travel agents cabins

[F355c5]

Just curious what percentage of cabins are given to TA to sell?

any guesses or anything?

[jwattle]

They aren't "given" to us; but it depends on how many we reserve as group space; it varies. There isn't a set percentage.

[F355c5]

11 minutes ago, jwattle said:

They aren't "given" to us; but it depends on how many we reserve as group space; it varies. There isn't a set percentage.

Thank you for the reply, I guess my real question is how many cabins might normally in the be in TA hands?

I know every cruise is different,I guess there isn’t an answer.

When princess web site shows sold out , I wonder the amount of cabins that might be returned to princess?

Any guess high or low?

[jwattle]

1 minute ago, F355c5 said:

Thank you for the reply, I guess my real question is how many cabins might normally in the be in TA hands?

I know every cruise is different,I guess there isn’t an answer.

When princess web site shows sold out , I wonder the amount of cabins that might be returned to princess?

Any guess high or low?

The ones that TA's have set aside as group space would be returned by/before final payment, but no guess high/low due to the great fluctuation in reservations and actual cabins that get sold for any given cruise versus cabins reserved.

I can reserve a block of 10 cabins for a cruise and they all sell, but the very next cruise, same itinerary, 2 sell so eight go back into inventory. And who knows how many agencies are reserving how many rooms for each...

[F355c5]

OK thanks again 

[AtlantaCruiser72]

Unless a travel agency has a true affinity group booked on a particular sailing (think family reunion, wedding, church, social organization, corporate incentive etc) where they have paid a bulk deposit to allocate a set # of rooms to the group no space is “given” to agents to sell by Princess.
 

All agents/consortiums have access to the full roster of available rooms at prevailing rates and promotions. Some agencies/consortiums will have negotiated rate programs or promotional group rates, but no specific cabin inventory is tied to those rates. 

[Arizona Wildcat]

3 hours ago, F355c5 said:

Just curious what percentage of cabins are given to TA to sell?

any guesses or anything?

Many TAs have room blocks.  Usually only verandas, but sometimes Aqua.  Depending on the size of the TA anywhere from 25 and up.  Some of the larger TAs have 100+ and might work with other companies. 

The group rates are to my knowledge very similar to the same and the TAs can turn back an agreed % or number of cabins up to X number of days before the cruise.  Have seen 90 days for holidays and as close as 30 days for others.

Those cabin blocks,  usually show available on the TA website and booked on the cruiseline site.  Am guessing that is what you are trying to figure out.

Full disclosure, I organized group hotel/motel blocks for many years.  Others where I worked handled cruise bookings. 

Cabin Cruiser is correct about affinity groups.   Partially correct about groups assembled by the TA.  Just like hotels, cabins can and are put into a block and sold.

Edited March 30 by Arizona Wildcat

[AtlantaCruiser72]

@Arizona Wildcat what you say holds true for Royal/Celebrity & NCL open/promo group space but is incorrect for Princess, Holland America, Cunard and Seabourn. As this is a Princess related chat I focused on their policy only. I work for a large agency consortium as an agent and sell into our speculative group space on a daily basis. 

[F355c5]

So with that that information, what exactly does a sold out statement from the princess website actually mean? Are all TA cabins counted in that sold out statement?

[Arizona Wildcat]

15 hours ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

@Arizona Wildcat what you say holds true for Royal/Celebrity & NCL open/promo group space but is incorrect for Princess, Holland America, Cunard and Seabourn. As this is a Princess related chat I focused on their policy only. I work for a large agency consortium as an agent and sell into our speculative group space on a daily basis. 

Think we agree.  Princess uses different terms but had the same effect of selling cabins in a group space. Xzibit

To T355, until after final payment you really have no idea.

For example, with a refundable deposit individuals can (and do) cancel often.  On one Med cruise there were over 500 cabins cancelled just before final payment after a port was changed.

[cynbar]

I think what some of us want to know is when are "blocks" of cabins returned to Princess from TA's, thus increasing the inventory and making the success of an upgrade bid more likely? Another thread said this happens about 30 days before sailing, but info here says at about the time of final payment. And also, in general (understanding this varies somewhat), is it likely to be a good amount of cabins in total? Just trying to understand how the system works.

[dickinson]

@cynbar Read what AtlantaCruiser72 said.  I agree with her that Princess does not give blocks of rooms to TA's.  I have booked with my TA who said she had group space but I picked my cabin from Princess.com.  

Edited March 31 by dickinson

[AtlantaCruiser72]

@cynbar with Princess, Holland and Cunard the only time blocks of cabins are held are for affinity groups, the majority of which are under 50 cabins, require a group contract to be signed by the group leader and travel agent, have a bulk deposit, second deposit, review/recall dates etc.   The cruise line limits the # of affinity groups and their sizes on each sailing (the number varies bu ship/sail date/region)  Depending on the sailing the “recall” dates can happen at 150, 120, 90 & 60 etc days when the agent (or group leader) can choose to buy the unsold cabins rather than have them recalled into inventory.  Affinity groups will have a set number of cabins contracted in specific categories and may or may not have specific cabin #s allocated at the time initial contract and bulk deposit are paid (depends on the group).  
 

Affinity groups are NOT the same as agent open/promotional group rates or contract rates which have no specific inventory associated with them. When agents book individual cabins into open/promotional group space they are booking into the same inventory pool as everyone else subject to what is available at the moment in time the booking is created/deposited.  Open/promotional group space is a set rate by the cruise line and covered multiple letter codes/categories and depending on the current publicly available rates/promotions may be higher or lower. 
 

This is all specific to the above mentioned cruise lines. Royal, Celebrity and NCL have slightly different open/promotional policies than Princess, Holland and Cunard

[F355c5]

56 minutes ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

@cynbar with Princess, Holland and Cunard the only time blocks of cabins are held are for affinity groups, the majority of which are under 50 cabins, require a group contract to be signed by the group leader and travel agent, have a bulk deposit, second deposit, review/recall dates etc.   The cruise line limits the # of affinity groups and their sizes on each sailing (the number varies bu ship/sail date/region)  Depending on the sailing the “recall” dates can happen at 150, 120, 90 & 60 etc days when the agent (or group leader) can choose to buy the unsold cabins rather than have them recalled into inventory.  Affinity groups will have a set number of cabins contracted in specific categories and may or may not have specific cabin #s allocated at the time initial contract and bulk deposit are paid (depends on the group).  
 

Affinity groups are NOT the same as agent open/promotional group rates or contract rates which have no specific inventory associated with them. When agents book individual cabins into open/promotional group space they are booking into the same inventory pool as everyone else subject to what is available at the moment in time the booking is created/deposited.  Open/promotional group space is a set rate by the cruise line and covered multiple letter codes/categories and depending on the current publicly available rates/promotions may be higher or lower. 
 

This is all specific to the above mentioned cruise lines. Royal, Celebrity and NCL have slightly different open/promotional policies than Princess, Holland and Cunard

Thanks 

lots of information 

[capriccio]

8 hours ago, dickinson said:

 I agree with her that Princess does not give blocks of rooms to TA's.  I have booked with my TA who said she had group space but I picked my cabin from Princess.com.  

We have had the same experience.  In those cases, I tell my TA what cabin category and location we want (usually down to the exact cabin) and she will come back with her discounted fare plus an OBC from her because her agency had group space.  If we aren't offered OBC we know she didn't have group space on that cruise,

Edited April 1 by capriccio

[dickinson]

8 hours ago, capriccio said:

We have had the same experience.  In those cases, I tell my TA what cabin category and location we want (usually down to the exact cabin) and she will come back with her discounted fare plus an OBC from her because her agency had group space.  If we aren't offered OBC we know she didn't have group space on that cruise,

Maybe we have the same TA 😉. I got mine from someone who used to post often on this site.

[Coral]

21 hours ago, F355c5 said:

So with that that information, what exactly does a sold out statement from the princess website actually mean? Are all TA cabins counted in that sold out statement?

I know when my agent has group space and a sailing is popular and sold out - Princess recalls her group space with written notice to the agent. They may tell her "you have 2 weeks before we recall your group space".

 

So it is possible an agent may have space if a sailing is sold out but Princess is not going to let the agent sit on the cabins for that long if the cruise is very popular and sold out.

 

I have seen when my agent has access to categories which Princess has listed as sold out though. When agents get group space, they lock in the price of certain categories. So if Princess increases the cost of that category, the agent may have the category at a lower rate based on when they locked in their group space. 

Edited April 1 by Coral

[F355c5]

One final question,when all cabins are returned by the travel agents to princess,do they reopen the availability of these cabins on their web site?

[dickinson]

1 hour ago, F355c5 said:

One final question,when all cabins are returned by the travel agents to princess,do they reopen the availability of these cabins on their web site?

Yes.

[F355c5]

Great to hear 

thanks

[F355c5]

Solved my problem ,got a upgrade bidding on vista suite.

Thanks all