Holland America cabin availability

[Queen of my Heart]

I have never ocean cruised before but some friends of mine have suggested that I join them on a HAL cruise in the Mediterranean next month. I've looked at the HAL website plus some specialist travel agencies but they all seem to indicate that the balcony cabins are all booked. My question is this? Does HAL hold back cabins and release them in batches or are they all "launched" at the same time at the start of the season? I am a total newbie at ocean crusing so any info/advice would be very welcome. Many thanks.

[POA1]

The ship inventory department will be actively working on upgrades this close to sailing. They were probably working on it for a while now. If the website is showing no availability, you can probably get on the wait list for a verandah, but I would not count on clearing it.

[CruiserBruce]

21 minutes ago, Queen of my Heart said:

I have never ocean cruised before but some friends of mine have suggested that I join them on a HAL cruise in the Mediterranean next month. I've looked at the HAL website plus some specialist travel agencies but they all seem to indicate that the balcony cabins are all booked. My question is this? Does HAL hold back cabins and release them in batches or are they all "launched" at the same time at the start of the season? I am a total newbie at ocean crusing so any info/advice would be very welcome. Many thanks.

There are so many variables to this question as to be impossible to answer. Is the cruise being sold as a B2B, as well as a single cruise? Or, as I dealt with yesterday booking a cruise, is this cruise being sold in 15 day, 19 day and 20 day versions? The cruise I just booked yesterday is being sold in that set up, and it showed very few cabins available for booking...23 months out!!!

 

There could be a group on board that is allotted XX of cabins, and they haven't yet returned unsold cabins.

 

Most importantly for your situation, you can't see how many guarantee bookings there are. A month before sailing, the cruise line is about to start assigning those, and doing upsells and upgrades to fill the ship.

[seagarsmoker]

The cabins that are available from day 1. If the ship is sold out, you can be put on a list for any cancelations. Call HAL and ask.