Cabin distribution for overlapping B2B cruises

[3rdGenCunarder]

I'm booked on a Caribbean cruise (11 nights) for this winter. For months now, it has been nearly sold out while other cruises are not. HAL offers this one on its own or B2B with the cruise before or B2B with the cruise after. Cabin availability varies when I do dummy bookings for these variations. There are no midship verandas for my cruise, but there are plenty on the B2B combo with the cruise after mine. 

 

So is HAL offering fewer cabins on the 11-night cruise to give the longer (more $$$) cruises more availability?

 

[Cruise Suzy]

7 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

I'm booked on a Caribbean cruise (11 nights) for this winter. For months now, it has been nearly sold out while other cruises are not. HAL offers this one on its own or B2B with the cruise before or B2B with the cruise after. Cabin availability varies when I do dummy bookings for these variations. There are no midship verandas for my cruise, but there are plenty on the B2B combo with the cruise after mine. 

 

So is HAL offering fewer cabins on the 11-night cruise to give the longer (more $$$) cruises more availability?

 

 

It varies from ship to ship and cruise(s) to cruise(s) which staterooms are assigned to which cruise. If the stateroom you want on a "combined" itinerary is still available on the two cruises that make it up, you can have your TA or PCC ask Ship Inventory to move it to the longer itinerary. Have done it without any problem. Not sure if HAL would be willing to sell a stateroom for just part, so the reverse might not work.

[Hlitner]

Yield Management is a combination of algorithms and educated guessing.  HAL, and other lines do allocations for various back-to-back combinations.  The cabin allocations are generally adjusted based on bookings,  It can also be helpful to use a high volume cruise agent/agency that has some good relationships with a cruise line.  Sometimes, they are able ot use their clout/friends to free-up a previously unavailable cabin.

 

I also think that HAL creates a real inventory problem with its low deposit ($99) sales.  Plenty of cruisers will simply reserve multiple cruises, when there are low refundable deposits, with the intent of later cancelling most.  As the time for final payment nears, the cancellations increase, and cabins are put back into inventory.  

 

Hank

 

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

Yield Management is a combination of algorithms and educated guessing.  HAL, and other lines do allocations for various back-to-back combinations.  The cabin allocations are generally adjusted based on bookings,  It can also be helpful to use a high volume cruise agent/agency that has some good relationships with a cruise line.  Sometimes, they are able ot use their clout/friends to free-up a previously unavailable cabin.

 

I also think that HAL creates a real inventory problem with its low deposit ($99) sales.  Plenty of cruisers will simply reserve multiple cruises, when there are low refundable deposits, with the intent of later cancelling most.  As the time for final payment nears, the cancellations increase, and cabins are put back into inventory.  

 

Hank

 

 

 

I'm satisfied with the balcony cabin I have, but I'm going to be haunting the website around final payment hoping one of those wonderful aft balconies opens up.

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

I'm satisfied with the balcony cabin I have, but I'm going to be haunting the website around final payment hoping one of those wonderful aft balconies opens up.

I think many would say that DW and I are somewhat weird, because we avoid aft cabins like the plague!  In fact, it is our least favorite location on any ship.  Why?  The aft is near the props and the props can cause strange vibrations (often due to cavitation) and sometimes a very annoying shimmy (the ship feels like it is shifting side to side).  On some ships, the crew area at the aft is also a smoking area and that smoke tends to drift up and sometimes get sucked into the aft balconies.  But what makes DW and I ever more weird is we are quite happy with cabin near the bow.  Go figure :).

 

We do understand that aft balconies are prized by many (we have tried them a few times).  Just not for us.  It is interesting that some of the luxury ships (such as with Seabourn and Silversea) do not even have aft cabins.  In fact, the Seabourn ships have all their cabins in the front half of their ships.  And if you have ever been on a Superyacht, the owners suites are almost always near the bow.

 

Hank

[sunviking90]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

I think many would say that DW and I are somewhat weird, because we avoid aft cabins like the plague!  In fact, it is our least favorite location on any ship.  Why?  The aft is near the props and the props can cause strange vibrations (often due to cavitation) and sometimes a very annoying shimmy (the ship feels like it is shifting side to side).  On some ships, the crew area at the aft is also a smoking area and that smoke tends to drift up and sometimes get sucked into the aft balconies.  But what makes DW and I ever more weird is we are quite happy with cabin near the bow.  Go figure :).

 

We do understand that aft balconies are prized by many (we have tried them a few times).  Just not for us.  It is interesting that some of the luxury ships (such as with Seabourn and Silversea) do not even have aft cabins.  In fact, the Seabourn ships have all their cabins in the front half of their ships.  And if you have ever been on a Superyacht, the owners suites are almost always near the bow.

 

Hank

Aft balconies also have the poorest air quality of any areas on the ship. That black soot that sometimes appears on furniture is also being inhaled.

I know most people love them, and we used to prize them too, until I read about the air quality.

[3rdGenCunarder]

I have never had soot or smoke issues in an aft cabin, even deck 8. 

 

I used to sail in cabins toward the aft on QE2. When she was accelerating out of port, the vibrations could shake your fillings loose! But vibrations never bother me, it's a sign that I'm riding on a powerful machine. I think the pod ships have less vibration than the old direct-drive ships.

 

Shimmy can be annoying, but I've rarely had to deal with that. What I don't like is the cavitation, which was an issue on K'dam. It didn't cause vibrations, it caused banging. In a "following sea," the ship would pitch and when the stern hit the water, it slammed down with a jarring BANG! The randomness of it made the banging more annoying. Ordinary pitch is rhythmic and I don't mind that at all. Never had that slambang on a Vista. Only on K'dam. I love the view of the wake, but never again on K'dam. 

 

Just looked at my  journal from my second time on K'dam, midships. I wrote about annoying shimmying on that trip. I swear, that ship has the worst ride of any I've been on.

Edited August 19 by 3rdGenCunarder

[Sea42]

7 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

So is HAL offering fewer cabins on the 11-night cruise to give the longer (more $$$) cruises more availability?

I found the opposite for our 2026 cruise. The cabin I wanted was available for the 10 or 11 day cruises but not for the 21 days. My TA had no problem getting the cabin I wanted but it was not available for booking on the website.

[Hlitner]

10 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

I have never had soot or smoke issues in an aft cabin, even deck 8. 

 

I used to sail in cabins toward the aft on QE2. When she was accelerating out of port, the vibrations could shake your fillings loose! But vibrations never bother me, it's a sign that I'm riding on a powerful machine. I think the pod ships have less vibration than the old direct-drive ships.

 

Shimmy can be annoying, but I've rarely had to deal with that. What I don't like is the cavitation, which was an issue on K'dam. It didn't cause vibrations, it caused banging. In a "following sea," the ship would pitch and when the stern hit the water, it slammed down with a jarring BANG! The randomness of it made the banging more annoying. Ordinary pitch is rhythmic and I don't mind that at all. Never had that slambang on a Vista. Only on K'dam. I love the view of the wake, but never again on K'dam. 

Lets be honest that different cruisers have different likes/dislikes.  When it comes to cabins/suites that is a good thing since more folks can be satisfied.  Funny thing is that we have an upcoming Seabourn cruise (we love that line) where we simply booked the lowest category balcony suite (Category V1) and did our usual guarantee.  We often do not choose a suite because, on that line, they are all identical and we really could care less about the location.  Seabourn offered us 3 different upsell options, all of which we quickly rejected (why pay more for location).  When we finally got our suite assignment, it was the highest category (V4) on one of the highest passenger decks (mid ship).  Our reaction was, darn, because it is further away from "Seabourn Square" where I get my morning cappuccino.  My cruise agent (who has over 30 years experience) told me it was one of the best upgrades she had ever seen on that line.  My reaction was a lesser upgrade would have been a lot better :).  

 

I once wrote, here on CC, about what I call something of a "con" how the cruise industry has always convinced folks that the best cabin location is on the highest deck, amidships.  To me, those high deck cabins/suites are often not so good because they get noise from the pool deck and/or upper deck bars.  I do get that folks like amidship cabins because they are the best for the least motion, but that would be the lowest cabins amidships.  The higher the deck, the more the motion.  But for whatever reason. cruisers want to be on the highest decks and are willing to pay extra.  It is now the same with the aft cabins which have developed a lot of fans.  

 

Consider the construction of modern cruise ships.  The engines (which generate not only power but noise/vibration) are always arrayed amidships.  The props (which generate cavitation/vibration and even noise) are towards the aft.  But forward, near the bow, there arei usually veryfew mechanical systems other than the bow thrusters and anchor windless which are only used when nearing a port.  There is also very little foot traffic in the corridors forward of the forward elevators.  The downside of the bow area is that it will get more movement in rough seas, but to DW and me the movement is something that just rocks us to sleep :).  Call me cruise ship "contrarian"  LOL.

 

Hank