Coral Princess Overbooked ?

[negc]

Folks we know, left yesterday for a cruisetour of Alaska which begins with the land portion today followed by their cruise on the Coral Princess. TODAY, their TA received a fax from Princess offering them a significant premium if they were willing to change this cruise for one in September!!! A bit late since they are already in Alaska and actually on the train.:rolleyes: Did Princess overbook the ship and, if so, why did they wait until now to try to rectify the situation. Our friends might have considered the change if it had come in a timely fashion. Did anyone else receive a similar offer? Is overbooking a common occurence on Princess and other lines? Does Princess' right hand know what its left hand is doing?:(

[Coral]

Overbooking is very common. Of my last 4 cruises, 3 of them have been overbooked and we have received offers to switch sailings. I have received several other offers on other cruises also.

 

Princess makes offers to so many people. If enough people don't accept, more and better offers are often made. I have received offers 2 days before the cruise before. The incentives keep going up as the time gets closer to the cruise.

 

The fact that they were on the land portion does complicate things because that is when they are often making calls (several days before the cruise).

[BaumD]

Received a similar offer three days before a cruise on the Golden last April.

[keukamom2]

We are sailing on the repositioning cruise on the Coral in September. Do they always find enough people to delay their cruise to accomodate everyone? We have guaranteed rooms, would hate to be told "sorry, no room "!!!

[Coral]

We are sailing on the repositioning cruise on the Coral in September. Do they always find enough people to delay their cruise to accomodate everyone? We have guaranteed rooms, would hate to be told "sorry, no room "!!!

 

Yes they do. They just keep increases the incentives until they have enough people. Don't worry about your guaranteed rooms.

[negc]

On our over 30 cruises on other lines we have never once experienced an overbooking situation. Yet reading these boards it appears to be a not uncommon experience with Princess although we have sailed with the line on three occasions without encountering it either. Seems to be something wrong if they regularly overbook their cruises to the extent that they have to make subsantial offers to get people to change their sailing to free up the double booked rooms. In this day of computer technology, and especially since final payments on the majority of their staterooms must be made a couple of months prior to the sailing date, it would seem that they could keep better track of their remaining inventory to avoid such problems.:rolleyes:

[Cruisin' Chick]

The day before our first Princess cruise, we received a message on our answering machine saying that our cruise was overbooked and they were wondering if we would postpone our cruise for a few weeks in exchange for a full refund and an upgrade to a balcony cabin (from an inside, probably the lowest category). If not, don't worry, we'll still have our cabin.

 

We didn't take them up on the offer as we didn't pay much to begin with (employee's discount from someone who worked for my hubby at the time), we didn't want a balcony as we had an active 5-yr-old, we had already packed and just needed to load up the car for the 50 mile trip to San Pedro, already had the girl's kinder homework. I imagine they probably kept asking until they found people who wanted to end up with a free cruise and had a flexible schedule (and no flight to change).

[Cruisin' Chick]

As for why there was a over-booking, who knows. You would think they would only so as many cabins as they have. The only thing we could come with back then was that the security level had just gone up to Orange and perhaps Princess wanted to add some security people aboard and needed some open cabins. But then, it could have been booking errors with the computers and personnel.

[bdjam]

While I don’t know that there haven’t been altercations at the pier for over-booked cruises, Princess has been in business for over 40 years and their booking processes seem to work for them. Perhaps the booking protocol is what keeps their ships sailing full and keeps them the most profitable of all of the Carnival Corporation cruise lines. As long as a passenger isn't left at the pier - because the offers to rebook are attractive and taken by others - does it make a difference?

For a cruise line that is regularly accused of shoddy business practices and customer relations, Princess certainly seems to do well.

[negc]

While I don’t know that there haven’t been altercations at the pier for over-booked cruises, Princess has been in business for over 40 years and their booking processes seem to work for them. Perhaps the booking protocol is what keeps their ships sailing full and keeps them the most profitable of all of the Carnival Corporation cruise lines. As long as a passenger isn't left at the pier - because the offers to rebook are attractive and taken by others - does it make a difference?

 

For a cruise line that is regularly accused of shoddy business practices and customer relations, Princess certainly seems to do well.

 

You could be correct, though I don't know if, in fact, Princess is the most profitable line in the Carnival universe, but in this day and age it does seem that they should be better able to control their inventory. I imagine their profits would be even higher if they weren't giving away free cruises or substantial onboard credits because they don't know until the last minute that they have double booked cabins. It certainly doesn't do a lot for their image to be calling passengers at the last minute to ask them to change the date of their cruise because it is overbooked. I suppose some might see it as proof of their popularity, while others would view it as something approaching incompetence. You would at least think that they wouldn't be calling passengers' TAs after the passengers have already left home, have used Princess air, and are on a Princess land tour in Alaska.:rolleyes:

 

I didn't realize that Princess is "regularly accused of shoddy business practices" and I wouldn't think that they would care to have that be their image, especially among their fans and supporters.

 

As far as customer service goes, I can't think of very many major corporations that get high marks in that regard, certainly not those that regularly deal with the general public.;)

[sultan_sfo]

These incentive offers are in fact a VALIDATION of excellent inventory management. There are cancellations upto a few weeks before sailing and Princess is using a good model to sail full AND profit from the cancellation penalties. The cost of incentives are fully offset by the revenues from those sailings that sail full because of the inventory management model used by Princess and for which no incentives need to be offered. /Sultan

 

... but in this day and age it does seem that they should be better able to control their inventory. I imagine their profits would be even higher if they weren't giving away free cruises or substantial onboard credits because they don't know until the last minute that they have double booked cabins. ...

[Coral]

Overbooking is a common practice in many industries - think about airlines and hotels. Both frequently overbook their space also.

[alwayscoldmom]

We had a group of cabins booked in June on the Sapphire. They did call the TA about having the inside cabins rebook on a different cruise. (One of the insides was a quad and personally I think that was the one they really wanted). My mom did try and play lets make a deal but Princess didn't really want the cabins that bad, because they didn't want to deal. Long story short we went had a great time, and you would never guess that there was an issue at all.

 

The only real effect it had on me is to make me really worried about booking a gty cabin in the future! That being said, if it hadn't been a family trip I would have jumped at the chance to get two balcony's in Alaska for the price of one!

 

Have a great time on your Oct. cruise :) Still waiting for some folks to drop out so I can jump on board!

[OnlyCruises]

They overbook so when people cancel the ship can still sail full. If fewer than expected cancel they offer incentives to get someone to rebook. The money lost in incentives is made up by selling every room.

[negc]

They overbook so when people cancel the ship can still sail full. If fewer than expected cancel they offer incentives to get someone to rebook. The money lost in incentives is made up by selling every room.

 

If people cancel after final payment is due, they forfeit the whole amount and Princess should know at that time how many staterooms are vacant and should be able to keep track and not resell more than are available. They shouldn't be in a situation where they are still trying to free up staterooms within days of departure. If this is, as some people on here claim, a fairly regular procedure, perhaps Princess should rework its formula so that a better balance can be achieved. :rolleyes:

[Coral]

 

The only real effect it had on me is to make me really worried about booking a gty cabin in the future! That being said, if it hadn't been a family trip I would have jumped at the chance to get two balcony's in Alaska for the price of one!

 

There really isn't a problem with booking a guarantee cabin. To my knowledge - Princess doesn't "involuntairly bump people". Those who have offers can either accept them or turn them down and sail.

 

Of the times I have had offers made to me, I have had assigned cabins.

[negc]

These incentive offers are in fact a VALIDATION of excellent inventory management. There are cancellations upto a few weeks before sailing and Princess is using a good model to sail full AND profit from the cancellation penalties. The cost of incentives are fully offset by the revenues from those sailings that sail full because of the inventory management model used by Princess and for which no incentives need to be offered. /Sultan

 

Good inventory management would mean that the number of cabins cancelled pretty much matched the number of overbookings and would obviate the need in most instances to offer incentives when their projections are seriously out of whack. It takes a good bit of onboard revenue to offset a $1500 shipboard credit offered someone to give up his or her stateroom. Cruises are also planned and booked far further in advance than most hotel rooms or air flights and overbooking in those industries won't usually be as disruptive to one's vacation plans as overbooking a cruise will be.

[Coral]

It takes a good bit of onboard revenue to offset a $1500 shipboard credit offered someone to give up his or her stateroom.

 

There is probably a lot more behind the scenes than this.

 

One example was my Alaskan cruise in May 2004. The cruise was mid-May and appeared to be pretty empty when I booked it at the end of March. All of a sudden it booked up very quickly and was sold out.

 

I was made an offer the week or two before the cruise to receive a free cabin if I switched to July. I didn't and sailed in May under my original booking. What ended up happening was a very large foreign group booked 200 cabins. Well - this booking made the ship become overbooked.

 

If was definitely financially better for Princess to accept this large group (and put the ship in an oversold position and make a few offers to switch to a different week) than to have to further discount their sailings for the next couple of weeks to fill the ship.

 

I have no doubt that Princess runs the numbers and knows which route is financially better for them.

[bdjam]

You could be correct, though I don't know if, in fact, Princess is the most profitable line in the Carnival universe, but in this day and age it does seem that they should be better able to control their inventory. I imagine their profits would be even higher if they weren't giving away free cruises or substantial onboard credits because they don't know until the last minute that they have double booked cabins. It certainly doesn't do a lot for their image to be calling passengers at the last minute to ask them to change the date of their cruise because it is overbooked. I suppose some might see it as proof of their popularity, while others would view it as something approaching incompetence. You would at least think that they wouldn't be calling passengers' TAs after the passengers have already left home, have used Princess air, and are on a Princess land tour in Alaska.:rolleyes:

I don’t know that Princess is incompetent at all – I think the people there know exactly what they are doing. It seems that it would be difficult to keep a fleet as large as Princess’ running at all if the company was as incompetent as claimed here.

I didn't realize that Princess is "regularly accused of shoddy business practices" and I wouldn't think that they would care to have that be their image, especially among their fans and supporters.

Princess is regularly accused of poor customer service by you when it comes to what you think are the shortcomings of the Anytime Dining process.

 

I think Princess has it's idea of what good inventory management is, and it seems they are able to maintain it.

[sultan_sfo]

These are forecasts. Without knowing FACTS, you are making statements that have no basis -- eg "seriously out of whack". Overall, overbookings pretty much matches cancellations. I could recommend some textbooks on Inventory Management Models if you are interested! Let me know your email address! /Sultan

 

Good inventory management would mean that the number of cabins cancelled pretty much matched the number of overbookings and would obviate the need in most instances to offer incentives when their projections are seriously out of whack.

[spongerob]

11 cruises, and never once asked to change. It's easy to be critical of any business when you don't know the details of how the business works. I don't think overbooking is that common, either. You'd think it was a daily occurrence on airlines, for example, but I've only been in two bump situations over many years of air travel. Both worked out great for me (first-class seats, credits towards future flights). I kind of wish it would happen more often!

 

More importantly, no one I'm aware of has ever posted a complaint about an overbooked situation on Princess. They can either say no, or get a great deal in exchange. Sounds like everything is in whack to me.

[stephenandrew]

11 cruises, and never once asked to change. It's easy to be critical of any business when you don't know the details of how the business works. I don't think overbooking is that common, either. You'd think it was a daily occurrence on airlines, for example, but I've only been in two bump situations over many years of air travel. Both worked out great for me (first-class seats, credits towards future flights). I kind of wish it would happen more often!

 

More importantly, no one I'm aware of has ever posted a complaint about an overbooked situation on Princess. They can either say no, or get a great deal in exchange. Sounds like everything is in whack to me.

 

 

Good morning--

I tried to find the thread, but wasn't able to locate it, but I seem to recall a post where someone reported they were involuntarily bumped from a recent Princess Cruise. As I get older, my memory seems to get worse, so I may be mistaken on this point. If I am correct, it is the only time I have heard of such an issue.

Cheers

[Coral]

I haven't heard of anyone being "involuntairly bumped" from a Princess ship.

 

A few years ago - a cruise line was sailing out of Baltimore I believe and they bumed hundreds of passengers (It was either Carnival or Celebrity - sorry, don't remember which). It was an ugly situation.

[stephenandrew]

I haven't heard of anyone being "involuntairly bumped" from a Princess ship.

 

A few years ago - a cruise line was sailing out of Baltimore I believe and they bumed hundreds of passengers (It was either Carnival or Celebrity - sorry, don't remember which). It was an ugly situation.

 

 

I found the thread I referred to earlier---these folks were "bumped" from the tour portion of their cruise tour so to speak. Not exactly like being bumped from a cruise---my error.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=349949&highlight=overbooked

[Coral]

I found the thread I referred to earlier---these folks were "bumped" from the tour portion of their cruise tour so to speak. Not exactly like being bumped from a cruise---my error.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=349949&highlight=overbooked

 

Thanks - now that you say Tour - I do remember that also.