Do travel agents buy blocks of cabins?

Sorry if this has been asked before, but my agent has a few balcony cabins available for me for next year's cruise. I go onto the Carnival website to look up these cabins, but according to the official website, the cabins are unavailable. So, how did my agent get the cabins?

Thanks in advance

Yes, TA's - especially those with relatively large agencies - do reserve blocks of cabins on cruise sailings. That's why, after final payment date for any particular cruise, you will see cabins suddenly become available that were not available previously as the agency releases unsold cabins.

Yes

Groups block cabins. Not specific cabins but so many 6A, 4C, suites etc. The groups are either booked on spec (by the TA, Company or Consortium) or are an established group.

I know when we book a group our TA will open it up to others. We don't know who they are (nor do they who we are). They get most of our perks and we get their cabin for the berth credit. Our berth credit goes to our charity.

Ok, thanks, never knew that.

Yes

 

Groups block cabins. Not specific cabins but so many 6A, 4C, suites etc. The groups are either booked on spec (by the TA, Company or Consortium) or are an established group.

I know when we book a group our TA will open it up to others. We don't know who they are (nor do they who we are). They get most of our perks and we get their cabin for the berth credit. Our berth credit goes to our charity.

Cruising friends told us about a TA doing this for Pride relocation cruise this past March and she did have substantially cheaper prices than what the website offered.

If she didnt sell all the cabins she would return them to Carnival by final payment.

Yes they do block off cabins.

We would just add that the term "buy" does not really apply in this instance. Most of us say that Agencies (and consortiums) "block" out a number of cabins...sometimes by specific type or category. They then market that cruise (and the cabins) often at a discounted price (which is permitted by the cruise line) or with some very decent amenities. At some point (according to their agreement with the cruise line) they will release the unsold cabins (in their block) for normal sale. One reason there are often some great last minute (inside the final payment period) is that reserved blocks get released to the regular inventory and cruise lines sometimes find themselves with too much unsold inventory. At that point they will try various marketing schemes (i.e. sales for new bookings, additional OBCs, major upgrades, etc) in order to sell that unused industry. An unsold cruise ship cabin/berth is what ecomomists call "Opportunity Lost Revenue." Failure to sell those berths means the cruise lines lose all the revenue associated with that berth (cruise fare, on board expenditures) forever! Even selling a last minutes berth at half price will generate more revenue then embarking with an empty bed.

Hank

Our very best cruise offer was a late booking with our on line TA's OBC.

On top of that we got an upgrade and an additional OBC. When I asked the TA she said that we were tacked on to a group. The group name was on the documents but we never did see any evidence of the group. Plus, once on board we had a note delivered to our cabin offering us a free all day excursion in Barbados complete with a very nice lunch.

Have not had one of these since. The total discounts from base commissionable fare amounted to 13 percent, plus we had the upgrade and the excursion thrown in. We can take this all day, any day.

TA said that the agency had pre-purchased a block of cabins. Guess we were just lucky to tag along.

TA's don't actually buy cabins , they block an allotment of categories

at a group rate . Many are Speculative Groups which offer amenities .

If cruise lines need them they may recall some allotment well before final .

Otherwise TA's turn in unsold allotment just before final .

Sorry if this has been asked before, but my agent has a few balcony cabins available for me for next year's cruise. I go onto the Carnival website to look up these cabins, but according to the official website, the cabins are unavailable. So, how did my agent get the cabins?

 

Thanks in advance

The cabins are unavailable on the website because the TA has them reserved to book through the TA. They will not be available on the website until the TA releases them back to the cruise line.

Thank you for all the information. I've been cruising for 14 years and I've always bought from the official website. It amazes me that my TA can get me a much better deal with a more desirable cabin..

Thank you for all the information. I've been cruising for 14 years and I've always bought from the official website. It amazes me that my TA can get me a much better deal with a more desirable cabin..

Quite a few here on CC (including moi) have been advising folks to shop around among reputable cruise agencies to find the best deal. But there are still many who just feel better about booking direct with the cruise line. From our perspective that is simply like giving away money, but some folks really do not seem to care about the dollars.

The bottom line is that it is pretty easy to save 5-10% (and sometimes more) by shopping around.

Hank

Our very best cruise offer was a late booking with our on line TA's OBC.

 

 

 

On top of that we got an upgrade and an additional OBC. When I asked the TA she said that we were tacked on to a group. The group name was on the documents but we never did see any evidence of the group. Plus, once on board we had a note delivered to our cabin offering us a free all day excursion in Barbados complete with a very nice lunch.

 

 

 

Have not had one of these since. The total discounts from base commissionable fare amounted to 13 percent, plus we had the upgrade and the excursion thrown in. We can take this all day, any day.

 

 

 

TA said that the agency had pre-purchased a block of cabins. Guess we were just lucky to tag along.

Even after cabins are released back a TA can still add cabins at the group rate if there are cabins available.