leaveitallbehind

This is actually quite common these days with many cruise lines. But, in my experience, it remains your choice to allow the cruise line to select a stateroom location or have you do it. I am not familiar with a cruise line that only accepts bookings where they assign the staterooms. The offers, when they do this, are typically at a reduced fare as an option, such as a guarantee stateroom. They apparently may also do so in reverse - as your example suggests - where if you let them select the stateroom they will give you an upgraded stateroom category at the lower category fare. But if you opt not to do this, you then would select your own stateroom. This can also occur with upsell, or bid, programs as @Woody14 suggests where after you have secured a booking and selected a stateroom, you can bid on upgraded staterooms if you wish, which the cruise line will assign if your bid is selected. But this is a different program option to the "standard" option to either select your own location or let the cruise line do so at the time of the initial booking.

If you are referring only to upgrades resulting from the bid process offered by some cruise lines, the answer is the available staterooms will go to the highest bidder(s) in each category. Not sure which cruise line to which you are referring, but some lines keep those out of inventory knowing that they will sell through the bid process as this may result in a higher fare than the current prevailing rate. Your "Pending" status may remain until close to the sailing date as that is the timeframe when remaining available inventory will be assigned. Doing so too soon may take some staterooms out of inventory prematurely for potential regular sale. It's all in how the cruise lines manage their inventory as sales continue. So the amount of unsold staterooms at the time still a couple of months ahead of your sailing date doesn't really affect your chances. Specific to you, your chances will depend in large part on how much you bid on the staterooms. Typically those at or close to the suggested minimum will have little or no chance as there will always be higher bids. But be careful and check the current prevailing rate on those categories when placing your bid so that you don't bid more in combination with your current category fare than you could purchase them directly. Although in the long run, that's exactly what the cruise lines hope happens. They wouldn't offer this type of program unless they were to realize profitable sales from it. Current cruise bookings are very high and most cruises will sail full. The cruise lines don't have to discount their fares - or worry about selling unsold staterooms through a bid process at lower than published rates. Just the opposite.

In fairness I have never sailed on MSC so I would not have direct experience regarding them as your option. However that by no means would suggest they would not be a good choice as I'm sure they would be. Just look closely at the venues and offerings to see if that would suit your expectations. I would recommend that with any cruise line. I would, however, suggest that you may also want to look at Celebrity in terms of cruising style based on some of your comments. If you were interested in looking at them, be aware that there has been some recent controversy over how some of their solo pricing was determined. My recent searches did not confirm that, but that doesn't mean it didn't exist. But I think the best way to confirm that for you would be to look at an itinerary you are interested in and do mock bookings for a solo cruiser in a standard double occupancy stateroom as well as their dedicated solo staterooms (on Apex class ships) for comparison and make your own determination. Whatever you end up with, enjoy your first cruise!

Good point. My reference regarding the lesser importance of having that information was with the tour's return timing itself - not thinking of individuals as you describe who fail to return to the bus at the appointed time.

This is particularly important if you are on and independent, non-ship sponsored tour where if there is an issue with returning, you can contact them to notify the ship of your situation. This of course does not guarantee the Captain will wait for you if you are significantly delayed, but it will at least make them aware of your situation and possibly provide a way to get assistance. This is not as critical with ship sponsored tours.

Perhaps if you could provide a little more detail about yourself and what your first cruise expectations are it would help with better responses. What age group are you in? Do you enjoy partying or prefer more quiet entertainment? Would you prefer to be around adults or families with children? Etc. The reason I ask is that most of the different cruise lines target different primary demographics with different on board venues to cater to that. Some offer the mega-ships that are more like floating amusement parks while others offer more mid-sized ships with a more sedate cruising environment. Royal Caribbean, Disney, and NCL, as examples, have families with children as their primary demographics with mega-ships at their core and most of their ships have venues to address that - water slides, rock climbing walls, bumper cars, etc. Celebrity and Princess are oriented more towards adults and have none of those "activities" on board. Their ships tend to be more mid-sized with less passengers with more of a pure cruising environment. Carnival "fun ships" are typically that with a lot of younger oriented activities along with those for families with children. They also feature mega-ships. MSC is an Italian based cruise line with a predominantly Italian crew and caters to a broad base of demographics with families as a focus. Their ships range from mid-sized to mega. HAL is mostly older adults with mid-sized ships. Etc., etc. So without knowing more about you and what you like, etc., it is going to be very difficult to respond with good information about what a good idea for a first cruise would be. One thing you should note is that as a solo cruiser, with most cruise lines your typical fare would essentially be the double occupancy fare for two in a stateroom, less one set of port fees and taxes. There are cruise lines (NCL / Celebrity as examples) that offer dedicated solo staterooms at a reduced solo rate that you may want to consider. My best suggestion would be to contact a live human travel agent who specializes in cruises and discuss your expectations with them and let them determine which cruise lines would be the best fits for you to consider. They would be in the best position to accurately assist you. Good luck with your first cruise. As with most of us, it will not likely be your last!

That would seem to make sense. Still some time before the itinerary you reference, so anything can happen. But that also gives the cruise line a lot of time to plan for any contingency and work around any additional delays resulting from sailing around Africa. Maybe an itinerary in advance may need changed or cancelled, or something along those lines, but ship and crew safety will obviously trump all else.

Having the ship go around Africa would be one option, I guess. Or if that was not feasible and they needed to reposition the ship, they could possibly transit the ship through the canal via a base crew only with no passengers as another. I honestly don't know but they certainly would not put passengers in harms way. Not sure about any refund because the ending port changes. That would depend on the booking contract's fine print, I guess, but port and itinerary changes happen all the time due to weather and other issues and typically only port fees and taxes are refunded for any ports missed. Sometimes a goodwill gesture of a discount on a future cruise would be offered. The low fare would most likely be a result of this being a repositioning cruise, and not related to the region or the current issues being faced there. Most repositioning cruises are attractively priced.

I agree but, flights not withstanding, I would also be surprised if a cruise line actually would confirm an itinerary that would place one of its ships, passengers, and crew in significant danger. I would be curious to see if the referenced itinerary gets changed or cancelled over the coming months unless the region regains stability.

So is August - the OP's planned cruise timeframe. And to further echo the comments by @Mum2Mercury, hurricane season only refers to the seasonal timeframe (June 1 - November 30) when conditions are most favorable for storm development, not that they will occur with certainty. Clearly during those months historically many have occurred, however. I guess we have been fortunate as we have taken many cruises over our 32 year cruising experience during hurricane season and have never had any cruise or itinerary directly affected by one. Not to say it can't or won't happen at some point.

Viking Ocean cruises has extensive itineraries in that region. I would also look at Silversea and Oceana - smaller ships. Not sure what your previous cruise line choices have been, but all of these companies, however, are premium cruise lines, which will have premium fares v the mass market lines. Value comparisons would be in order IMO in determining resulting total budget.

To follow up on my previous response, I would also now look to find a "brick and mortar" travel agent - aka a live human - who focuses on cruises and talk with them about your preferred cruise lines and let them review your general itinerary preferences and cruise expectations. They can best assist with narrowing down to the best alternatives. I'm sure, given this narrowed list, they would probably have a good sense of when new itinerary releases would likely be announced with each and would be more than happy to put a tickler in their system for each one to look for itineraries within your targeted timeframe to assist with your search. They can then work on finding the best fares for and on board benefits for select sailings and assist you with your booking.

This is not necessarily true as in our experience many 8-day cruises depart on a Saturday and return on the next weeks' Sunday. (These are frequently followed by 6-day Sunday - Saturday cruises. This 8 / 6 cycle often repeats allowing for weekend to weekend itineraries for both). Again, in our experience, this has 8-day itineraries similar to 7-day ones in terms of the likelihood of families with children on board. 9+ day cruises would cut into two weeks and would have the greater likelihood of less children and older demographics, depending on cruise line. Not challenging you - just pointing out what our experience has been.

I just looked as well and you are right - they most certainly are! Glad to be corrected. But, as mentioned previously, I still can't imagine the resulting humidity in the stateroom from the hot circulating water when in use!

This may vary by cruise line, but in general as a guide, most cruise itineraries are released seasonally about 18 - 24 months prior to their departure. The information provided by @Essiesmom is a good suggestion to help with this. The travel agent suggesting you check each cruise line's website that you are interested in periodically is actually a valid way for you to see what is released and when as they all don't necessarily release them at the same time, and there are many cruise lines and thousands of itineraries to choose from. That may be a lot to ask a TA to watch for! A TA can assist and will do that as well, but it would be more helpful for them to know what cruise lines you are primarily interested in - as the many in the industry differ from each other in primary demographics on board, standard v premium service and price, itineraries offered, size of ships, etc., etc. Talk with an agent (human, not on line) and let them know your budget, cruising style (adults v families with children etc.), targeted timeline, etc., and let them help you narrow down your preferences and they can then watch for releases with those few cruise lines that would fit you the best. If you know that already, share that with them and I'm sure they can better advise you as to when new itineraries will be released with them, and will be glad to assist in your watch.

I believe I understand what you mean by this, but maybe some don't. To clarify, a ship will never sail "over capacity" as the total capacity is strictly limited by the total passenger lifeboat capacity. As such, this number can never be exceeded, so a ship can only sail as a maximum at this capacity. But what will definitely happen is that double occupancy capacity will be reached, and then 3rd and 4th passengers (typically families) will exceed that capacity in staterooms equipped for that, and the actual capacity will then be somewhere between exceeding double occupancy capacity and maximum passenger lifeboat capacity. But never "over capacity". (See the Icon of the Seas example in my first response on this thread). Not challenging - just clarifying.

Just as a side note, Princess has one of the better air programs with flexibility of flight changes, air points application, and delayed payment. RCCL / Celebrity is also very good in the same regards, although they do not process air points towards their bookings. However, they often are very competitive with international fares. We use them frequently with our cruise bookings as a result with very good success.

It also would be dependent upon which cruise line you are sailing. For instance, NCL, Disney, and RCCL's primary demographics is families and the likelihood of a lot of children on board then would IMO still be pretty high. MSC would likely fit with them pretty well also. 8 nights is still a relatively short cruise when it comes to families with children, even that time of year close to the resumption of school. If you were on a 9 or 10 night+, for instance, that likelihood would diminish. Other lines such as Celebrity and Princess's primary demographics is adults, with HAL as older adults. While all of these can have children included, there is a lower likelihood with them. In general in that timeframe IMO, I think you may be in for a fair amount of pre-teens and teenagers on board, especially if you are booked on any one of the first four cruise lines mentioned. Usually they are involved with ship-planned activities in certain venues, so hopefully that would keep the "running around" to a minimum. Most of these lines also have an under age 18 curfew of around 1:00 AM, however. But either way, enjoy your first cruise. It likely won't be your last.

I would think the worst sensation would be waking up and stumbling out of bed in the first place, if after a night as you describe.......

If you booked through a TA you can also ask them close to sailing as they have access to the cruise line booking tool which will show remaining availability - at least as released from inventory at that time by the cruise line - in each stateroom category. Again, not a perfect science and although it would not show a passenger count, it would show what is open if, for instance, you were making a last minute booking. If all categories are closed, you can assume it is full, at least to double occupancy capacity. I would only do this if you dealt with a live person and, IMO out of respect for their time, know them well enough to feel comfortable asking.

The cruise lines are obligated to report on board purchase that reach (or exceed) a certain threshold on board per passenger. Might be duty free on board but will be subject to US application once disembarking,.

Most cruises today are sailing fully booked. But this information is not released by most cruise lines in advance of any given itinerary. As suggested, one way to get an idea is to do mock bookings on different stateroom categories close to the sailing date to see availability and closed categories. But this would only provide a guestimate. There is also a difference between full at double occupancy booking and full to maximum lifeboat capacity. The latter is reached with double occupancy bookings plus additional individual stateroom capacity for 3rd and 4th passengers up to the maximum allowable passenger lifeboat capacity. Using the newly launched Icon of the Seas, as example, double occupancy booking is 5,610, but maximum capacity is 7,600, which would also be the maximum passenger lifeboat capacity. But to answer your question, expect the ship to sail full with little or know empty staterooms and likely a manifest total somewhere north of double occupancy total booking.

Which is interesting as many drivers drive for both. I guess they just decide which they want to accept when a driver request comes in.

Pool towels will be provided for you on board daily. There should be a pick up / drop off location near the pools and I believe they will be in your stateroom as well when you first board the ship.

Suggest you also ask this on the FL Departures board at this link: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/386-florida-departures/ But in general, there are several public transportation shuttles that run between MCO and Port Canaveral. You might just have to google it to see current options. There also is Uber and Lyft that are readily available for pick up at MCO as well. "Best" option would be based on your preference and budget as the public shuttles may be lest costly, but will be multi-passenger vehicles that will wait until they are filled to depart. Obviously Uber and Lyft will be just the opposite. There are also several name brand hotels that are down A1A south of the port that you could look at, most of which also offer shuttles to the port for their guests. Again, google / google maps can show you the area as well as hotels that are there.