Does Carnival Really "Always Sail Full"?

[AdGuyMG]

Keep checking for price drops. They will do anything to sell them. On my last cruise I got a $500.00 price drop 4 days before sailing

 

That's a good piece of information right there..

 

You don't mention what specific ship you were on. But lets say that at 4 days before sailing, the ship you are referring to was close to but not quite full. Maybe 10 more cabins to sell? And lets say the ship had an average capacity of 3000 passengers (1500 cabins).

 

With half the ship probably booked Early Saver, Carnival would be in a position of issuing OBC of $500 X 750 cabins. That's $375,000 lost profit to sell 10 cabins.

 

Doesn't make good business sense to me.

[Snorkel2Much]

Self-deleted because it's too off topic.

[megmno]

You don't mention what specific ship you were on. But lets say that at 4 days before sailing, the ship you are referring to was close to but not quite full. Maybe 10 more cabins to sell? And lets say the ship had an average capacity of 3000 passengers (1500 cabins).

 

With half the ship probably booked Early Saver, Carnival would be in a position of issuing OBC of $500 X 750 cabins. That's $375,000 lost profit to sell 10 cabins.

 

Doesn't make good business sense to me.

 

I thought of that too. I'm thinking that Carnival counts on the fact that a lot of people who book ES don't obsess over the rates and keep checking them. Carnival only issues OBC if you spot the price drop and send in the form. So a lot of the people in those 750 ES cabins would not put in for the credit and Carnival would only end up paying a certain smaller percentage of people who were paying attention.

[megmno]

As mentioned above, seeing a cabin as available to book doesn't mean they are all free. Much like looking at a seat map on an air plane, only those cabins and seats that were pre-selected show up as not available. People who book a cabin category (but carnival picks the room) or purchase an airline ticket without picking a seat don't actually have anything assigned to them yet.

 

Simply that Carnival (or the airline) will let those willing to pay the extra pick their room, and the rest will get assigned whatever rooms weren't selected in the end.

 

 

Another good point. Does anyone here know when the GTY cabins are assigned?

 

Unfortunately for me, the last aft wrap cabin that was available got booked this morning, so it's unlikely that we'll get credit on that category. We have an aft wrap and an aft extended balcony. (But really, how often is it that you can book an aft wrap only two weeks before a summer sailing???)

[blondietink]

Is it also true that if you book ES and a category above yours drops to a same or lower price, you can upgrade to that higher category? Or you can get OBC if the higher category ends up being lower priced? :confused:

[Snorkel2Much]

Another good point. Does anyone here know when the GTY cabins are assigned?

 

Unfortunately for me, the last aft wrap cabin that was available got booked this morning, so it's unlikely that we'll get credit on that category. We have an aft wrap and an aft extended balcony. (But really, how often is it that you can book an aft wrap only two weeks before a summer sailing???)

(I posted this earlier but deleted it because it ws a little off topic. This thread is trending this way now so...)

If you booked Early Saver and your Category/Occupancy is sold out, keep checking anyway. A cabin can open up for many reasons:

1) Just before final payment due to hold releases/non-ES cancellations

2) People accepting upsell fairy calls

3) People self-upselling/upgrading due to price drops

4) If you are in a 3 or 4 person room, people who have these rooms booked at a non-ES rate but cancel 1 or 2 of the passengers can get moved to a different occupancy cabin in your category, opening your window again.

5) Pure cancellations

 

I'm sure there are others, so don't give up.

[Rosefloater]

Yes, they always sail full. Pak & Go rates draw out people close enough to drive to the port, with vacation days/retired.

 

Not always. We were on one Paradise cruise that only had 1600 passengers. Granted it was during the Swine Flu cruises. This was before everyone realized how cheap the cruises were selling for. But it was very nice not to have all the crowds everywhere.:D

[Cruzaholic41]

Full in cruiseline earnings jargon means 2 pax to each cabin. Now you and I both know there are some cabins with more than 2 people... hence during earnings carnival can actually say, this past qtr, we sailed at 105 % capacity on average.

 

Another reason is lifeboat capacity. If in the early stages, most of the bookings have 3rd and 4th persons, near the end, they will have to leave cabins open. Full capacity is full capacity, but in most cases, it doesn't mean every room is full.

[livestocruisetoo]

You don't mention what specific ship you were on. But lets say that at 4 days before sailing, the ship you are referring to was close to but not quite full. Maybe 10 more cabins to sell? And lets say the ship had an average capacity of 3000 passengers (1500 cabins).

 

With half the ship probably booked Early Saver, Carnival would be in a position of issuing OBC of $500 X 750 cabins. That's $375,000 lost profit to sell 10 cabins.

 

Doesn't make good business sense to me.

 

Wouldn't that be revenue rather than profit?

[kam2718]

Alright I am a little confused about checking rates.

 

First off I am sailing on the Carnival Liberty on Oct 29th, 2011. There are 2 of us in a

8D balcony cabin. We booked with ES and our total was $1,712.60.

 

Now when checking rates I am guessing I should select 2 travelers? Also when selecting "Your Rate" which one do I select. I can pick "Fun Select"- I can select my own stateroom. Or I can pick "Fun Saver"- Carnival selects my room.

 

When I select "Fun Select" and get prices my 8D balcony category doesn't show. But a few other categories have prices:

Category Total Cabin Amount

Cruise Only

8C $2128.00

8B $2108.00

8A $2058.00

 

So what does that mean? Thanks.