A Very Odd Thing.

[garigoun]

Out of idle curiosity I was perusing the Cunard site and spotted a Christmas cruise which I put on my wish list. Already had my goodies for this year so it's just pie in the sky. But the pricing went up by £140 in the short time I was on the site. Plus the pricing didn't seem to be at all logical (well it is Cunard).

 

OK so here it is, or was before it all went up.

 

Voyage M233A Soton-NYC. NYC-Carib.-NYC. NYC-Soton. Date Dec 12th ex Soton

Price inside £4083.

 

Now book 3 separate cruises.

Soton-NYC £769.

Carib. Leg. £2169.

NYC-Soton £769.

Total £3707.

 

Now book as two cruises.

Soton-NYC £769

NYC-Carib.-NYC-Soton. £2589

Total £3358.

 

The £769 fare went up to £909 as I browsed.

 

Very very odd. Not that i'm going mores the pity but still - very odd.

Gari

[capnpugwash]

Out of idle curiosity I was perusing the Cunard site and spotted a Christmas cruise which I put on my wish list. Already had my goodies for this year so it's just pie in the sky. But the pricing went up by £140 in the short time I was on the site. Plus the pricing didn't seem to be at all logical (well it is Cunard).

 

OK so here it is, or was before it all went up.

 

Voyage M233A Soton-NYC. NYC-Carib.-NYC. NYC-Soton. Date Dec 12th ex Soton

Price inside £4083.

 

Now book 3 separate cruises.

Soton-NYC £769.

Carib. Leg. £2169.

NYC-Soton £769.

Total £3707.

 

Now book as two cruises.

Soton-NYC £769

NYC-Carib.-NYC-Soton. £2589

Total £3358.

 

The £769 fare went up to £909 as I browsed.

 

Very very odd. Not that i'm going mores the pity but still - very odd.

Gari

 

Gari, there is no logic to the fare structure indeed. Sometimes it is cheaper to book a BTB as 1 trip and other times it is significantly cheaper and with OBC to book it as 2 trips. There is no hard and fast rule though but I like the live price increase.

[BlueRiband]

There is probably some algorithm that automatically adjusts prices according to the booking demand. If x number of staterooms sell within a certain time than prices can go up because the market demand will support that pricing. On the flip side, if y number of staterooms remain unsold after a certain date than prices probably drop to encourage more sales.

[Underwatr]

When Cunard had the sales on TA fares (balcony for the price of an inside) they never seemed to have reduced the price of the round-trip itineraries. So while each leg could be booked for something like $750, the round trip, if booked at once, was around $3000 or $3500.

[Keuka Lake Sailor]

I was booked on last year's five day Canada cruise out of NYC and happy with the pricing, cabin assignment, OBC, etc. and had no wish to change anything. But I noticed that suddenly premium balconies were priced substantially higher than deluxe balconies. I called Cunard twice, just did not seem right or make sense. On second call, I was told by an agent that it was a pricing trick to sell the deluxe cabins. It worked, ship was full. As already posted, price adjustments must be the work of a computer doing its thing to adjust pricing as needed to fill the ship.

[CruznTom]

We have recently experienced a similar "glitch" in Cunard's booking system.

I found a reasonable deal for a B2B TA, but it was for a "dreaded" A4 balcony. We much prefer the in hulls, so got on the wait list for an in hull.

I check prices almost daily and found each of the legs discounted to almost 1/2 our price, but the discount was not available for the round trip. I tcalled Cunard and they admitted that three B4 cabins were available,but only when booked as separate cruises. In a nutshell, I could have booked our cruise for $1400 pp less, but since the cruise was in the 50% penalty phase would have lost big. They opened our waitlisted cabin to new bookings for each leg but not for round trip platinum faithful customers, ignoring the "waitlist"

Basically they can't see the forest from the trees and only open up small segments that are not filled while ignoring the big picture.

[Salacia]

We have recently experienced a similar "glitch" in Cunard's booking system.

I found a reasonable deal for a B2B TA, but it was for a "dreaded" A4 balcony. We much prefer the in hulls, so got on the wait list for an in hull.

I check prices almost daily and found each of the legs discounted to almost 1/2 our price, but the discount was not available for the round trip. I tcalled Cunardand they admitted that three B4 cabins were available,but only when booked as separate cruises. In a nutshell, I could have booked our cruise for $1400 pp less, but since the cruise was in the 50% penalty phase would have lost big. They opened our waitlisted cabin to new bookings for each leg but not for round trip platinum faithful customers, ignoring the "waitlist"

Basically they can't see the forest from the trees and only open upsmall segments that are not filled while ignoring the big picture.

 

Hi CruznTom. Please correct me where I go wrong in understanding:

you booked wait list for a B category balcony on a transatlantic round trip voyage, and now find that there is no wait list, and B category cabins are sold.

 

But you could have booked A4 category at what you wrote was a "resonable deal", but you chose not to book A4, and opted for wait list on a B Category instead. My understanding is that B category cabins are much in demand on trans-Atlantic crossing, so waitlist on B category must be a high risk gamble.

 

Supply and demand my friend, supply and demand.

 

With a little bit of luck, you will find a flash fare.Or a pair of swim fins :)

 

Best,

Salacia

[BlueRiband]

...I called Cunard and they admitted that three B4 cabins were available, but only when booked as separate cruises. ...They opened our waitlisted cabin to new bookings for each leg but not for round trip platinum faithful customers, ignoring the "waitlist"...

 

While three B4 cabins may have been available, one single B cabin may not have been continuously available for the entire voyage that you wanted. 99.9% of the customers booking a trip are not going to want to move in mid-voyage unless it is into a substantial upgrade. If you got a B for the first segment would you really agree to move to an A4 for the second segment? (Especially since you so dislike A4s that you declined to book that accommodation when it was available?) You then would be complaining that Cunard wouldn't give you, a Platinum member, the same cabin throughout your voyage. If on the other hand, somebody books separate segments they would have "signed on" to the moves.

 

As another poster noted, the Sept 20 WB was not even showing up on Cunard's US site last night. Playing "rate-drop chicken" can get you a bargain - or leave you out of the henhouse.

[Whitemarsh]

Below is a post of mine from a roll call I'm on. As you can see, they were at this point charging more for Princess Grill than they were for Queens Grill. Now that's strange.

 

The pricing is a little strange for this particular sector. They are charging more for Princess Grill than Queens Grill.

 

It must be because I'm in Princess Grill - the price has gone up ;)

 

Or, more realistically, Princess Grill is nearing capacity and Queens Grill isn't.

 

 

 

For the Sydney to Sydney sector of the Circumnavigation, everything but the inside cabins are sold out.

 

[CruznTom]

While three B4 cabins may have been available, one single B cabin may not have been continuously available for the entire voyage that you wanted. 99.9% of the customers booking a trip are not going to want to move in mid-voyage unless it is into a substantial upgrade. If you got a B for the first segment would you really agree to move to an A4 for the second segment? (Especially since you so dislike A4s that you declined to book that accommodation when it was available?) You then would be complaining that Cunard wouldn't give you, a Platinum member, the same cabin throughout your voyage. If on the other hand, somebody books separate segments they would have "signed on" to the moves.

 

As another poster noted, the Sept 20 WB was not even showing up on Cunard's US site last night. Playing "rate-drop chicken" can get you a bargain - or leave you out of the henhouse.

 

I even gave the Cunard rep the specific numbers of the three cabins that were available for both segments. When Cunard put the cabins back in inventory, they only appeared as 7 day cruises - unavailable for the 14 day cruise.

[capnpugwash]

I even gave the Cunard rep the specific numbers of the three cabins that were available for both segments. When Cunard put the cabins back in inventory, they only appeared as 7 day cruises - unavailable for the 14 day cruise.

 

Tom, I imagine that you could have booked a 7 day each way and got the cabin that you wanted, but by then you were already committed. :(

[BlueRiband]

...I found a reasonable deal for a B2B TA, but it was for a "dreaded" A4 balcony. We much prefer the in hulls, so got on the wait list for an in hull...since the cruise was in the 50% penalty phase would have lost big...

 

So now I'm confused on that you did. At first I thought that you passed up on the A4 and instead monitored the situation. Now it seems that you did indeed book an A4 but wanted to be waitlisted for a B. So what to you want Cunard to do? Downgrade you to a B? (Although you would not see it as such.)

[CruznTom]

Yes - I asked for and was supposedly on a wait list for an in hull balcony, which is why I questioned in hulls being available to the public and not to the wait list.

[2irisheyes]

I think maybe some of these people may have worked for railway companies in the UK where if you split journeys into separate sectors it is possible to make a saving. Confusion reigns.

[CruznTom]

Tom, I imagine that you could have booked a 7 day each way and got the cabin that you wanted, but by then you were already committed. :(

 

That's exactly what happened due to the way Cunard returned them to inventory, (only as 7 day cruises, not considering the round trip). They requested an inventory change to add the R/T but that takes 5 days and they were sold long before that.

[brigittetom]

Hi CruznTom. Please correct me where I go wrong in understanding:

you booked wait list for a B category balcony on a transatlantic round trip voyage, and now find that there is no wait list, and B category cabins are sold.

 

But you could have booked A4 category at what you wrote was a "resonable deal", but you chose not to book A4, and opted for wait list on a B Category instead. My understanding is that B category cabins are much in demand on trans-Atlantic crossing, so waitlist on B category must be a high risk gamble.

 

Supply and demand my friend, supply and demand.

 

With a little bit of luck, you will find a flash fare.Or a pair of swim fins :)

 

Best,

Salacia

 

Actually, we booked the A4 with the understanding that we would be on the waitlist for the B category inhull balcony. Since Cunard released 3 inhull balcony cabins for the round trip,...we just assumed that the waitlist would be honored. Not so, those cabins were only offered to New Bookings. That's the complaint. We would actually have been happy to change cabins in SH just to have an in hull. Obviously Cunard Decides what's best for their passengers. :)

[goose30]

Ah! finally I understand. Many times I see the "New Bookings Only" being offered. sometimes with a substantial reduction in price. Many folks try to jump on this but "New Bookings Only" prevails.

[MCC retired]

I booked many Cunard cruises in my recent years before retiring as a TA .

The automated booking systems , even now , have no way to book you in one category , and waitlist you for another in the same reservation #. That function just is not there. :confused:

Possibly a note in the reservation , but then someone manually must see the note at the time the prefered (waitlisted) category becomes available.

[CruznTom]

Here is the letter we received after the cabins we desired had been sold to the public. This leads me to believe there might be a waitlist.

 

Hello Mrs Kxxx,

 

In reference to your inquiry, currently there's no availability for any category for your voyage. All categories are waitlisted. I've reviewed your booking and you are currently at position number 3. If something in the B3 or B4 become available a notification will be sent to your agent to advise of the availability and to advise of the rate.

 

Sincerely,

 

Debbie Moyle

 

Cunard Line Ltd

[BlueRiband]

With a waitlist position of #3, and having the specific attention of customer service on the matter, you might finally get your B stateroom. I wouldn't be surprised if the people handling the reservations had never actually boarded any Cunard ship. In their mind an A4 is the "better" accomodation so they probably can't comprehend why anyone wants to "downgrade" to a B.