Why is a cruise 17 months away almost fully booked?

[JudithLynne]

We are interested in taking a HAL cruise in 17 months, East Coast, Eurodam 10-14-2014. We are Mariners but have not cruised with HAL in several years. I am shocked to see that there are very few cabins left, some categories are only guarantee. We are seasoned cruisers (32 cruises) and I have not seen this happen before. Do you suppose that there may be a chartered group on board? I would avoid that like the plague.

 

We would love a verandah cabin on a floor that is not above or below a public area. Although there are many of these on the Eurodam, the few available are very forward or very aft, or guaranteed status.

 

For those of you that know HAL well, what is going on?

[sail7seas]

It is possible TA's are holding space and have the priority to sell those cabins by a certain date and if they do not, they are released back into inventory.

 

It could be computer glitch and wait a few days to find it might be corrected.

 

It could be a large group has priority for lots of cabins but that is not a charter. A charter takes the whole ship. If any cabins are available for sale by anyone direct through their own TA or HAL, the ship is not chartered. However, it could be a large group. Try googling date of cruise and name of ship and read through the first few days of results. You might find info about a group. You might not.

 

[bar_20]

I am on a similar situation cruise on X's Solstice. Ours is going from Sydney to Vancouver. a 28 day cruise in April of 2014. When we booked, it was over a year out. All suites were sold and almost all of the upper grade verandas were gone. I booked a lower class than I wanted but we did want to go on that cruise. I then started looking twice a day for any upper grade cabins that opened up. Sure enough an aft cabin in X's Aqua Class showed available and I called X right away and changed the booking. You can put cabins on hold for 24-48 hours, and when these holds are up the cabins become available. Some people have to cancel for various reasons, freeing up cabins. The best time is when full payment is due as some people who booked with a deposit can't come up with the final payment and have to cancel.

As far as to why is it almost sold out a full a year out? It could be a lot of reasons, a large group on board, a terrific price on cabins, an unusual itinerary etc. Why not Google this cruise and see what pops up.

[whogo]

Have you checked with Holland America for a better cabin location? Websites usually only show 6 cabins per category, while many more may be available. There may not be better cabins available, Quebec to Ft. Lauderdale is an interesting, rarely offered itinerary. A snowbird could sail from NY to FL by combining this cruise with the previous one.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

TA are holding space..

[RuthC]

A snowbird could sail from NY to FL by combining this cruise with the previous one.

Not legally, they can't. If the passenger is disembarking in Ft. Lauderdale, the passenger must either board in Ft. Lauderdale and go to a foreign port, board in another country, or go to a distant foreign port while cruising.

[trophy_23]

Would the stops in Canada not count? That should satisfy the Jones Act if they cruise NY-QC, then QC-FLL, which is what I think they were suggesting?

[Krazy Kruizers]

That cruise from Quebec City to Ft Lauderdale has become a favorite fall follage cruise for the last couple of years.

[Globaliser]

Would the stops in Canada not count? That should satisfy the Jones Act if they cruise NY-QC, then QC-FLL, which is what I think they were suggesting?

Not if they're continuing on the same ship without a break. For the stop to count, they'd have to disembark and stay ashore in Canada before re-embarking.

 

As for the original question, it is also possible that HAL simply doesn't release all the inventory at the outset, but trickles it in to the market over a period of time.

[Tropic]

I noticed the same problem over the last week for cruised in SE Asia on the Rotterdam. Then when I checked this morning everything was opened again with no apparent changes. Not sure what is happening, but my guess are internal "computer" problems, not something to do with "travel agent" holds. Just watch over the next few days to see then routes reappear.

[TiogaCruiser]

And because you said some are guarantees only, we can assume that the new cabin numbering/grading system has nothing to do with it, right?

 

( in other words, you're basing "sold out" on no inventory showing and/or "call for information" on the website, and not putting in a cabin number in a category that it no longer belongs to...)

[RuthC]

Would the stops in Canada not count? That should satisfy the Jones Act if they cruise NY-QC, then QC-FLL, which is what I think they were suggesting?

It's the Passenger Vessel Services Act, not the Jones Act.

No, the Canada stops would not count because Canada is a "near" foreign port. To embark in one US port, and disembark in another US port requires the ship stop at a "distant" foreign port.

[falcon10156]

It's the Passenger Vessel Services Act, not the Jones Act.

 

No, the Canada stops would not count because Canada is a "near" foreign port. To embark in one US port, and disembark in another US port requires the ship stop at a "distant" foreign port.

 

 

This only applies on the same ship right? What if you are disembarking one day and embarking the same day on a different ship and line?

[sunviking90]

TA are holding space..

 

Exactly. Unsold group space is usually released 2-3 months before the cruise. You could try doing a search for your cruise dates and it will likely show up with many agencies. You could also ask a local TA if they have group space on it as many are part of larger affiliations to get group rates.

[RuthC]

This only applies on the same ship right? What if you are disembarking one day and embarking the same day on a different ship and line?

That's not my understanding, no.

However, two different cruise lines aren't likely to be comparing passenger lists, so the bookings likely could be done. And the US government is not as likely to catch it.

[cruz chic]

Funny you should bring this up OP. I'm on the same cruise this year and it's also selling very well. It was pricy when I booked it and it never went down either. Last year I think sales were pretty soft.

[Boytjie]

Do you suppose that there may be a chartered group on board?

 

Charters take over the whole ship and HAL does not handle the bookings for it.

[whogo]

Not legally, they can't. If the passenger is disembarking in Ft. Lauderdale, the passenger must either board in Ft. Lauderdale and go to a foreign port, board in another country, or go to a distant foreign port while cruising.

My mistake.

[Linda&Vern]

We are interested in taking a HAL cruise in 17 months, East Coast, Eurodam 10-14-2014. We are Mariners but have not cruised with HAL in several years. I am shocked to see that there are very few cabins left, some categories are only guarantee. We are seasoned cruisers (32 cruises) and I have not seen this happen before. Do you suppose that there may be a chartered group on board? I would avoid that like the plague.

 

We would love a verandah cabin on a floor that is not above or below a public area. Although there are many of these on the Eurodam, the few available are very forward or very aft, or guaranteed status.

 

For those of you that know HAL well, what is going on?

Either something just changed - or when the six staterooms came up in the category you requested (and you said you did not like them), you did not click on "enter a requested stateroom # ___). I just went to the HAL website and did a dummy booking for this cruise. I could have booked almost any MID-SHIP verandah.

Try again - or call HAL direct - or yourTA.

[English_in_Spain]

Were you just checking the HAL website on a Saturday or a Sunday?

 

HAL do site maintenance to their webpage at weekends and very strange things often happen.

 

Have a look again on Monday

 

[S1drfl]

It's the Passenger Vessel Services Act, not the Jones Act.

 

No, the Canada stops would not count because Canada is a "near" foreign port. To embark in one US port, and disembark in another US port requires the ship stop at a "distant" foreign port.

 

FWIW, March 2012 we took the Oosterdam from San Diego to Hawaii and back. Our only foreign port was Ensenada, Mexico, which is about 60 mi. from the US border.

[RuthC]

FWIW, March 2012 we took the Oosterdam from San Diego to Hawaii and back. Our only foreign port was Ensenada, Mexico, which is about 60 mi. from the US border.

When beginning and ending a cruise at the same US port, a "near" foreign port is sufficient.

Ensenada is a "near" foreign port.

 

Your cruise could not have been scheduled as a one-way, even with a stop in Ensenada, because different US ports for beginning and ending would require a "distant" foreign port.

[JudithLynne]

Thank you all for your information and feedback which helped. We have decided that we are going to book an OV cabin on the Main Deck. I looked at the website and entered individual cabins by number and it worked for OV but not verandah cabins. There are OV cabins that looked good. "Good" to us means quiet, and there are a few that are not under public areas that produce noise. If any of you are familiar with these cabins, please feel free to advise me or I can start another thread.

 

We chose not to book a verandah cabin after looking at the HAL smoking policy which allows smoking on balconies….that will not work for us non-smokers!

[Linda&Vern]

Thank you all for your information and feedback which helped. We have decided that we are going to book an OV cabin on the Main Deck. I looked at the website and entered individual cabins by number and it worked for OV but not verandah cabins. There are OV cabins that looked good. "Good" to us means quiet, and there are a few that are not under public areas that produce noise. If any of you are familiar with these cabins, please feel free to advise me or I can start another thread.

 

We chose not to book a verandah cabin after looking at the HAL smoking policy which allows smoking on balconies….that will not work for us non-smokers!

Hint: Just make sure you are looking at the deck plans coded "after" March 2014. There are many category changes happening then. Also, I still don't understand why you could not find any mid-ship verandah's - yet I can find almost all are available. It doesn't make sense.

[JudithLynne]

It doesn’t make sense to me either. I just tried again after seeing your post. All the Verandah cabins I put in individually are taken but OV is pretty much open. Thanks for trying, but I think that we will stick to our decision to book an OV. It looks like there are a few good cabins in that category available. On our last Canada/NE cruise, we really did not use the balcony because of cold temperatures, so this decision seems like a good one.