RCCL Cabins versus TA Cabins

[HarleyDad13]

Couple of questions / comments regarding availability of cabins. When we scan available staterooms on RCCL website, we are shown one group of open cabins. Doing the exact same search through a TA website, we are often shown a different set of open cabins. They often overlap but more often than not, the TA website shows more than the RCCL website. In other words, we have booked two cabins with our TA in the past couple of weeks that were not even showing up on RCCL website. What gives? According to the TA, they do not purchase these additional rooms. They claim they have a "live feed" to what RCCL has available. The TA went further & noted the reverse circumstances are seen too - RCCL will show available cabins that the TA does not see.

 

Next question / comment, when you scan using 2 passengers, you are given one group of available cabins - double occupancy. Do the same search but make it 4 passengers and you get the cabins with the pullout sofas. I understand the concept of maximizing the space / profit, but can you book a cabin designed for 3-4 with only 2 passengers? Not looking for flame comments, but trying to get the best cabins available.

[Merion_Mom]

It's quite simple. How many cabins are available is a trade secret. Seriously.

 

RC's website only gives you a maximum of 15 cabins in any given category. An agency website may have a few more.

 

No one shows all of them.

 

RC's website does give you means to check for specific cabins that are not shown by typing in the cabin number.

 

Yes, you can book two into a cabin that has a sofabed or pullman bed.

[Ourusualbeach]

Depending on the cruise and how far out you are will determine weather or not they will let you book a quad cabin for 2 people. I had tried to book a D1 aft balcony for 2 of us and it would not let us but it would if I booked four in the cabin.

[HarleyDad13]

Trade secret. Interesting, but I can certainly believe it. Didn't recognize the number (15) limitation but I can see that too. Fortunately, the TA site has been really good for us in finding those "extra" cabins.

 

The consensus appears that we can book a cabin designed for more than, but only using the two of us. But I have to call RCCL or the TA to do this, right? Because they won't show on either RCCL or TA online using 2 people.

[emeraldcity]

Actually, all the remaining JS cabins show on my search for my current sailing, even though I am putting in 2 people. There are only 11 left and I booked one that holds 3, I believe.

[BTSEN5]

I was just trying to determine how full our ship is for our July 20 cruise on the Jewel. I checked both RCCL and another site. Both had insides available only, but every other category had a link under it to call regarding all other categories.

 

It seems other categories are available, but there is no way to see how many.

[cruisenfever]

Trade secret. Interesting, but I can certainly believe it. Didn't recognize the number (15) limitation but I can see that too. Fortunately, the TA site has been really good for us in finding those "extra" cabins.

 

The consensus appears that we can book a cabin designed for more than, but only using the two of us. But I have to call RCCL or the TA to do this, right? Because they won't show on either RCCL or TA online using 2 people.

When booking through a TA, they are now the owners of the booking and any changes must be made through them.

[Clarea]

I was just trying to determine how full our ship is for our July 20 cruise on the Jewel. I checked both RCCL and another site. Both had insides available only, but every other category had a link under it to call regarding all other categories.

 

It seems other categories are available, but there is no way to see how many.

I believe there is only one inside left on that sailing.

[setsail]

make a list of the cabins you would like, go to the rci site, do a booking , and you will get a space where you can enter any cabin # you want to see if vacant, often for us they are vacant, but we book a ways out

[BTSEN5]

I believe there is only one inside left on that sailing.

 

Good, a full ship. I was just curious. We have our aft balcony and would not want anything else. Our roll call is so quiet that I thought maybe we would have an empty ship. ;) I guess it is true that only a tiny fraction of cruisers actually get on a roll call.

[brillohead]

As long as you still have plenty of time before Final Payment, you can also book for three or four people (use your pet's names if you have to! ;)) to see the rooms you want, then "drop" the extra folks before final payment.

 

I kinda did the opposite... booked as a single during the Wow Sale and only had to pay $125 for the deposit. Depending on if he can keep his grades up, I may be taking my son with me. At the time I add his name to the reservation, I'll need to add to my deposit amount, but until I know for sure that he's going to buckle down at school, I'm keeping it as a single room.

[heatherb1958]

I am currently monitoring a sailing which hasn't reached final payment date yet , I know there are a lot of cabins still available . I can't mention the TAs name but it is in Europe and is directly linked into RCI Frankfurt . For an example I counted all the D1s available a few days ago and the number was 41 , today 29. This figure does not include all the ones held by other TAs around the world until final payment date :). I don't want to book now and then the price fall through the floor "for new bookings only". There are no flights involved so I can play this game ;)

A lot of people I know use this site to monitor for possible sales . Also when booking directly with RCI you can ask for a specific cabin that may not show directly with RCI but is showing on this particular TAs site.

My point is it is possible to see more than the 15 cabins available in each grade:)

[MeHeartCruising]

A couple years ago, I wanted to book a short-notice cruise on the Mariner in the Med. I was about 2-3 weeks out from the cruise date if I recall and I was a solo traveler. I wanted to book one of the remaining balcony cabins, but Royals website would not let me book one unless there were at least 2 people. However, I found that it would let me book one of the ocean view (2 large round windows) cabins on the very front of the ship (facing front). The cabin was 2 rooms and slept 5 or 6. I don't recall exactly. And even better, they weren't even going to charge me the full double occupancy rate to have it. It was more like 150% of the per person rate. I was finding all of this via the website and was confused and didn't want to risk doing something stupid, so I called Royal and the agent confirmed that their system wouldn't let me into a balcony solo, but that it had no problem selling me the 6-person family cabin for something like $2100 or something like that. The agent's explanation -- although she wasn't certain -- was that they probably felt that with only 2-3 weeks to sell cabins, they were more likely to get 2 paying people to fill the balconies but on that short of notice, the likelihood that a family would show up at the last minute needing the family cabin was not high. So it wasn't under any restrictions. She told me to grab it. I did. The cabin was huge for 1 person and it was a nice cabin for a 12-day cruise. I then moved to a balcony for the second half of my back-to-back on the ship. Great cruise.

[HarleyDad13]

So let me understand..........if I want two cabins side-by-side, then I generally need to have at least 5 people cruising (3 in one cabin and 2 in the other), based off the types of room setups. I will have to pay a deposit for all 5 people ($100/each) to book the cruise. However, if someone isn't able to go on the cruise - AND it's before the final payment date, then I cancel that person with no penalty. I still have the two rooms, side-by-side. Is this correct?