Do most sailing sell out?

[jennymaxgirl]

We cruised the Eastern Carib for 10 nights on the Royal last November. It was great - no line ups, no crowds. Fantastic. I wonder if the ship was sold out....

 

Our second sailing (new to cruising...) is in March 2017. Two 7-night carib cruises, making a 14-night east/west carib. I am wondering if we should expect a big difference in the line ups and crowds. We had no problem with loungers, dinner seating, theatre seating, etc. If the ship sells out in March - could it in fact be plenty more people taking into consideration all the 3 & 4-person cabins with extra people?

 

I just wonder if the experience will vary greatly from one cruise to the next.....we really preferred the older demographic and would hope for somewhat the same, or at least a good mix and not all families, younger couples, college kids, etc. Thanks

Edited January 12, 2016 by jennymaxgirl

[notentirelynormal]

Cruises almost always sell 100% full. They make no money out of empty cabins so the cruise keeps getting cheaper and cheaper until they are sold out.

[Colo Cruiser]

We cruised the Eastern Carib for 10 nights on the Royal last November. It was great - no line ups, no crowds. Fantastic. I wonder if the ship was sold out....

 

Our second sailing (new to cruising...) is in March 2017. Two 7-night carib cruises, making a 14-night east/west carib. I am wondering if we should expect a big difference in the line ups and crowds. We had no problem with loungers, dinner seating, theatre seating, etc. If the ship sells out in March - could it in fact be plenty more people taking into consideration all the 3 & 4-person cabins with extra people?

 

I just wonder if the experience will vary greatly from one cruise to the next.....we really preferred the older demographic and would hope for somewhat the same, or at least a good mix and not all families, younger couples, college kids, etc. Thanks

 

 

 

Princess cruises pretty consistently sellout. There is no way to gty the same atmosphere on your next cruise.

March=spring break.

On your last years Royal cruise even if it was not sold out I doubt that there was a big enough amount of passengers missing to the point you could even tell.

Princess has been at this game for a long time doing it week after week and they have it down to a science maximizing their bookings. ;)

[Working 2 Cruise]

Yes, Princess sailings usually sail full, even though you may not always notice.

[cruzsnooze]

You are asking how many passengers will be on a cruise you booked for 2017 compared to your November 2014 cruise. After factoring in the economy and a new president and the price of oil it will be ............I don't know.

[jennymaxgirl]

thanks for all your feedback. Looks as though the number of passengers won't change dramatically from one sailing to another, even based on time of year if I'm understanding correctly. Maybe just some more kids, given that school will be out in many areas.

 

I was so impressed with our first princess cruise last november that there were no line ups. I read of others complaining of long line ups on here with the same ship, as it seems quite different than what we experienced. Maybe we were lucky!

[mrswallace2012]

We realized this weekend that we sail on Super Bowl Sunday ( not a big deal for us as we're not big sports fans ) and I realized that our ship isn't yet sold out . But every sailing for that itinerary is gone for a couple of months .

[janetz]

College Spring Break may be the game changer. ;)

Edited January 12, 2016 by janetz

[Chief Vette]

I think the college spring break demographic would be a better fit for Carnival.

[nukesubsailor]

You said your March cruise was made up of two 7-day cruises. That rings an alarm in my mind. March is spring break season. College kids and families with children take the shorter cruises. On longer cruises you will find an older average age group.

After one March cruise, I swore off cruising during spring break, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. I also prefer to book 10 day or longer cruises if possible.

I will say that children are seldom a problem aboard Princess in my experience. Not so on the March cruise on Royal Caribbean Cruise Line where one family was kicked off the ship at the first port because of the kids behavior and the parents refusal to control them.

[Cruisin' Chick]

We cruised the Eastern Carib for 10 nights on the Royal last November. It was great - no line ups, no crowds. Fantastic. I wonder if the ship was sold out....

 

Our second sailing (new to cruising...) is in March 2017. Two 7-night carib cruises, making a 14-night east/west carib. I am wondering if we should expect a big difference in the line ups and crowds. We had no problem with loungers, dinner seating, theatre seating, etc. If the ship sells out in March - could it in fact be plenty more people taking into consideration all the 3 & 4-person cabins with extra people?

 

I just wonder if the experience will vary greatly from one cruise to the next.....we really preferred the older demographic and would hope for somewhat the same, or at least a good mix and not all families, younger couples, college kids, etc. Thanks

 

Not every berth gets filled -- there's a maximum capacity based on life boats. So when the cabins start being sold, at some point families can't book three or four in a cabin. Some of those cabins with the drop down beds will be booked by a two-person group.

[AKman2495]

A few years ago I booked a back to back out of Houston. It was for the first cruises out of Houston. The first was a 4 day "sampler" and the second was a 7 day cruise that they not do regularly.

 

Anyway, some time after I booked the cruise they changed the first cruise to a 4 day "cruise for veterans". That cruise sailed with the ship 1/2 full - it was the Caribbean Princess. It was great-no lines ever, no waiting for shows, no waiting for the MDR anon crowds.

 

After that cruise, the next cruise was booked full. What a difference!

[lindy sails]

I was on the Regal the last week of March- 7 day cruise and the 14 day Christmas and New Years cruise. Although there were more extended families on the cruise last month it never felt really crowded nor were there lines. I will say Princess needs to address the chair hogs situation which was bad on both cruises. On other lines pool attendants actually monitored chairs and removed towels after 30 minutes. It's really not fair to hold chairs for hours that are empty.

[eagletwo]

We have only sailed on two Princess cruises, 2005 in a full suite to Alaska and 2008 in a mini suite to the Caribbean. Not sure if either cruise was full. On our trip on the Caribbean Princess in 2008, the evening before docking at one of our ports, an Officer from ships maintenance came to our cabin to ask if we minded having the tile replaced in our bathroom while in port. We agreed since we would be in port most of the day. The Officer gave us a cabin room card for an empty mini suite two doors down from our cabin (E731) so we could shower after a long day in port. Guess the ship was not full.

 

What was really impressive was we had maybe 7-8 pieces of tile missing in the bathroom floor that had been covered by the floor matt. We left our cabin around 8:30 am and returned at 5:00 pm. The entire bathroom floor had been removed and replaced! Since the tile grout had not had time to set, we had to use the extra room to shower for diner.

 

There may be a few extra cabins on a "full" cruise just for this type of maintenance or we were just lucky that the ship was not full.

[jennymaxgirl]

You said your March cruise was made up of two 7-day cruises. That rings an alarm in my mind. March is spring break season. College kids and families with children take the shorter cruises. On longer cruises you will find an older average age group.

After one March cruise, I swore off cruising during spring break, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. I also prefer to book 10 day or longer cruises if possible.

I will say that children are seldom a problem aboard Princess in my experience. Not so on the March cruise on Royal Caribbean Cruise Line where one family was kicked off the ship at the first port because of the kids behavior and the parents refusal to control them.

 

Thanks for your feedback. Just curious if you can elaborate on your March cruise. What did you encounter that has you now sworn off spring break, thanksgiving, and Christmas. Thanks again.

[blkspy]

Ive sailed 9 times in the past 2 years and the only packed ship ive sailed on was the Royal 10 day cruise out of New York in 2014. Mostly the ships have sailed at around 80%. Mostly with retirees like myself. I NEVER cruise during the summer, school holidays or regular family vacation weeks--like Thanksgiving, Christmas, July 4th, Presidents week.. I look for sailings during jan, Feb, first week of march--BEFORE spring break. April, May, Sept, Oct..

Very few--if any--kids over 5 years old during these times. This works for me, especially for east coast sailings.

 

My Regal 10 day cruise three months ago had a near empty feel. Horizon Court only half open for lunch or dinner.No crowds ANYWERE....my next cruise the end of next month still appears to have 160 plus balcony cabins available. With insides and oceanvews wide open.

 

A flash sale of cabins at rock bottom pricing can change things in a moment. So it all depends when you sail IMHO.

 

I could be offered the Owners Sute FREE, with tons of other perks and I would rather jump off a bridge than be on a Carnival ship during july 4th week :eek:

 

Every cruise is different. A little planning could determine if you sail with lots of kids or retirees or some near empty repo cruises--I hunt for the latter:)

 

This is IMHO ONLY.

Edited January 13, 2016 by blkspy

[camarodrivenrs]

I agree with some of the folks above. After my Celebrity cruise over New Year's a couple years back, I will never cruise over holidays again. There was far too many children sailing with parents who were more interested in celebrating their New Year's instead of being parents. I would think Princess would be the best line to get a normal cruise during spring break times, but there potentially could be a few spring breakers who got good deals, etc.

[sweetsleep]

I wonder if the March 24 Ruby to Hawaii will sell out.

15 day cruise so not a spring break cruise for college or families plus Easter is early this year-March 27.

Balcony cabins and below are on sale-final payment was January 2.

Even the suites are not sold out.

There seem to be a lot of empty cabins even considering the guarantee situation.

It will be interesting to see how things change over the next few weeks.

Personally I won't complain if the ship does not sail full.

[Wishing on a star]

I wonder about Alaska in May???

I am wondering if early in the season for Alaska means the Coral might not be quite fully booked.

 

Right now, there was just a slight price-drop on the cruise... But Inside cabins are showing Sold Out???

 

PS: I am thinking that a longer itinerary, in November, NOT OVER THANKSGIVING?, as mentioned by jennymax, would really be the one situation where a large ship might have a lower occupancy.

Edited January 16, 2016 by Wishing on a star

[Colo Cruiser]

I wonder about Alaska in May???

I am wondering if early in the season for Alaska means the Coral might not be quite fully booked.

 

Right now, there was just a slight price-drop on the cruise... But Inside cabins are showing Sold Out???

 

PS: I am thinking that a longer itinerary, in November, NOT OVER THANKSGIVING?, as mentioned by jennymax, would really be the one situation where a large ship might have a lower occupancy.

 

The Coral May 14th only has OV left.

The May 21st will end up being sold out too.

[cruisingpeople]

Our April 17th California coastal has only filled 410 out of the 716 available cabins. (Yes Keith & Nina, I know I have too much time on my hands):D.

 

I'm waiting to see what kind of price-drop Princess is going to do in order to sell more cabins. I'll also be wondering if the upgrade fairy will be paying a visit. One can only hope.

[Working 2 Cruise]

Our April 17th California coastal has only filled 410 out of the 716 available cabins. (Yes Keith & Nina, I know I have too much time on my hands):D.

 

I'm waiting to see what kind of price-drop Princess is going to do in order to sell more cabins. I'll also be wondering if the upgrade fairy will be paying a visit. One can only hope.

 

Have fun and the best of luck with the upgrade/upsell fairy! It's a wonderful cruise!