does HA always sail full?

[sunshine100]

We have been keeping an eye on a certain 10 day HA sailing that is now 27 days away. We have been closely monitoring how many cabins are left--there are about 147 cabins left, which probably is about 300 people. Do HA ships sail full? The price has really remained about the same and the amount of cabins has remained about the same for about the past 3 weeks. Not very familiar with what and when HA sells remaining cabins to fill the ship?? Does anyone have any idea? We are thinking of booking, but the day we book, the prices would probably drop!! (LOL)

[innlady1]

Curious...where do you find those stats on-line?

 

 

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[RJ2002]

Curious...where do you find those stats on-line?

 

 

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OP may be looking at cabins available for selection when doing a "dummy" booking. I have done that myself. However, as we know this may not be an accurate representation of how fully booked the ship may be.

[DaveOKC]

OP may be looking at cabins available for selection when doing a "dummy" booking. I have done that myself. However, as we know this may not be an accurate representation of how fully booked the ship may be.

 

Very true, as you have to account for "guarantees" which do not show up on the booking site since they are not yet assigned.

[CruiserBruce]

Without inside knowledge of the number of GTY bookings, you can't know how many cabins are available.

[thinfool]

No offense, but unless you work in 'yield management' for HAL you have no idea how many cabins are actually available.

 

Also, HAL, unlike other lines, tends to not have 'fire sale' pricing to fill the ship as the sail date draws close.

 

Finally, what everyone else said about guarantee bookings. :D

[cbr663]

To answer the OP's questions, no, HAL does not always sail full. I have sailed on several HAL cruises that were not full.

 

Some cruise lines have publicly stated that they will not sell off empty cabins just prior to sailing. I don't know if HAL has adopted this policy. Maybe some others can chime in and confirm?

[OlsSalt]

HAL has a "friends and family" special pricing policy for last minute unsold cabins too.

 

Even "sailing full" is a squishy term. Full according to total bed capacity; two persons per cabin full; or passenger life boat capacity full.

[sunshine100]

There has been a definite "shift" of cabins on this cruise. No inside rooms available...thanks everyone! will keep monitoring daily--we also have our eye on a couple of different cruises....

[OlsSalt]

There has been a definite "shift" of cabins on this cruise. No inside rooms available...thanks everyone! will keep monitoring daily--we also have our eye on a couple of different cruises....

 

You have a very interesting Caribbean sailing history in your signature. Hope you find the right ones that work best for you. This is obviously a destination you love.

Edited January 3, 2017 by OlsSalt

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have also been on cruises when they were not completely sold out.

It can happen.

So if you have something in mind, just keep checking. Guess you can afford to wait until the end and don't have to worry about flying to the port.

[geoherb]

HAL does have some good prices after the final booking date. I waited to book our cruise for next month (Zuiderdam to the Panama Canal) until last week, when the price per person was less than half it had been in November. (Of course that's not every category of cabin.) We're still waiting for our cabin assignment. With HAL, they seem to come later than with some other cruise lines when booking a guarantee.

 

Most HAL cruises will sail full or nearly full. The ones that don't are usually repositioning cruises--where people can't take advantage of driving to the port.

[iancal]

We usually do late bookings. Anywhere from 70 days out to 3 days out.

 

Our advice would be to keep you options open and follow pricing on several ships/itineraries in the same time frame. It does not matter how many cabins you think are available. All that matters is your cabin and your price. One of the best deals we got was on a booking 3 days out for one of two supposed remaining verandah cabins. We were not assigned either. We were assigned a much better can than either of the two balcony cabins that showed as available.

 

Understand the normal pricing matrix, establish a strike price that you are comfortable with. Be prepared to buy an attractive fare when it hits. Don't sleep on it because it could disappear by the next day or indeed by the end of the day.

 

If you wait for the lowest price you will be either be staying home or paying full load.

Edited January 3, 2017 by iancal

[hattack]

sailing full cabin 100% occupancy and sailing meeting HAL HDQ profitability goals are two different things...longer sailings with higher yield cabin occupancy is much better then last minute fire sales for interior/ocean view cabins (just to fill up the ship) which in the long run dilutes potential revenue because prospective guests will just wait in the weeds until the price drops..so yes sometimes it's ok sailing without all the cabins filled...yield management & inventory control departments are more focused on extending onboard incremental revenue per cabin category type combined with increase alcohol, spa services & shore excursion revenue stream

 

one of the by products of why a Cruise Line aggressively seeks out full charter opportunities , is that the week the charter is out of revenue service it increases fleet wide occupancy (displace guest that would chose that ship , for that week, on that "itin") without discounting rates to fill the fleet

[Tom O.]

As several previous posters mentioned, you cannot judge the number of unsold cabins by doing a dummy reservation.

Here is why:

Say a cruise is sold out except for one cabin. On this cruise are 100 cabins sold as guarantees.

When you start the booking process, you will see 101 cabins to choose from - the one that is unsold and the 100 that are sold as guarantees, but not assigned yet.

As soon as you book your choice of cabin, the other 100 cabins will now show as unavailable, because they are going to be assigned to the guarantees.

So on a dummy reservation, since you never complete it, it will appear to have a lot of cabins unsold, but this is untrue.

This is an over simplified example, to show how the guarantee reservations make a cruise look like there are lots of rooms available.

Edited January 3, 2017 by Tom O.

[sunshine100]

Thanks everyone, this helps me very much! We do not need flights and so that helps. We are also keeping an eye on several cruises, with so many ships, we have numerous choices!! We love the caribbean to get out of the cold weather in the winter.

[The Other Tom]

Most HAL cruises will sail full or nearly full. The ones that don't are usually repositioning cruises--where people can't take advantage of driving to the port.

^^^This^^^

The cruise lines have a relationship with the travel industry (airlines, travel agents, etc). If the cruise line has unsold cabins, they are offered to the travel industry employees at steep discounts, sometimes for only the cost of port fees and taxes. The cabins usually fill up because of this. The major exception is repo cruises for the reason geoherb states above.

[take us away]

The longer the cruise, seems like the less full the ship may be so maybe check the >7 or 10 day cruises for better pricing. HAL used to 'dream sale' cruises the final week with ads posted at retirement facilities near FLL and the prices were amazing - 10 days for $500 but those days are probably gone. Have seen people book a few days before a cruise with good pricing but for all the reasons listed above, this may not happen. Maybe book within a week of sailing.

Edited January 4, 2017 by take us away

[iancal]

Some of the best last minute offers that we have purchased in the past have been one ways or repos. Rome-Barcelona, Rome-Venice, Sydney-Perth, Rome-FLL.

 

Last minutes are generally a snap to get out of FLL and MIA we have done several, including two 10 and 14 day Christmastime cruise. Same for Alaska cruises, spring and summer, over the past few years....most especially on HAL.

 

You never know. Just watch the numbers. Invariably something attractive will turn up.

[OlsSalt]

The longer the cruise, seems like the less full the ship may be so maybe check the >7 or 10 day cruises for better pricing. HAL used to 'dream sale' cruises the final week with ads posted at retirement facilities near FLL and the prices were amazing - 10 days for $500 but those days are probably gone. Have seen people book a few days before a cruise with good pricing but for all the reasons listed above, this may not happen. Maybe book within a week of sailing.

 

$50 a day cruises ...might be over? Probably.

[Hlitner]

We have been on two long Prinsendam cruises where there were no more then 600 passengers on the 800 passenger ship. So do the ships always sail full? Nope. And we sometimes take advantage of that fact to snag amazing last minute (inside final booking period) deals. Our most recent HAL great deal was a 24 day Zuiderdam cruise in the Baltic (and to Iceland) where we got an amazing price on a balcony. On the other hand, try to get a great last minute deal on the Voyage of the Vikings...and it will just never happen.

 

Hank

[OlsSalt]

We have been on two long Prinsendam cruises where there were no more then 600 passengers on the 800 passenger ship. So do the ships always sail full? Nope. ......

 

Hank

 

When a ship lists a capacity, does this mean a projected two person per room capacity? Or a full available bed capacity, that can absorb up to that top number with more than two people in a cabin?

Edited January 4, 2017 by OlsSalt

[Sequim88]

does this mean a projected two person per room capacity?

Probably count as two even if solo since the revenue is about the same but one less person for onboard purchases. Interesting to speculate if a whole ship sailed with solo cruisers with single supplement pricing how much the total revenue hit would be (less the food cost savings).

 

Since moving near to Seattle we've gotten offers by mail and email for "drop everything and go" (like next week!) cruises on Princess and HAL for $490 or so for 7-day Inside cabin. That sort of thing will have to wait until I retire. :rolleyes: I wonder if these are "fill the ship" promos or planned deals for locals on traditional softer dates.

[Tom O.]

Probably count as two even if solo since the revenue is about the same but one less person for onboard purchases. Interesting to speculate if a whole ship sailed with solo cruisers with single supplement pricing how much the total revenue hit would be (less the food cost savings)..

 

The little bit of food savings would be more than offset by huge losses from fewer cocktail, wine, and other beverage sales. Not to mention losses from excursions, photos, specialty restaurants, and all of the other things that cost extra. Is it no wonder, cruise lines try to discourage single travelers?

[The Other Tom]

Since moving near to Seattle we've gotten offers by mail and email for "drop everything and go" (like next week!) cruises on Princess and HAL for $490 or so for 7-day Inside cabin. That sort of thing will have to wait until I retire. :rolleyes: I wonder if these are "fill the ship" promos or planned deals for locals on traditional softer dates.

My guess is "fill the ship" promos. I wonder how I could get on that list :)