Does Princess Overbook Cruises?

[tourismtessy]

I booked a cruise for Feb. 2018 and was not able to select our cabin. The verbiage stated that a cabin will be assigned prior to sailing (even though I selected "choose your own cabin"). Looking at our cruise now shows our category as sold out so I am wondering if it is overbooked and they are hoping for cancellations. Anybody without a specific cabin assigned ever get "bumped" and had cruise cancelled or offered a different category? Also, do you know when I can expect to get our cabin assigned (how far before cruise)?

Edited August 30, 2017 by tourismtessy

[hpeabody]

YES, that is why they scurry to get people to accept their "Move Over" offers. (Kind of like volunteering to be bumped from a flight. They usually offer to re-book your cruise and an upgrade and OBC and pay airline hotel penalties as well in some cases. They do what they can to accommodate the bookings they have, I feel. It is possible you may be assigned an upgraded cabin which many in your situation are actually hoping for. I would not worry too much, you will be on the ship.

 

I was once called by Princess after 5pm Friday when I was to board a ship on Sunday. I took the offer :)

Edited August 30, 2017 by hpeabody

[fishywood]

Princess uses more or less the same booking matrix as most all the other cruise lines.

 

The cabin you will eventually be assigned--and you will be assigned one--will have turned over an average of eight times between when bookings open and the ship finally sails.

 

Yes, if fewer than expected depositors drop off at the final payment deadline you may find yourself the recipient of a move over offer. Which you are free to ignore. So worrying about overbooking when it is still nearly three months before you will be making said final payment is not a productive use of your time and energy.

[Colo Cruiser]

I booked a cruise for Feb. 2018 and was not able to select our cabin. The verbiage stated that a cabin will be assigned prior to sailing (even though I selected "choose your own cabin"). Looking at our cruise now shows our category as sold out so I am wondering if it is overbooked and they are hoping for cancellations. Anybody without a specific cabin assigned ever get "bumped" and had cruise cancelled or offered a different category? Also, do you know when I can expect to get our cabin assigned (how far before cruise)?

 

There will be no involuntary bumping........

A GTY......Usually can be/assigned sometime/anytime up to a day or 2 before your cruise. Very rarely assigned at the pier. You can access bag tags/travel summary on the Princess cruise personalizer on the Princess website up to sailing day. The cabin assignment will be noted there.

Sometimes people think it was assigned at the pier but had they checked the personalizer the night before their cruise they may have seen the cabin assignment at that time. Hope this makes sense.

Just because it says sold out does not mean they won't have a cabin for you. Princess keeps cabins behind the scenes. They have been doing this forever and have it down to a science. You will have a cabin.

[ar1950]

I booked a cruise for Feb. 2018 and was not able to select our cabin. The verbiage stated that a cabin will be assigned prior to sailing (even though I selected "choose your own cabin"). Looking at our cruise now shows our category as sold out so I am wondering if it is overbooked and they are hoping for cancellations. Anybody without a specific cabin assigned ever get "bumped" and had cruise cancelled or offered a different category? Also, do you know when I can expect to get our cabin assigned (how far before cruise)?

They do overbook on occasion, however, Feb. 2018 is pretty far out. Usually there are cancellations at the time of final payment. Usually there are several open cabins at that point. Move over offerings are pretty rare. Princess has been doing this for years so they pretty much have it down to a science. You will get a cabin in the class that you booked or maybe even better.

 

 

Some folks have gotten their cabin assignment the same week as the cruise, even the day before sometimes. No sweat, if you want to go on the cruise you will have a cabin. Enjoy the cruise. :)

[Colo Cruiser]

Princess uses more or less the same booking matrix as most all the other cruise lines.

 

The cabin you will eventually be assigned--and you will be assigned one--will have turned over an average of eight times between when bookings open and the ship finally sails.

 

Yes, if fewer than expected depositors drop off at the final payment deadline you may find yourself the recipient of a move over offer. Which you are free to ignore. So worrying about overbooking when it is still nearly three months before you will be making said final payment is not a productive use of your time and energy.

 

 

Curious........source please.

[easyboy]

Also, do you know when I can expect to get our cabin assigned (how far before cruise)?

 

 

My cabin was once assigned around 5 days before the cruise.

 

 

 

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[fishywood]

The cabin you will eventually be assigned--and you will be assigned one--will have turned over an average of eight times between when bookings open and the ship finally sails.

 

Curious........source please.

 

Have read that statistic numerous times on Cruise Critic. From posters more reliable than yours truly.

Its the kind of useless trivia that sticks in my brain no matter how much I wish to shed that talent.

[dchip]

We have a cruise booked for 9/23-2018 and the entire ship is sold out. You can't book a guarantee. It's rare to find a completely sold out ship.

 

If you book a guarantee, then you will have a cabin.

 

Cheers, Denise

[Colo Cruiser]

Have read that statistic numerous times on Cruise Critic. From posters more reliable than yours truly.

Its the kind of useless trivia that sticks in my brain no matter how much I wish to shed that talent.

 

 

Thanks......

I have only seen that comment from one poster in particular over and over again as well.

I have to call bs because of the source and quite frankly many other comments by him, but that's just me and my opinion. :)

[sanger727]

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=340

 

Overbooking and bumping can occur. But having a category 'sold out' isn't an indication. They will show that when they are holding back enough rooms for all the guarantees. But yes, this far out they are certainly expecting cancellations; and some will happen.

 

I'm confused how you 'chose your own room' and the cabin hasn't been assigned. I haven't booked princess but on every line I have booked when you choose a room you literally pick a room number right then and there and it doesn't change.

 

 

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[Colo Cruiser]

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=340

 

Overbooking and bumping can occur. But having a category 'sold out' isn't an indication. They will show that when they are holding back enough rooms for all the guarantees. But yes, this far out they are certainly expecting cancellations; and some will happen.

 

I'm confused how you 'chose your own room' and the cabin hasn't been assigned. I haven't booked princess but on every line I have booked when you choose a room you literally pick a room number right then and there and it doesn't change.

 

 

 

That's the procedure booking on the Princess website.

It asks you if you want to choose your room/cabin but there may be only a GTY option left when you get to the cabin selection.

[fishywood]

If guarantees are still available for the cabin type you are looking for, the option to book the guarantee will be there even if you click "I'll Choose My Own". Saves you the trouble of having to go back to the original voyage splash page if you don't see any cabins you wish to choose and decide to roll the "Choose For Me" dice.

[caribill]

We have a cruise booked for 9/23-2018 and the entire ship is sold out. You can't book a guarantee. It's rare to find a completely sold out ship.

 

 

Just curious. What is so special about this cruise that it is sold out so far in advance?

[Gran7577]

We were assigned an accessible room the day before we left for the Caribbean if we approved. No one had needed that type of room which is held until the last minute. It was quite lovely with more room and we accepted the assignment.

 

Today we were offered an upsale from a mini suite to a penthouse suite. We will be celebrating our 50th with 24 family and friends so we accepted this offer. We have never had a problem with any cabin from inside to suite. Loved them all.

 

Enjoy and have fun.

[geoherb]

Just curious. What is so special about this cruise that it is sold out so far in advance?

Princess can show a cruise as sold out even if it isn't. Sometimes it's due to possible changes in deployment. Other times it's because Princess is negotiating a charter for the cruise.

 

The unusual itineraries do sell out early. Frequent Princess cruisers like to try new things.

[skynight]

Yes at times they overbook and have move over offers. But on most voyages Princess gets to a point where they have enough cabins, but these cabins are spread around the ship in various categories. That is when they go into the Princess will assign your cabin mode.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

our November cruise showed all the inside rooms sold out on Friday. By Monday there were 7 of them available. 3-4 person cabins have been sold out for a month, and as of today, there are 2 of them available. I guess the availability fluctuates a lot.

[EllieinNJ]

Just curious. What is so special about this cruise that it is sold out so far in advance?

It is a northern California Coastal with a new itinerary. Some who are on my Oct. cruise booked it back when they had the $1 sale, but I wasn't sure then and now it is sold out.

[peety3]

Some people have reported that if a cruise can be booked different ways (i.e. as a standalone cruise but also as part of a longer cruise, i.e. Houston to Europe TA that's also available as Ft. Lauderdale to Europe), Princess has to assign cabins to one cruise OR the other. Same for Alaska cruisetours: some rooms get presented in the cruise-only booking and others get presented in the cruisetour booking. That's an easy way for a cruise to report as Sold Out when the ship itself is not necessarily Sold Out.

 

They're also gambling on a consistent percentage of cabins out of service for repairs. If the crew cannot keep up with the repairs at some point, they could end up with less inventory to work with.

 

All in all, guarantee is essentially guaranteed that before the ship sails, you'll have a cabin of your committed category or higher. If you don't have the confidence and patience to wait that long, you shouldn't book a guarantee.

[thinfool]

We had a Princess guarantee (booked thru our TA) and waited and waited on a room assignment. In the meantime I was lurking on the Roll Call for the sailing.

 

Many on the RC were fretting about getting a room assignment....which they eventually got.

 

As mentioned, we had booked thru a TA and received our room assignment a full week before anyone on the RC (who booked direct with Princess) did. Did using a TA make a difference? I have no idea...it's just what happened.

[luckyinpa]

That's the procedure booking on the Princess website.

It asks you if you want to choose your room/cabin but there may be only a GTY option left when you get to the cabin selection.

 

how is it possible a GTY is not available

 

for my october canada cruise for mini suites there has never been an option to choose for me. its always blacked out

 

keep in mind i just started researching and booked this cruise less than 1 month ago. i just thought it weird you cannot have gty?

 

suites do have the choose for me option

[Colo Cruiser]

how is it possible a GTY is not available

 

for my october canada cruise for mini suites there has never been an option to choose for me. its always blacked out

 

keep in mind i just started researching and booked this cruise less than 1 month ago. i just thought it weird you cannot have gty?

 

suites do have the choose for me option

 

 

IMO I think it depends on how sold the cruise is as to whether they offer a GTY option or not.

As you noticed and from what I have seen you may never see a gty option for a particular cruise. It's not automatic to be able to pick a GTY option.

[Woobstr112G]

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=340

 

Overbooking and bumping can occur. But having a category 'sold out' isn't an indication. They will show that when they are holding back enough rooms for all the guarantees. But yes, this far out they are certainly expecting cancellations; and some will happen.

 

I'm confused how you 'chose your own room' and the cabin hasn't been assigned. I haven't booked princess but on every line I have booked when you choose a room you literally pick a room number right then and there and it doesn't change.

 

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I think people might be more concerned with is being bumped from a particular cruise rather that the entire cruise being bumped for a charter, etc as was stated in the article you referenced. Just MHO.....:):):)

 

Bob

[luckyinpa]

IMO I think it depends on how sold the cruise is as to whether they offer a GTY option or not.

As you noticed and from what I have seen you may never see a gty option for a particular cruise. It's not automatic to be able to pick a GTY option.

 

why wouldnt there be GTY every time?

 

i'm more used to NCL princing where they lure you in with the GTY price. when i see advertised rates now, i know to add 200 to be able to choose my own cabin. also on Royal GTY has been on every ship i've priced out.