BTB transatlantic cabin allocations

[Bennybluehat]

Just wondering why Cunard only have a few cabins to choose from when you do the BTB transatlantic run on QM2? We recently booked a cabin we wouldnt have normally chosen because there were very few cabins left to pick from. I checked the cabins that were available if we did the same voyage in either one direction or the other and suddenly a lot more cabins became available. Feeling a bit cheated! 

[majortom10]

Is it B2B or an actual designated roundtrip TA. We have done 2 in the past and have got 3 more booked for the future and have always been told that Cunard only have set number of cabins in each grade available for roundtrip TA and then the rest are available for one way TAs, which no doubt would cost more to book 2 TAs separately B2B.

[Bennybluehat]

Sorry, yes it’s a round trip in May next year. We have had to take an obstructed balcony ( and it is very obstructed ) as it was the only cabin left in a good mid ship position.

[majortom10]

19 minutes ago, Bennybluehat said:

Sorry, yes it’s a round trip in May next year. We have had to take an obstructed balcony ( and it is very obstructed ) as it was the only cabin left in a good mid ship position.

 

We are booked on roundtrip TA leaving 6th May from Southampton and we booked it last October while on roundtrip TA and even though we are in an inside cabin there wasnt a lot of availability then.

[Bennybluehat]

27 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

 

We are booked on roundtrip TA leaving 6th May from Southampton and we booked it last October while on roundtrip TA and even though we are in an inside cabin there wasnt a lot of availability then.

We did the round trip last October aswell, was it the one with Anthony Inglis and the National symphonic orchestra? We had a brilliant time, our first time with Cunard and decided we would have to return sooner rather than later!

[majortom10]

7 minutes ago, Bennybluehat said:

We did the round trip last October aswell, was it the one with Anthony Inglis and the National symphonic orchestra? We had a brilliant time, our first time with Cunard and decided we would have to return sooner rather than later!

Yes it was.

[Underwatr]

A given transatlantic leg made be sold as part of a number of point-to-point itineraries (for example, an eastbound leg could be sold as part of a Southampton-Southampton round trip, a New York-Southampton eastbound TA, or a New York-Hamburg crossing, and possibly as a first leg of a "Grand" New York roundtrip with European ports included). Cunard maintains separate room allocations for each bookable city pair and may adjust those allocations over time in response to demand.

I was once interested in booking a New York-New York Caribbean itinerary while aboard QM2, but the stateroom categories wanted were already allocated to the full Southampton-Southampton voyage. Petra (or YoYo) reserved the room for me as the full Soton round trip and then contacted whomever was necessary to release the hold for two transatlantics - so the right person* can pull the necessary strings to accomplish what needs to be done - but only if a given cabin is available on both transatlantic legs, for example.

 

*I don't know who the right people are but apparently the onboard booking office has some pull. I don't know to what extent that applies to Cunard's phone booking staff.

[TheOldBear]

We booked the M929B round trip [via an $UNNAMED_BIG_BOX agency] soon after the 2019 voyages were announced [booked November 2017].

 

At that time, we could have booked any Britannia category, and ended up selecting a midships sheltered balcony on deck 5. 

 

[Toffeegirl68]

For our B2B (SOU-SOU) last year, we used a travel agent and were able to reserve the cabin we wanted (obscured balcony) - not sure if it was 'pre-allocated' for a round-trip voyage or not, but it was certainly one of the best of the obscured balconies. We booked it on the day that the itinerary was released.

[majortom10]

As far as the UK is concerned, not sure about the US, there are set roundtrip TAs specified on certain dates throughout the year. I am sure you can book 2 separate westbound/eastbound TAs as a B2B  at any time of the year but will not be as advantageous price wise.