Suites sold out

[Tree_skier]

I've got Independence of the Seas booked in April 2021.  When checking prices RCi's Website shows all suites sold out and all balcony cabins that hold 3 or more especially so far out.  That seems quite strange.  Any thoughts on what might be going on with this cruise?

[ptod]

Are you sailing the week of Easter?

[Tree_skier]

No it's 11 days after Easter

[OSUZorba]

Suites being sold out that far isn't that unusual. I'm surprised about the multi-berth balconies though. I had to give up on last minute bookings once I started sailing in JSes :(.

[Tree_skier]

9 minutes ago, OSUZorba said:

Suites being sold out that far isn't that unusual. I'm surprised about the multi-berth balconies though. I had to give up on last minute bookings once I started sailing in JSes :(.

 

But every suite! Including Jr. suites. That seems so unlikely to me.

[OSUZorba]

2 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

 

But every suite! Including Jr. suites. That seems so unlikely to me.

I just realized you were talking about 2021, not 2020. Yeah, that seems unlikely, and the extra-berth balconies being soldout really doesn't make sense. The cruise before has a ton of availability. I'm guessing the rooms are just blocked out for some reason.

[Tree_skier]

It just got a little more unlikely... I just checked again trying to use a different browser since you never know with Royal IT.  Now all 3 and 4 person staterooms are gone.  Including OV and Interiors.  Definitely something going on.  

[Ourusualbeach]

1 hour ago, Tree_skier said:

I've got Independence of the Seas booked in April 2021.  When checking prices RCi's Website shows all suites sold out and all balcony cabins that hold 3 or more especially so far out.  That seems quite strange.  Any thoughts on what might be going on with this cruise?

Something is definitely going on.  Even in the double occupancy cabins there are only a couple of categories available with the rest showing closed.

[perfect match]

1 hour ago, Tree_skier said:

I've got Independence of the Seas booked in April 2021.  When checking prices RCi's Website shows all suites sold out and all balcony cabins that hold 3 or more especially so far out.  That seems quite strange.  Any thoughts on what might be going on with this cruise?

 

That’s exactly what happened to us on a cruise we had booked on Brilliance in November 2020. We went from only about 200 total cabins sold throughout all categories on the ship one day, the next day there were only 204 cabins remaining to be sold throughout all categories on the ship, and all suite categories were sold out. I also noticed that the groups of cabins that remained available were in groups of 5 cabins, 10 cabins, or maybe in a category with a large number of cabins maybe 29 cabins left. This certainly got my attention.

 

My guess was that the ship had been chartered. Sure enough, about 6 weeks after I originally noticed the drastic change in the number of cabins available on our sailing I got an email confirming that our sailing had been cancelled to accommodate a group charter. The email offered several options to switch to another sail date with price protection or to transfer to a new booking on a different sailing of our choosing. I can’t be completely sure your cruise will be chartered, but just be aware that it might happen.

 

Word to the wise - wait for the email before you start making alternate plans! I was a bit impatient, so went ahead and booked the cruise I wanted to switch to. I had to get a special exception to get my benefits from being bumped and my Next Cruise booking benefits changed to the cruise I’d already booked. It did help that I wasn’t asking for anything more than they offered in the cancellation email, but there is no guarantee that they will continue to make exceptions. The process will go much more smoothly for you if you’re more patient than I was. 

 

Good of luck to you. I hope you get to take the cruise you’re booked on now. If not, I hope you can find a replacement cruise that works for you.

[Tree_skier]

Ok... so a little update.  About a week ago I noticed that the cruise has now disappeared from available inventory completely.  So the suspicion that this was going to be a charter was looking more and more likely.  So yesterday when I went to do a check on prices for all cruises booked. I noticed on my cruise planner that this Western Caribbean cruise now had a new title with a new destination.

 

I haven't received anything from Royal yet about this likely cancellation but I'm sure in the next few weeks I will. Any thoughts on what they might offer as compensation?

 

 

Edited October 7, 2019 by Tree_skier
Adding picture

[DrivesLikeMario]

If it makes you feel any better, our late April 2021 cruises have had all suites sold out for months now.  TG we booked as soon as we did or we'd be out of luck.  In fact, the entire ship on both cruises is almost sold out.

 

Actually, I'm afraid what happened to you will happen to us too and we aren't able to be very flexible with dates.  From what I've heard, the compensation is pretty bad (like $100 OBC).  I hope I'm wrong about that.  Anyone know?

Edited October 7, 2019 by DrivesLikeMario

[bighairtexan]

Last night I was checking out a February 2020 Majesty cruise. I was going to book 2 Superior Ocean Views EACH ONE as a solo.  I got to the "choose cabin" , and had to go back to check something. When I came back to the process, all of a sudden there were no Superior OV's that could be booked solo. I got the "Sorry, there are no S.O.V.'s that can be booked for single occupancy. Try another date."  So I tried every single category and basically they said NOTHING could be booked solo. Now I realize having 3 or more in a cabin could cause life boat overcrowding issues. But having 1?  Are undercrowded lifeboats a problem? And I was paying the full 200% for the solo booking.  At FIRST they were going to let me book and then NADA.  I'm betting if I want to book and I CALL either RCI or Casino Royale, I'll be able to book 2 cabins as solos.  Quite probably if you CALL RCI same thing. I think (guessing going by past experience) that it's another lovely RCI IT issue. 

[island lady]

Allure TA for 2020 has had all suites, plus JS and all balcony cabins sold out for some time now.  But probably not surprising with a popular cruise.  Our roll call thread is huge also.  

 

One of the things I do, is to check another website that more accurately shows cabins available....even if not showing up on RCI website (happens a lot).  Then I just call direct to book that cabin.  

[Tree_skier]

Cruise no longer shows up in royal's website and the title of the cruise has changed from 4 night Western Caribbean cruise to 4 night charter cruise in my cruise planner. It is also going to Labadee and no where else instead of Cozumel and nowhere else.

Edited October 7, 2019 by Tree_skier

[torpeedo]

1 hour ago, Tree_skier said:

Cruise no longer shows up in royal's website and the title of the cruise has changed from 4 night Western Caribbean cruise to 4 night charter cruise in my cruise planner. It is also going to Labadee and no where else instead of Cozumel and nowhere else.

 

I've had several cruises chartered from me.  Don't cancel until you get the offer.  My offers were several alternative dates that were price protected plus some OBC.  Or you could cancel and receive a full refund.  

[Coralc]

4 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

Ok... so a little update.  About a week ago I noticed that the cruise has now disappeared from available inventory completely.  So the suspicion that this was going to be a charter was looking more and more likely.  So yesterday when I went to do a check on prices for all cruises booked. I noticed on my cruise planner that this Western Caribbean cruise now had a new title with a new destination.

 

I haven't received anything from Royal yet about this likely cancellation but I'm sure in the next few weeks I will. Any thoughts on what they might offer as compensation?

 

 

 

That's funny! 🤗 Not only are they "sort of" informing you that your cruise is chartered...they have even re-named it Charter Cruise. Sorry for your inconvenience. 

Edited October 7, 2019 by Coralc

[mac_tlc]

I had a B2B2B booked on Independence for January 2021. All three cruises ended up being chartered. Lost them all. And of course, other options have increased in price.

 

mac_tlc

[ladysail2]

The cruise isn't showing up on my favourite cruise site either....the Seaxxxxxer site.  That's where I go look to see what cabins are actually available. The site is only showing Independence cruises until April 10-15, 2021.  Hope you can find another cruise you like.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

Compensation for a cancelled cruise that's 18 months away?  The only thing I might expect would be price matching a similar (duration & itinerary) cruise that departs about the same time.  You can't book airfare or hotel that far out, so what exactly are you "out"? 

[molly361]

16 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

Ok... so a little update.  About a week ago I noticed that the cruise has now disappeared from available inventory completely.  So the suspicion that this was going to be a charter was looking more and more likely.  So yesterday when I went to do a check on prices for all cruises booked. I noticed on my cruise planner that this Western Caribbean cruise now had a new title with a new destination.

 

I haven't received anything from Royal yet about this likely cancellation but I'm sure in the next few weeks I will. Any thoughts on what they might offer as compensation?

 

 

Don't know about for 4 nights but for 5 nights we got offered several alternate dates price protected and $100 OBC for standard cabins, $200 for JS and above

 

[Ourusualbeach]

2 hours ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

Compensation for a cancelled cruise that's 18 months away?  The only thing I might expect would be price matching a similar (duration & itinerary) cruise that departs about the same time.  You can't book airfare or hotel that far out, so what exactly are you "out"? 

Yes, Royal does offer compensation for cruises that get chartered or redeployed.  It’s not much but it is something.  It’s the same offer whether the cruise is 6 months or 2 years away with the exception of cruises that are under 1 year away they offer an additional amount for documented flight change fees.

 

The. standard offer on cruises under 7 nights has been, offing price protection on 4-5 comparable sailings, $100 OBC for Balconies and below and $200 for JS and above

 

For sailings 7 nights and longer the offer has been, 4-5 price protected sailings, $200 OBC for balconies and below and $400 for JS and above.

 

As I mentioned earlier they also offer to pay air change fees up to $300? as long as you can document the fee and provide them the receipt.

 

The OBC is yours whether you choose to use it on one of the price protected dates or you can use it on any other booking that you choose and pay the current posted fare.   As the OBC is applied to the reservation number of the chartered cruise you have to select a new cruise date.  It cannot be applied to an existing booking. 

 

You also have the option of cancelling your cruise altogether and receive no OBC and any non refundable deposit fees are waived.

They  have also had a few other offers on cruises that haven’t been your typical 4-7 day Caribbean cruises but those are not nearly as common as the bulk of the charter cruises.

[Tree_skier]

So the final outcome was that this cruise was chartered.  They gave me three options... #1 change to a different date on the same ship with cabin cat. price protected plus $100 obc. #2 change to any other cruise plus $100 OBC or #3 cancel and NRD is fully refunded.  We choose #2...  This ended upping a good thing for us.  The original cruise was selected because there is annual conference that I have attended in So. Florida every year that was connected to this date. I have decided to skip this conference so the choice of this cruise was rendered meaningless.  We have now selected a longer cruise, with a unique itinerary, that will be the only reason for travel.  Thanks all for help

Edited October 9, 2019 by Tree_skier

[torpeedo]

That's the exact same offers I have received in the past. Congrats on the new longer cruise!!  It's good that it was very far in advance so you didn't have a multitude of other issues like air fare etc in play that complicate things more. Have a great cruise.

[perfect match]

13 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

So the final outcome was that this cruise was chartered.  They gave me three options... #1 change to a different date on the same ship with cabin cat. price protected plus $100 obc. #2 change to any other cruise plus $100 OBC or #3 cancel and NRD is fully refunded.  We choose #2...  This ended upping a good thing for us.  The original cruise was selected because there is annual conference that I have attended in So. Florida every year that was connected to this date. I have decided to skip this conference so the choice of this cruise was rendered meaningless.  We have now selected a longer cruise, with a unique itinerary, that will be the only reason for travel.  Thanks all for help

 

Glad everything worked out for you. 

 

 I had to laugh when I saw the title of your cruise is changed to 4 Night Charter Cruise! 😂🤣. They didn’t do that with my cancelled Brilliance cruise, but I thought with mine it was pretty obvious what was going on before it disappeared. Not as obvious as yours, though!

 

Thanks for coming back and letting us know what happened. 

 

 

[sellwingri]

I’m booked on Ovation in May 2021 on a 14 day cruise from Tokyo to Seattle.  As soon as the cruise was announced in May 2019, it was a huge success.  Even though it’s over 18 months away, only a few balconies are available.