BIG change in inventory

[gliles]

for weeks I have checked occasionally and our ship is sold out, doesn't even show up in a search and today all of a sudden there are 51 balconies open, no insides, no oceanview, no suites but 51 balconies. That seems very strange to me. But we got a Royal up to an Owner's Suite so I don't really care 🙂 I am just curious. 

[wolfcathorse]

RoyalUp told my TA that they hold cabins out of inventory to use for the Royal Up program, they can make more money filling them that way than by giving free upgrades or low cost upgrades at the last minute.

[Charles4515]

2 minutes ago, gliles said:

for weeks I have checked occasionally and our ship is sold out, doesn't even show up in a search and today all of a sudden there are 51 balconies open, no insides, no oceanview, no suites but 51 balconies. That seems very strange to me. But we got a Royal up to an Owner's Suite so I don't really care 🙂 I am just curious. 

 

Often large travel agencies have blocks of group space. They have a time limit in which to sell the cabins. When that time limit is up the unsold cabins are released. 

[dodgestang]

Also might be the frenzy the media has whipped up around Corona causing a bunch of people to cancel....however....all balconies is kinda suspect.

[gliles]

Thanks, that just seemed really excessive since the cruise is so close and we got our Royalup a few weeks ago. We sail 3/1.

[Biker19]

20 minutes ago, gliles said:

Thanks, that just seemed really excessive since the cruise is so close and we got our Royalup a few weeks ago. We sail 3/1.

The big addition of cabin inventory also brought Royal Up minimums way down. Inside to balcony which was $150pp is now only $50pp.

[Ourusualbeach]

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

 

Often large travel agencies have blocks of group space. They have a time limit in which to sell the cabins. When that time limit is up the unsold cabins are released. 

That time limit is 120 days prior to departure so that certainly would not be the reason in this situation. 

[DCL2RCI]

Partial charter that fell through (or was cancelled)?

[brillohead]

Or people who were coming from/through Asia and now aren't allowed to travel?

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

16 hours ago, gliles said:

for weeks I have checked occasionally and our ship is sold out, doesn't even show up in a search and today all of a sudden there are 51 balconies open, no insides, no oceanview, no suites but 51 balconies. That seems very strange to me. But we got a Royal up to an Owner's Suite so I don't really care 🙂 I am just curious. 

Not unusual for any cruise lines web site to indicate that. Contact your TA for the correct information on available cabins.

[gliles]

5 minutes ago, twodaywonder said:

Not unusual for any cruise lines web site to indicate that. Contact your TA for the correct information on available cabins.

 

It is unusual in my experience to go from zero cabins to over 50. 

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

3 minutes ago, gliles said:

 

It is unusual in my experience to go from zero cabins to over 50. 

Many TAs hold cabins for their customers. Many customers cancel their cruise. They also have cabins purchased in bulk for sale at a discount to there customers. They can also give them back to the cruise line for anyone to purchase. So 50 cabins are not that many to pop up all of a sudden. Again. Call your TA for any information on cabin availability. It never fails. We cruise 4-6 a year now. Less than prior years. Every time I do a mock booking on the cruise line web site. The cabin I want is never available. Call my TA and she books it. I have not booked with a cruise line in many years. So maybe if you call them, they will also tell you what cabins are really available. Referring to your comment. I did experience a sold out cruise only to contact my TA and was able to book the cruise. Not only that. I was able to book the cabin I wanted. NEVER rely on any cruise lines web site. Do it only for reference.

[gliles]

I've got an exec who I used to work with looking into it for me as he finds it odd as well so I'll get my answer, thanks for all the possibilities! 

 

And again, I was just curious, it's not a need to know thing 🙂

Edited February 15, 2020 by gliles

[dodgestang]

I think the answer is here in this thread if we just stitch 2 theories together.

 

This: Last minute small charter cancellation

Plus: Sailing restriction for people from China

Equals: Sudden availability of a large section of same type cabins

[brillohead]

1 hour ago, dodgestang said:

I think the answer is here in this thread if we just stitch 2 theories together.

 

This: Last minute small charter cancellation

Plus: Sailing restriction for people from China

Equals: Sudden availability of a large section of same type cabins

Add another theory before the equals sign in your equation:

Certain rooms not showing in inventory originally as they're part of the "musical chairs" of assigning GTY rooms and RoyalUps that goes on behind the scenes, and then after most room assignments are made they are released to general inventory status.

[Ourusualbeach]

2 hours ago, twodaywonder said:

Many TAs hold cabins for their customers. Many customers cancel their cruise. They also have cabins purchased in bulk for sale at a discount to there customers. They can also give them back to the cruise line for anyone to purchase. So 50 cabins are not that many to pop up all of a sudden. Again. Call your TA for any information on cabin availability. It never fails. We cruise 4-6 a year now. Less than prior years. Every time I do a mock booking on the cruise line web site. The cabin I want is never available. Call my TA and she books it. I have not booked with a cruise line in many years. So maybe if you call them, they will also tell you what cabins are really available. Referring to your comment. I did experience a sold out cruise only to contact my TA and was able to book the cruise. Not only that. I was able to book the cabin I wanted. NEVER rely on any cruise lines web site. Do it only for reference.

This reservation is after final payment.  Ta’s Gave up any space that they were holding over a month ago. 

[Ourusualbeach]

2 hours ago, dodgestang said:

I think the answer is here in this thread if we just stitch 2 theories together.

 

This: Last minute small charter cancellation

Plus: Sailing restriction for people from China

Equals: Sudden availability of a large section of same type cabins

Partial charter would have been cancelled long before this.

[dodgestang]

2 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Partial charter would have been cancelled long before this.

Not if it was a charter from China.....it would have been cancelled because of the travel restrictions...not because they want to 😉

[gliles]

There are 54 now. Still all balconies. 

[BirdTravels]

On 2/14/2020 at 7:06 PM, wolfcathorse said:

RoyalUp told my TA that they hold cabins out of inventory to use for the Royal Up program, they can make more money filling them that way than by giving free upgrades or low cost upgrades at the last minute.

Time to get a new TA. Does what your TA said make sense to you? The cruise line is not going to hold rooms for a cheapy upgrade if they can sell the room at full price. 
 

However, high volume TAs do get blocks of rooms which they release. Not sure if that is what you are seeing. 

[Cruisinmomma13]

May I ask, how do you find out the number of available rooms in each category? 

[Biker19]

2 minutes ago, Cruisinmomma13 said:

May I ask, how do you find out the number of available rooms in each category? 

Welcome to CC.

 

It used to be fairly easy at the RCI UK site but that doesn't work since the last update. Use a TA web site (can't mention any here) which shows inventory and count.

Edited February 16, 2020 by Biker19

[Cruisinmomma13]

Just now, Biker19 said:

Welcome to CC.

 

It used to be fairly easy at the RCI UK site but that doesn't work since the last update. Use a TA web site which shows inventory and count.

Wow, that was fast! 
 

do you have a TA website you prefer? 

[Biker19]

Just now, Cruisinmomma13 said:

do you have a TA website you prefer? 

See my edited post.

[Cruisinmomma13]

5 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

See my edited post.

Thanks.