Why is a June 2021 cruisetour already sold out?

[LostAgain]

I have the June 12 2021 Alaska 11 day cruisetour GB4 booked. I have noticed that in the last few days, this is showing as sold out. I looked at the cruise part only, and that is not sold out. So why would a land tour be sold out this far out? I tried googling it to see if I could pick up on a large group going on that trip, but was not able to find anything. My travel agent called Princess and, of course, they said they did not know.

[BigGuy25]

It is surprising ... and it might just be a mistake ... BUT ... popular tours do sometimes sell out very early. Especially if it’s a tour that can only accommodate a limited number of guests.  We usually book only private tours and I almost always am working on booking the best guides (and then, through the Roll Call, offering other guests to join us) well over a year before the sailing date.

[1025cruise]

Land tours don't have the same availability. So yes, it wouldn't surprise me if people booked far in advance.

[Colo Cruiser]

Knowing how the Princess website sometimes shows sold out but hours or days later they are available again.

IMO.......Yeah they book far in advance but I doubt it is sold out yet.

 

Princess reps don't know?  😂  Thats not surprising.

[MCC retired]

Some of the most popular Land Tours have very little capacity and have little relation to how well the cruise portion is booking.

You also will not see the Sales on popular cruise/tours that you will see on the cruise only.

 

[PoohUnderstands]

This occurred also on our cruise tour for Canada/NE to Florida itinerary last year.  We only had three buses with 40 people on each for the landtour portion so only availability was for 120 people so of course the land tour portion would sell out more quickly and sooner than the cruise portion itself.

 

Pooh

[Thrak]

If it's a connoisseur cruise tour there is even more limited availability than the regular cruise tours.

[disneyochem]

We booked a connoisseur tour last year for June 2020.  It was sold out over a year in advance, but I noticed that it would fluctuate between being sold out and available until September 2019.  I think folks put a courtesy hold on a tour and then don't follow through on it.  Or placed a refundable deposit and then changed plans.

[LostAgain]

Thanks, everyone. It is a Denali Explorer tour. I have never done one before but didn't expect it to sell out this early. We had friends thinking about going with us. I dont know how serious they were, anyway.

 

To add to the puzzle, this morning after writing this post, I checked and the cruise portion is listed as "unable to provide pricing". Which makes me very concerned that it's been taken over by a group.

[LostAgain]

2 hours ago, disneyochem said:

We booked a connoisseur tour last year for June 2020.  It was sold out over a year in advance, but I noticed that it would fluctuate between being sold out and available until September 2019.  I think folks put a courtesy hold on a tour and then don't follow through on it.  Or placed a refundable deposit and then changed plans.

Thanks for that info. I had no idea it would book so early. Glad I got on it and didn't procrastinate!

[LostAgain]

4 hours ago, PoohUnderstands said:

This occurred also on our cruise tour for Canada/NE to Florida itinerary last year.  We only had three buses with 40 people on each for the landtour portion so only availability was for 120 people so of course the land tour portion would sell out more quickly and sooner than the cruise portion itself.

 

Pooh

Thanks for the info!

[LostAgain]

3 hours ago, Thrak said:

If it's a connoisseur cruise tour there is even more limited availability than the regular cruise tours.

Thrak, always helpful!

[LostAgain]

6 hours ago, MCC retired said:

Some of the most popular Land Tours have very little capacity and have little relation to how well the cruise portion is booking.

You also will not see the Sales on popular cruise/tours that you will see on the cruise only.

 

I an glad I jumped on it - would have been so disappointed to have to start all that research and planning all over!

[LostAgain]

7 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Knowing how the Princess website sometimes shows sold out but hours or days later they are available again.

IMO.......Yeah they book far in advance but I doubt it is sold out yet.

 

Princess reps don't know?  😂  Thats not surprising.

Yeah, I was not surprised the reps did not know haha. And, at first, thought it was a glitch in the system but then it would be a glitch that lasted a few days which is less likely. 

[LostAgain]

8 hours ago, BigGuy25 said:

It is surprising ... and it might just be a mistake ... BUT ... popular tours do sometimes sell out very early. Especially if it’s a tour that can only accommodate a limited number of guests.  We usually book only private tours and I almost always am working on booking the best guides (and then, through the Roll Call, offering other guests to join us) well over a year before the sailing date.

Thank you. I think we might be talking about two different things? I was referring to the land portion of an Alaska cruisetour. I apologize for not being clear.

Edited March 2, 2020 by LostAgain

[LostAgain]

8 hours ago, BigGuy25 said:

It is surprising ... and it might just be a mistake ... BUT ... popular tours do sometimes sell out very early. Especially if it’s a tour that can only accommodate a limited number of guests.  We usually book only private tours and I almost always am working on booking the best guides (and then, through the Roll Call, offering other guests to join us) well over a year before the sailing date.

Thank you. I was not clear - I was referring to a Princess land tour portion of an Alaska cruise. Perhaps you are referring to private tour operators in Port?

[disneyochem]

1 hour ago, LostAgain said:

Yeah, I was not surprised the reps did not know haha. And, at first, thought it was a glitch in the system but then it would be a glitch that lasted a few days which is less likely. 

It is not surprising that when you called Princess you got a rep that couldn’t answer questions about the land tour.  I found out last year when booking our land tour that there is a different division of the company that handles the land portion.  Every time I called to ask questions/make changes, I was always placed on hold while the rep called the land tour folks.  It was pretty funny—I asked for a phone number so I could speak directly to the knowledge folks but no!  The cruise people are the main contact.  

[LostAgain]

1 hour ago, disneyochem said:

It is not surprising that when you called Princess you got a rep that couldn’t answer questions about the land tour.  I found out last year when booking our land tour that there is a different division of the company that handles the land portion.  Every time I called to ask questions/make changes, I was always placed on hold while the rep called the land tour folks.  It was pretty funny—I asked for a phone number so I could speak directly to the knowledge folks but no!  The cruise people are the main contact.  

Oh geez, so much for logic and ease.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

5 hours ago, LostAgain said:

Thanks, everyone. It is a Denali Explorer tour. I have never done one before but didn't expect it to sell out this early. We had friends thinking about going with us. I dont know how serious they were, anyway.

 

To add to the puzzle, this morning after writing this post, I checked and the cruise portion is listed as "unable to provide pricing". Which makes me very concerned that it's been taken over by a group.

 

If the sailing is the 6/16/21 sailing of the Sapphire it is wide open as "cruise-only" for new bookings, but yes the 6/12/21 departure of the GB4 tour is sold out as of today.  Could be that a family reunion, corporate incentive or church group, group of friends, etc has reserved enough space to sell that tour pattern out for that date.  As others have said the capacity for each tour #/pattern is limited for each departure date - typically about 40-120 people per tour # per date.  That's how they can offer so many different tour patterns/options per single vessel/sailing date.

[caribill]

7 hours ago, LostAgain said:

Thanks, everyone. It is a Denali Explorer tour. I have never done one before but didn't expect it to sell out this early. We had friends thinking about going with us. I dont know how serious they were, anyway.

 

 

 

Your friends can be put on as wait list in case someone cancels.

 

However, they should check availability daily as sometimes the waitlist is not looked at immediately when someone does cancel a booking.

[LostAgain]

On 3/3/2020 at 12:44 AM, caribill said:

 

Your friends can be put on as wait list in case someone cancels.

 

However, they should check availability daily as sometimes the waitlist is not looked at immediately when someone does cancel a booking.

I did not realize there was a wait list, thanks!

[LostAgain]

On 3/2/2020 at 10:31 PM, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

 

If the sailing is the 6/16/21 sailing of the Sapphire it is wide open as "cruise-only" for new bookings, but yes the 6/12/21 departure of the GB4 tour is sold out as of today.  Could be that a family reunion, corporate incentive or church group, group of friends, etc has reserved enough space to sell that tour pattern out for that date.  As others have said the capacity for each tour #/pattern is limited for each departure date - typically about 40-120 people per tour # per date.  That's how they can offer so many different tour patterns/options per single vessel/sailing date.

I think now it is showing as the cruise sold out, as well. It has me very concerned what kind of group would book a whole ship.  I have heard of people getting bumped off their cruises by a group. Ugh.

[LostAgain]

I seem to remember there was a website for checking group cruises but I can't remember what it was, and I have been googling Saphire Princess June 12 2021 to no avail. Perhaps the advertising for the group has not come out yet and that's why I can't find it.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

13 minutes ago, LostAgain said:

I think now it is showing as the cruise sold out, as well. It has me very concerned what kind of group would book a whole ship.  I have heard of people getting bumped off their cruises by a group. Ugh.

 

Not sure where you are checking pricing/availability, but as per POLAR (travel agent res system) all category's except S1 suites are bookable as of just now

 

Here's availability from POLAR with Princess Plus fares:

 

Princess.com also shows sailing as bookable (fares shown are lead in Saver Fare):

[Colo Cruiser]

20 minutes ago, LostAgain said:

I think now it is showing as the cruise sold out, as well. It has me very concerned what kind of group would book a whole ship.  I have heard of people getting bumped off their cruises by a group. Ugh.

It is not sold out.  🤔

It is over a year out.