Carnival Blocking 3 or 4 Passengers in Staterooms?

[tlombardo77]

I tried to book Carnival Horizon for November 21, 2021. Their website and 3rd party websites will not allow any bookings of 3 or 4 passengers. There are, however, MANY unsold staterooms that hold 4 passengers. Two agents at Carnival could not explain why this has happened and agree there are plenty of 3 and 4 person staterooms. Turns out it is not just the Horizon. Virtually every cruise itinerary that week will not allow bookings of 3 or 4 passengers in a single stateroom.

 

Does this make sense? The restriction does not exist the week before or the week after. It therefore cannot likely be COVID related. Could it be a Thanksgiving issue? Why would they not want families to stay together in the same room over Thanksgiving? It seems incredibly odd and arbitrary. Any ideas? Thanks

[Cruisesfun65]

It's not a Thanksgiving issue. Many other sailings are also restricted for triple or quad occupancy. F.i. the Mardi Gras sailings in October. Pretty annoying. 

[BlerkOne]

Ships are already at reduced capacity and the more people you stuff in a cabin, the fewer cabins can be sold. Perhaps there is also some consideration for if there is a covid outbreak.

[groundloop]

4 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Ships are already at reduced capacity and the more people you stuff in a cabin, the fewer cabins can be sold.....

 

I strongly suspect this is what's happening.

[IntrepidFromDC]

12 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Ships are already at reduced capacity and the more people you stuff in a cabin, the fewer cabins can be sold. Perhaps there is also some consideration for if there is a covid outbreak.

That seems logical, but when I try to do mock bookings for 3 pax for a variety of ships and sail dates, I'm having success.  Seems glitchy to me, but it's hard to say for sure.

[BlerkOne]

3 minutes ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

That seems logical, but when I try to do mock bookings for 3 pax for a variety of ships and sail dates, I'm having success.  Seems glitchy to me, but it's hard to say for sure.

Did you try around Christmas? It might be similar.

[babygrljaz]

My pvp said they are at limited capacity so only double occupancy is available at this time.  We wouldn't even be allowed to replace a person that may not be able to sail due to military restrictions.  I thought it was only for Sept sailings but looks like its not.

[tlombardo77]

8 minutes ago, babygrljaz said:

My pvp said they are at limited capacity so only double occupancy is available at this time.  We wouldn't even be allowed to replace a person that may not be able to sail due to military restrictions.  I thought it was only for Sept sailings but looks like its not.

Then why not sell me one cabin for 4 people and then block off another cabin from being sold? Same number of people, fewer cabins being used.   I think this is awful for families, essentially doubling the price of a cruise for a family of 4 by forcing them into 2 cabins instead of 1. 

[firefly333]

Makes sense to me. They want to not offer children's rate and reduce the possibility of non vaccinated  children onboard expecting a exception. 

 

They want to discourage families with young kids from booking a week like Thanksgiving. Book another week or book 2 cabins or wait.

 

Rcl is offering many cabins with no solo surcharge. Lines want vaccinated adults.

[BlerkOne]

5 minutes ago, tlombardo77 said:

Then why not sell me one cabin for 4 people and then block off another cabin from being sold? Same number of people, fewer cabins being used.   I think this is awful for families, essentially doubling the price of a cruise for a family of 4 by forcing them into 2 cabins instead of 1. 

I suppose they could charge more for 3rd and 4th passengers than it would cost to put them in a separate cabin. OR would it be better to allow more families to book than there will be available exemptions and cancel some of them a week or two before the cruise?

[babygrljaz]

8 minutes ago, tlombardo77 said:

Then why not sell me one cabin for 4 people and then block off another cabin from being sold? Same number of people, fewer cabins being used.   I think this is awful for families, essentially doubling the price of a cruise for a family of 4 by forcing them into 2 cabins instead of 1. 

I do not know.  That's just what I was told.  I was irritated that they wouldn't allow a name change, instead we either wait and possibly deal with a no show or cancel then and only get about 10% back on what we paid.  Sucks all around for many

[IntrepidFromDC]

28 minutes ago, babygrljaz said:

My pvp said they are at limited capacity so only double occupancy is available at this time.  We wouldn't even be allowed to replace a person that may not be able to sail due to military restrictions.  I thought it was only for Sept sailings but looks like its not.

We have a cabin booked for 3, for both September and October.  Pride out of Baltimore.

[BlerkOne]

2 minutes ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

We have a cabin booked for 3, for both September and October.  Pride out of Baltimore.

I suppose it depends on when you booked and how many cabins are booked with over 2 people. I imagine the bean counters have it all figured out.

[pogoism9]

16 minutes ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

We have a cabin booked for 3, for both September and October.  Pride out of Baltimore.

 

Same here, 3 in a suite on Pride in September, now we also booked right after our September booking last year got cancelled

[ugagal07]

I just had to booked 2 cabins with 2 each instead of our usual quad cabin for October.  Thankfully, it was actually cheaper than any quad we've ever booked and got around that requirement of no 3 or 4 person cabins.  That said, finding connecting cabins was really hard. 

 

I tried to price out another cruise for December, not Christmas or New Years sailings and it was restricted to doubles only still. 

[keels81]

I was able to snag one of the last 3-persons on my sailing of the MG and I haven't been able to shift to a different category or even cabin since then (booked back in May for October 2) and when I finally called in to ask if they could move me, I was told that because of the new muster process and that they're using muster stations for disembarkation (experienced this on the 8/7 Magic sailing), if that station is full for a specific number of adults, then its done.

 

I haven't asked if we could split into a stateroom of two and then a solo since they seem to be waving the solo supplement on some of these sailings but at this point it is what it is and I don't want to lose that sweet, sweet OBC.

[babygrljaz]

54 minutes ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

We have a cabin booked for 3, for both September and October.  Pride out of Baltimore.

We have 4 in ours.  Restrictions are recent.  I booked ours in Sept 2020

[ScottsSweetie]

1 hour ago, keels81 said:

I was able to snag one of the last 3-persons on my sailing of the MG and I haven't been able to shift to a different category or even cabin since then (booked back in May for October 2) and when I finally called in to ask if they could move me, I was told that because of the new muster process and that they're using muster stations for disembarkation (experienced this on the 8/7 Magic sailing), if that station is full for a specific number of adults, then its done.

 

I haven't asked if we could split into a stateroom of two and then a solo since they seem to be waving the solo supplement on some of these sailings but at this point it is what it is and I don't want to lose that sweet, sweet OBC.

Can you explain this for us?

[Computer Nerd]

3 hours ago, babygrljaz said:

My pvp said they are at limited capacity so only double occupancy is available at this time.  We wouldn't even be allowed to replace a person that may not be able to sail due to military restrictions.  I thought it was only for Sept sailings but looks like its not.

So will they kick a family of 3 who already had a booking?

[sanger727]

3 hours ago, tlombardo77 said:

Then why not sell me one cabin for 4 people and then block off another cabin from being sold? Same number of people, fewer cabins being used.   I think this is awful for families, essentially doubling the price of a cruise for a family of 4 by forcing them into 2 cabins instead of 1. 

you just explained why. They can double the price of the cruise if they force a family of four into two cabins instead of one…

[Sailin_Pirate]

4 minutes ago, Computer Nerd said:

So will they kick a family of 3 who already had a booking?

No, just 1 person will be booted.

 

Of course not they wouldn't do that they'd work around it I'm sure

[keels81]

17 hours ago, ScottsSweetie said:

Can you explain this for us?

 

On the Magic on 8/7, if you were disembarking with your own luggage they called you when to go down to the gangway based on your muster station (ie. A1 went first, my station E3 was last). After all those are called, if you had them grab your luggage the night before, then you are allowed to disembark.

 

It was how they were trying to keep large groups from congregating in the port upon disembarking and keep things flowing. Worked nicely, though I would've prepped better to still be on the ship at around 10

a.m. before my station was called. YMMV tho.

[Jamesatgsu]

It was about 2 weeks ago when the ability to book for 4 on our Mardi Gras cruise disappeared. We were looking at them in the morning, and then there was none that afternoon.

 

I just figured it was about maximizing money for remaining capacity, but firefly makes a good point about them not wanting more children. Thanksgiving week is going to attract families, and they don't want more kids being booked onto the ship when they might already be concerned about the % of exemptions. 

[tlombardo77]

On 8/26/2021 at 2:21 PM, IntrepidFromDC said:

We have a cabin booked for 3, for both September and October.  Pride out of Baltimore.

This is only happening thanksgiving week, 2021 and 2022. It’s shady.

[hurricane0226]

On 8/26/2021 at 1:12 PM, tlombardo77 said:

I tried to book Carnival Horizon for November 21, 2021. Their website and 3rd party websites will not allow any bookings of 3 or 4 passengers. There are, however, MANY unsold staterooms that hold 4 passengers. Two agents at Carnival could not explain why this has happened and agree there are plenty of 3 and 4 person staterooms. Turns out it is not just the Horizon. Virtually every cruise itinerary that week will not allow bookings of 3 or 4 passengers in a single stateroom.

 

Does this make sense? The restriction does not exist the week before or the week after. It therefore cannot likely be COVID related. Could it be a Thanksgiving issue? Why would they not want families to stay together in the same room over Thanksgiving? It seems incredibly odd and arbitrary. Any ideas? Thanks

we have three booked in a cabin on the Mardi Gras over Thanksgiving.