How to tell how much of a particular sailing is booked?

[Lottosal65]

Hubby and I are sailing to the Panama Canal on the Pearl on 01/03/2022. We've booked a balcony cabin, and we're interested in bidding on an upgrade if given the opportunity. I've seen people talk about strategy and knowing how many cabins in a category have been booked to help determine how to bid. How does one get that kind of information - what do people do to know this? Are there multiple strategies? Thanks for any insight you can give.

[rluzius]

We too are on that cruise. I can't help with your question, but be sure to join our roll call.

[Rhea98]

Perhaps you will know by doing a fake booking? I think there must be a more accurate way to know, though.🤔 Curious myself.

[kylenyc]

Ages ago there used be a service call ?*****? that tracked prices and capacity. It no longer works and I wonder if cruise lines no longer want such information published.

 

Anyone know if there's a comparable service?

 

I've been doing "fake bookings" without completing them.

 

Edit: I see that even though the service no longer exists, CC blocks the site's name. I notice CC has a price tracker. Haven't tried using it.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=3882

Edited November 4, 2021 by kylenyc

[RocketMan275]

There really isn't a way to get the information you're looking for.

Doing fake bookings doesn't work.  All it will do is show the rooms that are currently, emphasis currently, available.  

Suppose there are 500 balcony cabins.  It might show 250 are available for booking.  However, that doesn't account for Guaranteed bookings.  The cruise line has to keep rooms available for the Guarantees.  There might be 200 guarantees so only 50 additional balcony cabins can be booked.  However those 50 additional bookings could be made against any of the 250 cabins available for booking.  

[The Traveling Man]

If you perform a mock booking for a particular cabin category, you will be offered a choice of up to 15 available staterooms in that category.  You can shift the selection to other categories to get an idea of how many rooms of each type are available.  It's a bit of a laborious process, and it only gives you an accurate count if there are fewer than 15 rooms available in a particular category, but it does give you some idea of what's available.  Of course, NCL sales agents, and perhaps independent travel agents, have more powerful analytical tools to let them get a quick picture of everything that is currently booked and everything that's still available, but that sort of info is not readily visible to the public.

[HuliHuli]

14 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

There really isn't a way to get the information you're looking for.

Doing fake bookings doesn't work.  All it will do is show the rooms that are currently, emphasis currently, available.  

In fact, a fake booking does NOT show all the rooms that are currently available.  Indeed, as @The Traveling Mansaid, it shows "up to 15 available staterooms in that category."  But from multiple booking experiences, working with an NCL PCC, I've learned that they can tell you which cabins are available - my last three bookings have been in cabins that showed as unavailable online.  So there you go.

[MrsTocko]

I too, do the mock bookings, mostly to determine if MY price has gone down.  When I do my initial booking, I do my research about which cabin is my preferred for that cruise...with a couple back ups, because if it is early in the schedule, it may only show available cabins on an un-preferred deck (I like a full deck between us and public areas - both above and below).  Then I call my PCC, and starting with my ideal cabin, check availability.  Usually always available. Or she may suggest a different one for whatever reason, but I have my deck plans pulled up and on screen, so I can make the decision on the fly.

 

I have never known how to determine capacity, but I guess I can always ask my PCC?  I would assume she could determine and tell me.

 

Because I like a particular location (have found optimal location to prevent seasickness - which I am prone to have), I tend to NOT bid for upgrades, because no guarantee where I would end up.  I usually but book what I want, knowing that I am most likely paying more...but for me it is worth it.

 

I think for the foreseeable future, we are still going to not have full capacity, due to the latest news of fully vaccinated indefinitely on NCL.

 

Happy Sailing!

 

 

[EDLOS]

If CDC is mandating reduced capacity, and cruise lines are saying Safety wise they are sailing with reduced capacity, what is that ? Does efficiency of personnel i.e. Cabin stewards, cause them to shut down areas or entire decks ? as opposed to random cabins  ?????

[BermudaBound2014]

31 minutes ago, EDLOS said:

If CDC is mandating reduced capacity, and cruise lines are saying Safety wise they are sailing with reduced capacity, what is that ? Does efficiency of personnel i.e. Cabin stewards, cause them to shut down areas or entire decks ? as opposed to random cabins  ?????

 

The CDC is not mandating reduced capacity. At the 2nd earnings call, Del Rio stated that ships would sail at 100% after 60 days. At the earnings call last Wednesday, NCL stated the average booking is 57%.

[joyy7403]

Many travel companies are given blocks of cabins to sell at a special rate. If they don’t sell them, they are turned back to NCL for them to sell. The PCCs always have access to the ones that are not showing available.

[RocketMan275]

2 minutes ago, joyy7403 said:

Many travel companies are given blocks of cabins to sell at a special rate. If they don’t sell them, they are turned back to NCL for them to sell. The PCCs always have access to the ones that are not showing available.

Travel agents also have access to cabins which don't show as available on the website.

I wanted to book a connecting cabin but the one connecting to my already booked cabin showed as not-available.  I called my TA and asked if she could book that cabin.  Surprise, Surprise, it was available.

 

BTW, if you really want to save money on a cabin, find a TA that books at a discount/rebate.

[The Traveling Man]

22 hours ago, MrsTocko said:

I too, do the mock bookings, mostly to determine if MY price has gone down.  When I do my initial booking, I do my research about which cabin is my preferred for that cruise...with a couple back ups, because if it is early in the schedule, it may only show available cabins on an un-preferred deck (I like a full deck between us and public areas - both above and below).  Then I call my PCC, and starting with my ideal cabin, check availability.  Usually always available. Or she may suggest a different one for whatever reason, but I have my deck plans pulled up and on screen, so I can make the decision on the fly.

 

 

I do the same thing, and it has saved me several thousands of dollars over the years.  As the sailing date gets closer and there still are cabins to fill, NCL frequently will reduce the price on a variety of staterooms.  Just last week I did a mock booking on a TransAtlantic cruise on the Getaway which we originally had booked about  year ago.  Our room category had gone down about $500 pp since the last time I checked on it.  It had gone down about $250 pp once before.  So by rebooking twice we have saved $1500 in total on just this one cruise.  The advantage, of course, is that if the price goes up, you simply stand pat at the lower price which you previously have locked in.  Unfortunately, it seems that this option to rebook at a lower price is available only in the US and perhaps a few other places, while those in the UK and some other countries are locked out of this rebooking advantage.

[MrsTocko]

9 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

I do the same thing, and it has saved me several thousands of dollars over the years.  As the sailing date gets closer and there still are cabins to fill, NCL frequently will reduce the price on a variety of staterooms.  Just last week I did a mock booking on a TransAtlantic cruise on the Getaway which we originally had booked about  year ago.  Our room category had gone down about $500 pp since the last time I checked on it.  It had gone down about $250 pp once before.  So by rebooking twice we have saved $1500 in total on just this one cruise.  The advantage, of course, is that if the price goes up, you simply stand pat at the lower price which you previously have locked in.  Unfortunately, it seems that this option to rebook at a lower price is available only in the US and perhaps a few other places, while those in the UK and some other countries are locked out of this rebooking advantage.

exactly this.  our Iceland/Norway/Scotland cruise in July has more than DOUBLED since we booked.  not doing anything to that one.  I tell everyone, book ahead, you can always REBOOK if the price goes down.  That is how i was able to finally convince my bff and her husband to book Hawaii with us in 2024.  Now I have to search for dress code differences on POA for husband.  he is talking about a backpack only, and wondering if he has to bring long pants...I mean it WILL be November, but still..

[mking8288]

On 11/3/2021 at 10:22 PM, Lottosal65 said:

Hubby and I are sailing to the Panama Canal on the Pearl on 01/03/2022 ... 

 

It is now 59 days to your embarkation and just past final payment deadline/cutoff ... "mid" sized NCL ships like the Pearl has far fewer Haven cabins in various categories and if you do a mock booking, you should get a good idea of unsold inventories for various sub-Haven cabins/suites.  You will see a maximum of 15 available cabins for new bookings (except for any designated as GTY)  

 

The PC sailing you are on are almost certain to not be sailing full and on somewhat (whatever percentage ...) reduced capacity - and, if you are willing & prepare to bid up to one, and received the invite or email to submit your bid with the indicated price ranges, put in something ... anything at the minimum or higher, even slightly higher, that you are comfortable with.  Good luck & you might just be pleasantly surprised and if not, you won't find out until 48 hours prior to sailing - you have a balcony with a view, no matter what.  Watch for last minute price drops, call in to ask about a direct upgrade if the price difference isn't much vs. the bidding game.  

 

BTW, there used to be a popular & semi "secret" online (fish) booking site but it's offline, down & no longer working (shut / out of business ... ) and I've used it on multiple bookings over the years to my advantage - that is not an option or tool to use and aid in checking on inventory - was able to see & count unsold cabins (not limited to displaying only 15 at a time) but as much as 30 to 40, 60 to 75, etc. in popular sub/categories like OV, balcony & minis, etc. 

 

Good luck. 

[ontheweb]

Just one caveat to finding a lower price, and then going for it. If there are perks on your original offer, they just might not be there on the new lower fare. For instance, I have read on other boards of people taking a lower fare only to learn that they have lost the cruise booking as the original fare included a reduced deposit and the new fare did not. Unless they now immediately pay the higher deposit, the booking is lost. The same is true if the original includes OBC or any other perk. They may be lost.

 

We once had a lower fare with a higher deposit, but we were ok as we had our TA run our credit card for the additional deposit.

[The Traveling Man]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

Just one caveat to finding a lower price, and then going for it. If there are perks on your original offer, they just might not be there on the new lower fare. For instance, I have read on other boards of people taking a lower fare only to learn that they have lost the cruise booking as the original fare included a reduced deposit and the new fare did not. Unless they now immediately pay the higher deposit, the booking is lost. The same is true if the original includes OBC or any other perk. They may be lost.

 

We once had a lower fare with a higher deposit, but we were ok as we had our TA run our credit card for the additional deposit.

Even if the deposit and perks are the same, you may lose out on bonus Latitudes points if you rebook.  That happened to us with our most recent rebooking.  We saved $1000, but dropped from double points to just one point per night.  It doesn't mean much to us, though.  We have been Platinum Plus since that level was added to the program in February 2017, but the next level, Ambassador, is still hundreds of points beyond our horizon.  We long ago gave up on ever reaching that level.  Seriously, to go from Bronze to Silver, or Silver to Gold, etc. takes about 40 points for each jump in level.  To get from Platinum Plus to Ambassador is a jump of 525 points !

[luckyinpa]

On 11/4/2021 at 2:59 PM, EDLOS said:

If CDC is mandating reduced capacity, and cruise lines are saying Safety wise they are sailing with reduced capacity, what is that ? Does efficiency of personnel i.e. Cabin stewards, cause them to shut down areas or entire decks ? as opposed to random cabins  ?????

 

my steward on the BA last week said customers can choose any cabins they want. that no area of the ship has been shut down so to speak

[snorklinbarb]

Heard onboard Breakaway that there is a group of cabins set aside for quarantine purposes.  Read on CC of a certain deck but no personal knowledge where that was.

 

luckyinpa, you were also on Breakaway and like you we never encountered any public area that was shut down. 

 

BTW, did you ever recover your phone?  I'm going back on Breakaway Sun.  They would never give a stranger your phone but if you put a brief description/details here I could try to follow it up with the Guest Services Manager. Can't put too much here on CC and don't want to sabotage this thread.   

[Turtles06]

On 11/4/2021 at 3:32 PM, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

The CDC is not mandating reduced capacity. At the 2nd earnings call, Del Rio stated that ships would sail at 100% after 60 days. At the earnings call last Wednesday, NCL stated the average booking is 57%.

At a Q and A with officers on the Breakaway last week, we were told they did not expect full capacity until next summer. (Our sailing was at 38%, BTW; I suspect some of that low number was attributable to Bermuda’s stringent testing and application requirements.)

[EllieinNJ]

Too bad Jamie Logical probably won't see this thread.  She always mentions that she has a way to see at least 100 available cabins at one time.  But I think she said after the Sept./Oct. Breakaway sailing she was through with NCL.