odd star class booking behavior on rccl website

[allennn]

We are looking at a star loft suite for harmony in 2023.  When I go to the rccl weebsite to book the room with 2 people it shows up, but as soon as I increase it to 3 the room doesn't show available.  The suite specifically says it sleeps 4 so why would this be happening?  

[beardedladies]

Is it happening for other cabin types too? If so, the ship likely has sold it's quota of extra occupancy spaces - all cabins are assumed to hold 2 with some extra allowed in terms of maximum occupancy on the ship. They can't exceed that - you can only manage so many people with the lifeboats etc.

[twangster]

Ask a travel agent for a quote for 3 guests.  

 

We all know that Royal's website leaves a lot to be desired.  Every week we see evidence of some wonky behaviour on the website.  

 

Travel agents don't use the public website when they quote or book a cruise.  

[RobInMN]

Along with (or more specific to?) what @beardedladies said, I've seen posted on this site that muster stations can also have a lot to do with that. They don't re-allocate cabins to muster stations based on occupancy. All rooms are permanently assigned to a specific muster station and if that muster station has reached it's allotted quota by the number of "extra" people already booked in other cabins, then it will block all other cabins in the same muster station block from adding additional people.

 

If you are looking for a cabin that there are lots of all over the ship, you may be locked out of booking 3 in some areas, but not others. But when you are looking at Star suites, there are so few and they are consolidated in specific areas, so while you may be able to book 3 or even 4 in other areas of the ship in other cabin classes, that specific Star class has no more muster station space to allow for a 3rd person.

 

Also note, that I am pretty sure I've read that when calculating the muster station counts, that all rooms designated to it are counted at double occupancy whether occupied by 2, 1, or not booked, then any extra people added on top of that. The only exception would be the few single rooms on some ships, those would be allocated 1 space, booked or not. What this means is that if there is a solo traveler booked in a double occupancy room in a muster station group, that does not mean that there is an extra space for another room in the same block to have another extra person. Their room is still allocated 2 spaces at the muster station.

 

[cindyscruise]

The muster station being full makes a lot of sense.  Is the royal loft occupied?  what about the other loft cabins by the Star Loft?  If they are all full then the muster quota  probably is full.  Have you called or used a TA.  That might help.  We are in a Star Loft in Oct 2023 on the Harmony but just the 2 of us.

[cruise_co]

8 hours ago, allennn said:

We are looking at a star loft suite for harmony in 2023.  When I go to the rccl weebsite to book the room with 2 people it shows up, but as soon as I increase it to 3 the room doesn't show available.  The suite specifically says it sleeps 4 so why would this be happening?  

Are you doing it immediately one after another? I have found that when I am pricing cabins when there is just one like the rls or one left of 2, if I just click on the category to get the price it takes the cabin out of inventory for about 10 minutes.  You don't even have to click on the cabin number. 

 

If you are pricing the star loft with 2 people and then back out and try immediately again with 3 people, the star loft won't be there.  It will show back up in about 10 minutes. Wait a few minutes and try with 3 people first.

[allennn]

As a follow-up, I called rccl phone soon after I posted this and the star loft suite was in fact available for 4 but refused to show up on the rccl website for 4 no matter what I tried.  We are all booked now but it shouldn't have been that hard.

[brillohead]

4 hours ago, allennn said:

We are all booked now but it shouldn't have been that hard.

I wonder how profitable Royal would be if their IT department weren't so danged inept?

[allennn]

so true, its sad that now I never start looking for a cruise on rccl website.  I start with everything else first then go to their site to make sure the price is real.