Sold out Ships?

[CNSJ]

Reading posts on Cruise Critic, combined with my own recent few cruises and from family members, it seems that Holland America is selling cabins and filling up ships.  I know there is also a push for filling 3rd and 4th beds in cabins that can handle them.  What are the observations of those sailing recently or aboard ship now?

 

If true (ships selling well), we should see prices staying on the higher side, and shore excursions filling up much earlier.  This is good for the industry.  Perhaps it's just the last of the boomers (I fit that description) deciding to spend their kids' inheritances***.  The fears that COVID would stop people from cruising did not materialize long term (for now). 

 

***Recently a fellow traveler explained to me..."I fly business class, because otherwise my kids will."  

[TRLD]

Was not much available when I was looking for a last minute Alaska cruise a couple of days ago. The few that seemed to have space came up sold out when I tried to book.

 

Certainly appears that HAL cruises are selling well.

 

Though there have been a couple of analyst comments that cruise demand is starting to soften which may help with fare prices next year.

[REOVA]

It depends on itinerary and time of year. When school is out, cruises will be fuller. 7 day cruises sell more than longer. Alaska, Carribean and Canada sell more. When you look at longer, more unique cruising (Legendary, Grand, Trans, etc) they don't sell out as much except for some of the popular ones. And there are usually drop offs and cancellations towards departure date. 

[kazu]

The ship was full on my last  2 sailings and it was not a time when children were out of school.

 

My observation from doing the Bon Voyage threads is that the ships are often sailing full.  Many of the itineraries I post on the BV threads are found in the “sold out” category.  It’s been that way for  quite a while.

[MISTER 67]

Every cruise we have sailed since the start of 2023 have been sold out, when we were on the Celebrity Reflection Easter week in 2023, that sailing was 400 over capacity with most of them kids and they were well behaved.

[terrydtx]

Our Koningsdam cruise last November was 100% sold out, it was a California coastal cruise and that itinerary is only done a couple of times a year, making it very popular. Our August Volendam Canada/NE cruise is now sold out and doesn't even show up when looking for cruises on the HAL website. Neither one of these cruises were in times the kids are out of school.

[jay888]

11 hours ago, CNSJ said:

Reading posts on Cruise Critic, combined with my own recent few cruises and from family members, it seems that Holland America is selling cabins and filling up ships.  I know there is also a push for filling 3rd and 4th beds in cabins that can handle them.  What are the observations of those sailing recently or aboard ship now?

 

If true (ships selling well), we should see prices staying on the higher side, and shore excursions filling up much earlier.  This is good for the industry.  Perhaps it's just the last of the boomers (I fit that description) deciding to spend their kids' inheritances***.  The fears that COVID would stop people from cruising did not materialize long term (for now). 

 

***Recently a fellow traveler explained to me..."I fly business class, because otherwise my kids will."  

My son says spend the money on yourself, you have given so much over the years.  So encourages me to cruise

[terrydtx]

2 minutes ago, jay888 said:

My son says spend the money on yourself, you have given so much over the years.  So encourages me to cruise

Our kids say the same to us, so we now fly BC or FC and tend to stay at higher end hotels and suites in cruise ships. We call these trips SKI vacations, Spending the Kids Inheritance.

[SilvertoGold]

11 hours ago, TRLD said:

Was not much available when I was looking for a last minute Alaska cruise a couple of days ago. The few that seemed to have space came up sold out when I tried to book.

 

Certainly appears that HAL cruises are selling well.

 

Though there have been a couple of analyst comments that cruise demand is starting to soften which may help with fare prices next year.

We have had a very different experience this year with Alaska. As noted above, in trying to book we have found most cruises are "not available" even when showing on the HAL website.We managed to book two 14 day cruises, only because we looked every day for a couple of weeks. Pax must be cancelling since some cruises do come back on as "available" but very limited capacity. Pries are higher than we have paid for many years.

Our 39 day NZ, Australia, South Pacific this March- April was a brezze to book, seemed that the first segment was well-booked, but the Legendary second segment was nowhere near full. Prices were excellent!

Edited Sunday at 01:06 PM by SilvertoGold

[TRLD]

59 minutes ago, SilvertoGold said:

We have had a very different experience this year with Alaska. As noted above, in trying to book we have found most cruises are "not available" even when showing on the HAL website.We managed to book two 14 day cruises, only because we looked every day for a couple of weeks. Pax must be cancelling since some cruises do come back on as "available" but very limited capacity. Pries are higher than we have paid for many years.

Our 39 day NZ, Australia, South Pacific this March- April was a brezze to book, seemed that the first segment was well-booked, but the Legendary second segment was nowhere near full. Prices were excellent!

Sounds like you are saying the same thing I did. This year very few cabins left. HAL.sailing full. HAL offering last minute special, but no cabins to book.

 

It is future demand, 2025, for all lines, that is starting to soften according to some analysts that follow the cruise lines.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Book early if you want that cruise...😀

[CNSJ]

3 hours ago, terrydtx said:

we now fly BC or FC

Agree with this SKI trip concept, but I am still having trouble with the $8 to 10K Business Class fare to AUS/NZ from USA.  Since we are in no hurry, SFO to HNL (two nights in Hawaii), HNL to NAN (Fiji), a nice few days there in Fiji, then NAN to SYD.  Even at great 5* resort hotels in each stopover, the price is so much less than the direct route which at 15 hours is too painful in economy.  Enjoying the ride!

[CNSJ]

24 minutes ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

Book early if you want that cruise...😀

And especially if you are cabin picky!

[terrydtx]

5 minutes ago, CNSJ said:

Agree with this SKI trip concept, but I am still having trouble with the $8 to 10K Business Class fare to AUS/NZ from USA.  Since we are in no hurry, SFO to HNL (two nights in Hawaii), HNL to NAN (Fiji), a nice few days there in Fiji, then NAN to SYD.  Even at great 5* resort hotels in each stopover, the price is so much less than the direct route which at 15 hours is too painful in economy.  Enjoying the ride!

For our last January Aus/NZ trip we booked with AA from San Antonio to Sydney in Premium Economy. The day after Thanksgiving we got an offer from AA to upgrade to BC for $1200pp. The airfare cost less than $6000pp with the upgrade cost, which was about half of what BC was selling for at the time.  We booked in late April with AA for our South America cruise next March RT BC for $3889pp, those same flights today are anywhere from $5500 to $7200pp. We fly to Santiago Chile and return from Buenos Ares.

[BermudaBound2014]

11 minutes ago, CNSJ said:

Agree with this SKI trip concept, but I am still having trouble with the $8 to 10K Business Class fare to AUS/NZ from USA.  Since we are in no hurry, SFO to HNL (two nights in Hawaii), HNL to NAN (Fiji), a nice few days there in Fiji, then NAN to SYD.  Even at great 5* resort hotels in each stopover, the price is so much less than the direct route which at 15 hours is too painful in economy.  Enjoying the ride!

 

Good for you. Great plan. I love those complementary 5* stop overs, but shhhhh or the secret gets out 🙂 

[bennybear]

Love the ideas shared!  Prefer to stop along the way as well. And why not business?  
some of you may enjoy this thread 

 

Changing Mindsets: From Saving and Investing to Enjoying What You've Worked Hard to Save and Invest

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

2 hours ago, CNSJ said:

Agree with this SKI trip concept, but I am still having trouble with the $8 to 10K Business Class fare to AUS/NZ from USA.  Since we are in no hurry, SFO to HNL (two nights in Hawaii), HNL to NAN (Fiji), a nice few days there in Fiji, then NAN to SYD.  Even at great 5* resort hotels in each stopover, the price is so much less than the direct route which at 15 hours is too painful in economy.  Enjoying the ride!

Sounds like a plan.

[FlaMariner]

17 hours ago, CNSJ said:

What are the observations of those sailing recently or aboard ship now?

 

Onboard the Oosterdam in April for a B2B.....

 

The TA was full (as I was told) as was the 11 night Barcelona to Athens...and prices on the 11 night increased greatly in the last few months before showing "sold out". 

 

Also, Mother wanted to book a 7 night Caribbean run with the granddaughters.....the 1/4 NS price went from $565 to $850 to $1200 (inside guarantee) rather quickly......She missed out for now...still tracking....

 

We are tracking fall 2025 Europe and it seems the prices are higher rather early....

 

I agree with you, the ships seem to be filling up quicker than recent history....

 

 

 

[atexsix]

delete

 

wrong thread

Edited Sunday at 07:04 PM by atexsix

[CNSJ]

2 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Good for you. Great plan. I love those complementary 5* stop overs, but shhhhh or the secret gets out 🙂 

Since the Fiji tourist board helps fund Nadi, Fiji (NAN) stopovers, I think they will be around for a while.  As for Hawaii, I have never seen cheaper fares from Left Coast of USA to the Hawaiian Islands.  Can we thank Southwest for this?  Not sure if Alaska-Hawaiian airlines merger will impact this. 

[CruiserBruce]

29 minutes ago, CNSJ said:

Since the Fiji tourist board helps fund Nadi, Fiji (NAN) stopovers, I think they will be around for a while.  As for Hawaii, I have never seen cheaper fares from Left Coast of USA to the Hawaiian Islands.  Can we thank Southwest for this?  Not sure if Alaska-Hawaiian airlines merger will impact this. 

It can also be two commonly mentioned reasons...the post pandemic spending splurge is winding down, and the hangover of the Maui fire is wearing off...more people are booking Hawaii.The second definitely applies to us...we went 3 times during Covid, then were a bit tired of Hawaii, and started to look again. Maui is our favorite island in over 30 trips, but then the fire happened. We just booked to Maui again for March 2025.

 

United is still the biggest player flying to the Islands.

[jlawrence01]

They may be filling up ships but there have been a lot of great deals out there.  I booked a 14 day Alaskan cruise oceanview on the NA for $760 plus taxes and port fees which meets my under $100 pp per night including fare, taxes and fees, gratuities, less OBC.  Six months out seems to be the sweet spot.

[SilvertoGold]

1 hour ago, jlawrence01 said:

They may be filling up ships but there have been a lot of great deals out there.  I booked a 14 day Alaskan cruise oceanview on the NA for $760 plus taxes and port fees which meets my under $100 pp per night including fare, taxes and fees, gratuities, less OBC.  Six months out seems to be the sweet spot.

How I wish HAL would do Canadian dollars at par!

[swin26]

Our Rotterdam cruise 14 days out of Rotterdam was sold out.  It was 60% Dutch passports.  It was our most fun cruise, especially on Orange party night. 

[fletcher32]

On 6/24/2024 at 12:48 AM, swin26 said:

Our Rotterdam cruise 14 days out of Rotterdam was sold out.  It was 60% Dutch passports.  It was our most fun cruise, especially on Orange party night. 

 

You mean the 8 - 22th june cruise?