Problem with Passengers Being Bumped in Baltimore

[cruzin2paradise]

Just curious, would your trip insurance factor in here in any way? I know that each trip insurance company has a few differences, but overall, they cover the same way. Would a company like Carnival be dumb enough to have language in the policy that would put them in a position of responsibility when they feel the need to screw their customers??

 

And so now the paranoia has kicked in and I'm wondering if everyone on all cruiselines is at some risk of being bumped until they make final payment?

 

Sheesh - how unprofessional of Carnival . . . we cruised on them twice and it wasn't bad, but suffice it to say, we are clearly booked with RCI . . .

 

Sorry to the folks that got screwed on Carnival!

[eroller]

But Ernie.. correct me if I am wrong, but when final payments are due, the line knows who has paid and who hasn't and has a pretty firm idea of what bookings could be at risk. And that's two months out.

 

 

That is correct, and a big part of what the yield management software does is predict (based on historical data) just how many cabins will "fall-out" when it comes to final payment time. Cruise lines are not trying to sell a cabin twice and collect penalties within the final payment period, that is not the objective. What they are trying to do is overbook just enough during the deposit phase that come final payment time the cancellations will equal out with the overbookings. When it's all said and done, the ship should be booked full but not overbooked (at least not by a large percentage). The software also predicts "fall-out" within the penalty period, and of course it's a lot less but people still cancel for various reasons (hopefully they have insurance). In these cases, yes, the cruise line will essentially sell the cabin twice making extra revenue .... but usually not 200% as the penalties don't equal the full value of the cabin unless the passenger is a no-show at the pier (in which case it's too late to resell the cabin anyway).

 

In the case of MIRACLE and Baltimore, the "fall-out" factor at final payment time was MUCH less then the yield management software predicted. Carnival had very little historical data to go by since Carnival is relatively new to Baltimore. For this reason the sailings were oversold to a much higher degree then they should have been. Apparently residents of Baltimore make firm plans and stick to them! At this point Carnival's Inventory Department will examine the sailing and probably wait a tad longer before taking action to see if some fall-out will occur within the penalty period. That is usually a pipe-dream at best. Next step is to start the removal process. Usually voluntary at first, with an offer to move to another sailing. It's a very time consuming process, as the cruise line must first call the travel agent, then the travel agent calls the client, then they discuss it and no doubt have more questions. Then the agent eventually calls back the cruise line, and maybe they have a yes or no but many times it's just more questions. Then the process begins all over again. It can take days and days, or even a week or more for this process. As the sailing gets closer and no one is budging, the cruise line is forced to involuntarily remove passengers. If the sailing is getting close, which chances are by this point, they will look at moving an entire affinity group to another sailing. Groups are easy because they will get a huge chunk of cabins back in availability with a single phone call. At this point time is of the essence and the need to move people off the sailing exemplified. What they don't want (which is different than airlines) is anyone showing up at the pier without a cabin. Everyone should have been notified in advance of their canceled/moved booking and anyone at the pier should have a confirmed booking with cabin. There might be one or two passengers that don't have a cabin, and that's only because there is a small no-show factor at the pier and they will be assigned the no-show cabins. In those very few cases, yes, the cruise will make 200% revenue on a single cabin.

 

I hope that explains it. It's all rather complicated and difficult to put down in writing. Thankfully, situations like this within the cruise industry don't happen very often. Carnival (and other lines) use the most sophisticated yield management software available, and in general it does an excellent job of filling ships to capacity, but not overbooking them. Once in a while when there is little historical data, it fails. No doubt Carnival will keep a closer eye out on sailings from new embarkation ports and manually adjust inventory as necessary.

 

Ernie

[eroller]

Would a company like Carnival be dumb enough to have language in the policy that would put them in a position of responsibility when they feel the need to screw their customers??

 

And so now the paranoia has kicked in and I'm wondering if everyone on all cruiselines is at some risk of being bumped until they make final payment?

 

Sheesh - how unprofessional of Carnival . . . we cruised on them twice and it wasn't bad, but suffice it to say, we are clearly booked with RCI . . .

 

 

 

All major cruise lines manage inventory in pretty much the same way, with sophisticated (but obviously not infallible) yield management software. Royal Caribbean oversells just like Carnival does, and in fact Carnival is probably the best out there when it comes to predicting yields. That is why their ships are always full. Believe me, an oversell is not something unique to just Carnival. Royal Caribbean and other major lines have all had to involuntarily move passengers off their ships, many times on holiday sailings. Unfortunately Carnival has found itself in a situation where many passengers are affected over a serious of sailings. They goofed and they are justly getting the bad publicity for their mistake.

 

Sometime have a look at the "terms and conditions" section of your cruise ticket. It's pretty scary. It really doesn't matter if you have paid your booking in full or not. The cruise line can cancel your booking at ANYTIME, with or without reason, and owe you absolutely nothing except the refund of your cruise fare. Any "offers" given to passengers to move off an oversold sailing are purely for good will, and not required by any means. The bottom line is you have very few rights as a cruise passenger should the cruise line decide to charter, cancel, substitute a vessel, or otherwise with a sailing you are booked on. Thankfully cruise lines are generally concerned about their reputation with the public and their passengers (or no one would book), so these situations are far and few between.

 

Ernie

[eroller]

I saw the question but didn't see the answer: Does anyone know if anyone bumped had anything other than a guarantee?

 

It could be that guarantees become the "stand-by" status of cruise lines. The whole idea of gurantees seemed a little strange to me to start with.

 

 

Having a cabin number makes no difference in the bumping process. A "guarantee" is just as much a confirmed booking as having a cabin number. The booking date plays a larger role and many times even those that book early take a guarantee (in hopes of an upgrade). Large groups are usually assigned cabins early on, but they can be an easy target to be bumped if the cruise line gets desperate. It's one quick call to cancel the group and the cruise line will recoup a large block of cabins.

 

I would not hesitate to book a guarantee and do it all the time. Never had a problem.

 

Ernie

[pedirn]

We were not exactly bumped, but on our April cruise through Panama Canal on the Radiance, they oversold the balcony cabins. Now they blamed this on a computer glitch. We were contacted the wed before sailing and asked to give up our balcony. We did as financial incentive was very high for a two week sailing. While on the ship we heard many stories of people arriving to their cabins to find others already occupying it. I was not able to confirm this rumor but it was ramport over the ship.

Chris