Cruise sold out?????

[Jiminkcmo]

I've seen several folks post about their cruise/ship/date being sold out.

 

How do they arrive at this conclusion?

 

Do they have an "in" with NCL?

 

Or, are they just guessing because of the volume of postings related to their cruise/ship/date.

 

Just wondering.

[mbisson]

I'll sometimes "pretend" to be attempting to book my cruise again (at ncl.com). If no availability comes up I'll assume it's because the cruise sold out (although cancellations and other things can happen later to return inventory for a sailing)

[DaisyL]

A few years ago, our Dawn cruise was actually 'oversold' and our TA received a call offering a good deal for cruising on an alternative date. We had to decline because of vacation schedules.

 

I also will look at cruises we have booked (mostly for price reductions) but if you see categories not offered, it's safe to assume it's 'booked'. Our Sept. Ca/NE cruise on the Dawn is only offering suites and inside cabins, at this point.

 

Use NCL page: https://seaweb.it.ncl.com/consumer/

[KerCar]

Our recent cruise was sold out. Several weeks before sailing there no cabins in any cat available for booking. It would be great if we could predict sold out ships from Cruise Critic!!!! Unfortunately we only represent a small % of the cruising public!!!!

[pajammies]

So if NCLs' website is saying a sailing is booked then it's booked. O.K... what if I'm on a different website, are they all linked. If one website says booked or unavailable will another have the same info.

It seems to me that in looking one website has certain cabin #'s available when other websites have different cabin #'s available.

When a TA buys X # of cabins are they specific, or can they sell any open cabin? I hope I asked that so someone understands.

[DaisyL]

When on-line sites give you cabin choices, they are not the only cabins available. You can call NCL, your travel agent, or an on-line agency to see if a particular cabin is available.

 

When booking our PoAm cruise we specifically asked for the forward balcony cabins because they had larger balconies, although they were not showing up on the NCL (or any other) web-site.

 

But if you don't see a specific cabin category available (such as balcony) then it's booked. Although sometimes they show up randomly because the booking was cancelled. For instance, the balcony cabins had not shown for a while, for our cruise, then all of a sudden a 'coveted' BA aft balcony appeared. If we hadn't booked our BB (1 year in advance) for such a great rate, we would have paid for an upgrade!

[TCF]

My understanding is...and I have only be told this here on CC...that sometimes the big cruise discounters will buy up large blocks of cabins on itineraries they know are hot...hold them until close to sail dates when the supply dries up and then re-sell them on the internet.

 

In other cases the cruise lines will unload unsold cabins to the re-sellers and bargain prices for them to sell when it gets close to the cruise date. In either case...the cruise lines website will show a 'sold out' status because from their point of view the cruise is 'sold out'.

 

Sometimes when you go to the re-seller sites you'll see a crusie offered at a good price..but there are only a few categories offered...for example all the good the balconies are gone...or all the suites are gone..etc.

 

If you run into a 'sold out' sign on the cruise line's website...look around at the re-sellers and you might find what you are looking for.

 

Tom

[pajammies]

My understanding is...and I have only be told this here on CC...that sometimes the big cruise discounters will buy up large blocks of cabins on itineraries they know are hot...hold them until close to sail dates when the supply dries up and then re-sell them on the internet.

 

In other cases the cruise lines will unload unsold cabins to the re-sellers and bargain prices for them to sell when it gets close to the cruise date. In either case...the cruise lines website will show a 'sold out' status because from their point of view the cruise is 'sold out'.

 

Sometimes when you go to the re-seller sites you'll see a crusie offered at a good price..but there are only a few categories offered...for example all the good the balconies are gone...or all the suites are gone..etc.

 

If you run into a 'sold out' sign on the cruise line's website...look around at the re-sellers and you might find what you are looking for.

 

Tom

 

So... if you call NCL will they tell you they are sold out of that catergory? Do you have to then buy from someplace else, or does NCL always have any unsold room available?

I'm having a hard time asking what I want to ask.

Hypothetical... I want cabin say... 9220. Let's say the cabin is not sold, if a cruise discount comapny has bought xx # of cabins can they only sell certain cabins? So will one company tell me it's not available when indeed it is, and then I need to call someplace else, or can you always call anyplace with a specific cabin # to see if it's available to book? :confused: :confused:

[oceannotion]

I've often wondered that, too. It would be nice to know if the "flashing dots" on cabin numbers represent the entire available inventory on that deck or not. My guess... no.

[garycarla]

If some other agency has "bought" or reserved cabin 9220, you can not buy it. If it is outside the final payment and your neighbor reserved 9220, you can not buy it.

 

Sold out is often a temporary status, depending on the cruise. On a recent cruise we took on NCL, it was totally sold out at one point and we could not buy a room. We found one via a TA (pure luck) that had one available because somebody canceled. According to our TA, they had an NCL agent in their office and they could not shake any rooms loose at that particular point, but they came open a few weeks later.

 

A month later lots of rooms came available as people cancelled or dropped their reservation. Some rooms were returned by agencies. A few weeks later, most categories were no longer available as others booked them.

 

It keeps moving around.

[pajammies]

If some other agency has "bought" or reserved cabin 9220, you can not buy it. If it is outside the final payment and your neighbor reserved 9220, you can not buy it.

 

Sold out is often a temporary status, depending on the cruise. On a recent cruise we took on NCL, it was totally sold out at one point and we could not buy a room. We found one via a TA (pure luck) that had one available because somebody canceled. According to our TA, they had an NCL agent in their office and they could not shake any rooms loose at that particular point, but they came open a few weeks later.

 

A month later lots of rooms came available as people cancelled or dropped their reservation. Some rooms were returned by agencies. A few weeks later, most categories were no longer available as others booked them.

 

It keeps moving around.

 

So if nobody reserved 9220 yet is it available to all TA's. Say I call one TA and 9220 isn't booked yet, is it possible that another TA will say it is unavailable. In other words might I have to search for a TA that has that room available or if I want a specific room can I get it from anybody?

[DaisyL]

I've often wondered that, too. It would be nice to know if the "flashing dots" on cabin numbers represent the entire available inventory on that deck or not. My guess... no.

Your guess is correct... many times there are cabins available, in addition to the ones with "flashing dots" ... you just need to ask NCL or your TA.

[DaisyL]

So if nobody reserved 9220 yet is it available to all TA's. Say I call one TA and 9220 isn't booked yet, is it possible that another TA will say it is unavailable. In other words might I have to search for a TA that has that room available or if I want a specific room can I get it from anybody?

This may not answer your question but here goes... I believe when a Travel Agency reserves cabins, it is only in a specific catageory but not a specific cabin number. So if you ask for cabin 9220, it will either be available for all TAs or none (if it's already booked).

 

Once we booked a good deal with a Travel Agency (local office but National company) but could only book a GTY in a particlar category, although there were many cabins available. We wanted a balcony but were not assigned a cabin number until the final payment date. Worked very well for us since the price was fantastic. BTW, our friends were assigned the cabin right next door, too.

[lvcruises]

I asked my TA about upsells on PoH 8/27/2007 sailing. I was told that this cruise was sold out so there was a good chance there would be any upsells. However I just checked a cruise site and it shows all kinds of rooms available and I just started looking at Mini-suites and above. I'm not sure why they would think it was sold out when I can still book a cabin on-line. Any insight on this?:confused:

[pajammies]

This may not answer your question but here goes... I believe when a Travel Agency reserves cabins, it is only in a specific catageory but not a specific cabin number. So if you ask for cabin 9220, it will either be available for all TAs or none (if it's already booked).

 

Once we booked a good deal with a Travel Agency (local office but National company) but could only book a GTY in a particlar category, although there were many cabins available. We wanted a balcony but were not assigned a cabin number until the final payment date. Worked very well for us since the price was fantastic. BTW, our friends were assigned the cabin right next door, too.

 

 

Thank you! That is indeed what I was wondering.:)