Why I'm unlikely to ever "Cruise" (At least on a large ship)

[tgh]

Horses for courses.. have never heard of the premium lines ever bumping anyone , in fact one of the perks of a guarantee
cabin booking on Silversea is that they often upgrade into higher cabin categories when the booked category is full.
We always select and book a cabin # , the ta gives me an available list and would not even suggest a dice roll
This whole discussion is about really about cattle class cruising , fun for the baggers who don't fly y for the
same reason we don't book cattle class ships.

 

[Pushka]

Horses for courses.. have never heard of the premium lines ever bumping anyone , in fact one of the perks of a guarantee
cabin booking on Silversea is that they often upgrade into higher cabin categories when the booked category is full.
We always select and book a cabin # , the ta gives me an available list and would not even suggest a dice roll
This whole discussion is about really about cattle class cruising , fun for the baggers who don't fly y for the
same reason we don't book cattle class ships.

Well yes but my example was for Viking cruise line which is not cattle class. But the sums of money they were prepared to hand over should numbers exceed spaces 'eliminates' the issue.

 

[RooFlyer]

The Quantum of the Seas is a massive vessel, so they must have massively over-sold 'guarantee' cabins to result in no room for 'bumping up'.

I just checked, and my Caribbean cruise next year is on 'guarantee' . I'm wondering how to manipulate it so I get bumped and hopefully! get 2 free cruises and a wad of cash.

 

[Pushka]

The Quantum of the Seas is a massive vessel, so they must have massively over-sold 'guarantee' cabins to result in no room for 'bumping up'.

I just checked, and my Caribbean cruise next year is on 'guarantee' . I'm wondering how to manipulate it so I get bumped and hopefully! get 2 free cruises and a wad of cash.

Likely you'll need a US address as they get first dibs.

 

[XWu]

Sure but anyone of working age who has had to arrange leave (often 6-9 months in advance) and likely has other arrangements before/after, is left in a no win situation; a gaping hole in an itinerary and last minute very expensive scrambling to resume rest of their trip by other means.

With airlines you can generally avoid getting bumped by checking in the second OLCI opens, and also if it happens (and has never happened to me, but when I've seen it happen in the US they call for volunteers, offer cash compensation and guarantee you the next flight) there are usually other flights that day (or within 24 hours) to get you where you need to be without significant disruption; however it is not like there are other cruises with the exact same itinerary and dates that can fill a gap within 24 hours.

Even for a retiree, if the cruise starts and ends in your home port fine, but unless you have fully flex airfares it could lead to huge out of pocket for last minute changes to international J flights, prepaid hotels etc.

Personally I do not think they should be allowed to oversell flights or cruises, but if they do oversell cruises surely they should have some sort of reasonable notice (weeks out at least) and not wait until people have flown in to the departure points and try to board.

Not sure how true it would be the idea that having check in online, will prevent people from being offloaded. While fellow member Pushka and company were not offloaded in an incident reflected in another thread, their existing boarding passes are meaningless to airline staff who wanted to boot them from their upgraded J class to Y class seats, so could easily get booted off the flight when the crunch comes

 

[latawiec]

The Quantum of the Seas is a massive vessel, so they must have massively over-sold 'guarantee' cabins to result in no room for 'bumping up'.

I just checked, and my Caribbean cruise next year is on 'guarantee' . I'm wondering how to manipulate it so I get bumped and hopefully! get 2 free cruises and a wad of cash.

RE: I'm wondering how to manipulate it so I get bumped and hopefully! get 2 free cruises and a wad of cash.

It would be nice to hear on this ... if you would be successful...

 

[latawiec]

Currently on Royal Caribbean Ovation of the Seas. We had to turn around on day 2 and head back to Sydney due to a medical emergency. This caused us to miss sailing through the sounds which is a highlight for many. We also skipped Dunedin as a result.

High winds then prevented us from docking in the next port, Wellington.

We have been given $100-$200 USD refundable credit as a result. The missed ports were outside the ships control.

The natives on board are restless with some noisy encounters at guest services. There is also a petition being organised.

It's a good data point for this thread. Don't ever rely on a ship to end up in every port on it's itinerary. It's a regular occurrence for weather or medical related diversions.

RE: Don't ever rely on a ship to end up in every port on it's itinerary. It's a regular occurrence for weather or medical related diversions.

....and on cruises to Greenland the waterway or access to the port might be blocked by the "icebergs"!
And also a fog may spoil local excursions.

 

[Scarlett]

I’ve heard of golf cruises (around Caribbean islands ISTR), where they take you on day trips to the various nice courses in different places the ship cruises to. Might try that one of these days. Otherwise, suspect I’m aligned with the thread title.

MrsScarlett and I did do the Hurtigruten ‘cruise’ from Bergen up to Tromso a few years back. With about three or four stops in remote coastal ports each day it was great for the scenery of the fjords and islands. Also allowed us to get out and do some small group tours in a different part of Norway each day. I also recall it was the most expensive holiday I’d ever booked us on: probably still is.

 

[zig]

The Quantum of the Seas is a massive vessel, so they must have massively over-sold 'guarantee' cabins to result in no room for 'bumping up'.

I just checked, and my Caribbean cruise next year is on 'guarantee' . I'm wondering how to manipulate it so I get bumped and hopefully! get 2 free cruises and a wad of cash.

Never heard of it happening before on Silversea, but keep us posted.

 

[latawiec]

I’ve heard of golf cruises (around Caribbean islands ISTR), where they take you on day trips to the various nice courses in different places the ship cruises to. Might try that one of these days. Otherwise, suspect I’m aligned with the thread title.

MrsScarlett and I did do the Hurtigruten ‘cruise’ from Bergen up to Tromso a few years back. With about three or four stops in remote coastal ports each day it was great for the scenery of the fjords and islands. Also allowed us to get out and do some small group tours in a different part of Norway each day. I also recall it was the most expensive holiday I’d ever booked us on: probably still is.

Yes, Hurtigruten is quite expensive but has also the most of stops.

 

[JohnK]

Our cruise for last May was oversold, and US cruisers were offered a full refund, a free new cruise up to 30 days at a higher cabin level, plus $5000 USD. Plus another $1000 USD for any air cancellation penalties. Enough people took up the offer to avoid bumping anyone.

Cruise lines and anyone selling transport type of services such as airlines should not be allowed to oversell. It is dishonest and can only benefit the company providing the service.

What you stated above should be the minimum compensation for inconvenience.

Say I plan leave, wife plans leave, we take daughter out of school for 2 weeks, fly to Singapore for a SE Asian cruise only to be told on boarding they cannot accommodate us and provide alternate dates and a basic refund. Where do we go now as we have no accommodation and return flights in 2 week? Travel insurance right? And cruise line is off scott free because they said sorry because these things happen.

 

[RooFlyer]

It is dishonest and can only benefit the company providing the service.

While I also dislike overbooking, it does also benefit those pax who wanted to go on the cruise and could because others didn't show up or cancelled at the last minute.

 

[Pushka]

Cruise lines and anyone selling transport type of services such as airlines should not be allowed to oversell. It is dishonest and can only benefit the company providing the service.

What you stated above should be the minimum compensation for inconvenience.

Say I plan leave, wife plans leave, we take daughter out of school for 2 weeks, fly to Singapore for a SE Asian cruise only to be told on boarding they cannot accommodate us and provide alternate dates and a basic refund. Where do we go now as we have no accommodation and return flights in 2 week? Travel insurance right? And cruise line is off scott free because they said sorry because these things happen.

this is the first time I've heard that people won't be accommodated. For those who opt to cancel, the compensation for doing so is spectacular.

 

[Major]

Taking kids out of school for 2 weeks is dishonest and should not be allowed.

 

[JohnK]

Taking kids out of school for 2 weeks is dishonest and should not be allowed.

Hypothetical my dear @Major.

FWIW we are having an expensive overseas holiday in 3 weeks time and daughter will be back 2 days before school starts for Grade 2. And we're also going away for 3 weeks for June school holidays so daughter will only miss 1 week school.

FWIW Extra, Thailand is also educational for daughter as she practices her Thai.