Are the ship usually full?

[5xdisneyfans]

I was wondering if the ships are usually full/sold out? Is there any way of checking before your cruise?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I was wondering if the ships are usually full/sold out? Is there any way of checking before your cruise?

Not really any way of knowing for sure. You can check a site like cruise fish to see if there is any availability, but it's not highly accurate, as it shows the percentage of CATEGORIES available, not actual room availability.

 

[SonicGuy]

on the updated DCL website, you can actually put in as if you are pricing a cruise (make sure to put in just 2 adults) and then choose your cruise. The site now lets you actually see which cabins are available. You can count those. Ive been doing this for my upcoming cruise (very nerdy, I know). Thats how I know that there are about 85 cabins still available.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

In my experience yes. I've sailed peak and off peak and every sailing with the exception of possibly one was sold out. You can usually tell when you check in at some ports there is a little sign they put out that says something like "Mickey's ship is sailing full" and I've seen this at Guest Services as well as it lets people know they can't upgrade (and the sign says something to this effect as well). I almost always ask out of curiosity when I check in and I've been told sold out and this last sailing on 12/21 on the Dream was told "oversold". To me, it's all I'm used to so I plan on them all being sold out.

Heather

 

[JJsmama]

I almost always ask out of curiosity when I check in and I've been told sold out and this last sailing on 12/21 on the Dream was told "oversold". To me, it's all I'm used to so I plan on them all being sold out.

Heather

So what happens in this 'over sold' situation? People show up and are just out of luck?

 

[party-of-five]

on the updated DCL website, you can actually put in as if you are pricing a cruise (make sure to put in just 2 adults) and then choose your cruise. The site now lets you actually see which cabins are available. You can count those. Ive been doing this for my upcoming cruise (very nerdy, I know). Thats how I know that there are about 85 cabins still available.

I don't think this will give an accurate number of open cabins.

I've been doing this too, kind of. I've been going to the site looking for connecting rooms because we need them. There appear to be very few until I start playing around with different #s of guests. What I have noticed is that depending on the number of guests I enter, different rooms show available. I've even selected a cabin, then went to select another cabin, only to have cabins show available that weren't available when choosing the first cabin. It's as if the site will only show a certain number of rooms at a time even though others are available. I'm still very new to cruising, so maybe I'm missing something?

 

[bethy]

I don't think this will give an accurate number of open cabins.

I've been doing this too, kind of. I've been going to the site looking for connecting rooms because we need them. There appear to be very few until I start playing around with different #s of guests. What I have noticed is that depending on the number of guests I enter, different rooms show available. I've even selected a cabin, then went to select another cabin, only to have cabins show available that weren't available when choosing the first cabin. It's as if the site will only show a certain number of rooms at a time even though others are available. I'm still very new to cruising, so maybe I'm missing something?

I agree with you - it is complicated and hard to get good info from the website. I love planning all of our travel but finally had to settle for using a TA for Disney cruises because we also need 2 rooms. It was just too hard to figure it out on my own. I believe a lot of the variability you are seeing has to do with life boat capacity and the fact that some rooms sleep 4 and some sleep only 3.

(also as a side note, with your kids' ages one other option to consider is doing rooms across the hall from each other)

 

[southerngirl528]

Party-of-Five, the reason the number of staterooms can vary when you are playing with the number of guests, particularly if you are inputting children in some of those circumstances, is that DCL will limit the number of children total onboard so as not to overwhelm the kids' clubs and activities. Many times I have seen certain categories as available for say, 2 adults, but not available for a party with children. And once a ship is very close to capacity, rooms can be limited to only 2 guests even if that stateroom will hold 2 or 3 more. Hope that makes sense!

 

[jdb in AZ]

Some of the longer cruises are sold mostly to adults. When we cruised the Panama Canal the cruise director said there were 400 fewer kids onboard than usual. All the rooms had someone in them so there were no vacant rooms, but there were vacant beds. The ship was less crowded and definitely quieter than usual.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

So what happens in this 'over sold' situation? People show up and are just out of luck?

I've never heard of a cruise being "over sold" before. Since they have to have everyone's stateroom assigned ahead of time and the passenger list cleared before sailing, I don't see how they could do that. I'm wondering if it has to do with a cabins having to be taken out of service for maintenance issues. I would think they would have to keep a few cabins unsold in case there was a maintenance issue that forced them to move a party out of a stateroom. Maybe they had more staterooms out of service than they had extras?

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

So what happens in this 'over sold' situation? People show up and are just out of luck?

I've never heard of a cruise being "over sold" before. Since they have to have everyone's stateroom assigned ahead of time and the passenger list cleared before sailing, I don't see how they could do that. I'm wondering if it has to do with a cabins having to be taken out of service for maintenance issues. I would think they would have to keep a few cabins unsold in case there was a maintenance issue that forced them to move a party out of a stateroom. Maybe they had more staterooms out of service than they had extras?

Yes, those were the CM's exact words on 12/21. I asked, "is the ship sailing full/sold out" and he replied, "oversold actually". I wanted to ask as well as I had never heard this before and wondered what that meant. Next time inquiring minds want to know and I'll surely ask

Heather

 

[SonicGuy]

Party-of-Five, the reason the number of staterooms can vary when you are playing with the number of guests, particularly if you are inputting children in some of those circumstances, is that DCL will limit the number of children total onboard so as not to overwhelm the kids' clubs and activities. Many times I have seen certain categories as available for say, 2 adults, but not available for a party with children. And once a ship is very close to capacity, rooms can be limited to only 2 guests even if that stateroom will hold 2 or 3 more. Hope that makes sense!

Exactly. Thats why when counting I only put 2 adults. This shows any available cabin

 

[SonicGuy]

I was wondering if the ships are usually full/sold out? Is there any way of checking before your cruise?

To answer your original question - yes. DCL is almost always close to full or 100% full.

 

[dclpluto]

So what happens in this 'over sold' situation? People show up and are just out of luck?

Only happened once on DCL as I read here. They asked for volunteers to go at another time. The volunteers was well taking care of. No one was forced.

 

[erionm]

A cruise ship is technically at 100% capacity with just two passengers in each stateroom. Most cruise ships typically sail at around 150% of occupancy.

 

[JJsmama]

Only happened once on DCL as I read here. They asked for volunteers to go at another time. The volunteers was well taking care of. No one was forced.

Do they solicit volunteers ahead of time via email or phone or just ask people at the port.
Just curious, because once you're all packed up and have already traveled to the port...

 

[dclpluto]

Do they solicit volunteers ahead of time via email or phone or just ask people at the port.
Just curious, because once you're all packed up and have already traveled to the port...

DCL knew they had a problem at the paid in full date. So maybe 75 days in advance or whenever the pif date is. Probably a lot of floridians took the offer since they wouldn't of had air fares bought.

 

[lanejudy]

Most of the time the ships do cruise "full" or nearly full. They offer specials if there is a lot of availability; they'll also have private offers for Disney employees or staff and entertainers.

I have never heard of a DCL cruise "oversold" so I would say that's an EXTREMELY rare situation and not something the average cruiser should worry about.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

I wanted to add since I was the one that mentioned the "oversold" comment by the CM. Remember we have no idea what this officially meant to this CM who told me that. I certainly didn't hear them asking anyone to change their sailing, anyone showing up surprised, etc. I only commented on it since it was the first time I had been told it was "oversold". I agree with others I absolutely would not worry about it, just like I'm not worried when I fly the flights are almost always in "oversold" status and it works out 99.9% of the time and if not they ask for volunteers who happily oblige. In addition, as mentioned every sailing but perhaps one has definitely been sold out for me so it's the norm for me/us.

Have a wonderful cruise OP
Heather

 

[party-of-five]

I agree with you - it is complicated and hard to get good info from the website. I love planning all of our travel but finally had to settle for using a TA for Disney cruises because we also need 2 rooms. It was just too hard to figure it out on my own. I believe a lot of the variability you are seeing has to do with life boat capacity and the fact that some rooms sleep 4 and some sleep only 3.

(also as a side note, with your kids' ages one other option to consider is doing rooms across the hall from each other)

Party-of-Five, the reason the number of staterooms can vary when you are playing with the number of guests, particularly if you are inputting children in some of those circumstances, is that DCL will limit the number of children total onboard so as not to overwhelm the kids' clubs and activities. Many times I have seen certain categories as available for say, 2 adults, but not available for a party with children. And once a ship is very close to capacity, rooms can be limited to only 2 guests even if that stateroom will hold 2 or 3 more. Hope that makes sense!

I understand these ideas... Capacity of the room, capacity of lifeboats, total # of kids on board. At least I think I do. But I don't think that's what I'm seeing. For example, I'm looking at the 9/12/16 4 night Dream cat 4a-c. When I select 2A3C a particular set of rooms appear available (of course, because not all of those rooms can accommodate 5). But if I select any combination of adults or children less than 5, a different set of rooms show available, some of the same but not all. Some of the rooms that's showed available for 5 no longer show available. Now, it would make sense that if those rooms/lifeboats/kid clubs could handle 5, why can't they handle less?

But the really odd one is when I enter any combo of adults and children, select a cabin, and then select to add another cabin... Again rooms show available that didn't before, including connecting rooms. The system will let me selct the second room, and then go back and change my 1st cabin to a different cabin that only showed available AFTER I said I wanted a second cabin. If that room can handle the adult/child combo for a "change cabin" why wouldn't it show as available in the first place?

I'm sure that there are formulas and reasons behind all of this that are beyond my understanding, but I stick by my original statement that going to the website to "see what rooms are still available" isn't a good way to see how full the ship might be.