Confused on room availability

[EddieK76]

I"m looking at cruises at the end of March; however, if I use a party of 3 I get full availiabity. If I do 4 less cruises are available; however, if I split up into 2 state rooms those same cruises are available so it's not a total capacity issue. However, when I go to book 3 and this room shows available with this description I should be able to book for 4 but once I change it goes away. Why is this happening? Has anyone seen this?

 

[Rob1872]

Usually that means the lifeboat for that area is full. Just because the room can sleep 5 theoretically doesn't mean that the ship has the capacity. (For example, if they were assuming on 4 people per room for that area, and a lot of people book 5 in the family verandahs, then they need to put 3 in some of the rooms to not go over the capacity of that lifeboat.)

 

[EddieK76]

Usually that means the lifeboat for that area is full. Just because the room can sleep 5 theoretically doesn't mean that the ship has the capacity. (For example, if they were assuming on 4 people per room for that area, and a lot of people book 5 in the family verandahs, then they need to put 3 in some of the rooms to not go over the capacity of that lifeboat.)

Right; however, if I book 2 separate staterooms that same cruise shows up so as I said I didn't think it's a capacity issue at all.

 

[Rob1872]

Right; however, if I book 2 separate staterooms that same cruise shows up so as I said I didn't think it's a capacity issue at all.

Yes; and when you book 2 separate staterooms you are putting 2 people in each stateroom. If the algorithm is wanting to keep it to 3 or less, then it would be happy to put 2 in each stateroom. It isn't an issue that the lifeboat is CURRENTLY full, it is that the PROJECTION will fill it if they put too many people in the available staterooms. They don't want to put themselves in a situation where they put 4 or 5 in a few more staterooms and then can't sell any more in that block of rooms.

 

[EddieK76]

Yes; and when you book 2 separate staterooms you are putting 2 people in each stateroom. If the algorithm is wanting to keep it to 3 or less, then it would be happy to put 2 in each stateroom. It isn't an issue that the lifeboat is CURRENTLY full, it is that the PROJECTION will fill it if they put too many people in the available staterooms. They don't want to put themselves in a situation where they put 4 or 5 in a few more staterooms and then can't sell any more in that block of rooms.

Gotcha! Is this something a CM can do over the phone call or a TA to get that to be available or is it kinda a wait and see approach?

 

[Mommb]

A cast member on the phone or a travel agent should be able to experiment with room locations to find rooms that will work for your party. I doubt they can override the booking algorithm, but you have nothing to lose if you call and ask how they can help you.

 

[ljhayes]

I've noticed the website lately not allowing you to book smaller parties into rooms that sleep more. Calling in they should be able to do it for you, or you can book with a dummy person to get the room you want and them drop them from the ressie.

 

[EddieK76]

A cast member on the phone or a travel agent should be able to experiment with room locations to find rooms that will work for your party. I doubt they can override the booking algorithm, but you have nothing to lose if you call and ask how they can help you.

So I called because there was a Dream sailing 3/27 that wasn't showing on the website but was on other travel sites. I called and there was massive availability for us so we were able to switch to the 5 night on the Dream.

 

[jasonriv]

If you are seeing entire sailing disappear when you search for 4, there is nothing a CM or travel agent can do. They will see the same availability you do. If it’s just a specific category or area of the ship, they may be able to help find you another category or location. But again, they have access to the same availability you do.

 

[EddieK76]

As an update. There was another sailing on 3/27-4/1 that was not displaying and it was not sold out. I called and a CM booked it for me. She indicated that the website is very poor in displaying all the proper information and they are aware of the issue but she saw both availability on the previous sailing for my party of 4 and also for the 3/27 sailing which was not displaying at all for me on any browser.