Cruise lines often sell more cabins than are available to maximize their revenue. You’re probably familiar with this common practice in the hospitality industry, which is to oversell hotel rooms and flights. It’s no different with cruises.
Why Do Cruise Lines Overbook Cabins?
Cruise lines know that there is always a small percentage of no-shows and cancellations on every cruise. To anticipate last-minute cancellations, they overbook their cruises. This will help them fill the empty cabins and, as a result, maximize their revenue.
Not That Common
Don’t worry—overbooked cruises are not as common as overbooked flights and hotel rooms. That’s because cruise lines don’t have the same options as airlines, where they can easily rebook you on the next flight later that day. For most cruise lines, there usually isn’t another cruise departing that day from the same port.
Email Notification
If the cruise line anticipates an oversold cruise, it will email booked cruise passengers to see if it can recruit volunteers. They are looking for volunteers who are flexible with their vacation plans to give up their cabin and reschedule their vacation. This email is typically sent out a few weeks or days before the sail date.
Reschedule
Cruise lines will make the offer very attractive to cruisers looking for a great deal. One way they do this is to offer to reschedule your cruise to a later date, departing from the same cruise port with the same itinerary. On top of that, they will give you a 100% refund. They are essentially giving you a free cruise vacation!
Future Cruise
Another option is to offer passengers on overbooked cruises the chance to cancel their current cruise, refund their money, and receive 100% of the cruise fare as a future cruise credit. You can then use the future cruise credit to book another cruise. Again, it’s like getting a free cruise by volunteering. Check out Book Shore Excursions Through the Cruise or Outside? Pros and Cons
Onboard Credit
Sometimes, the refund the cruise line gives you is in the form of onboard credit that you can use on the next cruise you have rescheduled. You can use it to pay gratuities, drinks, WiFi, shore excursions, and shopping at the gift shop. Any leftovers that you have from it will typically be refunded to you at the end of the cruise. Check out Pros and Cons of Sailing on a Big Cruise Ship vs a Small Cruise Ship
Guaranteed Cabin
Some say that cruise passengers with Guaranteed (GTY) cabins are more likely to be “bumped” off the cruise when oversold. Guaranteed cabins are the cheapest cabin category because you let the cruise line choose your stateroom for you. And because of that, you are more likely to get bumped from your cruise due to overbooking. It makes sense, but it’s more of a myth than reality. Check out 16 Cruise Ship Embarkation Hacks (How to Board the Ship Faster)
Who Should Volunteer?
The ideal volunteers are cruisers who are flexible with their travel dates and who ideally drive to the cruise port, so they don’t have to make any flight changes. Retirees who live near the cruise port are in the best position to take advantage of the offer! Check out 18 Worst Things that Can Ruin Your Cruise Vacation