Regular travelers all know that airlines overbook. In fact, some intrepid types even seek out such flights in hopes of getting compensation for being bumped.
Less know, however, is that hotels and cruise lines often do the same thing. I’ve had more than one client “walked” at a hotel to an alternative property, or are flat out told they didn’t have a room, sorry.
Fortunately, I’ve never had anyone left at the pier, but several times I and my coworkers have had “offers” for clients to move to a different sailing. Most frequently, it’s been from Princess, but the most recent one this week for a Holland America 10-day sailing leaving in about three days from Rome. (Yes, three days in advance.)
Holland America actually offered some pretty appealing incentives for travelers with VERY flexible schedules, a number of 10-12 day cruises in September and October with a 50 percent refund, and some 20-24 day cruises this fall for the same price. Along with an indication they would help with airline change fees.
All good, although it does indicate that the cruise line had overbooked and didn’t have the cancellations they had expected.
(How can a cruiseline overbook, since they can’t assign the same cabin to different people? It’s through what is called a “guarantee” booking. If passengers book a “guarantee” cabin, it means they are guaranteed a particular category or higher. But not a specific cabin number. Sometimes they are assigned a cabin quickly, sometimes it is the last minute, but cruise lines usually work it out. Plus, it’s often a way to get a nice upgrade for anyone willing to be flexible.)
Clearly Holland America, as do other lines in the same position, counted on some late cancellations to have cabins for all their booked passengers. This evidently didn’t happen.
But, had customers canceled in the month prior to departure, they would have lost 75 percent of the fare; 100 percent if they canceled within the last two weeks. (It’s quite possible that happened, but there were not enough available cabins to resell.)
This language is from the line’s website:
“Given that the resale of canceled space will likely result in a lost opportunity to sell other space, these fees are due regardless of resale. Fees incurred as a result of cancellation cannot be applied to future bookings.”
Holland America isn’t any more rigid than other lines in this regard. In addition, customers always have the option of buying insurance. However, I have to wonder, just how many cabins that are canceled under full penalty are resold? Most cruise ships I’ve sailed on, and have had clients on, lately are full, especially during the summer.
Yes, other travel and entertainment items are sold on a “no refunds” basis, but if you can’t use sports or theater tickets, you can resell them and most airline tickets are at least reusable for a penalty.
Admittedly it could be a colossal mess if cruise lines allowed passengers to resell their cabins on Ebay or Craigslist, but is it so unreasonable to think that if a cruise line does resell the cabin that they could give the passengers something?
(It would be particularly frustrating to be a passenger who did have to cancel the sailing and paid a heavy penalty, and then learned that had they waited, they could have had money back and/or an extra cruise. In fact, even someone who couldn’t travel at all could have taken the 50 percent refund and no-showed the second cruise.)
I’m not sure I know the answer here. But it’s an interesting question.
Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)
