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Probably not sold out...probably chartered. I would be calling Royal or your TA asap......good luck and hope they offer you something in return.

 

I hate the fact they can do this. So much more goes into a cruise vacation than just the cruise itself for most of us.(cant just drive to the port the day of) It requires vacation time off work...flights..hotels.....dog sitters......shuttles....often tickets for other events around the vacation cruise.

 

I know its a risk we take but it seems the deck is stacked against us when it comes to the leeway cruise lines have......

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1 hour ago, Linda216 said:

Just off the phone w RC and it’s just a normal sold out cruise.  Thanks for the freak out pinnacle troll. ?

I know this is going to sound weird.. But a lot of the time Royal's phone employees give out the wrong info... I am a travel agent and I am on the travel agent website.. The way this sailing is showing up on the website is not like when its just sold out.. I think it really is chartered and Royal just hasn't released this info to their phone reps.. I don't know for 100% fact but its showing up weird on the travel agent site and I promise I am not trying to alarm you or be a troll lol. 

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52 minutes ago, AGSLC5 said:

I am a travel agent and I am on the travel agent website

Are you able to see any of the CocoCay double dip dates for Mariner in 2020?  I'm thinking they may have pulled all of them temporarily due to this "upgrade" starting 8/7 they had emailed everyone about.

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12 minutes ago, Linda216 said:

I have to ask some of my favorite regulars about this..

@WAAAYTOOO, @Lovetocruise2002, @twangster ...have you guys ever heard of this?  My cruise in Feb is missing on list. It appears they do that when sold out. But the above posts hint that my cruise may have been chartered out and I just don’t know yet!  Any help?!?!  

I am going to take a wild guess here based on what @AGSLC5 is saying, could it be that it might be partial ship charter?  So not a full ship charter (which would involve the cancellation of your reservation) but one large enough that that the group believes it could fill up the rest of the remaining space (resulting in Royal pulling back all the rest of the rooms for the general public to book).

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@Lovetocruise2002 that’s what I thinking too.  Has that happened?  Do they just book a giant group on a public booking?  Honestly I don’t care about that, I can’t believe this company might cancel me later when I called and confirmed etc.  if it’s indeed a full charter booking. what’s normal for this sort of thing? ? thanks for easing my mind slightly.  Trying to breathe.....

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1 minute ago, Linda216 said:

@Lovetocruise2002 that’s what I thinking too.  Has that happened?  Do they just book a giant group on a public booking?  Honestly I don’t care about that, I can’t believe this company might cancel me later when I called and confirmed etc.  what’s normal for this sort of thing? ? thanks for easing my mind slightly.  Trying to breathe.....

Yes, partial ship charters do exist.  

If for some reason they do cancel you, they will typically offer you some combination of the following: refund your total amount, cover flight changes up to approx. $200pp, and include some FCC.  

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Time will tell.  

January and February are popular charter months because fares are lower.  When fares are lower, so is the cost to charter.  

What they will usually do when a ship has a full charter potential is block off suites from being booked because they have to pay more to compensate suite bookings.  Once the charter is contracted they'll block all sales.  Usually with a week they send out letters.

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Ugh. So they could decide to charter the ship and cancel the public bookings from families and individuals to make more money?  This cruise was getting fairly full as I was booking it this spring and checking back often. It is Presidents’ Day week. I assume it was getting grabbed up by families with kids, like me.  ? 

it’s disheartening to this RCL does this to people.  This is our first family cruise and I just want to look forward to it. 

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14 minutes ago, Linda216 said:

Ugh. So they could decide to charter the ship and cancel the public bookings from families and individuals to make more money?  This cruise was getting fairly full as I was booking it this spring and checking back often. It is Presidents’ Day week. I assume it was getting grabbed up by families with kids, like me.  ? 

it’s disheartening to this RCL does this to people.  This is our first family cruise and I just want to look forward to it. 

That's exactly what they have the power to do...if they can make more $, they will cancel your cruise..no questions asked.....

 

As for a partial charter..depending on the charter it can be worse. I did one of those a few years back on Brillance..it was some religious convention.....talk about  a weird vibe on the ship....it was pretty dead and boring.....so having to rebook a new cruise may not be that bad, depending on what they offer you and whether you had flights and hotels etc booked and paid for.

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Typically full ship charters are posted way in advance.  I usually use this site to track it.  It is fairly reliable.  When I saw this thread, the first thing I did was check this site and it makes no mention of a Navigator full charter in February.

https://www.cruisetimetables.com/full-cruise-ship-charters.html

I have never been on a partial charter, but what @monctonguy is saying is well known.  A partial charter (depending on how large the group is) can really change the whole atmosphere and experience of the cruise.  I don't know if that would actually be a better situation.  Like @twangster said, time will tell.

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  So only if it’s a full charter I’d be canceled though, correct? And the odds are good it’s not, it seems.  

I hear what you’re saying about  a partial one not being much better.  But I’m hoping since I saw it was filling up late spring/early summer, there wouldn’t be that many empty rooms left to warrant a charter.  (All just my random theory though since I’m a newbie and this is a bit hard to fathom). 

I appreciate your help in this though.  Half of the fun of the cruise seems to be looking forward to it!!!   So what’s next for me?  I’ll likely be notified in a week? 

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sounds like its prob a partial charter. In that case, you wont find out anything or get any credit. I would try to find out in advance what the group is and how big it is before deciding what to do.

 

Nothing against religious groups..but on my cruise these people didn't drink or dance or swim.....so the bars and pools and nightlife was dead(no wait for a drink was the bonus I guess)....but the eating venue's were a nightmare..they sat for hours and talked and ate....needless to say it was nothing like any other cruise...and it was probably about a third of the ship if I had to estimate....

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1 hour ago, Linda216 said:

  So only if it’s a full charter I’d be canceled though, correct? And the odds are good it’s not, it seems.  

I hear what you’re saying about  a partial one not being much better.  But I’m hoping since I saw it was filling up late spring/early summer, there wouldn’t be that many empty rooms left to warrant a charter.  (All just my random theory though since I’m a newbie and this is a bit hard to fathom). 

I appreciate your help in this though.  Half of the fun of the cruise seems to be looking forward to it!!!   So what’s next for me?  I’ll likely be notified in a week? 

I have no answers for you because Royal has not decided to tell people yet if its a full charter or not.. But on the travel agent site Every Category is closed and you can't even click on that sailing anymore.. Anytime this has happened in the past its because the boat became a full charter and you will get moved... Also that week Feb 17 is VERY busy in Florida.. NY NJ and a few other places have off from school and everyone comes to Florida. I hate to be an alarmist but I would try to move your cruise NOW so you still have good options to cruise from. You could always stick it out and take your chances but its your first cruise so I wouldn't chance it. I would try to move.. Now if you made a non refundable deposit then I would wait because until Royal announces fully what's going on with this sailing they won't give you your money back.. 

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2 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

Are you able to see any of the CocoCay double dip dates for Mariner in 2020?  I'm thinking they may have pulled all of them temporarily due to this "upgrade" starting 8/7 they had emailed everyone about.

tell me the dates and I can check.. I don't know them off the top of my head but I am happy to look if you tell me the dates

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6 hours ago, Linda216 said:

Just off the phone w RC and it’s just a normal sold out cruise.  Thanks for the freak out pinnacle troll. ?

Linda216 - I just checked on Royal's website and it would let me book several different cabins on this cruise.  Not sure if it is a timing issue or what.  You might look again.  Not a lot of cabins available, but everywhere I checked there were some.  Good luck.  One more week for us on Navigator!

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2 hours ago, monctonguy said:

As for a partial charter..depending on the charter it can be worse. I did one of those a few years back on Brillance..it was some religious convention.....talk about  a weird vibe on the ship....it was pretty dead and boring.....so having to rebook a new cruise may not be that bad, depending on what they offer you and whether you had flights and hotels etc booked and paid for.

Yikes!  I was on Freedom partial charter once.  The group was https://www.highseasrally.com.  It was really bad from our perspective.  Formal night was nothing but leather and chains - all kinds!  There were even bike themed picture backgrounds on formal night.  This was back when us guys still wore suits.  Very very bad.  In addition there was smoking everywhere.  I couldn't stand it during the muster.  Pirates flags everywhere including hung over balcony railings (against RCCL rules), drunks everywhere, sex on deck, and even fireworks (against RCCL rules - or so I thought).  Talk about changing the vibe of a cruise!

I called RCCL when I got home.  They said there was no way for me to know that group was going to be on the ship and stated that telling me would violate their privacy.  WHAT ABOUT ME?  No one cared.  Yes, do your research before you cruise...

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5 hours ago, Linda216 said:

I have to ask some of my favorite regulars about this..

@WAAAYTOOO, @Lovetocruise2002, @twangster ...have you guys ever heard of this?  My cruise in Feb is missing on list. It appears they do that when sold out. But the above posts hint that my cruise may have been chartered out and I just don’t know yet!  Any help?!?!  

All of us are just guessing, of course....but I find it extremely hard to believe that a random Feb 2020 cruise is completely sold out.  That normally only happens in the last few weeks prior to a cruise, if it happens at all (my 25 August Liberty cruise JUST came off the website a few days ago).  I also agree with Stephanie that CS reps are a very poor source of factual information.  I wouldn't count on their knowledge at ALL.  I also don't believe that a partial charter would be removed from the website.  Frankly, the only explanation that makes sense to me is a full charter.  But it is just a guess based on past experience.

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But Stephanie, shouldn't she wait until Royal contacts her so that she will get some compensation ?

I totally agree with you that she should start looking for alternatives, and maybe even book something else with a refundable deposit, but I wouldn't think it would be a good idea to cancel the [potentially chartered] cruise until AFTER they formally announce it.  If she cancels now she will get nothing for her trouble !

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47 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

But Stephanie, shouldn't she wait until Royal contacts her so that she will get some compensation ?

I totally agree with you that she should start looking for alternatives, and maybe even book something else with a refundable deposit, but I wouldn't think it would be a good idea to cancel the [potentially chartered] cruise until AFTER they formally announce it.  If she cancels now she will get nothing for her trouble !

Totally agree with you.. I I just think she should look for other options so when Royal does contact her she is ready with a game plan.. Also since its her first cruise I really think she should research now so she is not scrambling once they contact her.. The link that Skigoofy posted plus what I see on cruising power (Royal's travel agent site) leads me to believe this is absolutely going to be a full charter.. I wish I knew how to post a screenshot on here but I really don't.. But basically on my website every category is closed and you never see that this far in advance.. Like you said 2-3 weeks before a cruise ok but 7 months Never. 

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50 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

But Stephanie, shouldn't she wait until Royal contacts her so that she will get some compensation ?

I totally agree with you that she should start looking for alternatives, and maybe even book something else with a refundable deposit, but I wouldn't think it would be a good idea to cancel the [potentially chartered] cruise until AFTER they formally announce it.  If she cancels now she will get nothing for her trouble !

+1 on this train of thought.

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3 hours ago, YOLO said:

Yikes!  I was on Freedom partial charter once.  The group was https://www.highseasrally.com.  It was really bad from our perspective.  Formal night was nothing but leather and chains - all kinds!  There were even bike themed picture backgrounds on formal night.  This was back when us guys still wore suits.  Very very bad.  In addition there was smoking everywhere.  I couldn't stand it during the muster.  Pirates flags everywhere including hung over balcony railings (against RCCL rules), drunks everywhere, sex on deck, and even fireworks (against RCCL rules - or so I thought).  Talk about changing the vibe of a cruise!

I called RCCL when I got home.  They said there was no way for me to know that group was going to be on the ship and stated that telling me would violate their privacy.  WHAT ABOUT ME?  No one cared.  Yes, do your research before you cruise...

I was curious so had to click on the link.  Looks like they have the full ship chartered this time.  

Now I wonder what kinds of FB ads I'm going to start seeing...LOL 

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This is all a bit much to digest.  I really appreciate all of you helping me figure this out.  I really want to just look forward to this cruise (our first family one) but it seems I’ll be in the dark for awhile.  

I call RC again and he didn’t want to give me any info after asking someone else higher up about it. I pressed him and he said canceling on me was not something he wouldn’t expect.  More likely the football group bought a big chunk of regular tickets and is selling them on their site.  He said I would just have to keep calling back and could give me no info on the ratio this group will be on the boat. 

Trying to stay calm but the not knowing is tough.  Will I likely know before the final payment is due in December???  Hard to trust a company that wouldn’t confidently say I have a room on that ship.  

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1 hour ago, Linda216 said:

This is all a bit much to digest.  I really appreciate all of you helping me figure this out.  I really want to just look forward to this cruise (our first family one) but it seems I’ll be in the dark for awhile.  

I call RC again and he didn’t want to give me any info after asking someone else higher up about it. I pressed him and he said canceling on me was not something he wouldn’t expect.  More likely the football group bought a big chunk of regular tickets and is selling them on their site.  He said I would just have to keep calling back and could give me no info on the ratio this group will be on the boat. 

Trying to stay calm but the not knowing is tough.  Will I likely know before the final payment is due in December???  Hard to trust a company that wouldn’t confidently say I have a room on that ship.  

Well They should tell you before final payment.. Travel agents actually have a different number they can call.. I didn't call and ask but I could and see what they say. But since I don't have a client booked on that cruise not sure they would tell me.. But this is why working with a travel agent next time would be ideal. They would be the one having to figure everything out for you.. Hopefully they will tell you before final payment.. Trust me they know it.. Thats why travel agents are no longer able to sell any rooms on this cruise.. I wish the customer service reps were better informed but they really are just terrible and I am so sorry for your first cruise experience this is what you are getting.. I really think you need to start looking at other options. Don't cancel until like Waytoo said Royal offers you something but know what else you are interested in. 

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2 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

+1 on this train of thought.

That’s what the objective should be on any potential travel disruption. I hate seeing people go stand in line after a flight gets cancelled. Know what your options are and get ready to call as soon a something is announced. Last month helped a group of guys find their options to Miami because they didn’t know how to find flights between LaGuardia and Miami (must be nice to be clueless and in your twenties) but they were friendly so I helped. Normally trying to help someone just gets you glared at, and I know I’m at the top of the list to get so those grumpy people are on their own. 

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