Phantom Stateroom Availability???

[S0nny]

I was recently monitoring RRCL's website for room availability; I was trying to book a Junior Suite on Harmony of the Seas since one wasn't available at the time of booking. (About 75 days prior to sail date). I would frequently see a listing for a Central Park Balcony, or Ocean View Balcony, and rarely a Junior Suite. Sometimes, when I would attempt to select the room, it would show me the error message "Central Park Balcony Staterooms are unavailable" (or whatever the particular room was I was attempting to review). 

Last night, I noticed a Junior Suite finally displaying"available" (previously the "Royal Class Suites" would only show the "SOLD OUT!" banner). But again, when attempting to review the room's location and price, it would populate the error message " Junior Suite Staterooms are unavailable". 

I decided to call Royal Caribbean (since my TA wasn't immediately available to take my call), and I was informed by the representative that they indeed had ONE JS stateroom available for booking! I was able to book the room through my agent (who called me back almost right after I hung up with RCCL). 

I wanted to share this information since newbies (like myself) might not realize that the website isn't always accurate. (I reviewed the RCblog topic history and noticed there was a good discussion about RCCL's website not showing ALL rooms available for booking...

 

Hope this helps! Have a great day y'all! 

[FionaMG]

In addition to the suggestions on the previous discussion that you posted, Royal's UK website (.co.uk) generally shows full availability. 

[Matt]

Thanks for sharing this, @S0nny

[AshleyDillo]

I always use Costco's travel portal as a cross-reference when Royal's site tells me the category is available but then when I click on the category tells me no rooms are available in that category.  Through Costco I can get the actual room numbers available..only thing I don't like is that Costco pricing gives you the overall price and doesn't break it down by passenger.  But basically I just use any means I can to avoid calling someone to find out info 

[SteveinSC]

Somewhat related, somewhat not. When I booked my upcoming cruise, It gave the regular option of "We pick" or "You pick". I selected "You pick" but it took me to the "We pick" each time.....after talking with RC, they said the ""You pick" option was sold out. This is one of the frustration points that using a TA can help with, ive learned.  I generally like booking things myself, but after running into issues and having to call RC myself a couple times, I transferred my booking to a TA, and will ALWAYS book with a TA in the future. They can better navigate all of that, and it would save me from the hassle. 

I tell you, after listening to @Matt sing the praises of using a TA, and based on my interactions with them....I am sold. 

[Jzx1103]

Yea I was comp'ed a JS from casino royale on my last sailing. But upon checking the royal website it showed no JS available for the sailing I wanted to book (Brilliance on 3/2/20). I decided to call Casino Royale booking agent and see how much extra it was to upgrade to GS. But the rep notified me he sees 1 JS available so I quickly booked it. I think what it is is that when someone cancels, the inventory updates for the reps faster than the website. 

[melmar02]

Based on the title of this post and yesterday being Halloween, I totally thought this was going to be about a haunted cabin. 

[twangster]

This often occurs when there is one cabin left.  All it takes is one person clicking on it just to see where it is and then it's temporarily taken out of inventory available on the website to prevent multiple people from booking it. Once that person stops going through the booking process it can take a few minutes for it to reappear.  

Often when you get that "No staterooms in this category" error it means there is actually one available unless someone beats you to it.  

[WAAAYTOOO]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

This often occurs when there is one cabin left.  All it takes is one person clicking on it just to see where it is and then it's temporarily taken out of inventory available on the website to prevent multiple people from booking it. Once that person stops going through the booking process it can take a few minutes for it to reappear.  

Often when you get that "No staterooms in this category" error it means there is actually one available unless someone beats you to it.  

+1 on this !

[Lovetocruise2002]

I have noticed that in general, if it shows up, it's available, even if the "unavailable" message shows up.