I just received an unexpected email from the cruise line about my upcoming cruise.

 

I just received an unexpected email from Princess Cruises today, and jumped at calling RQS as soon as we had the chance to digest it.  Seems like Princess Cruises has oversold the cruise we are about to go on, and is offering us a free cruise of up to 10 days on the same route, plus our money back from this cruise IF we move over to a sailing later in the year.

Nice deal if one has the flexibility to change things, wouldn't you think?  But this posed a new dilemma for us: Since we won't get our money back until Autumn, and we want to go away, where can we go where it's both cool and cheap at this time of year?  That's a big problem for us!  As one could say,  these are first world problems.  But it is a nice problem to have, as we will have approximately $2,000 each in our pockets, almost enough to complete payment the "Bermuda Triangle" cruise that we'll be taking next year.

We'll have to book shore excursions for the rescheduled trip.  But we have a chance of going to see Lunenburg, NS, an excursion for which we were on standby for the original cruise.  It would have been nice to get away from New York during a heat wave, but I can live with running the air conditioner for an extra few days this summer.

Now, if this is the worst thing I have to deal with this week, things can't be too bad....   

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Looking at this from a different perspective, it seems like cruise lines are trying to fine tune their reservation systems to leave as few "General Cruise Cabins" unoccupied as possible.  In the past, there were two times one could score a cabin at the lowest possible fare:

1. Upon initial offering of the cruise.
   
   This is when every cabin on the ship is available, and a person has their pick of available cabins at a low price.
    
2. After Final Payment Date (usually 3-4 months before the cruise).
   
   This is when the cruise line has unsold cabins they have yet to fill, and will offer them at low prices to fill the ship as much as possible.  One may not have many cabins to choose from, but the fares charged will be low. 

Selling discounted cabins following final payment date is not efficient.  Ideally, the cruise lines could match supply exactly to demand.  And it looks like several cruise lines (RCCL being the most noted of those using this practice) are overselling "Guaranteed Cabins", knowing that there will be cancellations prior to sailing, similar to the procedures used by airlines to fill up their seats.  It may be cheaper (and better for a cruise line's reputation) for a cruise line to give away free cruises later on for voluntary bumping, than to involuntary bump cruisers just before a cruise's sailing date.

Examining the offer email I received, it provided me with another reason to book air and pre/post cruise hotel stays through the cruise line - they would handle the rebooking if I accepted the offer.  Otherwise, in my case, the cruise line would only offer an (up to) $600 per person compensation for travel expenses not booked through the cruise line.  

Luckily, Princess Cruises has always treated me well.  It's nice to know that I will be going on a similar cruise to the one I originally chose later on in the year.