To get on a sold out cruise you may book through a travel agent as some of them reserve the staterooms in advance. You may try other options like calling the cruise line too. Or try booking a lower category or joining the waiting list or asking on the forums.

cruise ship tickets and a cruise ship sailing

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How to tell if a cruise is sold out?

You can tell if a cruise is sold out by visiting the website of the cruise line.

Here is how you can find out the carnival cruise sold-out status for their staterooms.

Go to the Carnival website.
In the Search Cruises panel on the top, select your destination, port, duration, and date.
Select your preferred itinerary and click on the “Select 1 Date” button.
You will get a Start Booking box, The available categories of staterooms are the blue ones. The greyed-out ones are the sold-out staterooms.

All cruises do not sell out, especially during the off-season when the demand is low.

But during tourist seasons, cruises for popular tourist destinations may get sold out.

How to get on a sold out cruise?

Here are the 5 tricks you can try for getting on a sold-out cruise:

1. Book through a travel agent

Travel agents book staterooms in advance.

And sometimes they do them in bulk.

So, the inventory may get exhausted with the cruise line, but they may be available with the travel agents.

So, if you do not get to book a stateroom of your choice from the cruise line, try to book it from a travel agent.

2. Book a lower-category stateroom

First, try to book a lower-category stateroom than what you want.

Then wait for their upgrade offer.

For example, if you want a Balcony stateroom but it’s sold out, book an Interior or Ocean View, if they are available.

Later upgrade to a Balcony stateroom if it becomes available due to cancellations.

But the risk is that you may not get the upgrade offer if there are no cancellations.

3. Call the cruise line

Calling the cruise line may also help you to get on a sold-out cruise.

It may so happen that the current status of the staterooms is not yet updated on their website.

So, if you call them, you may get an opportunity to book an available stateroom immediately.

4. Join a waitlist

Some cruise lines also allow passengers to list themselves on a waiting list.

If you can get on a waitlist, you may get an offer to book a stateroom, if it becomes available later.

The downside is that you may not get the stateroom category of your choice.

Or, you may not get an opportunity to book if there are no cancellations.

5. Ask on a forum

Some passengers may offer to trade their stateroom with others.

There may be various reasons why they may want to do that.

But, it may be a golden opportunity for you to get on a cruise that’s sold out.

So, you may try and see if someone wants to trade their stateroom on one of the online cruise forums.

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