Seascanner cancelled my cruise!

This was their first email:

Thank you for making your booking with Seascanner.

Unfortunately your booking has not been confirmed as the category ZI Inside cabin which you chose is no longer available and is sold out.

Seascanner is a live system so if someone else is booking at the same time as you, the live availability can go. We do apologise but this can happen sometimes as cabins are open to anyone to book not just Seascanner customers.

The next cabin available is a category 2N Outside cabin which is allocated by the Cruise Line and may or may not have an obstruction which is £3438 for the 2 of you so an extra £1652 to pay or there is a category XB Guaranteed Balcony cabin which is allocated by the Cruise Line and may or may not have an obstruction which is £4198 so an extra £2412 to pay for the 2 of you.
If you prefer we can refund you the monies which you have paid.
Please bear in mind all prices and cabins are subject to change and availability.

And then this was the response today:

Your booking hasn't been cancelled, it actually was never confirmed originally as someone else was booking the same category of cabin at the same time as you and unfortunately, there was one left and the other customer booked first, hence your booking has failed.

Unfortunately, the category ZI guaranteed Inside cabins have sold out with Royal Caribbean and the next options available are the 2N Outside or XB guaranteed balcony cabins at the higher prices.

Please let us know if you would like to proceed with one of these or if you prefer a refund as I know they are much higher in costs for you.

So it seems like they don't book anything with Royal Caribbean at the time of booking and handing over money to them, I've just read on Trust Pilot about them not giving out tickets until the last minute so that would seem why.

After booking with Seascanner I did go onto the Royal Caribbean website and saw that the same room was available at £50 more.... I'm kicking myself for not paying that little bit extra and booking direct now.

How much time elapsed between you booking and you receiving an email cancellation?
Which emails did you subsequently receive? (e.g. did you get the booking receipt email, the booking confirmation email etc).

27. If We Cancel Your Booking

27.1 We reserve the right to cancel your booking. We will not cancel your booking after the balance due date except for unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances, or failure by you to pay the final balance. Unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances means a situation beyond our control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. Such events may include, but are not limited to, war or threat of war, riot, civil strife, actual or threatened terrorist activity, industrial dispute, natural or nuclear disaster, adverse weather conditions, fire and all similar events outside our control.

27.2 If your holiday is cancelled by us, you can either have a refund of all monies paid or accept an alternative holiday of comparable standard from us if we offer one (we will refund any price difference if the alternative is of a lower value).

27.3 Cruises: Occasionally cruises have to be cancelled or terminated early for unforeseeable circumstances that are beyond either our or the cruise operators control. In such circumstances, we have no liability other than to arrange to get you back to the UK at no cost to yourselves, which may be arranged directly by the cruise line or by ourselves. Cruise lines may make an ex-gratia payment in the form of a refund and/or vouchers to be used against a future cruise and we will pass these on to you when received.

Looking through their T&Cs, it's unlikely you can do anything


In rare circumstances, a booking may fail on our website. Your booking may have failed if your Seascanner reference is displayed as "Pending" or "N/A". This is due to Seascanner.co.uk being powered by live pricing and live availability which are constantly changing. In these instances, we will do our very best to try and get you the cabin type you selected at the same price. However, if this is not possible, we will contact you with two options. Option 1 will be to choose a different cabin which may come at a surcharge. Option 2 will be a full refund. Seascanner.co.uk will not be held liable for any other costs incurred as a result of your booking failing to be placed with the cruise line.

Is there still availability direct via Royal Caribbean?