Category Availability

Request the available categories using the CruiseCategoryAvailRQ/RS message pair. A list of available categories will be returned by the cruise line and the traveler can then select a category.

Request Example

<OTA_CruiseCategoryAvailRQ xmlns="http://www.opentravel.org/OTA/2003/05" CorrelationID="0d4a7548-9126-4467-b8fe-b863d0bd4b78" Version="1.0">
  <POS>
    [..]
  </POS>
  <Guest/>
  <Guest/>
  <GuestCounts>
    <GuestCount Quantity="2" Code="10"/>
  </GuestCounts>
  <SailingInfo>
    <SelectedSailing VoyageID="CS21711JUNKTN">
      <CruiseLine/>
    </SelectedSailing>
  </SailingInfo>
  <SelectedFare FareCode="BESTPRICE"/>
</OTA_CruiseCategoryAvailRQ>

Response Example

Response will contain a list of CategoryOption elements with available cabin categories:

<vx:OTA_CruiseCategoryAvailRS xmlns:ns3="http://www.versonix.com/ota" 
  xmlns:ns4="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" 
  xmlns:vx="http://www.opentravel.org/OTA/2003/05" 
  CorrelationID="0d4a7548-9126-4467-b8fe-b863d0bd4b78" 
  TargetName="SW_OTA_TEST@ORADEV" 
  TimeStamp="2021-08-27T14:16:16.900" 
  Version="1.999">
  <vx:Success/>
  <vx:SailingInfo>
    [..]
  </vx:SailingInfo>
  <vx:FareOption FareCode="BESTPRICE">
    <vx:CategoryOptions>
      <vx:CategoryOption GenericCategoryCode="A_GNR" ListOfCategoryQualifierCodes="" MaxOccupancy="2" PricedCategoryCode="A" Status="36">
        <vx:PriceInfos>
          <vx:PriceInfo Amount="325.55" BreakdownType="DBL" ChargeTypeCode="30" CurrencyCode="USD"/>
          <vx:PriceInfo Amount="225.12" BreakdownType="1GT" ChargeTypeCode="7" CurrencyCode="USD"/>
          <vx:PriceInfo Amount="100.43" BreakdownType="2GT" ChargeTypeCode="7" CurrencyCode="USD"/>
        </vx:PriceInfos>
      </vx:CategoryOption>
      [..]
  </vx:CategoryOptions>
  </vx:FareOption>
</vx:OTA_CruiseCategoryAvailRS>

Multiple Fare Codes

If several SelectedFare elements provided in the request the behavior depends on your account configuration:

Fare Code mode: Each SelectedFare triggers a separate search, returning separate FareOption elements. This lets you compare multiple promotions in one request.
Promotions mode: All fare codes are applied together, returning only categories that qualify for all specified promotions.

Your integration guide will specify which mode is configured for your account.

Price Itemization

There is a limited ability to view itemized pricing in category availability results. By default the result will only contain per booking and per guest totals.

If the setting CatAvailPriceGroupingCode is configured in Seaware (per booking source) then that grouping will be applied to this response and SwOta will show itemized pricing in PriceInfos using code value as grouping.

Limitations

The limitation here occurs from the OTA specification restriction on the number of PriceInfo elements (maxOccurs="8"), the public specification limits it to just 8 elements.

Integration partners that adhere strictly to those limits and work with SwOTA in VXAdditions=off mode will be effectively unable to use this feature due to this limit. If the VXAdditions are allowed the SwOTA specification lifts this restriction (maxOccurs="unbounded").

Example Grouping Setup

Price Grouping Configuration

Example Itemized Response

<vx:CategoryOption Status="36" MaxOccupancy="4" ListOfCategoryQualifierCodes="4" PricedCategoryCode="CS">
    <vx:PriceInfos>
        <vx:PriceInfo BreakdownType="DBL" ChargeTypeCode="30" CurrencyCode="USD" Amount="31410"/>
        <vx:PriceInfo BreakdownType="DBL/DSC" ChargeTypeCode="30" CurrencyCode="USD" Amount="-12780"/>
        <vx:PriceInfo BreakdownType="DBL/CRUI" ChargeTypeCode="30" CurrencyCode="USD" Amount="43840"/>
        <vx:PriceInfo BreakdownType="DBL/PORT" ChargeTypeCode="30" CurrencyCode="USD" Amount="350"/>
        <vx:PriceInfo BreakdownType="1GT" ChargeTypeCode="7" CurrencyCode="USD" Amount="15705"/>
        <vx:PriceInfo BreakdownType="1GT/DSC" ChargeTypeCode="7" CurrencyCode="USD" Amount="-6390"/>
        <vx:PriceInfo BreakdownType="1GT/CRUI" ChargeTypeCode="7" CurrencyCode="USD" Amount="21920"/>
        <vx:PriceInfo BreakdownType="1GT/PORT" ChargeTypeCode="7" CurrencyCode="USD" Amount="175"/>
        <vx:PriceInfo BreakdownType="2GT" ChargeTypeCode="7" CurrencyCode="USD" Amount="15705"/>
        <vx:PriceInfo BreakdownType="2GT/DSC" ChargeTypeCode="7" CurrencyCode="USD" Amount="-6390"/>
        <vx:PriceInfo BreakdownType="2GT/CRUI" ChargeTypeCode="7" CurrencyCode="USD" Amount="21920"/>
        <vx:PriceInfo BreakdownType="2GT/PORT" ChargeTypeCode="7" CurrencyCode="USD" Amount="175"/>
    </vx:PriceInfos>
</vx:CategoryOption>

Note

The BreakdownType field is limited by 8 characters
First part is always 3 character breakdown type (DBL, SGL, 1GT etc.) and the separator character
Invoice item group codes should be limited in setup by 4 characters so they always fit into the field
Longer values will be cut to first 4 characters
All invoice needs to be grouped in setup, otherwise SwOTA will return invoice item types like "PORT" and "CRUI" for "PORT CHARGES" and "CRUISE FARE" invoice item types that were not mapped in OTA grouping

Price Itemization for Cached SailAvail

The OTA_CruiseSailAvailRQ call with IncludeCategoriesInd="true" will include category availability for each returned SailingOption.

Warning

Use with caution, as it may take a while to calculate all that availability.

The price breakdown for the categories in that call is calculated (and configured) the same way as for the OTA_CruiseCategoryAvailRQ/RS described above.

For the cached version of that call (<TPA_Extensions IncludeCategoriesInd="true" UseCacheInd="true"/>) the price breakdown is configured in Seaware Quoting Rules. Set up fields there with same names as Invoice Group names in the non-cached setup to make the pricing consistent between cached and non-cached call.

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