GTY Cabin Room Assignment

[Atlantix2000]

2 hours ago, bethr_20 said:

Hiya guys,

We booked our first ever cruise yesterday for a 7 night Norwegian Fjords cruise on Anthem of the Seas! We're travelling as a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 'children' - they're 21, 18 and 16) across two cabins. We booked balcony guarantee cabins and, strangely enough, they've already been allocated to us, even though we're not travelling for another 230ish days and we've only just paid our deposit. 

Suffice to say, we completely understandable the conditions and implications of booking guaranteed cabins. We've been allocated one obstructed view balcony cabin on deck 6 and one generic balcony cabin on deck 11. We don't mind that the cabins are separated by a few decks, as the children are old enough and capable enough to not need to be nearby, nor that one of them is an obstructed view, but our main query comes through the muster points that we've been given with our cabins. Our children's muster point is at La Patisserie, whilst my husband and I are at Jamie's Italian. Of course, I know that the likelihood of anything going wrong is low, but even so it's scary to think that, should something happen which causes us to need to gather there, we won't all be together. 

My main question, therefore, was whether RCL could reallocate our muster points so that we're at the same point. I'm not too sure how muster allocation works in the first place, and whether there's any reason as to why we're in different locations, but if it was possible then does anyone know whether we should contact our travel agent to arrange this or if we should talk to RCL directly?

 

TIA

Muster stations are assigned based on the physical locations of the cabins.  Muster stations are basically the gathering point for your lifeboat in the event the ship needs to be evacuated.  If something were to happen overnight (when most everyone is in their cabins), there should be a fairly direct route from your cabin to your muster station so that everyone could get there quickly and efficiently.  Then, you would be led from the Muster to the lifeboat if necessary.  If something were to happen during the day when people are all over the ship, it would obviously be more chaotic to reach your muster station.

Each lifeboat only holds a certain number of people so it is not possible to reallocate your children to your muster station.  In fact, if the lifeboat capacity has been reached for a muster station, they will stop selling empty cabins in that section of the ship and prevent you from adding passengers to existing cabins even if there is an empty bed.

Since you have been assigned your cabin so early, it is possible you will be able to swap one of your cabins for a nearby cabin that is in the EXACT same category as the assigned cabin.  Just because you booked a balcony guarantee does not mean you can move to ANY balcony.  If you were assigned a E4 balcony cabin (for example) you would have to move to a different E4 balcony cabin.

[bethr_20]

On 11/15/2022 at 7:01 PM, Atlantix2000 said:

Since you have been assigned your cabin so early, it is possible you will be able to swap one of your cabins for a nearby cabin that is in the EXACT same category as the assigned cabin.  Just because you booked a balcony guarantee does not mean you can move to ANY balcony.  If you were assigned a E4 balcony cabin (for example) you would have to move to a different E4 balcony cabin.

Hiya, we've just checked out the deck plan and, with that, the cabins that available for our cruise, and we've found one cabin which we think would be really great to potentially swap to. It's in the same category too, even though it has less obstruction and is on a corner location so the balcony is larger. I was just wondering how swapping the cabins is done, and how easy it is? We've booked through an TA (iglu cruises), but we don't want to 'annoy' - I know, it might sound weird - our travel agent too much considering that we've only just booked the trip, and we don't want to ask too much of them this early. Could we contact RC directly and see whether they'd accept this change? 

[FionaMG]

1 hour ago, bethr_20 said:

Hiya, we've just checked out the deck plan and, with that, the cabins that available for our cruise, and we've found one cabin which we think would be really great to potentially swap to. It's in the same category too, even though it has less obstruction and is on a corner location so the balcony is larger. I was just wondering how swapping the cabins is done, and how easy it is? We've booked through an TA (iglu cruises), but we don't want to 'annoy' - I know, it might sound weird - our travel agent too much considering that we've only just booked the trip, and we don't want to ask too much of them this early. Could we contact RC directly and see whether they'd accept this change? 

You're not "annoying" them. It's their job; that's what they earn commission for. Plus, you won't be able to deal with Royal direct because you booked through an agent.

It's best to act quickly, though, while there are still options available to you.

[Atlantix2000]

18 hours ago, bethr_20 said:

Hiya, we've just checked out the deck plan and, with that, the cabins that available for our cruise, and we've found one cabin which we think would be really great to potentially swap to. It's in the same category too, even though it has less obstruction and is on a corner location so the balcony is larger. I was just wondering how swapping the cabins is done, and how easy it is? We've booked through an TA (iglu cruises), but we don't want to 'annoy' - I know, it might sound weird - our travel agent too much considering that we've only just booked the trip, and we don't want to ask too much of them this early. Could we contact RC directly and see whether they'd accept this change? 

As Fiona said, it's your TA's job to do this as Royal will not even talk to you about your reservation when it is booked through a TA.  However, not all TAs are will be very helpful.  Some will think they've already earned their commission and swapping cabins is extra work for no additional pay so they may try to ignore you.  Other TAs will be happy to keep you happy.  Also, it's not clear to me whether you booked under US rules, UK rules, European rules, etc.  That can change what you are allowed to do and what it might cost due to different local regulations.

[bethr_20]

21 minutes ago, Atlantix2000 said:

As Fiona said, it's your TA's job to do this as Royal will not even talk to you about your reservation when it is booked through a TA.  However, not all TAs are will be very helpful.  Some will think they've already earned their commission and swapping cabins is extra work for no additional pay so they may try to ignore you.  Other TAs will be happy to keep you happy.  Also, it's not clear to me whether you booked under US rules, UK rules, European rules, etc.  That can change what you are allowed to do and what it might cost due to different local regulations.

I'm booked under UK rules

[FionaMG]

1 hour ago, bethr_20 said:

I'm booked under UK rules

That's unfortunate. UK rules offer very little leeway and mostly don't allow switches like this, I'm afraid. There's no harm in asking though; the worst they can do is say "no". If they say "yes", make sure they're not going to charge you any extra before you tell them to go ahead and make the switch.

[twangster]

17 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

That's unfortunate. UK rules offer very little leeway and mostly don't allow switches like this, I'm afraid. There's no harm in asking though; the worst they can do is say "no". If they say "yes", make sure they're not going to charge you any extra before you tell them to go ahead and make the switch.

Adding to consider asking more questions if you have any OBC on the booking.  Make sure you won't lose it during a change.

[bethr_20]

28 minutes ago, twangster said:

Adding to consider asking more questions if you have any OBC on the booking.  Make sure you won't lose it during a change.

Oh wow I didn't even think of that! We have $500 onboard credit so I'll definitely be cautious if I try to request it. That said, we emailed our TA and they did say that the likelihood is that they can't change anything, so we're probably just going to stick with where we are; the cabin isn't bad at all and we're still very happy with it, so it's no real loss! 

Thank you all for your help

[Colombia20102018]

On 5/4/2021 at 6:46 PM, Curt From Canada said:

Before MAR 2020, I kept a database (with lots of input from this fantastic board).  Below is the data (a small sample, but with some trends if you look at it).  My plan is to start up again (as soon as the sailing begin ... I should have said that louder ... AS SOON AS THE SAILINGS BEGIN! ... and they will).  A few observations:

1).  A few get assigned very far in advance.  These appear to be outliners (and the frequency may come down over time with more data).

2). Just over a month before there is an inflection point where almost half have their assignment set.

3). Almost all have been set 10-19 days before sailing.

4). All have been assigned by the time you board. 

 

Stay Safe, Stay Apart, Stay Connected,

Curt from Canada

Wondering if you had some insight on the following: I have been watching for the last couple of months a cruise that offered the we pick your room and the you pick your room options. The price when one selects the room is quite higher than the GTY. The number of rooms available to pick have been stable between 11 and 16 rooms at any given time. Then, out of nowhere, the GTY option is not offered anymore. The sailing is not until August. Would you think this is an indication that they sold enough GTY and soon will start to  assign cabins? Or what do you make of this? Thanks 

[Curt From Canada]

2 hours ago, Colombia20102018 said:

Wondering if you had some insight on the following: I have been watching for the last couple of months a cruise that offered the we pick your room and the you pick your room options. The price when one selects the room is quite higher than the GTY. The number of rooms available to pick have been stable between 11 and 16 rooms at any given time. Then, out of nowhere, the GTY option is not offered anymore. The sailing is not until August. Would you think this is an indication that they sold enough GTY and soon will start to  assign cabins? Or what do you make of this? Thanks 

This is an excellent question ... I SUMMON THE GENIE FROM INSIDE HIS BOTTLE:

@twangster ... please come the rescue with your thoughts.  (I was going to call you The Oracle, but I thought your would like the idea of living in a bottle). 

 

Curt from Canada

[Carlos A.]

Maybe they've  just assigned all the GTY cabins.

I had a GTY reservation, yesterday there were plenty of same category cabins available, today they diminished by a large amount and I noticed that I got assigned a cabin number. I'm 100 days from my sailing. 

[twangster]

2 hours ago, Colombia20102018 said:

Wondering if you had some insight on the following: I have been watching for the last couple of months a cruise that offered the we pick your room and the you pick your room options. The price when one selects the room is quite higher than the GTY. The number of rooms available to pick have been stable between 11 and 16 rooms at any given time. Then, out of nowhere, the GTY option is not offered anymore. The sailing is not until August. Would you think this is an indication that they sold enough GTY and soon will start to  assign cabins? Or what do you make of this? Thanks 

I don't know that anyone on the outside has a solid inkling to the inner workings of Royal Caribbean revenue management. 

There is an actual department called "revenue management".  Some of the actions we experience are the result or automated scripts that sweep individual sail dates and apply automated or scripted responses to sale trends.  "Only 10 cabins in category XY left then adjust rate up by z%"  sort of thing.  "Less than 60 days and P% of category XY cabins available, then reduce price by m%".  There are also the humans in this department that keep an eagle eye on the process and deal with one-offs and exceptions. 

Not all cabins always appear in the inventory that we get to see on the website.  They hold certain space for contractors or when the entertainment cast is being replaced there is some overlap where they need to accommodate both the old and new cast on board at the same time.  Guest cabin space can be used for this purpose.  They keep some space in reserve but at some point it may become clear they don't need it so it can get released.  That may go to GTY assignments so cabins get assigned that never appeared as being available on the public site. 

Between automation and humans in revenue management they adjust, offer or withdraw GTY options using historical knowledge and predictions.  They also know with 6,000 guests involved historically some will cancel in the last X days.  They might not always get it right leading to oversold situations.   So there is a bit of voodoo magic & card reading involved. 

[AlmondFarmer]

6 hours ago, twangster said:

I don't know that anyone on the outside has a solid inkling to the inner workings of Royal Caribbean revenue management. 

Also very few on the inside. Sometimes an intern gets in on things…..allegedly. 

[Colombia20102018]

9 hours ago, twangster said:

There is an actual department called "revenue management".  Some of the actions we experience are the result or automated scripts that sweep individual sail dates and apply automated or scripted responses to sale trends.  "Only 10 cabins in category XY left then adjust rate up by z%"  sort of thing.  "Less than 60 days and P% of category XY cabins available, then reduce price by m%".  There are also the humans in this department that keep an eagle eye on the process and deal with one-offs and exceptions. 

To make this even more interesting, I just checked the price and it went from about $4500 to $6500 for a room for four people in a matter of hours. Their room inventory though, the one we can see, has not changed. 

[twangster]

4 hours ago, Colombia20102018 said:

To make this even more interesting, I just checked the price and it went from about $4500 to $6500 for a room for four people in a matter of hours. Their room inventory though, the one we can see, has not changed. 

Sometimes things don't make sense to would be guests like when an interior cabin costs more than a balcony yet the system does exactly this ...sometimes.

[Rosalinda Carmona]

Since this is our first time in a cruise ship I would like to know if we can get considered to a Promenade stateroom  instead of the GTY .

[SpeedNoodles]

4 hours ago, Rosalinda Carmona said:

Since this is our first time in a cruise ship I would like to know if we can get considered to a Promenade stateroom  instead of the GTY .

You can call whoever you booked the cruise through (either your travel agent or Royal Caribbean directly) and change to a Promenade stateroom.  You will pay the current fare to change room categories.  Otherwise you will get whatever they get you with the GTY.

[jim620]

Just wanted to share my experience with a GTY room.  We are a family of 4, booked a GTY Balcony on Brilliance of the Seas Alaska cruise departing Vancouver. Savings was close to $600 for regular balcony.  Did online check-in 45 days out and on SetSail Pass deck 10 muster station E16 but no room number.  Did the bar code trick which showed room 1088, which is a spacious balcony cabin.  Cross our fingers that it stayed that way. Today, 30 days out, received final documents with official room number 1088 category 3B.  So booking GTY did save us a good amount of money, probably more than the $600 that was stated earlier since we got a spacious balcony vs. a regular balcony.  Now deciding if we want to try and switch sides since 1088 is on the Port side and going up to Alaska I assume the scenery would be on the Starboard side. 

[Colombia20102018]

3 minutes ago, jim620 said:

Just wanted to share my experience with a GTY room.  We are a family of 4, booked a GTY Balcony on Brilliance of the Seas Alaska cruise departing Vancouver. Savings was close to $600 for regular balcony.  Did online check-in 45 days out and on SetSail Pass deck 10 muster station E16 but no room number.  Did the bar code trick which showed room 1088, which is a spacious balcony cabin.  Cross our fingers that it stayed that way. Today, 30 days out, received final documents with official room number 1088 category 3B.  So booking GTY did save us a good amount of money, probably more than the $600 that was stated earlier since we got a spacious balcony vs. a regular balcony.  Now deciding if we want to try and switch sides since 1088 is on the Port side and going up to Alaska I assume the scenery would be on the Starboard side. 

Could you post a quick video on how to do the bar code trick?

[AshleyDillo]

5 minutes ago, Colombia20102018 said:

Could you post a quick video on how to do the bar code trick?

Download a barcode scanner app on your cell phone. There are several available for all platforms in the app score. You scan the barcode in the app and it will spit back numbers. If the room is assigned these numbers will be at the end -####. Otherwise it will show -GTY still.

[Colombia20102018]

3 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

Download a barcode scanner app on your cell phone. There are several available for all platforms in the app score. You scan the barcode in the app and it will spit back numbers. If the room is assigned these numbers will be at the end -####. Otherwise it will show -GTY still.

Where do I find the barcode? I started the check in process but Then do but see a sail pass yet.

[AshleyDillo]

1 minute ago, Colombia20102018 said:

Where do I find the barcode? I started the check in process but Then do but see a sail pass yet.

The barcode is on your SetSail pass which serves as your boarding pass to get on the ship. When it is available there will be a link. You need to have selected an arrival time in the check-in process to get the SetSail pass to show up.

[jim620]

Once you login to the RC website just select "View Boarding Pass" if you completed your checkin process.  From there you can get your SetSail Pass with the barcode.  Then use a QR/Barcode scanner app on your phone to read the barcode and the last 4 digits after the dash will be your tentative room number.  You can also get the Setsail pass from the RC app.

 

 

[OCSC Mike]

Bar Code Trick:

Method 1. If you have an Apple device, add your set sail pass to your Apple wallet. Numbers will now appear under your bar code. The numbers after the dash represent your cabin.

Method 2. Scan the bar code with a QR scanner from another device and that should also show you the numbers.

NOTE: If you see "GTY" instead of numbers, you truly haven't been assigned yet. One tip off is that if you don't see a muster station on your set sail pass then you almost definitely don't have an assignment yet.

[Colombia20102018]

Ok, I got a nice room so I hope it stays that way. Thanks a lot 

[RCIfan1912]

On 6/30/2023 at 11:47 AM, OCSC Mike said:

Bar Code Trick:

Method 1. If you have an Apple device, add your set sail pass to your Apple wallet. Numbers will now appear under your bar code. The numbers after the dash represent your cabin.

Method 2. Scan the bar code with a QR scanner from another device and that should also show you the numbers.

NOTE: If you see "GTY" instead of numbers, you truly haven't been assigned yet. One tip off is that if you don't see a muster station on your set sail pass then you almost definitely don't have an assignment yet.

So this is after check in at 45 days? I want to try this trick because this is our first GTY balcony. I don't have an iPhone though. I'll use my QR code reader on my Pixel. 

[OCSC Mike]

2 hours ago, RCIfan1912 said:

So this is after check in at 45 days? I want to try this trick because this is our first GTY balcony. I don't have an iPhone though. I'll use my QR code reader on my Pixel. 

Yes, after you check in.

[aquawise]

My question is if Royal leaves those who have booked their chosen cabin and place the guarentee people into what would be considered a better cabin or if there is a bumping system that moves people "up" and gives guarantees the worst cabins.  The cruise we are looking at leaves in under 2 months and has at least 40 OV cabins left.  None are obstructed on the Rhapsody of the Seas.

The difference is about $80 per person for a 5 day Med cruise

[Colombia20102018]

10 hours ago, aquawise said:

My question is if Royal leaves those who have booked their chosen cabin and place the guarentee people into what would be considered a better cabin or if there is a bumping system that moves people "up" and gives guarantees the worst cabins.  The cruise we are looking at leaves in under 2 months and has at least 40 OV cabins left.  None are obstructed on the Rhapsody of the Seas.

The difference is about $80 per person for a 5 day Med cruise

While in theory the cruise line could move you up, in practice the line knows exactly how many and which guaranteed cabins they are offering. They will stop selling them as soon as they run out and therefore, there is no need to move up anyone, especially for free.

[Xaa]

Excluding Royal Up considerations for the moment, they leave the people who preselected their cabins alone and fill the GTY around them.  We did a GTY recently and 3 of the 4 GTY cabins were assigned as "Spacious" Oceanview Balconies from the balcony GTY presumably because the lower cost standard OV Balcony cabins were preselected.  

If you see a cabin you explicitly want and the cost change from your GTY is just $80 per head, I would probably just pay that.  if you don't though, you do have a chance of getting them with your GTY

[RCIfan1912]

Hey we are doing our first GTY balcony next month. The cabin assigned is excellent so I was very pleasantly surprised. It's deck 6 of course and I like to be 9 or a bit higher but other than that I love the cabin they chose for us. Right near the elevators and very close to the promenade. No  obstruction view. 

[beach girl 05]

Hi all we are on allure  of tje season Oct. 30. We paid for a upgrade. We had a guaranteed  balcony room but we paid gor a upgrade, balcony with ocean view. When do we find out our room number?

[RCIfan1912]

36 minutes ago, beach girl 05 said:

Hi all we are on allure  of tje season Oct. 30. We paid for a upgrade. We had a guaranteed  balcony room but we paid gor a upgrade, balcony with ocean view. When do we find out our room number?

Well we officially found out yesterday which was 31 days out. 

Have you gotten to the check in period? Have you checked in and can see your boarding pass? If you open the boarding pass there is a bar code to the right. If you QR scan that code a long number will come up and the last 4 digits is your room. It's a bar code trick that is known. We knew our cabin will before it was officially assigned.. 

[Matt]

43 minutes ago, beach girl 05 said:

Hi all we are on allure  of tje season Oct. 30. We paid for a upgrade. We had a guaranteed  balcony room but we paid gor a upgrade, balcony with ocean view. When do we find out our room number?

When you say you paid for an upgrade, did you call Royal or your travel agent to book a room specifically?

Or did you get an upgrade opportunity email (AKA Royal Up) to bid for an upgrade?

[Judy3569]

I booked an oceanview balcony guaranteed stateroom for a Dec 29 sailing today. My invoice shows GTY for the stateroom but there is nothing on my invoice or on my account that shows the category of the guaranteed stateroom. I called RC and she confirmed that it is an OV balcony guarantee but I have no proof of that. Should I be concerned?

[RCIfan1912]

1 hour ago, Judy3569 said:

I booked an oceanview balcony guaranteed stateroom for a Dec 29 sailing today. My invoice shows GTY for the stateroom but there is nothing on my invoice or on my account that shows the category of the guaranteed stateroom. I called RC and she confirmed that it is an OV balcony guarantee but I have no proof of that. Should I be concerned?

I guess not if Royal Caribbean said it was but I would be a bit concerned as you are. 

[OCSC Mike]

3 hours ago, Judy3569 said:

I called RC and she confirmed that it is an OV balcony guarantee but I have no proof of that. Should I be concerned?

No. Pretty sure all invoices just show “GTY” no matter what category you booked.

[Vlad]

On 10/28/2023 at 9:00 PM, OCSC Mike said:

No. Pretty sure all invoices just show “GTY” no matter what category you booked.

Nope, you're completely wrong with that assumption. Royal Carribean do sell different guaranteed at different prices. 

When I've bought, it was selling a couple of balcony types/locations 

And my invoice specifically says D4-GTY. 

[OCSC Mike]

17 minutes ago, Vlad said:

Royal Carribean do sell different guaranteed at different prices. 

Of course they’re different prices if you book say an OV GTY vs. a neighborhood GTY. My comment only had to do with how they are coded on the invoice.