Guaranteed Balcony state room

[kristina]

Can it be inside balcony room? As boardwalk balcony? 

[Reigert2008]

My understanding is that it could be ANY type of room that shows up on the "balcony" option page.

[jack168]

15 minutes ago, kristina said:

Can it be inside balcony room? As boardwalk balcony? 

Guaranteed means that you are guaranteed a balcony. That balcony could be partially obstructed, it could be facing the inside of the ship in Central Park/Boardwalk, or they could possibly upgrade you to a higher category. However, most of the time it is just a regular ocean view balcony room.  

[teddy]

We have an ocean view balcony guarantee booked for our September sailing on Adventure. 
 

It’s listed as an XB Balcony guarantee 

[Firefly]

We did a ocean view balcony guarantee booking once on Oasis because that’s all that was available. Like the poster above said it showed up as XB balcony guarantee. There was a neighborhood balcony guarantee available for booking too, so there was a difference at the time we booked. We ended up being assigned with a cabin on deck 14 under one of the big overhangs, (not the hot tub) and I was initially worried about noise from the pool deck above, but it was never an issue. 

[Sharla]

You can do a neighborhood gty (category XN) or an oceanview balcony gty (category XB).  The XN can be either Central Park or Boardwalk, up to the room assigners. The XB will be oceanview, but might be obstructed or a great room.

[smcruiser]

Thanks, given the XB oceanview category, what do you mean by a great room, and what could possibly obstruct the view given the room is on the external sides of the ship?

[Xaa]

Lifeboats can obstruct the view from a balcony.  great room means different things to different people.  To me a great room has rooms above it and below it and on the sides.  it is also near the aft elevators on the midship side.

[Ptrg]

So with balcony gty we can not get ocean view if we let  them "pick" the room for us? 

[Xaa]

Of course you can.  You can get any balcony cabin including Ocean View Balcony.

You of course won't get an OceanView (no balcony and a porthole) room.  The GTY is a guarantee of a balcony.

[Ptrg]

Thank you . And just wondering that anyone got ocean view balcony (not Broadway/central park) on Allur of the Sea after selected "ocean view balcony - we pick your room " option.??? 

[Ampurp85]

38 minutes ago, Ptrg said:

Thank you . And just wondering that anyone got ocean view balcony (not Broadway/central park) on Allur of the Sea after selected "ocean view balcony - we pick your room " option.??? 

When is your sailing? You could check inventory. I do know that OV balconies are more plentiful on Oasis class ships and that CP and BW balconies are often sold out quicker because they are cheaper. 

[Ptrg]

We are going on Sept 10... How can I check inventory for those rooms . They say that our room will be assigned around 2,3 weeks before sailing date. 

[OCSC Mike]

4 minutes ago, Ptrg said:

We are going on Sept 10... How can I check inventory for those rooms . They say that our room will be assigned around 2,3 weeks before sailing date. 

Go on the RC site and pretend you are booking that cruise and look at available cabins.

FYI, your cabin can be assigned anytime between now and just before your sail date. The 2-3 week estimate is meaningless.

You can also likely find out what your cabin is RIGHT NOW as long as you've already checked in by using the bar code trick...

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.

 

[Ampurp85]

6 minutes ago, Ptrg said:

We are going on Sept 10... How can I check inventory for those rooms . They say that our room will be assigned around 2,3 weeks before sailing date. 

You can do a mock booking based on the category. If all they are selling is GTY balconies, then your options are limited. Also don't bank on the 2-3wks, they actually say they could assign the rooms up to the sailing date.

But I just checked, and your sailing is completely closed for balconies. Also, to answer your question, I have not heard of people getting CP or BW balconies if they booked an OV balcony GTY. Worse case your OV balcony is obstructed by lifeboats, best case they upgrade you to a JS. 

[Mike n Ky]

Booked a guarantee through Next and it is a guaranteed ocean balcony. If memory serves a guaranteed that would have been any balcony cabin was a couple hundred less. 

[Ptrg]

For example: if you check sailing date from Oct 8 _15th; then go to balcony state room , you will see "we pick room for you" that what we booked then until now, we not sure what room will be assigned for. 

[Ampurp85]

8 minutes ago, Ptrg said:

For example: if you check sailing date from Oct 8 _15th; then go to balcony state room , you will see "we pick room for you" that what we booked then until now, we not sure what room will be assigned for. 

Yes but that isn't your sailing, so what they have or don't, won't matter. If you are past check-in, you can do the bar code trick as described. Otherwise, you just have to wait to be assigned. 

[Ptrg]

I called RC , with my "balcony gty" I only get BW or CP . If I want Ocean view balcony I have to do an upgrade which is double what I have now. So after going thru from August thru October, I find out that : booking balcony staterooms are different:

1. If you see they are low price, then you will only see two options : Balcony gty( they pick room for you) and other it you pick yourself, which is very high prices. (This is my case)

2. At regular price at different date/months, you can see lot of choices:  Ocean view balcony gty; CP; BW ; large balcony, Connection balcony . 

[WAAAYTOOO]

9 hours ago, Ptrg said:

I called RC , with my "balcony gty" I only get BW or CP . If I want Ocean view balcony I have to do an upgrade which is double what I have now. So after going thru from August thru October, I find out that : booking balcony staterooms are different:

1. If you see they are low price, then you will only see two options : Balcony gty( they pick room for you) and other it you pick yourself, which is very high prices. (This is my case)

2. At regular price at different date/months, you can see lot of choices:  Ocean view balcony gty; CP; BW ; large balcony, Connection balcony . 

I think you received bad information from the Customer Service rep.  A balcony guarantee can include Central Park, Boardwalk or ocean view balcony.

[cedricmr]

GTY regulars, we have very quickly assigned cabins (in Europe ?) :

09/2023 Enchantment OTS B2B : cabins 7066 ans 7064

01/2024 Anthem OTS : cabin 7114

05/2024 Odyssey OTS : cabin 13658

09/2024 Anthem : cabin 13190

[OCSC Mike]

7 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I think you received bad information from the Customer Service rep.  A balcony guarantee can include Central Park, Boardwalk or ocean view balcony.

There was/is such a thing as "neighborhood guarantee" and "OV guarantee" as opposed to the general GTY where you can get any of the above, like you said. They have different category codes.

I'm not entirely sure about their existence now but I believe I've heard my TA say they still exist.

[Ptrg]

8 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I think you received bad information from the Customer Service rep.  A balcony guarantee can include Central Park, Boardwalk or ocean view balcony.

I agree with you 100% but they said that is if I want OV balcony I have to pay for un upgrade. That is the way it set up. And if you read information about "Balcony gty" there are not clearly tell you that what you will be assigned for, then you assumed that you will be get one of three stateroom: Bw, CP or OV. But infact no OV.!!! 

[OCSC Mike]

15 minutes ago, Ptrg said:

I agree with you 100% but they said that is if I want OV balcony I have to pay for un upgrade. That is the way it set up. And if you read information about "Balcony gty" there are not clearly tell you that what you will be assigned for, then you assumed that you will be get one of three stateroom: Bw, CP or OV. But infact no OV.!!! 

This indicates you actually booked a "Neighborhood GTY". In the future, I suggest using a TA (perhaps MEI-Travel that sponsors this site) so they can clarify all this for you and make sure you are booking what you want.

[Ampurp85]

There are three types of GTY on larger classes. When the itinerary is first released it just a balcony gty. Then they offee neighborhood or ov balcony gty. If you have just a balcony gty, all three will be a possibility.  Also be careful of what you ask the reps. It is 100% true if you want a OV balcony, you have to pay the upgrade cost. They are telling you there is no way to guarantee the ov because it might not be an option. Otherwise you are are at the mercy of the GTY Gods.

[USCG Teacher]

8 hours ago, Ptrg said:

I agree with you 100% but they said that is if I want OV balcony I have to pay for un upgrade. That is the way it set up. And if you read information about "Balcony gty" there are not clearly tell you that what you will be assigned for, then you assumed that you will be get one of three stateroom: Bw, CP or OV. But infact no OV.!!! 

I think this may be a situation where some wires might be crossing, and perhaps even the rep may be trying to do you a solid by being very truthful regarding your situation.  As I understand the system (and it is quite possible that I completely misunderstand the system!) could your GTY balcony still net you an OV balcony?  Sure.  Is it likely to?  Almost certainly not.  If there's an OV balcony GTY category, you're in a tier below them to be placed in an OV, and the price paid is reflective of that lower priority.  As far as I can figure, the pecking order would be:

1. Those who paid to select their OV balcony room

2. OV Balcony GTYs

3. (Maybe?) Those paying to Royal Up from a neighborhood balcony to an OV balcony

4. Balcony GTY

The odds of cabin selection making it all the way down to tier 4 AND then having you be one of the lucky ones in that group to be assigned an OV seems infinitesimally small.  Not impossible, just hit the lottery level unlikely.  Again, this could possibly be 100% incorrect, but it is how the system seems to makes sense in my mind's eye, but there are scores of members here who are both more well versed with RCI's methodology and far more eloquent than I am that can hopefully confirm or deny this!

 

[Back-at-it]

Mine says it is a XB GTY room.  I did the barcode trick and it just shows -GTY.  I have 6 days before we cruise.  But I did just book yesterday.  So hopping for a room before we get there.  I would hate to have to carry on luggage because they did not give me a room until check-in.

[Macroni]

On 6/21/2021 at 12:56 PM, teddy said:

We have an ocean view balcony guarantee booked for our September sailing on Adventure. 
 

It’s listed as an XB Balcony guarantee 

Did you get the ocean view without any obstacles? 

[teddy]

47 minutes ago, Macroni said:

Did you get the ocean view without any obstacles? 

We did, then we Royal Upped to a Junior Suite 

[teddy]

3 minutes ago, teddy said:

We did, then we Royal Upped to a Junior Suite 

This cruise was in September 2021, during the restart, sailing from Nassau.  Royal Ups were being handed out like candy on Halloween.  There were also around 450 guests on Adventure the cruise.