"We pick your room" option???

[Ptrg]

Hello everyone, we r going to book our first cruise (Adventure) but we confused how good/bad if we let they pick our room? Is it good idea if we let there pick our room then going to upgrade later? Thanks

[Matt]

2 hours ago, Ptrg said:

Hello everyone, we r going to book our first cruise (Adventure) but we confused how good/bad if we let they pick our room? Is it good idea if we let there pick our room then going to upgrade later? Thanks

Welcome to the message boards!

These are known as "guaranteed staterooms" and here's a breakdown if it's worth it: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2020/08/27/should-i-book-guarantee-stateroom-cruise

[CrimsonCruiser]

From what I hear around this site, when it comes to a guaranteed room you should:

• be okay with the worst possible room in the category. It's not a sure thing that you will get it, but guarantee rooms are generally filled after all the self-picked room are gone. Meaning you get what other people probably didn't want. So if you have a balcony you may end up with an obstructed view balcony, or one on a lower deck, or one where there may be more noise/less privacy. You could end up all the to the front or back, having to walk longer distances. Or you could end up with a perfectly nice room with nothing at all wrong with it. If you can honestly be okay with potentially the "dregs" of the category, then do it.
• know you may not get your assignment until a week or two before the sail date so there may not be room or space to upgrade. I've seen countless threads posted here asking when they'll get their assigned room because the sail date is coming up and they still don't know.

 

Basically, you are promised a room in whatever category you get for the price you paid. It's a little bit of a gamble but not one where you lose too much if you "lose".

[Allen2]

Personally: just got notified about "guaranteed" room, and lo and behold - the room was an upgrade!  It can happen.

[Psycho and Barb]

Not an option we use.  We always select our room...We like being on a certain side of the ship and close to elevators.

[atseau]

If your happy just being on a ship and cruising its a great option but no complaining if you get a room near the pointy end or the very back on the lowest floor.

[NotPayinExtra]

I've always gotten a GTY cabin. Saves about $220 per person min for an inside cabin. Never had any major complaints. But never expected anything either. You could always hate the people on either side of you for being to loud no matter what the location. Being near of far from elevators I can now see as a plus as I get older, but it's also good exercise. It really depends on how you look at it all. 

[OCSC Mike]

Once your GTY has been officially assigned, you can call (or have your TA do it if you used one) and ask to be switched to any available cabin in the same exact category.

*NOTE: This is for US bookings.

[Audrey V.]

Currently have a GTY for a November 4th sailing.  Does not have an assignment,  but did the scan the bar code trick. Assuming we did it correctly, it shows a low floor interior, but mid ship. Satisfied,  but on my last interior we were reassigned at check-in. A girl can hope, but okay either way. I like to think of it as a hope similar to a lottery ticket.  

[Butch R]

We had a GTY on our April cruise and ended up in a great location.

 

[OCSC Mike]

13 minutes ago, Audrey V. said:

Currently have a GTY for a November 4th sailing.  Does not have an assignment,  but did the scan the bar code trick. Assuming we did it correctly, it shows a low floor interior, but mid ship. Satisfied,  but on my last interior we were reassigned at check-in. A girl can hope, but okay either way. I like to think of it as a hope similar to a lottery ticket.  

As I mentioned above, you can also ask to be switched to any other available cabin with the same exact category once you're OFFICIALLY assigned.

I was fine with a GTY cabin we got in July, but there was one in a spot I really liked so I switched just b/c I could.

[JimnKathy]

While we normally don't do GTY bookings, we took advantage of a great deal for double points in a Junior Suite GTY (slightly obstructed) for a 9-night Eastern Caribbean Nov 2023 sailing on Explorer.

Two days after booking, Royal pushed the sail date to mid-Dec and gave us the option to move or cancel with no additional fee, My travel agent was able to score us a great Junior Suite without an obstruction and closer to the elevators.

Lucky day for sure...and what a terrific way to obtain Diamond status, too!  

[JimnKathy]

21 minutes ago, JimnKathy said:

While we normally don't do GTY bookings, we took advantage of a great deal for double points in a Junior Suite GTY (slightly obstructed) for a 9-night Eastern Caribbean Nov 2023 sailing on Explorer.

Two days after booking, Royal pushed the sail date to mid-Dec and gave us the option to move or cancel with no additional fee, My travel agent was able to score us a great Junior Suite without an obstruction and closer to the elevators.

Lucky day for sure...and what a terrific way to obtain Diamond status, too!  

This is also yet another shining example as to how a great TA can make cruising life better without having to lift a finger! 

[Ampurp85]

I booked a gty recently.  Check-in is the 23rd so I will know soon where my room might be. I plan to do the barcode trick.

I booked the gty not caring where my room was as I just wanted to be on the ship. I booked it knowing I might not be able to move my cabin. However it was a different of $350. Sometimes you luck up and sometimes you don't. 

[steverk]

I usually sail in a cabin I have chosen, but not always.  As far as location, I've had some bad cabins, but they were always ones that I chose.  So be aware that you can get a bad GTY cabin, but it isn't necessarily the case.

The reasons we usually pick our cabins is that my wife has knee problems, so we usually try to get an accessible cabin.  These aren't available as a GTY.  

Also, if you are sailing with another party, your cabins will not be close to each other.

[Audrey V.]

The last poster raised a good issue, which is the GTY works great for a couple traveling by themselves.  It cannot be done for multiroom bookings. 

[LJay0301]

We booked our cruise as a GTY for a balcony room. My reasoning for this was, we were booking kind of late, you could say last minute booking for a Nov cruise we booked it about 2 weeks ago so the choices of rooms were slim & to choose my own was about $150 -$200 more, which isn't a lot but with so few rooms why spend the extra on that when I can spend it elsewhere. 

I think if we had booked months out I would have rather pick my own room with there being more options to select from - or if we were traveling with others and we wanted to be all close together. 

My partner is a more seasoned cruiser than I am, he grew up cruise where I have never been - he would rather chose his room because he has more preferences as to where he likes to be on a ship. 

So I would say if you are traveling solo or with one other person and just need one room & you don't care where it is than go with GTY option.

If you know you like a certain part of ships or want to be central to elevators or not near certain areas and there is a good selection to chose from than pick your own. 

[LJay0301]

16 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

I booked a gty recently.  Check-in is the 23rd so I will know soon where my room might be. I plan to do the barcode trick.

I booked the gty not caring where my room was as I just wanted to be on the ship. I booked it knowing I might not be able to move my cabin. However it was a different of $350. Sometimes you luck up and sometimes you don't. 

I booked gty recentless also -  check in is next week for me. what is the barcode trick?

 

[GoldenTimeHero]

On 9/22/2022 at 6:35 AM, Allen2 said:

Personally: just got notified about "guaranteed" room, and lo and behold - the room was an upgrade!  It can happen.

Me and a buddy of mine wanted to be adventurous and picked this option. I hope we get lucky like you did. 

[Ptrg]

1 hour ago, LJay0301 said:

We booked our cruise as a GTY for a balcony room. My reasoning for this was, we were booking kind of late, you could say last minute booking for a Nov cruise we booked it about 2 weeks ago so the choices of rooms were slim & to choose my own was about $150 -$200 more, which isn't a lot but with so few rooms why spend the extra on that when I can spend it elsewhere. 

I think if we had booked months out I would have rather pick my own room with there being more options to select from - or if we were traveling with others and we wanted to be all close together. 

My partner is a more seasoned cruiser than I am, he grew up cruise where I have never been - he would rather chose his room because he has more preferences as to where he likes to be on a ship. 

So I would say if you are traveling solo or with one other person and just need one room & you don't care where it is than go with GTY option.

If you know you like a certain part of ships or want to be central to elevators or not near certain areas and there is a good selection to chose from than pick your own. 

The balcony is not cheap... So if you let them pick your room, it may end up with obstruction Infront of the door... (What I read some reviews online) is it some kind of disappointing, isn't it? Bc we pay lot money for the view... 

[NotPayinExtra]

6 hours ago, steverk said:

I usually sail in a cabin I have chosen, but not always.  As far as location, I've had some bad cabins, but they were always ones that I chose.  So be aware that you can get a bad GTY cabin, but it isn't necessarily the case.

The reasons we usually pick our cabins is that my wife has knee problems, so we usually try to get an accessible cabin.  These aren't available as a GTY.  

Also, if you are sailing with another party, your cabins will not be close to each other.

I think this says it all. "I've had some bad cabins, but they were always ones that I chose". So even choosing your own could give you a bad one for many reasons. Loud people in next cabin etc. A GTY isn't a bad choice. And can be an adventure. Not to mention a savings. I've only ever done GTY. I think I've been on every deck. Forward, middle, aft. Found plus and minus to both. Had a few surprise upgrades too. But not often. To me it's just a place to sleep and wash. There is just so much to see and do, I'm not getting stuck in a room. Lol.

[Audrey V.]

2 hours ago, LJay0301 said:

I booked gty recentless also -  check in is next week for me. what is the barcode trick?

 

So after check in there is a bar code, but no numbers.  Using a camera, "read it" and you will get the numbers for the bar code. The last 4 numbers is the room assigned (unless more than floor 10), but subject to change.  

[OCSC Mike]

10 minutes ago, Audrey V. said:

So after check in there is a bar code, but no numbers.  Using a camera, "read it" and you will get the numbers for the bar code. The last 4 numbers is the room assigned (unless more than floor 10), but subject to change.  

You can also add it to your Apple Wallet if an iPhone user to see the numbers.

[LJay0301]

1 hour ago, Ptrg said:

The balcony is not cheap... So if you let them pick your room, it may end up with obstruction Infront of the door... (What I read some reviews online) is it some kind of disappointing, isn't it? Bc we pay lot money for the view... 

Yes that is a chance to happen. But with the amount of rooms to chose from (literally a handful) I didn't pay more to chose my room, if its going to be obstructed because of how few rooms were available at least I didn't pay full price for it to be obstructed - also it is not something that will make it or break it for me, if there's a life boat in front of my balcony that's fine - when we booked the balcony rooms were only $100 more than the interior rooms, but Oceanview was more than balcony

[LJay0301]

11 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

You can also add it to your Apple Wallet if an iPhone user to see the numbers.

Thank you & to Audrey as well for the information! I love getting new tips from the seasoned Cruisers 

[Ampurp85]

I also just found out GTY rooms can do RoyalUP. I received one today for my Nov sailing at 45 days out. I don't believe my GTY has been assigned yet. This is mainly because the website is down. Of course, I did it for this room as the prices were reasonable and I already don't have a set location. So, if I win, I won't be losing out on a room I had perfectly selected.

[OCSC Mike]

10 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

I also just found out GTY rooms can do RoyalUP. I received one today for my Nov sailing at 45 days out. I don't believe my GTY has been assigned yet. This is mainly because the website is down. Of course, I did it for this room as the prices were reasonable and I already don't have a set location. So, if I win, I won't be losing out on a room I had perfectly selected.

Yep, I won a small RoyalUp on a GTY in July on the same day I happened to get my official assignment (I knew my cabin from the barcode trick already). Happy bidding!

[KT20]

On 9/22/2022 at 4:30 PM, Audrey V. said:

What is scan the bar code trick?

 

[Ptrg]

Use your phone to scan bar code when you check in online ( usually 2 months B4 sailing day)

[OCSC Mike]

2 minutes ago, Ptrg said:

Use your phone to scan bar code when you check in online ( usually 2 months B4 sailing day)

It's 45 days out after you check-in as you need your set sail pass to have the bar code.

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.