Guaranteed Ocean View Balcony - When Are They Assigned?

[DivaDeaconess]

My family is looking to book 3 ocean view balcony cabins for a cruise coming up next month.  The only option available for ocean view balcony is a guaranteed category.  I've never booked a guaranteed category, so wondering when they assign the rooms and what I can expect.  Am I likely to get rooms with partially obstructed views?  How likely is it that I would be able to switch to a room without an obstructed view or even that one would be available to switch to?  Any tips, tricks, and info would be appreciated.  Thanks!

[FionaMG]

Hi @DivaDeaconess,

The likelihood of being assigned rooms with an obstructed view depends to some extent on the ship you're looking at. For example, Quantum class ships have a lot of obstructed balcony cabins on deck 6 because of where the lifeboats are carried on those ships and some of them are less obstructed than others.

Generally, when booking a guarantee cabin, it's best to assume you'll get the least desirable rooms because the more desirable ones will have been snapped up by people booking specific rooms well in advance of their sailing. However, this is not necessarily always the case and you may be lucky, especially if someone who has a "good" room cancels around the time your room is assigned. Expect the worst and hope for the best is usually the safest philosophy here.

There is no set time frame for assigning rooms. In fact, even if you book all three rooms together, they could conceivably not all be assigned at the same time, since each room has its own individual booking number. You could find that your rooms are assigned immediately on booking or you may not even find out until you get to the port to check in. After you check in online, you can use the "bar code trick" to try and find out your room assignment before receiving official notification.

One thing to bear in mind when booking more than one GTY room is that you are never guaranteed they will be together or even vaguely in close proximity to each other. Again, you may be lucky and get all three in a row; or you may find that they are scattered as far as physically possible from each other while still actually being on the same ship.

If you are booking in the North American market, once you find out your room assignment, you may be able to change it to another room that you prefer, but the alternative has to be in the exact same category as the one assigned and this close in to the sailing date your choices may be limited or non-existent.

Hope this helps.

[Ampurp85]

41 minutes ago, DivaDeaconess said:

My family is looking to book 3 ocean view balcony cabins for a cruise coming up next month.  The only option available for ocean view balcony is a guaranteed category.  I've never booked a guaranteed category, so wondering when they assign the rooms and what I can expect.  Am I likely to get rooms with partially obstructed views?  How likely is it that I would be able to switch to a room without an obstructed view or even that one would be available to switch to?  Any tips, tricks, and info would be appreciated.  Thanks!

The most important tip I can give is to book early. Not only will you have to pay the balance right away for any rooms book for close sailings, but the room selection will be very limited.

The deal with GTY is you will get a room in that category for a cheaper price. It may be obstructed, in a less than ideal location, or not assigned until a day before sailing. The odds of you getting to change your room after allocation will be slim. There are little in the way of tricks other than using a barcode scanner to see your room before it has officially been assigned. This can only be done after final payment, which is 75-90 before a sailing. Since you are booking a month before sailing, they may allocate your rooms right away and you can scan your set sail pass for the room. 

[Bruin Steve]

It's actually a little trickier question than most think...

There are different types of guarantee rates.  We are booked on Quantum of the Seas for Alaska in August with family...and due to some interesting pricing, we booked three cabins...all on "Guarantee rates".  BUT, ours are not merely "balcony guarantees", they are "Category 4D Balcony Guarantees"...meaning the LOWEST category we can be assigned should be a 4D.  The obstructed view balcony cabins on Quantum are categories 1E and 2E.  So we are supposed to be guaranteed three unobstructed balcony cabins.  Of course, they don't always offer those higher category guarantees since they use the guarantees as a way to give them flexibility.

Of course, we might get whatever the worst 4D cabin on the ship may be...But we could also be assigned something better.  Now, I typically prefer to choose my cabin--usually midship for convenience and in a location likely to have less outside noise...so, it's usually worth paying a bit extra...and always good to book early.  But that is not always the way things work out...so, on a few occasions, we've taken those guarantees.  In the past, one time we got that worst balcony cabin on the ship--all the way forward.  On a couple of other occasions, we actually got "upgraded" a category or two.

We've been assigned a cabin as early as a few days after booking and as late as the day before the cruise.  Now, you MIGHT think you are going to certainly get that worst cabin...but it doesn't always work out that way.  Often, it depends on which bookings are canceled last minute.  If they are still holding a handful of unassigned guarantees and a few good cabins cancel last minute, you might get one of those good cabins.  On the other hand, with the "RoyalUp" thing going, they may get some strange results when moving people around.

But, the most important thing is to "just get on the ship!!"

[Traveling Mike]

If you checked in for your cruise you can see your temporary cabin assignment.  I have done it two times and it worked both times.

 

• If you use an iPhone, simply add the set sail pass to your Apple wallet. Numbers will appear below the bar code. The numbers to the right of the dash represent your cabin.
• If Android, simply scan the bar code with a QR scanner. (This works for iPhone too; the Apple wallet is just easier.)

NOTE: You have to wait to get your official assignment to ask to switch as this is just your holding cabin until they are ready to make them permanent.

[DivaDeaconess]

Thanks for the info everyone!

[csteph]

Hi there! We are first timers and have a guaranteed ocean view on Allure of the Seas and haven't been assigned a room yet (end of April '23). I did the barcode trick and get a very long # followed by a dash and GTY. I'm starting to worry we'll be stuck behind a lifeboat! Can anyone make a suggestion as to how to get a better room? The upgrade prices are SO HIGH. Do we put in a bid for upgrade?

Thank you in advance! Appreciate it!! 

[Ampurp85]

5 hours ago, csteph said:

Hi there! We are first timers and have a guaranteed ocean view on Allure of the Seas and haven't been assigned a room yet (end of April '23). I did the barcode trick and get a very long # followed by a dash and GTY. I'm starting to worry we'll be stuck behind a lifeboat! Can anyone make a suggestion as to how to get a better room? The upgrade prices are SO HIGH. Do we put in a bid for upgrade?

Thank you in advance! Appreciate it!! 

OV have a window and are usually on deck 2 and 3, and lifeboats usually block balconies on deck 5 and higher. If you post the barcode someone can help you determine room location. The tradeoff for GTY rooms is they can be anywhere, short of paying to choose your room, there may not be a better option. Also, not every room qualifies for a bid to upgrade and even if you do the chances of winning is a tossup. 

[Atlantix2000]

On 3/24/2023 at 10:41 AM, csteph said:

Hi there! We are first timers and have a guaranteed ocean view on Allure of the Seas and haven't been assigned a room yet (end of April '23). I did the barcode trick and get a very long # followed by a dash and GTY. I'm starting to worry we'll be stuck behind a lifeboat! Can anyone make a suggestion as to how to get a better room? The upgrade prices are SO HIGH. Do we put in a bid for upgrade?

Thank you in advance! Appreciate it!! 

Remember, your GTY rate is for ocean view or higher.  If you bid on an upgrade, you could theoretically "win" but your original room could eventually be assigned a better room.  (This would be very rare of course).  But there's no need to worry at this point.  GTY rooms can be assigned anytime between the day you book and the day you board with no obvious pattern to when or where and at a better price.

[Ryan79]

On 3/24/2023 at 8:41 AM, csteph said:

Hi there! We are first timers and have a guaranteed ocean view on Allure of the Seas and haven't been assigned a room yet (end of April '23). I did the barcode trick and get a very long # followed by a dash and GTY. I'm starting to worry we'll be stuck behind a lifeboat! Can anyone make a suggestion as to how to get a better room? The upgrade prices are SO HIGH. Do we put in a bid for upgrade?

Thank you in advance! Appreciate it!! 

If location and view are important to you, I would highly suggest NOT booking a GTY room in the future. 

[Rackham]

On 3/24/2023 at 11:41 AM, csteph said:

Hi there! We are first timers and have a guaranteed ocean view on Allure of the Seas and haven't been assigned a room yet (end of April '23). I did the barcode trick and get a very long # followed by a dash and GTY. I'm starting to worry we'll be stuck behind a lifeboat! Can anyone make a suggestion as to how to get a better room? The upgrade prices are SO HIGH. Do we put in a bid for upgrade?

Thank you in advance! Appreciate it!! 

If you're concerned about views, I wouldn't bid on a RoyalUp. It's a blind auction where you're bidding on whatever comes available in a category, not too dissimilar to a GTY booking. It's possible your RoyalUp bid gets you a cabin with worse views or locations than wherever you were initially assigned.