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Guarantee Cabins


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5 minutes ago, Mattib said:

I've never sailed with a Guarantee cabin and have a question...am considering booking on an upcoming HOTS cruise that is less than a month away, April 14 sailing.  There is an option to book a cat W, Suite Guarantee.  Jr Suites appear sold out for this sailing, what do you think they could assign us?  I'd really prefer a GS or above for the perks that come with the Sky suite class.  If Jr suites are sold out is there a good chance that we will get assigned a GS or better?  Anyone with thoughts on this or experience like this?  We are a family of 4 if that matters.  Thanks, Matt.

I don't have any experience with this situation but I feel like they would try to bump the JS people first and see if they can upsell them to a GS or higher and that opens up a JS for the W bookings. I was once told by a rep there's a certain order like this that they do it in. I would say book it as long as you are ok with the lowest guarantee cabin possible, if not then don't try it. You could get lucky though but hard to predict.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Guarantee room was assign and then delete.

For the 14-April-18 Symphony of the seas sale I  booked GTY ocean view room, a week ago I finally got assigned room (Ocean view) , today I notice the state room came back to GTY , 

Anyone encounter such thing ? , I have already printed my sell pass with the room I had assigned , not sure I need to print it again.

 

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On 2/13/2018 at 11:30 AM, Floski said:

I have never seen the option to book a guarantee cabin on the RC website.  Can you only get one via calling RC?

 

I'm looking at Adventure from Bayonne to NE/CAN in July of next year.  Of course, if it were up to me, I'd never sail

anywhere not named Caribbean, but this one's for my wife.  She's been a good trooper on our 3 trips to the islands,

despite her disdain of the sun and hot weather.

We booked the May 18th sailing out of NJ on adventure and we got an spacious ocean view balcony GTY. We were assigned room 1670, pretty far aft directly under the WJ. I’m not too worried about the noise from the wj, I am however a little worried about being that far aft as I’ve heard we may feel vibrations and any potential rocking is worse in the back of the ship. We rolled the dice to save (which was around $300 total for our family of 4) so we’ll see if we’re happy or not. We did receive our room assignment about 2 months in advance. Also this is my first cruise as Emerald so I’m excited for that too.

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On 8/2/2017 at 8:15 PM, Lauren said:

We did a guarantee ocean view once, the room was assigned about 2 weeks before sailing. We were on deck 2, felt every rock of the ship. We were given a handicap accessible room that had not been booked. The room was larger than a standard room. It was OK, but I haven't booked a guarantee again.

We did the "guarantee" room for our sailing in 3 days.   the term "GUARANTEE" is meaningless.  all it means is that if you pay for a window, you will get a window.  you just don't know where.   Since we booked this about a month ago, we couldn't pick our room.  We found out we were assigned a room on deck 2.   This will be difficult, since i ALWAYS get a balcony room, and it will be the last time i don't pick my room.

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29 minutes ago, georgeh said:

We did the "guarantee" room for our sailing in 3 days.   the term "GUARANTEE" is meaningless.  all it means is that if you pay for a window, you will get a window.  you just don't know where.   Since we booked this about a month ago, we couldn't pick our room.  We found out we were assigned a room on deck 2.   This will be difficult, since i ALWAYS get a balcony room, and it will be the last time i don't pick my room.

Well they only guarantee the category of stateroom, that’s it if you booked an ocean view that’s all they are obligated to give you. You are at their mercy and get assigned what’s left. Luck of the draw imo. You roll the dice to save a few bucks.

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17 hours ago, georgeh said:

We did the "guarantee" room for our sailing in 3 days.   the term "GUARANTEE" is meaningless.  all it means is that if you pay for a window, you will get a window.  you just don't know where.   Since we booked this about a month ago, we couldn't pick our room.  We found out we were assigned a room on deck 2.   This will be difficult, since i ALWAYS get a balcony room, and it will be the last time i don't pick my room.

Correct, there are potentially guarantee rooms for each category level. You chose the Oceanview Guarantee.  Of course, you saved money compared to picking your own room.

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  • 5 months later...
  • 7 months later...
On 2/13/2018 at 10:44 AM, twangster said:

They are not always available and I'm not sure what the criteria is for them to show up.  Possibly they oversell a certain cabin type long before final payment date knowing some people will cancel.  

They are also not always the best deal, it all depends on sales trends and inventory available. Here is an example for the Symphony TA for balconies:

gty.jpeg.e1afe7fcf3995f330950fc9e379374c4.jpeg

The GTY or "We choose the room" is more than picking a cabin yourself.  I've been watching this nearly daily to see if I can score a better cabin.  Options come and go.  Somedays only GTY are available, other times you can't choose a GTY booking.

Omg, I wish they still showed fares this way (with the difference between non-refundable and refundable deposits) instead of making you go through the entire reservation process before you see that your refundable fare is $500 more (in my last case).

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16 hours ago, FManke said:

How is it that on some cruises I've looked at, it's actually cheaper to pick your cabin than allow them to do it?

There is a revenue management system that adjusts prices based on a series of predetermined factors.  How far away is the sail date, what percentage of cabins in a certain class are available, how many bookings for that class were made in in the last 24 hours, etc.  This can cause a GTY to be more than or pretty close to the direct assignment.

Sometimes a balcony is cheaper than ocean view.  Sometimes ocean view is cheaper than interior.  Same effect.  If there are only one or two interior cabins left the system determines those to be in demand and therefore a "desirable factor" makes them more than an ocean view.  

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I booked 2 guaranteed oceanview balcony rooms (different categories because we have 3 in one of the rooms and the only options provided were in different categories), and within minutes of final payment for the August cruise on Harmony, they assigned the 3 person room, but not the 2 person room. I was really hoping to get the rooms close together, but I feel like that’s less likely now that they’ve assigned one but not the other.

Is the assignment final, or could they still change it? If they end up assigning the other room far away, would it be possible to call in and see if that can be changed?  And would I have to call my travel agency, or could I call RC?  

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1 hour ago, KST said:

 would it be possible to call in and see if that can be changed?

As long as you stay within the same cabin category, even after final payment you can still change your room....so once they assign it if you are not happy with it, they will move you if they have a room location that you want.  It's very unlikely that they would move you once they have assigned you a cabin (without your asking).

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13 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

As long as you stay within the same cabin category, even after final payment you can still change your room....so once they assign it if you are not happy with it, they will move you if they have a room location that you want.  It's very unlikely that they would move you once they have assigned you a cabin (without your asking).

Thanks for the response. By category, do you mean oceanview balcony, or more specific like 6D? 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I find it COMPLETELY disgusting to have to pay an extra $200 fee for the privilege of choosing my own cabin?????

Imagine going to department store seeing something on sale picking it up taking it to the register then being told it item will now cost more because you chose it instead of calling someone over to choose it for you!!!

What a complete money grab.

And for the record it does make a HUGE difference too  because after taking nine cruises with RCL in which I chose both my cabin and deck, (BTW that is now an extra fee as well) & had a perfect time; I was told this year that I could no longer travel on the deck in which I had always cruised without paying a hefty fee & thus placed on another deck where the noise of music kept us awake constantly,!!!

Save the fees, Go Princess!

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5 hours ago, buffetajoe said:

I find it COMPLETELY disgusting to have to pay an extra $200 fee for the privilege of choosing my own cabin?????

The last cruise I booked the choose your own option was actually less expensive than the pick your own cabin.   

It's not really an extra fee and gives those who don't care about their location to sometimes save a little.  You could end up lucking into a much more epensive room at a lower rate.

I appreciate having more options and the unbundling of things I don't want to pay for.

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On 5/18/2019 at 12:16 PM, buffetajoe said:

find it COMPLETELY disgusting to have to pay an extra $200 fee for the privilege of choosing my own cabin?????

It's actually the opposite.  You can save $200 by allowing RC to assign you a room. You get a discount, RC gets flexibility to keep more cabins open for booking until closer to sailing.

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  • 3 months later...

I ran into the "You choose" being cheaper than the "Royal Caribbean chooses" option. Im on the Apr. 04, Rhapsody sailing. Here is the weird part though, I chose the "you choose" since it was cheaper (seemed like a no brainer), but it never allowed me to choose.  It defaulted, multiple times, after attempting to book it that way, to the guaranteed state room option. So, I booked it.  I called RC to inquire about it and get some help, and was informed that "its because the other categories are sold out." Well, shouldnt it tell you that WHILE youre trying to book? Oh well. Luckily, I dont care what room we get, really.  We are "we only sleep and shower there" people....so its no big deal. 

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  • 1 month later...
On 8/14/2017 at 7:57 AM, MKSglitz said:

Just how much of a discount do you really get when you book a guarantee cabin?  Is it substantial?  Will these guarantee cabins be a thing of the past with RCCL no longer offering last minute discounts to fill empty cabins just before sailing?

We are sailing with 3 people and saved $1,200 total for a guarantee Ocean View Balcony.

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On 8/14/2017 at 8:57 AM, MKSglitz said:

Just how much of a discount do you really get when you book a guarantee cabin?  Is it substantial?  Will these guarantee cabins be a thing of the past with RCCL no longer offering last minute discounts to fill empty cabins just before sailing?

As long as it's less I'll book a GTY as I don't care which cabin I get. Also sometimes only GTY's are able to be booked.

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On 8/14/2017 at 8:57 AM, MKSglitz said:

Just how much of a discount do you really get when you book a guarantee cabin?  Is it substantial?  Will these guarantee cabins be a thing of the past with RCCL no longer offering last minute discounts to fill empty cabins just before sailing?

vacationstogo.com. 90 day ticker. RCCL is all over it. Just booked a guarantee OV cabin on Empress at 84% discount!,  5 day western Caribbean leaving in 28 days at $197/pp. (brochure price $1229 pp.) Yeah it's worth it, especially if you can cruise last minute. https://www.vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=30400

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20 minutes ago, Fuzzywuzzy said:

OK. How is this profitable??

Most cruises have a two year sales cycle.  Plenty of time for people to plan vacations, book cruises, get cheap airfare, etc. 

When Cuba was trumped it put the cruise lines in a very bad spot.  When they had to cancel Cuba overnight with no notice it left them with two empty ships.  Expenses for those ships don't stop and they can't just park them somewhere and fire the crew.

What's better?  An empty ship with no guests but still requiring a crew onboard or minimizing losses by filling the ship with guests who will buy drinks, dinners at Chops, photos, gamble in the casino, contribute to crew compensation VIA daily gratuities, etc.

Some folks may spend more than normal on board since they got a good deal on the cruise fare.  They might not normally do Chops or Chef's Table but heck, "We paid so little for the cruise, let's splurge!" 

I'm going back to Empress and I'll be buying a Chops dinner again and drinks, again.  I'll buy Voom too.  I'll also be paying the daily service charges aka gratuity so crew still make money.  

Cuba was highly profitable so yeah, some of those profits are being offset in the short term but the alternative is worse.  They never planned to do this, they are dealing with the circumstances they find themselves in.  Perhaps in the near future a more business friendly administration will take office.

 

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1 hour ago, Fuzzywuzzy said:

OK. How is this profitable??

It's getting the foot in the door to sell you other, higher profit percentage items. Lots of industries do it. Think rental cars. You can find a car online for 10 bucks a day. Not profitable....but gets them in the door to sell them insurance, satellite radio, etc....I'd be surprised if cruise companies rely on bookings to be profitable. I suspect they make their money on the "extras". 

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  • 5 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

I'll have to fill you in on my experience once it is fully known, but I'm currently in a GTY balcony cabin that I booked in October.  The ship has been listed as sold out for my category and all above since January and the rest of the ship for the past 2 weeks.  So far, I don't have an assignment and it is 20 days to sailing.

I'm not sure how this will pan out but I am worrying a little.

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4 hours ago, MikeMul said:

I'll have to fill you in on my experience once it is fully known, but I'm currently in a GTY balcony cabin that I booked in October.  The ship has been listed as sold out for my category and all above since January and the rest of the ship for the past 2 weeks.  So far, I don't have an assignment and it is 20 days to sailing.

I'm not sure how this will pan out but I am worrying a little.

Have you tried decoding the barcode in your edocs' setsail pass? We're over a month out and while the families with us haven't "officially" received their assignments, their barcodes revealed their rooms.

I think they don't spell it out to reduce the number of people calling to swap rooms around.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I wrote elsewhere that our 5/15 Alaska sailing was canceled. I didn't think we would be able to do Alaska this summer strictly because of cost. However, with 4 of us we managed to get 2 "guarantee" balconies for a price well below our FCC on the 7/17 Southbound. We had a balcony and an inside for 5/15. My wife is worried about what we might end up with because with Alaska last time we spent the whole time we were on the boat when the sun was up on the balcony. I used cruisedeckplans.com to look at the balconies on decks 7, 8, and 9. They list 13 balconies with obstructed view and a couple with small balconies. For the heckuva it, I started a new reservation and of all the balconies I could pick from only 8058 (obstructed) and 8508 (small balcony) looked to be balconies I would not take.

I'm thinking the odds were pretty good that we'll get a decent balcony at an $800 pp ($3,200 for 4) discount. If not for that discount we couldn't go.

BUT - my wife is saying if we get those 2 it will ruin the trip....decisions, decisions......

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  • 4 weeks later...

I was bumming around pricing different cruises this morning when I came upon a neighborhood view stateroom with balcony guarantee on Harmony of the Seas in November, 2021 for $600 less then picking your own room and booked it right away. That room offer was gone the next time I looked it up about 30 minutes later. This price is a couple hundred dollars cheaper then the interior promenade view room I picked out on Oasis of the Seas this December. On a Majesty of the Seas cruise in 2016 I had booked a guarantee interior, thought I read somewhere that if you pay the room off as soon as you can you would get your room assigned. So I did just that and a few days later got a room at the front of the ship. I called Royal up and asked if it was possible to change rooms and they were able to move me to a room mid ship. I booked this one because of the price (an offer I couldn't refuse) and location. Unlike a regular interior, outside or even balcony room which could be almost anywhere on the ship (there's no guarantee once assigned a room you could get it moved), the neighborhood rooms would be limited to the Boardwalk or Central Park. If I was given a choice I would chose Central Park due to it's mid ship location. But I think I'll be happy wherever, and FWIW this will be our first balcony room and after this cruise we get to move up another Crown & Anchor tier to Emerald. I'm not going to pay this one off till close to final payment though, so we'll see which numbers the dice land on next year.

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  • 1 year later...

We recently booked a guarantee balcony on a Oct cruise with Royal. This was because the rate was just too good to pass up. Saving $400 right out the gates and now a month after we booked the least expensive balcony is is $600 more.  Not too concern with the room we end up with. Mostly because, you spend a great deal of time out of the room, and you can always find some hidden secluded spots on the ship. Also, we plan on bidding for an upgrade if invited to bid. Figure there is a chance at a good upgrade too since the ship will be sailing with less passengers due to covid restrictions. We booked a gty on Celebrity for an Alaskan cruise in 2017. When we were assigned the second balcony at the very front of the ship, I was a little disappointed but when we arrived, it was great. Just like any mid ship room, no rough seas the whole 9 nights. It wasn't a problem at all.

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