GTY cabin booking - when do they assign cabin?

[Eyeonhevn]

I booked a GTY interior cabin on upcoming cruise on ICON. We are within a few days of "documents available" with luggage tags - but I don't have cabin assignment. Will they assign cabin soon or is it possible to not know the cabin # until embarkation? 

What should I expect?

[OCSC Mike]

It can be as late as embarkation day (although that's pretty rare) and earlier than where you're at now. There's really no set time frame.

[ropeadope13]

My last two cruises I received my cabin number 3 days and 100 days out

[Leighq]

I’m in the same boat well ship. I’m 61 days out and check daily.  I have a bit of cruise OCD and need to have things in order at all times!  It’s very frustrating and annoying but I will wait until check in and see what happens afterwards.  I think I read that after check in the cabin can be assigned then or soon after?

[Eyeonhevn]

58 minutes ago, Leighq said:

I’m in the same boat well ship. I’m 61 days out and check daily.  I have a bit of cruise OCD and need to have things in order at all times!  It’s very frustrating and annoying but I will wait until check in and see what happens afterwards.  I think I read that after check in the cabin can be assigned then or soon after?

I had thought that too! And I like everything buttoned up and in order too. We checked in two weeks ago. Now we are approaching the documents stage at 30 days until cruise. 

[Eyeonhevn]

1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said:

It can be as late as embarkation day (although that's pretty rare) and earlier than where you're at now. There's really no set time frame.

I can’t imagine showing up at the ship without a cabin number! Hopefully it won’t come to that! 

[WAAAYTOOO]

I had 3 OVB GTY rooms booked...2 in March (SY) and 1 in May (WO).  When I called to check on my room assignments they told me that my bookings were for interior GTY rooms !  Yikes !!  It took a few calls but they eventually confirmed that they were all 3 OV Balcony Guarantees, and even went so far as to go ahead and assign the rooms for all 3 so that the OVB GTY didn't "fall off" again !  How can Royal Caribbean's IT be SO bad ?  I was even able to change 2 of the 3 rooms as 1 of them was a connecting room and the other was in a terrible location....so all is well now but it sure was screwed up a little while ago !

Hint:  When you call to check on your GTY assignments, ask the representative to please contact Revenue and get a cabin assigned for you.  Revenue is the only department that can assign a guarantee room.

[SplashOfWater]

12 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I had 3 OVB GTY rooms booked...2 in March (SY) and 1 in May (WO).  When I called to check on my room assignments they told me that my bookings were for interior GTY rooms !  Yikes !!  It took a few calls but they eventually confirmed that they were all 3 OV Balcony Guarantees, and even went so far as to go ahead and assign the rooms for all 3 so that the OVB GTY didn't "fall off" again !  How can Royal Caribbean's IT be SO bad ?  I was even able to change 2 of the 3 rooms as 1 of them was a connecting room and the other was in a terrible location....so all is well now but it sure was screwed up a little while ago !

Hint:  When you call to check on your GTY assignments, ask the representative to please contact Revenue and get a cabin assigned for you.  Revenue is the only department that can assign a guarantee room.

We have a Suite GTY booked for November, now I'm worried that ours will get screwed up too!

[Ampurp85]

1 minute ago, SplashOfWater said:

We have a Suite GTY booked for November, now I'm worried that ours will get screwed up too!

I originally had my suite gty messed up for the sailing I'm currently on. I called and they assigned mine for the trouble. The trouble was due to black Friday sale shenanigans.

[Leighq]

See this is what I am worried about and an obstructed view,  my favorite thing of sailing from NY/NJ to the Caribbean is flying fish and dolphin watching 

[WAAAYTOOO]

8 minutes ago, SplashOfWater said:

We have a Suite GTY booked for November, now I'm worried that ours will get screwed up too!

I don't blame you.  I had no idea that they had changed my GTY category.  Thank goodness I called to check to see if my room had been assigned yet and they told me that they were for Interior GTYs !  To their credit, they did get it straightened out in the end and I was able to get the actual room assignments as a result, but if I had not called, it would have been a HUGE mess.

I recommend just calling from time-to-time to see what the status is and be SURE that they are still showing the WS (Suite Guarantee) category.

[SplashOfWater]

12 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I don't blame you.  I had no idea that they had changed my GTY category.  Thank goodness I called to check to see if my room had been assigned yet and they told me that they were for Interior GTYs !  To their credit, they did get it straightened out in the end and I was able to get the actual room assignments as a result, but if I had not called, it would have been a HUGE mess.

I recommend just calling from time-to-time to see what the status is and be SURE that they are still showing the WS (Suite Guarantee) category.

I just called and they verified that it is a Suite Guarantee. But I'll take your advice and call again in a few months. What I don't like is when I go online and look at my upcoming cruises, this cruise just shows "GTY" where I would normally see a category and stateroom. I would feel a whole lot better if it said "SUITE GTY".

[WAAAYTOOO]

3 minutes ago, SplashOfWater said:

 What I don't like is when I go online and look at my upcoming cruises, this cruise just shows "GTY" where I would normally see a category and stateroom. I would feel a whole lot better if it said "SUITE GTY".

SO agree

[teddy]

As I recall, we were 2-3 weeks out when we got our cabin assigned for the cruise we’re currently on.   
 

I’d say over half our bookings are GTYs and we’ve never not had a cabin assigned before boarding day. 
 

Not knowing until the last minute doesn’t bother us in the least. Those who are anxious if they don’t know and those who are worried about where their cabin will be, are probably better off choosing a cabin when booking. 
 

When we book a Guarantee, we genuinely do not care where our cabin is. 

[Waypoint Exp]

75 days out for our assignment on Wonder.  I checked at least twice a day haha..  It showed up the same time as when we got the RoyalUp email

[OCSC Mike]

30 minutes ago, teddy said:

Those who are anxious if they don’t know and those who are worried about where their cabin will be, are probably better off choosing a cabin when booking.

I'll respectfully disagree with this to a point. I used to book almost nothing but GTY's until I started booking group rates. I was always prepared to deal with whatever location I got, but when ships weren't so full, I also moved my cabin (sometimes more than once) every time to a spot I liked better than my assignment.

I was always anxious to find out my location but the savings were worth the anxiety to me. I actually have a GTY on hold right now for a last minute-ish April cruise from last week's GGG sale. If I book it, I'll again be anxious about my location. My least-preferred locations would never ruin a cruise for me but I still care about my location.

TLDR version... I wouldn't say you shouldn't book a GTY if you're anxious and/or care about your location, I'd say you should be aware of all possible outcomes and decide if the savings are worth it to you.

[Ampurp85]

I want to add I had a gty for my sailing before this one and I got an email with my room number when it was assigned. I believe they cracked down on the barcode hack. So now they alert you when it is assigned which was around 30 days before I sailed.

[OCSC Mike]

1 minute ago, Ampurp85 said:

I want to add I had a gty for my sailing before this one and I got an email with my room number when it was assigned. I believe they cracked down on the barcode hack. So now they alert you when it is assigned which was around 30 days before I sailed.

I believe you are correct about my beloved bar code trick!

Good to know about the e-mail if we book this GTY but I'll still be checking manually like a fiend both b/c of my nature and because I seem to fail to get certain e-mails from RC.

[Eyeonhevn]

24 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

I believe they cracked down on the barcode hack. So now they alert you when it is assigned which was around 30 days before I sailed.

What was the barcode hack?

[SeaSunnedTraveler]

10 minutes ago, Eyeonhevn said:

What was the barcode hack?

If they tell you, they'll have to kill you. 

 

[teddy]

1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said:

TLDR version... I wouldn't say you shouldn't book a GTY if you're anxious and/or care about your location, I'd say you should be aware of all possible outcomes and decide if the savings are worth it to you.

This is a very good way to put it 

[OCSC Mike]

18 minutes ago, Eyeonhevn said:

What was the barcode hack?

Once you had your set sail pass you could scan the bar code or add it to your Apple Wallet and numbers would appear under the bar code that would indicate what cabin you were likely going to be assigned.

[SeaSunnedTraveler]

34 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

I believe you are correct about my beloved bar code trick!

Good to know about the e-mail if we book this GTY but I'll still be checking manually like a fiend both b/c of my nature and because I seem to fail to get certain e-mails from RC.

I've had good luck watching for several suites to become available at the same time. 

Generally, this has meant that either a family group has cancelled, or a travel agency has released a block of rooms that did not sell out. 

We just got off a 4-day cruise out of Galveston.  29 days before departure, 6 GS appeared in inventory. Upgraded from Balcony to GS for 200/pp. 

With suite lounge access happy hour we saved more than that!!

LOL!

[OCSC Mike]

1 minute ago, SeaSunnedTraveler said:

I've had good luck watching for several suites to become available at the same time.

Congrats... but I'm a little confused. What does this have to do with choosing a GTY and everything that comes with it?

[Eyeonhevn]

50 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Once you had your set sail pass you could scan the bar code or add it to your Apple Wallet and numbers would appear under the bar code that would indicate what cabin you were likely going to be assigned.

I do have a set sail pass….and a barcode. Touching it to add to my apple wallet isn’t functional tho. I can scan the bar code and it gives me a 9 digit code. It’s not my reservation ID.

[OCSC Mike]

4 minutes ago, Eyeonhevn said:

I do have a set sail pass….and a barcode. Touching it to add to my apple wallet isn’t functional tho. I can scan the bar code and it gives me a 9 digit code. It’s not my reservation ID.

As mentioned above, it doesn't work anymore (AFAIK). There used to be a dash and the numbers after the dash represented your cabin.

[RCIfan1912]

39 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

As mentioned above, it doesn't work anymore (AFAIK). There used to be a dash and the numbers after the dash represented your cabin.

Do you think they changed it because people knew about it? Its so strange why they are going to this length to keep cabins a secret. 

[OCSC Mike]

2 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

Do you think they changed it because people knew about it? Its so strange why they are going to this length to keep cabins a secret. 

No idea. I don't think it was placed there intentionally and, while rare, your cabin could change before it was officially assigned. But I also don't know what they gained by removing it.

[Leighq]

Just a thought maybe people would see what their cabin is that way and call RC to complain they don’t like the location or what ever their complaints are so Rc removed it so they don’t have to deal with the “Cabin Karen’s “

[OCSC Mike]

6 minutes ago, Leighq said:

Just a thought maybe people would see what their cabin is that way and call RC to complain they don’t like the location or what ever their complaints are so Rc removed it so they don’t have to deal with the “Cabin Karen’s “

Could be... although those people will likely still call, just not until their cabin is officially assigned.

[RCIfan1912]

9 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Could be... although those people will likely still call, just not until their cabin is officially assigned.

i really liked the system before. It was fun figuring it out like that. We have a suite GTY on Liberty Sept. to Bermuda. Obviously we will get a Junior suite but would be nice to know where. Are suite guarantees on the same timeline for issuing as any other cabin or are they typically earlier or even later?

[OCSC Mike]

15 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

Are suite guarantees on the same timeline for issuing as any other cabin or are they typically earlier or even later?

Never had one but I think everything is random (or at least we have no idea what determines when they assign GTY's).

[RCIfan1912]

15 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Never had one but I think everything is random (or at least we have no idea what determines when they assign GTY's).

True, we have a long way to go. We'll see and I'll report when it's assigned. Good thing is I looked at all the Junior suites and none of them seem to be in a bad location. Crossing fingers for a sunset Junior suite but know it's a long shot.

[SeaSunnedTraveler]

19 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

Congrats... but I'm a little confused. What does this have to do with choosing a GTY and everything that comes with it?

Sorry for the confusion. 

We had a suite GTY, which would most likely have been a JS. 

When I called to see how much it would cost to upgrade from GTY to a confirmed GS, it was $200/pp. I thought that was a good deal, free room service, happy hour, bigger balcony. 

 

[RCIfan1912]

2 minutes ago, SeaSunnedTraveler said:

Sorry for the confusion. 

We had a suite GTY, which would most likely have been a JS. 

When I called to see how much it would cost to upgrade from GTY to a confirmed GS, it was $200/pp. I thought that was a good deal, free room service, happy hour, bigger balcony. 

 

Great deal! I would take that for 200 bucks a person. 

[OCSC Mike]

7 minutes ago, SeaSunnedTraveler said:

When I called to see how much it would cost to upgrade from GTY to a confirmed GS, it was $200/pp. I thought that was a good deal, free room service, happy hour, bigger balcony.

That's an insanely good deal!

[Eyeonhevn]

I just wanted to report to my own thread - that I booked with a GTY interior on the ICON just a few weeks ago - sailing in less than 7 weeks at that point - Last night my cabin number showed up on my sea pass - and this morning is 30 days - and the documents arrived. I was thinking they might button up all those GTY cabins by this point for documents. I'm grateful and thank you all for a lively discussion!

[JustinandBrooke]

I'm 20 days out and no room number.  I think this is the latest it's ever gone for me. 

[RCIfan1912]

4 minutes ago, JustinandBrooke said:

I'm 20 days out and no room number.  I think this is the latest it's ever gone for me. 

That's kinda crazy but I guess we sign up for that when we book a guarantee cabin. Royal Caribbean has gotten so expensive I'm back to just doing guarantee cabins. 

Is it true or have anyone not been assigned a cabin till the day of the cruise or not actually until you boarded the ship? I mean that's pretty crazy. 

[Leighq]

This is odd as I in the past was assigned a cabin almost 60 days out in the past so of course OCD me is worried