room guarantees

[Kirbydog04556]

I am currently booked in a confirmed balcony and saw that for the same price I can switch over to a "suite guarantee".  Is that a risky move?  Are guarantees the rooms no one wants (even though it may be bigger).  And why are the suites located one floor below the pool.  I heard those rooms are very noisy with chair movement etc.

[WAAAYTOOO]

The "guarantee" rooms are, as you suggest, rooms that they keep in reserve for some period of time and, if they are not sold, they will assign them to those who have "guarantee" bookings. They are generally not the most preferred locations - often at the very front or the very rear (but not the fantail) of the ship b/c these are the rooms that are often left unsold until the very end. It's just the Cruise line's way of discounting the unsold rooms without really discounting them.

 

Whether or not you make the switch from confirmed balcony to suite guarantee is entirely a matter of how important your room location is to you.

 

Personally, I would always prefer even a bad suite (location) to an average balcony any time, but that's just me. If your confirmed balcony is exactly where you want to be then I would stick with it. If your balcony is just an average balcony somewhere on the outside and you don't really care where you end up, I would say the suite guarantee makes sense.

 

Of course, all suites are not located one floor below the pool. Depending upon which ship you are on, the suites are generally scattered in various places and on numerous decks, throughout the ship. As a general rule, rooms on the higher decks are considered more desirable (although I often wonder why) and so, many suites are on the higher decks, just below the pool deck or just below the Windjammer. I can tell you from experience that staterooms of ANY type, located just below the pool deck or just below the Windjammer can be VERY noisy with people dragging chairs to and fro.

 

You will not know where your "guarantee" room is until close to sailing when the Cruise line begins allocating the unsold rooms. Not only are the guarantee rooms a function of whatever rooms remain unsold, but there is also an element of shuffling that results from stateroom upgrades that generally involve the D+ and Pinnacle members of C&A. If, for some strange reason, there is a very desirable location that either remains unsold or is the result of a last-minute cancellation, that room will probably be offered to a D+ or Pinnacle C&A member as a complementary upgrade and (if the upgrade is accepted), the "old" stateroom, vacated by the C&A member, then becomes an unsold orphan. I know this to be the case b/c I have been the beneficiary of such an upgrade.

 

There is one good thing about the suite guarantee and that is, there is really only 1 variety of suite that is in play with the guarantee and that is the Junior Suite (trust me, they will not assign you a Grand Suite or above with a guarantee room !). One Junior Suite is pretty much the same as the next Junior Suite with some very minor exceptions and obviously, the room location. The Balcony Guarantee, on the other hand, has (depending upon the ship class) a large number of variants so a balcony guarantee is a much dicier gamble than a suite guarantee.

 

What's the worst that can happen if you opt for the Suite Guarantee ? You will end up with a Junior Suite somewhere on the ship. I don't think that's much of a gamble at all....especially if it is no more money than a confirmed balcony !

[jticarruthers]

To paraphrase :

 

If you like your balcony location, keep your balcony location.

 

If you aren't worried about it, take the guarantee for a random Junior Suite, more space and double cruise points.

[WAAAYTOOO]

Yeah ! Forgot about the double points. Good addition

[monctonguy]

I have never seen that option for suites? I have seen it for inside and ocean view, don't even think I have seen it for balcony or a suite!

 

Is it just in the normal booking flow, under the suite option drop down menu for options?

 

A suite would be better I would think from the room to the perks to the extra points!

[WAAAYTOOO]

It's fairly common for balconies but less common for suites. I don't think they offer the suite guarantee very often...probably just when the suite sales are lagging...which isn't usually the case.

 

I was very surprised to learn (when I first started cruising) that the very FIRST rooms to sell out on a cruise ship are the expensive ones (suites) followed by the least expensive (inside). Those in the middle (balcony and outside) usually last the longest.

 

I just did a search to see if I could find any suite guarantees and I found one on the very first try. Grandeur, w/o 21 - 29 November. HOWEVER, the price was NOT comparable to a D1 (confirmed balcony). The JS was $2999 and the D1 was $2484.

 

So the Suite guarantee is out there...it's just not nearly as common as a balcony guarantee...and if you can find one that is equivalent in price to a confirmed balcony - snatch it up !

[Matt]

In terms of the guarantee, I think it depends on how much money you are saving by going that route.  Guarantees do save money but if it's like $100, I might want to be assured of where it is just for that noise factor.  

 

Some people are also sticklers about location both in terms of distance to the elevators as well as being prone to sea sickness.

[Wilson]

We just took advantage of a "W" suite guarantee on Liberty that was combinable with a resident rate. Sailing is not until April 24th, but we received an immediate cabin assignment. As expected it's a JS, but located just forward of mid ship even though they had several in the back. We are very happy with our location. There are still about 6 vacant GS cabins. I will call a week or two before sailing to see if we can get a upgrade for little money.

 

Is there a chance that we could be moved to a less desirable location if someone willing to pay full JS price wants our cabin? 

[DocLC]

Technically, you could be moved, but the likelihood is very low since they've already assigned you a room and because there's only one category of JSs.