Guarantee Upgrades? Do They Happen?

Hey everyone. Just wondering a bit about booking a guarantee and if you get moved into the higher category? Say from inside to oceanview? or ocean to balcony? OR does it just give you any room available?

We have cruised a few times. But just no experience for this thing.

It is just a guarantee of the category that you booked , or higher category .

To be assigned by cruise line.

Yes they happen very often but not necessarily to a higher cabin type

( like inside to oceanview, etc.)

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With guarantee, you can have the cabin category booked, or at a higher priced for its location. Its also possible to have the next category. We have however received mostly upsell offers.

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On our upcoming cruise we booked a guarantee obstructed view balcony and were given an obstructed view deluxe balcony. Slightly larger room plus a sofa. It is on the Royal and there is no obstruction looking out from the balcony.

On the Royal 12/30, we booked a inside guarantee and received a balcony.

It's rare that people get upgraded from one type of category to another--inside to outside, outside to balcony, balcony to mini suite, etc. Most of the time, upgrades are within a type of cabin. For our cruise next month on the Regal, I booked a Cat. BD guarantee. I found out yesterday that we're in a Cat. BB cabin. It's a better location than the BD cabins--closer to the middle of the ship. But other than that, it's going to be the same type of cabin.

We've had slightly better upgrades on past cruises, going from obstructed view guarantees to unobstructed cabins. Our best ever was going from an obstructed view guarantee to a cabin with a balcony.

But we also had one upgrade that I wouldn't wish on anyone--going from an obstructed view guarantee to the tiniest outside cabin ever. In my opinion, the cabin should really be reclassified as an obstructed view due to the recessed window. It was P201 on the Caribbean Princess. I'm betting the area was 158 square feet. It was so small there was only one night stand. My side of the bed was right up against the wall. I had to scoot myself down to the foot of the bed to get out. We still had a great cruise.

We booked a Balcony Guarantee on Royal for a cruise beginning this weekend. We were assigned an "upgrade" to BB class (upgrade from BE, they said)--an unobstructed balcony a few rooms from the stairs/elevators. I consider it a good "upgrade"--but nothing extraordinary.

we would have settled for obstructed balcony.

Yes, REAL upgrades happen occasionally; I can't give you any estimate of how often. By this, I mean from one type of cabin to another like inside to oceanview or oceanview to balcony. The moves within a cabin type are ok, but they are only "upgrades" in the mind of the cruise line.

A few years ago, we were booked a guaranteed balcony on Golden, at the last week before the cruise, we were assigned a handicap mini suite with balcony, Great location love the size of bath room but felt guilty having it, I guess no one booked it so they put us in it.

You may get an "upgrade" but it could be a cabin that is a category higher but in a bad location that they haven't been able to sell. It's the roll of the dice. I always tell friends to look at the worse possible cabin in the category they are booking and, if they can live with it, then go ahead and book a guarantee because it can't go "down" any further than that (lol)

We have a BF guarantee for the February 16 sailing on Caribbean Princess. This is our first time trying the guarantee route. Not knowing our cab assignment with 33 days to go is a little unnerving, but exciting as well.

On our 21-day Mediterranean cruise this past September, we had booked the lowest category mini suite (MF) as a guarantee knowing that there weren’t many cabins in the category. We were just hoping for a better category mini suite. Three days prior to the cruise we received an upgrade to a full suite (S5). It was the only time we have received an upgrade like that from a guarantee, but one we will always remember.

We have a BF guarantee for the February 16 sailing on Caribbean Princess. This is our first time trying the guarantee route. Not knowing our cab assignment with 33 days to go is a little unnerving, but exciting as well.

We're on the same cruise date, but leaving out of SanFran for the 10 day Mexican and have booked an obstructed (OY) guarantee.

33 days out and no room assignment and the sailing keeps popping between sold out and plenty of rooms available. I look every day, and the excitement is almost palpable. We'll know when we get there!

I usually book IF guarantee and either hope for the best, watch for price drops in higher categories or take the upsell. Twice I have been able to upgrade to a mini suite - in one case for less than the interior I booked. Once I upgraded to an obstructed ocean view and once I received a category upgrade to IB.

Right now I am unassigned for an IF on a short cruise in four months. I believe interior is showing sold out so who knows what I will get although a move over offer would be nice :)

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I booked a guarantee inside about one month prior to a one night sailing (solo trip) and within 2 days received my cabin assignment of a mini-suite. I didn't notice the upgrade initially, just saw I had a cabin and it wasn't until I looked up location that I saw it was a mini-suite. It was only my third Princess cruise, so they do happen.

Booked 4 guarantee lowest obstructed view OZ rooms for family 4 months in advance. Got one OV, one OF and two OC, one day after final payment. All over the ship. "Upgrades"? They are the rooms no one would book before final payment. One of the OC rooms was a 4 person with bunks hanging off the sides of the wall. I was told by Princess, you can change your room assignment only back to an OZ category if you don't like the "upgrade" (what you paid for) So we took the one OZ room they had left as it was a 2 person. They would put us together in OW category, but the rooms that were left were 4 totally obstructed rooms. The OF room is the same type as GEOHERB had in post #6 (the one that "I wouldn't wish on anyone") . P206 is a room that only one night stand can fit in as it is in the front of the ship. Maybe the "upgrade fairy" will be very kind to you and give you a meta-upgrade or upsell. Did not happen to us. I did research on our rooms and most said they were happy with them. In the eye of the beholder.

I used to book guarantees on Princess ... no more. I have always been assigned to that 'cabin that nobody else will book' ... 3rd time was a charm for me and just won't do that anymore. I was given a fabulous upgrade once when my carefully chosen room was marked with a meta upgrade only designation. On the morning before my cruise, I got a call asking me if I would accept the upgrade and told me what room it would be. I quickly checked out the room and said YES!! So, upgrades do happen and not only with guaranteed cabins ... but not very often!!

PS ... for those that don't know, a meta upgrade (which cannot be combined with a guaranteed cabin) is when you pick a room with an agreement they can only upgrade you to the next super category (eg: inside to oceanview or better, oceanview to balcony or better, balcony to mini-suite or better, etc) and not just an upgrade to a so called better cabin within that same super category (eg: balcony to balcony). Applying the 'meta upgrade only' notation to your reservation is kind of like booking a guarantee, I suppose, because oftentimes they won't call you to ask you if you will accept that particular cabin. It worked out in my favor once, though. My guess is that these upgrades occur infrequently as well.

26 days out, no cabin assignment yet....

Wondering with the move over and upsell offers etc - how far out from sail date do you usually get them. This is our first time booking guarantee BB cabin and we are nervous!

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Our last upsell offer came five days before our cruise. Before our cruise in August, we had people on our rollcall thread report getting a move-down offer to go from their balcony cabins to inside cabins in exchange for their cruise fare being refunded as refundable on-board credit. That was about two weeks before the cruise.

We've only received one "Up Sell" offer for the three cruises where we've had mini suites originally booked.....:):):)

Bob

We were just upgraded from inside forward guarantee, to a mid-forward obstructed oceanview. So, a little upgrade....

We were just upgraded from inside forward guarantee, to a mid-forward obstructed oceanview. So, a little upgrade....

Congratulations! Which cruise are you on, and does it leave?

We were just upgraded from inside forward guarantee, to a mid-forward obstructed oceanview. So, a little upgrade....

Congrats on the upgrade......:):):)

Bob

Anyone else on the 2/8 Royal on a guarantee that has yet to receive your cabin assignment? Hope they save a room for us on this sold out cruise!

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