New to Carnival, confused about guaranteed cabin assignment.

We have done 12 cruises on NCL and RCI, booked and paid for the Horizon TA this May. Last September when we booked and paid in full we were told the only inside cabins available were GUARANTEED cabins and we would be assigned a cabin before sailing. 72 days to go, no cabin assignment, just read a CC article about 3 megaship coming out this spring. It allowed me to go to Carnival and book from 7 different inside cabin choices, at the exact same price I paid last September for my still unassigned guaranteed cabin. Is this standard operating proceedre? I cannot print out my luggage tags, and the entire month before the cruise I will be traveling and out of touch. Currently in boondocks, Philippines, cannot call. Is there an email address I could contact to help rectify this situation? Any help would be appreciated.

You can try guestcare at carnival dot com

I'm not really sure what you are wanting. Are you wanting to change from a guarantee to a selected cabin? Or are you trying to figure out how to print everything? Surely you will be going home to pack for your cruise. If the cabin has been selected at that point, you could print. Of course, they may not have an assignment for you until you get to port, from what I've read. We had our cabin selection at about 3 weeks out the one time we went guarantee. Loved the cabin they selected for us on Lido deck.

When you book a guarantee, you leave it in Carnival's hands. It's still 72 days, and I think they won't tell you the cabin assignment this early. You just need to wait it out. They will tell you before your cruise. Also, any mock booking you do on another ship or sailing is irrelevant with relation to your upcoming sailing.

I've never booked a guarantee, partly for this reason. If I'm mistaken, or incomplete in my assessment of your situation, I'm sure someone will be happy to correct.

I recently booked a guaranteed cabin for a march sailing. I received my cabin assignment 35-40 days before sailing

A "guarantee cabin" booking means they guarantee you will get a cabin in that category, but there are no promises about when you find out which cabin - could be as late as when you show up to check-in. At which point they will print everything out for you, so get to the port at your check-in time, and you should be fine.

It is very likely you will know your cabin at least a few days before you sail, so hopefully that is enough time for you to get everything sorted, like baggage tags, etc. I don't think cabin assignments are made any earlier than 45 days out, probably a lot closer depending on overall availability and Carnival's success in upselling cabin upgrades.

And comparing to any other booking is indeed fruitless. There are myriad reasons why only guaranteed interiors were available for that cruise so far out, which may have exact opposite reasons for the other bookings you explored.

At worst you’ll get luggage tags from the porters when you drop off your luggage. They have tags and the list of Cabin assignments.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

your boarding pass will state TBA but you will get assigned before you need to leave. THis is too soon for a guarantee to be placed.

If the guarantee is the same price as picking your own--- call and pick your own.

Right now you could get an oceanview. MAYBE

We will be traveling for 4 weeks before landing in Barcelona with Royal Caribbean. My concern is not having everything printed out 30 days ahead of time and trying to deal with it while sailing or in a hotel in Barcelona. We will not be home until May 23, have not been home since last October. I just wonder why we were not informed actual cabins were available and allow us to pick. We are being penalized for booking too early.

Thank you to everyone for your responses.

Thank you to everyone for your responses.

If there are current inside cabins for the same price, just call them. I am sure they will assign you a cabin at that point. Our one and only time doing a guarantee, we did not get an assignment until the day before. I too would be stressed if I am traveling and could not plan ahead.

Don't plan on a guarantee cabin being assigned more than a month out for your cruise. I've only booked a guarantee cabin twice. Look at every location on the ship with that category, and be sure that you'd be happy with it. My reason for not booking a guarantee cabin is that I don't want to be stuck right above one of the lounges and have to deal with loud noises until the wee hours of the morning. I put a lot of thought into where I choose a cabin so that I don't have to worry about noise from above or below.

You still have 72 days. I have been assigned in the final 7 before.

We booked that way last year .never got room till boarding but was it major upgrade and worth the wait

Sent from my VS501 using Forums mobile app

I just wonder why we were not informed actual cabins were available and allow us to pick. We are being penalized for booking too early. [/left]]

Sorry but I'm a little confused, you're sailing on a cruise prior to the one in question and you have almost 2000 posts on CC, which kind of indicates an experienced cruiser, but were not aware that you could book a specific cabin rather than a guarantee? Were there no other rates available when you booked? Or was this some type of special sale just for guarantee cabins that you took advantage of? I would imagine you understand that by booking a guarantee rate you don't get to select your cabin, whether there are cabins available or not. Not picking on you it's just as I said, I'm a bit confused.

 

Not picking on you it's just as I said, I'm a bit confused.

 

Yeah....I was puzzled myself.

Sorry but I'm a little confused, you're sailing on a cruise prior to the one in question and you have almost 2000 posts on CC, which kind of indicates an experienced cruiser, but were not aware that you could book a specific cabin rather than a guarantee? Were there no other rates available when you booked? Or was this some type of special sale just for guarantee cabins that you took advantage of? I would imagine you understand that by booking a guarantee rate you don't get to select your cabin, whether there are cabins available or not. Not picking on you it's just as I said, I'm a bit confused.

The OP mentions in the OP that the only interior cabins available when they booked were of the Guarantee type. I would have no idea why that was so 9especially since they booked so far in advance), since you can always, in my experience, select a specific cabin for a slight upcharge. Perhaps the OP went through a TA, and the TA was trying to keep costs to a minimum?

We are being penalized for booking too early.

You aren't being penalized, those were the ground rules going in. If you weren't aware of that because you booked through a TA, then shame on the TA for not informing you. And as mentioned in my other post just now, I don't understand how the chance to select a specific cabin wasn't available - unless you told your TA you wanted the cheapest fare possible. Or I guess, because it is the Trans-Atlantic repositioning cruise, it simply almost sold out right away, and when things get that full, maybe Carnival offers Guarantees only so that things can settle and shift.

You are/were 72 days out, which I think means that Carnival is now looking at the cabins freeing up from folks who didn't make final payment. So there will be upsells offered, and cabins will get shuffled. The cruise doesn't even show up for a mock-booking, so I assume it is completely sold out.

Unless you want to call them (or call your TA to check for you), you are just going to have to be patient, sorry.