GTY vs TBD

What is the difference? Is the additional fee worth it? Just curious. Haven't booked any and was wondering if someone has, can they expand on it. Thanks.

I'm not sure there is any "difference" between the two. When you book a GTY (Guarantee) cabin, your cabin assignment is marked TBD (To Be Determined) until the line assigns you one. You get either the lowest type cabin in the category your chose (ie: inside, outside, balcony, suite, etc) or, if your lucky, a better cabin within that category.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "additional fee". Usually, a GTY cabin is cheaper than choosing a specific cabin when you book. I've done it before with a suite. I didn't get an upgrade, but I saved a few bucks on the cabin I got.

Rich

I don't think there is an "additional fee"???

If you don't care where your cabin is located, then you will AT LEAST get the catagory of your GTY....if you're particular about location (hate lower decks, or rooms near the front of the ship), then you're better off picking your cabin, so you know you'll be happy.

I believe you cannot book Celebrity air with TBD but you can with GTY. At least that's how it was before Choice Air. TBD has more restrictions but you're still guaranteed that category.

What is the difference? Is the additional fee worth it? Just curious. Haven't booked any and was wondering if someone has, can they expand on it. Thanks.

 

GTY vs TBD: In our case, we had originally booked a category 10 cabin, but when Celebrity posted a GTY for less, we moved it to a GTY thinking we would get that rate. Well, the GTY was for senior(or other?) new bookings only. Consequently we were charged the higher TBD rate. I was told they were trying to fill the ship by doing this. By the way, we were assigned a cat 10 cabin immediately. Go figure...

There are stateroom "Guarantees" i.e. GTY, and there are stateroom assignments.

 

If one books a "Guarantee", until a stateroom is assigned, it's status is "To be determined" i.e. TBD.

 

SOMETIMES booking a category w/out stateroom assignment at time of booking will be titled "Guarantee", and may offer lower fares.

 

Sometimes a category you are looking at may only have "Guarantees" available, but not necessarily at a lower fare.

 

The TBD has nothing to do with the lower rates....it is merely the status of your unassigned stateroom.

Update: On our sailing there is a "GTY" listed under "12 Inside Stateroom" for 1439. Below that there is a "Z Inside Guarantee Category" which has listed "TBD" for 1249 and if you plug in senior(55) you get an additional listing of "GTY" for 1199 in the same panel.... We were never listed as TBD on our confirmation. We were assigned a cabin number, in cat 10, almost immediately after the change was made......:)

I recently booked a cruise and I think I understand what the OP is asking. I can't remember the travel site, but I saw both "GTY" and "TBD" pricing for balcony cabins on the same site. Seems like the TBD was a tad bit cheaper in price. I didn't understand the difference in the two at the time.

 

I did find on one site they had GTY balcony cabins as well as GTY concierge class cabins for a little bit more. That was the only site I saw that so I booked with them and was assigned a CC cabin. The price difference was only $20pp for a 5 night cruise.

There are stateroom "Guarantees" i.e. GTY, and there are stateroom assignments.

 

If one books a "Guarantee", until a stateroom is assigned, it's status is "To be determined" i.e. TBD.

 

SOMETIMES booking a category w/out stateroom assignment at time of booking will be titled "Guarantee", and may offer lower fares.

 

Sometimes a category you are looking at may only have "Guarantees" available, but not necessarily at a lower fare.

 

The TBD has nothing to do with the lower rates....it is merely the status of your unassigned stateroom.

Not true.

 

As I write this the Celebrity web-site is offering Celebrity Century's 27 Jan 2011 cruise Cat.Z GTY at $199 and Cat.Z TBD at $189. [They are also offering Cat.12 GTY at $249; why would anyone take this, when it is $50-$60 cheaper to take a Cat.Z, and you can't do worse than a Cat.12 - but that's another story.]

 

Like SusieV I thought there were additional air restrictions on TBDs, but both of the fares I quoted above seem to allow Choice Air.

 

Thom

I ended calling X and the response I got was, "There really isn't any difference". Okay, so why would I pay $20pp more?? Oh well, this just verifys why I prefer to choose my cabin. Thanks everyone.

I recently booked a cruise and I think I understand what the OP is asking. I can't remember the travel site, but I saw both "GTY" and "TBD" pricing for balcony cabins on the same site.

This question comes up from time to time when the Celebrity website lists both GTY and TBD prices for the same category. Sometimes one is priced higher and sometimes the other is and sometimes they are both listed at the exact same price.

 

The answer that phinn received "There really isn't any difference" seems to be the one most frequently given, and so the mystery continues.

 

Maybe someone from Celebrity will see this thread and finally explain why they sometimes list both GTY and TBD, but they have never explained it before when the question came up, so why should this time be any different.

Maybe someone from Celebrity will see this thread and finally explain why they sometimes list both GTY and TBD, but they have never explained it before when the question came up, so why should this time be any different.

 

Doubtful anyone from=X=would ever do this. They do have a formula for "revenue yields" on their sailings. But asking them to explain it here is indeed wishful thinking. If you call Miami you will get just about any answer you want, just hang up and call again.......and again......and again. It will come............