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Booking a Guar. room.

sassy~one

By sassy~one,
in Holland America Line

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iancal

iancal

Posted
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We usually book a gty verandah/balcony unless the price delta of selecting a cabin is low. We have never been disappointed.

 

I think the gty cabins are a way for the cruise line to reduce prices prior the cancellation window without having the impact of cruisers in specific categories requesting a re-price.

 

On one cruise, they dropped the gty price so much prior to final payment that we switched from an assigned to a gty on one cruise. Saved over $200. per person and ended up with a better cabin!

 

We are in fact about to book a verandah gty on Eurodam Dec. cruise.

 

Just be prepared to take what you are given. Some cruise lines allow you to go back into the 'pool' if you do not like your assignment. This happened to us on our one and only Carnival cruise and it worked out well. Not certain if permits this or not. Our TA suggested this to us and told us that we were allowed to do it only one time.

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waterbabyfish

waterbabyfish

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So if you book a gty and get your stateroom assignment and not to crazy about the location can you call your TA and get another assigned? :confused:

With Princess, you can look at what is avil. on-line, then call your TA and they will move you to one that you have picked from the list on their web-site, as long as it is the same cat.

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RuthC

RuthC

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So if you book a gty and get your stateroom assignment and not to crazy about the location can you call your TA and get another assigned? :confused:

You can ask; the worst that happens is they say "no". In general, the HAL policy is you take what you get.

However, one time I did take a guarantee on the Noordam, as I couldn't get a cabin anywhere near mid-ship in my preferred category. I figured I couldn't do any worse; I was wrong.

I was assigned a cabin way too far forward; the estensive walking would have been agony. I contacted my TA, and was reassigned to a cabin in my category that was just aft of the forward elevators. A distinct improvement.

As it was, I still practically had to crawl on my hands & knees to get to the wheelchair assembly point that last morning.

So, a reassignment can happen, but it is not common, and I expect it has to be for a very good reason.

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mightycruisequeen Holiday Sharing Rare

mightycruisequeen

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The guarantee cabins we've booked on HAL have all resulted in upgrades. One time, it was just an upgrade from a minimum inside to a higher category inside:cool:. However the rest have been upgrades from inside/to outside:) or outside/to balcony:D.

Needless to say, whenever we get the chance, we book a guarantee cabin :D

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vbmom87

vbmom87

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So if you book a gty and get your stateroom assignment and not to crazy about the location can you call your TA and get another assigned? :confused:

With Princess, you can look at what is avil. on-line, then call your TA and they will move you to one that you have picked from the list on their web-site, as long as it is the same cat.

 

Depends how effective your TA is. ;)

 

On our first cruise, we booked an OV guarentee. The category was all unobstructed OVs. We were "upgraded" to an obstructed ocean view cabin. Being a newbie, I didn't know what to make of it. My research led me to believe that I should be happy with any cabin in the category I booked a guarentee for. (and we would have been) What they should have said (and I do read this more now) is that you should be happy with any cabin in your category or a higher category. If there are any cabins in your category or a higher category that you would be unhappy with, don't book a guarentee.

 

Back to my story, I called my TA and asked her about the fact that I was assigned an obstructed view cabin when my guarentee category had all unobstructed views. She was livid to say the least. It took her two supervisors but she got us changed. HAL kept telling her our upgrade was a better cabin. They also told her the ship was full and they couldn't help her out. She didn't give up and told them if the new cabin was so great, then move someone out of the category I had booked and give me the category I had booked. In the end, they found us a cabin on the "fully booked ship" and it was an upgrade...still an OV but unobstructed and we ended up midship, which proved to be a good thing. Since that cruise, we learned we do not do well in the forward section of cruiseships. Since that cruise we have always booked the cabin we wanted and we now also have our TA mark the reservation as "do not upgrade." We just can't risk being at the forward section of the ship due to motion sickness.

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wldflr

wldflr

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We've booked balcony guarantees the 3 times we've cruised with HAL and haven't been disappointed.

 

One time we were put right by the elevator lobby and we thought we would hear the "ding" of the elevator all the time...only once when our door was open. And it sure was convenient to run back to the room for something!

 

Other 2 times we were put in the front of the ship but since we were doing the Panama Canal cruise, it made it real easy to access the front balconies that they open when going thru the canal.

 

Last year we were offered an upsell to a suite for $200 each but we were in the process of buying real estate, so we had to pass :(

 

Now booked our 4th GTY for next January...fingers are crossed but we are flexible and happy just to be on the ship.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Mary Ellen

Mary Ellen

Posted
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Our first cruise with HAL next month. Used to picking my room on RC, so a little unnerved by the lack of information. Do you ever know your room when booking with HAL?
We always book a specific cabin on our HAL cruises and we always have the reservation marked 'do not upgrade'.
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eandj

eandj

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We always book a specific cabin on our HAL cruises and we always have the reservation marked 'do not upgrade'.

 

This would be important if to us on a warm weather cruise when we use the verandah a ton. We would not be happy with a VT on Eurodam with the Juliette/French balcony. So at least on that ship, we wouldn't do a verandah gty in the Carib.

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BumperII

BumperII

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Guarentees are a great way to save money until you get the lay of the ship and figure out your cruising style. We booked guarentees on our first cruises and were upgraded favorably nine out of ten times. Then we were upgraded to a closet with portholes. The cabin was so small you had to go out in the hall just to change your mind! :D After than, we pretty well knew what we liked, and started picking cabins and requesting NO UPGRADE.

For most cruises we prefer to book inside an cabin, and use it mostly as a bedroom. But there are certain really scenic cruises (Alaska) where we really would have preferred to have a balcony.

There is no 'right' answer to your question until you have cruised a few times and know what fits your style. I would point out that the worst cruise we ever took on HAL was still terrific!:)

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Cruising-along

Cruising-along

Posted
Posted
Hey, did you decide on the PC cruise? We are going 10-12-12 would love to have you on board!

 

We have not received our Stateroom assignment yet. Had a guarantee. Is this normal for HAL?

 

In general, HAL assigns guarantee cabins a couple weeks out. So you most likely have 2-3 weeks to wait. :) The latest we've received ours was 1 1/2 days before sailing, usually we've gotten ours about 12 days out.

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jtl513

jtl513

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Hey, did you decide on the PC cruise? We are going 10-12-12 would love to have you on board!

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic! :)

 

If you're asking sassy~one, don't expect an answer for a whille. She is on a Sep 8 Carnival Freedom Roll Call, and probably not reading CC right now. :)

We have not received our Stateroom assignment yet. Had a guarantee. Is this normal for HAL?

Yes. Of eight guarantees we've done on HAL, one was assigned at 18 days out, one at 3 days out, and the rest at either 11 or 10 days out. You have about 2 weeks to wait.
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Randyk47

Randyk47

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On HAL, there never is a price difference whenever both a guarantee and specific cabins are both available at a given level. After the choice of a specific cabin is no longer possible the price sometimes drops on the guarantees.

 

I don't know about other lines.

 

Glad you pointed this out. We've stayed away from guarantees because there is no savings unless you get upgraded. Even understanding that folks have gotten great upgrades we'd much rather just book the cabin we want from the start. I guess if HAL offered a 5% discount on booking a guarantee versus a specific cabin in the same category we might be tempted.

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Cruizer Bill

Cruizer Bill

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The ship is Statendam and its a OV cabin. The inside on OV were the same cost. Thinking the PC, 14 nights. IM excited but have to talk hubby into it.

 

: )

Sassy One,

Please, DO NOT BOOK a Category G or H guarantee on the old HAL ships!!!! We did this on the Volendam and it was a disaster!!! Look carefully at the deck plans for the room category you are booking and HIGHER level rooms. There may be a terrible room that would greatly harm your cruise. For the Statendam, look at rooms H501 and H502. You may not like these rooms. Just warning you.

We have booked guarantee rooms on 3 cruises and were very happy with 2 of the 3 cruises. The newer shipt do not have these unusual rooms and are not as risky.

Just my 2 cents worth!

Bill

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dakrewser

dakrewser

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Sassy One,

Please, DO NOT BOOK a Category G or H guarantee on the old HAL ships!!!! We did this on the Volendam and it was a disaster!!! Look carefully at the deck plans for the room category you are booking and HIGHER level rooms. There may be a terrible room that would greatly harm your cruise. For the Statendam, look at rooms H501 and H502. You may not like these rooms. Just warning you.

We have booked guarantee rooms on 3 cruises and were very happy with 2 of the 3 cruises. The newer shipt do not have these unusual rooms and are not as risky.

Just my 2 cents worth!

Bill

 

What was the problem with those cabins?

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KirkNC

KirkNC

Posted
Posted
There are quite a few people here who have done guarantee cabins and many of them have gotten some nice upgrades -- others were offered upsells.

 

We prefer to book the cabin that we know we will be happy with and not have any unexpected surprises.

 

We are the same, never have booked a guarantee but many do and seem happy.

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