Room assignment with Guarantee

[Ubu]

I getting scared!!! I leave in 4 days and still do not have a room. Booked with guarantee. Does anyone know why? Are they likely to cancel our booking? Maybe a good upgrade?

Thanks, Judy

[f-mattox]

I getting scared!!! I leave in 4 days and still do not have a room. Booked with guarantee. Does anyone know why? Are they likely to cancel our booking? Maybe a good upgrade?

Thanks, Judy

 

I wouldn't worry about being cancelled (you didn't forget to make your final payment, did you?); and it probably doesn't mean an upgrade either (sorry).

 

It doesn't happen often but you may not get your cabin assignment until you get to the ship.

[caribill]

The one thing they will not so is cancel your booking.

 

They are likely waiting for a cabin to become available.

 

If they do not think that this will happen, they will start bribing passengers with assigned cabins with what is termed a "move-over offer." They will ask (it is voluntary) if the person will give up their cabin in exchange for a better cabin on a future cruise along with usually significant amoumnts of OBC and pay for any airline change penalities. If there are no takers, they will raise the bribe and call around again.

 

99.9% of the time (my estimate) they will sooner or later get someone to take the bribe. The other .1% they will make the offer to you and you can refuse it.

 

Also in that .1% of the time they may offer you a downgrade on the voyage you have booked combined with a large amount of refundable OBC.

[paul929207]

Nothing to worry about. You will have a cabin. It will be in the category you booked or any higher category. Sometimes people learn their cabin assignment when they arrive at the pier.

[robtulipe]

Our experience with guarantees has been we've gotten our best upgrades when we were assigned our cabin very close to the sailing date especially when the cruise we were going on was sold out and we had a low category gty like an inside booked. Once went from inside to balcony, several times went from inside to OV and once went from OV to highest balcony category.

Are you on Sapphire out of LA this Friday which appears to be sold out?

Like others have mentioned you are guarantied a cabin in the minimum category booked unless you accept a downgrade or move over offer.:)

[dorisis]

You will get the best cabin available in your category or above. Not to worry. Just relax and enjoy.

[yenta]

We had always booked guarentee 's until our experience on the Sapphire. We had booked a guarentee. And did not get our assignment until we arrived. When we got to the room, it was horrible. It was a handicapped room. We always book minisuites bcause we like a tub. No tub and a terrible configuration. We we complained they did not realize they had a room like that on the ship. All worked out well, another couple needed a handicapped room so we switched. Customer services was great, but it was iffy for about 4 hours. Be careful, no more guarantees for us.

[robtulipe]

We had always booked guarantee 's until our experience on the Sapphire. We had booked a guarantee. And did not get our assignment until we arrived. When we got to the room, it was horrible. It was a handicapped room. We always book minisuites because we like a tub. No tub and a terrible configuration. We we complained they did not realize they had a room like that on the ship. All worked out well, another couple needed a handicapped room so we switched. Customer services was great, but it was iffy for about 4 hours. Be careful, no more guarantees for us.

 

I really surprised with all the cruises you've been on that I believe you said that you didn't realize there were wheelchair accessible cabins on cruise ships. The wheelchair symbol for these is on those cabins when viewing a ship's deck plan and these are marked as such onboard also.:confused:

Yes, that is also a possibility when booking a guarantee but typically the accessible cabins are in high demand and are booked early to ensure getting one if it is needed. In our 13 guaranty booking we've done we've never have been assigned a accessible cabin but did select one for one cruise as we booked three weeks prior to its sailing and it was the only midship cabin available. There was one other cabin available to us and it was in an awful location. Also that accessible cabin was 50% larger which made up for the bathroom. ;)

Edited January 21, 2014 by robtulipe

[yenta]

I was well aware of handicapped cabins, thought they should go to people who need them. We did have a handicap cabin on the Crown, but we were told ahead of time and agreed to it. This cabin was not the norm, when the office came down to see it, they were surprised by the size. Yes the bathroom was very big, but the room itself was quite small. Just sharing our personal experience.

[Thrak]

My son books handicapped accessible rooms because he is in a wheelchair. I found the rooms to be much larger than a standard inside cabin. The bathroom would be a bit odd if one wasn't in a wheelchair but the room itself has been quite roomy compared to a standard inside cabin. That only makes sense as a wheelchair takes a lot more room to maneuver. The beds are standard beds that can be configured as two double beds or one queen bed - just like the regular cabins. On our first cruise my wife and I had a very tiny inside cabin and were jealous of the amount of room my son had in his handicapped accessible cabin. Our balcony room on the Star on our last cruise was sooooooooo much nicer than the inside we had on Sea Princess.

 

I've never checked out a handicapped accessible balcony room. My son doesn't like the sun waking him up in the morning so he only books the inside cabins. My wife and I loved the balcony and the sun.

[Colo Cruiser]

I getting scared!!! I leave in 4 days and still do not have a room. Booked with guarantee. Does anyone know why? Are they likely to cancel our booking? Maybe a good upgrade?

Thanks, Judy

 

You may not find out until you are at the pier handing your luggage to the porters and then checking in.

Keep your fingers crossed. :D

[robtulipe]

I was well aware of handicapped cabins, thought they should go to people who need them. We did have a handicap cabin on the Crown, but we were told ahead of time and agreed to it. This cabin was not the norm, when the office came down to see it, they were surprised by the size. Yes the bathroom was very big, but the room itself was quite small. Just sharing our personal experience.

I curious as to what ship this was on?

Most handicap accessible cabin I've seen on cabin crawls and at other times while onboard cruise ships have been much larger than a regular cabin in that category in both bathroom and cabin space.:confused:

[yenta]

I mentioned earlier it was on the Sapphire.

[robtulipe]

I mentioned earlier it was on the Sapphire.

Yes, I've read here on CC about the most aft mini-suite on either side of the Dolphin deck 9 on Sapphire and Diamond that were originally handicap accessible cabins. I suspect you had one of these. These two cabins have no extra inside space but does have a larger balcony along with a twin beds configuration that wasn't convertible to a queen and only a shower. The doorway was too narrow to accommodate most wheelchairs/scooters except for very narrow ones so these eventually became regular mini-suites with their unique AE category designation. Now these two are category MD and lumped in with Aft Dolphin mini-suite group.

That can happen with an guarantee as one can get assigned the worst cabin in the category or class of cabins their gty is in as these tend to be passed over by those paying extra to select their stateroom.

We've done 13 guaranties and every time we've gotten an upgrade from what the minimum cabin we could have been assigned. Most were to a higher category within the same class of cabin, inside to higher inside, obstructed OV to non-obstructed, balcony to superior balcony or mini to superior mini-suite. As I mentioned earlier in this thread three times we were upgraded to next class, inside to OV and obstructed IV to balcony and once we went up 2 classes, inside to balcony

Edited January 22, 2014 by robtulipe

[geoherb]

Never book a guarantee unless you'd be happy in any cabin in that category or above. That means looking at specifics. If a tub is important to you on the Sapphire or Diamond, that means not booking a ME or MD minisuite guarantee.

 

We're the types who are just happy to be on another cruise. So far, we have made the best of every cabin location. Some haven't been ideal--such as above the theater or at the very front of the ship. But we still had great cruises in them.

[Ubu]

Well, I started this post as I was concerned we did not have a room assigned. I now have 2 days to go and got a call today that they would like to downgrade me to inside with a sm ship credit. Do not want inside on this trip. Something will have to happen tomorrow!

[caribill]

Well, I started this post as I was concerned we did not have a room assigned. I now have 2 days to go and got a call today that they would like to downgrade me to inside with a sm ship credit. Do not want inside on this trip. Something will have to happen tomorrow!

 

They will try to bribe someone else.

 

Let us know what happens.

[CI66774]

Well, I started this post as I was concerned we did not have a room assigned. I now have 2 days to go and got a call today that they would like to downgrade me to inside with a sm ship credit. Do not want inside on this trip. Something will have to happen tomorrow!

 

I would take the downgrade ONLY if they refunded my entire cruise fare and gave me the cruise for free.

[geoherb]

Eventually Princess will sweeten the offer until someone jumps on it. Just don't worry. Show up at the dock ready for a great cruise.

[robtulipe]

Well, I started this post as I was concerned we did not have a room assigned. I now have 2 days to go and got a call today that they would like to downgrade me to inside with a sm ship credit. Do not want inside on this trip. Something will have to happen tomorrow!

I see from your cruise's roll call post that you have an OV gty but IMO they should be offering more than a small ship's credit to downgrade to a less expensive inside cabin even if that sailing is sold out.:(

You may not find out what you get until you're onboard. ;)

What happened once to us when our assigned cabin, which was an upgrade from an obstructed OV to a non-obstructed one, flooded and was unavailable to us on embarkation day was that we got upgraded to a midship Caribe deck extra large balcony. We had to wait until final boarding was done to get our cabin but the great upgrade, which we had for the whole 12 night cruise, compensated for this. :)

Edited January 23, 2014 by robtulipe

[JF - retired RRT]

We had that cabin on the Star (D733)...it was GREAT and you CAN change the beds to a queen. I posted pix about a month ago. I would put the link but I am traveling and it is too hard to find links on my tablet.

 

Sent from my Lenovo B8000-F using Forums mobile app

[DUC950]

What ship will you be on?

[Ubu]

I finally got my room #. Got a slight upgrade and very happy to know I have a room. Thanks for all the support.

Judy

[caribill]

I finally got my room #. Got a slight upgrade and very happy to know I have a room. Thanks for all the support.

Judy

 

Yea!

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[robtulipe]

We had that cabin on the Star (D733)...it was GREAT and you CAN change the beds to a queen. I posted pix about a month ago. I would put the link but I am traveling and it is too hard to find links on my tablet.

 

Sent from my Lenovo B8000-F using Forums mobile app

 

As I mentioned in my post on those most aft Dophin deck mini-suites it's only the Diamond and Sapphire that have these staterooms that were originally handicap accessible cabins.