When to expect guaranty cabin assignment?

[Starry Eyes]

Someone ease my mind, lol. I am paid in full, prepaid daily fees and some reservations and still have no cabin assignment for our cruise in 10 days and most categories show as sold out now. There is a website that shows only 3% vacancy. They don't oversell cabins right? I will get a cabin.... I have to ask here because I'm driving my hubby crazy!

 

Relax, you will get a cabin. Unlike airlines, it is very, very rare for a cruise line to overbook. Once in a great while on some cruise line or another something happens....computer glitch or rooms taken out of service. I cannot even recall the last time I heard of it happening on NCL. On the other hand, on cruise critic we hear all the time from people anxiously awaiting gty assignments while watching their sail date approach and online inventory dwindle. I'm more than six weeks out and as inventory drops, I feel this a bit already.

 

On the bright side, I still see cabins for your sailing. I see NO sign that they have overbooked. even if that 3% number is correct (I am dubious about such stats, but let us assume it is so), that actually a lot of last minute cabins on a big ship.

 

Hang in there and do not start any family spats fore a wonderful cruise.

[Starry Eyes]

I only now realized that you had a higher subcategory GTY than the usual something-X.

 

We did that once on Star (Dawn's sister ship) mistakenly believing that booking GTY OA would guarantee us either a oceanview on deck 8 or an upgrade to a balcony anywhere but instead thanks to NCL's decision to rate family cabins higher than regular cabins (in NCL's categories numbers are better than letters so the order from lowest to highest goes from X to A, 9 to 1), we got assigned to a family cabin on deck 5 and were not pleased with the location (and paid for an upgrade later).

 

So be aware that this can - and probably will - happen to you too unless they actually get an OA available before assignment (and even then I'd assume that they'd prefer to assign GTY bookings to O1 subcategory since it is not a holiday sailing where family cabins would be in high demand).

 

Like you, I'd like the OA cabins better, in general, than the O1's. Their systems has some oddities like that. In clojack's case what is interesting to me , is the spars cabin availability showing now....I do not see any OA, nor O1, nor any balconies. Maybe somebody will cancel in coming weeks. Maybe they have shadow inventory we cannot see. Maybe somebody will get an upsell to a suite to make room for clojack in an OA or higher. I'll be interested to see how clojack fares....I hope very well.

[clojacks]

I wasn't aware that NCL viewed a O1 on deck 5,6 as preferential to an OA on 8......hmmmm. Nothing listed for me this morning and I see that a false booking tells me that the ship is sold out, except for only 3-bedroom suites. EVEN the mini-suites are gone. really curious now what we will end up in.

Edited August 7, 2014 by clojacks

[clojacks]

Now that I realize that we may end up, possibly, in an O1, is there any difference between an OA and an O1 outside of location and probably the addition of a couple of drop down beds in the Family rooms? Are they any larger? Really was hoping to be on 8 at the lowest, but it is what it is if it happens.....

 

 

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[Starry Eyes]

Now that I realize that we may end up, possibly, in an O1, is there any difference between an OA and an O1 outside of location and probably the addition of a couple of drop down beds in the Family rooms? Are they any larger? Really was hoping to be on 8 at the lowest, but it is what it is if it happens.....

 

 

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Unfortunately one cannot really lock in a higher deck by selecting a OV gty on NCL. Your accepting attitude is good. Live and learn.

 

I think the size is the same. The O1's are in a different location. Quite a few are connecting cabins, but of course there are also connecting OA's.

 

I do not like the way NCL categorizes their cabins, as many of us see an OA as preferable to an O1. And personally I'd rather have a obstructed OK on deck 8 than a small porthole on deck 4; opinions vary on that, but I am not alone. The big porthole are nice while giving a nautical feel, but those little portholes give less light and less view than many obstructed cabins. Still, if I book a gty, I accept what they give me.

 

I'm still waiting. Availability on my cruise seems to change a bit day to day. Sometimes an oceanview or an inside shows as available, other times just balcony and higher. There is still plenty of time for availability to shift before our Sept 22 cruise. I am still optimistic about my assignment, and I look forward to hearing how you fare.

 

Wendy

[TrixieLou]

I got my Breakaway Cabin GTY Assignment today - 37 days prior to my cruise. I booked a Balcony GTY in January for September 14 sailing. Today, the cabin assignment showed up in my Vacation Summary: 10136. We like being forward so I'm pretty happy. This is my first GTY on NCL but I knew we'd be happy with any Balcony and don't mind being forward. Nice to save a bit of $$ to be used on a Spa Pass, of course. I am glad to have the cabin assignment. One less thing to wonder about!

[bcgrad98]

On the Dawn for a 1/25 sailing and get our GTY cabin number immediately after booking.

 

The Dawn must assign them early....We booked an IX GTY on the Dawn over Christmas and we've had our cabin assignment for a few weeks now. I didn't think to look earlier. I'm not too excited as we're way forward on deck 4, but that's what we get for going cheap :)

I did ask an NCL rep and he said there's a chance it could change, but I'm not holding out hope! He was surprised it was already assigned.

[cruisinluvin]

I'm on the dawn next Friday and I just got my assignment two days ago.

[clojacks]

The Dawn must assign them early....We booked an IX GTY on the Dawn over Christmas and we've had our cabin assignment for a few weeks now. I didn't think to look earlier. I'm not too excited as we're way forward on deck 4, but that's what we get for going cheap :)

I did ask an NCL rep and he said there's a chance it could change, but I'm not holding out hope! He was surprised it was already assigned.

 

I have to disagree with you in my case. We have been discussing waiting for a cabin assignment on the Dawn in this thread. I am going to speculate that it has nothing to do with a particular ship or any other "trigger" as to how NCL does their GTY's. I'm down to 49 days now, and still waiting with there only being 3-bedroom suies left available. I would think it would be pretty simple for them to start assigning GTY's at this point, but it doesn't seem to work that way. I'm just really crossing my fingers that our OA GTY actually ends up being an OA room and not an O1. Still don't understand how NCL figures a nearly identical cabin on a lower deck in the forward of the ship is preferential over an aft same cabin on deck 8? :confused::confused:

[Rhea98]

IX GTY on Epic for Nov 16 (booked early July). I was surprised to see that a cabin had been assigned sometime in the past week. We are delighted with the assignment (IC Deck 9) but did not expect it until final payment (Sept 2). From ncl.com booking: "Once you book, we'll assign your cabin number sometime after final payment has been received, up to the day of sailing." Although current price may drop closer to sailing, these cabins (IA, B, C) are still being listed as GTY and start @ $120. more than we paid.

 

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[Starry Eyes]

There is plenty of evidence on this thread that cabins on Dawn may be assigned late...or early. It is unlikely that Dawn (or any other ship) gets to (or even wants to) assign their gtys. much more likely a computer linked to the Miami offices assigns gty's in a manner that attempts to maximize revenue.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

I'm going on my first NCL cruise in October and this is also the first time I've booked a GTY. I just booked earlier this week and received my cabin assignment today. Sail date is in 63 days. I'm actually pretty pleased with the location so hoping it doesn't change!

[jonz]

We are on the Jewel, Dec 13. Booked a GTY Mini-suite. We have not been assigned a cabin. My sister says that she saw on one of our papers from the TA of a cabin assignment but then never saw it again. First time every booking GTY. We had booked a Mid-ship Balcony but had opportunity to change to the GTY Mini-suite for only $20 each. TA did say that she would not have done the switch. But my Sister is a Cabin-dweller and I felt that the little extra room would be worth the risk. We are not too picky about location. We just like to be close to a elevator. THis is our first time on NCL so... its all a new experience.

Whatever happens... We will still be on Cruise. Its all Good.

[clojacks]

46 days to sailing, only $7500 3 bedroom suites left, and still no cabin assignment. You would think NCL would have enough info by now to start assigning cabins? Sure do wish there was an algorithm to figure out what their process is.

[cliffd64]

46 days to sailing, only $7500 3 bedroom suites left, and still no cabin assignment. You would think NCL would have enough info by now to start assigning cabins? Sure do wish there was an algorithm to figure out what their process is.

 

Well, why not just wait... it's nothing you can control, so don't worry until that number of days creeps down to 10!

[cruisin07family]

Well, why not just wait... it's nothing you can control, so don't worry until that number of days creeps down to 10!

 

LOL, or 6!....still no cabin here....

[clojacks]

Pretty much what we are doing Cliff, but in the meantime, the discussion may allow someone who is not patient enough to "just wait" to realize a GUY might nit be the best decision for them. In my case, I probably wouldn't do a GTY again unless the price difference was overwhelming.

 

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[Starry Eyes]

I'm at 42 days and waiting patiently. Every day they wait to assign me is a day to hope for an upgrade. In my case, there was a very substantial savings by taking the gty. Since we are patient, optimistic and flexible, I am comfortable with our decision. And 42 days is a long time.

 

Clojacks, I am sorry the wait is wearing on you. In my experience, most of my gty assignments tend to come in the last six weeks before a cruise, and sometimes in the final days. Once in a while I get an assignment sooner, but that is not my usual experience.

 

I know that few cabins show now, but the company has reasons to wait to finalize everything. They may already have a slot imagined for you but have not yet told you in order to retain some flexibility; that is why they offer gty. Furthermore, between OA, O1, all the balconies, all the mini's, and all the lower end suites, there is a very significant chance somebody in one of those cabins will have a sad event and need to cancel. Or one of those cabins might develop a plumbing or other issue that requires them to shuffle cabins. If either of those things happens the cruiseline is happy to have flexibility. And finally, NCL does upsells in the waning days...so they may shuffle people around near the end to arrange the final spaces. Right choice or wrong choice, you are pretty much stuck waiting now; try to make the bet of it if you can.

 

07family...only six days until you sail. You must be very excited. How many times a day do you check for an assignment? I'd be checking compulsively by now! My fingers are crossed for you.

[CasinoCruzGirl]

We booked an IX GTY for our sons but we booked a specific balcony cabin for us. Does anyone know if I call NCL and ask for the reservations to be linked if they will take our cabin location into any consideration when assigning our sons? The "boys" are 21 and 18 so they don't need to be near us, lol, but it would be easier. Just a thought. We are cruising in 13 days so hopefully they'll be assigned soon....

 

I have the same situation. I'm booked in a specific balcony cabin. My son and his GF in an IX and my sister and her family in a balcony GTY hope they land some where near me we will wait and see.

[enyliram]

balcony guarantee getaway on august 23rd . no cabin assignment yet. not concerned. it is what it is. BUT WOULD LOVE IT TO BE WONDERFUL

[getupgo]

I'm so controlling I book a whole year in advance so I can have my choice of my cabin. I could never do this but I hope y'all will get back to us and let us know how you do. Happy cruising.

[Starry Eyes]

LOL, or 6!....still no cabin here....

Even closer now (is it 4 days?)

Any update?

[enyliram]

still waiting.... for my getaway on august 23, balcony guarantee.

[cruisin07family]

Nope, no cabin assigned yet. We may be the rare few who get assigned at the pier, lol!

[Starry Eyes]

Nope, no cabin assigned yet. We may be the rare few who get assigned at the pier, lol!

Yeah they either will come through soon or at the pier. Glad you are keeping your sense of humor as you wait. Looks like very few cabins left, but no doubt that will have a spot for you. My fingers are still crossed for you.