How Has an Unassigned Balcony (X-GTY) Worked Out for You?

[AeroBaldness]

Sailing on Liberty next month and The Fish showed some green this morning so I called our TA. We'd booked an interior as our intent was to do a 5-day for as little $ as possible to get to the next C&A level. But, waking up to snow on the ground and realizing that surprising my wife, once on board, with a balcony would be an awesome Xmas gift, I made the move to upgrade.

 

The upgrade was not all that favorable just based on the price, BUT, it came with $200 OBC we didn't have from the initial booking, which then made it very favorable. To get the best price, I went with the X Cabin Category (Deluxe Ocean View w/ Balcony) where, I guess, we'll find out our cabin # when we get our sea passes.

 

So I am wondering how booking an open balcony assignment like this has worked out for folks in the past and, when you received your actual assignment (at the pier, within a week of departure, etc). Thanks in advance for any information!!

[cb at sea]

I would imagine that ANY balcony would be better than an inside cabin...and you'll be getting it for less....it's a win/win! It can be assigned anytime between now and when you board...usually sooner than later, tho!

Edited November 17, 2014 by cb at sea

[AeroBaldness]

I would imagine that ANY balcony would be better than an inside cabin...and you'll be getting it for less....it's a win/win! It can be assigned anytime between now and when you board...usually sooner than later, tho!

 

Thanks for the reply. I'll be checking the dashboard frequently for an actual assignment. It'd be nice to have it sooner so I can print the luggage tags vs. having to get them from a porter at the pier.

[LiveToCruise99]

We've booked using a guarantee several times and it's always worked out for us. We've even been assigned a category way above what we booked -- from an ocean view to an aft family balcony. We once booked a guarantee figuring we would get a partially obstructed and ended up with a cabin 2 floors above. I always look to see where I can get the best price and I've never been disappointed. I'm sure it will work out for you. And it's fun waiting to see where you get put.

[jc24cruiser]

Hi,

 

I had a very lucky fluke after the UK phone office moved....

 

I called as balcony cabins were being sold at half the price that I paid for an inside room. Usually UK cruisers can not benefit from price drops in any way.

 

But when I called the lady asked if I wanted to choose my room or have a guarantee, I asked what difference it made and she explained and stated that the guarantee ones are cheaper. I thought she was charging me to upgrade but then she explained that it affected the refund I would receive :D

 

So I chose the guarantee in the same opinion as "cb at sea" that any balcony would be better than an inside (although I guess it does depend if it is below a noisy area or next to a crew area....that I had specifically avoided with my inside selection).

 

I was told that I may not know until boarding but a couple of days later it pinged up on my profile that I had an assigned cabin. I nearly fell off my chair when I saw that it as a fantastic (larger) aft balcony....no obstructed view, nowhere noisy, no crew area in sight :eek: I had all my fingers and toes crossed that we would keep the cabin, as the small print states that they can change it if they want to.

 

So, I received a free upgrade from an inside to an aft balcony AND received £200 refund to my bank account which covered my onboard expenses :)

 

I now that I will probably never be lucky enough to experience this again, so I enjoyed it whilst I could x

[AeroBaldness]

More exciting than I expected :D Fun to sort of spin the wheel and see where it lands. Thanks again for the replies!!!

[cruisegirl1]

We book guarantees often and almost always get the lowest cabin in the guarantee category. We are "higher up" in the C&A food chain but of course that makes NO difference for a guarantee assignment. We recently booked a Bal guarantee for an early January Explorer cruise and were assigned the next day to an E2 ( fairly forward). We were able to change it to a E2 on the hump.

 

We just came off the Freedom and had a Bal guarantee and were assigned a D on deck 9 ( that was one of the first times we did not get the lowest category.

 

We've NEVER been upgraded to a better category as a result of the guarantee . i.e if we booked a OV guarantee, we were never initially assigned anything higher. There has been a rare occasion that we received an upgrade just prior to sailing, but that had nothing to do with the guarantee assignment.

 

You may get the assignment sooner than you think.

 

good luck

M

[cruisegirl1]

Thanks for the reply. I'll be checking the dashboard frequently for an actual assignment. It'd be nice to have it sooner so I can print the luggage tags vs. having to get them from a porter at the pier.

 

Don't worry about the tags. We just had 2 cruises, the Freedom and Enchantment almost B2B, but with one day in between. Amazingly we were upgraded for the second "leg" , the Enchantment cruise, and didn't print new luggage tags. The porters wrote new tags - took all of 10 seconds.

 

enjoy

M

[aslaw]

It worked out great. We sailed Liberty transatlantic arriving in Fort Lauderdale Nov. 8. Initially we were assigned D1 very far forward. I was able to switch to an aft to mid ship location and then about a week before the cruise a mid ship location on deck 9 opened up and I switched the cabin again. It was a great location.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We have gotten a balcony GTY 3 times. Each time we saved a fair amount of money. Once we got a prime hump cabin on a Transatlantic. Twice we got forward balconies. They were fine and we felt we more than got our money's worth.

 

I would do it again.

[AeroBaldness]

Wow, that didn't take long. Checked yesterday and we already have a cabin assigned. Its a forward D2 on deck 7. No complaints here as we are just a few quick flights down to the Schooner Bar and, I think, will have a very noce view of Labadee coming in and while docked.

 

Next question, can I assume this IS our final assignment, of could this contiue to change?

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Wow, that didn't take long. . . .

 

Next question, can I assume this IS our final assignment, of could this contiue to change?

 

We have never heard of them changing the cabin once it is assigned. I worked about that on our TA. We got a deck 7 hump cabin. I read about those all the time and was very glad we got it. It was assigned the same day I changed to the GTY. It was 2.5 months before the cruise--never changed it.

 

PS--we loved the centrum location of the cabin. But, I did not think it was any better than any other balcony cabin. JMHO

Edited November 20, 2014 by DragonOfTheSeas

[AeroBaldness]

We have never heard of them changing the cabin once it is assigned. I worked about that on our TA. We got a deck 7 hump cabin. I read about those all the time and was very glad we got it. It was assigned the same day I changed to the GTY. It was 2.5 months before the cruise--never changed it.

 

PS--we loved the centrum location of the cabin. But, I did not think it was any better than any other balcony cabin. JMHO

 

Thanks! We had a hump cabin on Jewel and I didn't think it was all that special either. What I did like, was having the library just around the divder from our room. Since no one used it, it was like our second living room for when my son and I needed to give my wife and daughter some space.

[djyockel6864]

We have an room catagory x, stateroom gty...where is this room?

:)

[MikeBTN]

Wow, that didn't take long. Checked yesterday and we already have a cabin assigned. Its a forward D2 on deck 7. No complaints here as we are just a few quick flights down to the Schooner Bar and, I think, will have a very noce view of Labadee coming in and while docked.

 

Next question, can I assume this IS our final assignment, of could this contiue to change?

 

Your assignment could change, but it is very rare. Also if you are in the US, look at what other D2 are available - if you like one better, just call and you can move staterooms.

[Biker19]

[Biker19]

We have an room catagory x, stateroom gty...where is this room?

:)

Welcome to CC. Your room has not been assigned yet. Keep checking the planner and you'll see your balcony listed in the Stateroom section.

[airboss1998]

Sailing on Liberty next month and The Fish showed some green this morning

What is 'the Fish'?