Guarantee booking experiences

[goodycruising]

Thought it might be interesting to hear people's experiences on booking guarantee cabins. There has been some interesting information that people have shared on other threads here, and it is much better to know what might happen so you can make a decision.

 

We decided recently that the Royal Caribbean "balcony upgrade at interior price" offer was throwing up some balcony guarantees at a price that we were prepared to try and see what we might end up with. Obviously some felt that the interior prices had been raised to make this offer not quite at inside price, but we took that into account and made a decision on price knowing we were likely to get a cabin in a location that we least wanted upon allocation.

 

Well, that then happened. Our criteria when picking our own cabin is mid ship and not under the pool deck. We have had too many noisy cabins under the pool/food areas, and we are prepared to pay a little more to choose the cabin.

 

The price difference was too tempting, so we went for a balcony guarantee for early 2017 to NZ 12 nights on Radiance. 6 days later we were allocated 1000, the most forward cabin possible on deck 10. It is under the massage area, so probably not a noisy place, but we are very unsure about it.

 

Others on here have said that an allocation can still change before sailing, so we are interested to find out what people have experienced.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Great idea, goodycruising. It will be very useful having a thread where we can all post our experiences with guarantees.

 

We booked an inside guarantee for our Rhapsody cruise last March. It was a last minute booking, about a month out from the departure date. At the time the only inside cabins left were large interiors, and that is precisely what we got, at a very, very good price. The allocation came though about three days after we booked. We had a cabin under the MDR which was very quiet most of the time. The only noise that we noticed was when the early dinner sitting had the staff parades and that didn't affect us as we had late dining.

 

We've also booked a guarantee on our upcoming Princess cruise. We snagged an IA guarantee, inside midships decks 9 & 10. I like the way Princess allows you to choose the category for cabin within the class. So far we don't know what our cabin is but if we get what we booked we'll be very happy and, since IA is the top inside category, anything else would be a meta-upgrade, but may mean we get a less desirable location.

Edited July 23, 2015 by OzKiwiJJ

[icat2000]

My upcoming cruises that I have booked guarantees

 

Golden Princess 3 Jan 16 IF inside guarantee. No allocation yet

 

Explorer of the Seas balcony guarantee. 24 night Transpacific Oct 16: Allocation: Deck 06, Superior Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony #6640

 

Radiance of the Seas Apr 17 transpacific Balcony guarantee. Allocation: Stateroom: Deluxe Ocean view Strm w/Bal Guarantee. No room yet.

[Jacs]

We booked our first ever guarantee with celebrity due to the same interior/balcony upgrade deal and we were assigned a cabin about a week or 2 after booking. Guarantee was for a 2D balcony (as the tender boats half obstructing view) and we got assigned a 2C balcony ( lifeboat under balcony). It's midship and looks to be above one of the specialty restaurants so hopefully quietish. Cruise isn't until December so not sure if there will be any changes to location or not.

[mr walker]

Our first cruise in 2011 - we had no clue about cruising & no clues about cabin classes & guarantees etc. Our TA suggested an " ocean view guarantee, as they are a bit cheaper". We said, OK??

 

It was Rhapsody OTS and we got 2638, the very 'aftest' OV starboard side. So we have learnt that's likely considered the worst possible location. We loved it.

 

Our next 2 cruises were co-charters again on ROTS. TA (not same one as 1st cruise) sold us 2636 both times. So 3 cruises & 25N in total & we had been within inches each time. We have had different locations since :)

[goodycruising]

Thanks all for answering. It was Sarah's (icat2000) allocation of a D 6640 cabin that spiked our interest. I have looked and there are lots of E cabins available on that cruise and even a heap of D3 cabins further forward and aft. So my conspiracy theory is that they allocate a few nice cabins to entice others to try :)

Will be interested to see what else happens with our other booking....

 

Jacs - that sounds like a nice allocation.

Edited July 23, 2015 by goodycruising

[icat2000]

Thanks all for answering. It was Sarah's (icat2000) allocation of a D 6640 cabin that spiked our interest. I have looked and there are lots of E cabins available on that cruise and even a heap of D3 cabins further forward and aft. So my conspiracy theory is that they allocate a few nice cabins to entice others to try :)

Will be interested to see what else happens with our other booking....

 

Jacs - that sounds like a nice allocation.

 

So 6640 is a nice cabin or a run of a mill cabin?:D

[goodycruising]

So 6640 is a nice cabin or a run of a mill cabin?:D

 

If I could pick a cabin, which I did for a Radiance cruise we are also looking at in 2017 to NZ, I try to pick a cabin near the central elevators. Your cabin is a D category which RCI states is 179 square feet, and your guarantee, (and what we got allocated this morning) is for a minimum of an E which is 164 square feet. It is not a huge difference, but the sofa is a full size in a D - which I would call a 3 seater, and the E cabin has what is know as a "love seat". It is a single cushion, but you can fit two people just.

 

Your location is just a few cabins back from the elevator that is slightly to the rear of centre, and you are surrounded by other cabins, opposite and above. Underneath you might be a bar or shops, it is hard to tell when the deck plans are not quite to scale.

 

I looked up your cruise on another site, and there are heaps of E cabins still vacant, and heaps of D cabins more forward and aft. The computer just liked you at that moment I think. :)

 

So it is not a specially nice cabin, but I would be very happy to get it as a guarantee. As opposed to right up on the highest deck at the most forward cabin possible. (Oh dear, I sound like I have been sooking all day about that) :o

Edited July 23, 2015 by goodycruising

[MicCanberra]

We have received balconies several times when paid for ocean views.:D

[woodyren]

Ok where do I start. From memory I have booked gty cabins on the majority of our cruises. First time was price reasons only as we knew nothing about cabin location. Now we are more experienced we still go the gty route as there is value in the deal and while we prefer a better cabin it's location it is not a be all and end all to us.

 

We have also booked under both US and Australian conditions. When we book gty's with a US TA we have almost always changed to a better location (within our allocated cat) once the category has been allocated. You can't do that here.

 

I will try to list what we ended up with.

 

Celebrity Reflection. US TA. Balc gty. Allocated a 2B swapped to 7221 which was a great balcony on the hump. WIN WIN Far cheaper and good cabin.

 

Oasis OTS. US TA. Had booked a Central Park balcony (which looks over the Park inside the ship). No ocean views. Downgraded to a Neighbourhood balc gty. You can either be allocated Central Park or Boardwalk and Boardwalk is better because you have views of the ocean and the aqua theatre. This was $150 pp cheaper than our original cabin. We were

allocated a cabin of the same category as out original Central Park. WIN same cabin less money.

 

 

Celebrity Solstice. Dec 2014. US TA. Aqua class gty. Allocated an A1 and changed it to one of the larger angled Aqua balconies on the hump. WIN WIN. Far cheaper than normal Aqua and ended up with just about the best cabin.

 

Rhapsody OTS. Jan 2015. Booked directly with RCCL. Suite gty (bargain $1500 ish pp for 11 day cruise). Allocated a J Suite which is the lowest suite category in an OK location. WIN. Cheap price OK cabin.

 

Rhapsody OTS Feb 2015. Aussie Inside gty. Booked on board. Allocated an inside on deck 4. WIN. Very cheap.

 

Quantum of the Seas. May 2015 Barcelona-Dubai 16 days. US TA. Jumped in at the deep end and again booked a suite gty. Most expensive cabin we have paid for at around $200 pp per day. Allocated a spa junior suite which is the lowest suite category in a decent position. The double points we received got us to diamond possibly 2 cruises earlier than we would have and we received an additional $500 OBC when Royal decided to compensate passengers for the renovations happening on board. WIN far cheaper than the normal price for a Spa Junior Suite.

 

Quantum OTS June 2015 Singapore-Shanghai. US TA. Obstructed Balc gty. Quantum has a number of balconies on deck 6 that are partially obstructed by life boats. More so than any other ship I believe. We ended up with 6698 and it was not only obstructed by the boats but the davits for the boats either side were smack in the middle of our balcony. If there was more info about Quantum cabins at the time we could have changed to one with far less obstruction as ours was probably the worst one of all the obstructed views. WIN on price LOSE on cabin. BUT I would do the same again even if I knew we would get this allocation.

 

Celebrity Solstice Nov 2015. 8 days Pacific Islands. Aussie TA. Balcony gty.(Upgrade deal with balcony at inside price with drinks pkg.) Total cost after we pre paid our grats so we could get MTD was $1099pp. Allocated cabin 6253 which is a 2C in an OK location. Probably has lifeboats below. WIN price Cabin OK.

 

Radiance OTS. Dec 2016 13 days Pacific. Aussie TA. Balc gty (triple upgrade offer current special). Not yet allocated. WIN cost. Even the worst balcony will be fine so it's only up from here.

 

So from our past experiences we will continue to search out the gty's. Booking gty's have allowed us to cruise in a better class of cabin for our money each time.

Edited July 23, 2015 by woodyren

[icat2000]

Thanks woodyren your information re RCL is helpful. I'm normally cruise with Princess, but my last three bookings have been with RCL. Only because of the price and better cabin category.

[goodycruising]

We have also booked under both US and Australian conditions. When we book gty's with a US TA we have almost always changed to a better location (within our allocated cat) once the category has been allocated. You can't do that here.

Thanks for all the info - you have had a variety!

 

Have you (or anyone else here) ever heard of anyone changing a gty cabin allocation from Australia with RCI? As we ring the same Guatemala call centre and the cruise now has a cabin type allocated I was wondering if it was worth a try?

 

I actually got an email earlier that has our cabin category and number and is titled "Notification of Change for Reservation". Our reservation online is now just the category and the number with no reference to guarantee. It is different from when you have a different booking version number due to something not being right when we have rung up to book.

[woodyren]

Thanks for all the info - you have had a variety!

 

Have you (or anyone else here) ever heard of anyone changing a gty cabin allocation from Australia with RCI? As we ring the same Guatemala call centre and the cruise now has a cabin type allocated I was wondering if it was worth a try?

 

 

I have tried once. Pretty sure it was our JS gty on Rhapsody. They told me that it was not possible. BUT different call centre staff make different decisions so anything is possible. I would give it a try.

[thistledoo]

We booked a balcony guarantee with the double upgrade sale. Legend of the Seas, Brisbane-HK, 18 nights. Received the allocation yesterday of an E1 balcony category, cabin 6034 deck 6. Is anyone familiar with the location?

 

It looks to be in an OK position, 18 cabins from the front, cabins above and shops below. It is small, but for about $117 per night we can't really complain.

[goodycruising]

We booked a balcony guarantee with the double upgrade sale. Legend of the Seas, Brisbane-HK, 18 nights. Received the allocation yesterday of an E1 balcony category, cabin 6034 deck 6. Is anyone familiar with the location?

 

It looks to be in an OK position, 18 cabins from the front, cabins above and shops below. It is small, but for about $117 per night we can't really complain.

 

The location seems not too bad. It is between the elevators, but closer to the forward. So about 1/3 along roughly. It is not listed on the RCI site as being obstructed. I didn't realise that the Legend of the Seas E cabins were a bit smaller again (153 sq ft), but for that price I would agree that sounds like like a good deal.

[3littlepigs]

On Princess we had an obstructed ocean view GTY and ended up with the 2nd highest balcony but it was a short cruise.

 

On RCCL we had a JS GTY and were allocated a Grand Suite midships.

 

On X Aqua GTY and got the most forward cabin highest deck...lucky the weather was good.

 

On HAL we booked a BB balcony and had a bargain upsell to a Neptune Suite that only took our overall price to an AA balcony.

 

Overall we have been extremely happy with our allocations but we are super careful and I am very analytical about checking what cabins are available and the minimum level of cabin we are willing to accept.

 

If you are careful and know what you are going to be happy with and make sure you don't have exposure to anything less than that you can get some real bargains.

[goodycruising]

On RCCL we had a JS GTY and were allocated a Grand Suite midships.

Wow, nice one :)

 

We have an update on another balcony gty we booked. Explorer Nov 2016 to Sth Pac 8 nights, we have been allocated an E cabin 8578, which ticks all the boxes for location for us. It is pretty central between the elevators and between floors of accommodation. So not all gty allocations are right at the front. :) It will be interesting if we get our cabin changed before we go.

[Valmac]

We travelled in March on Solstice in a GTY Balcony cabin after paying for Inside on booking in Nov. We got our cabin allocation immediately although TA was not advised. I found out by looking up our booking. It was a 1c cabin 8320 aft. It was perfect for us! Would definitely do this again. :)

[woodyren]

We have just got our latest balcony gty allocation for Radiance South Pacific Dec 3 2016.

 

It is an E2 1524 on deck 10 right next to the forward elevators.

 

Not familiar with Radiance but it appears to be under the gym.

 

We are never really bothered by noise so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

Just for the thrill of the chase and of course for future research I am going to ring C&A when I get back to Australia next month and see if I can change it to an E2 on deck 8 on the starboard side opposite the rear elevators. They look to be on that semicircular bit (Radiances version of the hump) on Radiance deck plans.

[goodycruising]

We travelled in March on Solstice in a GTY Balcony cabin after paying for Inside on booking in Nov. We got our cabin allocation immediately although TA was not advised. I found out by looking up our booking. It was a 1c cabin 8320 aft. It was perfect for us! Would definitely do this again. :)

 

Sounds like a nice allocation. 1C is a good category. Notifications don't seem to be their regular thing. I was surprised to get one other day about my cabin number.

 

We have just got our latest balcony gty allocation for Radiance South Pacific Dec 3 2016....It is an E2 1524 on deck 10 right next to the forward elevators....Just for the thrill of the chase and of course for future research I am going to ring C&A when I get back to Australia next month and see if I can change it to an E2 on deck 8 on the starboard side opposite the rear elevators. They look to be on that semicircular bit (Radiances version of the hump) on Radiance deck plans.

 

Very interested how you go. We are thinking of ringing about our 1000 cabin. Not sure if we will take one of the others cruises instead yet.

Edited July 25, 2015 by goodycruising

[angelwingsflys]

Hi Everyone ,

I still believe in the upgrade Fairy !!!

You wanted to know how we end up with upgrades on GTY cabins ,

I have booked GTY cabins a lot in the last 3 years ,usually end up with what I paid for ,lowest grade cabin etc ,but last year I booked as a solo ,had a lot of family coming on their first cruise so thought a balcony so that I could show it off since they were all booking inside cabins , so booked ,within 5 days (3 months before sailing )I had the Penthouse suite allocated to me ,Thought they would be moving me ,as some people on the boards had suggested they would ,didn't get moved at all and daughter was given an upgrade as well ,she had the interconnecting Sky suite ,the other family members weren't given upgrades , they were in the inside cabins ,the up grade fairy certainly loved me . Have 4 other cruises booked at the moment ,the Jan 2017 one has been allocated 1026 on the Radiance seas ,it is really close to the forward lifts ,the one coming up in November -Celebrity Solstice , has been allocated ,lowest cat again deck 6 towards the back ,but who really cares I can still sit on a balcony ,that has to be better than an inside cabin. I still believe in the upgrade Fairy !!!

Cheers Deb

[goodycruising]

angelwingsflys - you were spoilt by the fairy that trip! Agree that a balcony is nice to have :) Yes, if you are happy with the lowest cabin in the gty category then you will not be disappointed, and anything better will be a nice bonus. :)

[icat2000]

Got my allocation for the TP on Radiance April 2017 for my balcony guaranteed. Got allocated E2 category on Deck 9 #9016.

Edited July 27, 2015 by icat2000

[gaechann]

Hi all!

This thread has encouraged me to book my first Royal Balcony Guarantee!

Price too good to pass up for Legend OTS Dec 2016 for 8 nights to South Pacific - just over $1600 after balcony special plus loyalty discount!

Now the waiting begins! :)

Gae

[goodycruising]

Good on you Gae! Worth a try. :) most of the ones we have looked at worked out between $119 and $134 per person per night. Ticked our box on price.

 

Well - we got our other leg of the cruise allocated. We got Deck 9 cabin 9508, on Radiance Tas trip 20th Jan 2017. So we tried to ring and ask about going down to deck 7 more toward the middle (there are heaps available). Nope, not having a bar of any changes. Don't want to even discuss it. It is in your terms and conditions that you get what you are given and no changes. This is true, "no cabin requests can be made" is the exact wording.

 

You would think it would make sense if we are booked on a back to back that a cabin change in the same category could be considered. Nope. They said the staff will help pack and move us. We have done back to back cruises before. The loose items needed to be packed by us, and they then take anything hanging in the wardrobe. They do a good job, they don't pack for us though, and I wouldn't expect it.

 

I would have thought they might have had a little sympathy for a customer that had already done 7 cruises on Royal (some 18 nights), plus 2 on Celebrity, with another 3 booked besides the B2B we are looking at. We have spent a lot of money. If the rules were the same for US customers I would be more inclined to wear it, but the fact that they have such different conditions is a bit wrong. I think as time goes on they are whittling back the freedoms to change things for US customers though.

 

Anyhow, it was worth a quick phone call for the sake of the exercise. The sticking point for me is the NZ leg that is in cabin 1000. Cabin 9508 is a bit better as we are between accommodation decks. I totally understand the terms and conditions, but.... still not sure.