Guarantee booking experiences

[gayengarry]

We have just booked 4 balcony guarantee cabins with friends on Radiance 25th Feb 2017 Aus & NZ cruise. It was 4 separate bookings over a couple of days so will be interesting to see where we all end up :D:D

 

cheers,

G&G:):cool:

[goodycruising]

We have just booked 4 balcony guarantee cabins with friends on Radiance 25th Feb 2017 Aus & NZ cruise. It was 4 separate bookings over a couple of days so will be interesting to see where we all end up :D:D

 

cheers,

G&G:):cool:

 

We did that trip on Radiance a few years ago and loved it. We booked a Gty balcony back then just a short time before the cruise and got allocated a D cabin. Our cost was about a thousand dollars more than the current pricing on gty bal. So if people are wondering about price rises, I would say there are still some good buys around if you keep your eyes open. Possibly the on board spending is a bit higher now with the dollar and some price rises, but a thousand dollars difference buys a lot of drinks!

 

Well done on going Big.:D

 

I actually haven't had a lot of time to read the threads on that big better best subject, only saw it quickly the other day. (So annoying to have to work to support my cruise addiction!) It was actually the tail end of the current choice of one of the 123go offers, which was extremely difficult to get to work on the glitchy website. Our friends even had trouble getting their TA to see the offer. I think she got it for them after I told them the Offer Code that needed to be put in. You need to read all the terms of an offer very carefully. They will not always give you the promotion automatically. (another time what I have learnt here has been a benefit :) )

[OzKiwiJJ]

They will not always give you the promotion automatically. (another time what I have learnt here has been a benefit :) )

 

And sometimes they make it very hard to find out how to get the promotion. It took me ages to work out how to get the beverage Pick Your Perk on our upcoming Celebrity cruise.

 

Perhaps we need a thread here for current promotions and how to get them.

 

They must save a fortune from newbies who book direct and don't realise there are promotions.

[MicCanberra]

We did that trip on Radiance a few years ago and loved it. We booked a Gty balcony back then just a short time before the cruise and got allocated a D cabin. Our cost was about a thousand dollars more than the current pricing on gty bal. So if people are wondering about price rises, I would say there are still some good buys around if you keep your eyes open. Possibly the on board spending is a bit higher now with the dollar and some price rises, but a thousand dollars difference buys a lot of drinks!

 

 

 

I actually haven't had a lot of time to read the threads on that big better best subject, only saw it quickly the other day. (So annoying to have to work to support my cruise addiction!) It was actually the tail end of the current choice of one of the 123go offers, which was extremely difficult to get to work on the glitchy website. Our friends even had trouble getting their TA to see the offer. I think she got it for them after I told them the Offer Code that needed to be put in. You need to read all the terms of an offer very carefully. They will not always give you the promotion automatically. (another time what I have learnt here has been a benefit :) )

 

Even better, I believe the Big fares are more than the 123 Go Promo fares were on most cruises.:D

Edited August 1, 2015 by MicCanberra

[The_Big_M]

Even better, I believe the Big fares are more than the 123 Go Promo fares were on most cruises.:D

 

All the big fares came in at the same cost. Though some people booked 123 e.g. months or years ago when prices were lower. :D

[goodycruising]

And sometimes they make it very hard to find out how to get the promotion. It took me ages to work out how to get the beverage Pick Your Perk on our upcoming Celebrity cruise.

 

Perhaps we need a thread here for current promotions and how to get them.

 

They must save a fortune from newbies who book direct and don't realise there are promotions.

 

Also from people who ask their travel agent about a cruise and get told there are no promotions currently. It would be a very thankless job trying to be an agent dealing with a cruise line that is so convoluted.

 

In this last Celebrity situation it showed there was an offers banner above some categories, but unless you put in the perk code it didn't come up when you went further into the booking.

 

I had to dig a fair bit to find the bit in T&Cs that said the codes needed to be entered. I think they are doing some changes to the website and it was not like that when we booked last time, a few months ago.

 

Another thing that was happening, after Solstice won some travel industry award they had a bonus $100 OBC promotion (from 22 to 29th July), so maybe that conflicted with the pick your perk 123go?

Edited August 1, 2015 by goodycruising

[OzKiwiJJ]

Another thing that was happening, after Solstice won some travel industry award they had a bonus $100 OBC promotion (from 22 to 29th July), so maybe that conflicted with the pick your perk 123go?

 

I booked our Solstice cruise in April direct with Celebrity. I could see a banner for PYP but it took a lot of digging around to get the codes. I expected it to come up automatically on the booking page but it didn't.

[MicCanberra]

This is where CC comes in really handy, getting deals, codes and with finding the little tricks that help get the best bargains.:D

[goodycruising]

It certainly does Mic. It has some cranky people and people that give others a hard time, but amongst that there are a lot of helpful people with all sorts of information :)

 

The sale of Celebrity 123go (pick your perk) has now been extended to 8th August 2015. So glad I rushed around the last couple of days for a sale that ended on the 31st July! Anyhow, happy with what we have booked. It has been very interesting, and great that others continue to share their allocation experiences. As many of the double balcony upgrade gty bookings are for 2017 this thread may go on for a while yet hopefully :)

Edited August 1, 2015 by goodycruising

[meggs11]

We have just booked 4 balcony guarantee cabins with friends on Radiance 25th Feb 2017 Aus & NZ cruise. It was 4 separate bookings over a couple of days so will be interesting to see where we all end up :D:D

 

cheers,

G&G:):cool:

 

G&G we have done the same, we booked first on Monday, my parents the next morning, my best friend and hubby that afternoon and then my in-laws yesterday.... The availability seems to be fluctuating a bit, but so far in my obsessive checking we are coming out ahead with our guaranteed balcony on Radiance...

 

I have laughingly said, that being it my 40th birthday cruise, what is the guarentee the other three couples get midship somewhere and we will be as far forward as possible!!! I have tried to pull rank and tell them since it was all my idea, and it was my sale find and my birthday cruise, who ever is midship will have to swap.... they have all declined and laughed at me at the same time :p

 

I also think it would be a good thing to be spread out a bit... bit more privacy and not so much in each others pockets.

 

We have paid our deposit but have no allocation for cabin yet... I am almost a bit worried we will get allocation and then it will change as cabins get selected by others for full price.... might be better not to know.... :rolleyes:

[goodycruising]

Meggs, with the way the mysterious cabin allocator system works, I am guessing you will be right. I hope you get some nice ones. :)

[meggs11]

Meggs, with the way the mysterious cabin allocator system works, I am guessing you will be right. I hope you get some nice ones. :)

 

My fingers are crossed goodycruising.... expect lowest possible level of accomodation and then hopefully be pleasantly surprised!

[Willow45]

I booked the RCI deal last month, pay interior and get upgrade to balcony (and onboard credit) and did the balcony guarantee. Not sure how you did it otherwise, if I picked a room it was coming $3700 and not the $2300, and as 4 of us traveling in two rooms the price difference did add up. And as this was our first cruise we didn't really have an opinion on where we stayed. Anyway we were given Deck 8 a D2 room 8376 and 8374. I'm happy, it is in the middle of the boat height wise and much as its at the back the extra walking will be good exercise. OR is there negatives to this??

[Willow45]

I booked the RCI deal last month, pay interior and get upgrade to balcony (and onboard credit) and did the balcony guarantee. Not sure how you did it otherwise, if I picked a room it was coming $3700 and not the $2300, and as 4 of us traveling in two rooms the price difference did add up. And as this was our first cruise we didn't really have an opinion on where we stayed. Anyway we were given Deck 8 a D2 room 8376 and 8374. I'm happy, it is in the middle of the boat height wise and much as its at the back the extra walking will be good exercise. OR is there negatives to this??

 

Whoops we are traveling on Explorer of the seas. They have us our room allocation a few weeks after making the deposit and we are not traveling until January 2016.

[goodycruising]

I booked the RCI deal last month, pay interior and get upgrade to balcony (and onboard credit) and did the balcony guarantee. Not sure how you did it otherwise, if I picked a room it was coming $3700 and not the $2300, and as 4 of us traveling in two rooms the price difference did add up. And as this was our first cruise we didn't really have an opinion on where we stayed. Anyway we were given Deck 8 a D2 room 8376 and 8374. I'm happy, it is in the middle of the boat height wise and much as its at the back the extra walking will be good exercise. OR is there negatives to this??

 

I would be happy with getting a D for sure, and towards the back is more preferred to me than towards the front. We have stayed in similarly located cabins in the past, and while I am not keen on having to walk very far (depending on the day unfortunately) it wasn't really that far to walk. With the location between decks (usually nice and quiet) I would give that a big tick and be happy with it :) Particularly for that price difference. January is generally pretty expensive so I would say you have done very well. Have a great trip. We will be on Explorer in February. Looking forward to that. :D

[MicCanberra]

Those cabins sound fine to me. have a great cruise.:D

[Willow45]

I would be happy with getting a D for sure, and towards the back is more preferred to me than towards the front. We have stayed in similarly located cabins in the past, and while I am not keen on having to walk very far (depending on the day unfortunately) it wasn't really that far to walk. With the location between decks (usually nice and quiet) I would give that a big tick and be happy with it :) Particularly for that price difference. January is generally pretty expensive so I would say you have done very well. Have a great trip. We will be on Explorer in February. Looking forward to that. :D

 

Thanks for the info. I love these pages I get information and talk about cruising. If I saying anything more in my house about our upcoming trip I think they will throttle me..

[MicCanberra]

Thanks for the info. I love these pages I get information and talk about cruising. If I saying anything more in my house about our upcoming trip I think they will throttle me..

 

It can get like that but then people do not know what it is like being an Cruise addict.:D

[goodycruising]

Thanks for the info. I love these pages I get information and talk about cruising. If I saying anything more in my house about our upcoming trip I think they will throttle me..

Yep, the husband said yesterday he thinks he will have to stop flashing his countdown tickers on his phone to people. They are getting that glazed look. Yay....95 days to go! :D

[MicCanberra]

Yep, the husband said yesterday he thinks he will have to stop flashing his countdown tickers on his phone to people. They are getting that glazed look. Yay....95 days to go! :D

 

People around me know not to ask how long before we cruise, as they can tell by my face that it is close.;)

[gayengarry]

And sometimes they make it very hard to find out how to get the promotion. It took me ages to work out how to get the beverage Pick Your Perk on our upcoming Celebrity cruise.

 

Perhaps we need a thread here for current promotions and how to get them.

 

They must save a fortune from newbies who book direct and don't realise there are promotions.

 

A thread for 'current promotions & how to get them' would be a great idea OzKiwi ......maybe if you start it others will add their experiences?

 

cheers,

G&G :):cool:

[OzKiwiJJ]

A thread for 'current promotions & how to get them' would be a great idea OzKiwi ......maybe if you start it others will add their experiences?

 

cheers,

G&G :):cool:

 

Happy to next time I book a cruise with a promo but that could be a while. :(

 

However if I get time I might cost out the Big Better Best promo on Celebrity and use that to start the thread. It could also be a good way of determining whether the promos are actually value for money or just a trap for the unwary ;)

 

I had a quick look and the Celebrity website seems a lot better now than when I booked our Christmas cruise BUT all prices are now in USD whereas before it showed them in AUD.

[sheridan318]

Hi just got into celebrity site and all prices are in Australian dollars:D

[OzKiwiJJ]

That's weird, I can only see USD. I tried going in through the .com.au website but when I did a dummy booking it bounced me to .com with USD prices.

Edited August 5, 2015 by OzKiwiJJ

[MicCanberra]

However if I get time I might cost out the Big Better Best promo on Celebrity and use that to start the thread. It could also be a good way of determining whether the promos are actually value for money or just a trap for the unwary ;)

 

Apparently the BBB with X is not a promo but the new sale structure, time will tell I suppose.