Chosen GTY Balcony and Gotten a Bad Cabin?

[stevendom57]

I am one of those people that shy away from ther GTY rooms, afraid of getting a crummy location right above the Cavern Club or under the pool deck. I see many fellow cruisers responding on this forum where they chose the GTY cabin and got a great cabin. What I don't hear are complains where they received a really crummy location. Surely someone has gotten a less than desirable cabin. Let's hear your horror stories.

[All-ready2cruise]

What level of GTY cabin are you looking at?

The reason I ask is that, as others have indicated, I've not rec'd a cabin I'd complain about.  Having said that, the only levels of cabins I'll do as a GTYs are, a Balcony or Minisuite .(minisuite being a glorified baloncy cabin)  

 

I know, my bad, but the cabins I've been assigned in those categories have been fine, sometimes much better than expected. 

 

How fussy are you about location? I think that's the biggest issue when it comes to GTY cabins. Most cabins are regular size but some can be in not so nice locations. Not sure if this helps or not but hope it gives you something to consider. 

 

Cheers

 

 

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, stevendom57 said:

I am one of those people that shy away from ther GTY rooms, afraid of getting a crummy location right above the Cavern Club or under the pool deck. I see many fellow cruisers responding on this forum where they chose the GTY cabin and got a great cabin. What I don't hear are complains where they received a really crummy location. Surely someone has gotten a less than desirable cabin. Let's hear your horror stories.

Not sure what answer you want. You could get a great cabin from someone that gets an upgrade. You could get that room that no one would pay money for, so it is available. 

[motheroftwocats814]

Booked a GTY once..wound up under the pool..Never again!

[stevendom57]

I started this thread mostly out of a curiosity to find out the stories of people who have received less than desirable cabins. While I have only been on two cruises, with two more booked, I have always paid extra to choose my location. I am way too much of a control freak to allow my rather expensive vacation to be controlled by the whims of a computer algorithm.

[All-ready2cruise]

Sorry you haven't gotten the information you wanted. Sometimes, it's better to find a different kind of vacation. Hope  you find something that feels right to you. 

 

Cheers 

[phissy]

I think it depends on the ship. We booked Gty Balcony and were assigned mid ship balcony on Bliss. 

[kitkat343]

It’s a good idea to start this thread.  Most reasonable people, having chosen a gty and gotten a bad room would shrug and say well that’s the chance I took and not posted about it online, since all they would get would be a chorus of well, what did you expect?   This is your fault for booking a gty 

 

I travel with kids, so if we got a room with noise that would wake them up we’d be dead so I have no experiences to share.  

Edited July 20, 2019 by kitkat343

[fshagan]

Look at where the GTY cabins are; you don't always get those, but you could. On the Epic we got a "hull balcony" that was about 10' deep, but mostly enclosed except for a large hole in the side of the ship. It was fine for us, but was also very dark, and you couldn't see the horizon or water from inside the cabin.

 

On the Breakaway the only negative I could see about the balcony GTY cabins was they were over the theater, and had a slight obstruction in the lower 1' of the balcony glass. We ended up in a cabin that's technically forward but just one cabin from the midship cabins, on a deck with cabins above and below us. We're very happy with that one. We would be happy with any balcony on the Breakaway, but the hull cabins on the Epic are probably not something we want to do again.

[EllieinNJ]

We had a "sailaway" balcony on our Epic cruise and was praying we did not get one of those hull balconies.  Instead we got a balcony on deck 8 which was completely open on top and could not use it in the rain.

[PTC DAWG]

IF you choose a Getaway Cabin, no room to complain...IMHO...

[April42749]

My main complaint about NCL is that  unless you want to pay for "feebies" (that I personally don't want) you need the sailaway rate.

Although I've never had a problem with balconies and mini-suites.....I have one awful interior cabin (tiny....meant for 4 people and we are only 2!).  After that I still booked gty....but only for balcony.  The thing is, you need to accept what you get.  And, as someone else said, when someone comes here to complain....they won't find any sympathy.  So, going with that attitude...could you accept a cabin all the way forward?  or under the gym?  or under the buffet?  Assume that you'll get the cabin of your nightmares and chances are that you'll be pleasantly surprised!

[stevendom57]

8 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

IF you choose a Getaway Cabin, no room to complain...IMHO...

I agree. We always seem to hear about the successes with the system, not the failures. I was trying to get a feel of the chances of getting a good room if I tried a GTY. According to most of the posts that I have read, I will get a good room. I have a hard time convincing myself that good balcony rooms will be left open for GTY assignments and that people will purposely choose rooms above nightclubs, theaters and under the pool deck. It just seems like the odds are in favor of getting a not so great location. I am just trying to get realistic facts.

[April42749]

How close are you to sail date?  The closer you are, if you look at availability, you'll see what's left.

[stevendom57]

@April42749 This is more a exercise to quench my curiosity than an actual question for an upcoming cruise. I appreciate all of the offers of help, though.

 

[2+2]

We decided on our last cruise to go ahead a try the grantee balcony since it was just the two of us. We ended up directly above the Caravan club on the Bliss. The only bad thing about it was during our nightcap out on our balcony to hear the waves crashing, we could only hear the conversations from the outdoor bar just like if we were there.  We saved a few hundred dollars so made the best of it.  If you can't beat them, join them. And had fun.

    What I don't understand is that when I tried to originally book our room,  the on-line booking said all they had was GYT.  I booked fairly early,  and I really wondered why I didn't even have the option to pick my room.  Is there a way to find the rooms available to pick.  Like the deck plan that shows the reserved rooms like some other cruise lines. Any advice about how to find rooms to pick. Is Norwegian holding rooms out that should be available.  What is going on with how Norwegian books rooms. Even though I cruised with them before, I feel lost on there website, like I am missing something. 

 

[Homosassa]

NCL is not holding out the cabins. 

 

However, travel agencies and other entities may have "reserved" (for want of a better word) blocks of rooms in each category to sell on their sites. Those cabins will not be released for open sale until final payment.

 

If you can't find a cabin that you want on the NCL website, check with various on line agencies that advertise that cruise and see what cabins they have available to sell.

 

Also the advice to look to see what cabins are left to book in a guarantee category is bad advice.  Cruise lines will upsell or upgrade full fare passengers to better cabins. Those empty cabins will now be available for full fare passengers to be upsold or upgraded to and, therefore, leaving their cabins available.

 

So, if you look on line and see that all cabins in your category are booked and only guarantees are available, do not assume that your balcony guarantee will turn into a the penthouse suite.

 

Before booking a guarantee rate, look at all the cabins in your category and decide if you will be happy being assigned the one that is least desirable in your opinion.

[PortFees45]

Did a Sailaway Balcony on the Gem and wound up directly over the noisy Osheehans bar. 

[All-ready2cruise]

Again, how important is location to you? Many pax, including me, have been very pleased with their Sailaway / GTY cabins.  NCL can't please everyone, obviously there are some who attempt to save money by choosing to go with SA / GTY who should just choose their preferred cabin. 

 

I know for my first cruise, I chose my cabin.  I'd no idea what it would like. It worked out well and now I'm quite happy to do SA/GTY balconies or minisuites. 

[ddlb]

I booked an obstructed ocean view on the Jewel which was listed on Deck 8 which I thought was great. My guarantee was an"upgraded" ocean view porthole cabin mid location on Deck 4 = 4206 - right where people disembark and it looked like next to the morgue!  Yikes!  When I called I was told Deck 4 mid was better than Deck 8 (where Cagneys is and I though how convenient) - lesson learned as to what is considered an upgrade on a guarantee.  Also learned when I was assigned a guarantee  balcony cabin and the price came down in the next category to include perks I couldn't  upgrade to it because I had been assigned a higher grade cabin that was listing for more than the guarantee I orignally booked.  Bummer.  Confusing!

[CruiseGal999]

On 7/19/2019 at 7:12 PM, stevendom57 said:

I am one of those people that shy away from ther GTY rooms, afraid of getting a crummy location right above the Cavern Club or under the pool deck. I see many fellow cruisers responding on this forum where they chose the GTY cabin and got a great cabin. What I don't hear are complains where they received a really crummy location. Surely someone has gotten a less than desirable cabin. Let's hear your horror stories.

 

I've had a cabin that was 'less than desirable' but it wasn't crummy or a horror story.  It was under the buffet.  Buffet is closed and quiet by 11pm.  I'm never in bed by 11pm.  So no worries.  Yes there was some noise in the morning ... but not bad and I was up to get breakfast anyway.  

[RCT]

I just booked a gty balcony on the Jade last week for a Med cruise in October.  I really did not except to get a cabin assignment until a little later, after all the upgrading was finished.  They say it could be up to 2 days before the cruise.  But they did immediately assign us the most forward cabin on deck 8.  I think it is a hull balcony (which I don’t think we will mind), above the theater and I assume the anchor noise could be a problem.  We were hoping for better, but it is a port intensive cruise, so it probably will be fine.  Has anyone even had their gty assignment changed by NCL sometime before cruise date?

[April42749]

52 minutes ago, RCT said:

I just booked a gty balcony on the Jade last week for a Med cruise in October.  I really did not except to get a cabin assignment until a little later, after all the upgrading was finished.  They say it could be up to 2 days before the cruise.  But they did immediately assign us the most forward cabin on deck 8.  I think it is a hull balcony (which I don’t think we will mind), above the theater and I assume the anchor noise could be a problem.  We were hoping for better, but it is a port intensive cruise, so it probably will be fine.  Has anyone even had their gty assignment changed by NCL sometime before cruise date?

Yes, but I paid more.  I went from an obstructed view to a balcony.  I was ok with the obstructed view but the balcony gty plunged in price.

They won't change your cabin in that category....at least not to my knowledge.

[EllieinNJ]

On my last cruise on the Sun I booked an inside sailaway and was assigned a good IA cabin.  Then I bid the most on a balcony and got a great BA cabin.  When speaking with another couple on that cruise they were saying how great a price they paid for their BA cabin.  We still paid $2000 less than them.

[PortFees45]

2 hours ago, RCT said:

I just booked a gty balcony on the Jade last week for a Med cruise in October.  I really did not except to get a cabin assignment until a little later, after all the upgrading was finished.  They say it could be up to 2 days before the cruise.  But they did immediately assign us the most forward cabin on deck 8.  I think it is a hull balcony (which I don’t think we will mind), above the theater and I assume the anchor noise could be a problem.  We were hoping for better, but it is a port intensive cruise, so it probably will be fine.  Has anyone even had their gty assignment changed by NCL sometime before cruise date?

Only time I had it changed was when I booked an Inside Sailaway and they assigned me a Studio.