INTERESTING BOOKING FOR EUROPE!

[PoohUnderstands]

My computer and browsers were acting up and couldn't get pricing and booking for Europe , June, 2021, so I called and booked on phone.  I wish to do a Norway-Iceland cruise on the Grand Princess because of the itinerary and availability(hopefully) for a WS.  Well, the only WS left was F301 which if you look on the deck plans is the smallest WS  and furthest forward.  Not the best, but the only WS left.  So I put a hold booking on it until I can "see" pricing etc. on the website later in the day.  So finally I get one of my browsers to work and can look up this cruise online and it shows WS still available to book?!  That seemed weird to me as I had booked the last available WS supposedly.  So I click to make a booking and what comes up is the same pricing but a guarantee booking for a S7 category!!!  I mean I have never seen a guarantee booking available for a WS before!  Either there are specific cabins( 7  in all), to choose from or else it shows sold out and simply not an option to begin with.  But a guarantee?  Ok, so this means I am guaranteed a S7 or better category cabin for my sailing, right?  So the worst I could do so to speak is get F301 which I had originally booked anyway.  Or if really lucky get a regular suite of some kind.  What's to lose?  So I call again, and speak to a rep and verify that I really do understand a guaranteed booking as I have always picked a specific room before and yes, it is as I thought.  So I rebook as a S7 Guarantee.  So then I go back in for the heck of it, and now the only choice you have for a WS is to pick F301!!!!!!  No guarantees available.  Now this is the first day of booking for June, 2021, so more than likely someone is going to pick F301 before the cruise as it is the last WS showing not sold.  So I am thinking, how will there be any WS's left by the time I am assigned a room?  Interesting concept isn't it?  Now I just have to wait up to two weeks or day of to find out which stateroom I will be in!  

 

Anyone else ever have a S7 guarantee room?

 

Pooh

[shutterbug12]

Yes, we booked a window suite guarantee a few years ago and ended up in the accessible cabin. The last WS is reserved as an accessible cabin and will always show up as booked on the website. However, since nobody booked it, it ended up as our guarantee assignment. 

Just as a heads up, the accessible WS does not have a bathtub, whereas the others do.

[PoohUnderstands]

2 minutes ago, shutterbug12 said:

Yes, we booked a window suite guarantee a few years ago and ended up in the accessible cabin. The last WS is reserved as an accessible cabin and will always show up as booked on the website. However, since nobody booked it, it ended up as our guarantee assignment. 

Just as a heads up, the accessible WS does not have a bathtub, whereas the others do.

Thanks for the information. That would be great if we were to get the accessible cabin over F301.  We never take baths anyway and room bigger and closer to the atrium!  So that would be fine too!

[dickinson]

You might also find yourself in one of the other WS as the cruise is far off and there could be cancellations.  Then again, someone could pick the now available cabin and by the time they are doing the guarantees you could end up in a full suite 😉  

[voljeep]

1 hour ago, PoohUnderstands said:

Now this is the first day of booking for June, 2021, so more than likely someone is going to pick F301 before the cruise as it is the last WS showing not sold.  So I am thinking, how will there be any WS's left by the time I am assigned a room?  Interesting concept isn't it?  Now I just have to wait up to two weeks or day of to find out which stateroom I will be in!  

 

Anyone else ever have a S7 guarantee room?

 

Pooh

Us, no ...

 

but I/we would ride this to the very end ... already planning some alternative cruise(s) ... 'cause someone ... maybe you... might end up with a really outstanding move over/down offer for the GTY ... just 22 MONTHS to go !!!

[rocklinmom]

Wow that is interesting! I am looking at that same cruise and we can't afford the WS's anyway (need two cabins for the five of us). I am wondering, since you already booked it, was it the usual ten percent deposit and was it refundable? I would hope so this far out. And also was the Captain's Circle Launch Savings applied? 

[PoohUnderstands]

18 hours ago, rocklinmom said:

Wow that is interesting! I am looking at that same cruise and we can't afford the WS's anyway (need two cabins for the five of us). I am wondering, since you already booked it, was it the usual ten percent deposit and was it refundable? I would hope so this far out. And also was the Captain's Circle Launch Savings applied? 

Yes, it is a refundable 10%pp deposit and Captains' Circle Launch Savings was applied of $100 each on this one.  If you log in before you look for a cruise on the website, then the pricing will reflect the $100 off pp.

 

Pooh

[dickinson]

PoohUnderstands -  I just have to tell you how much I love your CC name.  One of my granddaughters got a Pooh stuffed animal when a baby (she is now in elementary school).  She became so attached that Pooh had to go everywhere... even if he stayed in the car.  I am sure she would agree with you that Pooh understands 🙂

 

Also my dd when a baby got a Pooh.  Actually, went through five of them for various reasons.  Was quite attached.  Pooh definitely understands!

 

[Hlitner]

We have done more then our share of guarantees and its always been fun to see how it turns out.  But you cannot look at current cabin availability and apply it to the cabin you will ultimately be assigned.  As some point in the booking cycle (usually inside the final payment period) the cruise line staff will start to play "cabin shuffle."    Some passengers will be offered upsells, cabins will be opened,  other passengers will be offered upsells to the opened cabin(s), etc.  By the time you actually cruise most of those who currently have assigned WS's might be elsewhere.  And also consider that some cabins might not even show in inventory because they are being held out for those booking back to backs (very common on European cruises) or perhaps for some cruise agencies or consortiums that have blocked out specific cabin categories for group or other types of promotional sales.

[PoohUnderstands]

On 8/14/2019 at 1:33 PM, voljeep said:

Us, no ...

 

but I/we would ride this to the very end ... already planning some alternative cruise(s) ... 'cause someone ... maybe you... might end up with a really outstanding move over/down offer for the GTY ... just 22 MONTHS to go !!!

Hi, voljeep:

Never thought about the moveover/down offer possibility!!  Was just hoping for better WS position or even a suite!  Now I will really have to do some thinking just to be prepared!

 

Pooh

[PoohUnderstands]

5 hours ago, Hlitner said:

We have done more then our share of guarantees and its always been fun to see how it turns out.  But you cannot look at current cabin availability and apply it to the cabin you will ultimately be assigned.  As some point in the booking cycle (usually inside the final payment period) the cruise line staff will start to play "cabin shuffle."    Some passengers will be offered upsells, cabins will be opened,  other passengers will be offered upsells to the opened cabin(s), etc.  By the time you actually cruise most of those who currently have assigned WS's might be elsewhere.  And also consider that some cabins might not even show in inventory because they are being held out for those booking back to backs (very common on European cruises) or perhaps for some cruise agencies or consortiums that have blocked out specific cabin categories for group or other types of promotional sales.

I gotcha.  I really don't care because in this particular instance only, I cannot do worse than if I had booked a specific WS as when I called (the first morning I could!) the only one left was F301.  So I mean, in this case, the worse I could do is end up in F301 anyway and might get a better located WS or even a suite.  So in this case, I decided it would be fun to go with the S7 guarantee!

 

Pooh

[caribill]

3 hours ago, PoohUnderstands said:

I gotcha.  I really don't care because in this particular instance only, I cannot do worse than if I had booked a specific WS as when I called (the first morning I could!) the only one left was F301.  So I mean, in this case, the worse I could do is end up in F301 anyway and might get a better located WS or even a suite.  So in this case, I decided it would be fun to go with the S7 guarantee!

 

Pooh

 

 

Please do come back when you get your cabin assigned and let us know how it turned out.

[cruisequeen4ever]

Hope you get an awesome upgrade, and like you said, worst case, you end up with your chosen category!