Changing to a "guarantee" room after final payment.

[calteacher]

The price for a "guarantee" verandah room has decreased to only $10 more than we paid for a partially obscured ocean view (we selected the cabin).  When I tried to do a fake booking and selecting my own room in a Verandah category, it seems there are over 30 cabins still available.  Has anyone tried to "upgrade" in this fashion?  We have selected that we would take an upgrade.  Any suggestions?

[Cruising Is Bliss]

6 hours ago, calteacher said:

The price for a "guarantee" verandah room has decreased to only $10 more than we paid for a partially obscured ocean view (we selected the cabin).  When I tried to do a fake booking and selecting my own room in a Verandah category, it seems there are over 30 cabins still available.  Has anyone tried to "upgrade" in this fashion?  We have selected that we would take an upgrade.  Any suggestions?

 

 

Edited February 22, 2020 by Cruising Is Bliss
hit post accidently

[Alberta Quilter]

My PCC once advised that if one selects a specific cabin, one is less likely to get upgraded because it is more work for the staff assigning cabins than just placing someone who selected a guarantee cabin in the first place.  Therefore, if you would like a higher category cabin, I would contact HAL or your TA to investigate your options.  Based on the info you provided, it's what I would do.  Good luck!  And please let us know what happened.

Edited February 22, 2020 by Alberta Quilter

[VennDiagram]

We've done it a few times.  As AQ says,  contact whoever you booked through to see if you can make the move to a gty verandah, if you would like to move to one. 

[iancal]

We usually book inside the final payment window.  Always a balcony cabin, often a gty.  On several cruise lines including HAL.

 

We have never been disappointed with our cabin.  In fact, we have had  excellent assignments with regard to location, size of balcony, et,p.

 

You .have nothing to loose and everything to gain by making this request.  Do it quickly though.

[CruiserBruce]

You can't tell how many rooms are available. You can only tell how many are unassigned. Those could disappear with just one booking. For example, say there are 10 cabins in a category, and 9 are booked as guarantee bookings, which aren't assigned until about 10 days from sailing. They will all appear as available, bot if one more person books a cabin in that category, that category will now show as full, even though none of the cabins have been assigned.

 

The fact they are only allowing guarantee bookings would reinforce that this situation most likely exists. They are trying to finish selling out the ship. 

[Dogma4]

Worst cruise we took was a fancy guarantee balcony on a HAL ship....we ended up in the most forward cabin starboard, under the bridge, with shrieking wind thru balcony door that maintainance said can never be Fixed non-stop for 17 longgggg days. Never again. 

[*Miss G*]

3 hours ago, Alberta Quilter said:

My PCC once advised that if one selects a specific cabin, one is less likely to get upgraded because it is more work for the staff assigning cabins than just placing someone who selected a guarantee cabin in the first place.

 

Crumbs.  I hope not.  🙁

[calteacher]

I emailed my TA last night.  I know she only works until noon on Saturday, and I haven't heard from her.  I will actually be in the vicinity of her office Monday morning and plan to be at her office when it opens.

 

Thanks for the info.  I will let you know what I learn on Monday.

[calteacher]

Just returned from talking to my TA. Great news. I got the guarantee Veranda. Even though I should have paid $20 more, she just gave it to me for the same price. Only bad part, it's  a VH guarantee. However since there are only 4 VH cabins on the ship, I can always hope for a slightly better cabin.   Thanks for the encouragment to give it a try.

[Highway27]

When we did a VH guarantee on the Nieuw Amsterdam (I don't know if you can actually guarantee a higher class or not), we ended up with a VB. I had the same thought you did: There are only 4 of them on the ship. And even if we got one, it's still not bad.

 

[VennDiagram]

Thanks for letting us know 🙂  When I have done similar (VH gty) I have been fortunate enough to end up with a higher category.  VB once that I recall.

[leerathje]

My DH and I booked a Mexican Riviera during Black Friday sales (We leave this Saturday!) and picked our room on the Oosterdam, room 7004. Last Wednesday, my dad and his friend decided to book a last minute verandah guarantee on the same cruise.  Well, if he didn't get a VB assignment! (we had booked a VE). I had my TA call on Thursday, and HAL offered us an upsell to a Signature Guarantee.  So, we went from an assigned room to a guarantee. 

 

Now I'm waiting on pins and needles, because we haven't received our room assignment yet! 

 

L.

 

[iancal]

You are quite safe with a VH.  Really, the worst will be an obstructed OV vs a verandas  with  metal vs opaque glass.  And only four of them on the ship.   This was a no brainer.  Good for you.  Smart move.  Your chances of a higher category verandas are excellent.

Edited February 26, 2020 by iancal

[calteacher]

Checking back in.  Just checked my luggage tags today and we were given a VD cabin, forward.  Not printing the tags out yet--perhaps we will be fortunate and get another upgrade.  Not complaining as we went from a partial view (selected that cabin) to a Veranda guarantee VH to a VD.  Now, waiting to see if the sailing will happen.

[*Miss G*]

Not sure whether to “like” your post or not.    Congrats on the upgrade and best wishes for a successful and safe and happy cruise.

[awhcruiser]

I got an upgrade today from a Cat G oceanview to VD Guarantee balcony for no extra charge.  My TA told me these cabins are either in front or back of the ship.  Now the waiting game begins to see where we end up!

[calteacher]

And now, I think my DH is seriously considering cancelling the trip.  Not sure we will ever get a bargain like this again,  ($539 each for a VD veranda cabin plus $200 OBC), but his health is more important.  Smooth sailing to those who keep the cruise.  We have six days to decide, although since it seems that people are having great difficulty reaching their TAs, we may need to decide sooner.

[Queen of DaNile]

On 3/6/2020 at 9:51 PM, awhcruiser said:

I got an upgrade today from a Cat G oceanview to VD Guarantee balcony for no extra charge.  My TA told me these cabins are either in front or back of the ship.  Now the waiting game begins to see where we end up!

Did you or your TA ask for the upgrade or was it initiated by HAL?

[calteacher]

We just had a guarantee and they assigned us the cabin about a week after we switched to a guarantee. 

[Queen of DaNile]

10 minutes ago, calteacher said:

We just had a guarantee and they assigned us the cabin about a week after we switched to a guarantee. 

Thanks. With all the cancellations gong on it would make sense for HAL to make it "sweeter" for passengers to KEEP their booking rather than deal with anther FCC. Good luck with making your decision.

[awhcruiser]

30 minutes ago, Queen of DaNile said:

Did you or your TA ask for the upgrade or was it initiated by HAL?

I had noticed a price drop and my TA called HAL

 

[awhcruiser]

31 minutes ago, calteacher said:

We just had a guarantee and they assigned us the cabin about a week after we switched to a guarantee. 

Are you happy with your assignment?

[calteacher]

Bit the bullet today and cancelled our cruise.  Truly hope that those who continue on the cruise have happy, healthy days enjoying the cruise.  My TA was out today, but another TA in her office handled the cancellation.  When she was making the phone call, she said, this might take awhile.  Then a few minutes later said, this is going to be a long wait.  I will call you when I can talk to an agent--was nearly 1 1/2 hours later before she called me.  Of course, since I wasn't sitting in her office, I don't really know if it took that long to talk to a HAL agent.

[calteacher]

To awhcruises:  Sorry to not post this earier, yes we were pleased with the assignment.  It was VD6025