Guarantee cabins

[bookbabe]

Has anyone booked a Sailaway/Guarantee cabin on any of these early cruises?  What did you get versus what did you book?

 

I’m just wondering if the lower passenger counts have impacted the assignment of sailaway cabins.  I’ve seen lots of threads about the success (or lack of it) for upgrade bids, but none about the sailaway cabins.

 

(and yes, I know that you’re supposed to book the sailaway at the level you’d be happy in, I’m more just curious about what people booked and ended up in for these early cruises)

 

[kochleffel]

No experience with sailaway bookings. I changed my booking for the Breakaway on October 24 from a studio to an inside, because the Free at Sea offers had improved so much after my original booking and the fare (that day) to rebook a studio was much more than to change it to an inside. Only guarantee insides were available (that day) and within a few days I was assigned an inside on deck 5.

 

On NCL it's meaningful to distinguish between sailaway and guarantee. Sailaway fares don't include any free at sea offers and the number offered is limited; they sometimes sell out early. Guarantee bookings are typically offered when the category is almost fully booked. Because of bidding for upgrades, in addition to cancellations, the lower categories almost always open up. This year, with ships intentionally less than full, I have no idea what is really going on.

Edited October 1, 2021 by kochleffel

[hawkeyetlse]

There is still plenty of availability on my Getaway sailing, but for some reason when I asked to upgrade my BX, they would only let me book BA as a GTY. The gamble paid off, because I was just assigned an aft-facing balcony B1, currently selling for more than 4 times what I paid! 🤩

 

This is not a cabin that I would ever have chosen for myself, so I'm looking forward to seeing what all the fuss is about…

[Kellerfox]

We booked a GTD suite and were assigned a club balcony suite (lowest possible room class in our GTD) apx. 28/29 days before the cruise. This was after final payment, but before upgrade bidding opened (I believe, though my timeline may be off). We were hoping with the low occupancy that we would get upgraded... But it appears that NCL is preferring to cash in on the available higher class rooms by maximizing available bid upgrades (which I completely understand from a business perspective). We also were not invited to bid on an upgrade. I am unsure if that was luck if the draw (I know they don't offer everyone), or if all GTD passengers are excluded from bidding.

 

All of that said, we were very happy with our room and had a fantastic cruise. As this board always says, if you go GTD, book the minimum room you'd be happy with. We did.

 

Edit: This was on the Encore Sept. 25 sailing. This was also our first time on NCL (no latitude ranking).

Edited October 2, 2021 by Kellerfox

[ggTexasGal]

1 hour ago, Kellerfox said:

We booked a GTD suite and were assigned a club balcony suite (lowest possible room class in our GTD) apx. 28/29 days before the cruise. This was after final payment, but before upgrade bidding opened (I believe, though my timeline may be off). We were hoping with the low occupancy that we would get upgraded... But it appears that NCL is preferring to cash in on the available higher class rooms by maximizing available bid upgrades (which I completely understand from a business perspective). We also were not invited to bid on an upgrade. I am unsure if that was luck if the draw (I know they don't offer everyone), or if all GTD passengers are excluded from bidding.

 

All of that said, we were very happy with our room and had a fantastic cruise. As this board always says, if you go GTD, book the minimum room you'd be happy with. We did.

 

Edit: This was on the Encore Sept. 25 sailing. This was also our first time on NCL (no latitude ranking).

It would seem that you booked your reservation through a Travel Agency of some sort.  If that is the case, you might not have been eligible to bid for an upgrade, since not all travel agencies participate in the program.

Also, you state that you had a GTD suite, however, NCL doesn't use that code.

Additionally, Club Balcony Suites are not (never have been) actual suites, but some travel sites sell them as if they are.

 

None-the-less, it's wonderful that you were happy with your stateroom and had a fantastic cruise!!!

[freaky_82]

I booked a Sailaway cabin online about 60 days before sailing date. I got my cabin number the week before online check in opened up, so around 23 days before cruise.

 

I booked a Balcony on the Getaway and got a BB on deck 10. 

I never cruised on NCL before but it looks like a pretty average cabin. I'm quite happy with the assignment as I never hoped for an upgrade. I'm not even sure to what they could have upgraded me or what the difference there is between BB and BA cabins. 

 

I got offered to put in a bid for an upgrade but didn't participate.