Cabin allocation

[elmsliebev]

We booked a guarantee balcony cabin on our Virtuosa cruise departing Southampton on 3rd March - when can I expect to find out which cabin we are getting? Our last cruise with Cunard we found out 2 weeks before sailing - similar for MSC? Thanks.

[JT1962]

I booked a guarantee cabin on Divina for my cruise in October and it was assigned about 2 weeks after I booked in March. I have had other cruise lines assign a guarantee cabin as late as 2 days prior to sailing.

[elmsliebev]

1 hour ago, JT1962 said:

I booked a guarantee cabin on Divina for my cruise in October and it was assigned about 2 weeks after I booked in March. I have had other cruise lines assign a guarantee cabin as late as 2 days prior to sailing.

thanks, I'll keep looking!

[HipHipOnAShip]

It can be assigned up to 2 days BEFORE the sailing....

 

[elmsliebev]

15 hours ago, HipHipOnAShip said:

It can be assigned up to 2 days BEFORE the sailing....

 

thanks

[Georgia_Peaches]

On 11/30/2022 at 11:32 AM, JT1962 said:

I booked a guarantee cabin on Divina for my cruise in October and it was assigned about 2 weeks after I booked in March. I have had other cruise lines assign a guarantee cabin as late as 2 days prior to sailing.

Were you happy with your cabin assignment and would you do guarantee again?  We have some friends who are considering a guarantee but I think I may have dissuaded them because I've heard that they generally assign the "undesirable" cabins.  As I've never done it, I'm kinda regretting giving them my opinion.

[HipHipOnAShip]

13 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Were you happy with your cabin assignment and would you do guarantee again?  We have some friends who are considering a guarantee but I think I may have dissuaded them because I've heard that they generally assign the "undesirable" cabins.  As I've never done it, I'm kinda regretting giving them my opinion.

Actually the opposite CAN happen given the new MSC "levels" of cabins.  While many people might spring for the Fantastica level in order to pick a cabin, they might choose cabins in the "first" tier, rather than spending another $40/$60/$80 (or whatever) to go to what MSC decides is a more desirable cabin.  Those are often left open and are assigned to Bella guests.

 

[Stockjock]

When I booked a Celebrity GUAR cabin, I was immediately assigned the worst cabin on the ship.

Before the bidding upgrade system was put into place on MSC, you had a very good shot at a major upgrade under Bella.  Now, it's still possible, but the odds are worse.  Better than Celebrity or most/all other cruise lines, but the upgrades aren't as generous or plentiful as they were.  And as others mentioned, those cabin assignments could come quickly (less likely) or close to sailing (much more likely).

In the past, I would have recommended booking Bella as you had a good chance to get a better cabin than you paid for.  At this stage, I'd only book Fantastica.

[elmsliebev]

3 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Were you happy with your cabin assignment and would you do guarantee again?  We have some friends who are considering a guarantee but I think I may have dissuaded them because I've heard that they generally assign the "undesirable" cabins.  As I've never done it, I'm kinda regretting giving them my opinion.

We were upgraded with Costa to a cabin above the nightclub which was fun! But that's the only one that has ever been a problem. 

 

On QE this year our GUAR cabin was perfect and others have been absolutely fine. We're honestly not bothered where we are and this MSC one is our first MSC and was a bargain price so we're happy to be anywhere. We've pre-booked a cabin with Marella when we were travelling with my parents and wanted to be near them, and on P&O because the difference in fares was very small when the OBC was included. Long way of saying, yes I'd do GUAR again! 

[elmsliebev]

1 hour ago, Stockjock said:

When I booked a Celebrity GUAR cabin, I was immediately assigned the worst cabin on the ship.

Before the bidding upgrade system was put into place on MSC, you had a very good shot at a major upgrade under Bella.  Now, it's still possible, but the odds are worse.  Better than Celebrity or most/all other cruise lines, but the upgrades aren't as generous or plentiful as they were.  And as others mentioned, those cabin assignments could come quickly (less likely) or close to sailing (much more likely).

In the past, I would have recommended booking Bella as you had a good chance to get a better cabin than you paid for.  At this stage, I'd only book Fantastica.

what's the upgrade bidding system? Not heard of that. 

[JT1962]

7 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Were you happy with your cabin assignment and would you do guarantee again?  We have some friends who are considering a guarantee but I think I may have dissuaded them because I've heard that they generally assign the "undesirable" cabins.  As I've never done it, I'm kinda regretting giving them my opinion.

I was happy for the most part with the cabin assignment. It was a Fantastica Cabin on Deck 10 about 3/4 of the way to the back of the ship. It was very convenient to the passenger elevators / stair well with no noise from those.  The only issue was there was a crew hallway and stairway on the other side of the wall that you could hear doors slam and people using the metal stairs at times. Luckily it was mainly during the day and not a problem at night. 
 

I usually pick my cabin, but Fantastica was $ 150 up charge above Bella on that cruise. On my previous cruise in January and my 3 cruises for 2023, Fantastica was $ 25 or less extra for solo, so I picked my cabin for those.

Edited December 2, 2022 by JT1962

[elmsliebev]

we've got our cabin, Deck 12 deluxe (not partial view) aft. Only cabins above & below us, happy with that.