Royal picks your room - help pls

[hollon]

When I go to book a cruise, I click on balcony room, it then goes to a page to let Royal chose your room or You pick your room. When Royal chooses the room, the room can be Boardwalk balcony, Central Park balcony, or Ocean View Balcony, it's not just O.V. Balcony, correct?

 

Thanks

[SilkySal]

Correct. I always pick my own room; not that much more most times in my opinion and sometimes even less.

[Mum2Mercury]

True.  If you choose Balcony Guarantee, you could get 

- Central Park View 

- Oceanview Balcony 

- Connecting Oceanview Balcony 

- Spacious Oceanview Balcony 

 

Personally, I wouldn't do guarantee with a balcony, even though the price difference can be as much as $150/person.  

 

On the other hand, if you're looking at an inside room, a guarantee is a pretty good value -- the difference in the available rooms is small: 

- We sailed in September, and booking an interior guarantee saved us about $300 total.  We had a standard inside room in an excellent mid-ship location. 

- We're sailing Monday and again we're in an interior guarantee.  At the point we booked, we saved about $120 by booking a guarantee -- but I just checked it, and if you were to book today, it'd only save you about $40.  Incidentally, this time we're in a Promenade View room.  

Edited December 2, 2022 by Mum2Mercury

[loman]

i wouldnt let them pick my room . Never much of a saving ,

[firefly333]

18 minutes ago, hollon said:

When I go to book a cruise, I click on balcony room, it then goes to a page to let Royal chose your room or You pick your room. When Royal chooses the room, the room can be Boardwalk balcony, Central Park balcony, or Ocean View Balcony, it's not just O.V. Balcony, correct?

 

Thanks

There is a gty balcony category just for OV balconys.

 

@OurusualbeachwouOurusualbeach would know. It might be either. True gotta look close.

[myacuna]

We always call and ask for OV Balcony GTY. We just sailed Wonder and did not like our chosen location - quick call fixed it (know your category, look at what is available in said category, and tell the person on the line exactly which room you want). We switched to a prime location for us at no cost.

[Ourusualbeach]

29 minutes ago, hollon said:

When I go to book a cruise, I click on balcony room, it then goes to a page to let Royal chose your room or You pick your room. When Royal chooses the room, the room can be Boardwalk balcony, Central Park balcony, or Ocean View Balcony, it's not just O.V. Balcony, correct?

 

Thanks

If you book through Royal I'm pretty sure that you get an XN gty which is a neighbourhood gty as opposed to the XB which is oceanview balcony gty.

 

If you go through a travel agent you can choose which gty you want, the XB will be higher than the XN

[Tlbecker1]

The only time that I have booked a guaranty room is a JS.  You can save a lot of $ and you know you will always get a nice room with double points.

[Mum2Mercury]

3 hours ago, firefly333 said:

There is a gty balcony category just for OV balconys.

And, of course, some ships don't have non-oceanfront balconys. 

3 hours ago, myacuna said:

We always call and ask for OV Balcony GTY. We just sailed Wonder and did not like our chosen location - quick call fixed it (know your category, look at what is available in said category, and tell the person on the line exactly which room you want). We switched to a prime location for us at no cost.

Some luck was involved in that -- not something you should assume will happen every time.  

[Biker19]

4 hours ago, loman said:

Never much of a saving ,

Some sailings have nothing but GTY available to book in certain categories and "much of a saving" is very subjective.

[ihate2cruise]

4 hours ago, hollon said:

When I go to book a cruise, I click on balcony room, it then goes to a page to let Royal chose your room or You pick your room. When Royal chooses the room, the room can be Boardwalk balcony, Central Park balcony, or Ocean View Balcony, it's not just O.V. Balcony, correct?

 

Thanks

If you want an Ocean View Balcony Guarantee you will have to call. That's what I did. It was no problem.

 

[MoniMommy]

5 hours ago, hollon said:

When I go to book a cruise, I click on balcony room, it then goes to a page to let Royal chose your room or You pick your room. When Royal chooses the room, the room can be Boardwalk balcony, Central Park balcony, or Ocean View Balcony, it's not just O.V. Balcony, correct?

 

Thanks

Yes but if you call you can book an Oceanview balcony guarantee. This I'd what I have done for my past 2 sailing and for our next cruise. So far it's been good for us. Unfortunately I can't book it online I have to call Royal to make the booking and ask for the Oceanview balcony guarantee. On the booking receipt it will say obstruction 0%.

[Starry Eyes]

Yes, for Oasis class ships one gets XN -neighborhood balcony gty  if you let Royal pick your balcony stateroom.  You should expect a Central Park or Boardwalk stateroom.  We have booked these multiple times over the years; they work out for flexible people fine who understand what they are getting.

[sdrocks]

21 hours ago, loman said:

i wouldnt let them pick my room . Never much of a saving ,

I agree.  

[Jetdriver787]

Depends on the class of ship I guess? I’ve had some real savings on letting them pick recently. 40% on a a short cruise balcony guarantee on Anthem. Similar saving on a 7 night Caribbean that we are currently on. Did a suite guarantee on a 14 night Caribbean that resulted in a well placed JS that we were very happy with. That saved around 50% on a “selected” JS. Then the royal up bid was also accepted and that saved just over $5000 on booking the same GS.

[davekathy]

22 hours ago, SilkySal said:

I always pick my own room

We always do too. We want to know the cabin and location. Not into surprises when it comes to our cabin location and number.  

[Mum2Mercury]

17 hours ago, MoniMommy said:

Yes but if you call you can book an Oceanview balcony guarantee ... On the booking receipt it will say obstruction 0%.

I didn't know you could call and ask for a guaranteed oceanview balcony -- there's a world of difference between an "inside balcony" and an "oceanview balcony.  With that in mind, I'd be willing to roll the dice.  

4 hours ago, Starry Eyes said:

... they work out for flexible people fine who understand what they are getting.

That's the key:  understand what you're getting.  I strongly suspect that the people who are disappointed are the people who didn't read carefully /didn't ask /didn't understand what they could get.  If you book a guarantee, you should always assume you'll end up with the lowest possible option -- and decide if that's going to please you.

18 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Some sailings have nothing but GTY available to book in certain categories and "much of a saving" is very subjective.

Definitely!  "Worth it" to you might not be "worth it" to me.  

 

Edited December 3, 2022 by Mum2Mercury

[Starry Eyes]

23 minutes ago, Mum2Mercury said:

I didn't know you could call and ask for a guaranteed oceanview balcony -- there's a world of difference between an "inside balcony" and an "oceanview balcony.  With that in mind, I'd be willing to roll the dice.  

That's the key:  understand what you're getting.  I strongly suspect that the people who are disappointed are the people who didn't read carefully /didn't ask /didn't understand what they could get.  If you book a guarantee, you should always assume you'll end up with the lowest possible option -- and decide if that's going to please you.

Definitely!  "Worth it" to you might not be "worth it" to me.  

 

Individual’s cabin preferences vary, so it can be difficult for newbies to identify all the pitfalls.  The “lowest possible” subcategory is not necessarily the worst cabin for that individual.  For example, we have posters complain if their assigned cabin is next to the elevator lobby while another dislikes a cabin that is a long walk from the elevator…neither opinion is wrong, but, if those are strong feelings, perhaps neither one should book gty. One should be very flexible about location and should not be noise sensitive, as there is a risk one will get a cabin in a noisier location.  My assigned cabins generally have not been noisy, but I am aware of the risk.

The magnitude of the savings varies from cruise to cruise and time of booking.  Sometimes there is minimal or no savings by booking gty.  Other times there is a substantial savings.  Sometimes the only way to get a cabin in the desired category is gty.

[Thisguylikestocruise]

I have 2 upcoming cruises. For the Caribbean I picked our ocean view balcony room on Wonder OTS, because we plan on spending time enjoying the balcony. 
 

The Greek Isles cruise is a very port heavy itinerary so booked an interior GTY on Odyssey OTS. Saves $424 over picking an interior room, and $1,600+ from choosing a balcony. We’re just using the room as a place to sleep, since we’ll be exploring places off and on the ship during the day. 

Edited December 3, 2022 by Thisguylikestocruise

[loman]

5 hours ago, Jetdriver787 said:

Depends on the class of ship I guess? I’ve had some real savings on letting them pick recently. 40% on a a short cruise balcony guarantee on Anthem. Similar saving on a 7 night Caribbean that we are currently on. Did a suite guarantee on a 14 night Caribbean that resulted in a well placed JS that we were very happy with. That saved around 50% on a “selected” JS. Then the royal up bid was also accepted and that saved just over $5000 on booking the same GS.

Thats a good chunk of change you got there . 

I always only see around a hundred bucks for an oceanview balcony , so thats why i would never consider it.

[Morecruisesplz]

On 12/2/2022 at 4:12 PM, myacuna said:

We always call and ask for OV Balcony GTY. We just sailed Wonder and did not like our chosen location - quick call fixed it (know your category, look at what is available in said category, and tell the person on the line exactly which room you want). We switched to a prime location for us at no cost.

You should not be able to get the lower guarantee rate then pick your cabin. How is that fair?

[myacuna]

1 hour ago, fredmdcruisers said:

You should not be able to get the lower guarantee rate then pick your cabin. How is that fair?

I’m not switching categories. I’m just asking for a different room within my category so my location that I prefer may not be what somebody else prefers. As long as there’s cabins available in your category, you can move.

[Starry Eyes]

2 hours ago, fredmdcruisers said:

You should not be able to get the lower guarantee rate then pick your cabin. How is that fair?

Royal Caribbean sets the rules; cruisers just play by those rules.  Sometimes some are able to swap cabins, but many sail in their assigned cabins (unable to swap or no good cabins to swap into).  You’ll already have picked your cabin, so it is no skin off your nose.  

[Morecruisesplz]

2 hours ago, Starry Eyes said:

Royal Caribbean sets the rules; cruisers just play by those rules.  Sometimes some are able to swap cabins, but many sail in their assigned cabins (unable to swap or no good cabins to swap into).  You’ll already have picked your cabin, so it is no skin off your nose.  

It is not a rule. Sorry, but you are wrong.

[Morecruisesplz]

3 hours ago, myacuna said:

I’m not switching categories. I’m just asking for a different room within my category so my location that I prefer may not be what somebody else prefers. As long as there’s cabins available in your category, you can move.

You are picking your cabin and refusing your guarantee for which you paid. Leave all the other choices to those who paid to pick their cabin. IMHO