? about Guaranteed Cabins

[Newbieflorida]

Trying Guaranteed OV Balcony for 1st time in January (Wonder). I can see assignment using the "Bar Code" trick, but it's not officially posted yet (Deck 7, I'm fine with the cabin). Has anyone ever seen this change to a different cabin? Or is the Bar Code trick pretty much a done deal? Still hoping for that Fairy Upgrade!!

[PIR8LUVR]

48 minutes ago, Newbieflorida said:

Trying Guaranteed OV Balcony for 1st time in January (Wonder). I can see assignment using the "Bar Code" trick, but it's not officially posted yet (Deck 7, I'm fine with the cabin). Has anyone ever seen this change to a different cabin? Or is the Bar Code trick pretty much a done deal? Still hoping for that Fairy Upgrade!!

What is the barcode trick? I have been waiting for an assignment for my February cruise on Wonder for 6 weeks!

[Magicat]

Go to your set sail pass and scan the bar code with a QR reader.  The last digits will be your room assignment.

 

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, Newbieflorida said:

Has anyone ever seen this change to a different cabin?

The chances of your cabin changing are about the same as mask mandates coming back

[Starry Eyes]

3 hours ago, Newbieflorida said:

Trying Guaranteed OV Balcony for 1st time in January (Wonder). I can see assignment using the "Bar Code" trick, but it's not officially posted yet (Deck 7, I'm fine with the cabin). Has anyone ever seen this change to a different cabin? Or is the Bar Code trick pretty much a done deal? Still hoping for that Fairy Upgrade!!

I’m glad you are fine with the cabin, because the odds of a free upgrade at this point are negligible.

 

Once your assignment becomes official, you can look at other available cabins in your exact category (for example, D4). If you like one if the available cabins better, you might call your TA (if you used one) or Royal Caribbean (if you booked direct) and ask to swap.  
 

Are you forward or aft on deck 7?  Deck 7 aft can be a bit tricky on Oasis Class because (unlike all other decks) one cannot cross between the port side elevators/stairs and the starboard side elevators/stairs.  Thus you must be certain you are returning to your cabin on the correct set of elevators/stairs or you will be inconvenienced (going down a floor across and back up).

[hoosier sailor]

chances are the room you are assigned will be the room you get. On my last b2b both rooms were spot on.

[Newbieflorida]

2 hours ago, Starry Eyes said:

Are you forward or aft on deck 7?

Aft, but only 5 cabins back of the aft elevators. Do you think this is a problem?

[Tatka]

Agree about room assignments ... because of Royal Up it is rare to get "upgraded" from GTY class.

However money are still saved on GTY in comparisson to assined.

[Starry Eyes]

1 hour ago, Newbieflorida said:

Aft, but only 5 cabins back of the aft elevators. Do you think this is a problem?

Yes, anyone in a cabin on deck 7 that regularly uses aft elevator (so back half of ship, give or take) has to be careful to be on the correct side elevator (or stair) when returning to their cabin.  I suspect some people have an easier time remembering this than others.

 

There is a big “Boardwalk” sign that prevents people from crossing on deck seven aft.  Obviously it is not an impossibly difficult problem 😀.  It is just something you might want to know because you might have an option to swap cabins (or maybe not).  I have never stayed on deck 7 aft.  The location would not be my first choice, but it certainly would not be my last.  

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, Tatka said:

Agree about room assignments ... because of Royal Up it is rare to get "upgraded" from GTY class.

Not sure Royal Up has affected assignments much - most wins come after GTY cabin assignments. Cabin upgrades were just as rare before Royal Up started. 

[timf2001]

Does Royal Caribbean always wait until the last minute to assign GTY cabins, or can they assign them much earlier?  I'm considering a suite GTY for May 2024 and with plenty of JS cabins available at the moment I wonder if the assignment would come sooner rather than later.

Edited December 21, 2022 by timf2001

[Starry Eyes]

2 minutes ago, timf2001 said:

Does Royal Caribbean always wait until the last minute to assign GTY cabins, or can they assign them much earlier?  I'm considering a suite GTY for May 2024 and with plenty of JS cabins available at the moment I wonder if the assignment would come sooner rather than later.

Some are assigned early, some late.  I think most are assigned payment.  
 

That plenty of cabins are currently available for a 2024 cruise does not help me guess whether an assignment will come sooner or not.  

[PIR8LUVR]

13 hours ago, timf2001 said:

Does Royal Caribbean always wait until the last minute to assign GTY cabins, or can they assign them much earlier?  I'm considering a suite GTY for May 2024 and with plenty of JS cabins available at the moment I wonder if the assignment would come sooner rather than later.

I booked in early November for a late February cruise on Wonder. I am still waiting on my assignment. I have not booked GTYs often, but don't remember having to wait this long in the past.

[billslowsky]

16 hours ago, Tatka said:

Agree about room assignments ... because of Royal Up it is rare to get "upgraded" from GTY class.

However money are still saved on GTY in comparisson to assined.

I was upgraded from a GTY inside to a balcony using Royal Up in September, bid $5 over the minimum.  Someone cancelled, we kept getting their notices.

Edited December 21, 2022 by billslowsky

[Tatka]

1 hour ago, billslowsky said:

I was upgraded from a GTY inside to a balcony using Royal Up in September, bid $5 over the minimum.  Someone cancelled, we kept getting their notices.

Exactly. People bid and get upgrades. No need to upgrade GTYs automatically

[Mum2Mercury]

On 12/20/2022 at 10:32 AM, Newbieflorida said:

Trying Guaranteed OV Balcony for 1st time in January (Wonder). I can see assignment using the "Bar Code" trick, but it's not officially posted yet (Deck 7, I'm fine with the cabin). Has anyone ever seen this change to a different cabin? Or is the Bar Code trick pretty much a done deal? Still hoping for that Fairy Upgrade!!

We've done guarantees for our last two cruises ... the bar code trick worked perfectly for us /gave us our cabin number before it was "official".  Two experiences doesn't seem to be "a rule", but our cabin numbers never changed. 

 

No to the upgrade fairy -- abandon hope, all ye who enter here.  Since Royal figured out they could "sell" upgrades through Royal Up, they turned their back on free upgrades, which garnered them only the unpaid goodwill of a handful of travelers.  From a business point of view, I get it. 

 

You said you did a oceanview balcony guarantee?  Then you know exactly what your room will be ... it's just the location you don't know.  We did an inside guarantee, and we got a Promenade View on our second cruise.  This was not an upgrade (though it felt like one) because a Promenade View IS an interior room.  If you had done a straight-up balcony guarantee, you'd be waiting to see whether you were assigned to a Boardwalk, Central Park or oceanview balcony. 

18 hours ago, Starry Eyes said:

 I have never stayed on deck 7 aft.  

We've been on the 6th floor for both of our guarantees, and it's become our favorite floor, though we know it's not considered "prime real estate".   One set of stairs down for a drink, a sandwich or pizza.  One floor down to the dining room.  We make those short trips multiple times each day.  

 

In your case, being 5 cabins away from the aft elevators is a good thing.  You will have more people walking past your cabin, but you're closer to everything.  

17 hours ago, timf2001 said:

Does Royal Caribbean always wait until the last minute to assign GTY cabins, or can they assign them much earlier?  I'm considering a suite GTY for May 2024 and with plenty of JS cabins available at the moment I wonder if the assignment would come sooner rather than later.

Again, two experiences does not "a rule" make, but we think it varies by ship.  On our first recent guarantee, we learned our room number through the bar code trick maybe 30 days ahead of sailing; the room number became "official" on our boarding pass 2 days later (?).  On our second, it was more like 20 days before sailing, and the number didn't show up on our boarding pass /didn't become official until maybe 3-4 days before sailing, which annoyed me to no end because I wanted to print the boarding pass!  

Edited December 21, 2022 by Mum2Mercury

[Starry Eyes]

2 minutes ago, Mum2Mercury said:

We've done guarantees for our last two cruises ... the bar code trick worked perfectly for us /gave us our cabin number before it was "official".  Two experiences doesn't seem to be "a rule", but our cabin numbers never changed. 

 

No to the upgrade fairy -- abandon hope, all ye who enter here.  Since Royal figured out they could "sell" upgrades through Royal Up, they turned their back on free upgrades, which garnered them only the unpaid goodwill of a handful of travelers.  From a business point of view, I get it. 

 

You said you did a oceanview balcony guarantee?  Then you know exactly what your room will be ... it's just the location you don't know.  We did an inside guarantee, and we got a Promenade View on our second cruise.  This was not an upgrade (though it felt like one) because a Promenade View IS an interior room.  If you had done a straight-up balcony guarantee, you'd be waiting to see whether you were assigned to a Boardwalk, Central Park or oceanview balcony. 

We've been on the 6th floor for both of our guarantees, and it's become our favorite floor, though we know it's not considered "prime real estate".   One set of stairs down for a drink, a sandwich or pizza.  One floor down to the dining room.  We make those short trips multiple times each day.  

 

Semantics or attitude, but if I booked an inside guarantee and received anything more than a standard inside cabin (the type of inside for which others pay $), I’d consider it a free upgrade.  Virtual balcony or promenade view would be nice free upgrades to me.

 

Deck six is also my favorite on Oasis class.  Like you, we find it convenient, too.  In addition to your points, if one is aft, Boardwalk and a nice bar are so convenient.  If one is forward, the fitness center, spa and vitality cafe are nearby.  Deck 8 is my second choice with Central Park and all it’s amenities.

 I do not wish to be negative about deck 7: If one has a decent sense of direction and is remembers to get on the correct set of elevators/stairs, a cabin on deck 7 aft is fairly close plenty of wonderful features.  I have not wanted to put myself to that directional test after cocktails😀

[Mum2Mercury]

26 minutes ago, Starry Eyes said:

... Virtual balcony or promenade view would be nice free upgrades to me ...  I do not wish to be negative about deck 7: If one has a decent sense of direction and is remembers to get on the correct set of elevators/stairs, a cabin on deck 7 aft is fairly close plenty of wonderful features ... 

I don't get why anyone would be interested in the virtual balcony.  Turn on the TV in a standard inside room, and you can have the same thing.  

 

Having had a promenade view, it DID feel like an upgrade, though technically it was not.  

 

I've always thought I had a pretty decent sense of direction on a ship (not on the highway, but that's not the issue right now); that is, once I've been in/out of my cabin, I've always known which way was forward.  Not so with this last cruise:  

- We were just about exactly mid-ship /just about exactly halfway between the forward and aft elevators; as such, we used the two sets of elevators about equally ... and it threw me off. 

- I also had some trouble exiting the elevators and remembering which side was port.  I solved this problem by remembering the artwork inside the hallways.  

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Turn on the TV in a standard inside room, and you can have the same thing.  

Pretty sure you can't get the camera view which is used on the virtual balcony screen to come on the TV.

[Tatka]

Virtual balcony is very different from that channel.

We like it a lot. Although we use it on Anthem all the time.

Almost all if not all insides on Anthem have them by design.

Not sure if they are different for VB on older ships.

Edited December 21, 2022 by Tatka

[HappyTexan44]

2 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

- I also had some trouble exiting the elevators and remembering which side was port.  I solved this problem by remembering the artwork inside the hallways.  

I used in a tech manufacturing building built during the cold war.  Neither the offices nor the elevator floors had numbers.  Presumably a spy could be spotted because they would wander around lost.  So, you learned to navigate by art.   For example, for the cafeteria you got off the elevator the Grand Canyon picture.  Spotting spies would never have worked.   Any construction that blocked off a hallway led to many employees wandering around lost.  One day they moved the art around and all hell broke loose.  
 

[chaswelf]

21 hours ago, timf2001 said:

Does Royal Caribbean always wait until the last minute to assign GTY cabins, or can they assign them much earlier?  I'm considering a suite GTY for May 2024 and with plenty of JS cabins available at the moment I wonder if the assignment would come sooner rather than later.

We are on the wonder this march and had a JS GTY and was assigned a cabin a couple of weeks ago,  but I've also had it happen just days before boarding.  YMMV

[Mum2Mercury]

9 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Pretty sure you can't get the camera view which is used on the virtual balcony screen to come on the TV.

8 hours ago, Tatka said:

Virtual balcony is very different from that channel.

We like it a lot. Although we use it on Anthem all the time.

Almost all if not all insides on Anthem have them by design.

Not sure if they are different for VB on older ships.

The TV channel shows you what's happening at the front of the ship -- whether it's dark or light, whether it's raining or sunny.  Basic concept is the same as virtual balcony.  

7 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

I used in a tech manufacturing building built during the cold war.  Neither the offices nor the elevator floors had numbers.  Presumably a spy could be spotted because they would wander around lost.  So, you learned to navigate by art.   For example, for the cafeteria you got off the elevator the Grand Canyon picture.  Spotting spies would never have worked.   Any construction that blocked off a hallway led to many employees wandering around lost.  One day they moved the art around and all hell broke loose.  

Sounds kinda like a building at my so-many-years-ago college.  Five floor building.  Instead of numbering the floors 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 like any normal human being would do ... they numbered them in the order in which they were completed!  Who on earth thought that was a good idea? 

6 hours ago, chaswelf said:

We are on the wonder this march and had a JS GTY and was assigned a cabin a couple of weeks ago,  but I've also had it happen just days before boarding.  YMMV

Three months early?  WOW.

[Tatka]

Basic concept is very different than virtual balcony though. If we didn’t sail with VB 7 times and didn’t use this channel on most of other cruises (about 40 times insides) I’d agree more 🙂 

 

Not sure about paying much for upgrade, but this is how it looks and feels. We enjoy them

 

 

 

[Mum2Mercury]

Maybe the value doesn't translate well through the computer images.