No guarantee assignment 10 days out...........

[DaveOKC]

On a cruise where my category has been SOLD OUT for a month.  Others on my roll call have gotten there assignments, even those who like me are on a back to back (and their category is not sold out?  What gives??  I would really like to know if I am getting the same cabin on my b2b (first leg I picked my cabin).

 

[FlorenceItaly]

I know you have a good relationship with your PCC.  I would contact them and see what they can find out.

[DaveOKC]

8 minutes ago, FlorenceItaly said:

I know you have a good relationship with your PCC.  I would contact them and see what they can find out.

I did and she called me again on Friday.  She said that she shows the cabin as open, but she also does not know why it has not been assigned yet.  She did mark my file to indicate which cabin I wanted.

Crazy thing is that my guarantee is for an SB (only SAs and SBs on this ship) and I only want an SB (there are only two of them).  Its not like I am looking for an upgrade, just give me the SB!  Sometimes a no brainer deal is hard for HAL to understand - they probably think I am trying to scam them somehow.

Edited September 17, 2023 by DaveOKC

[kazu]

I’ve seen guarantees not assigned until later than 10 days.

 

I think @FlorenceItaly has given you sage advice 🙂 

 

If you DO have to change rooms, it is not that difficult, honest.
 

Minimal packing and HAL takes care of it all.  It was a smooth process for us.

 

edited to say - apologies just saw your post.

[DaveOKC]

25 minutes ago, kazu said:

I’ve seen guarantees not assigned until later than 10 days.

 

I think @FlorenceItaly has given you sage advice 🙂 

 

If you DO have to change rooms, it is not that difficult, honest.
 

Minimal packing and HAL takes care of it all.  It was a smooth process for us.

 

edited to say - apologies just saw your post.

Thanks.  Only issue is that I am leaving for the first cruise and would like to have the second one wrapped up before I leave.  As you say, its not a big issue though.  What I do not understand is why its not been assigned since its SOLD OUT for a month or more.

 

 

[kazu]

13 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

Thanks.  Only issue is that I am leaving for the first cruise and would like to have the second one wrapped up before I leave.  As you say, its not a big issue though.  What I do not understand is why its not been assigned since its SOLD OUT for a month or more.

 

 

 

I totally understand and get it.  I don’t know why HAL doesn’t assign once a ship is sold out unless they are waiting for possible cancellations?  🤷‍♂️

[kirkc]

Always said that if you want a specific cabin…book it. Don’t let someone else make the choice for you then stew and whine about it.

[RD64]

So you are upset because you booked a guarantee - and I am assuming that you know the process in which guarantees can be assigned - and you are upset because they are not updating you in a timeline which you personally feel unacceptable. If you are on a B2B you could have a lot longer than ten days to wait.

 

Last month I was on a B2B - cabin assigned on two fully booked cruises about a month out. The couple in the next cabin - also on a B2B received their week one cabin allocation at the pier. For week #2 - they found out on the Friday night - for the next cruise leaving on Sunday.

 

If you want to play the guarantee game you have to play by their rules - not by the rules which suit you best.

[deliver42]

I hope it paid for you to save a couple of dollars to book a guaranty.

[KAKcruiser]

Wow!  I can't believe that people can be so rude to a poster who has provided much valuable information to this site.

[IAcruising]

1 hour ago, KAKcruiser said:

Wow!  I can't believe that people can be so rude to a poster who has provided much valuable information to this site.

 

Ok. But I can't believe someone booked a "guaranteed" cabin but isn't getting what they really want. Am I missing something here?

 

[kazu]

4 hours ago, IAcruising said:

 

Ok. But I can't believe someone booked a "guaranteed" cabin but isn't getting what they really want. Am I missing something here?

 

 

I think you are.  The ship has been sold out for several weeks.  The OP expected the guarantees to be assigned by now for that reason.   

[kochleffel]

1 hour ago, kazu said:

 

I think you are.  The ship has been sold out for several weeks.  The OP expected the guarantees to be assigned by now for that reason.   

 

I have no personal experience of a guarantee on HAL, but I've booked them on another cruise line. In my experience, it happened when there were no remaining cabins of the type, except possibly accessible cabins, but a reasonable expectation that some would open up.

 

For the kinds of cabins that I would book, the line would also have the option of assigning a better one, but I think that in this case, the booking is already for one of the best cabins on the ship. I don't think that the OP was trying to save money, but rather wanting a cabin of which there are few to begin with.

[RD64]

Although a ship may appear to be sold out, there are always cancellations, guarantees to be assigned, and upgrades to be processed. Every single cruise is different - hence why guarantees aren’t necessarily assigned until the last minute. The whole process involves a very complex algorithm.

 

For whatever reason, the OP booked a specific cabin for the first segment but not the second (perhaps it was already booked). Now - quite simply - the OP has to wait it out - and as I previously mentioned - because the second leg is a separate cruise, they potentially may not find out until we’ll into the first leg. There are no guarantees when booking a guarantee.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Sometimes a guarantee is booked because that is the only way to book a specific cruise. Over a year out, a cruise I wanted was sold out and the only way to book it was by guarantee. I don't like guarantees myself but, in this case, if I want to take this cruise, it was the only choice in the category I want. I may eventually cancel because for the amount this cruise will cost, I do not like the uncertainty of waiting until check-in to learn my cabin.

[DaveOKC]

8 hours ago, IAcruising said:

 

Ok. But I can't believe someone booked a "guaranteed" cabin but isn't getting what they really want. Am I missing something here?

 

Yes, you are all missing something here.  I am on a COASTAL cruise which only allows you to book GUARANTEES.  The reason for this is that the coastal is most times part of a longer cruise and HAL wants to keep all the options open for people wanting to book the longer cruise (56 days in this case),  I fully understand this.  IF I was able to, I would have paid extra to get my specific cabin, but on this cruise it is not an option.

 

Second, my concern was really about why HAL has taken so long to assign cabins when my category (Neptune) has been long sold out.  Also, people on our roll call have reported getting their Coastal cabin assignments in categories that are still open for booking - makes no sense to me.

 

Lets all just move on............

 

 

 

 

 

[MisterMatthew]

Dave...

 

This is an interesting situation.  I would, also, be in a bit of a quandary.  So, your angst is 100% understandable.

 

Dave, it is possible that you have already been upgraded to a suite.  And, it will be revealed to you as a surprise.

 

You are a good fella in my book.

 

----Matthew

[kazu]

33 minutes ago, MisterMatthew said:

 

Dave, it is possible that you have already been upgraded to a suite.  And, it will be revealed to you as a surprise.

 

LOL - Dave is already in a suite - Neptune Suite 🙂 

 

[DaveOKC]

Guess what - I just received my cabin assignment!  And it is the same as the prior week, so all is good as far as that goes.

 

However, somehow my OBC dropped from $100 pp to $25 pp (last invoice was June 15, so not that long ago).  I will let my PCC figure this one out.

[Heidi13]

17 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

Thanks.  Only issue is that I am leaving for the first cruise and would like to have the second one wrapped up before I leave.  As you say, its not a big issue though.  What I do not understand is why its not been assigned since its SOLD OUT for a month or more.

 

 

 

If the ship has been sold out for months and GTY cabins are not yet assigned, I'll suggest that HAL may have oversold the cruise and await the inevitable last minute cancellations. They might require a few more cancellations before assigning the remaining cabins.

 

We have a couple experiences where the cabin wasn't assigned until we checked in. 

[MisterMatthew]

43 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

LOL - Dave is already in a suite - Neptune Suite 🙂 

 

Ahh, ok.  Good deal.

[CruiserBruce]

There have been many discussions on when GTY bookings are assigned. Whether or not the ship is sold out has nothing to do with it. They are assigning other sailings that are in that spot in the time line.

 

The cruise we are currently on is the same. We booked a SB GTY. We got our assignment at 12 days out...an SB. But we got an offer for the Pinnacle Suite for $1500pp. Our TA send it to us 3 days after they received it. We would have paid maybe $1500 total...but 3 days late? That is why we have dropped that TA, over a year ago.

[DaveOKC]

3 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

There have been many discussions on when GTY bookings are assigned. Whether or not the ship is sold out has nothing to do with it. They are assigning other sailings that are in that spot in the time line.

 

The cruise we are currently on is the same. We booked a SB GTY. We got our assignment at 12 days out...an SB. But we got an offer for the Pinnacle Suite for $1500pp. Our TA send it to us 3 days after they received it. We would have paid maybe $1500 total...but 3 days late? That is why we have dropped that TA, over a year ago.

I agree!  No reason for the three day delay, especially since the good deals are generally LONG gone by then.  Why even bother!

[Blackduck59]

11 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

Yes, you are all missing something here.  I am on a COASTAL cruise which only allows you to book GUARANTEES.  The reason for this is that the coastal is most times part of a longer cruise and HAL wants to keep all the options open for people wanting to book the longer cruise (56 days in this case),  I fully understand this.  IF I was able to, I would have paid extra to get my specific cabin, but on this cruise it is not an option.

 

Second, my concern was really about why HAL has taken so long to assign cabins when my category (Neptune) has been long sold out.  Also, people on our roll call have reported getting their Coastal cabin assignments in categories that are still open for booking - makes no sense to me.

 

Lets all just move on............

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for clearing that up. At first read it really did look like a "Guarantee" mistake a rookie would make. Good luck with your dilemma. I'm not much of a gambler so I'll leave the Guarantee roulette to others. I want to pick my cabin when we book the cruise, if we can't do that, no cruise.

[kazu]

33 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

Thank you for clearing that up. At first read it really did look like a "Guarantee" mistake a rookie would make. Good luck with your dilemma. I'm not much of a gambler so I'll leave the Guarantee roulette to others. I want to pick my cabin when we book the cruise, if we can't do that, no cruise.

 

there are certain cruises you cannot pick a cabin.  Dave’s cruise is one example.

 

another is Grand and World Voyages.  If you are not on the entire thing, your only choice is a guarantee cabin.  So, if you want to just do a segment (such as Dave is doing), there is no option but a guarantee or you don’t go)

 

The Coastals if they are part of longer cruises are very reasonable - dirt cheap often so I guess you could consider a trade off.  The Grand and World Voyages on the other hand are not.  Very pricey.  First choice goes to those doing the entire voyage.