let them pick the room???

[question221]

we are looking at a cruise and want to book one of the available junior suites.  It is a bit more expensive if we choose the room - and I am wondering if there are any of the junior suites that have obstructed views or are just that bad that we should pay the extra?  The ship is the Voyager of the Seas.  Seems like there are only a few suites left and they all seem about the same to me.  Any help is appreciated.

 

[firefly333]

Look above and below the JS. I know on grandeur I heard a lot of complaints. Two different folks in diamond lounge booked JS and were below the solarium with a tile floor. 

 

Idk the location of every JS on voyager. 

[doghog]

17 minutes ago, question221 said:

that bad that we should pay the extra?

We would and always do. We also don't do guarantees. We prefer to pick our own cabin on the deck and location on that deck. Don't want to worry about what we are going to get. 

Edited December 23, 2023 by doghog

[Tlbecker1]

I honestly would book a suite guarantee on any ship.  We have sailed on many ships in JS and never had a problem with any of them.

[taglovestocruise]

48 minutes ago, question221 said:

we are looking at a cruise and want to book one of the available junior suites.  It is a bit more expensive if we choose the room - and I am wondering if there are any of the junior suites that have obstructed views or are just that bad that we should pay the extra?  The ship is the Voyager of the Seas.  Seems like there are only a few suites left and they all seem about the same to me.  Any help is appreciated.

 

I believe the only obstructed view J suites are on the aft with lots of overhang.  Many people take aft suites with little consideration of obstruction, they just want a aft view. You could do a mock booking to see if any of the aft suites are available, if not you are in the clear.. I think only decks 6 and 7 have a aft obstruction.  

[PNW Traveler]

Consider researching the suites that are specific to your ship.  (Do a search on Cruise Critic)  There are some ships where we would book a suite JS guarantee and some where we would not.  We are not bothered by noise from upper decks, so on some ships any suite is great.  There are sometimes significant differences in costs and the JS guarantee at a lower price may make the difference between a regular balcony stateroom and a junior suite.  We had a suite guarantee on the Quantum for an Alaska cruise and loved the stateroom - mid-ship. a bath and a half plus spacious seating area.  That JS guarantee was $700 less than a regular JS where we would have chosen our stateroom.  We have had good luck with guarantees.

[Tatka]

We only do it on some ships.. not RCI .. and if we know all rooms in category and are OK with any. We have different idea of what is better gategory than RCI. 

[jean87510]

12 hours ago, question221 said:

we are looking at a cruise and want to book one of the available junior suites.  It is a bit more expensive if we choose the room - and I am wondering if there are any of the junior suites that have obstructed views or are just that bad that we should pay the extra?  The ship is the Voyager of the Seas.  Seems like there are only a few suites left and they all seem about the same to me.  Any help is appreciated.

 

Let them pick.  I had a suite gty last year on the Voyager and was assigned the 8th floor.  Then I did Royal Up and went up to a GS.  All around was cheaper then paying extra to pick my room.  Of course I was extremely lucky but hey, it may work!  

I almost always will do gtys.  I don't care where room is. If price is cheaper, I go with the lesser option.  If I do pick, it's for a specific room (aft corner balcony, Royal suite) that is available.  If they are not, I pick gty.  I do usually book way ahead but on the occasions where we don't, I do gty.

Edited December 23, 2023 by jean87510

[Mum2Mercury]

We often use a Guarantee, and we've never been displeased and have never had a noisy room (which seems to be the big fear with Guarantees).  The savings can be significant.  Our room location isn't particularly important to us.  

The only negative is waiting to know your room number ... once we've completed the boarding process, I get kinda antsy and start checking multiple times a day until our number pops up.  

[loman]

Nope , no gty or royal ups for me. 

A week could be a very long time if i am near a noisy location .

I dont cruise that often , so its important to me to know where i will be located.

[deliver42]

 For the relatively small addition, I'll pick my cabin thank you.

[Oceansaway17]

4 hours ago, loman said:

Nope , no gty or royal ups for me. 

A week could be a very long time if i am near a noisy location .

I dont cruise that often , so its important to me to know where i will be located.

I agree and then if the ship is overbooked, guess who gets an email saying sorry but.............

[Mum2Mercury]

3 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

I agree and then if the ship is overbooked, guess who gets an email saying sorry but.............

I've been on this board for over 20 years, and I've heard of that exactly once.  

[baldilocks]

We had an experience many years ago with the Grandeur out of Baltimore. We were just looking for a cruise and saw they had a special for a 9-night cruise. Interior cabin and they select the cabin. We got an interior cabin next to the laundry chute. A little noisy in the morning as the laundry went down...but for a $900 cruise price for two...so what.

[Oceansaway17]

19 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

I've been on this board for over 20 years, and I've heard of that exactly once.  

it is starting to happen a bit more like with Wonder OTS for instance.  Not that often but if I hear it three times in a half year, I wonder why it has to happen.  I would never to a Guarantee room.

[question221]

9 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

it is starting to happen a bit more like with Wonder OTS for instance.  Not that often but if I hear it three times in a half year, I wonder why it has to happen.  I would never to a Guarantee room.

How do they compensate you if they do that?  Airfare and other hotel expense would be out of pocket for example.  Also, do they really discount future cruise?  How do they make up for this.

[Oceansaway17]

On 12/24/2023 at 10:33 PM, question221 said:

How do they compensate you if they do that?  Airfare and other hotel expense would be out of pocket for example.  Also, do they really discount future cruise?  How do they make up for this.

not sure except that I have heard of this happening at least 3 times in the last 6 weeks.

I would say airfare if purchased on your own would have to be cancelled and get credit.

No one loses airfare from most airlines as they give credit good for a year.

[la_croisiere_s'amuse]

The price difference between the two can sometimes be really dramatic, or sometimes it's just a couple hundred dollars. My advice (which I also follow myself) is this: look at the deck plans for the ship in question and the cabin category in question, and decide which you consider to be the least desirable cabin. Next, ask yourself if you would be content with that cabin. If so, and if you would consider it worthwhile to save the money you did, go for it! Sometimes you are pleasantly surprised. 🙂

 

Granted, I've only done GTY cabins a handful of times because I don't bother unless the price difference is really substantial, but I've never been terribly disappointed. 

[critterchick]

We booked a W GTY for Navigator for NYE, last minute for us (about 30 days out). There are some J4 cabins all the way forward (NV has 4; VY has 2) that have no business being designated as such and I would not have been happy to be assigned one of them. However, the price difference between the GTY and picking our own was over $2000 (and DH REALLY wanted to go on this cruise) so we booked and held our breath. We were assigned a Deck 9 cabin in a good location, so all is well.

[Norwich Cruiser]

When the staterooms haven’t really mattered to us we’ve booked a guaranteed room on six occasions.

 

We’ve never been disappointed with the assigned stateroom and on one occasion were upgraded.

[Another_Critic]

Booked GTY on 21 of 47 cruises.  Will continue to book GTY if the price is right.

[clackey]

On 12/23/2023 at 11:25 PM, baldilocks said:

We had an experience many years ago with the Grandeur out of Baltimore. We were just looking for a cruise and saw they had a special for a 9-night cruise. Interior cabin and they select the cabin. We got an interior cabin next to the laundry chute. A little noisy in the morning as the laundry went down...but for a $900 cruise price for two...so what.

That is why God made earplugs.

[Scottdalfonso]

I booked a GTY for the first time for my next cruise- if its a room like Interior, Ocean view or a Suite...I would have no problem doing GTY again... the only time I'm picky about my room is a regular balcony room.  The amount I saved booking a GTY OV room was quite a bit, and it's not THAT big of a deal to me if I'm on one side or another

[Mick B]

Its a 50/50 split.

Firstly, do you want a room that is quiet and away from noisy things like the elevators, theatre area, gym and dinning area?

Also, do you need to be in a certain area on the ship if you are not good at walking such as close to the elevators or close to the ships centre of gravity to avoid sea sickness?

 

Secondly, the price. Can you suffer all the above if the price is dramatically lower than booking a room?

 

I must admit, depending on the ship and the voyage, I would pick my room so I know where I am going to be. However, in some circumstances I have booked a GTY due to the massive difference in price and have been OK with what I have been given.

 

It's your cruise and your choice. Remember too that if you book a GTY and get your room assigned and don't like its location, you could then try the Royal Up but remember you could get a better grade of room but in a worse position depending on how much walking you can do.

 

Personally, my wife is not too good these days, so we try for a room near the aft lifts as most things we need are that end such as the MDR. Only the Theatre is far forward and we only visit it once per day.

 

Mick.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

I'm pretty picky about where my stateroom is - and I am not always on board with what the line might think is an upgrade.

 

The one time I've done a guarantee was on Disney - and it was a specific category guarantee rather than a generic "ocean view guarantee". I ended up getting assigned one of the Deck 5 extended veranda staterooms - which most people would have been over the moon about, but I hated. It was not an upgrade to me. I much prefer being high and as far forward as possible - and this was midship and a lower deck. After that I decided never to do a guarantee again. (I had a great time on the cruise, but the whole extended veranda was lost on me as I never used it.)

 

But if you don't care where they put you, go for it.

Edited December 27, 2023 by WrittenOnYourHeart