Guarantee stateroom

[trickylibrarian]

We will be taking our second Oceania cruise next week and booked a "guarantee" stateroom.

For those of you who have done this before is there a chance of them upgrading our booking 

(Inside to Oceanview?).  Thank you for your input.

 

 

 

 

[mozfoz]

Yes there is a chance, but the location may offset the "upgrade". I like knowing what I am getting and not leaving it to chance, even if it means losing the chance of a suite. Do you feel lucky?

[hamrag]

13 hours ago, trickylibrarian said:

We will be taking our second Oceania cruise next week and booked a "guarantee" stateroom.

For those of you who have done this before is there a chance of them upgrading our booking 

(Inside to Oceanview?).  Thank you for your input.

 

 

 

 

Yes, but either way, there is a much greater chance of your allocated cabin being in one of the less desirable locations on the ship. 

[honumaui]

I booked a B1 guarantee and got a B1. I was satisfied with the location but was worried about the booking as we did not get a cabin assigned to us until a week before. In the future I would prefer to know my cabin # when I book. I doubt there is much chance of upgrades. But you could be the lucky one.

[clo]

8 hours ago, hamrag said:

Yes, but either way, there is a much greater chance of your allocated cabin being in one of the less desirable locations on the ship. 

Not being argumentative but why is that?

[Snaefell3]

 

10 hours ago, hamrag said:

Yes, but either way, there is a much greater chance of your allocated cabin being in one of the less desirable locations on the ship. 

 

1 hour ago, clo said:

Not being argumentative but why is that?

 

Uhh...  Because GTYs get from what's left over after people who do choose a specific cabin choose ones that are in the more desirable spots?

 

(Yeah, we all eventually look at a question we asked and say "D'oh!" 😉 )

[clo]

9 minutes ago, Snaefell3 said:

 

 

 

Uhh...  Because GTYs get from what's left over after people who do choose a specific cabin choose ones that are in the more desirable spots?

 

(Yeah, we all eventually look at a question we asked and say "D'oh!" 😉 )

No, I understand that part of the process. But what if people want to book up all the 'cheap seats' and then others who had already been 'guaranteed" got moved up. Does that not ever happen?
PS: No D'oh from me. I'm always learning.

[Snaefell3]

15 minutes ago, clo said:

No, I understand that part of the process. But what if people want to book up all the 'cheap seats' and then others who had already been 'guaranteed" got moved up. Does that not ever happen?
PS: No D'oh from me. I'm always learning.

Short answer: Yes

 

Real answer: Cruise lines try hard to avoid such, usually by making last minute pay-for-an-upgrade sale offers to those in the overbooked category, and sticking a GTY who hopes for a free upgrade into the vacated cabin.

 

PS: There was a recent kerfuffle where that plan didn't work and Royal Caribbean simply denied boarding to about 16(?) GTYs at dockside.

Edited January 19 by Snaefell3

[hamrag]

3 hours ago, clo said:

Not being argumentative but why is that?

post #6 and #8 nailed it, so no need for me to repeat! 😉

Edited January 19 by hamrag

[trickylibrarian]

Did get an offer yesterday to upgrade to a concierge verandah for $500 pp.

Not interested.  However, did contact Oceania TA to see if there is a "regular"

verandah available and at what price.  Waiting to hear back.   

[ORV]

37 minutes ago, trickylibrarian said:

Did get an offer yesterday to upgrade to a concierge verandah for $500 pp.

Not interested.  However, did contact Oceania TA to see if there is a "regular"

verandah available and at what price.  Waiting to hear back.   

For me it would depend on what I’m upgrading from at that price. If an inside to a CV I’d be all over it, depending on ship, cruise length and my budget. 

[JYDCruise]

19 hours ago, Snaefell3 said:

PS: There was a recent kerfuffle where that plan didn't work and Royal Caribbean simply denied boarding to about 16(?) GTYs at dockside.

Seriously? I can't imagine what the compensation offer would be for this - 100% refund (obviously), 100% refund of all otherwise non-refundable costs (airfare, hotels), return airfare to origin, and free future cruise of at least equal value as a starting point.

ETA: I have a B4 GTY on Oceania in March but it's showing availability from A3-B3 so there won't be a similar issue. Rest of the ship is waitlisted, so no upgrade to an Owner's Suite for me, sadly. 😀

Edited January 20 by JYDCruise

[Snaefell3]

1 hour ago, JYDCruise said:

Seriously?

Quantum of the Seas, Brisbane, 28 Nov '23

[clo]

4 hours ago, JYDCruise said:

Seriously

I saw that piece also and kinda briefly freaked. I talked to my O rep and TA and they said they've never seen it in their many years with O.

[Snaefell3]

1 hour ago, clo said:

I saw that piece also and kinda briefly freaked. I talked to my O rep and TA and they said they've never seen it in their many years with O.

O minimizes their risk with a 150 day Final Payment date.  Cruise lines with 90 day Final Payment dates tend to do more overbookings because of fewer days to find replacement pax when folks miss that Final Payment.

 

Cruise lines normally use sweeter and sweeter "move over" (take a later cruise) offers to clear overbookings, or at least issue cancellations (with minor compensation) at the 30 day mark.  RCI lost track(?!?) and apparently failed to try to clear the overbookings for that cruise.  Their original dockside compensation was "you can sit over there and see if somebody fails to show up" 😲, but that didn't stand.

[Jim_Iain]

I always recommend Expect the worst cabin in the category and be happy if the room is better.  On a number of occasions on a Guarantee I received a Accessible Cabin, which isn't my favorite. 

[clo]

55 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

I received a Accessible Cabin, which isn't my favorite. 

Curious why not? Seems like you'd get usable more room. ?

[PhD-iva]

On 1/19/2024 at 3:33 PM, Snaefell3 said:

 

PS: There was a recent kerfuffle where that plan didn't work and Royal Caribbean simply denied boarding to about 16(?) GTYs at dockside.

Yipes! Can you provide a link to a report so I can read the (juicy) details? Thx!

[JYDCruise]

14 minutes ago, PhD-iva said:

Yipes! Can you provide a link to a report so I can read the (juicy) details? Thx!

RCL denies boarding to guarantee passengers

 

The initial compensation offer was, not surprisingly, an insult (refund + a 25% FCC), though it (also not surprisingly) got better once the situation became public knowledge.

[clo]

13 hours ago, JYDCruise said:

RCL denies boarding to guarantee passengers

 

The initial compensation offer was, not surprisingly, an insult (refund + a 25% FCC), though it (also not surprisingly) got better once the situation became public knowledge.

Can you imagine traveling half way around the world only to meet this situation. Getting home, hotel costs in the meantime, etc., etc.

[Cruzin Terri]

15 hours ago, clo said:

Curious why not? Seems like you'd get usable more room. ?

Usually the bathroom is not as user friendly to those who are not disabled.  E.g.  Roll in shower that shares the same space with the toilet,  One sink instead of two and very low, less drawer and closet space.  Room may be more spacious, but that s it.  Got stuck that way once and never again.

[Psoque]

17 hours ago, Snaefell3 said:

O minimizes their risk with a 150 day Final Payment date.  Cruise lines with 90 day Final Payment dates tend to do more overbookings because of fewer days to find replacement pax when folks miss that Final Payment.

 

Cruise lines normally use sweeter and sweeter "move over" (take a later cruise) offers to clear overbookings, or at least issue cancellations (with minor compensation) at the 30 day mark.  RCI lost track(?!?) and apparently failed to try to clear the overbookings for that cruise.  Their original dockside compensation was "you can sit over there and see if somebody fails to show up" 😲, but that didn't stand.

Regardless of whether the cruise line managed to entice any passenger buy up to a higher category or not, only way to "clear" the overbooked situation is to have less people booked to be on the ship.  The problem with the denied boarding was that there were more passengers than what the ship could hold. Moving passengers around the ship would not have solved this problem, since I highly doubt that the ship sailed out from Brisbane with empty cabins.  So, I can't see any way this would have remedie the actual problem with overbooking.  Only "remedy," if you can even call it that, is to entice some of the booked passengers to forgo their cruise for some compensation, and to make this arrangement much sooner than the day of embarkation.  Another remedy is to not overbook in the first place.

[Psoque]

To answer the question posed by the OP:

 

-There is a finite (but perhaps) small chance that you will be assigned a cabin higher in category than what is guaranteed.

-When you book a guaranteed cabin, you are agreeing to be assigned ANY cabin in that category or higher.  (You should be prepared to be assigned the most desirable cabin in that category.)

-I guess, theoretically, there is a chance that you are effectively on the list just above the "waitlist" crowd when you book a guarantee cabin.

[hamrag]

21 minutes ago, Psoque said:

....-When you book a guaranteed cabin, you are agreeing to be assigned ANY cabin in that category or higher.  (You should be prepared to be assigned the most desirable cabin in that category.).....

🤨 🤨 Really?!

Edited January 21 by hamrag

[Psoque]

2 hours ago, hamrag said:

🤨 🤨 Really?!

It's a typo.  I meant "You should be prepared to be assigned the LEAST desirable cabin in that category.)"