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What would be the advantage of having the cruise line select your cabin for you?


gailellen12
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Usually, a "guarantee" cabin is cheaper than selecting your own. You are "guaranteed" at LEAST the category that you book...sometimes you may get a higher category....Usually you get the category of the guarantee.

If you are not particular about location, then a GTY booking is a good way to say a bit of $$.....if you want to be on a certain deck, or location, then it's best to book a specific cabin.

If there is no price difference, and there is a cabin in a location you'd enjoy, then book it outright!

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Usually the cruise line guarantees you the lowest grade for the type of cabin you want to book (inside, balcony, etc.). The grade is often / usually determined by location on the ship. If as you say the price is similar and if you would be happy with the location of the lowest grade cabins, then go for it!

 

Paul

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Unless there is a measurable price advantage, I would not choose to have the cruise line select our stateroom for us if the hope is to get an upgrade. While that can happen, it is not a frequent occurrence and the likelihood is that you will be assigned the category you selected at a location that best suits the cruise line with it's booking cycle at the time - which may not be an optimal location to your preferences. I would far more prefer to select my own stateroom location under those circumstances.

 

In other words, other than price, there is no advantage to having the cruise line select your stateroom location for you.

Edited by leaveitallbehind
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What others have said about booking a guarantee, I agree.

 

If you are booking with the idea of selecting a specific cabin category, I'd recommend that you book whatever cabin is available that you want and not allow the cruise line to assign you whatever other cabin that may be available in that category.

 

Of prime importance, since you are new too cruising, is to carefully study the deck plan of the ship to determine what will be above, below, and beside your "desired" cabin. If you allow the cruise line to assign a cabin, you may find that your location will be under the Galley, or under/below the Show Lounge or Nightclub, or located near the bow/stern thrusters that will serve as your alarm clock when you arrive into a port in the morning.

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I agree with other posters and my point depends on your being happy with the location of the lowest grade in your category.

 

However we went for guaranteed cabins on two occasions when we travelled with cruise lines new to us (Celebrity and P&O) and were rewarded with balconies in prime locations. I believe this is common practice to encourage you to use their line again. However, as you might say, this treatment is not "guaranteed" 😊

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We booked a guarantee for our summer cruise as it was the only interior option available when we booked. We don't spend much ti me in the room and this is a bonus cruise so wanted cheapest room type. We got our assignment a month or two later and I just called to move the location (same category). So it worked out well for us. It's strange in your case that you say there is no price difference.

 

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We generally pick a cabin, but lately we’ve been booking late to take advantage of great prices and had to go with guarantee cabins to get the price point we want. The upside is the cabins we’ve been assigned have all been in a better category than booked (and we’ve been happy with the location). The downside is we don’t know the cabin until about 4 days before we embark. Our experience has all been on Princess. Generally it’s not a problem, but we do lots of b2b’s so don’t know what cabin we’ll be in for the next weeks, plus we have had to move each time. But hey, makes the turnaround day go faster. [emoji4]

 

 

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I do not think there is any advantage in the cruise line picking a cabin for you other than they charge you a lot less money for the cruise. A lot of cruisers have previously cruised many times before and select their own cabins on the merit of the cabin based on their experience good or bad and personal preferences. The pool of available cabins booked by nobody by choice is likely to contain most of the cabins which do not have much going for them down to the cabins that are clearly going to be problematic.

 

This is where newcomers have a problem as they do not have the experience or know the pit falls of many of the locations and might easily pick a cabin above the night club without thinking it through etc. Hence the importance of this website!

 

Regards John

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  • 3 weeks later...

"RRFan"

Hi! I'm new to cruising, have only done one 7 day cruise. Right now we are planning a trip from Canada to Japan. I'm watching 3 different companies that run a route in September (HAL, NCL and Celebrity). I love how you cruise b2b, and like you I am trying to wait till the last minute to get a great deal, but do you know when is the right time? I'm just over 4 months out, but still hoping to get pre-paid gratuities or some other good deal. Seems like there are still plenty of cabins left on all lines. But where is the sweet spot when you know you are getting the best possible deal.

Thanks!

Melissa

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"RRFan"

Hi! I'm new to cruising, have only done one 7 day cruise. Right now we are planning a trip from Canada to Japan. I'm watching 3 different companies that run a route in September (HAL, NCL and Celebrity). I love how you cruise b2b, and like you I am trying to wait till the last minute to get a great deal, but do you know when is the right time? I'm just over 4 months out, but still hoping to get pre-paid gratuities or some other good deal. Seems like there are still plenty of cabins left on all lines. But where is the sweet spot when you know you are getting the best possible deal.

Thanks!

Melissa

 

Logically you should wait at least until a few days after “final payment “ date as at that point the cruise lines know how many they need to fill. Again, logically the line with most cabins to fill should have the best prices and/or other deals. Once they start to fill up prices will go back up again.

 

You need to decide what price / deal is acceptable to you, book it if you get to that point and most of all don’t worry about what happens to the price after you’ve booked!

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Sometimes your “upgrade” will just be a higher level in that type of cabin.

 

Rarely a really good one.

 

Often a better price. You will normally at most pay the price of the lowest category in that cabin type. Ie lowest inside, or balcony.

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"RRFan"

Hi! I'm new to cruising, have only done one 7 day cruise. Right now we are planning a trip from Canada to Japan. I'm watching 3 different companies that run a route in September (HAL, NCL and Celebrity). I love how you cruise b2b, and like you I am trying to wait till the last minute to get a great deal, but do you know when is the right time? I'm just over 4 months out, but still hoping to get pre-paid gratuities or some other good deal. Seems like there are still plenty of cabins left on all lines. But where is the sweet spot when you know you are getting the best possible deal.

Thanks!

Melissa

 

 

 

Melissa (wrldtrvlr8)

If you love the itinerary and aren’t picky about cabin location, wait as long as possible. We use *************.com and check every day. Tuesday is a good day for a flash sale, but it could happen any day. Once you find a deal, call the phone # to book it. We use Ellis Goodman if you want to ask for a particular agent. We often surprise him about what a good deal we’ve found. If you find a price you like, get on HAL’s site to see cabin locations. We’re on 3 b2b’s right now (Princess) that we booked as a guaranteed obstructed view (meaning that category or better). The downside is you don’t know what cabin until about 4 days before each. But the first week, we got a totally unobstructed view on deck 8, the 2nd week we got a deck 5 full ocean view and this week we’re in a deluxe balcony on deck 10. We’ve never gotten a “terrible” room doing that. But we’re not picky since we spend very little time in the room anyway. I like the way VTG displays the cruises—makes it easy to compare the 3 you’re looking at. Never done Celebrity but HAL is generally an older demographic and the 2 NCL’s we did were Caribbean and way more of a party ship. Hope this helps. Enjoy!!

 

 

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Melissa (wrldtrvlr8)

If you love the itinerary and aren’t picky about cabin location, wait as long as possible. We use *************.com and check every day. Tuesday is a good day for a flash sale, but it could happen any day. Once you find a deal, call the phone # to book it. We use Ellis Goodman if you want to ask for a particular agent. We often surprise him about what a good deal we’ve found. If you find a price you like, get on HAL’s site to see cabin locations. We’re on 3 b2b’s right now (Princess) that we booked as a guaranteed obstructed view (meaning that category or better). The downside is you don’t know what cabin until about 4 days before each. But the first week, we got a totally unobstructed view on deck 8, the 2nd week we got a deck 5 full ocean view and this week we’re in a deluxe balcony on deck 10. We’ve never gotten a “terrible” room doing that. But we’re not picky since we spend very little time in the room anyway. I like the way VTG displays the cruises—makes it easy to compare the 3 you’re looking at. Never done Celebrity but HAL is generally an older demographic and the 2 NCL’s we did were Caribbean and way more of a party ship. Hope this helps. Enjoy!!

 

 

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Oh didn’t know it would take out the website name. PM me if you want it. 🤨

 

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

The last thing you want before you embark on a cruise is a surprise cabin. While surprises can be good the majority of cruise ship cabin surprises tend to disappoint.

Way before you squeeze the trigger on a cruise make sure you really check out your ships deck plan for all cabins within your price demographic because the majority of seasoned travelers already have. Even passengers with little or no cruise experience can generally identify the less than prime locations. If in doubt let some of the seasoned Cruise-critic members advise.

Should all the cabins within your price category be acceptable consider saving some money and let the ship assign your cabin for you. If you're a bit more selective skip the discount offered with a 'guarantee' cabin and choose a cabin of your choice.

When shown to your cabin you certainly don't want to be one of the unfortunate passengers that says to themself, "Oh boy, did I mess this one up trying to be thrifty :eek: ."

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