Guaranteed Staterooms - How Does This Work?

[dgr231]

Hello All,

 

My GF and I are looking to book a 10-day panama canal cruise on the Island Princess for this April. We are looking at the rooms and were originally interested in a category BG room. I checked today and all of the selectable staterooms are now gone, but the option to guarantee a stateroom in the category is still available. How does this work if they are no longer showing rooms available and do you just get upgraded to the next category (i.e. BG -> BF, BF -> BE, etc...) if no rooms in that category are available? Is there a chance that you can book a gurarantee for a regular balcony room and end up with a obstructed view?

 

Any insight and/or experience would be greatly appreciated!

 

-D

[chrysalis]

You will get at least get the category that you booked, so do not worry about booking a balcony and ending up with an obstructed view.

[Toto2Kansas]

Booking a guarantee means you are guarantted the stateroom you booked the guarantee in, and possibly a higher category, if there are none of them available. They will not assign you a lower category stateroom. Enjoy!

[dgr231]

Thanks for the responses!

 

Since no staterooms are showing online, does that indicate that the category is sold out? If so, why would they offer the guarantee after all of the rooms appear to be occupied?

[cathi]

There may be no staterooms in that particular category but there will others in a higher category. Most cruiselines overbook since a percentage always cancel often just before final payment is due. If they really do end up overselling the ship then they offer people incentives to move to a different sailing or different cabin categories. This is where that wonderful upgrade fairy comes into play. May she visit you!!!!

[sirwired]

Thanks for the responses!

 

Since no staterooms are showing online, does that indicate that the category is sold out? If so, why would they offer the guarantee after all of the rooms appear to be occupied?

 

The BG and BF rooms are used primarily as price controls. This way, if Princess needs to unload some more balcony rooms, they can just open up BG and BF for more GTY bookings, knowing ahead of time those pax are likely going to be put in upgraded rooms. If they dropped the price of the higher-class rooms directly, they would have to price match those that had already booked there. (And after Final Payment, deal with angry pax that paid too much for their cabin.)

 

Yes, somebody gets stuck with those cheap cabins, but most (if not all) people that book those cabins are indeed upgraded. Upgrades from BG to BC and BB are fairly common. You aren't going to get upgraded to a minisuite booking a BG (a BA or BB booking might), but you almost certainly will receive an upgrade of some kind.

 

SirWired

[dgr231]

@sirwired - Very helpful information, thank you. I would be perfectly content with a category BG room, so I could care less what I get upgraded to. Just having a balcony is great and more than enough for me.

[dgr231]

Does anybody happen to know, assuming you book a guarantee room, how soon before the cruise they give you your room assignment?

[chrysalis]

Does anybody happen to know, assuming you book a guarantee room, how soon before the cruise they give you your room assignment?

 

It could be anytime right up to when you check in at the pier

[ROCsabresfan]

If you don't get your room assignment til you check in, then what will happen to your luggage? Doesn't your luggage tags that you print out for the website have your cabin # on them? It will be blank then, right?

[Toto2Kansas]

When you arrive at the pier, the luggage handlers have a list of all cabin assignments. You just tell them you didn't get your stateroom number, they check the list, and you add it to your luggage tags. No problem at all.

[CruisingGoddess]

Just wanted to let you know my experience: I booked a BH guarantee on Dec. 7, 2009 for a July 5, 2010 sailing. On the Island Princess, there appears to be only 4 BH cabins and they were all taken when I booked. I received my cabin assignment earlier this month and got a BB cabin (second highest balcony class)!

 

But as others have said, you may not receive your assignment until you get to the pier.

[spingal]

Does anyone have any experience with booking a guarantee EE OV cabin?

[imola]

Does anybody happen to know, assuming you book a guarantee room, how soon before the cruise they give you your room assignment?

 

Booked an April cruise in early January. We booked a Cat BF guarantee (balcony) and was nervous since we were concerned about where we could end up. Two days later we were notified that we had been upgraded to a Cat BA right under the pool so we requested a downgrade to a Cat BB. We were placed midship on a deck with cabins above and below. Everyone is happy.

[Colo Cruiser]

Booked an April cruise in early January. We booked a Cat BF guarantee (balcony) and was nervous since we were concerned about where we could end up. Two days later we were notified that we had been upgraded to a Cat BA right under the pool so we requested a downgrade to a Cat BB. We were placed midship on a deck with cabins above and below. Everyone is happy.

 

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[imola]

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