Experiences with balcony cabin GTY "guarantee"??

[RachelNYC]

My boyfriend and I just booked a balcony guarantee for the 5/21/05 sailing of the Caribbean Princess. What are other people's experiences w/ GTY cabins???? I hope only upgrades and no horror stories........

 

:) Rachel

[West Coast]

Rachelle,

 

What category did you book in (BA, BB, BC, BD, etc...)?

 

Also, have you cruised Princess before?

[RachelNYC]

It says Category BD

 

What does that mean?!?!? Help!! :)

 

-Rachel

[RachelNYC]

Oh, and I haven't cruised Princess before.

[BJS]

It says Category BDWhat does that mean?!?!? Help!! :)

-Rachel

 

It means you will be in at least that category. Look on the deck plans and you will see where these cabins are located. Plan on being in one of the BD cabins but don't be surprised if you are in a BA, BB, or BC.

 

Our experiences have been BD to BA or BC every time and everywhere from 10 back from bow to midship.. Same with a BE guarantee. No horror stories here.

[cruiserforlife]

RachaelNYC,

 

"B-D" category means you should be "guaranteed" a cabin in either the Baja or the Dolphin deck.

I recently did the same thing on the Sun recently except in a "B-C" (Baja Caribe) and about 3 weeks before I sailed,we got a room on Baja.If you keep checking your personalizer,it'll pop up there eventually.

 

Since it'll be your 1st. Princess cruise,your chances of an upgrade are very good since Princess seems to upgrade their 1st. time cruisers before they reward their loyal long-time customers.My wife has never been upgraded in 25+ cruises but I hear of 1st. timers getting upgrades all the time.

 

Don't expect it but if it happens,enjoy it!

[Pam in CA]

My boyfriend and I just booked a balcony guarantee for the 5/21/05 sailing of the Caribbean Princess. What are other people's experiences w/ GTY cabins???? I hope only upgrades and no horror stories........

Enjoy your balcony. The GTY means that you are guaranteed a cabin in the BD category. That's all it means and it could be any cabin in that category. If you want a specific cabin, then book the cabin. The "horror" stories are mostly people expecting upgrades or unhappy with the cabin in the category they booked. Which is why you should book a GTY in the category you want and understand that you could get any cabin in that category. Don't expect an upgrade. :(

[spongerob]

"B-D" category means you should be "guaranteed" a cabin in either the Baja or the Dolphin deck.

I recently did the same thing on the Sun recently except in a "B-C" (Baja Caribe) and about 3 weeks before I sailed,we got a room on Baja.If you keep checking your personalizer,it'll pop up there eventually.

 

That's not quite right, but given the complexity of Princess' cabin designations it's not an unforgiveable error. A BD guarantee means simply that you will get a cabin of category BD or higher. The B in this case refers to balcony cabin, the second letter is mostly related to the cabin's location. It starts to make a little sense if you can find a color-coded deck plan.

 

Since it'll be your 1st. Princess cruise,your chances of an upgrade are very good since Princess seems to upgrade their 1st. time cruisers before they reward their loyal long-time customers.

 

It is common for people who book guarantees to find that they have been reassigned to a higher sub-category of cabin, for example BD to BA. The cabin will be the same, but the location might be more desirable, for example, not as far forward or aft, closer to pool and public areas, or even with a larger balcony. It is less likely to be moved up into the next higher category of cabin, though it does happen. It all depends on what you booked originally, when you booked, how much you paid, your ability to move, the phase of the moon, the color socks you are wearing...

[cruiserforlife]

Thanks 'rob for the correction!

[RachelNYC]

you guys are awesome ;) thanks for all your info. i found a color coded cabin map on the princess.com website and now it all makes sense.

 

:) Rachel

[West Coast]

Rachelle,

I wouldn't be surprised if you were 'upgraded' to a BC or BB. Princess tends to upgrade first time cruisers within the same category 'type'. ie, Balcony to Balcony. It's what gets you, um, er - us, hooked!

 

Regardless, you'll have a great time!

[judynorth]

We had a guarantee BD last year on the Diamond. We were upgraded to a BB at a great location - midship. It was our first cruise also. This year we have a stateroom assigned in the BB category saying that we will accept an upgrade. Haven't heard anything about that yet and probably won't. Our cruise is about full at this point. It seems that the Coral is the hot ship this year to Alaska and May 14 is a popular date.

[RachelNYC]

We had a guarantee BD last year on the Diamond. We were upgraded to a BB at a great location - midship. It was our first cruise also. This year we have a stateroom assigned in the BB category saying that we will accept an upgrade. Haven't heard anything about that yet and probably won't. Our cruise is about full at this point. It seems that the Coral is the hot ship this year to Alaska and May 14 is a popular date.

 

How do you let Princess know that you will accept an upgrade? Can I just call the 800 # now so they can make a note of it on my account? (Or is that totally unecessary?)

 

-Rachel:)

[West Coast]

How do you let Princess know that you will accept an upgrade? Can I just call the 800 # now so they can make a note of it on my account? (Or is that totally unecessary?)

 

-Rachel:)

 

Unless you have told Princess specifically that you DO NOT WANT an upgrade, your file is automatically marked that you will take an upgrade.

 

Princess will upgrade you at any time prior to sailing regardless if you have booked a specific cabin or a GTY.

[mackie]

And sometimes, you don't find out until you get to the pier, I've heard. We are on the Grand that leaves Galveston in 5 days and still don't have cabin assigned. We've booked an AE guarantee. AE is a minisuite which is so nice to start with!

 

I'm really kind of intrigued by the mystery. Anyone ever found out at the last minute like that?

[Richard Stein]

I booked a BD guarantee on both the Sapphire inaugural and the upcoming Star Transatlantic. We have elite status and book early and were upgraded to a BA on both. Upgrades depend on how many cruises with Princess, when you booked and how full the ship is. It's a crap shot, good luck.

[geoherb]

Our first cruise with Princess we booked a BD guarantee and ended up in a BB on the Aloha Deck of the Golden. We loved the location--toward the aft. When we booked a balcony on the Grand, we chose another BD guarantee. We ended up changing to a specific BA cabin, however, when prices decreased about a month before the final payment date. The Caribe Deck BA and BB balconies are great--half covered and half exposed and about twice as large as the other regular balconies.

[RachelNYC]

Thanks so much for all the info. I'll keep my fingers crossed for an upgrade, but I'll be perfectly happy if I end up in my category of BD! This will be my first time with a balcony so I figure I'm going to be thrilled no matter what :)

 

 

-Rachel

[Guest Snorkelbunny]

And sometimes, you don't find out until you get to the pier, I've heard. We are on the Grand that leaves Galveston in 5 days and still don't have cabin assigned.

 

Very true, on our Grand cruise, we left for Ft Lauderdale two days prior and did not have a cabin assignment at that time. We found out where we were going to be when we arrived at the pier.

[mackie]

Very true, on our Grand cruise, we left for Ft Lauderdale two days prior and did not have a cabin assignment at that time. We found out where we were going to be when we arrived at the pier.

 

What kind of cabin had you all guaranteed? And what did you end up with?

[Toto2Kansas]

Last summer we booked a guarantee mini suite on the CP as the only one left available I really didn't like the location. I figured, oh well, it was worth a try, if that is the only one left then it can't be worse than that. The very next day the Princess Personalizer showed our cabin assignment, same category we booked, which was just fine as all of the minis are exactly the same, just in different locations. It wasn't the one in a terrible location but one I would have picked if it would have been available when I booked in the beginning.

But that was my first experience with guarantees.

We do have another guarantee mini suite for our upcoming British Isles Cruise on the Golden Princess. Only reason we booked it is because of a price drop and we had to take a guarantee to up our booking from a regular balcony cabin. I will be happy no matter where I end up, a mini suite is so much nicer than a regular balcony cabin. So I am keeping my fingers crossed once again.

 

Best of Luck on a great stateroom for your guarantee!

[ciana]

I had mentioned this before on another thread about guarantees. We had a BB gty on the Jan. 28th Sun Princess which was quite overbooked apparently. We had 2 cabins and our TA accepted a downgrade to a BC for $100 shipboard credit. It worked out okay but we were not happy that she had not asked us before accepting it. She said it was because she was trying to keep our 2 cabins close together (4 cabins apart). We ended up on Caribe deck but found that those balconies had a narrower opening to the sea than did the Baja or Aloha deck ones. Never been upgraded on any other sailing either. How is it that some people seem to report that they are always upgraded.:rolleyes:

[Guest Snorkelbunny]

What kind of cabin had you all guaranteed? And what did you end up with?

 

Booked inside, to be honest I couldn't tell you the exact category all this time later, but received an outside so we were perfectly happy :D