Beware of "Guaranteed" categories

[waytogofromhere]

I had booked a New Year's cruise on the Sun in October. I usually book a balcony room, but I was trying to save money and booked a category "IB". I was told by the NCL representative that this was an inside cabin on the 8 or 9 deck guaranteed. He also said that I may get a better cabin but I was guaranteed to be on deck 8 or 9. This was very important to me because my husband was not happy about not getting a balcony and I did not want to end up on a low deck. Well, I go on MyNCL and find out that they have assigned me a cabin on the 4th deck which they consider to be a "better" cabin since it has a port hole. This is total BS...the cabin I paid for was supposed to be 172 sq ft, their "better" cabin is 144 sq ft. - way down on the 4th deck. I told them that I do not want this "better" cabin but they said there was nothing they could do because they feel that they upgraded me. TOTAL GARBAGE!!! Now I will probably just bite the bullet and upgrade to a balcony. They may be getting more money from me now but this will be the last time I sail on NCL.

[anthem]

I have never heard them "guarantee" a particular deck on a "guarantee" room but I could be wrong. . .

 

That being said - most people and their categorization of rooms - I believe every outside room is better than ANY inside room. Most people (space notwithstanding) would take an outside room with a porthole window over an interior room any day of the week.

 

The guarantee doesn't guarantee a particular room. It just means you will be guaranteed a room of that caliber or better - based on THEIR rating. I could be the worse possible room in that level or it could be better than that. Just because you disagree doesn't mean it doesn't qualify for their particular system. If you definitely want an inside room - just book the inside room. I doubt the difference between guarantee inside and a fixed inside room is that different.

[ColinIllinois]

Probably one of the reasons why most people choose their cabins and don't leave their rooms to the luck of the draw.

 

Can you not just cancel this and rebook to a different room? Or, is it too late?

[Guindalf]

There are oceanview staterooms available on the Sun for Dec 26th on decks 8 or 9 that you can book, so I'm not sure what your issue is? You are outside of full payment and can cancel without penalty, so why not just rebook through the website?

 

If you are unhappy with your PCC, you can request another one (I had issues with mine last year, so I gave him the boot!).

[DorothyB]

I chose to pay extra for a porthole room over an inside room. Of course, I am sailing solo in my cabin.

[CPT Trips]

In the "guarenteed" booking system, balcony is better than outside which is better than inside. Higher in the ship is better than lower in the same type of cabin. Deck 4 with a porthole is better than deck 8 inside - check out the list prices of each of these on the cruise of your choice. Higher cost equals better cabin in the guarentee system even if not to some of us cruisers..

 

Picking a specific cabin does allow one to get exactly the location that one wants and assure that the cabin is not over, under, or next to something that will create disturbance.

[dalgirl]

OP - I understand your frustration, but if you are like me and the least bit picky (and you sound like you and your DH are), then you have learned a valuable lesson - no matter which cruiseline you choose - you are just not GUARANTY material. Just staying in an inside cabin on my favorite deck is "roughing" it for me. I also agree with you that nothing on deck 4 as an upgrade. And before I get flamed: For those who get seasick the lower decks are suppose to be a lot better.... I think this is a myth, but again, I am really, really picky;)

 

Bite the bullet and upgrade now, or if you feel lucky, contact them about 2-3 weeks before you sail to see if they will really "upgrade" you again for free - it is worth a shot.

 

Good luck....

[TravelDiva88]

I had booked a New Year's cruise on the Sun in October. I usually book a balcony room, but I was trying to save money and booked a category "IB". I told them that I do not want this "better" cabin but they said there was nothing they could do because they feel that they upgraded me. TOTAL GARBAGE!!! Now I will probably just bite the bullet and upgrade to a balcony. They may be getting more money from me now but this will be the last time I sail on NCL.

 

If you look online, this is what the website has to say about GTY category staterooms

 

Guarantee stateroom (GTY) is one where there is no cabin number assigned at the time of booking. A stateroom may be assigned any time after final payment has been received, up to the day of sailing.

 

A Guarantee stateroom can be assigned to a single, double, triple, or quad.

 

A Guarantee Stateroom guarantees the guests

The ship

The voyage

The fare

A stateroom in the category they paid for, or possibly higher

 

A Guarantee Stateroom does NOT guarantee the guests

Deck or Location

Specific bedding arrangements (Two lowers that convert to a queen)

A specific cabin number

An unobstructed view

An upgrade

 

Once the stateroom has been assigned, there will be NO changes.

[waytogofromhere]

Yes, it is a valuable lesson learned. I will never not pick my exact room. I am just going to upgrade and put it behind me. I won't let it spoil my vacation but it does leave a bad taste in my mouth. My poor husband works for the power company here and he has been working 16 hour days + since Monday so I guess I just spent some of his OT money. So much for trying to save a little.

[waytogofromhere]

If you look online, this is what the website has to say about GTY category staterooms

 

Guarantee stateroom (GTY) is one where there is no cabin number assigned at the time of booking. A stateroom may be assigned any time after final payment has been received, up to the day of sailing.

 

A Guarantee stateroom can be assigned to a single, double, triple, or quad.

 

A Guarantee Stateroom guarantees the guests

The ship

The voyage

The fare

A stateroom in the category they paid for, or possibly higher

 

A Guarantee Stateroom does NOT guarantee the guests

Deck or Location

Specific bedding arrangements (Two lowers that convert to a queen)

A specific cabin number

An unobstructed view

An upgrade

 

Once the stateroom has been assigned, there will be NO changes.

 

 

I guess I should only pay attention to what is actually in print and not what the NCL representative told me. A lesson learned

[EaglesWin]

Yes, it is a valuable lesson learned. I will never not pick my exact room. I am just going to upgrade and put it behind me. I won't let it spoil my vacation but it does leave a bad taste in my mouth. My poor husband works for the power company here and he has been working 16 hour days + since Monday so I guess I just spent some of his OT money. So much for trying to save a little.

 

This is the right attitude. Get the nicer cabin, enjoy your cruise, lesson learned. And hopefully someone else reads this and learns the pitfalls of GTY.

[anthem]

I have a guarantee room booked as well, not assigned yet, and was sure that I could decline a possible upgrade that feels like a downgrade.

 

You have no real option to decline. If you book a guarantee - their only responsibility is to give you a room in that category or higher. And as someone else posted - the scale or rooms they are allowed to give is just that. On a simplistic level its inside < outside < balcony. That means ANY balcony room is better than any outside room which is better than any inside room. . .

 

If you book a balcony room, it can be on any deck as long as its a balcony room. Could be obstructed view, could be back/front/upper/lower whatever.

[waytogofromhere]

I have a guarantee room booked as well, not assigned yet, and was sure that I could decline a possible upgrade that feels like a downgrade.

 

I hope you fare better than I did because you cannot decline anything. They give you what they feel like. I even said that I did not want their "better" room but would instead rather stay with an inside but they would not hear of it. I guess that is how they get rid of those cabins.

[caribsun]

Leaving soon on the Jewel, booked a inside on Deck 4. TA called last week and offered Port Hole Deck 4 mid Ship for 40.00 total. I'm happy on Deck 4, not to far from elevator and gang way.

[anthem]

I understand that, to be honest I did not really spend a lot of thoughts about it when booking.

 

My understanding was when they upgrade my inside guarantee to a obstructed oceanview and I prefer a basic inside they can give the oceanview to a GTY booker that preferes any oceanview and everyone is happy. NCL would not really lose anything as far as I can think of.

 

But when the rules are that we can not decline I am ok with that as well.

 

They intentionally say no changes after because no one wants to deal with a bunch of people requesting changes if they can help it. And unfortunately that group (GTY cabins) would try and change constantly. . . So I can understand their position. . .

 

But honestly - the "classes" are set up pretty well. Most people would be more than happy at getting an oceanview room from the inside. That might not be the "ultimate" upgrade, but its an upgrade that 95% of people would be unexpectedly happy to get. So, yes the room might be a little smaller but its an "upgrade", and unfortunately I can't sympathize with how waytogofromhere is feeling because that is a pretty good "upgrade". My guess is the NCL rep would be kind of surprised to hear someone doesn't want an outside and wants to be moved back inside.

 

I'm really not sure why someone wouldn't be happy with getting an outside room over an inside. If one was that particular that they absolutely wanted a particular room/deck/area then book the room directly.

 

The whole premise of GTY is for people who don't mind/care of where they are and will take any room with a possibility of an upgrade while allowing the ship to fill the rooms they have.

[anthem]

sorry, corrected that. .. and yes - they aren't really trying to play games here. They actually just need to backfill rooms with the GTY reservations when they start allocating. There are good rooms left and some not as desireable - thats just reality of the inventory they are working with.

[scorpioncrawl]

Well, for us, we LOVE TO CRUISE!!!! The room is not a big deal, but to many it is. We spend very little time there, and ALWAYS get a great night sleep, plenty of room and so on. We just booked the Sun a few days ago, and started in a guarantee bottom of the ship deal. Was upgraded the next day to deck 8, inside, 192 sq ft! How can that be bad? We are excited! have had suites, balconies and port holes and everyhting in between and have always been satisfied. If you want a balcony, book a balcony. You want to save money, do the guarantee. We normally select our room but have done the guarantee many times as well due to pricing and promos. Good luck and HAPPY SAILING!

[weltek]

Huh. I didn't realize the oceanviews are sometimes smaller than insides. I've sailed both on various NCL ships and never felt much of a difference for those square feet.

[scorpioncrawl]

Yeah, we were shocked as our TA made a deal out of the room size and requested us to view it on line. We did and it looks great! Like I said, we aren't picky just want to get out on the waters!!!!

[Don Haynes]

I have said this before and I will say it again. Folks put way too much on square footage, and make a big deal out of 20 or 30 square feet. The cabins are roughly 20 feet in length and an extra one foot wider cabin will generate 20 square feet. Or a foot and a half wider cabin for 30 square feet. Folks are acting as if they are missing out on 200 or 300 square feet which they aren't.

 

Frankly, I would rather have a port hole on the fourth deck than an inside cabin on the ninth deck. At least a porthole will provide some precious daylight in the cabin.

 

As I am sure many have posted already, if you wish to have a certain specific cabin, don't book guarantee. Book that specific cabin instead at the full rate.

[scorpioncrawl]

I could care less about the square footage. I was simply making a comment on a guarantee room can be a positive thing and not a negative one. The square footage was added fyi info. INSIDE CABINS ON ANY DECK ARE FINE! DEPENDS ON WHO YOU ARE AND HOW YOU HANDLE IT!!!! HAPPY SAILING TO ALL......: )

[TravelDiva88]

.

 

Frankly, I would rather have a port hole on the fourth deck than an inside cabin on the ninth deck. At least a porthole will provide some precious daylight in the cabin.

 

 

Yep, and the lower you are the more stable you are. Goodbye seasickness!

[Don Haynes]

I could care less about the square footage. I was simply making a comment on a guarantee room can be a positive thing and not a negative one. The square footage was added fyi info. INSIDE CABINS ON ANY DECK ARE FINE! DEPENDS ON WHO YOU ARE AND HOW YOU HANDLE IT!!!! HAPPY SAILING TO ALL......: )

 

I am happy with any cabin. I would be happy stowing away sleeping in a lifeboat. :D

[DMH15]

I would NEVER EVER book a guarantee. I like to choose my stateroom.

 

The rep should not have made promises to you. You should let a supervisor know you were misled so that does not happen again to others.

 

It's not too late to book the type of room you want. But if it does cost more than you were planning to pay you just learned why guarantees cost less. Sometimes you get the lowest possible within the perameters but I have slso heard of people getting sweet upgrades. It is a roll of the dice.

[ttnc4me]

I guess I should only pay attention to what is actually in print and not what the NCL representative told me. A lesson learned

This should be a lesson in every aspect of life when dealing with a business, sadly. Trust nothing you are told, only what is in print.