Just curious

[emilygrace]

Why does Holland America wait so long to assign guarantee cabins? I have booked guarantees on other cruise lines and have gotten my cabin number anywhere from the same day I booked up to a month before the sail date. I have sailed on HAL 3 times before, all in guarantees and I don't remember waiting so long to find out my location. Last cruise with HAL was 2 years ago so is this a recent thing?

[SilvertoGold]

Why does Holland America wait so long to assign guarantee cabins? I have booked guarantees on other cruise lines and have gotten my cabin number anywhere from the same day I booked up to a month before the sail date. I have sailed on HAL 3 times before, all in guarantees and I don't remember waiting so long to find out my location. Last cruise with HAL was 2 years ago so is this a recent thing?

 

HAL uses GUARs for flexibility. After most bookings are in, HAL starts upsells (pay extra for a better category) and then sees what's left and assigns the GUARs.

 

Some cruises the GUARs are early, maybe 30 days out. Some are 2 or 3 days out. All seems to depend on how well the ship has sold, how the upsells go.

 

My take on this is if you want to be assigned really early, you might as well book a specific cabin of your choice, if the cruise has that available.

 

At any rate, have the BEST cruise!!!

Edited August 29, 2016 by SilvertoGold

[catl331]

We've done 9 guarantees starting in 2002. One of the early assignments we got was 18 days out, and one of the more recent was 7 days out. All of the rest were either 11 or 10 days out. From what I read here, the peak of the curve seems to be from about 12 to 9 days out.

 

Why? I don't know. Maybe HAL plays more games with upselling than other cruise lines.

[sherryf]

It's not just HAL. The one time I had a guarantee on Princess, we didn't get our assignment until about 2.5 days before the cruise.

[towhee]

We usually do guarantees regardless of cruise line. On HAL they seem to come about 10 to 12 days before the cruise date. Princess seems to be about 2 to 3 weeks out, although the very first cruise we did with them (also our very first cruise) we didn't find out until the day before. Celebrity seems to be about 2 to 3 weeks out also. As others said, the cruise lines seem to try upsells first, then assigns remaining cabins. We've managed to get some nice upgrades by waiting; we've never been offered an upsell.

[summersigh]

Why? I don't know. Maybe HAL plays more games with upselling than other cruise lines.

Just curious ,,,, why do you feel HAL is playing games with you over guarantee cabins? I assume you know the deal going into this sort of booking and understand that you might not even get an assignment until you get to the port the day of the sailing. :)

 

This is exactly why DH and I always book a cabin of our choice and are done with it rather than spend weeks wondering.:)

[catl331]

Just curious ,,,, why do you feel HAL is playing games with you over guarantee cabins? I assume you know the deal going into this sort of booking and understand that you might not even get an assignment until you get to the port the day of the sailing.

Not playing games with the assignment timing, playing games with the cabin pricing in the upselling period before they begin the assignments. Have you ever watched one of the sites that track cabin prices? It often looks like there's no rhyme or reason the way the prices bounce up and down. Edited August 29, 2016 by catl331

[Fouremco]

We seldom do guarantees, but on those occasions when we have, understood that notification might be only a day or two out. While we are all anxious to find out how well we've made out, from a practical perspective I'd be fine with finding out when we check in at the port. FWIW, our best guarantee cabins have been the latest announced, so I'd be in no hurry! :)

[waASPCrusier]

We seldom do guarantees, but on those occasions when we have, understood that notification might be only a day or two out. While we are all anxious to find out how well we've made out, from a practical perspective I'd be fine with finding out when we check in at the port. FWIW, our best guarantee cabins have been the latest announced, so I'd be in no hurry! :)

 

Just as you described, this past week we arrived at the port expecting our fully obstructed window cabin that we had gotten maybe 8 days out and instead had been moved to a balcony cabin. It was a great surprise, although we might have brought some different items along with us... :)

[iflyrc5]

Not exactly the same thing but twice early on in our cruising history we were given a free upgrade (inside to porthole ocean view) and (ocean view to Veranda) as we were checking in at the pier. These are not always an upgrade in everyone's mind and so the last few years we pick a cabin we like and tell them no upgrade.

[USN59-79]

We usually do guarantees regardless of cruise line. On HAL they seem to come about 10 to 12 days before the cruise date. Princess seems to be about 2 to 3 weeks out, although the very first cruise we did with them (also our very first cruise) we didn't find out until the day before. Celebrity seems to be about 2 to 3 weeks out also. As others said, the cruise lines seem to try upsells first, then assigns remaining cabins. We've managed to get some nice upgrades by waiting; we've never been offered an upsell.

That is interesting as it has been our experience also. We have cruised 18 times with HAL, always booked a guarantee, always assigned a better cabin than we paid for, but have never been offered an upsell.

[Wendy-Europe]

IMHOP it is part of the deal - you cannot expect to get a better price, but have the same choices and advantages like someone who paid the "supplement" for an assigned cabin.

 

They give you the reduction (and the possibility of an unpaid upgrade) - but they receive the flexibility - a marketing instrument.

 

So fair deal.

 

I always book the "metacategory" I like (balcony), but it doesn´t matter which location - so guarantee is perfect for me.

 

If the cabin number is important for you, you have to pay more.

 

It´s a plain sailing ;-)

[Krazy Kruizers]

We don't do guarantees, BUT -- reading here and on other boards, cruise lines try to sell cabins before they start to assign guarantees. That makes sense to me -- getting cabins sold to make money before giving upgrading people

[3rdGenCunarder]

We don't do guarantees, BUT -- reading here and on other boards, cruise lines try to sell cabins before they start to assign guarantees. That makes sense to me -- getting cabins sold to make money before giving upgrading people

 

Right. And by keeping lots of cabins unassigned, they can offer more choice to someone who wants to book and choose the cabin.

 

On my upcoming cruise, we've got a corner aft (SB), which we love. Since final booking, the corner afts have gone up in price. The guarantees and SCs have gone down. The SAs have gone down a fair amount, but not by as much as the SC/guarantee. So HAL can attract someone who will take a bargain in exchange for a roll of the dice (not much of a risk at the suite level) and at the same time attract someone who wants a particular location.

[frankc98376]

Right. And by keeping lots of cabins unassigned, they can offer more choice to someone who wants to book and choose the cabin.

 

On my upcoming cruise, we've got a corner aft (SB), which we love. Since final booking, the corner afts have gone up in price. The guarantees and SCs have gone down. The SAs have gone down a fair amount, but not by as much as the SC/guarantee. So HAL can attract someone who will take a bargain in exchange for a roll of the dice (not much of a risk at the suite level) and at the same time attract someone who wants a particular location.

 

I've heard from TA friends that the SB Vista Aft Wraps are very popular and not uncommon to see them waitlisted. They normally book well in advance at full price.

[Tampa Girl]

Not playing games with the assignment timing, playing games with the cabin pricing in the upselling period before they begin the assignments. Have you ever watched one of the sites that track cabin prices? It often looks like there's no rhyme or reason the way the prices bounce up and down.

 

What tracking sites? Are they available only to TA's?

[Krazy Kruizers]

Those SB aft cabins are very popular.

JMO -- we don't like them.

[CruiserBruce]

If there was a financial benefit to assigning within a week or two of booking, they would. It is just the way HAL does it. We know going in the assignment will be in the last 30 days.

 

I am always amazed when people book a GTY 6, 8, 12 months out, then start agonizing about assignments 30 or so days out. I wonder if when they committed that money for a cruise, did they ask, or research when assignments are made?

[3rdGenCunarder]

Those SB aft cabins are very popular.

 

JMO -- we don't like them.

 

Yay! One less person to compete with for them! ;) I sometimes worry when people talk about how great they are, as it means I'll have to book even earlier to grab one!

 

Oddly, on my upcoming cruise, there are at least half showing as available a few weeks out. First time I've seen that. Maybe HAL is keeping the price up at a level people don't want to pay. I'm surprised they haven't dropped it at this point. But of course, I have no idea what the guarantee pool is like.

[frankc98376]

Yay! One less person to compete with for them! ;) I sometimes worry when people talk about how great they are, as it means I'll have to book even earlier to grab one!

 

Oddly, on my upcoming cruise, there are at least half showing as available a few weeks out. First time I've seen that. Maybe HAL is keeping the price up at a level people don't want to pay. I'm surprised they haven't dropped it at this point. But of course, I have no idea what the guarantee pool is like.

 

Possibly available from people that took up-sells and didn't know better :)

[emilygrace]

I forgot to mention that with all the HAL cruises I have booked there has only been gtys available, probably because I usually book a short leg of a much longer cruise. I have never been able to select my cabin. I'm OK with this, have been pleasantly surprised more than once. But it's not like I booked a guarantee because it was cheaper, it's because it was the only thing available. This time we booked an obstructed OV (hey, it's a 3 night cruise so the view isn't crucial) but when the price dropped after final payment we were able to move up to a verandah cabin. Right now this short leg of the longer cruise is showing as sold out across all categories (sail date Oct. 4) so maybe they are in the process of offering people upsells and when that's all settled they will assign the leftovers to us guarantees.

[summersigh]

All the cruise lines use computer algorithms to set charges for all the wide variety of cabins they have on each ship. They're not done by humans :)

 

We normally book 6 months or so out - verandahs - and in the last 5+ cruises there has not been a fare decrease after we booked - in fact they went up significantly. May not be the case for everyone, but that's been our experience.

[3rdGenCunarder]

Just had a look at my upcoming cruise. I don't have a guarantee, I only checked because of this thread. Two weeks out and it shows ocean view as sold out. I wonder if there really are none available or if they've taken this category out of inventory while they start assigning cabins. I will check tomorrow to see if they reappear.

[SilvertoGold]

Just had a look at my upcoming cruise. I don't have a guarantee, I only checked because of this thread. Two weeks out and it shows ocean view as sold out. I wonder if there really are none available or if they've taken this category out of inventory while they start assigning cabins. I will check tomorrow to see if they reappear.

 

I think "sold out" means many things.

 

I suppose it could really mean sold out, but could also be a marketing ploy to sell more expensive cabins (you want an outside, sold out, so take a look at the balconies).

HAL could be doing upsells, as you note, and doesn't want the pricing of a certain category available for comparison.

A category could be "sold out", in that it is covering GUARs.

 

Used to be on HAL that "sold out" was rarely seen. It was all "GUAR".

[bluegiraffe]

What tracking sites? Are they available only to TA's?

 

I'd like to know the answer to this question too.