Please help me understand the point of "Guarantee" cabins....

[Pier290]

Besides saving a small amount of $$.....is that the only appeal? I wonder how many cabins they block out for "Guarantees" ?

 

I asked a Rep how sold out our April sailing is and she said there's still over 1/4 of cabins available. .....

 

Yet when I search online there are VERY FEW in each category available still that obviously aren't "Guarantee"

 

This is new to us as we sailed back in 2014 on X and they didn't have this guarantee option.....

 

I keep searching cabins to see if we can get 2 verandas next door to each other but no luck....wondering if indeed a few are held for "Guarantee " category. UGH.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[WestLakeGirl]

It's doubtful that any are held. They want to sell rooms and there's no reason to hold any back.

[MEcruzr]

My friend and I booked a guarantee last month. Why? We got an Ocean View for the same price as an inside cabin. If we had chosen OV it would have cost $150 more. Doesn't sound like much BUT... there's a significant savings between $500 and $750 (for us, anyway). So we're rolling the dice on cabin location. And, we might get something better... who knows? I think the most enticing guarantees is the Suite Guarantee. Those upgrades are HUGE if you get one.

[LucasLounger1]

Our TA said its about "inventory management". I read that to mean their ability to chop and change your location in a way they think will maximize their profit.

 

We recently took a gamble moving from an oceanview cabin to a guarantee veranda. We only pad $20CADpp more. We were assigned a good location the same day. Moreover, we are part of a group of three couples, and we are all still next door neighbours.

 

It was the same category as the "sweet 16". Since my understanding is that once you have your category, you can move within it, we immediately tried to get into a sweet 16. The UK sight showed all sweet 16s on our side were open. But Celebrity said no. My assumption is that since it would have cost several hundred more to book a sweet sixteen on purpose, they weren't going to let me slide into one at the guarantee price point.

 

I'm OK with it all - happy with our location for such a great price.

 

Since this first experience with guarantees, if we were cruising just DH and I, we'd take a chance on guarantee every time. I'd only take a chance if in a larger group if there were lots of cabins left and I had reasonable expectation we'd still be in the same "neighbourhood" (not necessarily side by side).

[cb at sea]

GTY's work best for those who only want to be ON the ship, and don't really care where! You will get AT LEAST the category you book...might get something better!

[TFLG]

Our friends booked an inside gty on a Hawaii sailing last year on the Summit and ended up getting family veranda! SCORE, we booked a veranda gty and got a Concierge cabin on the same sailing. We paid about $2k more than they did and got much worse cabin. So we just spent a lot of time on their HUGE balcony:D

[north29]

Some times the price difference is significant and some time just a little.

We most always go for the guarantee cabin on RC and X in a balcony class or outside, we have never been disappointed, well to date, LOL

[Pushka]

GTY's work best for those who only want to be ON the ship, and don't really care where! You will get AT LEAST the category you book...might get something better!

 

 

Agree with that. Just did this on Cunard QM2 and allocated an upgrade. For Celebrity we did the same and price for Aqua was less than what we'd booked for regular balcony.

[rmats]

I wouldn't call the savings small. I've saved thousands on a double occupancy stateroom with a guarantee booking. I never been disappointed with the selected cabin and received one full upgrade. It's the only way to go IMO.

[Guindalf]

In my experience, it depends on the ship and how choosy you are on location. We took a gty on an NCL Getaway sailing without thinking and had to walk a long way every time due to our cabin being forward and the elevators being mid and aft!

 

We like to be close to the stairs, so now we book where we can choose our location. We were never lucky enough to get an upgrade on a guarantee, so we're not missing much.

[Pier290]

Our TA said its about "inventory management". I read that to mean their ability to chop and change your location in a way they think will maximize their profit.

 

We recently took a gamble moving from an oceanview cabin to a guarantee veranda. We only pad $20CADpp more. We were assigned a good location the same day. Moreover, we are part of a group of three couples, and we are all still next door neighbours.

 

It was the same category as the "sweet 16". Since my understanding is that once you have your category, you can move within it, we immediately tried to get into a sweet 16. The UK sight showed all sweet 16s on our side were open. But Celebrity said no. My assumption is that since it would have cost several hundred more to book a sweet sixteen on purpose, they weren't going to let me slide into one at the guarantee price point.

 

I'm OK with it all - happy with our location for such a great price.

 

Since this first experience with guarantees, if we were cruising just DH and I, we'd take a chance on guarantee every time. I'd only take a chance if in a larger group if there were lots of cabins left and I had reasonable expectation we'd still be in the same "neighbourhood" (not necessarily side by side).

What are SWEET 16s????

 

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[Pier290]

Great info! THX !!

 

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[LucasLounger1]

What are SWEET 16s????

 

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They are the first eight on either side, deck 6, on Summit (and its class). They have large balconies but are the same category (and price) as the cabins just behind them.

[RickT]

Not sure what site you go to in order to see how many cabins are available, the North American site generally only shows a few, to see exactly how many are available, go to the Celebrity UK site as it lists every available cabin.

 

As far as booking a guarantee, last summer we saved over $1,500 so it was well worth it. If there are enough savings or we can move from a standard Veranda to a Concierge and save money we'll do that too.

[Pier290]

Not sure what site you go to in order to see how many cabins are available, the North American site generally only shows a few, to see exactly how many are available, go to the Celebrity UK site as it lists every available cabin.

 

As far as booking a guarantee, last summer we saved over $1,500 so it was well worth it. If there are enough savings or we can move from a standard Veranda to a Concierge and save money we'll do that too.

THANK U !!!!!!!

 

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[reedprincess]

Besides saving a small amount of $$.....is that the only appeal? I wonder how many cabins they block out for "Guarantees" ?

 

I asked a Rep how sold out our April sailing is and she said there's still over 1/4 of cabins available. .....

 

Yet when I search online there are VERY FEW in each category available still that obviously aren't "Guarantee"

 

This is new to us as we sailed back in 2014 on X and they didn't have this guarantee option.....

 

I keep searching cabins to see if we can get 2 verandas next door to each other but no luck....wondering if indeed a few are held for "Guarantee " category. UGH.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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FWIW - they most definitely had the Guarantee option back in 2014. It's not something new in the last 3 years.

It's quite unlikely you'll get two adjoining cabins booking a guarantee, and it's also fairly unlikely you'll find two adjoining balconies this late in the game.

Good luck though....

[knittinggirl]

Our TA said its about "inventory management". I read that to mean their ability to chop and change your location in a way they think will maximize their profit.

 

We recently took a gamble moving from an oceanview cabin to a guarantee veranda. We only pad $20CADpp more. We were assigned a good location the same day. Moreover, we are part of a group of three couples, and we are all still next door neighbours.

 

It was the same category as the "sweet 16". Since my understanding is that once you have your category, you can move within it, we immediately tried to get into a sweet 16. The UK sight showed all sweet 16s on our side were open. But Celebrity said no. My assumption is that since it would have cost several hundred more to book a sweet sixteen on purpose, they weren't going to let me slide into one at the guarantee price point.

 

I'm OK with it all - happy with our location for such a great price.

 

Since this first experience with guarantees, if we were cruising just DH and I, we'd take a chance on guarantee every time. I'd only take a chance if in a larger group if there were lots of cabins left and I had reasonable expectation we'd still be in the same "neighbourhood" (not necessarily side by side).

We tried to upgrade from C2 to S2 after final payment, and they said no. We could get a Concierge Class Guarantee for less than our booking price, but DH insists on a room assignment. Probably should have gone for the guarantee, because the ship's sales staff on our previous cruise stuck us in a really bad balcony. Too narrow to do anything but stand at the railing.

 

Always study deck plans before booking. I always insist on no irregular balconies unless they'll let me look at the deck plans.

[Mynki]

We booked an aqua class room on Millennium in 2015. A few months later the cruise was not selling particularly well and so 'guarantee' cabins were offered. This was before final payment date and so we could get a suite guarantee for £200 less than our aqua class room. Naturally we jumped at the chance.

 

A day later we were allocated our suite. The room was the last S2 I would have picked on the ship, however the deal was great so I didn't care. However I'd read on here that sometimes X will allow you to change rooms so we called our TA and asked if we could move to 6145 which is easily the best S1 suite on an M class ship. To my surprise, they agreed!

 

So yes, guarantees can be well worth it indeed!

[fleckle]

Our TA said its about "inventory management". I read that to mean their ability to chop and change your location in a way they think will maximize their profit.

 

Yes, it is done to give the cruise line flexibility in assigning rooms.

 

Guarantees are much the way that hotel rooms are sold, where you choose a category but do not get to choose a specific room.

Then if they have a lot of availability, they may upgrade you to a higher level room at no additional charge, or they may offer you a better room for a small up-charge.

 

 

It was the same category as the "sweet 16". Since my understanding is that once you have your category, you can move within it, we immediately tried to get into a sweet 16. The UK sight showed all sweet 16s on our side were open. But Celebrity said no....

It is our understanding as well that once we have been assigned a cabin on a guarantee, we may transfer to any other available cabin in the same category at no additional charge.

 

It worked well for us on the few occasions when we used it (although I admit that I do not recall ever seeing it posted in print or on Celebrity's website as official policy).

 

Since the sweet 16s are all category 2C, if you were assigned a 2C you should have been able to transfer to any other available 2C.

 

 

I wonder if this may be one of those cases where they have different policies for different countries, or if you just happened to encounter an agent who didn't want to be bothered.

 

Did you try calling back again and speaking with someone else, or asking to speak to a supervisor?

 

 

[BEAV]

We booked a Concierge guarantee last week because, at the time of booking, it was the least expensive Balcony category offered (a few hundred dollars less than cat 1 and cat 2 Balcony categories). I have to assume Concierge Class category wasn't selling well on that particular sailing, hence the price drop below cat 1 and cat 2.

 

Like another poster said, it's all about inventory management.

[BrendaJ]

I have a quick question - a few weeks ago, we booked 3 verandah guarantee cabins (all that was left) for a cruise departing next weekend. One cabin has had a cabin assignment but the other two are still listed as guarantee. When can we expect to find out our cabin numbers? We would like to attach luggage tags to our bags before we get to the port. Has anyone ever had the experience that they didn't find out their cabin assignment until they boarded?

 

 

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[Iamthesea]

Yes. It's not a problem. You just give the porters your name and they will have your stateroom assignment and fill out tags for you.

 

I wouldn't call the savings small.

 

I agree! The following is our recent and upcoming experience with booking GTY's with a TA after booking with Celebrity.

 

Original booking - 14 N AUS/NZ - 2C - $3799 pp...Switched to AQ GTY with TA $3099

:hearteyes: A $1400 savings for 2 persons.

 

Original booking - 10 N Greek Isles/Italy - 2C - $2999 pp...Switched to AQ GTY with TA $2649

This savings was X 6 persons. A $2100 savings. Plus in both examples, we upgraded to a much higher category and received extra perks from our TA in addition to the perks already in place with Celebrity.

[CEOofVacation]

We tried to upgrade from C2 to S2 after final payment, and they said no. We could get a Concierge Class Guarantee for less than our booking price, but DH insists on a room assignment. Probably should have gone for the guarantee, because the ship's sales staff on our previous cruise stuck us in a really bad balcony. Too narrow to do anything but stand at the railing.

 

Always study deck plans before booking. I always insist on no irregular balconies unless they'll let me look at the deck plans.

Do you know why did Celebrity not allow an upgrade from C2 to S2? I upgraded twice after final payment, but also paid double from our original booking.

[bookitdanno]

Do you still get the "Go Big, Go Better" perks with say a guarantee balcony?

 

Do you get all four perks with a guarantee suite?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Merriem]

Okay I went to the UK site. We have an S1 guarantee on an Australia New Zealand cruise, and they show no availability in any suite category. I booked a guarantee as that was all that was available, but am curious how it works now.