What's your opinion on Guarantee or "We Pick the Room" Cabins

[GetToLivin]

We booked a JS GTY in September of 2017 (sailing Oct 2017) and ended up being upgraded to a GS. At the time, you could only book a JS GTY, there were no other options to choose from in the suite category.

 

This time around, we booked 55 days out from sailing and booked another JS GTY as there were not any JS rooms to actually choose from. The GS was also not available for booking. Still waiting on room assignment and will be interesting to see what happens since the Royal Up program is in play now. 

 

For savings of 1k I wouldn't hesitate rolling the dice on location!

[island lady]

53 minutes ago, grinningimm said:

We recently "upgraded" from a we-chose-it inside to a guaranty OceanView for a price we couldn't turn down.  We are 71 days out and have no assignment.  Will post here when we get a clue, whether it is just a deck number or an actual cabin number.  We are prepared for that to happen as late as departure day.  It is our first experience with a guarantee.

 

With the up sell/bid program the assignment of higher cat cabins will probably go away for the most part with GTY bookings, but there is always hope!  I was assigned a GS with a JS GTY....got lucky.  🙂

 

But it was not until 5 days before the cruise that it was assigned.  Worth the wait.  🙂

Edited February 15, 2019 by island lady

[Turtle05]

I booked my first gty. It's a GS, 90 days out. It was the cheapest available suite, as JS was not available. Of course I'm hoping for an upgrade, but all the GS on the Anthem seem to be mid ship, so location shouldn't be a big issue. We don't usually book so close to sailing, but we made a late vacation decision. It's kind of nice to be 90 days out already though!

[jamiebytes]

We booked a Suite GTY on our upcoming Symphony cruise, haven't booked a GTY often. Booked <60 days out, still waiting on an assignment. Fully expecting a Junior Suite, but still very eager to get a room assignment soon! I like to plot out paths to key places from my room ahead of time so I'm not spending the first day figuring out how to get everywhere without getting lost. I don't have great internal GPS, as my husband puts it! 😂

[island lady]

5 hours ago, Turtle05 said:

I booked my first gty. It's a GS, 90 days out. It was the cheapest available suite, as JS was not available. Of course I'm hoping for an upgrade, but all the GS on the Anthem seem to be mid ship, so location shouldn't be a big issue. We don't usually book so close to sailing, but we made a late vacation decision. It's kind of nice to be 90 days out already though!

 

That was exactly the reason I booked the JS GTY, there were none left showing to choose from (nor any GS cabins) when I booked so late.  Was very elated to find ourselves assigned that GS at 5 days prior to sailing!  🙂  

 

Alas...with the bidding program going on now...I doubt that would happen again.  😞 

Edited February 17, 2019 by island lady

[island lady]

7 minutes ago, jamiebytes said:

We booked a Suite GTY on our upcoming Symphony cruise, haven't booked a GTY often. Booked <60 days out, still waiting on an assignment. Fully expecting a Junior Suite, but still very eager to get a room assignment soon! I like to plot out paths to key places from my room ahead of time so I'm not spending the first day figuring out how to get everywhere without getting lost. I don't have great internal GPS, as my husband puts it! 😂

 

Don't forget the interactive maps near the elevators...they can map out your route for you!  🙂 

[Jasukkie]

I'm awaiting assignment on my current inside GTY. Previously, I've had an inside GTY that I was able to upgrade after boarding for $100 to a midship balcony. There was nothing wrong with the original room aside from being a long way from the elevator.  That was an unusual situation because we were given an itinerary change and some people cancelled last minute. The balcony GTY I had on Anthem was a perfect location. Just up the stairs from the Schooner Bar, about 4 rooms up from the elevator bank on deck 6, no lifeboat obstruction. I liked that location so much I booked a nearby room on another cruise. I'm not sure why some rooms in great locations do not get picked. In both of those cases, the assignment came within a few days to a week of booking. I booked my next cruise 20 days ago, which was 60 days prior to sailing. I suspect with the UP program we may not have an assignment until very close to sailing.

[grinningimm]

On 2/15/2019 at 2:15 PM, grinningimm said:

We recently "upgraded" from a we-chose-it inside to a guaranty OceanView for a price we couldn't turn down.  We are 71 days out and have no assignment.  Will post here when we get a clue, whether it is just a deck number or an actual cabin number.  We are prepared for that to happen as late as departure day.  It is our first experience with a guarantee.

 

Well, it's not much of a clue, but I do now have a clue.  On Rhapsody, we have been assigned a muster station (#004).  Does this tell us anything about what deck or range of cabins we may be assigned?

Edited February 23, 2019 by grinningimm

[grinningimm]

I promised an update on our upgrade to a guarantee OV on the April 27 TA on Rhapsody.  We do not yet have a cabin assignment, but we do have a deck assigment.  We will be on deck 2.  We are a little disappointed, as we had hoped for 3 (to reduce water noise and the potential for operational noise), but hey, it is a cruise.

 

I did a mock booking to see what might be left on deck 2, and there are a fair number of OV cabins left, and most of them are midships, which would reduce the possibility of anchor noise, if not engine noise.  However, I recognize that what is open now may not be related at all to what we may get, due to the RoyalUp program, etc.

 

I did note that there are no inside cabins left, and no balconies.  There were suites left (don't know how many), and the OV cabins (maybe 14 total, all on decks 2 and 3). Looks like the ship will be pretty full.

Edited March 15, 2019 by grinningimm

[grinningimm]

And prompted by another thread, I checked the luggage tags in our e-docs.  They show us on the port side, in the forward half of the ship.  Not necessarily in the "forward" or "midship" section as described on the website when booking, just forward of the halfway point.

[Missymo]

Pick my room.  That way I get to say where I want to be located,  I just signed up for a Dec Oasis cruise, and was first put directly mid ship as far away from the elevators as you can be on deck 9.  As soon as I realized location, I changed to deck 12 mid  near the back  elevators..  Cost difference a mere $30.00.   

[NJ&Ozzie]

21 hours ago, grinningimm said:

I promised an update on our upgrade to a guarantee OV on the April 27 TA on Rhapsody.  We do not yet have a cabin assignment, but we do have a deck assigment.  We will be on deck 2.  We are a little disappointed, as we had hoped for 3 (to reduce water noise and the potential for operational noise), but hey, it is a cruise.

 

I did a mock booking to see what might be left on deck 2, and there are a fair number of OV cabins left, and most of them are midships, which would reduce the possibility of anchor noise, if not engine noise.  However, I recognize that what is open now may not be related at all to what we may get, due to the RoyalUp program, etc.

 

I did note that there are no inside cabins left, and no balconies.  There were suites left (don't know how many), and the OV cabins (maybe 14 total, all on decks 2 and 3). Looks like the ship will be pretty full.

Hi,

We're in the same position.  Booked inside gty on Feb. 8 - no cabin assignment yet.  Our docs show deck 2, luggage tags section "D".  Yup, was thinking upgrade but now not so sure.  Today, site I'm checking shows gty oceanview cabins too - when I click on other two o/v categories, site won't let me see the cabins.  Maybe we'll be "suite" neighbours!!

NJ 

[grinningimm]

Ah, you've taught me something else! Our luggage tags are section A. I wonder how these translate to approximate areas of the ship.

[NJ&Ozzie]

3 minutes ago, grinningimm said:

Ah, you've taught me something else! Our luggage tags are section A. I wonder how these translate to approximate areas of the ship.

Looks "D" is front of the ship - so no neighbours?  But ever hopeful.

NJ 

[twangster]

Chance of an upgrade from a GTY booking has been impacted by the Royal Up! program. 

 

If there is an upgrade to be had it will be sold to someone and you'll get their now vacant cabin in your class of cabin booked.

[grinningimm]

16 minutes ago, NJ&Ozzie said:

Looks "D" is front of the ship - so no neighbours?  But ever hopeful.

NJ 

Based on where they put the A, it is also towards the front of the ship. So I don't think we can be sure of anything.

[NJ&Ozzie]

57 minutes ago, twangster said:

Chance of an upgrade from a GTY booking has been impacted by the Royal Up! program. 

 

If there is an upgrade to be had it will be sold to someone and you'll get their now vacant cabin in your class of cabin booked.

 

Figured it was too good to be true!  Still happy to be on the Rhapsody - our 1st time on this class of ship.  Will post once we get cabin assigned.

Cheers,

NJ 

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Yeah...ending up with a cabin "below deck" on Decks 2, 3,or 4 doesn't sound appealing whatsoever.  Saving $100 or $200 for a cabin is penny wise but pound foolish.

 

No way would we ever book something down in the dungeon levels.

 

That's where they put the steerage passengers..better know as crew. 🤣

Edited March 16, 2019 by CRUISEFAN0001

[NJ&Ozzie]

17 minutes ago, CRUISEFAN0001 said:

Yeah...ending up with a cabin "below deck" on Decks 2, 3,or 4 doesn't sound appealing whatsoever.  Saving $100 or $200 for a cabin is penny wise but pound foolish.

 

No way would we ever book something down in the dungeon levels.

 

That's where they put the steerage passengers..better know as crew. 🤣

 

Well, please let this lowly D+ cruiser a.k.a "crew" know if there's anything I can do for you to make your cruise experience more enjoyable.  🧞‍♀️

NJ 

[CRUISEFAN0001]

17 minutes ago, NJ&Ozzie said:

 

Well, please let this lowly D+ cruiser a.k.a "crew" know if there's anything I can do for you to make your cruise experience more enjoyable.  🧞‍♀️

NJ 

You know it, eh.  I'll look you up on every Deck 2 excursion departure. 🤣

[twangster]

I've sailed deck 2 on Grandeur.  It was fine.  

[RickinStl]

Its going to be awhile, but I booked A JS guarantee on Freedom September 2020.. The price was what you would pay for a CP balcony on Harmony..