Charging more to pick your cabin???

[rakes5]

2 hours ago, Scoobydobe7 said:

So Royal is charging you more to pick your cabin???   WOW!!!  I guess it is "anything for a buck"   IMO -- CHEAP TACTIC....

 

So my question is...if you have Royal pick your room, after it is assigned....can you switch you room to a "same category" room without a penalty???

 

Thanks

 

I think you could have picked any available cabin, in the same category, for the same price, when booking.

They usually pick the lowest category  when the pick your cabin. When you went to pick your own, you probably picked a higher category. 

 

What they have done is make it very difficult to know which cabin, is in which category, on their website when booking. You either have to look separately at their deck maps, which are still difficult, because the colors are so similar, or using a different TA website.

 

If you look at this example, you can see one floor of a Oasis cruise has four categories available on this floor, and prices for each category, and the guarantee rate (which I don't believe you were referring to, although many other posters, thought you were referring to). Royal can have two cabins next to each other, and one sleeps 2, and the other sleeps more, and they made them different categories, and possibly different prices.

 

 

 

This particular Big Box website also allow you to just select one category, which this example shows for just the lowest priced category.

 

 

 

Edited March 15, 2019 by rakes5
added second picture

[thistimeplease]

1 hour ago, CRUISEFAN0001 said:

This is all very simple. 

 

In once case...when you select your cabin based on your own personal preferences. Experienced cruisers may choose certain cabins based on Deck, location on the ship (port, starboard, features, balcony size, etc.).

 

In the second case (where they assign a cabin)...essentially you will get a cabin among those remaining in the 'leftover pool".

 

Charging for "preferences" is not unique to cruise lines.

I don't believe this is true.  We booked a August 2019 cruise and I saved almost $800 by letting them pick the room for me.  I was assigned a room 2 weeks after booking, it's 10316.  Doesn't seem to be a bad location.  I don't believe they gave us a room from the "leftover pool" 170 days out from our cruise.

[BillOh]

2 hours ago, drunkfish3 said:

No they are charging less if you don't want to pick. 

Usually.   The not so new website now is real inconsistent.  I'm struggling to pick my 2020 cruise and one I was looking at last night it was cheaper to pick your own room than to let Royal pick.  I saw another cruise where is was cheaper to get a refundable deposit than a non-refundable one.   

[CruisinCrow]

8 minutes ago, thistimeplease said:

I don't believe this is true.  We booked a August 2019 cruise and I saved almost $800 by letting them pick the room for me.  I was assigned a room 2 weeks after booking, it's 10316.  Doesn't seem to be a bad location.  I don't believe they gave us a room from the "leftover pool" 170 days out from our cruise.

 

"Leftover" just means the cabins that weren't specifically chose.  They aren't necessarily undesirable.  We've gotten some really good cabins booking a guarantee.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

13 minutes ago, thistimeplease said:

I don't believe this is true.  We booked a August 2019 cruise and I saved almost $800 by letting them pick the room for me.  I was assigned a room 2 weeks after booking, it's 10316.  Doesn't seem to be a bad location.  I don't believe they gave us a room from the "leftover pool" 170 days out from our cruise.

Believe what you will, but that's how it works. Keep in mind some cabins are shown as "unavailable" because they are reserved by travel agencies in "blocks" (group of cabins guaranteed by the TA) - so they are excluded until near departure from the "leftover pool".

 

If you chose to let them pick a cabin, and you're happy with it...that's great.  In exploring the price difference...it is common to see only $200 or so per person, depending on the length of a cruise. I've explored prices where the difference was only $100 per person, and in one case...NO price difference.

 

But if you were not happy (as some post from time to time), then you get what you get when making that choice in a cabin assignment. Many, if not most people prefer to know their cabin type, location, and features when booking. 

 

 

Edited March 15, 2019 by CRUISEFAN0001

[fred30]

2 hours ago, Homosassa said:

 

LOL - another misconception about the lower floors. There are many experienced cruisers  that understand the mantra of "low and midship" as actually being the more desirable locations.

Only for less motion.  There is more noise and vibration from the engines on the bottom decks.

[OCruisers]

2 hours ago, GEORGIEGIRL said:

Yes they dd. Only it used to be called a guarantee cabin. Been that way for years....

 

1 hour ago, CruisinCrow said:

 

They've been doing that since we started cruising in 1991.  It's not new.

 

Per above .... It's NOT new!  

[katiel53]

2 hours ago, Scoobydobe7 said:

Not new to cruising....and not new to RC....They have changed their website when  booking a cruise in 2020.  And I am not embarrassed by "saving a buck" ... Royal never made you pick an option before booking your cabin (at least since 1998) and now they are.

In the past you paid the higher rate automatically.  At times there were guarantee rates, but not always.  Now you are given a choice.  I guess I don't see why you feel this is grabbing a buck etc.  

You have a choice.  Do as you have done, paying the higher rate, or save a bit and do the guarantee.  Nothing wrong with having choices.  I think there are too many people looking to blame the cruise line for things without thinking them through.  This seems, to me, to be one of those.

[AdGuyMG]

2 hours ago, katiemylady said:

I find that the guarantee rooms (the "let us pick your room") are on a lower floor (floors 2-4) and when you are allowed to pick your own room, you can usually get a room on a more preferable floor.

If that's the case, I'd be leery of a Balcony Guarantee.

[Tiggerontheseas]

3 hours ago, robtulipe said:

Also lately RCI appears to be assigning cabins to guarantees but not showing what cabin it is so one doesn't known what category to look for cabins in.

IMO they are trying to hinder a cabin switch for assigned guarantee bookings.

This has happen to one of the bookings for our group which is a guarantee on our next cruise. The Set Sail pass shows the muster station and eDocs shows a deck number so a cabin must be assigned but that booking still shows as a guarantee. This is still happening even though our Oasis TA sailing next month has no current cabins available.

 

Yes!  We are on the same TA and saved a boatload (ha!) on the guarantee cabin but I would definitely like to know what our cabin is.  I thought that maybe once it was shown as sold out they would let us know because, hey, where are we going to move to?  Oh, well.  Between the muster station and deck number we have the general location so I guess that will have to do. 🙂

[Homosassa]

2 hours ago, thistimeplease said:

I don't believe this is true.  We booked a August 2019 cruise and I saved almost $800 by letting them pick the room for me.  I was assigned a room 2 weeks after booking, it's 10316.  Doesn't seem to be a bad location.  I don't believe they gave us a room from the "leftover pool" 170 days out from our cruise.

Think of that cabin as a placeholder in the system.

 

It is very possible that you may find your cabin number switched several times between now and sailing or even being told a different cabin number at check in at the pier.

 

 

[Merion_Mom]

2 hours ago, AdGuyMG said:

If that's the case, I'd be leery of a Balcony Guarantee.

 

😄😄😄

[robtulipe]

2 hours ago, Tiggerontheseas said:

 

Yes!  We are on the same TA and saved a boatload (ha!) on the guarantee cabin but I would definitely like to know what our cabin is.  I thought that maybe once it was shown as sold out they would let us know because, hey, where are we going to move to?  Oh, well.  Between the muster station and deck number we have the general location so I guess that will have to do. 🙂

Also look at your luggage tag as our friend's shows what sector of the ship their cabin is in without having the cabin number on it as shown below. That with the deck and muster station information provide a good indication where their ocean view cabin is which is port side, deck 8, forward part of the mid-ship sector.

Funny part of this is we also had a guarantee booking but went with a neighborhood balcony guarantee as we wanted something to look at on those ten sea-days this cruise has as well as getting one of the two free specialty dining with some drinks that goes with a neighborhood balcony and within a week were assigned an boardwalk balcony that actual cabin showed immediately when I checked this out on my C&A account.

Edited March 15, 2019 by robtulipe

[Tiggerontheseas]

6 minutes ago, robtulipe said:

Also look at your luggage tag as our friend's shows what sector of the ship their cabin is in without having the cabin number on it as shown below.

 

Thanks!   I checked that out and the sector on our luggage tags matches what we thought judging from our muster station.  Aft it is!  Going to be a long walk to the Solarium.  

[nelblu]

6 hours ago, Scoobydobe7 said:

So Royal is charging you more to pick your cabin???   WOW!!!  I guess it is "anything for a buck"   IMO -- CHEAP TACTIC....

 

So my question is...if you have Royal pick your room, after it is assigned....can you switch you room to a "same category" room without a penalty???

 

Thanks

One of the reason, at least for balcony cabins, is that the price shown for pick your cabin has 2+ distinct tiers.  One is "Obstructed Guaranteed" and the other is guaranteed.  So if RCL picks your cabin, you stand a good chance of getting an non-obstructed cabin.  For instance, I just booked balcony guarantee 5D type balcony cabin and asked the agent where these cabins would be located--Her answer was Deck 8-11, above the obstructions.  The cost was just a bit over $100 per person.

 

By the way, got a good price for a 9 niter on Anthem.

[Tree_skier]

3 hours ago, AdGuyMG said:

If that's the case, I'd be leery of a Balcony Guarantee.

I'd love a balcony on deck 2.  You could go fishing.

 

🎣

[robtulipe]

1 hour ago, Homosassa said:

Think of that cabin as a placeholder in the system.

 

It is very possible that you may find your cabin number switched several times between now and sailing or even being told a different cabin number at check in at the pier.

 

 

We've never had that happen with the 24 guarantee bookings we've donewhich were mostly with RCI but some were on X.

The only time our assigned cabin changed was when we requested the change. 

[CruisinCrow]

1 minute ago, robtulipe said:

We've never had that happen with the 24 guarantee bookings we've donewhich were mostly with RCI but some were on X.

The only time our assigned cabin changed was when we requested the change. 

 

Same here.  But our guarantee cabins have usually been assigned fairly close to sail date.

 

[robtulipe]

1 minute ago, CruisinCrow said:

 

Same here.  But our guarantee cabins have usually been assigned fairly close to sail date.

 

We've had our guarantee booking assigned a cabin the same day as when booked even when booked months prior to the sail date.

The latest we've gotten a cabin assigned is 3 day prior and as I mentioned above none have changed without us requesting that change.

[lv2cruisgrl]

We have done this twice. First time we had a great room, no issues. Second time we didn't like where it was and our TA couldn't get it changed because there were no other rooms available in the same category. So we will pay the higher price and get what we want from now on.

[BigHouseFootball]

It may not be new but it is WAY more prevalent now. Almost every cruise I plan out has this option now. On my 3 previous? It wasn’t even an option. I wanted the option of a guarantee do I could save some money but it wasn’t a option. 

[grinningimm]

2 hours ago, robtulipe said:

Also look at your luggage tag as our friend's shows what sector of the ship their cabin is in without having the cabin number on it as shown below. That with the deck and muster station information provide a good indication where their ocean view cabin is which is port side, deck 8, forward part of the mid-ship sector.

Funny part of this is we also had a guarantee booking but went with a neighborhood balcony guarantee as we wanted something to look at on those ten sea-days this cruise has as well as getting one of the two free specialty dining with some drinks that goes with a neighborhood balcony and within a week were assigned an boardwalk balcony that actual cabin showed immediately when I checked this out on my C&A account.

Thanks for posting this.  It made me go back and look at our (incomplete) luggage tags in our docs just received today.  However, for Rhapsody, the little sector diagram has only 4 sections, Forward and Aft on the port and starboard sides.  So we know we will be port side, and forward of the exact middle of the ship, but that could be in the "midships" area, or the "forward" area, based on the deck plans on the website, which let you pick from aft, mid, or forward when booking.

Edited March 15, 2019 by grinningimm

[time4u2go]

1 hour ago, Tree_skier said:

I'd love a balcony on deck 2.  You could go fishing.

 

🎣

Carnival actually has them.  They're called cove balconies, and they are on deck 2.

[Tree_skier]

That would be really interesting to be that close to the water!

 

[Mikew0805]

11 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

I've seen it basically the same and I've seen it cheaper as well. Usually more expensive 

Wow.. the times I have seen it higher, I have never seen anything more than $30-$40. In fact the Oasis, was $8 cheaper to pick my own cabin vs. going with a GTY.  I guess I have not seen it as high as many of you mention, because I never travel during peak season. It's too hot, and there are too many kids.