What's up with booking a "GTY" cabin?

[Jim Avery]

nope, never heard of such.

[Heidi13]

7 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

nope, never heard of such.

 

I'm with Jim, even prior to Viking, I never heard of a GTY cabin not receiving a cabin. On our cruise, some pax knew months in advance.

 

Going back to our Princess days, when we sailed with our son. We joined the ship without even an expectation of a pax cabin being available, and would have got a crew cabin, or as a last resort his cabin, if nothing was available. Once aboard, our bags went to his cabin, while we waited for a cabin.

 

They resolved all the GTY cabins for paying pax and cabin change requests, then started working on the officer's guests, which were actioned based on number of stripes. When he was only 3rd Officer, we were one of the last to get a cabin, which was often after we finished dinner. The lowest level cabin we received was a shore-based management/auditor cabin, which was a junior officer equivalent, with bunk beds. When he was Senior 2nd Officer we often received a pax cabin.

 

Before we were assigned a cabin, all the GTY's were already assigned and unpacked.

 

When I worked aboard, I don't recall ever leaving anyone on the dock.

[Twitchly]

2 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Going back to our Princess days, when we sailed with our son. We joined the ship without even an expectation of a pax cabin being available, and would have got a crew cabin, or as a last resort his cabin, if nothing was available. Once aboard, our bags went to his cabin, while we waited for a cabin.

That’s interesting. I wonder how common it is for staff (officers?) to bring family aboard like this.

[mhb1757]

We booked a GTY DV2 cabin for the Iceland cruise this June.  It was the only thing available when we booked but they assigned us a cabin number within 48 hours. I’m guessing TA’s put rooms on a 24 hour courtesy hold for clients that decided not to book. We were assigned a DV 2 cabin which is exactly what we booked. Since your cruise is still >1 year away and the ships aren’t even in the water yet I’m sure they will delay assigning you a cabin until much later.... but you really have nothing to worry about. They have agreed to provide you a cabin at the level you booked or higher and they can’t refuse to give you that. If there is not one that becomes available they will offer folks sweeter deals to change and free up the needed number of cabins. Although given the length of time until the cruise I’m sure one will be open. 

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, Twitchly said:

That’s interesting. I wonder how common it is for staff (officers?) to bring family aboard like this.

 

Don't know the Viking Officer's terms & conditions, but with Princess they had multiple guests probably every cruise. Even senior ratings, that were on a company contract, could bring family.

[Peregrina651]

5 hours ago, Twitchly said:

Resurrecting this thread to respond to this. Are you (or is anyone) aware of *any* instances where GTY people have not received a cabin? Or have received a lower-rate cabin than what they booked? 
 

Not that I’m, you know, nervous or anything … 

 

 

Before they cancel your booking they will ask for volunteers to "move over" to another cruise.

 

There were a number of us on my last cruise who were GTY and we all got cabins. In all my years reading these boards, I don't remember anyone saying that they did not receive a cabin or were given a lower category.

[Peregrina651]

3 hours ago, Twitchly said:

That’s interesting. I wonder how common it is for staff (officers?) to bring family aboard like this.

 

A bit harder on Viking considering the company's no guest under the age of 18 policy.

 

 

[Heidi13]

9 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

A bit harder on Viking considering the company's no guest under the age of 18 policy.

 

 

 

Hard to believe, but they rarely had < 18 yr olds, as it was really only the Captains and Dept Heads that had cabins big enough to accommodate kids. As S/2/O, our son could bring his wife, parents, g/parents, but not kids. Could only bring kids when he reached Staffy.

[MikeyB]

So you asked about a GTY on a river cruise, so please allow me to give you my sorry tale and first hand experience with a GTY on a Viking river cruise.

I booked a GTY for the cheapest category on a Portugal river cruise in mid February 2020 for an August 2020 sailing.  Friends of ours booked another GTY.  On April 1st (Yes, April Fools Day) I received an e-mail from Viking that I was assigned a cabin.  It was for the same category as the GTY.  Normally I would not mine that.  The GTY will at the very least give you a cabin in the category you paid.  However, when I looked at the sailing on-line, I saw that there were still available cabins in almost every category.   And my friends who sailed less times on Viking were not assigned a cabin.

After numerous calls to Viking, I was repeatedly told the following-  The cabins are assigned randomly and not at the same time.  I kept asking why assign me a cabin so early when so many were still available.  The "computer" did it randomly!

Imagine, you are traveling with friends.  You even booked their GTY.  You board the Longboat and they go to the Explorer suite and you go to steerage.  The cabin assigned me was all the way back by the crew quarters.  This was not a good feeling I had about this cruise.

Covid came to my emotional rescue.

My wife now says....Don't even think about it.  I do continue to think about other woman.  She never said not to do that.

[Peregrina651]

44 minutes ago, MikeyB said:

The "computer" did it randomly!

 

 

That's right! Blame it on the poor defenseless computer!

 

Mikey, imagine the reverse. How would you feel if it were you heading up to the ES while your friends were heading down to aquarium class?

 

In any case, there aren't enough choices (and too many bad choices) on a river ship to make it worthwhile playing cabin roulette. If you wanna play, stick to Oceans.

[MikeyB]

12 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

Mikey, imagine the reverse. How would you feel if it were you heading up to the ES while your friends were heading down to aquarium class?

 

I would feel......a terrible sense of loss!

My friends would never speak to me again.

But I would "man up" and live with that.

🙂

[Squawkman]

Mikey -

The Portugal ships have a total of about 50 staterooms . Only 4 are category F (the cheapest) - and all are located as you call it in “steerage”. You got the cheapest rate and took a gamble on getting a free upgrade. You didn’t. I don’t believe how upset you are that your friends just might have had a upgraded cabin when you didn’t. 
I’ve been cruising Viking ocean and river for a while and usually wind up ahead when I was offered a GTY. On my first ocean cruise, I booked a V2 (cheapest) and less than 2 weeks before embarkation, I received a personal email offering an upgrade to a PV1 for $199pp which we grabbed (that’s 10 steps). After securing the booking, I called my Viking agent to thank him - only to find out it was the “computer” and we were chosen randomly.

Bottom line - if you book the cheapest and are offered GTY, rarely could you be worse off. I don’t have an answer if you’re jealous that someone else got a better cabin than you.

[sleepybobo]

Given that some "Welcome Back to the World" cruises are booked at reduced capacity, do you think we have any chance to get free upgrade when we check in?

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, sleepybobo said:

Given that some "Welcome Back to the World" cruises are booked at reduced capacity, do you think we have any chance to get free upgrade when we check in?

 

I'm not sure they are even doing that anymore.

[MikeyB]

4 hours ago, Squawkman said:

Bottom line - if you book the cheapest and are offered GTY, rarely could you be worse off. I don’t have an answer if you’re jealous that someone else got a better cabin than you.

Squawker- Well, well, well.  This is cruisecritic isn't it?

If you don't have an answer, please don't reply.

 

[Mich3554]

My only experience in a GTY cabin was our first cruise, when I stumbled onto my Viking contact.  I was making a reservation for a trans Atlantic about 2 months before sailing date.    The Viking agent explained that if I paid for a V category, I was more than likely to get upgraded as the ship wasn’t full.  So I paid for a V, we were upgraded to a DV2.
 

This was the only time I have booked GTY because I now have a favorite cabin.

[Twitchly]

Encouraging, thanks. Our cruise, which is completely sold out (except for the Explorer Suite), isn’t until next January, so it’ll probably be a while before we get assigned a room.

 

We booked a PV1. So if we get bumped up, it’ll be a suite!  

[Cienfuegos]

On 5/31/2021 at 7:55 PM, Heidi13 said:

 

Don't know the Viking Officer's terms & conditions, but with Princess they had multiple guests probably every cruise. Even senior ratings, that were on a company contract, could bring family.

 

My wife and I have met spouses and significant others of officers on both Viking and National Geo / Linblad.  It's a nice benefit.

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, Cienfuegos said:

 

My wife and I have met spouses and significant others of officers on both Viking and National Geo / Linblad.  It's a nice benefit.

 

Thanks for confirming.

 

On our cruise the only person having their wife aboard was the Cruise Director, but from some of the Viking TV programs, I recall one of the Captains mentioning his wife comes with him at times.

 

Wasn't permitted when I worked the cruise ships, so most definitely it is a great benefit for today's Masters & Officers.

[Mich3554]

46 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Thanks for confirming.

 

On our cruise the only person having their wife aboard was the Cruise Director, but from some of the Viking TV programs, I recall one of the Captains mentioning his wife comes with him at times.

 

Wasn't permitted when I worked the cruise ships, so most definitely it is a great benefit for today's Masters & Officers.

The wife of the bridge instructor was on board of our South American cruise last year.  She did help him out at times.  I talked with her as to how they got involved with teaching/organizing bridge on Viking.

 

I also know that the spouses of some of the staff helped during some of the excursions.  I forgot what her husband did, but she helped out to corral the passengers for the guides on excursions when called upon.

Edited June 3, 2021 by Mich3554