Guarentee Cabin what it means

[NIkkiGR]

On 11/19/2020 at 10:49 AM, CruiserBruce said:

Or possibly a higher category, although given the situation in this case, I doubt you will get a higher level cabin.

I am waiting until the cruise booking for this ship opens up again & will be looking to see what is available & perhaps rebook a different cabin

[NIkkiGR]

On 11/19/2020 at 11:03 AM, FredT said:

On the negative side of a "guarantee" is the fact that you "may" get a BC cabin under a kitchen, or the theater, or some other "undesirable" location.   And those "undesirable" locations can be really unexpected.   We like to think of ourselves as experienced cruisers, but for our last (NC L) cruise we accepted a guarantee as we could see no downside.   Well, we ended up with a cabin just above the waterline, near the bow where it sounded like we were in a washing machine all night from the sound of the bow waves.....   A bit of research on this when we got back revealed a LOT of people bitching about that.....

 

While the vast majority of cruisers have no clue how to research these locations, some do, and those people would never accept a "guarantee".   So if you are particular .......

OurDeck 7  BC cabin  that was assigned is under the sea view pool & above a deck with all staterooms

[NIkkiGR]

On 11/19/2020 at 12:53 PM, KroozNut said:

We never roll the dice with a guarantee. Too many variables that could lead to an undesirable cabin location.

 

When you think about it, guarantees are assigned last, after all the 'good' cabin locations have already been pre-selected.

I would hope that Holland would take in consideration when we booked and the fact that we are on the ship for the whole 24 days & did not just book a portion of the cruise when assigning the cabin. I know that the VE category we booked on the Zuiderdam has no equal to the cabins on the Volendam but we did pay over $17,000.00 for this cruise. I will be checking the cabin options & prices  once this cruise is once again available to book. I

[NIkkiGR]

On 11/19/2020 at 11:58 AM, VMax1700 said:

@NIkkiGRThere are only 4 BC cabins on Volendam and they are located towards the aft of deck 7. They are the lowest category of Vista Suite. This is the minimum category you will be allocated.

Other Vista Suite categories are BB, B, AA and A. which are located on decks 6 and 7.

 

HAL have problems in that there are no actual 'Verandah' cabins on Volendam, so they will have to upgrade you to a Vista Suite.  They are probable burning the midnight oil to try to allocate cabins to everyone, as Zuiderdam is a larger ship than Volendam.  

 

Thank you. I did look at the deck plan & have read that of the two balcony decks, our guarantee cabin is on the most desired deck &. I am not very happy with being so far aft as we had booked midship but will be checking when booking is available again

[SusieKIslandGirl]

Something tells me that it is the "or better" part that will be assigned. There are only 4 or 6 BC cabins on the Volendam but it seems like a lot of people have been assigned to the BC cabins. Truly a waiting game. If we do get our actual assignments by Nov. 30 we should have plenty of time to trade for a cabin we want. (We had a BC cabin that we chose on the Rotterdam for this year but switched to the Zuiderdam when Rotterdam was cancelled and chose a Verandah, now we're back to the guar. BC-I think my head is spinning)

[KroozNut]

On 11/19/2020 at 9:44 AM, dfilpus said:

If you have the option of selecting your own cabin, there are people who will pay extra to select their own cabin, rather than letting the cruise line pick one from those left over. 

 

It doesn't always cost more to select one's own cabin. For a variety of reasons (location, location, location) 😉 we always select our own cabin, and it is always the same price as the guarantee that was automatically assigned during the booking process.

[KroozNut]

9 hours ago, NIkkiGR said:

I am not very happy with being so far aft as we had booked midship but will be checking when booking is available again.

 

I wouldn't be happy with being directly under the pool deck either, which is the main reason we don't book guarantees; the risk of being assigned an undesirable location.

[DaveOKC]

12 hours ago, KroozNut said:

 

It doesn't always cost more to select one's own cabin. For a variety of reasons (location, location, location) 😉 we always select our own cabin, and it is always the same price as the guarantee that was automatically assigned during the booking process.

I have occasionally been able to select a specific cabin in the guarantee cabin, but not higher (unless I want to pay more).  You never know with HAL...........

[iancal]

We must have been fortunate.  Most of our cruises have been late booking gty balcony cabins six weeks to 3 days out.   At least 15, probably more.   Never been assigned a cabin under or over a public area or a kitchen.  Never been displeased...quite the opposite in fact.   This could well be different with insides or outsides.

 

Once, on Carnival, we were assigned a forward balcony.  Out TA suggested that we ask Carnival to put us back in the pool and re-assign.  She said we could do this one time.  Followed her advice  ended up with great midships cabin.  

 

Our gty preference is when the gty is based on a minimum cabin cat.  That way we look up the ship to determine what is the 'worst' assignment we could get.  This becomes our expectation.   Our expectations have  been exceeded on all of the cruise lines that we have had gtys.  Perhaps because when we book a balcony gty we do not expect to be assigned a suite . You have to be realistic.

Edited November 25, 2020 by iancal

[Aquahound]

On 11/24/2020 at 9:02 AM, NIkkiGR said:

Thank you. I did look at the deck plan & have read that of the two balcony decks, our guarantee cabin is on the most desired deck &. I am not very happy with being so far aft as we had booked midship but will be checking when booking is available again

 

Try calling HAL to see if they'll switch you to another room within the same category.  I've done this numerous times after being assigned my GTY and it has never failed.  

[iancal]

You have nothing to loose by asking for another cabin assignment.  The worst HAL can say is no.

[WriterOnDeck]

On the general topic of guarantees, I also would add that you could be likely to get one of the least desirable cabins in your category. It actually makes sense. People who choose to book in that category and pick their cabins pick the best (eg closer to mid ship). On the recent half-world cruise, we were assigned a cabin too near the bow for my liking, the most forward cabin in the category we picked. However, we later accepted a nice upgrade for a reasonable price, so it worked out OK. But I have learned to look at the "worst" cabin in the guarantee category and decide whether I would be happy with it. If not, move up.