Pricing difference: Guaranteed vs. Pick your room.

[Lbytwerk]

Hi,

 

We are looking to book a Transatlantic cruise departing April 17th out of Tampa.  Question is the price difference is over 1k to select your own cabin compared to a guaranteed cabin.  The price is significantly higher, so naturally I'm curious if anyone has booked with the guaranteed cabin and been pleased?   I would not be questioning the decision if it was only a few hundred... but I'm looking at an additional $1100.  

 

Thanks 

[cruisestitch]

You have to ask yourself if you would be satisfied with the least desirable stateroom in that category, obstructed view, less desirable location, etc.  if yes, then it’s a good deal.

[RichYak]

It's hard to imagine $1100 worth of dissatisfaction within any cabin class on Celebrity. I could be wrong. I wouldn't ask for people's experiences though. The one's that ended up happy will say so and the ones that didn't will report that as well. I'm not sure how helpful that would be to you.

 

One other thing to consider is how sold is that sailing, particularly in the guarantee fare class you are looking at. You could be assigned a cabin and still switch to a different one within the same class if there's plenty of inventory and you're dissatisfied with what you got.

[Lbytwerk]

15 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

You have to ask yourself if you would be satisfied with the least desirable stateroom in that category, obstructed view, less desirable location, etc.  if yes, then it’s a good deal.

 

True, however the weather in April will still be quite chilly for making use of a balcony.  We have sailed 6 times with Celebrity and typically have a window or balcony.  I don't remember the price being significantly higher to choose your room as it currently is.  

 

Thank you for responding.  

Edited March 3, 2023 by Lbytwerk

[RichYak]

9 minutes ago, Lbytwerk said:

 

True, however the weather in April will still be quite chilly for making use of a balcony.  We have sailed 6 times with Celebrity and typically have a window or balcony.  I don't remember the price being significantly higher to choose your room as it currently is.  

 

Thank you for responding.  

Now I'm confused. If you book a balcony guarantee, you'll have a balcony cabin assigned. If you book an oceanview guarantee, you'll have an oceanview assigned. Why are you concerned that you wouldn't get what you booked?

[wrk2cruise]

It's when the price difference is vast like you describe that GTY can be worth it.  Most of mine have been suite GTY and my opinion is there is no such thing as a bad suite.

 

For other categories you do have to assume you will have an assignment very far forward and probably on a lower deck.

 

Don't assume you will be able to change cabins (in the same category) after a GTY assignment.  I have several times but once since the restart I was refused.   I was assigned the first S2 Sky Suite at the bow.   There were 30+ open suites so I requested on by the elevator.   I was told if I wanted to change it would be at prevailing S2 rate.   I argued that I had done several times before.  Shoreside concierge held firm that's why the GTY is lower price, you get what you were assigned.

 

The story did have a happy ending as when my TA was back on Monday I asked him to change the cabin and it was done in 5 min.

 

[Jim_Iain]

I've had to book guarantees before and pretty much ok.    If you expect the worst cabin in the classification and receive something better you will be ok.

 

On two occasions I received SS accessible cabins which aren't my favorites but OK.    Once a cabin is assigned I've been able to change rooms in same category if available for no additional cost.

[jagoffee]

5 hours ago, Lbytwerk said:

Hi,

 

We are looking to book a Transatlantic cruise departing April 17th out of Tampa.  Question is the price difference is over 1k to select your own cabin compared to a guaranteed cabin.  The price is significantly higher, so naturally I'm curious if anyone has booked with the guaranteed cabin and been pleased?   I would not be questioning the decision if it was only a few hundred... but I'm looking at an additional $1100.  

 

Thanks 

What category are you considering?  Is the $1100 additional for two people?

 

Others have offered some good suggestions.

Edited March 4, 2023 by jagoffee

[Dancing Shoes]

I am really picky on where I want to be.  Would never consider a guarantee unless I was choosing a deck where there were no public spaces above.  $1100 is what percent of the difference between the two?  

[the_dylaness]

I agree, it kind of depends on how picky you are. Do you care if you are waaaay forward or waaaay aft? Will being below a noisy pool deck or theater be a problem, or can you sleep through WW3?  If there's 24/7 banging service door 4 feet away do you care?

 

I do not book guarantees on Celebrity - primarily because I usually sail this line with my kids and one more adult... we like to be close to the stairs/elevators and also like to have rooms close to each other although doesn't necessarily need to be next door. I also sleep very lightly so I always choose a room beneath other passenger rooms.

 

$1100 seems like a lot, though, in my experience. (And on X we almost always book some kind of balcony, usually "regular" but we've tried Aqua and Concierge, and a Sky Suite twice.)

 

 

[the_dylaness]

Just remembered- we had a Sky Suite on Equinox in 2020 right below the OVC outdoor dining area. I am not sure now if this was a GTY or we booked it specifically and didn't realize it'd be a problem.  It was awful. Chairs scraping and dragging starting around 530-6am every day. Ear plugs helped about 10%; that type of deep and loud scraping/scratching/dragging you can almost "feel".  I didn't sleep past 0630 the whole cruise. It was frankly terrible and kind of ruined our cruise, which we'd gone on to have a break from our stressful jobs (mine often 24 hr or more shifts and on-call availability) and "we'll sleep when we're dead" young kids.  

 

Caveat emptor.

 

 

[NorthStarStateCruiser]

On 3/3/2023 at 3:17 PM, Lbytwerk said:

Hi,

 

We are looking to book a Transatlantic cruise departing April 17th out of Tampa.  Question is the price difference is over 1k to select your own cabin compared to a guaranteed cabin.  The price is significantly higher, so naturally I'm curious if anyone has booked with the guaranteed cabin and been pleased?   I would not be questioning the decision if it was only a few hundred... but I'm looking at an additional $1100.  

 

Thanks 

If you are looking to book AI, I've seen many times that the total price for the guarantee cabin is actually HIGHER than the price of a pick your own cabin.

 

I looked at your sailing and that's indeed the case. If you were considering purchasing the drink package and/or wifi, you should probably go with the pick your own cabin at the AI rate, assuming you're not traveling solo. The AI value disappears when sailing solo.

 

This is a big gotcha that emerged in their pricing system. Whether it's intended or not, it entices a person to first select a lower price option and then offer an all-included upgrade at a "discounted" rate. The dishonest piece of this is that you can pay less and get more value by simply selecting a cabin number in the booking process.  Pretty deceptive if you ask me.

[RichYak]

11 hours ago, NorthStarStateCruiser said:

If you are looking to book AI, I've seen many times that the total price for the guarantee cabin is actually HIGHER than the price of a pick your own cabin.

 

I looked at your sailing and that's indeed the case. If you were considering purchasing the drink package and/or wifi, you should probably go with the pick your own cabin at the AI rate, assuming you're not traveling solo. The AI value disappears when sailing solo.

 

This is a big gotcha that emerged in their pricing system. Whether it's intended or not, it entices a person to first select a lower price option and then offer an all-included upgrade at a "discounted" rate. The dishonest piece of this is that you can pay less and get more value by simply selecting a cabin number in the booking process.  Pretty deceptive if you ask me.

Are you saying that adding AI to the guarantee fare is over $1100 more expensive than adding AI to the regular fare?

 

EDIT: I checked myself and holy smokes! The choose your room veranda went from $3560 to $5900 when adding AI. The guarantee veranda went from $2360  to $7000 when adding AI.

Edited March 5, 2023 by RichYak

[RickT]

31 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Are you saying that adding AI to the guarantee fare is over $1100 more expensive than adding AI to the regular fare?

 

EDIT: I checked myself and holy smokes! The choose your room veranda went from $3560 to $5900 when adding AI. The guarantee veranda went from $2360  to $7000 when adding AI.

I had noticed this a few weeks back.  Was considering a guarantee cabin and noticed when I added AI it became more expensive than choosing a specific cabin with AI. I called X to see if perhaps there was an issue with the website and was told that when a specific cabin is booked with AI the cost of the AI package gets discounted but when the AI package gets added to a guarantee cabin it does not get discounted.  Makes no sense to me but what do I know?

 

To the OP, if there is a significant discount offered by booking a cabin I always take advantage of the savings.  I’m not too picky about cabin location and can’t complain about any that I was assigned when I take the discount into consideration.  As others have said, if you would be OK with the worst cabin you could possibly be given then absolutely go for it. 

[4774Papa]

On 3/3/2023 at 4:29 PM, RichYak said:

It's hard to imagine $1100 worth of dissatisfaction within any cabin class on Celebrity. I could be wrong. I wouldn't ask for people's experiences though. The one's that ended up happy will say so and the ones that didn't will report that as well. I'm not sure how helpful that would be to you.

 

One other thing to consider is how sold is that sailing, particularly in the guarantee fare class you are looking at. You could be assigned a cabin and still switch to a different one within the same class if there's plenty of inventory and you're dissatisfied with what you got.

Once we did a balcony cabin on an inexpensive cruise, we never went back to a ocean view window.

We used to pick our favorite balcony that was always a bit more than some of those "Partially obscured" balconies on the lower deck.

Then, one cruise, we picked a partially obscured balcony because we would be near friends and we didn't find it a problem.

Now, we always look for the guarantee.

Only, when we did Alaska with NCL (because they do Glacier Bay), we insisted on an aft balcony, which was fantastic.

[NorthStarStateCruiser]

4 hours ago, RichYak said:

Are you saying that adding AI to the guarantee fare is over $1100 more expensive than adding AI to the regular fare?

 

EDIT: I checked myself and holy smokes! The choose your room veranda went from $3560 to $5900 when adding AI. The guarantee veranda went from $2360  to $7000 when adding AI.

Yup, it makes no sense at all. I think it's predative, but X would surely call it strategic.

 

In the case of this sailing for the AI price for the guarantee room, it's actually false advertising. You'd actually pay less by purchasing the drink package, wifi, and paying gratuities than you would booking the AI rate. The claimed "up to 45%" savings is actually a negative savings.

[Travelexpert35]

We did a balcony guarantee on a Transpacific from Vancouver to Japan in 2019. I was nervous about booking it and not getting a good location. We were lucky and got a 2A cabin on the Millenium. Location was great. Not sure if it helped that I was almost Elite status then.