Booked "guarantee" veranda through travel agent - already assigned, is this typical?

[heatherkh]

We are brand new to cruising and just booked our first for November on Celebrity Eclipse. A few days ago, we booked a "guarantee" veranda, and although we are still waiting for the official documents from the travel agent, I can see the booking on the Celebrity app. We have been assigned a mid-ship obstructed view veranda on Deck 6. I thought "guarantee" meant it was assigned closer to sail day and that it would be best of what is still available in the cabin class. There are tons of non-obstructed verandas still available on higher decks. Any advice?

 

Edit to add that I'm feeling a bit disappointed and would be willing to pay a bit to upgrade at this point. I wish this would have been more clear when we were booking.

Edited March 21, 2023 by heatherkh

[omeinv]

It is fairly common for Celebrity to assign the guaranty room within a few days of booking.  The term "best" in the case of a GTY cabin, should be read as the "best" for Celebrity.  They have a better likelihood of selling that more desirable, and more expensive cabin for full fare, than they do of selling the obstructed view cabin. 

 

You can ask to be placed back int he guaranty pool, but you should not expect a better cabin to be the result. 

 

Any time one books a GTY booking, the important question is "is this price good enough that I will be happy with the worst cabin in the category I'm booking"?  If I book a Veranda GTY, I assume I'm going to get an obstructed view, with the maximum obstruction (what used to be called a 2D veranda).  I would book with that expectation, and thus be happy with that or anything better.

 

Harris

Denver, CO

 

 

Edited March 21, 2023 by omeinv

[kk20]

Celebrity website says that the cabin assigned may have an obstructed view. If you want to make sure you won’t be assigned an obstructed view, you’ll need to pay more

[Arizona Wildcat]

Have been assigned immediately and once 3 days before the cruise.  Had a non obstructed veranda that was next to a crew access door that slammed often and a nice veranda far aft.

Harris said it well.

[heatherkh]

15 minutes ago, kk20 said:

Celebrity website says that the cabin assigned may have an obstructed view. If you want to make sure you won’t be assigned an obstructed view, you’ll need to pay more

 

Thanks, I see that now. I booked through a travel agent, so this wasn't what I was presented with.  

 

However, notice right above what you circled - it states, "best available stateroom in this category, based on availability..." There are decks full of better rooms available in this category right now. This seems dishonest to me. I was assigned the worst of the category, not the best. 

 

 

Edited March 21, 2023 by heatherkh

[kwokpot]

7 minutes ago, heatherkh said:

 

Thanks, I see that now. I booked through a travel agent, so this wasn't what I was presented with.  

 

However, notice right above what you circled - it states, "best available stateroom in this category, based on availability..." There are decks full of better rooms in this category right now. This seems dishonest to me. I was assigned the worst of the category, not the best. 

 

 

You should be able to have your TA change the cabin to one that's available and you're satisfied with that's EXACTLY the same Category as the one they assigned you. 

 

TBH Celebrity GENREALLY doesn't do upgrades on guarantee cabins anymore. The same thing happened to my parents on an inside guarantee despite having literally tons of deluxe insides they were assigned the lowest category.  Being Elite didn't matter one iota. 

Edited March 21, 2023 by kwokpot

[omeinv]

8 minutes ago, heatherkh said:

 

Thanks, I see that now. I booked through a travel agent, so this wasn't what I was presented with.  

 

However, notice right above what you circled - it states, "best available stateroom in this category, based on availability..." There are decks full of better rooms in this category right now. This seems dishonest to me. I was assigned the worst of the category, not the best. 

 

 

Again, that was the best available cabin in the eyes of the person making the assignment, i.e. Celebrity Cruises.  The person assigning GTY cabins is likely told here are cabins frm which you can make assignments, not assign from all Veranda or better cabins. 

 

In my view your complaint would perhaps be with your travel agent.  Any travel agent should know the potential benefits and pitfalls of a GTY booking, and advise a first time cruiser client of those. 

 

Harris

Denver, CO

 

 

Edited March 21, 2023 by omeinv

[jwlane]

4 minutes ago, heatherkh said:

There are decks full of better rooms in this category right now.

The cabins on those decks are not Category 2C or 2D, which you were assigned.

[heatherkh]

2 minutes ago, jwlane said:

The cabins on those decks are not Category 2C or 2D, which you were assigned.

 

We were assigned 2D. My understanding was that we would be assigned best in category (veranda).

Edited March 21, 2023 by heatherkh

[omeinv]

5 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

You should be able to have your TA change the cabin to one that's available and you're satisfied with that's EXACTLY the same Category as the one they assigned you. 

 

TBH Celebrity GENREALLY doesn't do upgrades on guarantee cabins anymore. The same thing happened to my parents on an inside guarantee despite having literally tons of deluxe insides they were assigned the lowest category.  Being Elite didn't matter one iota. 

You could switch to another Veranda, but to stay within the same sub-category, you're still going to have an obstructed view.

 

Even being Zenith does not affect GTY cabin assignments.

 

Harris

Denver, CO

Edited March 21, 2023 by omeinv

[omeinv]

Just now, heatherkh said:

 

We were assigned 2D.

You could switch to another 2D, but it will have the same obstruction.  I've sailed in several 2D and 2 C cabins, and they're certainly not bad. 

 

Harris

Denver, CO

[heatherkh]

1 minute ago, omeinv said:

You could switch to another 2D, but it will have the same obstruction.  I've sailed in several 2D and 2 C cabins, and they're certainly not bad. 

 

Harris

Denver, CO

Thank you. This gives me some hope. 

[jwlane]

3 minutes ago, heatherkh said:

 

We were assigned 2D.

You were assigned "the best available cabin in this category" [2D].

[jelayne]

Within the Veranda classification there are various categories - Sunset Veranda, Deluxe Veranda, Prime Veranda, Veranda and Veranda ( Partial View).  
 You could request a different cabin within the Veranda partial view category which I believe is what you were assigned, ask to go back into the guarantee pool and hope for a better cabin or pay the price for a higher category and select your cabin.

[omeinv]

1 minute ago, heatherkh said:

Thank you. This gives me some hope. 

My email address is in my signature line.  Send me an email, and I'll give you specific cabin numbers you might want to check for in those sub-categories. 

 

Harris

Denver, CO

[heatherkh]

2 minutes ago, omeinv said:

My email address is in my signature line.  Send me an email, and I'll give you specific cabin numbers you might want to check for in those sub-categories. 

 

Harris

Denver, CO

 

Thank you! I just sent you an email. 

[heatherkh]

5 minutes ago, jwlane said:

You were assigned "the best available cabin in this category" [2D].

 

I appreciate that; however, this isn't how they advertise it - when they state best in category there is certainly no mention of "2D" only "veranda". 

[JLMcruise]

You were gambling and hoping to get a "better cabin" than what you paid for. At least it is early enough for you to make a change. That is better than getting your cabin assigned 3 days before your cruise and not being happy with it. If you don't like the cabin, call you TA and most likely you will have to pay for the upgrade. Most of the cabins will sell out prior to your sailing. We did a guarantee once - assigned a not great cabin - so we did the Move Up Bid and that worked out well for us - but that is also a gamble. With this being your first cruise I would book a cabin you want and "bite the bullet". Happy cruising!

[Jeremiah1212]

2 minutes ago, heatherkh said:

 

I appreciate that; however, this isn't how they advertise it - when they state best in category there is certainly no mention of "2D" only "veranda". 

 

The category is veranda. Prime, Deluxe, Ultra Deluxe, etc. are subcategories. You could have chosen an Aqua or Concierge GTY that would have gotten you any cabin in those categories also. What you received is a veranda category. This is why I discourage anyone from booking a GTY for this reason. They are usually happy with the price and unhappy with the cabin allocation. You have to be willing to take the worst in the category. 

 

If you're finding you're already unhappy with it, I would highly suggest paying the small difference, doing some research and getting the cabin you want. 

[RD64]

A guarantee is a guarantee plain and simple. You purchased a guarantee expecting to get the best available balcony there was for a discounted price.

 

If you want something better, then honestly you should have booked the specific cabin you wanted and paid the price.

 

Quite simply - you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

[omeinv]

8 minutes ago, RD64 said:

 

Quite simply - you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

You can, but it might be a urinal cake.  🙂

 

Harris

Denver, CO

[heatherkh]

Thanks, everyone. Lesson learned. I'll be honest, this is not the greatest introduction to this type of vacationing, and I hope it doesn't cloud the trip.

 

I'm surprised there isn't more concern from cruisers over what, to me, seems like a shady advertising practice. First-time cruisers aren't necessarily going to be aware that it can't be taken at face value. It certainly wasn't clear to me, and I was definitely not assigned "best" as stated (quite the opposite, in fact). That is my major issue with this.

 

Harris, I'll watch for your reply - thanks again!

[hcat]

Call the travel agent.....explain you do not like the gty that was assigned and see if they can get you moved to a cabin you might prefer in the same category, OR advise  you what it might cost to book  a specific cabin you like.. A gty is a gamble..we always book what we prefer..

[jwlane]

19 minutes ago, heatherkh said:

this isn't how they advertise it - 

It actually is (see @kk20 post #3).  

[RD64]

5 minutes ago, heatherkh said:

Thanks, everyone. Lesson learned. I'll be honest, this is not the greatest introduction to this type of vacationing, and I hope it doesn't cloud the trip.

 

I'm surprised there isn't more concern from cruisers over what, to me, seems like a shady advertising practice. First-time cruisers aren't necessarily going to be aware that it can't be taken at face value. It certainly wasn't clear to me, and I was definitely not assigned "best" as stated (quite the opposite, in fact). That is my major issue with this.

 

Harris, I'll watch for your reply - thanks again!

Did you not do your research on CC prior to booking? The Celebrity - and all other boards could have given you the same information. It appears as though you only came to complain about it after the fact.