Princess Guaranteed Cabin

[Rebels6827]

Question has anyone experienced good guarranted cabins ? We have a guarranted Cabin on Royal princess on June 17th . Thx 

[Rick&Jeannie]

Yes, our one and *only* experience with a guy cabin was on the Pacific Princess just before the pandemic.  We received an "accessible" cabin just a few days before sailing. I was very surprised...apparently it was not needed by anyone needing accessibility.

[jeromep]

Yes, we have done guarantee cabins and have generally had good luck, however the last guarantee we did was a full suite, so that limits the number of less desirable cabins you might be exposed to by quite a bit since the accommodating is suite grade.  You won't find any obstructed view or obstructed balcony suites.  Biggest concern with a guaranteed suite would be on on a Royal class ship where the balcony is fully open to the elements and sun, which might not be to somebody's liking.

 

If you are booking a balcony or mini-suite, it is always possible to get a cabin with an obstructed view balcony.  You also might find yourself in a cabin directly over or under a public area which may expose you to noise from the deck below or above you.

 

What kind of cabin get you get from a guarantee really is a bit of a gamble, but I look at it this way, you'll be on a cruise.  I can think of much worse places to be.

[startedwithamouse]

We always book drop and go guarantee cabins and have never had anything lower than a B category. 

[Rebels6827]

Thank you I'm apprehensive 

[Essiesmom]

My first gty onPrincess was. B2B to Alaska in an inside.  Booked only about 5 weeks out.  Was given an absolutely huge handicap cabin.  TA said it was probably the only one they had for both weeks.  Booked a four day in December 2019 solo, not even sure what category I booked, but it definitely wasn’t the mini-suite I got.  EM

[wallyj]

10 minutes ago, Rebels6827 said:

Thank you I'm apprehensive 

What category did u book? As your sailing is Alaska roundtrip SEA, it is a little more popular as many do not want to fly to Vancouver, you can do mock bookings to see available cabins not assigned, but you still have no ideal how many have put in bid upgrades. I had a GTY cabin for the Crown May 12 sailing and got my assignment April 26. Every sailing is different depending on how fully booked it is.

 

This past January, I was booked on 7 day Discovery in interior GTY, about month before sailing was upgraded to IB(more mid ship interior), 3 days before sailing was upgraded again to Deluxe Balcony. Discovery like Royal has no Oceanview cabins. These were complimentary upgrades from Princess. I was happily surprised but would not expect these types of complimentary upgrades happen often now with the bidding program.

[Sweetrosie]

I booked a barebones inside guarantee (lowest price point) about 2 weeks ago for our May 5th Alaska cruise.  3 days ago I was super happy to receive our cabin assignment....mid balcony on Lido deck.  I guess it depends on how many pax..

[theloo]

Wow!  Lucky 😲

[SCX22]

Upgrades still happen with guarantee bookings.  After having booked the lowest interior guarantee on the Sky for the 4/1/23 and the Royal for the 4/23/23 sailing, I was upgraded to a deluxe balcony and mini-suite, respectively.  The closer to sailing date that Princess assigns you your cabin the more likely you will be upgraded. 

 

Also, ever since Princess began with the upgrade bid program, the more upgrade bid offer e-mails you receive, the more likely you will be upgraded.  This is probably due Princess knowing they have no cabins to assign to you in the category you booked and wanting you to pay for the upgrade instead of the gratis upgrade.  For both sailings Princess, began sending me upgrade bid e-mails close to everyday until T-minus 20 days to sail date until finally a cabin number finally populated my Cruise Personalizer 10 days prior to sailing.  

 

I would say don't cave into bidding for an upgrade until Princess assigns you a cabin, at which point if you do get an upgrade, the minimum bids will drop for the next full category upgrade.  Using my Royal Princess booking as an example, the highest category I could upgrade to was a deluxe balcony for $250 pp minimum bid when I still had no cabin assigned; once Princess assigned me the mini-suite, Princess continued to send me upgrade bid e-mails--this time for a full suite for only $250 pp minimum bid.