Odyssey Balconies by Guaranty

[tpcwags]

I booked a balcony guarantee on Odyssey’s November 25th sailing because guarantee was $700 pp ( $1,400 total) less expensive than picking cabin. I have never seen pricing that far apart and usually pay a little extra to pick room but just didn’t make sense this time.

 

I did a mock booking and no Obstructed View Balconies are offered even though all deck 6 balconies are OV. Leads me to think odds are all guaranteed will be deck 6. No problem, I’ll get what I paid for but have any of you booked a balcony guarantee on Odyssey and not received OV?

 

my current plan is to bid on Royal Up for large balconies and suites and hope to get one. However, no problem if not. We are Diamond status but this will be our first time to Curracao and Aruba and also first on this class of ship.

[emeraldcity]

10 minutes ago, tpcwags said:

I booked a balcony guarantee on Odyssey’s November 25th sailing because guarantee was $700 pp ( $1,400 total) less expensive than picking cabin. I have never seen pricing that far apart and usually pay a little extra to pick room but just didn’t make sense this time.

 

I did a mock booking and no Obstructed View Balconies are offered even though all deck 6 balconies are OV. Leads me to think odds are all guaranteed will be deck 6. No problem, I’ll get what I paid for but have any of you booked a balcony guarantee on Odyssey and not received OV?

 

my current plan is to bid on Royal Up for large balconies and suites and hope to get one. However, no problem if not. We are Diamond status but this will be our first time to Curracao and Aruba and also first on this class of ship.

 

[irishgal432]

I booked a gty balcony on Odyessy and did not get an obstructed view.

[emeraldcity]

Because of the huge price difference, we also did a guarantee balcony on the Odyssey. And we were assigned a midship deck 6 balcony close to the open space between two life boats. So we got a little slice of the view we were passing. I had heard that once you were assigned your room you could call and ask for a change, but the reality was that there was nothing else available "in our category".

 

Never again ... not on that class of ship. And with the ships sailing at or near capacity, the RoyalUp isn't likely to be in the cards.

 

We consoled ourselves with the fact that at least we had our own little private outside place.

[Another_Critic]

50 minutes ago, tpcwags said:

I did a mock booking and no Obstructed View Balconies are offered even though all deck 6 balconies are OV. Leads me to think odds are all guaranteed will be deck 6. No problem, I’ll get what I paid for but have any of you booked a balcony guarantee on Odyssey and not received OV?

Deck 6 from the forward elevators/stairs forward are not obstructed. 

 

I've booked Quantum class balcony guarantees several times and have never been assigned an obstructed view, but ... YMMV.

[Mrs.Dukes]

My daughter is going on Odyssey the beginning of August. They booked a balcony guarantee and we’re assigned a cabin on deck 11, not obstructed view.

[tpcwags]

Thank you all for your replies. I looked today and they are now offering OV Balcony. Still $300 more than Guy. 

 

[Anton]

Note that not all the balcony cabins on Odyssey are equal in size.  We had 6256 and a friend 6258 and they are significantly smaller than the 198 sq ft quoted in the deck plans.  I measured and it was 150 square feet including the bathroom. 

[tpcwags]

13 minutes ago, Anton said:

Note that not all the balcony cabins on Odyssey are equal in size.  We had 6256 and a friend 6258 and they are significantly smaller than the 198 sq ft quoted in the deck plans.  I measured and it was 150 square feet including the bathroom. 

Thanks, just my wife and I so size of cabin is not as important as view and location 

[rere827]

On 7/18/2023 at 5:55 PM, tpcwags said:

Thanks, just my wife and I so size of cabin is not as important as view and location 

 

On 7/18/2023 at 5:55 PM, tpcwags said:

Thanks, just my wife and I so size of cabin is not as important as view and location 

Do you have any pictures? How was the obstruction? 

[cruisegirl1]

On 7/18/2023 at 5:55 PM, tpcwags said:

Thanks, just my wife and I so size of cabin is not as important as view and location 

If view and location are at all important, a guarantee cabin is not a good choice. You might reconsider that $300 pp to pick a cabin. 

Good luck

M

[Starry Eyes]

We booked balcony gty on a b2b on odyssey.  We were assigned an obstructed cabin for one leg and non-obstructed for the other.   Our obstructed cabin was fine: it was on deck 7 forward in-hull balcony with a large round exterior frame.  The two cabins were the same size.

Edited August 9, 2023 by Starry Eyes

[ARandomTraveler]

I'm on a quantum class ship right now, and I was surprised to find that even my 8th floor balcony is somewhat obstructed. When sitting on the chairs on the balcony, you can see the top of the lifeboats. I was kind of annoyed by it, but it's not terrible. I would be really upset if I was on deck 7, and definitely would not pay money for any kind of balcony on deck 6. 
 

There aren't a lot of places on board with a view of the ocean except the deck above the pool deck, your balcony, or 270 (when they aren't doing a show or playing bingo etc in there). Many of the restaurants on board have windows that are obstructed by either the life boats, or the ship signs. Chops and Wonderland windows look out directly at the life boats, Teppanyaki windows are instructed by the "Spectrum of the Seas" sign, Izumi doesn't have windows. 
 

So if you're paying money to have a view of the ocean and you get a room on deck 6, I'd be very unhappy. Deck 7 view has to be more obstructed than mine on deck 8 so I assume it's bad. I'd go deck 8 and above only. 
 

 

 

Edited August 9, 2023 by ARandomTraveler

[Ocean Boy]

They manage to design V/F/O class ships with no obstructed balconies. No idea what the problem was with Q class.

 

Anyway, due to big price difference I, hesitantly, booked guarentee on my last Odyssey sailing. I lucked out and got a great location on deck 11. 

[beerrun]

Booked GTY cabin for Nov 25th and were assigned one of the deck 6 obstructed view cabins.  We typically book inside cabins- however the price for balcony gty was not much higher than inside and included approx 600 obc so still feel like winners.

 

[Starry Eyes]

1 hour ago, beerrun said:

Booked GTY cabin for Nov 25th and were assigned one of the deck 6 obstructed view cabins.  We typically book inside cabins- however the price for balcony gty was not much higher than inside and included approx 600 obc so still feel like winners.

 

We frequently sail in balcony cabins, but given the price difference and options when we booked we booked Odyssey, we selected balcony gty.  We decided even the most obstructed balcony assignment would give us a shady, private space with fresh air, a peek at our surroundings and a clue of the weather…and deck six is rather convenient.  Any better assignment was a free bonus and was gratefully accepted.

Edited August 9, 2023 by Starry Eyes

[FionaMG]

Some are less obstructed than others. We had a great "obstructed" balcony cabin on Odyssey - 6622. Hardly any obstruction and lots of water visible. The one next door - 6624 - has evel less obstruction but it's a 3-berth so may not show availability for two guests.

[TRAVELBUGCRUISER]

2 hours ago, beerrun said:

Booked GTY cabin for Nov 25th and were assigned one of the deck 6 obstructed view cabins.  We typically book inside cabins- however the price for balcony gty was not much higher than inside and included approx 600 obc so still feel like winners.

 

How long after you booked were you assigned your GTY- room? Did you receive an email or just look on the app?

Thanks

[Biker19]

3 hours ago, TRAVELBUGCRUISER said:

Did you receive an email or just look on the app?

I don't recall any report of anyone ever receiving notification of a cabin assignment - you might get it indirectly if you bid Royal Up and your bid gets cancelled.

[Starry Eyes]

3 hours ago, TRAVELBUGCRUISER said:

How long after you booked were you assigned your GTY- room? Did you receive an email or just look on the app?

Thanks

We don’t get emails with cabin assignments.  Most of us see our assignment on the app.  Sometimes before the assignment is official, we have a clue about the assignment with 45 days of the cruise using the “barcode trick” on the set sail pass.

[tpcwags]

11 hours ago, cruisegirl1 said:

If view and location are at all important, a guarantee cabin is not a good choice. You might reconsider that $300 pp to pick a cabin. 

Good luck

M

Based on the price we paid when we booked it would cost us $1,400 total additional to purchase cost so we will stick with guarantee 

[kwokpot]

Just off the Odyssey last month. We had 4 cabins with balcony guarantee. 2 cabins were assigned unobstructed balconies, both cabins occupied by Diamond+. The 3rd cabin was severely blocked, I would say 90% blocked. Deck 6 All THE WAY Aft #6698, occupied by C&R platinum members. 4th cabin unobstructed but the cabin was smaller on deck 7 #7298.

[Starry Eyes]

You mentioned your C&A status in the original post as did another poster.  I trust that was simply background information and that you know it will not impact your gty assignment.  Your odds of a nice or poor assignment are, of course, the same as a newbie’s odds. 

[kwokpot]

13 hours ago, Starry Eyes said:

You mentioned your C&A status in the original post as did another poster.  I trust that was simply background information and that you know it will not impact your gty assignment.  Your odds of a nice or poor assignment are, of course, the same as a newbie’s odds. 

Yes, noted.

[taglovestocruise]

On 8/9/2023 at 6:32 AM, beerrun said:

Booked GTY cabin for Nov 25th and were assigned one of the deck 6 obstructed view cabins.  We typically book inside cabins- however the price for balcony gty was not much higher than inside and included approx 600 obc so still feel like winners.

 

You should be able to change cabins if you stay in the same category.  Don't mention you have a GTY, just ask to change. Have a cabin number to give them before calling. Royal has been a little picky lately but still worth a try.