Guarantee cabin

[lardor]

Does this mean the cruise line "hopes" that someone does not show up and I get their cabin?  If an airplane is oversold, one can probably get on the next flight to where you are going or maybe a different airline.......why don't they not know now where I'm gonna sleep? This is a new experience 4 me...............

[GeezerCouple]

1 minute ago, lardor said:

Does this mean the cruise line "hopes" that someone does not show up and I get their cabin?  If an airplane is oversold, one can probably get on the next flight to where you are going or maybe a different airline.......why don't they not know now where I'm gonna sleep? This is a new experience 4 me...............

It's not quite as "iffy" as your worries suggest.

 

A "guarantee" means you *will* get a cabin (of the level guaranteed or better), vs. a "waitlist", where... maybe/maybe not,

 

They don't know what your cabin assignment will be "now" (when you reserved the "guarantee" accommodations) because... they really do no know.

Assuming nothing seriously untoward happens and the ship sails as planned,  the cruise line will do some adjusting IF NEEDED to get everyone with a confirmed reservation on board, but that's not the case with a "waitlist".

Now, how do they do this?  A variety of ways.

One, as you have suggested, some people will probably cancel, and the cruiselines have pretty good data to help them estimate how many... but that's obviously not exact.

Yes, they CAN overbook:  the cabins/suites are like produce: "perishable".  Once the ship sails, any empty cabin will never be sold, and that revenue is lost forever.

Or... they can bump people up a catergory, perhaps sequentially.  Too many booked with "guarantees" for insides?  Offer some of the lower cost balcony cabin passengers an upgrade to a better balcony (preferably with a surcharge)..... etc., as needed.

 

A final option;  Make some passengers "an offer too good to resist". 🙂

That can include something like the following:

"If you will change from this cruise to <some other specified cruise and cabin/suite category>, we'll transfer your reservation, and also offer you $XXXX."

We had an offer like that from one cruise line.  It would have been an AMAZING "deal"... *IF* we wanted/were able to take "Cruise B" instead of Cruise A, but we weren't able to make that switch.  So a similar offer was no doubt passed along to someone else.

 

You may not find out until just about the very last moment just what your assignment will be.

Please re-read the terms and conditions of the "Guarantee" of the cruiseline you are sailing for more specific information.

 

If you wanted to know at the time of your booking which accommodation you will have, then don't book a guarantee.  Choose another category or a different cruise date/etc.

GC

 

[lardor]

Thanks, I'll live with what they give me, just as long as I don't have to bunk with a single lady in a suite.

[Hlitner]

We often do guarantees (been doing this for decades), but there are a few tricks of the trade :).  When you book a guarantee, do so with the idea that you might get the least popular location in the very category that you book the guarantee.  Upgrades are NOT guaranteed and do not always happen.  That being said, your odds of getting an upgrade are greater, with a guarantee, than if you choose a specific available cabin/suite.  

 

We do not generally book a guarantee in the lowest category cabin since those often have too many awful locations (such as night owl cabins located under or near a late night public venue).  But when we are booking on some ships or cruise lines (Seabourn quickly comes to mind) when they have lots of different categories of the same type cabin (such as balcony cabins) and the locations are all OK (for us) than we often do a guarantee.  DW and I are not choosy about our cabin location, could care less about being near the center of the ship (we do not concern ourselves with ship movement or being seasick).  We actually prefer cabins towards the bow (the least popular with many folks) and dislike rear facing cabins (very popular and unlikely to be assigned with a guarantee).

 

One poster asks why cruise lines do guarantees, and these days it works to the cruise line's benefit.  Many folks play games with their cabins/suites and will ask to have their locations changed or get involved in the newer "bidding schemes" where they are willing to pay for upgrades (called an upsell).  As folks move around (usually inside the final payment period) their original cabins become vacant and will often get assigned to those of us who do guarantees.  Ironically, these are often very good locations.  I should mention that some cruise lines are better than others when it comes to free upgrades to those who do guarantees.  Probably the best (for us) has been Seabourn where we often do a category V2 (a normal suite in less popular locations towards the bow) and almost always get an upgrade to a V3, V4 or V5 (similar suites in more popular locations).  

 

And finally, the odds of getting a free upgrade to a treasured large suite is not likely these days (although it can happen).  With many lines now having a "bidding program" the really nice unbooked suites will generally go to folks willing to pay extra money (through the bidding process) for an upsell.

 

Hank

[leaveitallbehind]

50 minutes ago, lardor said:

Thanks, I'll live with what they give me, just as long as I don't have to bunk with a single lady in a suite.

Short and simple - a guarantee stateroom booking only means the cruise line will select your location for your selected category v you choosing it, and this is usually at a lower price.  (They may also issue a higher category stateroom if available).  It is your stateroom and not one shared with anyone else - but I assume you meant that tongue in cheek.

 

Also, with most cruise lines, once it is assigned, you can request a change to a different location if available within the same category if the assigned location is not your preferred choice.

 

If the price is attractive enough we book GTY's frequently and with no issues.

Edited November 25, 2023 by leaveitallbehind

[leaveitallbehind]

And to add one more thing.  GTY stateroom offers are typically across all stateroom categories - from insides to suites - not just the lowest category listed by the ship. And they do not always only assign the worst locations within that category.

 

We have been fortunate in the past to book a Junior Suite GTY category on RCCL, for example, and had a Grand Suite issued as the actual stateroom.

 

At the very least you are assured the base level of the GTY category you book. 

 

 

Edited November 25, 2023 by leaveitallbehind

[jsn55]

5 hours ago, lardor said:

Does this mean the cruise line "hopes" that someone does not show up and I get their cabin?  If an airplane is oversold, one can probably get on the next flight to where you are going or maybe a different airline.......why don't they not know now where I'm gonna sleep? This is a new experience 4 me...............

"Guarantee" cabins are for people who don't care where they sleep.  The cruiseline couldn't possibly know your cabin number until close to sail date.  I'm sure you can read all about it on your cruiseline's website.  Many of us wouldn't book a guarantee cabin under any circumstances.  For those who don't care about the details, it may offer a good deal, or your assigned cabin could be dreadful.

[leaveitallbehind]

4 minutes ago, jsn55 said:

"Guarantee" cabins are for people who don't care where they sleep.  The cruiseline couldn't possibly know your cabin number until close to sail date.  I'm sure you can read all about it on your cruiseline's website.  Many of us wouldn't book a guarantee cabin under any circumstances.  For those who don't care about the details, it may offer a good deal, or your assigned cabin could be dreadful.

In our experience we have had the assignment as far in advance as 45 days prior to sailing and as close to sailing as 5 days prior.  We also have been able to move to a different location as available within the assigned category on several occasions if the assigned location was not preferred.  Perhaps we have just been fortunate.

 

The primary value of a GTY booking is with the fare.  We only do it when the difference is attractive, but have never had any issues when we have.  On more than one occasion we have been assigned a higher category stateroom.  And we are ones who definitely care where we sleep!

[lardor]

I made the reservation too late to get an assigned cabin.....and just saw what they gave me, lowest deck, 2 cabins from the bow of the boat, I' in for a wild ride if "the surfs up".

[leaveitallbehind]

37 minutes ago, lardor said:

I made the reservation too late to get an assigned cabin.....and just saw what they gave me, lowest deck, 2 cabins from the bow of the boat, I' in for a wild ride if "the surfs up".

If you are not happy with this, contact whomever you made the reservations through (TA or the cruise line) and ask to see if there are other locations within that category available that may be a more desirable choice.  Most cruise lines will allow you to make that switch without an issue.  If they cannot do it it may be because of when you made the booking and low remaining available stateroom inventory.

[thinfool]

We booked a BD balcony guarantee several years ago and were assigned a BA balcony on the deck with the extended balconies.   Made a believer out of me!

[BruceMuzz]

A little background on cruise line bookings:

On average, every mass market cruise ship sailing in North America sells every cabin 8 times before the cruise actually begins. Mass Market cruisers are rather fickle. They change their minds - and plans - very often. This helps to explain why the cabin or category you wanted to book - but it was not available yesterday - is available today. This also makes it very difficult for any mass market line to tell you how many cabins are booked, as the number changes so frequently.

It also explains why you often must wait endlessly on the telephone for someone from the cruise line to assist you. They are all busy switching cabin bookings.

 

Guarantee Cabins can be a mine field if you do not know how it works.

Why would a cruise line give you a discount to let them choose a cabin for you?

Because there are always undesirable cabins on any cruise ship. These cabins are difficult to sell - unless you sell them very cheap.

Switched on cruisers and travel agents know which cabins these are, and carefully avoid them. Novices do not know about them and take their chances. Sometimes you get lucky; sometimes you don’t.

Essentially, Guarantee Cabins are often “leftovers”. Not always, mind you, but often.

Some cruisers do not really care about the cabin - so long as there is a bed and it is cheap. These people are always happy with any cabin and give great reviews for booking Guarantee Cabins.

Some cruisers like to gamble, and some of them win. They get nice cabins - or even better - nice upgrades.

Smart cruisers who gamble with Guarantee Cabins do their homework and choose categories that have very few cabins in them and/or sell out often. This nearly assures a good upgrade and possibly a good cabin.

 

How do the mass market lines know for sure that you will have a cabin assignment when booking a Guarantee Cabin?

On nearly every big mass market ship, on nearly every sailing, there is a no-show / cancellation rate of just over 1% on sailing day. 

Doesn’t sound like much, you say?

1%+ of 3,000 cabins is 30+ empty cabins. That is a lot to play with, and the cruise lines are very good at playing that game.

 

One cautionary note:

After managing far too many of those “Walmarts at Sea” for too many years, one fact was always very clear. The passengers who pay the least are the ones with the highest expectations, and usually the ones who complain the most.

[clackey]

We have a Guaranteed Inside booked for January.  I was a little apprehensive, but the price was dirt cheap.  If I have learned anything after 21 cruises is to always take earplugs, so I'm ready to tough it out.  We did this many moons ago and was located next to an elevator.  Needed earplugs.

 

I can guarantee that I can eat enough to cover my cabin price.

[Mum2Mercury]

14 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

It's not quite as "iffy" as your worries suggest.

 

A "guarantee" means you *will* get a cabin (of the level guaranteed or better), vs. a "waitlist", where... maybe/maybe not,

 

They don't know what your cabin assignment will be "now" (when you reserved the "guarantee" accommodations) because... they really do no know.

Assuming nothing seriously untoward happens and the ship sails as planned,  the cruise line will do some adjusting IF NEEDED to get everyone with a confirmed reservation on board, but that's not the case with a "waitlist".

Now, how do they do this?  A variety of ways.

One, as you have suggested, some people will probably cancel, and the cruiselines have pretty good data to help them estimate how many... but that's obviously not exact.

Yes, they CAN overbook:  the cabins/suites are like produce: "perishable".  Once the ship sails, any empty cabin will never be sold, and that revenue is lost forever.

Or... they can bump people up a catergory, perhaps sequentially.  Too many booked with "guarantees" for insides?  Offer some of the lower cost balcony cabin passengers an upgrade to a better balcony (preferably with a surcharge)..... etc., as needed.

 

A final option;  Make some passengers "an offer too good to resist". 🙂

That can include something like the following:

"If you will change from this cruise to <some other specified cruise and cabin/suite category>, we'll transfer your reservation, and also offer you $XXXX."

We had an offer like that from one cruise line.  It would have been an AMAZING "deal"... *IF* we wanted/were able to take "Cruise B" instead of Cruise A, but we weren't able to make that switch.  So a similar offer was no doubt passed along to someone else.

 

You may not find out until just about the very last moment just what your assignment will be.

Please re-read the terms and conditions of the "Guarantee" of the cruiseline you are sailing for more specific information.

 

If you wanted to know at the time of your booking which accommodation you will have, then don't book a guarantee.  Choose another category or a different cruise date/etc.

GC

 

An excellent write-up.  

3 hours ago, BruceMuzz said:

On average, every mass market cruise ship sailing in North America sells every cabin 8 times before the cruise actually begins. Mass Market cruisers are rather fickle. They change their minds - and plans - very often.

Really?  I've never heard that before, and I'm surprised. 

What's your source?  

3 hours ago, BruceMuzz said:

Because there are always undesirable cabins on any cruise ship. These cabins are difficult to sell - unless you sell them very cheap ... Essentially, Guarantee Cabins are often “leftovers”. Not always, mind you, but often.

We usually go with a Guarantee, and -- while some of our cabins have been nicer than others -- we've never had a cabin we'd consider undesirable.  

- We don't always make the same choice:  When it's just the two of us, we aren't fussy about our room, and we choose the (often significant) savings of a Guarantee room; on the other hand, our adult daughter will share our room for an upcoming cruise.  For that cruise we need the extra space of the balcony, and if we're going to pay for a balcony we want to be sure it's an ocean-front balcony.  So we chose our room.  

- We seem to land on Deck 6 pretty often.  Deck 6 isn't particularly popular, but it's become our favorite, as it's convenient to the Promenade, the Theater and the MDR.  We tend to take the elevator up to the pool deck, then walk back down.  

- We were on Deck 3 on our last cruise, and we didn't really like being "so far" from everything, but we were in a handicapped room, which was almost double the size of a standard inside ... we loved the room!  If I were on Deck 3 again, even without the larger room, it wouldn't be a tragedy.  

- We seem to land mid-ship.  Our theory is that all the people who are afraid they'll get a horrible cabin want to choose their number, but they aren't willing to pay that couple dollars extra to be mid-ship.  

- What I hate is waiting to know my room number.  After we've checked in /claimed our boarding time, I get really antsy about it and use "the barcode trick" multiple times a day.  Usually we get the room number 2-3 days after we claim a boarding time.  

 

[crystalspin]

 4 hours ago, BruceMuzz said:

On average, every mass market cruise ship sailing in North America sells every cabin 8 times before the cruise actually begins. Mass Market cruisers are rather fickle. They change their minds - and plans - very often.

Mum2Mercury said: "Really?  I've never heard that before, and I'm surprised." 

 

I was thinking -- the cruisers with the cabin I'm waiting for and playing dummy-book to check daily -- need to be more fickle! Oh well, I have six months or so to watch and wait.

 

@Mum2Mercury That is an interesting and credible theory about getting a midships guarantee!

[leaveitallbehind]

10 hours ago, crystalspin said:

 4 hours ago, BruceMuzz said:

On average, every mass market cruise ship sailing in North America sells every cabin 8 times before the cruise actually begins. Mass Market cruisers are rather fickle. They change their minds - and plans - very often.

Mum2Mercury said: "Really?  I've never heard that before, and I'm surprised." 

This actually is a true statistic - at least so a few years ago. This is what led to many of the mass market cruise lines implementing a non-refundable deposit option to help reduce this cycle.  While resulting in a lower fare, it restricts changes and cancelations through a penalty with the deposit.  Some lines require this with no option for a refundable deposit with suite bookings to mitigate changes within that category even further.

 

As a side note, when it was first introduced it had the benefit to the cruise lines of also being a price increase tool as the refundable deposit fares in place became the non-refundable fares for new bookings, and the refundable fares were then increased so that you paid more for that booking flexibility.  At the time we had several bookings via a refundable deposit in place and doing mock re-bookings on each resulted in our then refundable deposit fare being essentially that of the new non-refundable fares and the refundable fares were now measurably higher.

Edited November 26, 2023 by leaveitallbehind

[mjkacmom]

20 hours ago, jsn55 said:

"Guarantee" cabins are for people who don't care where they sleep.  The cruiseline couldn't possibly know your cabin number until close to sail date.  I'm sure you can read all about it on your cruiseline's website.  Many of us wouldn't book a guarantee cabin under any circumstances.  For those who don't care about the details, it may offer a good deal, or your assigned cabin could be dreadful.

Actually some guarantee cabins are assigned right after booking, some are assigned right before sailing, and some in between.

[ldubs]

I wonder if any cruise passenger has ever been "bumped" because of overbooking.  Reading all of the above, it seems highly unlikely.  

[lardor]

Thanks to everyone responding to my "problem".....

[leaveitallbehind]

23 minutes ago, ldubs said:

I wonder if any cruise passenger has ever been "bumped" because of overbooking.  Reading all of the above, it seems highly unlikely.  

I've not heard of that as I also have not factually heard of intentional overbooking.  That doesn't mean it can't or doesn't happen, I just am not aware of it.  It's not like an airline with point to point transportation with more options than the one flight if it is overbooked.  I think it would be pretty difficult to deny someone - especially if they travelled a distance to get to the port - boarding by saying "sorry, we are overbooked".  I know how I would react........

[BruceMuzz]

6 hours ago, ldubs said:

I wonder if any cruise passenger has ever been "bumped" because of overbooking.  Reading all of the above, it seems highly unlikely.  

Due to the sophistication of computer programs used by the Yield Department, as well as mountains of historical data, it is extremely rare today that a cruise line needs to bump passengers due to over-booking.

[BruceMuzz]

8 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

Actually some guarantee cabins are assigned right after booking, some are assigned right before sailing, and some in between.

That is true. The cruise lines employ very sophisticated Computer Yield Programs that can predict when a cruise will not fill up. If that is the case, then there is no reason to delay assigning Guarantee Cabins.

If it is a new itinerary or one with an inconsistent history, the computer will delay the assignments for a time, waiting to see what develops.

Most of these assignments and upgrades or done automatically by the computer programs, without the knowledge of the Head Office or the Ship. 

[Harry Lake]

I'm on this cruise:

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/grand-voyage-cruises/amsterdam-to-stockholm-NAU240704A/?sr=%2Fcruise-finder%23time_frame%3D2024-7%26marketing_region%3Dbalticandscandinavia%26ship%3DNAU%26sort%3Dfeatured%3Adesc%26page%3D1%26pageSize%3D10

 

I have a "guaranty" for a deluxe ocean view. But the reason I'm posting is practically the entire ship is "waitliste." What does that mean? And my O agent has calmly ensured me that mine will clear. I'm not asking for specific advise but rather showing this as an example. TIA

[BruceMuzz]

28 minutes ago, Harry Lake said:

I'm on this cruise:

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/grand-voyage-cruises/amsterdam-to-stockholm-NAU240704A/?sr=%2Fcruise-finder%23time_frame%3D2024-7%26marketing_region%3Dbalticandscandinavia%26ship%3DNAU%26sort%3Dfeatured%3Adesc%26page%3D1%26pageSize%3D10

 

I have a "guaranty" for a deluxe ocean view. But the reason I'm posting is practically the entire ship is "waitliste." What does that mean? And my O agent has calmly ensured me that mine will clear. I'm not asking for specific advise but rather showing this as an example. TIA

Your Agent is correct. 

It appears that your cruise will be nearly full, is experiencing a lot of movement and changes in bookings. The Yield Computer is playing it safe by slowing down new bookings until all the changes have calmed down. The computer will leave a certain number of cabins empty to accommodate the Guarantees, but your chances of getting a good cabin out of this are diminishing.

The best cabin assignments will go to “special” Travels Agents, Frequent Cruisers, and full fare passengers. Guarantees will get the leftovers.

[Harry Lake]

43 minutes ago, Harry Lake said:

I'm on this cruise:

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/grand-voyage-cruises/amsterdam-to-stockholm-NAU240704A/?sr=%2Fcruise-finder%23time_frame%3D2024-7%26marketing_region%3Dbalticandscandinavia%26ship%3DNAU%26sort%3Dfeatured%3Adesc%26page%3D1%26pageSize%3D10

 

I have a "guaranty" for a deluxe ocean view. But the reason I'm posting is practically the entire ship is "waitliste." What does that mean? And my O agent has calmly ensured me that mine will clear. I'm not asking for specific advise but rather showing this as an example. TIA

Allow me to add. This is ONE cruise and also TWO cruises. It terminates for one group when we return to London. Does that make sense?