Let's Talk Guarantee Cabins

[startedwithamouse]

Please answer only if you've booked a Guarantee.

 

What was the location of your cabin assignment?

 

1. Mid-Ship

2. Mid-Forward or Mid-Aft

3. Forward or Aft

 

If you've booked Guarantee multiple times, please list all.

 

Not interested in the "book the cabin in the location you want" comments.  

 

Thanks.

 

[ColoradoMom!!]

I can do this!  Just looked up my confirmation.

 

Booked a  balcony GTY on Discovery Mexican Riviera, Deck 8 (Emerald) forward.  It was BF - hoping for 112, 114 or 118 which were the only ones in this category on the deck.  My motivation was purely financial as I booked this on Jan 22, 2023 for a March 18 2023 cruise date - had to pay in full right away and was looking for a somewhat last minute getaway I could justify for a decent price of $729 per person before taxes and port fees.

 

We stuck to our guns and didn't bid up.  We were assigned L119 about a week before we left.

Lido - deck 16 pretty far forward - but that was our GTY category - BF.

It was fine - actually enjoyed just walking across the pool area to the buffet without messing with the elevators.

Edited March 5 by ColoradoMom!!

[SCX22]

Just in recent times...

 

Royal, 10/22, California Coastal, booked IF, upgraded to D4 aft facing

Royal, 12/22, Mexican Riviera, booked IF, upgraded to DB mid forward

Regal, 12/22, Caribbean, booked IF, upgraded to BW mid aft

Royal, 01/23, Hawaii, booked IF, upgraded to DB mid forward

Sky, 04/23, Spain/Portugal/France, booked IF, upgraded to IA midship

Royal, 04/23, Pacific Northwest, booked BW, upgraded to ME mid forward

Majestic, 06/23, Alaska, booked IF, upgraded BW mid aft

Sky, 07/23, Norway/Iceland, booked BW, assigned BW mid forward

Caribbean, 08/23, New England/Canada, booked OF, upgraded to BA midship

Enchanted, 11/23, Grand Mediterranean, booked BF, upgraded to S3 aft

Emerald, 01/24, Panama Canal, booked IF, upgraded to IB mid forward

 

Pre pandemic, we've been upgraded to the Owner's Suite on the Regal from a regular balcony once and forward facing M6 quite a few times on various Royal Class ships.  Most of the time we book BW and and more often than not have been upgraded to a non-obstructed balcony.  Interior to balcony was pretty rare occurrence in those times, when we did book interior.

 

We booked guarantees all the time.  We have feet that still function well and can walk to where we need to be on the ship.  Noise doesn't really bother us.  We don't really get seasick.  You can't win if you don't play the game.  At the end of the day, if you don't get upgraded, you get assigned the category that you paid for.  Unless, of course, you get a move over or downgrade offer.

 

Many will disagree with the paragraph above, but I stand by my opinion.

 

[Thrak]

September 2012. Booked on Star Princess with a BE category guarantee.  We were not real thrilled with the guarantee location as it was a balcony that faced onto the Promenade. (Yes, they block that part of the Promenade at night but we didn't know that as it was only our second cruise.) Our son was booked in an inside Handicapped cabin up on Aloha deck. As he requires assistance it was going to be quite a trek but we took what we could get.

 

Princess moved us up to an Aloha deck balcony just a few cabins away from our son which was really great for us. At that time we didn't know about folks who say, "You are booked right under the pool deck and will hear massive chair scraping, horrible noise from MUTS, etc.". As it turned out, we had a great cruise and zero issues with noise from Lido deck. That's the only time we booked a guarantee and it worked out wonderfully for us.

Edited March 5 by Thrak

[Thrak]

@SCX22  Whatever you are doing it seems to work well for you! Curious: Did you book early or late?

[JimmyVWine]

I seem to recall that there was a poll conducted here several years ago (pre-pandemic) and the runaway winner was: "We got the category we paid for."  The responses so far in this thread are very encouraging.  I wonder if Captain's Circle status level plays a role.  Will Platinum and Elite fare better than Blue, Ruby and Gold?  If you are willing to share your status at the time of boarding, maybe that might add some insight to the data.  

[cruzsnooze]

 Booking a GTY can be anywhere on the ship and past assignments have nothing to do with future assignments, keep that in mind. 

[SamFaniam]

We booked a GTY on our upcoming March cruise and are pleased with the room assignment.  It is the category we booked. 

[startedwithamouse]

19 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

 Booking a GTY can be anywhere on the ship and past assignments have nothing to do with future assignments, keep that in mind. 

We're not looking for the future.

 

We've booked Guarantee cabins 90% of the time, and we are curious what others experiences have been. 

Edited March 5 by startedwithamouse

[SCX22]

@Thrak

 

Late, usually past final payment.  It looks like Princess is making good on their book early to get the lowest fares, especially on the Sun Princess.  I'd like to see if Princess really stands by their threat of getting rid of Drop and Go fares as the year progresses.

 

Of those cruises listed, the furthest we booked in advance was the Enchanted, Med, 11/23, which we booked in 06/23 on our Alaska cruise because it was on the 50% off book onboard list despite it being so far out.  What I have noticed, is that the closer to sail date the cabin is assigned, the more likely the upgrade.  For said cruise, the aft Penthouse was assigned 3 days before the cruise while we were in Rome, so we has to get hotel to help us print luggage tags.  When the Royal was homeported in SF during the restart, we booked a week before sailing because we didn't have to fly.

 

Bid to Upgrade works in favor of guarantees, IMO.  The cabin availability is a moving target.  Someone who chose "prime" location cabins could bid for an upgrade, have their bid accepted, opening up their cabin for someone else. 

 

[startedwithamouse]

22 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

I seem to recall that there was a poll conducted here several years ago (pre-pandemic) and the runaway winner was: "We got the category we paid for."  The responses so far in this thread are very encouraging.  I wonder if Captain's Circle status level plays a role.  Will Platinum and Elite fare better than Blue, Ruby and Gold?  If you are willing to share your status at the time of boarding, maybe that might add some insight to the data.  

We've been given mid-ship mostly with mid-aft twice.  

 

Can't remember what our status was, we've been elite for a couple years, so not elite for most of our location upgrades. 

[startedwithamouse]

2 hours ago, ColoradoMom!! said:

I can do this!  Just looked up my confirmation.

 

Booked a  balcony GTY on Discovery Mexican Riviera, Deck 8 (Emerald) forward.  It was BF - hoping for 112, 114 or 118 which were the only ones in this category on the deck.  My motivation was purely financial as I booked this on Jan 22, 2023 for a March 18 2023 cruise date - had to pay in full right away and was looking for a somewhat last minute getaway I could justify for a decent price of $729 per person before taxes and port fees.

 

We stuck to our guns and didn't bid up.  We were assigned L119 about a week before we left.

Lido - deck 16 pretty far forward - but that was our GTY category - BF.

It was fine - actually enjoyed just walking across the pool area to the buffet without messing with the elevators.

We've done the bidding process only a couple times, just to go to minisuite or suite because we needed the room (kids). Usually we book two cabins. 

 

We usually like to spend our money in port rather than on a better cabin. 

[SCX22]

8 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

 Booking a GTY can be anywhere on the ship and past assignments have nothing to do with future assignments, keep that in mind. 

 

Also keep in mind, that some people, like myself, don't care about cabin location as long as the fare category is honored.  I'd be livid if I was denied boarding when booking a guarantee like what happened to RCCL passengers a few months back.  Princess is excellent with move over/downgrade offers.

 

For sailings that have lots of ocean (Hawaii, Mexico, Caribbean), I'd gladly take an inside.  Having cruised to Alaska several times, a window or a balcony isn't priority for me as the extra sunlight messes with my sleep.  I won't pay for it, but if Princess wants to upgrade me on their dime, who am I to say no?

 

Everyone is different.

[Normanville]

We booked a gty ME for a Christmas cruise for 2023, 12 months before sailing. We wanted to book deck8 aft but only gty available. We are Elite and have only booked aft cabins in all our cruises. Our travel agent requested aft, we were given a cabin 3 from the front, surrounded by children. We made the best of it and still enjoyed the cruise.

[startedwithamouse]

Just now, Normanville said:

We booked a gty ME for a Christmas cruise for 2023, 12 months before sailing. We wanted to book deck8 aft but only gty available. We are Elite and have only booked aft cabins in all our cruises. Our travel agent requested aft, we were given a cabin 3 from the front, surrounded by children. We made the best of it and still enjoyed the cruise.

Christmas cruise, always lots of children onboard.

 

We had close to a thousand kids on Christmas cruises. 

 

[memoak]

We always book the cabin we want. Love aft or mid aft cabins

[startedwithamouse]

My partner just reminded me to ask if others think not being able to book specific cabins forward on deck 5 (certain ships) like we could previously affect the amount of GTYs being booked. Additionally, they think there are more GTY cabins in every category, even cruises months away from now.

[suekel]

4 hours ago, startedwithamouse said:

Please answer only if you've booked a Guarantee.

 

What was the location of your cabin assignment?

 

1. Mid-Ship

2. Mid-Forward or Mid-Aft

3. Forward or Aft

 

If you've booked Guarantee multiple times, please list all.

 

Not interested in the "book the cabin in the location you want" comments.  

 

Thanks.

 

I booked a guarantee balcony for a cruise this past January.  2 months before we sailed, they upgraded me to an Aft Premium Deluxe Balcony.  I was so happy as I love looking out over the wake.  

[startedwithamouse]

1 hour ago, suekel said:

I booked a guarantee balcony for a cruise this past January.  2 months before we sailed, they upgraded me to an Aft Premium Deluxe Balcony.  I was so happy as I love looking out over the wake.  

Sweet!

[artvlay]

When do they usually issue a guarantee cabin assignment?

[startedwithamouse]

4 minutes ago, artvlay said:

When do they usually issue a guarantee cabin assignment?

Anywhere from a couple months to a few days to at the port. 

 

We've experienced all of the above.

Edited March 6 by startedwithamouse

[artvlay]

30 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Anywhere from a couple months to a few days to at the port. 

 

We've experienced all of the above.

Thank you for the fast reply.

[westcoaster]

Cabin type and location is not important to us, so we always book an IF guarantee (30+ cruises).  We used to occasionally get an upgrade to an outside or balcony cabin, but since Princess started charging for upgrades, we've nearly always got the same or very similar category to what we booked.  Prior to Covid, we would often get a category IE or ID cabin in the aft.  For the last few cruises since Covid, we have been given a category IF cabin near the front of the ship.

[artvlay]

On Royal or Celebrity when we get our cabin assignment we can change it to another available cabin in that same class. Can you switch it on Princess?

[Steelers36]

Yes.