Guarantee Cabin Not Received?

[BigGreenFan]

Have any of you who have booked a Guarantee Stateroom not received a stateroom at all or have been given a lower category?  In other words, is there any real risk in booking a guarantee (other than getting a less desirable location than one may want)?

[mightycruisequeen]

Whenever we've booked a guarantee, we've received a stateroom in that category or better every time, without exception.  We haven't always been thrilled beyond belief, but we've never gotten a cabin that was in a lesser category than the guarantee.  A few times, we've been very nicely upgraded.  

[BigGreenFan]

3 minutes ago, mightycruisequeen said:

Whenever we've booked a guarantee, we've received a stateroom in that category or better every time, without exception.  We haven't always been thrilled beyond belief, but we've never gotten a cabin that was in a lesser category than the guarantee.  A few times, we've been very nicely upgraded.  

 

[BigGreenFan]

Thanks for the quick reply!

[Red Haired Lady]

Yes they do.  I was on the March 30-Apr13 Westerdam cruise in Japan.  According to posts on our roll call it was oversold by 52 cabins.  People received offers to take other cruises. I did not hear of anyone actually being refused, but I know of one who booked an unobstructed OV guarantee and got an obstructed OV.

 

This is the roll call link. Most of the discussion starts with post 501. 

 

This is post # 501 from the roll call. 

 

 

This is getting crazy now:

 

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o    Future Cruise Credits can be used on any future sailing through December 31, 2025.

 

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21 day departure sailing Hong Kong to Kobe, Japan

 

This is post # 532:

 

I just booked another HAL cruise while onboard the Westerdam and the future cruise consultant told me that HAL overbooked 52 rooms on the March 30 cruise. She doesn’t know the reason why. But she did say fhat she has to move from a regular stateroom to crew quarters. 

 

[POA1]

While we probably wouldn't book a Guarantee category, people who do are guaranteed that category or better.  It makes a lot of sense if you're happy with all the guarantee rooms. Many people are happy to (1) be on the ship in a minimum category, with a chance of upgrade, and (2) save some money.

[Shippy]

as long as you have a certain category, there should not be a problem.

   We made a mistake once of booking a 'run of the ship' guarantee. The assumption was that you could get ANY type of cabin...wow...

Unfortunately, we did not get our cabin assignment until we were at the port.

The cabin had port holes & was located over the anchor, so every time they dropped anchor, the noise was quite incredible.

   Every ship has some undesirable cabins & they have to go to someone !

 

[kochleffel]

There is a thread on the NCL board about that line's having denied boarding to passengers with a guarantee because the entire ship was oversold. NCL does not routinely offer GTY cabins; there is a discounted sail-away category that is offered in regular booking and sells out quickly that is the equivalent, but it's offered while other cabins of the promised type are still available.

 

The prevailing opinion in that thread was that the line should have extended move-over offers to some number of passengers. IIRC, the departure was from a Florida port where there would have been retirees who lived near the port who could easily accept such an offer.

[HermmyGranger]

We are going through this right now. We booked a guarantee Neptune Suite because choosing your own cabin was $700 per person more. Unfortunately, we were unaware of the Neptune Spa Suite cabins and are stuck in one of those and we can't move because the ship is sold out. I'm still not sure we would have paid an additional $1400 to choose our own cabin, but I wish I'd known that the Spa Suite was an option. I wrongly assumed that they were a different category since they are sold separately from the standard suites.

[Dutchman48]

22 minutes ago, Red Haired Lady said:

Yes they do.  I was on the March 30-Apr13 Westerdam cruise in Japan.  According to posts on our roll call it was oversold by 52 cabins.  People received offers to take other cruises. I did not hear of anyone actually being refused, but I know of one who booked an unobstructed OV guarantee and got an obstructed OV.

 

This is the roll call link. Most of the discussion starts with post 501. 

 

This is post # 501 from the roll call. 

 

 

This is getting crazy now:

 

Special Offer # 2

Receive a 100% refund and a 200% Future Cruise Credit to cancel. Plus enjoy $250.00 OBC when you use the Future Cruise Credit.

o    Future Cruise Credits can be used on any future sailing through December 31, 2025.

 

Special Offer # 3

Receive a 100% refund and try out our ultra luxury sister line, Seabourn, aboard the Seabourn Odyssey·          

o    March 28, 2024
21 day departure sailing Hong Kong to Kobe, Japan

 

This is post # 532:

 

I just booked another HAL cruise while onboard the Westerdam and the future cruise consultant told me that HAL overbooked 52 rooms on the March 30 cruise. She doesn’t know the reason why. But she did say fhat she has to move from a regular stateroom to crew quarters. 

 

Was on the same cruise and yes, the ship was full. However, if you look at what HAL offered as compensation, I would say the risk of booking a guaranteed cabin and not getting cabin class is low.

To me the risk of getting a bad location is much higher (under lido, a bar. the gym).

[POA1]

I took all the HAL Deckplans and created a consolidated PDF with every ship in it.  Use it to find the hidden traps if you are booking a guarantee.  Definitely look at the Spa Rooms or the Accessible staterooms in your guarantee category.

 

 

[rodndonna]

We book the lowest inside GTY - so no downward options available! Everthing is an upgrade from that "N' category inside (don't think anyone is actually ever assigned those cabins) 😊

[Niagarawine]

Last cruise I booked online ,went for guarantee obstructed, cabin number came up and it was a good one with a large balcony so that was it. Have done this twice where they select cabin and show it to you.

[scooter6139]

We gambled last summer on a Neptune Guarantee SC on Westerdam and ended up with a nice SA midship.

 

Trying our luck again this summer.  😏  There isn't a Neptune that we wouldn't mind being in, so it's all good.  Plus, the savings are huge.  

[AV8rix]

2 hours ago, rodndonna said:

We book the lowest inside GTY - so no downward options available! Everthing is an upgrade from that "N' category inside (don't think anyone is actually ever assigned those cabins) 😊

You are correct in your statement "don't think anyone is actually ever assigned....".  I'm solo -- so have to pay the supplement.  Therefore, to save money have been booking interior gtys on HAL for 14 years!  Have NEVER gotten one of the "N" category because they are ALWAYS assigned to contract entertainers, comped clergymen or other comped folks, etc.

[Toofarfromthesea]

5 hours ago, Red Haired Lady said:

Yes they do.  I was on the March 30-Apr13 Westerdam cruise in Japan.  According to posts on our roll call it was oversold by 52 cabins.  People received offers to take other cruises. I did not hear of anyone actually being refused, but I know of one who booked an unobstructed OV guarantee and got an obstructed OV.

 

This is the roll call link. Most of the discussion starts with post 501. 

 

 

I just booked another HAL cruise while onboard the Westerdam and the future cruise consultant told me that HAL overbooked 52 rooms on the March 30 cruise. She doesn’t know the reason why. But she did say fhat she has to move from a regular stateroom to crew quarters. 

 

 

I don't see the relevance.  She was not a paying customer who selected a guaranteed cabin, she was an employee who apparently is given a perk of a regular stateroom, apparently on an 'as available' basis and this time one wasn't available.

[DaveOKC]

5 hours ago, HermmyGranger said:

We are going through this right now. We booked a guarantee Neptune Suite because choosing your own cabin was $700 per person more. Unfortunately, we were unaware of the Neptune Spa Suite cabins and are stuck in one of those and we can't move because the ship is sold out. I'm still not sure we would have paid an additional $1400 to choose our own cabin, but I wish I'd known that the Spa Suite was an option. I wrongly assumed that they were a different category since they are sold separately from the standard suites.

I personally think that HAL made those Spa Neptunes a higher rating so that they could put the guarantee bookings in them and say that the person was upgraded.  We were in one of these on deck 10 really did not care for it (it was not terrible, but IMO the Neptunes midships on deck 7 are better.

[HermmyGranger]

8 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

I personally think that HAL made those Spa Neptunes a higher rating so that they could put the guarantee bookings in them and say that the person was upgraded.  We were in one of these on deck 10 really did not care for it (it was not terrible, but IMO the Neptunes midships on deck 7 are better.

Deck 10 is where we're at. I can probably live with most of it, but it's so far away from the Lounge and the balcony looks to be unusable. Our TA has told us the square footage on the deck and says it's bigger than the regular veranda cabins, but I'm not seeing it. I'm actually taking a measuring tape. The pictures I've seen don't even show enough usable space for two people to be comfortable at the same time. I feel like it's a bait and switch, but there's no much we can do about it.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

10 minutes ago, HermmyGranger said:

Deck 10 is where we're at. I can probably live with most of it, but it's so far away from the Lounge and the balcony looks to be unusable. Our TA has told us the square footage on the deck and says it's bigger than the regular veranda cabins, but I'm not seeing it. I'm actually taking a measuring tape. The pictures I've seen don't even show enough usable space for two people to be comfortable at the same time. I feel like it's a bait and switch, but there's no much we can do about it.

I would not call it bait and switch but it really is a Buyers Beware. HAL started this many years ago, I would say it was around 2008 when they changed around the categories and the category ID names. This was when all four of the vista class were fairly new and right about the time the Signature Class ships came out. The deck 5 mid ship balconies were not selling well because once you were on them you saw that deck 5 mid ship had much small outside balconies. They were listed as a lower priced category. Then all of a sudden they became VA which was the highest price balcony category. Agents were told to tell clients that these are mid ship and lower so less sea movement when in fact they were inferior fur to sitting on top of the life boats and having smaller balconies. To this day they are what most people get when booking a balcony guarantee on a Vista Class ship or when they are first time cruisers and being sold to believe that highest category is the best . Then the same thing happened when they put in those Neptune Spa Suites on the Signature Class, in the very beginning they did start out as the lowest category Neptune, then they flipped it saying the highest. I would venture to bet 80% of the time they are filled with those that chose a Neptune Suite Guarantee because no matter the Neptune Suite you choose they state this is a higher category..

[SilvertoGold]

6 hours ago, rodndonna said:

We book the lowest inside GTY - so no downward options available! Everthing is an upgrade from that "N' category inside (don't think anyone is actually ever assigned those cabins) 😊

I do know of someone who did actually get an N! However, anytime we have booked an N Guar we get at minimum a K.

[jlawrence01]

On my last cruise on the Eurodam, we reserved an inside cabin.  We received an unobstructed Oceanview cabin on the 1st deck,

[SilvertoGold]

23 minutes ago, jlawrence01 said:

On my last cruise on the Eurodam, we reserved an inside cabin.  We received an unobstructed Oceanview cabin on the 1st deck,

 

23 minutes ago, jlawrence01 said:

On my last cruise on the Eurodam, we reserved an inside cabin.  We received an unobstructed Oceanview cabin on the 1st deck,

That is great! What category inside did you book? Was it a Guar?  Thanks

[jlawrence01]

22 minutes ago, SilvertoGold said:

 

That is great! What category inside did you book? Was it a Guar?  Thanks

 

It was a guaranteed.

 

Honestly, we always book the cheapest available cabin as we rarely spend much time in the cabin.