Cabin Assignment for GTYs

[cruise101]

We set sail in a week, but so far no cabin assignment for our GTY booking.

We are new to Viking so just curious as to how much in advance Viking typically assigns cabins for GTY bookings.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

[Peregrina651]

I am answering a question with a question only because you are a Viking newbie.

 

Have you received the final documents e-mail from Viking?

 

It is usually sent two weeks prior to sailing and can go to the guests, the Travel Agent or both. Subject line will read:

Important – Viking Final E-Document: GuestName 70907##

 

If not, check your spam file before contacting your Travel Agent or Viking Rep to have it re-sent.

 

If you have received the e-mail, check the booking summary at the top of page one to see if it includes a cabin number. Sometimes, this is all the notice you will get about your cabin assignment. .

 

 

 

If it lists your Stateroom as GTY, then you could receive your assignment anytime now, up to and including at check-in. There is no predicting when your cabin will be assigned-- even my crystal ball refuses to hazard a prediction.

 

[cruise101]

Many thanks Peregrina651 for the prompt & detailed response. It is truly appreciated.

Yes, I did receive the final docs and under cabin number it just says GTY. Given that we have exactly a week to go and no info on cabin assignment, I thought I'd get some guidance from more experienced Viking cruisers. Thanks again.

[OneSixtyToOne]

There is no definitive answer to this question. We were notified of an upgrade 2 days before departure. Others have had their cabin assigned when they arrived for check-in.
 

They are probably in the process of offering upgrades to other pax to make room for the GTY. 

[SantaFe1]

Without getting into details, the worst cabins we have ever had were a gty PV1  and an upgrade from PV1 to PS 1.  I have a specific cabin we like, I book it every time and I don’t want Viking messing with it!!

[cruise101]

16 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

There is no definitive answer to this question. We were notified of an upgrade 2 days before departure. Others have had their cabin assigned when they arrived for check-in.
 

They are probably in the process of offering upgrades to other pax to make room for the GTY. 

Thanks OneSixtyToOne. Good to know that Viking may not have the assignments completed up until departure day. We will be patient. 

[cruise101]

40 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

Without getting into details, the worst cabins we have ever had were a gty PV1  and an upgrade from PV1 to PS 1.  I have a specific cabin we like, I book it every time and I don’t want Viking messing with it!!

Thanks SantaFe1 & sorry to hear of your bad experience with GTYs. I will try & stay positive, hoping for a good assignment outcome.

[sharkster77]

Maybe I have a  brain cramp, but what is a GTY?

[Peregrina651]

Guaranteed cabin

[sharkster77]

18 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

Guaranteed cabin

Thank you.  But isn't anyone who books a cruise and pays for it guaranteed a cabin?  I hope I won't have to sleep in a hammock hanging over the bilge when I sail next June!!!

 

I'm obviously missing something in this thread.

Edited September 5 by sharkster77

[2blueyam]

It means you don't get to pick a specific cabin; the cruise line just assigns a cabin to you. Your cabin will be in the guaranteed class or a higher class. Usually these are the cabins no one else wants because they are: under the buffet or pool, above a nightclub, next to the elevator, have a balcony that can be seen from some protruding part of the ship, etc. These factors bother some folks more than others. It is also possible the cruise will not be sold out and you will get a great cabin in a higher cabin class.

[CDNPolar]

We had a GTY cabin on our last River cruise that we booked only two weeks before sailing.

 

We found our cabin assignment on MVJ before Viking informed us that we had a cabin assigned.

 

I suggest looking in MVJ.

 

Where?  Go to the "Booking Summary" tab.

 

 

Edited September 5 by CDNPolar

[LindaS272]

We had a GTY once and called about a month before, then again at two weeks before. They confirmed our room on the second call. 

 

I don’t think it’s correct that the cabins assigned are “usually the ones no one wants”—at least not that I’ve seen posted on these threads when people have weighed in. It’s kind of roulette—Viking is juggling folks at the last minute as people cancel. Our GTY was an upgrade within the class of stateroom and was a good location.

[OneSixtyToOne]

30 minutes ago, 2blueyam said:

It means you don't get to pick a specific cabin; the cruise line just assigns a cabin to you. Your cabin will be in the guaranteed class or a higher class. Usually these are the cabins no one else wants because they are: under the buffet or pool, above a nightclub, next to the elevator, have a balcony that can be seen from some protruding part of the ship, etc. These factors bother some folks more than others. It is also possible the cruise will not be sold out and you will get a great cabin in a higher cabin class.

It also can mean they have oversold a cabin class. It’s easier to sell lower priced cabins so they may over book those and when the cruise approaches, they will upgrade pax to make room. 

Edited September 5 by OneSixtyToOne

[OneSixtyToOne]

12 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

Viking is juggling folks at the last minute as people cancel.

On our cruise last month there were many rooms juggled. A week before sailing, we were offered an upgrade for a price and we declined. Two days before departure we were inform we were upgraded for free and had no choice in the matter. We went from a DV4 to a PV1. Someone we talked to went from a PJS to the ES. We heard several conversations about being upgraded. We discovered there was also a large group from a church onboard. I suspect there was a group sale and the upgrade dominoes started falling.

 

I also don’t concur with the “rooms nobody wants” as all available rooms are visible when you book, even the undesirable ones. GTY means there are no longer rooms available in that class you want when you booked. Ships mostly sail less than 100% full, so there are always cabins available somewhere and they correctly assume there will also be cancellations. Viking is taking the booking and figuring it out closer to departure.

Edited September 5 by OneSixtyToOne

[LindaS272]

Don’t forget that we have also read on these boards that folks have even been offered a free cruise at another time in an overbooking situation. Some have declined, but some have accepted. 
 

We were told years ago by the onboard sales person that Viking experiences about 10% cancellations before the cruise. They oversell the DV/V classes & the more expensive ones are more likely to cancel. Thus the juggling where you may be offered to buy up to another class, or do the “move over” offer of a free cruise at another time. Or as @SantaFe1 experienced, a forced upgrade. 

[AZ_Tim]

2 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

We had a GTY cabin on our last River cruise that we booked only two weeks before sailing.

 

We found our cabin assignment on MVJ before Viking informed us that we had a cabin assigned.

 

I suggest looking in MVJ.

 

Where?  Go to the "Booking Summary" tab.

 

 

I have been over every tab in MVJ and do not find a "Booking Summary" tab or anything like that.

Where are you finding this?

[cruise101]

1 minute ago, AZ_Tim said:

I have been over every tab in MVJ and do not find a "Booking Summary" tab or anything like that.

Where are you finding this?

On the MVJ page, once you are signed in, you can go to the 3 horizontal lines (often referred to as the “hamburger”) on the top left and tap that. You will see a list of options appearing. One of the last ones says “booking summary”. Click on that. Hope this helps.

[AZ_Tim]

2 minutes ago, cruise101 said:

On the MVJ page, once you are signed in, you can go to the 3 horizontal lines (often referred to as the “hamburger”) on the top left and tap that. You will see a list of options appearing. One of the last ones says “booking summary”. Click on that. Hope this helps.

Since you mentioned that you were on a river cruise when you had a GTY cabin, I'm starting to think that there may be a difference in booking info shown on MVJ between river and ocean. The menu items that show when I click the 3 line icon are the same as the thumbnails shown on the screen.

[OneSixtyToOne]

29 minutes ago, AZ_Tim said:

Since you mentioned that you were on a river cruise when you had a GTY cabin, I'm starting to think that there may be a difference in booking info shown on MVJ between river and ocean. The menu items that show when I click the 3 line icon are the same as the thumbnails shown on the screen.

It’s there but all the way near the bottom and if you are using a phone, the browser might be truncating the dropdown list. It will depend on how your browser is displaying it. On my phone I can see it but can’t click on it because it’s outside the screen area that has the focus to click on. Try it on a computer, instead of a phone.

 

EDIT: I can access it if I change the font size of the page to a smaller font.

 

Edited September 5 by OneSixtyToOne

[zzookiemookiw]

Last summer on our Alaska cruise we booked last minute & didn’t receive our cabin number till we arrived at the ship.

[AZ_Tim]

I am on my desktop. I had to play around with the size of the browser window to make it show. Before, when I tried to scroll down on the drop-down menu, nothing happened, so I thought that was all there was. Thanks for the help.

[AZ_Tim]

Just now, zzookiemookiw said:

Last summer on our Alaska cruise we booked last minute & didn’t receive our cabin number till we arrived at the ship.

It does look like there is no definitive answer to this. When we booked our Northern Lights trip for Feb 2025, we were initially given a GTY cabin, but had a room assigned three days later.

 

[Peregrina651]

3 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

We had a GTY once and called about a month before, then again at two weeks before. They confirmed our room on the second call. 

 

I don’t think it’s correct that the cabins assigned are “usually the ones no one wants”—at least not that I’ve seen posted on these threads when people have weighed in. It’s kind of roulette—Viking is juggling folks at the last minute as people cancel. Our GTY was an upgrade within the class of stateroom and was a good location.

 

True.  The last time we booked a GTY, there were a number of us on the Roll Call waiting for cabin assignments.  One couple was assigned an aft facing DV1 cabin. We had booked a DV6 guarantee and ended up in a DV4 aft of the aft elevators and away from rhe noise of the tenders.

[cotto22]

Well, we have a GTY also, and I don't see a Booking Summary on the list of items under the "hamburger". I tried with two browsers. This is an ocean cruise. Could that be the difference?

  Okay, just used Safari, and voila, there it is. And it says, stateroom still pending!

Edited September 5 by cotto22
added information