Question for those who have booked a Guarantee Balcony on HAL

[Uncle Deane]

We are 9 weeks out from our first HAL cruise. It's a 14 day reposition cruise from Boston to Ft Lauderdale on the Zuiderdam. As of now, it appears to be only about 50% sold. When I booked, I rolled the dice on a Guarantee Balcony. My questions: 1. Does anyone know how and when HAL assigns the guarantees? 2. Might we get a really good cabin location? 3. Is it possible that a lot of people have booked guarantees, making it appear lightly sold?

[FlorenceItaly]

I am on the same sailing!  I am in an assigned inside(casino deal) but hoping for a nice upsell to a balcony.  It is amazing how many rooms are still available.  Typically, guarantees are assigned 4-10 days before sailing.  It appears it is very random how they are assigned.  It doesn't seem Mariner status makes a difference.  It is a mystery.  I think on this cruise the upsell opportunities will start at the 30 day mark if not before.  See you onboard!

[CruiserBruce]

As mentioned here frequently,  GTY bookings can be assigned anywhere under 30 days prior to sailing,  but far more likely under 10 days.

 

You can see unassigned cabins, but you can't see unbooked cabins. There is a significant difference. Literally,  one more GTY booking could cause all you think you see as "unbooked", to suddenly be full.

[pengu1n]

We're on the 21 day on Zuiderdam, and had booked the same as you, guarantee verandah. People on here and FB are getting upsell notices on our cruise. With that, some aft verandahs became available. We booked Club Orange (which I was surprised still available) and were able to get one of the aft balconies. It allows you to switch to the highest available room in your category (e.g. verandahs). So we booked VH and got a VC (which we preferred to available VB cabins, no VAs available but also not preferred.)

 

Someone on our roll call said about 75% of the cabins that appear unbooked are really guarantees. Not sure how he knows that.

[CruiserBruce]

2 minutes ago, pengu1n said:

Someone on our roll call said about 75% of the cabins that appear unbooked are really guarantees. Not sure how he knows that.

But perfectly illustrates my point.

[FlorenceItaly]

8 minutes ago, pengu1n said:

We're on the 21 day on Zuiderdam, and had booked the same as you, guarantee verandah. People on here and FB are getting upsell notices on our cruise. With that, some aft verandahs became available. We booked Club Orange (which I was surprised still available) and were able to get one of the aft balconies. It allows you to switch to the highest available room in your category (e.g. verandahs). So we booked VH and got a VC (which we preferred to available VB cabins, no VAs available but also not preferred.)

 

Someone on our roll call said about 75% of the cabins that appear unbooked are really guarantees. Not sure how he knows that.

Upsells already for November 9 cruise????  Thank you!

Edited to say I see you are on the October 19th cruise.

Edited September 9 by FlorenceItaly

[FlaMariner]

2 hours ago, Uncle Deane said:

1. Does anyone know how and when HAL assigns the guarantees? 2. Might we get a really good cabin location?

 

We mostly book guarantees...

 

When we book a guarantee, the cabin seems to be assigned around 14 days out....But know it can happen anytime...even at the pier. 

 

We've always been happy with our cabin location....but we are not picky and we think all cabins on a 'dam ship are in a good location.....after all, they are on a 'dam ship!

 

Be on the lookout for upsells...that's always fun and we sometimes bite on that....Remind your TA that you are interested in upsells and ask her to send them your way and prepare to jump fast if you like the price. 

 

Enjoy the cruise......

[CruiserBruce]

Might you get a real great room location? Of course you might. There is also a chance it won't be a great location,  but realistically, there is only a few undesirable locations. 

[FlorenceItaly]

I always say if you book a guarantee you must be okay with being booked into the worst cabin.  Btw, we have booked a guarantee for a April TA.

[CruiserBruce]

7 minutes ago, FlorenceItaly said:

I always say if you book a guarantee you must be okay with being booked into the worst cabin.  Btw, we have booked a guarantee for a April TA.

Common recommendation here...when you book a GTY you must be prepared to receive the category you booked into.

[ukpylot]

Last cruise we took in January we didn’t get our assigned cabin until four days before leaving, I was stressing it for sure. We got a couple of cabin categories upgrade but honestly nothing you could notice. I’m guessing it was about location rather than amenities. 

[Uncle Deane]

I'm OK with what we get. The way I looked at it, the GTY was many hundreds less per person than picking even the least expensive balcony cabin, so no matter what, we make out. In over 30 cruises, this is the first time I've done a GTY, and being that it is our first HAL cruise and on a fairly small ship that doesn't look anywhere near a sell-out, I'm hoping for the best. We'll see!

[VMax1700]

Booked a GTY stateroom last week and noticed this paragraph on the HAL Booking Confirmation, which says it all!

 

[Tierun]

I’m booked in guaranteed Neptune suite on K next month. There are none available for sale now so I’m wondering how this will play out. There’s no higher category to put us in.

[MAVIP]

47 minutes ago, Tierun said:

I’m booked in guaranteed Neptune suite on K next month. There are none available for sale now so I’m wondering how this will play out. There’s no higher category to put us in.

Could be that your guaranteed cabin is among the "non available Neptunes".....

[Tierun]

3 minutes ago, MAVIP said:

Could be that your guaranteed cabin is among the "non available Neptunes".....

I’m guessing that to be the case.

[WriterOnDeck]

On 9/9/2024 at 3:03 PM, CruiserBruce said:

Might you get a real great room location? Of course you might. There is also a chance it won't be a great location,  but realistically, there is only a few undesirable locations. 

Some people would consider the balconies with metal, not clear, faces to be undesirable. I guess it might depend on whether the guarantee was for a generic verandah or for a subcategory.

Edited September 11 by WriterOnDeck

[tigervixxxen]

How often does getting an obstructed cabin happen? I understand it’s possible. I’d consider doing a guarantee but DH would not be happy with an obstructed cabin. 

[Mary229]

27 minutes ago, tigervixxxen said:

How often does getting an obstructed cabin happen? I understand it’s possible. I’d consider doing a guarantee but DH would not be happy with an obstructed cabin. 

Different category. You can book guarantees in the category desired and obstructed is a category unto itself