Tell me your good and bad experiences with Guarantee cabins

[morebeaches]

Normally I wouldn't consider gambling on a guarantee cabin, but i have found some very good prices that are hard to resist on the Rhapsody. tell me your experiences.

[fla-red]

We did a suite guarantee on Mariner. Price was lower than regular balcony. We ended up with a JS in the middle of the hump. Great location. You just never now where they will put you, but if you don't really care, then the price is unbeatable.:)

[WMQueenie]

Our first cruise was last year on the Voyager - we didn't think we would like cruising so we decided 5 nights and the lowest possible price would be a good way to find out if we liked it or not. We booked an inside guarantee and were very surprised and pleased with the cabin. We enjoyed the whole experience so much that this year we booked a 9 night balcony guarantee on the Explorer - we received our cabin assignment - a D3 on deck 6. Seems like a pretty good deal to us! 4 weeks and counting!! :D

[cruisePRN]

Only once we booked a gty and it was awful. We went to the pursers desk and upgraded. I wouldn't hesitate to book a balcony GTY because i could be happy with the lowest priced balcony. I hate the lowest level of a ship, even if it's outside, I prefer upper deck mid ship.

[PAISANO]

I did a guarantee only once on an inside cabin. Never again!

We were issued the very last cabin forward ( in the hole as I call it) on that deck. It was a long walk to the elevators.

 

If you don't care where your cabin is or what deck they put you on then a guarantee might be ok. You could get lucky,but I wouldn't count on it.

It's kinda like if you can't accept the worst cabin in that catagory then don't do it. If the upgrade fairy visits you...... well then you've been blessed.;)

[jillybabes]

We booked guarantee balconies two times for Mariner and were put in cabins too far foreward, a call to my TA and it was changed. This time we were upgraded from E2 to E1 mid hump:D ...If you book with a TA they can always change it if it is early enough! I say go for it! Later, Jill:cool:

[john & Gerrie nj]

The assignments are good so far. If you don't like it you can upgrade

to something better.

It mostly depends on your cruise style. the cabin isn't that important to us.

but close to the less used elevators and toward the top is.

The best cruise I have ever been on could be the next one.

john

[CL-JW]

We went from a Gty obstructed view to a balcony on the Aloha Deck this past April.

[sandspms]

Just did a JS guarantee and received an OS on the hump.

[critterchick]

We did a Cat C (now JS) guarantee on Vision a few years ago and ended up with cabin #8088, a portside aft cabin with a huge wrap-around balcony. DH had always resisted booking an aft cabin until we actually got this one. Now we're both hooked!

 

We took that guarantee because that was all that was available in the category at the time we booked. We usually know which cabin we want & book it if it's available. Besides, they say lightening doesn't strike twice, right?

[Buccaneergirl]

We have only booked a GTY once. It was for an oceanview on Sovereign and we ended up on deck 3 as far forward as you can go. I didn't mind the walk to the cabin, but the worse part was being awakened every morning at 5 a.m. to the sound of the anchor being dropped!:( It was horrible and I would not get a GTY again.

[constantcruiser]

Since I don't play the slots or the tables, booking guarantees is my form of recreational gambling! We've been pleasantly surprised many times. As long as you don't book a guarantee in a category lower than what would be acceptable to you, what have you got to lose? Would I be satisfied with any balcony cabin aboard the ship? Probably. With any inside cabin? Definitely not.

[morebeaches]

well the sailing is only a few weeks away and all that are available are interior and ocean view

[morebeaches]

sorry double post

[wrp96]

I've done guarantees twice. Once an inside guarantee on Brilliance, ended up on deck 3 towards the aft. It was perfect. A very quiet deck, few people walking past the cabin, really easy to get off the ship in ports because I only had to walk (well actually limp in my case) down one flight of stairs. On Monarch I did an oceanview guarantee and it wasn't so great. I ended up on deck 7 all the way forward. We had to keep our drapes closed because the promenade deck was right outside our window, plus people would had loud parties outside our window in the middle of the night.

 

I would still do a guarantee again, but you have to be willing to accept whatever you get, and assume that it could be the worst cabin on the ship.

[morebeaches]

surely there are more tales to tell

[zephyr17]

We were on the Radiance 8/12 sailing from Seward with a guarantee oceanview. We were in cabin 4504, just around the corner from the forward elevators. I couldn't have asked for a better location, easy elevator access to the less crowded forward elevators, same deck as the dining room, and very little foot traffic outside the room.

 

Yes it was pretty far forward, but the movement wasn't at all bad, and I am not much subject to sea sickness anyway.

[Tranquil Waters]

We have only booked a GTY once. It was for an oceanview on Sovereign and we ended up on deck 3 as far forward as you can go. I didn't mind the walk to the cabin, but the worse part was being awakened every morning at 5 a.m. to the sound of the anchor being dropped!:( It was horrible and I would not get a GTY again.

 

We booked an oceanview GTY on Sovereign too. We also ended up on deck 3. Only we were right next to the mid stairs. No anchor. However, we were awakened one AM with this strange "ding" "ding" "ding" every few seconds. Woke us up wondering "what the heck?". Anyway, turned out it was the seapass cards being put through the scanner - ya all know the "ding"........ And we could hear it from our cabin right next to the stairs. People were exiting the ship for Coco Cay. Ding. Ding. Ding.

 

But still not a bad cabin. It was time to be getting up anyway. :D

[glndr]

We've had guarantee cabins a few times. 1st 2 times were inside center of the ship. This time we went with oceanview guarantee. We have a wheelchair accessible room on deck 3 center. It looks to be twice the size of a regular room. I'll find out in Oct. The room isn't important it's being able to go on 2 cruises for the price of a suite that's more important to us.

[cruisingnewyorkers]

We also did a guarantee on Sovereign and ended up at the very front and we could hear the anchor and the room was in an odd configuration.

 

We just did a guarantee on the Grandeur and we ended up on deck 2 with a connecting room. Our experience is many times we get connecting rooms. We have also have inside guarantee and ended up with an outside cabin.

For us, if the price is right we will gamble on a guarantee room, if not we take a cabin assignment.

Our next three cruises we have cabin assignments.

[KandMGIn]

We were ultra lucky. After paying for the AOS 03 cruise in March 02, we called once a week looking for a better price. We had paid about 1000.00 each for a balcony on deck 6. The best we could get was pretty far forward. Then room started to open up and we ended up on deck 7 midship. Great Cabin.

 

Lo and behold...a sale went into effect in October. I called one day and was told that if we gave up our assigned state room and went into a balcony gty...we would be refunded 300.00 EACH!!! I said hmmmmm uhhh yeah...

 

It turned out that as the guy was putting the info in his computer, we were the last people to get the offer. After he completed the change, the option to move to a gty ended.

 

Next day, I called and asked if we had been assigned a room and we were told yes...and it was the SAME ROOM! Amazing.

 

We still had our deck 7 midship but for 600.00 less!

 

p.s. The week before we sailed, I got a coupon for 150.00 off the cabin and sent it in. The honored it! So we actually paid 625.00pp for the balcony. Not bad...

[katiensb]

And ALWAYS end up with exactly what was booked. Inside on deck 3 Sovereign, Inside deck 5 Sovereign, OV Deck 3 Enchantment....why do I keep punishing myself ??? I have never gotten an upgrade...also a Diamond Member...so go figure.

 

It has been the same on Carnival...so it is just me!!!

 

Booked a Balcony Guar. on Queen Mary for 2007...we'll see if my luck holds out :)

 

Katie

[Lynne95]

We booked Gty Ocean View, and were assigned a cabin, mid ship, deck 2. Kept checking, and found we could move up to a larger gty oceanview, for about $70 each. We took it, and ended up with a Family Oceanview, with twice as much space as our orginial cabin, for a total of $140 more! We were told that we might end up with an balcony with this type of gty, but we were still delighted, as we only wanted a bit bigger cabin.

 

We leave in two weeks...we are very pleased!:D

[FR926]

WE are doing a 9 night on Explorer Oct 20. D3 deck six. Please let me know how you like the cabin

[Host Caroline]

We have booked "E2" guarantees and pretty much ended up with them but in good locations but they have been on popular sailings so maybe that's why we haven't been upgraded..since we are saving up for a Canal cruise in fall '08 I'm going to try an "oceanview guarantee" for the Mariner group in January '08 and see what happens.