What is the typical savings on a guarantee vs. choosing a room?

[Fun~N~Sun]

I want to book a room with an extended balcony. What is the typical savings on a guarantee vs. knowing what cabin I am going to be in?

[firefly333]

I don't think there is a typical savings. I have seen no savings, $10 a cabin savings or it can be $100, who knows without seeing the deal you are signing up for.

 

The cabins I am looking at there is no savings to booking a guarantee. So, I would pick a cabin instead of the guarantee. Some pick the guarantee hoping to get a upgrade.

[Fun~N~Sun]

Some pick the guarantee hoping to get a upgrade.

 

So hoping to get an upgrade is the primary most people book a guarantee? Booking an extended cabin guarantee doesn't offer much of a chance of an upgrade then does it, or am I missing something?

[Payd]

We just booked with the past guest promo code and for the price of the balcony guarantee we booked a cabin of our choice - extended balcony verandah deck

[newistcruiseaddict]

You really have to do the math for each cruise you're considering

 

I don't yet qualify for past guest rates so the intial savings when I booked was $100pp for inside guarantee vs the lowest room category. Inside guarantee is no longer offered (we're 60 days out from sailing) and the lowest cat is going for $150 more pp than what we paid..so at this point we have a $300 savings and if we get a bump we'll have saved more than that. Personally, I wouldn't hesitate to book guarantee. Yes, you gamble a bit on room assignment, but with a balcony can you really get a bad room? And if you save $50 pp you're already looking at $100...thats ALOT of buckets of beer.

[steveaaaa]

I want to book a room with an extended balcony. What is the typical savings on a guarantee vs. knowing what cabin I am going to be in?

The savings could be huge.

I have booked inside 4A catagories and have gotten a balcony 3 times.:D

 

My friends on the same cruise booked the balcony at $800 more than I paid and they were 2 decks below us.We were on deck 10.

 

The big savings are if you get a suite upgrade.

steve

[cruiselover**]

My husband and I like to book balcony guarantees with Carnival. We have been fairly lucky with location. Last year and again for our upcoming cruise this spring, we have an aft balcony. We booked about twelve months in advance, and our cruise is now $570.00 per person more than we paid! Not too shabby.

 

When we first started cruising, we would pick a specific cabin. Now with the guarantees, we are saving alot of money. As long as you book the category that you are happy with, a guarantee can work out just fine. It's a gamble, but isn't most everything?

[KAWS]

For our cruises we have chosen actual cabin numbers because we wanted THAT cabin or that location.

 

But when we booked my son and his gf, we booked a balcony guarantee because they didn't care where they were (just were thankful to have a balcony). Turned out it was a good move. The gty was $100 per person cheaper than the next balcony category and they wound up with a huge upgrade to boot. So in the end they have the same category as we booked and for $700 PP less! Now if I had of done this counting on an upgrade like this, well you know it wouldn't have happened! :)

 

Kim