Any possibility of changing my gty balcony that just got assigned to me?

[madforcruising]

I booked a guarantee balcony with a TA on VOS sailing January 4, 2008. The RCCL website showed my cabin assignment the next day after booking. This was last week. I have not sailed RCCL in over 10 years and have more recently sailed smaller ships. After studing the cabin location, aft, starboard side, next to the family cabin, I discovered that there were no passenger elevators even close. After reading some of the reviews I found that there is often a problem with elevators (extremely busy) on this ship. To walk that far and possibly have to wait for an elevator was unacceptable to me.

 

I called my TA today for a change. He called back with two oceanviews (deck 2 & 3) and a balcony in the hump on deck 8. I would receive OBC for difference in the oceanviews and pay $120pp for the balcony, which is a downgrade to D1 from the previous D3 that was assigned. I took the balcony, paid the $240, and considered that I got off lightly. I booked late, quickly and did not check out the ship. On any other cruise line this location would have been acceptable because where the service elevators for crew are located there would have been passenger elevators.

 

I say all of this to say there are various reasons for why the guarantee may not work out for those of us selecting this option. Sass4 and I are simply two of those reasons.

 

Sass4 if you used a TA make contact to see what can be done. If you booked on your own contact RCCL as most ships are not sailing full due to the down turn in the economy.

 

 

With all due respect I can follow your and Sass4´s reasoning for not being happy with what you got assigned but both of you should never have booked a guarantee in the first place when being that picky about your cabin. A guarantee is the luck of the draw and you have to be ready to get the least desirable cabin in your booked category, otherwise book an assigned/self picked room.

 

So there´s actually no reasoning for a guarantee not working for people. People who might not like the assignment shouldn´t select the guarantee option.

 

Now what you did I think is the correct way, you decided I´m not happy so I book something else and pay the difference for an assigned cabin.

 

BTW a D1 would be an upgrade from a D3 not a downgrade.;)

[Morecruisesplz]

Have you checked to see if there is another cabin in the same category that you would prefer? If so, call and ask if you can switch. Or, ask to be put back into the guarantee pool to be reassigned. If you don't get the answer you want, just keep calling back until you get a customer service agent who will grant your request. Regardless of what the official policy is, there are many posts on CC from people who were able to get their quarantee assignment changed by requesting another cabin in the same category, or by requesting to go back into the guarantee pool, so it can't hurt to keep trying.

 

Yes, by all means, call as many times as it takes to get the guarantee cabin you paid for CHANGED to your preferred cabin you can pick (which sold for a lot more money when you did the guarantee by the way!) Then when you get onboard ask for robes, check out rum runners for taking on your smuggled booze and/or find out if someone who is D/D+ will take you in the lounge with them so you can get free drinks, and on and on and on and on!!!!

 

I love when posters tell OP's how to do things they should not be doing just because they got away with it!

[NorbertsNiece]

ptp ;)

[lvtotrvl1]

Yes, I agree. The purpose of gaurantees is you get a price break and chance of an upgrade in exchange for giving up say in which stateroom you receive. If you do not like certain staterooms, booking a guarantee is not a good choice. If too many people call and try to change rooms after their guarantee is assigned the cruise line might decide that offering guarantees is not worth the hassle.

 

I totaly agree...as an agent, I stress to every client exactly what a guarantee is and the implications it has. I really don't understand how someone who knows they may get a room they won't like , goes ahead and books a guarantee, and then wants it changed and even worse, getting upset that it can't be changed?? The sense of entitlement that some people have really, really amazes me.

[cruisePRN]

I got Rm 6674 which is way in the back and an adjoining room.

 

I know I took a chance with booking it this way, I'll take the room in the back but I really dont want an adjoining door.

 

I did book directly with rccl.

Any ideas?

Have you called RCL and asked if you could change your cabin? Are you willing to go from the GTY rate to the regular rate for the category you want so you can pick your cabin?

[harry0]

When I changed my GTY there was no problem-I was ready to stay where the GTY assignment was, but figured hey its worth a try. I did not expect anything nor was Idishonest about it. I asked and they said yes................ as long as I am in the same cat. I can not understand why anyone would have a problem with that unless they paid more for the same cabin, even then you paid more for KNOWING your cabin before hand. I chose to take a gamble.

Sass4

as long as you stay in the cat assigned you should not have a problem.

[Dbedros]

Yes, by all means, call as many times as it takes to get the guarantee cabin you paid for CHANGED to your preferred cabin you can pick (which sold for a lot more money when you did the guarantee by the way!) Then when you get onboard ask for robes, check out rum runners for taking on your smuggled booze and/or find out if someone who is D/D+ will take you in the lounge with them so you can get free drinks, and on and on and on and on!!!!

 

I love when posters tell OP's how to do things they should not be doing just because they got away with it!

 

We are not trying to get away with anything.

 

I totaly agree...as an agent, I stress to every client exactly what a guarantee is and the implications it has. I really don't understand how someone who knows they may get a room they won't like , goes ahead and books a guarantee, and then wants it changed and even worse, getting upset that it can't be changed?? The sense of entitlement that some people have really, really amazes me.

 

You definitely sound like an agent that would not want my business and that I would not use. Agents get repeat business by being helpful. In this economy anything is possible and it really only takes approximately 10 minutes of your time.

 

Sass4, don't give up because of what those with a limited view point are saying. I just worked with my TA, who changed me to a Junior Suite (JS) on deck 9 near the elevator, which only cost me $100 dollars over my original cost for the guarantee balcony. This means that instead of the $140pp to move I am paying $50pp to get a location that I can live with and a suite on top of it. I called RCCL to find out the cost and what was available and then called my TA to see if he could get it for me. Because the ships are not sailing at capacity all kinds of changes are possible that were not normally available.