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Why?...Guaranteed room unknown until a week before cruise!?


WINEMANVISALIA
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Just keep checking your cruise personalizer. You "should" see your cabin posted soon. I have read of occurrences where people didn't know their cabin assignment until they boarded but that is not the norm. They are still probably sorting out upsells and such and want to get that done before they assign your cabin.

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Does anyone know why Princess waits to assign cabins on guaranteed status......[emoji2]

 

Because they are not done juggling rooms until they are done juggling rooms ... and for some ...sometimes that can be the last minute... Depends on many variables and they are not the same from cruise to cruise

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We almost always book guarantees from Princess and have always gotten a better cabin than we paid for. Only once did we not know what cabin we were in until the day of boarding and that wasn't a problem because they took us to the front of the line and checked us in and gave us our luggage tags for our bags. Enjoy your cruise !! :)

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How does Guaranty work ? I understand the assigned by Princess etc. Can you book BE as Gty or is it just Balcony Gty ? I'd be concerned it might be a noisy location or obstructed view.

 

I just tried a sample booking and Gty did not come up as an option.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you have

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Did the OP book late? Is it paid for? We booked about Midway through the year and got assigned that day. I don't want up grades, I'm happy with a balcony. some people think it gives them bragging rights due to an upgrade.

Edited by WupperAV
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I book guarantees a lot because I normally book during promotions/sales or fairly last minute, and it most cases I don't get our cabin assignment until a week, sometimes two before sail date. The exception seems to be on Celebrity. Booked two cruises, both guarantee and both times had a cabin assignment within a week of booking, and way ahead of sailing.

 

No science behind this theory, but it seems the longer I wait for a cabin assignment the better off I have been.

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The why is quite simple. Princess is often looking at upsells and upgrades until darn near the last minute. When you book a guarantee (and we do this ourselves) you accept that you may not have a cabin assignment until you get to the port (most of the time you will know at least a week in advance). Cabin assignments are often like a domino game. When you put upsells (which generate revenue) into the mix plus last minute bookings....there are X number of folks moving about! The guarantees get what is left...which can be good, OK, or bad.

 

Hank

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The longer the wait, the better the cabin.

 

Not always true. The last time we booked a guarantee, we didn't get our assignment until about 3 days before sailing. We got almost exactly what we'd booked, just a little closer to midship. Booked guarantee inside category L and got category K. It was actually exactly what we wanted, so we were happy with it, but it certainly was no huge upgrade.

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The guarantees get what is left...which can be good, OK, or bad.

 

I'll argue a guarantee room assignment can never be 'bad' if you make sure you will be satisfied with the least desirable room in the Cat. booked (and you don't book a 'run of ship').

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Does anyone know why Princess waits to assign cabins on guaranteed status...we are 2 weeks out and still don't which cabin we will get??![emoji2]

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Forums mobile app

 

You might not get it till at the pier.

 

I guess it all comes down to how sales are going, they will want to let people pick their own for as long as possible I expect. Because if someone is fussy about their cabin they are more likely to book if they can get what they want.

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I'll argue a guarantee room assignment can never be 'bad' if you make sure you will be satisfied with the least desirable room in the Cat. booked (and you don't book a 'run of ship').

 

Exactly. Guarantees are great for those who are happy with the "worst" cabin in the category.

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Book a GTY......this is the chance one takes.

You are at the mercy of Princess for cabin/location etc etc etc.

Could be assigned up to a day or 2 prior to the cruise.

If you don't want to deal with all the unknowns book the cabin you want from the start then there is no issues.

Edited by Colo Cruiser
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How does Guaranty work ? I understand the assigned by Princess etc. Can you book BE as Gty or is it just Balcony Gty ? I'd be concerned it might be a noisy location or obstructed view.

 

I just tried a sample booking and Gty did not come up as an option.

 

Can you have

 

It seems to vary by cruise and again seems to depend on how sales are doing, I've seen some cruises with no guarantee option, some you could only get "cabin will be assigned to you" (for say a BA) and it change as it gets closer to sail date.

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Book a GTY......this is the chance one takes.

You are at the mercy of Princess for cabin/location etc etc etc.

Could be assigned up to a day or 2 prior to the cruise.

If you don't want to deal with all the unknowns book the cabin you want from the start then there is no issues.

 

That's what we have done since location became so important to us, we used to book guarantee (and had some great results) but when health issues made it all about location, location, location, now we pick and stick.

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The goal of every cruise line is to end up with every cabin on every cruise occupied.

 

GTY bookings allow a cruise line to place the passengers into cabins that might not otherwise be sold.

 

Sometimes a cabin assignment is made soon after the booking. (The fastest I have ever had a GTY assigned was an hour after the booking was made, and this was several months before final payment was due.)

 

Like the airlines, cruise lines may overbook a cruise with historical knowledge that a number of cabins will be cancelled before embarkation day. As such cabins become available, GTY assignments will be made as the cruise approaches.

 

And, also like the airlines, sometimes the expected number of cabins are not cancelled. In this case, the airline at flight time will offer compensation for someone to take a later flight instead. If no one takes the offer, then the airline will deny boarding to someone with a confirmed booking and, by Federal law, give compensation that is significantly higher than what was offered to a volunteer.

 

But a cruise line does this differently. Since you have a GTY assignment, you are guaranteed to be on that cruise. As embarkation day approaches, if a cabin for you is not available, the cruise line will make a "move over" offer to someone with an assigned cabin. Effectively this is a bribe to take a different cruise with a financial incentive to do so.

 

If there is no taker for that offer, the offer will be increased and increased again until the cruise line will find someone to accept the offer and thus you get a cabin assigned.

 

If the very rare case that such a cabin does not become available, you might get an offer to sail in a lesser category along with a generous amount of refundable OBC.

 

Not having a GTY assignment two weeks before embarkation day is not unusual on Princess these days. (The latest I have received an assignment was 24 hours before embarkation started.)

Edited by caribill
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  • 3 months later...

I booked an oceanview obstructed (Category OZ) for my daughter and me...we leave in 3 days (Sat. sailing on Caribbean Princess) and we still have not received our room assignment. I'm totally fine with that, adds a bit more excitement to the trip and I'm confident that whatever the assignment is, it'll be a better view than the cold snowy one expected next week at home :)

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