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We just booked a Celebrity cruise using the suite guarantee rate. If celebrity assigns our suite before we check in how will we know? Will they notify us?

 

I believe they usually assign you the cabin a week or so before the cruise and let you know then. Keep in mind this info is only from me reading these boards as I have no firsthand experience booking a guarantee cabin. Theres more info here though: http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?id=337

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We also booked a suite guarantee cabin, we sail in 49 days time, our cabin was allocated about 10 days ago.

 

We have been allocated an aqua suite, prior to our cabin being allocated no details i.e no cabin, no description - nothing was displayed.

 

Now when I access 'view reservation' through managing my booking. It shows the cabin number, type of cabin which is highlighted to enable you to view all the benefits for that type of cabin. We are very, very pleased! This is the first time we've been able to book a guarantee cabin.

 

I assume that as soon as your cabin is allocated the aforementioned details will display. Although I guess it may depend on how busy the ship is to how soon they allocate the cabin. I was shocked that they did it this early- I keep checking to make sure, but it is still listed.

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Keep in mind that even after one is assigned, they may change it. I understand that's rare, but on my guarantee balcony cabin a year and a half ago, they changed it twice...first to a better location/higher "grade" balcony, and then to a concierge class cabin. After that 2nd change I checked it EVERY DAY because I was sure they'd "downgrade" me again but it didn't happen. :)

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We booked a suite guarantee for the Summit last year. We only booked about 3 weeks out and the assignment didn't show up until about 5 days prior to sailing. Just like the other poster said, we kept looking under manage your reservation and view reservation and a couple of days prior to our flight there it was. We got a great suite and we trust yours will be just as good.

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How do you book a guarantee suite/cabin? When I do a "dummy" booking on the website, I do not notice guarantee as an option. Do you have to request this thru an agent? Thanks in advance for any responses.

 

If a guarantee is offered for a particular category on a specific cruise then it will show up on their web site. If it isn't offered you won't see it.

 

While there is no hard and fast rule about this, you don't usually see guarantees while a cruise is still far out. They tend to use guarantees as a cruise gets a little closer as it accomplishes several goals in that it allows the line more flexibility in filling cabins that are not otherwise selling and allows them to discount certain cabins without getting people that paid more for fixed assignments upset. If a cruise is selling real well you might not see guarantees until after final payment when they are trying to fill the last cabins, but generally you'll start to see them a few months before.

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We managed to get a last minute (paid for) upgrade to Suite Guarantee (Code: W) last week. I say paid for... the gratuities were about £23pp extra and the actual upgrade was only £2pp and that was for the entire 10 night cruise, and not per night. We upgraded from a 2B BTW.

 

Anyway, we had about 4 days to wait for our assignment and ended up with a S1 which we were very pleased about. I was getting a bit worried as we were sailing in 10 days and I was praying we didn't have to wait until we got to the pier before we were assigned.

 

BTW, it also did us no good seeing which cabins were left when we upgraded. We did see there were only 4 suites left and they were all CS. Realising that we would probably not be assigned one as a Guarantee we think that a few calls must have been made from Celebrity to passengers booked in Sky Suites to see if they wanted a (paid?) upgrade to a Celebrity Suite, thus freeing up the S1 for us.

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We just booked a Celebrity cruise using the suite guarantee rate. If celebrity assigns our suite before we check in how will we know? Will they notify us?

 

Yes. Usually they notify you quickly if the sailing is close. Have booked this category a couple of times. Most likely you will get a handicapped sky suite. We had this category assigned twice. They do not give them out or list them as they save for handicapped guests first. Then if available assign them While they are different then other suites, for example, bathrooms have no bathtub, no walk in closet, etc, we loved the butler, large cabin and storage. I am sure you will enjoy.

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Is there any different in S1 and S2 cabin? Seems that the size is almost the same on the deck plan? And, besides of perks different in Aqua suite, anything else can be found different from sky suites?

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Is there any different in S1 and S2 cabin? Seems that the size is almost the same on the deck plan? And, besides of perks different in Aqua suite, anything else can be found different from sky suites?

 

S1 and S2 I believe are exactly the same except location. A couple of S1's are next to the penthouse suites and for example on the Summit have wonderful bathrooms. You can also dine in Blu with a sky suite. The cabin is larger then the the Aqua class cabin's, but if you are asking about the new Aqua Class suites, I do not have any experience with them.

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If a guarantee is offered for a particular category on a specific cruise then it will show up on their web site. If it isn't offered you won't see it.

 

While there is no hard and fast rule about this, you don't usually see guarantees while a cruise is still far out. They tend to use guarantees as a cruise gets a little closer as it accomplishes several goals in that it allows the line more flexibility in filling cabins that are not otherwise selling and allows them to discount certain cabins without getting people that paid more for fixed assignments upset. If a cruise is selling real well you might not see guarantees until after final payment when they are trying to fill the last cabins, but generally you'll start to see them a few months before.

Thank you so much for that very clear response. Now I understand how it works.

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  • 5 weeks later...
Yes. Usually they notify you quickly if the sailing is close. Have booked this category a couple of times. Most likely you will get a handicapped sky suite. We had this category assigned twice. They do not give them out or list them as they save for handicapped guests first. Then if available assign them While they are different then other suites, for example, bathrooms have no bathtub, no walk in closet, etc, we loved the butler, large cabin and storage. I am sure you will enjoy.

 

What did the availability look like when you were assigned the accessible suites? We are within a few weeks of sailing and upgraded to a suite guarantee, the only cabins showing available on our cruise are S1's and non accessible S2's. I think I remember seeing some available accessible S2's a few weeks back but they are unavailable now. I really don't want to get stuck with an accessible cabin, hoping that they are truly booked up and not being held back for the guarantees.:( One of the big reasons we upgraded was to get a bath instead of a shower.

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We managed to get a last minute (paid for) upgrade to Suite Guarantee (Code: W) last week. I say paid for... the gratuities were about £23pp extra and the actual upgrade was only £2pp and that was for the entire 10 night cruise, and not per night. We upgraded from a 2B BTW.

 

Anyway, we had about 4 days to wait for our assignment and ended up with a S1 which we were very pleased about. I was getting a bit worried as we were sailing in 10 days and I was praying we didn't have to wait until we got to the pier before we were assigned.

 

BTW, it also did us no good seeing which cabins were left when we upgraded. We did see there were only 4 suites left and they were all CS. Realising that we would probably not be assigned one as a Guarantee we think that a few calls must have been made from Celebrity to passengers booked in Sky Suites to see if they wanted a (paid?) upgrade to a Celebrity Suite, thus freeing up the S1 for us.

 

You're 100% right, many people (including myself) think that just because they see Royal or Penthouse suites left they will end up with them.

 

Like you said though, what they do is offer those to people who payed the higher fares for an S1 or S2, and offer to upsell them (usually about $800-$1500) the Royal or Penthouse suites, then give the S1 or S2 to the people that booked the W fares.

 

Been fortunate though, twice they gave me a Celebrity suite with a W Guarantee, 4 other times I had either an S1 or S2 in a great location.

 

That's why it really pays to monitor cruises I'm scheduled for to see if W fares show up. Usually they come and go in less than 72 hours, so using one of those websites that give you notifications of price drops/cabin availability via email is handy

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What did the availability look like when you were assigned the accessible suites? We are within a few weeks of sailing and upgraded to a suite guarantee, the only cabins showing available on our cruise are S1's and non accessible S2's. I think I remember seeing some available accessible S2's a few weeks back but they are unavailable now. I really don't want to get stuck with an accessible cabin, hoping that they are truly booked up and not being held back for the guarantees.:( One of the big reasons we upgraded was to get a bath instead of a shower.

 

When we booked the handicapped suites were not listed. Perhaps either just held back or people cancelled. While another poster said he was "lucky" and got a Celebrity suite and Sky suites, be prepared for a handicapped suite. If you truly want a bathtub, you shouldn't take a guarantee.

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We booked a suite guarantee on Millie a few years ago and were given an accessible Sky suite. I was looking forward to having a bath in the suite so I asked celebrity to put me back into the "guarantee pool". The idea of that is that celebrity de-assigns that room to me and a few days later their computer system looks at all available guarantees and assigns a room. Guess what - it reassigned me to the same accessible room.:)

 

We didn't have a bath in the bathroom but there was loads of space in there. It did feel a little clinical at first but the issue I had was that I was conscious of taking an accessible room when someone else might need it. They assigned the room many weeks in advance - but after final payment date.

 

The other thing I have noticed about accessible rooms is that the accessible Sky suite was no bigger than a regular accessible balcony stateroom. Sometimes close to sail date I have noticed that accessible balcony staterooms as available for booking. So for anyone in need of an accessible room, they might just get the same space from a balcony stateroom as they would from a Sky Suite (on Millennium at least).

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... I really don't want to get stuck with an accessible cabin, hoping that they are truly booked up and not being held back for the guarantees.:( One of the big reasons we upgraded was to get a bath instead of a shower.

 

I'm sorry you find yourself in the position of having this distinct possibility.

 

Anyone booking a guarantee has to presume they will get the least desirable cabin in the class booked and find that cabin acceptable. If there is a cabin that you don't want in the class you book, or a higher class, then a guarantee is not for you and you should book a specific cabin instead.

 

Looking at the available cabins on any particular site is great for making wishes and thinking of possibilities for a guarantee but should never be relied upon for making assumptions as to what cabins you will or will not be assigned.

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I would have no problem booking any cat W suite guarantee, except if I was sailing on Century. I'd be afraid to get assigned to one of those Century suites on the aft of the ship which in reality are just standard cabins with Butler service. But any other M or S-class ship I'd be fine booking a suite guarantee.

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I guess I am just wondering with the cruise being less than 2 weeks away (week and a half) and having seen the accessible cabins open before and now appearing to be booked if there is a better chance that they are just filling what is left showing availability. There are also no full suites available which I would think would cause cabin availability to change with people getting upgrades.

 

I am not sure if my observation is correct but from what I have read on the boards about last minute guarantees, you are more likely to get a better cabin than if you booked a guarantee even a month before. I really am just trying to understand Celebrity's methodology, with so little time left I can't understand why they would hold any inventory? Especially when it seems that there are so few accessible cabins and with so many people who prefer them or need them.

 

I knew I ran the risk of getting a less desirable cabin, there is a substantial price difference between the guarantee and the pick your cabin price, I can't afford the pick your cabin price so I had to gamble. I have booked a guarantee before and had good luck with it but it was a balcony guarantee and was booked much farther out.

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