Has anyone ever received less of a GTY cabin?

We are doing our first GTY cabin. Always chose our own before. But the only balcony that was available was GTY BZ. Which is balcony obstructed view. We are on the Coral Princess full transit Panama Canal out of LA this September. We still have not received our cabin number, and I know that we might not know until we board September 23. But, are we assured we will at least receive a balcony? And not less than a balcony? Has anyone ever booked any GTY and received less than what they bargained for? Thanks so much, grams98

You cannot get less than a balcony.

You will get a balcony but you may not like the location. So in your mind it might be less then what you bargained for .

You will get a cabin in the category you booked (BZ) or any higher category

You will get at least the category you paid for, likely to get a higher category. The obstructed means the lower portion of the railing is metal instead of plexiglass. I always book a gty on Princess, and have always received a higher category.

I am really hoping you are all correct. But aren't there some window only mini suites that are considered higher than a balcony? And also, what location might I not like? Thanks so much for the info. Grams98

If you book a balcony gty...the least you'll get is the smallest balcony.....you will never get less than the minimum category of the guarantee.

Ok, both at makes sense. But we could end up with a mini suite without a balcony, right!? I have studied the deck plan and it looks like the coral has 6 or 8 mini suites that have no balcony, but are larger with bathtubs. .??

They cannot step you down. If you paid for Balcony, you will get Balcony, or higher.

Best GTY upgrade I had was on Allure of the Seas. Booked Inside GTY, received Balcony with aft pool view. Could watch shows from my balcony.

Ok, both at makes sense. But we could end up with a mini suite without a balcony, right!? I have studied the deck plan and it looks like the coral has 6 or 8 mini suites that have no balcony, but are larger with bathtubs. .??

According to the Coral deck plans, deck 6 only has oceanview and deck 8 is a mix of ocean view, suites and balcony.

No minis on those decks.

You will have a balcony...somewhere;)

Ok, both at makes sense. But we could end up with a mini suite without a balcony, right!? I have studied the deck plan and it looks like the coral has 6 or 8 mini suites that have no balcony, but are larger with bathtubs. .??

Yes. If you are on the Coral, it has 8 cabins in the "MY" Category which are 300 square foot Mini-Suites that do not have balconies. Theoretically, you could be upgraded to one of those. Given the size of those cabins, it would hardly be something to complain about. (You would be going from 162 sq. ft. of living space to 300). And when you book a GTY, you get what you get. If you want to ensure yourself of getting a balcony, then you have to choose your own cabin. Since there are no Balcony category staterooms available, then you should level up to a Mini-Suite that has a balcony and pick one of those. If you are not willing to do that, then you stick with the GTY and stop worrying.

Ok, both at makes sense. But we could end up with a mini suite without a balcony, right!? I have studied the deck plan and it looks like the coral has 6 or 8 mini suites that have no balcony, but are larger with bathtubs. .??

Yes. A minisuite or even a full suite (with or without a balcony) would be considered an upgrade.

Ok. Well thanks a million. You have all answered my questions so well. Truth is the bathtub of a window only mini would be much appreciated. I still would prefer a smaller cabin and a balcony, but as the cruise is just about sold out, we are lucky just to be on it. So I will quit worrying about it.

I have mixed feelings about having booked a GTY. For us, it was the only way to get a balcony. And no, we were not willing at that time to upgrade to a mini because it was a difference of 1000$ per person. So whatever we get, as long as I know now that they never downgrade, I will be happy. 😎🛄⚓️Thanks again, grams98

We are doing our first GTY cabin. Always chose our own before. But the only balcony that was available was GTY BZ. Which is balcony obstructed view. We are on the Coral Princess full transit Panama Canal out of LA this September. We still have not received our cabin number, and I know that we might not know until we board September 23. But, are we assured we will at least receive a balcony? And not less than a balcony? Has anyone ever booked any GTY and received less than what they bargained for? Thanks so much, grams98

You will receive what you booked or higher. You will not receive an assignment at the pier. It will be made by a day or 2 before. You can verify the assignment by logging into your personalizer and looking at bag tags/travel summary/boarding pass if its within 5 days of the sailing. Those will have your cabin assignment on them.

This cruise has been sold out for almost 1 year.

Come join the roll call! :)

Yes. If you are on the Coral, it has 8 cabins in the "MY" Category which are 300 square foot Mini-Suites that do not have balconies. Theoretically, you could be upgraded to one of those. Given the size of those cabins, it would hardly be something to complain about. (You would be going from 162 sq. ft. of living space to 300). And when you book a GTY, you get what you get. If you want to ensure yourself of getting a balcony, then you have to choose your own cabin. Since there are no Balcony category staterooms available, then you should level up to a Mini-Suite that has a balcony and pick one of those. If you are not willing to do that, then you stick with the GTY and stop worrying.

Losing the balcony would be something to complain about.

Colo Cruiser? Are you on the coral Panama Canal, too? And do we really find out a day or 2 before? That is awesome, so we can print out the correct tags for luggage. We did sign up for the roll call. But we had to sign up for the one that leaves from San Fran 2 days earlier. So glad you are going too

Losing the balcony would be something to complain about.

Only if one were moved there as part of a unilateral "upgrade". If one is playing in the GTY game, one has to accept the category they booked or anything higher without complaint. Thems the rules.

Colo Cruiser? Are you on the coral Panama Canal, too? And do we really find out a day or 2 before? That is awesome, so we can print out the correct tags for luggage. We did sign up for the roll call. But we had to sign up for the one that leaves from San Fran 2 days earlier. So glad you are going too

Yes we are on the same cruise, that the only roll call there is. We board the 23rd as well.........

the cabin assignments will be finalized a day or 2 prior although I hope you get it long before that.

The personalizer is restricted to printing bag tags/travel summary and the boarding pass within 5 days of the sailing. ;)

Only if one were moved there as part of a unilateral "upgrade". If one is playing in the GTY game, one has to accept the category they booked or anything higher without complaint. Thems the rules.

Sorry but I disagree. Losing the balcony is a whole nother game.

Not what one signs up for when booking a "balcony" GTY.

It does not work when one gets upgraded from a mini balcony to a windowless suite either.

Sorry but I disagree. Losing the balcony is a whole nother game.

Not what one signs up for when booking a "balcony" GTY.

 

It does not work when one gets upgraded from a mini balcony to a windowless suite either.

But if you book a GTY on a ship that has balcony-less cabins in categories higher than the one you book, you recognize and accept the risk, just as the OP has done here. If you want to ensure yourself of a balcony, you book the lowest level balcony on a ship that does not have MZ cabins or Window Suites, or you book a Mini-Suite on a ship that does not have Window Suites. Simple as that.

If you have booked a balcony guarantee you will not be assigned a window mini suite. Period. If those cabins are not booked than someone with an oceanview guarantee will be the beneficiary of a huge upgrade. Same policy for the window suites on Caribbean, Golden and Grand.

There are exactly two BZ balcony cabins on Coral Princess. A few years ago booking such a guarantee was practically an automatic upgrade as Princess would blithely sell a couple dozen such guarantees. Officially that is no longer the policy--but unless Princess waited to offer BZ guarantees to the two very last balcony bookings (highly unlikely), you assigned cabin could still be any one with a balcony. You are now roughly halfway past final payment date to sailing date, so cabin assignments may start ramping up.

What is an unilateral upgRade? Never heard that before.inamgetting so excited about thus trip. We are flying out 2 weeks early to visit 2 of our married kids and our grandchildren that live out there. So we leave in 6 weeks. Yay

What is an unilateral upgRade? Never heard that before.inamgetting so excited about thus trip. We are flying out 2 weeks early to visit 2 of our married kids and our grandchildren that live out there. So we leave in 6 weeks. Yay

No such animal. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. :cool:

Sorry but I disagree. Losing the balcony is a whole nother game.

Not what one signs up for when booking a "balcony" GTY.

 

It does not work when one gets upgraded from a mini balcony to a windowless suite either.

A windowless suite? I didn't know there was such a thing.

I think the windowless suite is now called a windowless mini suite. But I didn't know that a windowless mini suite would NOT be given to sow one who booked a GTY balcony. So that is great news. Because I really would rather have the balcony than the bath tub.i would rather have the balcony than more space. But I was just convincing myself that if a windowless mini suite was the worst we could be given, then that would be ok. Because certainly we would enjoy the extra space and bath tub. So now I can truly expect for a balcony.

You have all been so helpful.. This is only our 7th or 8th cruise. I have lost count, but not that many. I was fearing a forward cabin assignment because of sea sickness, but I quit worrying about that because Dramamine works really well for me. Thank the Good Lord for that 😎