Downgrade on a Guarantee Room

Anyone ever book a Guarantee Room but get a lower grade room? This has never happened to me before now.

We booked a category BB Veranda room and what we got was a B Veranda. The B Veranda is one deck lower then any of the BB rooms and it has a solid steal railing so that you will not really see much when sitting on the veranda or in the room. I am not very happy with this and have called our travel agent but she does not know if they will do anything about it. I plan to call myself if she does not have any results but it seems to me that if they do not give us a room in the grade I have guaranteed then they need to give us a room that has better features and not one that has less.

Is there nothing I can do or am I stuck with what they have given me? Has this ever happened to any one out there? I do not mind taking the worst room in the BB category but I do not want a room that is less then that. Thanks in advance for your input.

I'm sorry that you are now assigned to a room you don't care for.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure there's anything you can do about it. Having booked a guarantee, you are given nothing lower than a BB cat. In this case, B is actually an upgrade from BB, even if you aren't happy with the room's features or location.

Maybe things will work out and you'll be upgraded again prior to sailing.

I don't think you got a lesser cabin than what the guarantee was. I believe all the mini suites are the same, except for the location. You took a chance and got a cabin that you aren't happy with. This is one of the prime reasons I don't ever book a guarantee. Maybe your TA can help you.

Unfortunately I have to agree with the other posters. Just because a room is a higher category, does not always mean it is preferable. You seem to have unfortunately experienced this. I never pick guarantees, because there are always higher category rooms I would not be satisfied with.

I hope your TA is able to help you, but in the future I'd recommend picking, and paying for the room you'd be happy with.

Thank you for the input. Looks like I may be stuck. I did not realize that a B was better then a BB. This seems strange since all the BB rooms are higher on the ship and do not have the steal rail and have a tub shower set up rather then just a tub or shower. Seems like a lower class room to me. Well I have learned a lesson. All the other times I have ordered a guarentee I had ordered the inside cabin and from there all I could get is what I ordered or better. This time that was not the case and I lost out. Thanks so much for your input.

Sorry that you aren't going to like your up-grade.

Going from a BB to a B is an up-grade and HAL thought they were doing you a favor.

Interesting that the TA didn't point out that a B is an upgrade from a BB.

CoasterBill, the same thing happened to us on the Zuiderdam. We tried and tried to figure out how it was an upgrade to be 2 decks down from where we would have been originally. We stayed there though. It sounds like you might have the same room that we had or close by.

We bought an A guarantee on the Oosterdam. We were not upgraded but our TA was able to upgrade us to a higher deck.

My feeling is that upgrades are rarely significant, and that I prefer knowing exactly what I am going to get. I don't want to be next to a lounge or someplace that would interfere with sleeping. I prefer to control this stuff, rather than hope for an upgrade to the best cabin on the ship, because I know the best cabins were picked previously by people like me. JMHO

jcm:D

Guarantees are like gambling. Sometimes you win, sometimes you loose.

CoasterBill,

Sorry that you received a cabin you are not happy with. Make the best of it and enjoy your cruise.

I know we will have a great time anyway but I just am not happy to not have the view I thought I was going to have. Just one of those little things we will have to live with for the week but its still great just to be on a ship what ever the room is like. Thanks again for the input. Bill

Sorry that you aren't going to like your up-grade.

Going from a BB to a B is an up-grade and HAL thought they were doing you a favor.

I thought all verandah cabins were the same except for location....:confused: I haven't sailed on a Vista class ship yet, so maybe there's a difference on those ships.

Interesting that the TA didn't point out that a B is an upgrade from a BB.

This is not the first time that HAL CC posters know more about the ships than some TA's know. ;)

I'm sorry for your disappointment, Bill, but it sounds like you understand what happened and are willing to make the best of it. Hope you have a great time.

We don't do the guarantee thing either... it's just not worth it, IMO. I like to know where I am going to be - in fact we usually always request specific cabins and will waitlist ourselves for certain ones if they are not available at the time of booking.

Bill - I understand your frustration and I hope you have a great time - be sure and let us know all about it when you get back. :)

Sorry about the disappointment, we may be in the same boat ( or ship as the case may be ) in Jan. This is our first guarantee try and when I looked at the ship diagram I didn't realize that some of the B cabins had the steel railing. So going on the theory that I would be happy with the worst cabin in that cat we opted for a B guarantee. We really like our TA and she and her sister have never been disappointed with the guarantee plan. So now I wait brand new DOCs in hand, but I'm still going to be thrilled to have the chance to go through the canal on a beautiful ship no matter where we end up!!

We also booked a BB guarantee, and we also got a B, on the same deck as Bill. However, since this is our first cruise, we have nothing to compare it to.

Also, since I HATE heights in any way, shape or form, having a balcony railing that you can't see through is not the end of the world for me (actually, I was pretty happy when I heard that here). I wanted a balcony not necessarily for the balcony, but for the fresh air (I realized that the windows on outside cabins wouldn't open).While I can appreciate being able to see through the balcony railing, it's not the end of the world.

Looking at the deck plans, it looks as if the balcony on that level is slightly larger than the BB balconies -- anybody know if that's true?

We booked a balcony on a Princess cruise. I found a lower price for our catagory which was about the same as a mini suite. So I supprised my dw by upgrading to the suite.

An update on the problem is that my TA called and she was told that she had to fax in a change request and that it would take a few days to get back with an answer. My guess is that is to kill time and that they have no plan to make any change. As I said before, we will have a good time regardless but it would have been nice to have the glass rail which I thought for sure I would be having. Thanks for all your help. In the future I will never do a this type of booking unless I am paying for the lowest grade cabin the ship has so they will not be able to give me anything less then I have paid for. We all live and learn. Thanks again and I will let you all know when we return what my thoughts are on Holland America. I hope we really love it.

Bill

By the way where we stand on the lines we have done so far is number one buy a fair amount to us is Celebrity, 2 Princess, 3 NCL, and 4 RCI. We have done all the NCL trips since we got really low pricing each time and not so much that we love the line. Also we have never been on a cruise that we did not have a great time. We enjoy all of them but some a little more then others.

This is my first post, but I have been reading about your guarantee dilemma. My hubby and I have also gone the guarantee route but am thinking of changing. This is our first HAL cruise but we have always been lucky on RCCL and Celebrity with "guarantee rooms". What ship are you talking about that has the steel railing in a B Cabin? We are booked in a B also on Zaandam and I want to make sure we don't get the obstructed view. Thank you.:o

We are going on Zuiderdam. The B cabins on this ship may be very diffrent then those on the one you will be on. You will want to look at the floor plans for your ship to see what rooms they could be placing you in and remember those rooms also include anything that they look at to be an upgrade even if you see it to be a down grade, as I have found out. When we have booked an inside cabin this way, it has never been any problem. Each time we have done that we ended up with an outside other then one time. This is the first time I have ended up with a room that is not as nice as the worst room in the catagory that I booked. You just need to be aware that it could happen as it has with us this time. I do not think I will ever do this again unless I am booking the lowest grade room type on the ship. In that way I know I will get what I have paid for or better.

Sail7Seas - This is certainly not against the OP but I think we all need to be informed consumers. I'm not anti-TA, have one and have used her for years up until our upcoming cruise. TA's are fine and for some people necessary and desirable. Without a doubt they can be value added. That's one of the major, major attraction of this board. By far the majority of posts are helpful, interesting, and informative. With few exceptions folks requesting help or assistance get pretty good information here. As for guaranteed cabins....hmm....this particular thread has convinced me that our approach to book exactly what cabin we want is the way to go for us for at least the time being. We only cruise once a year and it constitutes our "major" vacation of the year so we go for the gusto.

Sometimes a guarantee is the only choice. Last June when I booked the November 2005 Amsterdam, Singapore to San Diego the only A and similar cabins available were guarantees. And that was not too long after the cruise was announced. My TA works for a very large company and she couldn't do any better.

I hope this information will help others out there that are booking to not have the problem we have faced. I for one have learned a lesson over this.