guarantee cabins

A question for those who have booked a guarantee cabin, if the cabin category is shown as a forward cabin for instance is that what the assignment would be or could it be in any category fwd., midship, aft etc... Would like feedback before we book. Thanks

The cabin can be any cabin in your category or higher, any where on the ship .

And then expect to check endlessly throughout the days for a cabin assignment! :D:D

Edited July 21, 2016 by Murphey

All the above and you may not get your cabin assignment until the day you board the ship so be prepared to wait.

Just got cabin assignment - 4 weeks out. What I paid for.

The cabin can be any cabin in your category or higher, any where on the ship .

Yup. And Princess will choose it for you so be prepared for anything. The best cabins are usually selected by those choosing their cabin so you'll get something left over. Most people booking a GTY get the type of cabin they booked. Categories are based on location which can be subjective.

As long as you are OK with whatever cabin you're assigned, the guarantee can be a good deal.

It would drive me nuts not to pick my own. :D

I booked a gty for Hawaii once - the room was shown as a balcony on Emerald deck (Star Princess) right where the Promenade steps up. Not a location I would prefer but... I ended up with a mid-ship balcony on Aloha deck. Much nicer.

 

I'm booked in a gty balcony for next year on Emerald Princess and will take whatever I get. I figure the $3,155.60 in free beverage package for the two of us will help me "get over it" if I have a less-than-optimal balcony and there is always the chance I will get a nice spot. I have no problem being forward or aft or high up.

 

Note: The gty is a BF category which, on Emerald Princess seems to only exist on Rivera Deck or Lido Deck and is a forward balcony. Not a problem for me at all!

Edited July 22, 2016 by Thrak

I almost always book a gty, and have typically ended up with the same category (e.g. Inside, balcony, etc...) but a slightly better location. For example- I booked an IF in March and landed in an IB- I was thrilled.

 

As far as when you will get assignment- I have booked a gty and gotten an assignment within a week of booking (and six months before sailing). On my March cruise, I got the assignment the night before the cruise. Did I mention I was thrilled???

 

Good luck!

Of course one can never tell what Princess might do. I booked an inside cabin on Crown Princess (IF and not a gty) and ended up with a Caribe deck HC cabin! No idea why but I got a major upgrade for free and wasn't even notified. I just found out about it when checking my personalizer shortly before the cruise.

Edited July 22, 2016 by Thrak

I am still new at this, but I don't really understand GTY cabins. In my limited experience, the "let us choose for you" option is the same price as the "I want to choose my cabin" option -- so why select GTY? :confused:

 

Also, is there an explanatory list someplace of the differences within a cabin category? I mean, i have figured out that IB is better than IF, but what does it all really mean? especially when we agree that location is subjective.

 

TIA

Ellipooh...We have booked (I think) Guarantees four times. Twice we got the category we had booked, and twice got bumped up to a better category. It really is the luck of the draw. As to the difference in the same category, that is as you said purely subjective and is decided by "somebody, somewhere".

Steve

I am still new at this, but I don't really understand GTY cabins. In my limited experience, the "let us choose for you" option is the same price as the "I want to choose my cabin" option -- so why select GTY? :confused:

 

Also, is there an explanatory list someplace of the differences within a cabin category? I mean, i have figured out that IB is better than IF, but what does it all really mean? especially when we agree that location is subjective.

 

TIA

 

In some cases there may only be GTYs left in a particular cabin category.

 

Some people book a GTY in the hope of getting an upgrade.

 

The differences are purely to do with location. The cabins are usually identical, but some inside cabins may differ in shape.

- IA is midships and usually on mid-level decks with accommodation decks above and below.

- IB might be mid-aft and mid forward, or midships on decks that have public areas above or below.

and so on. If you study the deck plans of the ships you can see the pattern.

 

If you are concerned about where your cabin is then don't book a GTY, especially if there are cabins that you can select in the category you prefer.

 

On some cruise lines the GTY price is that of the lowest cabin category (or even cheaper) so you can get an excellent deal if you are lucky but you are just as likely to end up in an IF. However I like that Princess allows you to pick a category GTY so if you really don't want to end up in an IF, you can pick a GTY in the lowest category you feel comfortable in.

well we are going to take our chances and booked a balcony guarantee for the oct 27th sailing on the Regal Princess @ $899.00PP. Will live with what they assign but hoping we get upgraded.

Wait, so only GTY get upgraded?

I thought everyone had an equal chance at having the fairy land on them.

Wait, so only GTY get upgraded?

I thought everyone had an equal chance at having the fairy land on them.

 

As post #10 says, you can book a specific cabin and still be offered a free upgrade.

 

I do not know if there is an equal chance of that happening, but it does happen.

 

Of course free upgrades are less likely these days since people jump at the chance to pay more $$$ for an upsell, thus leaving fewer higher category cabins available for a free upgrade.

I am still new at this, but I don't really understand GTY cabins. In my limited experience, the "let us choose for you" option is the same price as the "I want to choose my cabin" option -- so why select GTY? :confused:

 

Also, is there an explanatory list someplace of the differences within a cabin category? I mean, i have figured out that IB is better than IF, but what does it all really mean? especially when we agree that location is subjective.

 

TIA

 

The gty price and the "choose your own cabin" price are both for what Princess considers the "lowest" category of cabin. A cabin all the way forward (and usually on a very high deck) is what Princess considers the "lowest" category. That's kind of weird as they generally consider a balcony on a higher deck to be "better" and, while they consider "midship" balconies to be better many people consider the aft balconies to be better - especially those that actually face aft.

 

We just had a mini all the way forward and high up on Island Princess and loved the cabin. What Princess considers 'better' isn't always better. Two cabins right next to each other can be a couple of categories apart as one is "forward' and the one next door is "mid-forward". They are literally sharing a wall...

I am still new at this, but I don't really understand GTY cabins. In my limited experience, the "let us choose for you" option is the same price as the "I want to choose my cabin" option -- so why select GTY? :confused:

When I've chosen to book a guarantee has been when there were no specific cabins being offered in the lowest category. We tend to book our cruises late--after the final payment date. We have received some great upgrades. On our last cruise, we got a Caribe Deck balcony cabin (Cat. B2) for our Cat. BF guarantee. On the cruise before that one, we were assigned a Baja Deck Cat. BB accessible cabin for our Cat. BF guarantee. Having the extra room was great once we got used to being in an accessible cabin.

Wait, so only GTY get upgraded?

I thought everyone had an equal chance at having the fairy land on them.

It's not equal. Princess has to assign people with guarantee cabins to something equal to or better than the category they booked. There's no incentive for Princess to move someone who has picked a specific cabin to a higher category since there's a chance that doing so will tick them off. What Princess considers an upgrade may not make someone who has chosen a specific cabin happy. So when we went from a guarantee Cat. BF to a Cat B2 on our last cruise, there were probably a lot of people who booked specific cabins in between those categories who Princess skipped over.

I am still new at this, but I don't really understand GTY cabins. In my limited experience, the "let us choose for you" option is the same price as the "I want to choose my cabin" option -- so why select GTY? :confused:

Also, is there an explanatory list someplace of the differences within a cabin category? I mean, i have figured out that IB is better than IF, but what does it all really mean? especially when we agree that location is subjective.

TIA

 

As others have said a "let us choose for you" cabin is just that. You pay for usually the lowest cat. cabin in your category,(inside, outside, balcony etc.) and Princess will assign you to a cabin in that cat. or higher. Most of the unsatisfactory issues are from the GTY inside cabins. Depending on the ship some of these cabins can be adjacent to elevators, under kitchens, or next to other noisey areas. Most balcony or outside cabins are not adjacent to these areas.

 

If you choose your own cabin you will get the cabin you choose. But, Princess can upgrade you to a higher cat.. If you want the cabin you booked the best way to keep it is to have your booking marked, no upgrade.

The gty price and the "choose your own cabin" price are both for what Princess considers the "lowest" category of cabin.

 

The gty price and the select a specific cabin price are the same at every category of cabin, not just the lowest category.

And what Princess think is an upgrade, you may not.

I generally prefer to book the cabin itself. But we are doing a long trip in Oct. and booked guaranteed because they seemed to have only the first two cabins in forward area on any deck available still.

 

So we did guaranteed as did two other friends in two other cabins. To our major surprise, within a week we were only given our cabin assignments and they were in the middle area of the ship.

 

Needless to say, we are all thrilled with our cabins.

And what Princess think is an upgrade, you may not.

True...I must revise what I posted earlier; we got upgraded (It wasn't a Guarantee, but the same principle applies) from a Deluxe Balcony on Royal to a Mini-Suite way up on Lido deck. We didn't want it and Princess gave us back our original choice.

Steve

I am still new at this, but I don't really understand GTY cabins. In my limited experience, the "let us choose for you" option is the same price as the "I want to choose my cabin" option -- so why select GTY? :confused:

 

Also, is there an explanatory list someplace of the differences within a cabin category? I mean, i have figured out that IB is better than IF, but what does it all really mean? especially when we agree that location is subjective.

 

TIA

 

I've been confused reading some of the posts because of the reference to "let us choose for you", "I want to choose" and "guarantee". I've picked the let us choose a couple of times just to see what Princess would suggest. So I just went through to do a test run to see if it is still the same. "Let us choose for you" and guarantee are two separate things. If you pick the let us choose for you, they actually suggest a specific room for the price quoted, or you can pick your own specific room for either the price quoted or higher, depending on the location.

 

I believe guarantee is when you tell them you want a specific category cabin and they are not showing any current availability for that category. But I think they have empty rooms at a higher category and they're hedging their bets that they can fill them with passengers paying higher amounts. If they can't, they will then upgrade people and get more people to pay the cheaper amount for the lower categories.

 

My in laws tried to get a balcony cabin once, but none were available. So they booked a guarantee for a cheaper price than dh & I and friends of us were paying. They ended up with a good balcony cabin, but didn't find out their cabin number until day of sailing. I booked a guarantee for an inside with a friend and we ended up getting upgraded to a window room, don't remember when we found out our cabin. And on my most recent cruise we booked an inside and were upgraded to a balcony a couple of weeks before sailing.