Beware of the Upgrade Fairy!!

[Cruizer Bill]

I am with you. Booking a guarantee cabin just puts the cruise line in control of where you end up. For some people it works out well and for others not so well. As first time cruisers, and having worked hard to pay for this cruise, we are just not willing to take a gamble with what will essentially be our "home" for 7 days.

 

 

Sealady, you are absolutely right, take care of your valuable investment!

Also, thanks to the many people who provided insight to this topic!

In summary, I want to state that the best way to use a "Guarantee Room" is by carefully studying the ships' deck plans and then buying a guarantee for a room level for which you are certain there are no possible higher-graded rooms that you would find unacceptable. Also, go for the cruises that will be hard to fill and avoid using a guarantee on a cruise that will fill up.

 

As for my instance, I am very disappointed with HAL for classifying Cabin Number 2500 as a Category G. They should not have done that and I feel cheated by them doing so. I paid for a 197 square foot cabin and got something close to 165 square feet. Also, their definition of an oceanview is not entierly valid with this room, it has two small portholes that are separated by 3 to 4 feet from the rest of the cabin and largely unusable. This cabin should be classified as something lower than HH. I would gladly have changed rooms with an interior cabin but was not allowed to do so.

 

Thanks again for the feedback!

 

Bill;)

[suse]

I still keep thinking about the portholes looking like "beady eyes". That would give me nightmares.:eek:

[janmcn]

Sorry about your experience but it's exactly why we choose the specific cabin/location we want for each cruise. When possible bad seas (anything other than the inland passage in AK) we always want mid-ship and low...so main deck usually. I'd hate to think of what my cruise would be like forward like that! My nightmare!

We'll always choose our cabin and deck for various reasons according to the itinerary.

[cmajor]

Does the upgrade fairy ever visit if you have booked a specific cabin ? We would naturally love a balcony of one was ever offered, but in all our years of cruising on many different lines, this has never happened to us.

[RuthC]

Does the upgrade fairy ever visit if you have booked a specific cabin ?

Yes, but in my experience it's very, very rare.

 

Typically I book a specific cabin, as I know what I want (and what I don't want), but I do not have my booking marked "do not upgrade". In all my cruises (about 30 on HAL) I have been upgraded from a specific cabin once.

[CruisinManiac]

but I do not have my booking marked "do not upgrade". In all my cruises (about 30 on HAL) I have been upgraded from a specific cabin once.

 

My parents were upgraded from a specific SS cabin to a S suite category (can't ever remember which one, but it was larger than their SS.)

 

Also, I recently read on the Roll Call boards where passengers for this weekends upcoming Eurodam cruise, had put "do not upgrade" on a cabin that has been booked for quite a while. They just found out that HAL has MOVED their cabin without notifying them, and I don't think it was an upgrade.

 

iancal You got what you paid for but...

 

We signed up for a balcony guarantee on of first Carnival cruise last Feb. We got a cabin but we were not thrilled with the location. We emailed our on line TA...she told us that we could request to get put back into the guarantee pool but our next cabin assignment would final . Well , we did get back into the guarantee 'pool' and had a much better cabin location assigned. Perhaps HAL does this is well...may be worth checking with your TA.

 

I asked my TA if we could do this if we did not like our GTY assignment. She said that HAL did not allow this.

[Hflors]

OMG! I am booked on the Statendam in April in a H guarantee cabin. Now I am very nervous. I hate to pay for a upgrade, but I might need to. This my first guarantee and now I am stressed out on what we will get :eek:

[hammybee]

OMG! I am booked on the Statendam in April in a H guarantee cabin. Now I am very nervous. I hate to pay for a upgrade, but I might need to. This my first guarantee and now I am stressed out on what we will get :eek:

 

If the potential to be assigned the cabin that no one else wanted has the potential to diminish your cruise experience, best pay for what you want.

 

Plan for the worst....hope for the best.

[jhannah]

... I have been upgraded from a specific cabin once.

That's one more than me!

[Randyk47]

Never been upgraded and only have only been offered one up sell by HAL. The offer was the full fare difference between our category B booked cabin and an S category. It would have doubled our fare which was absolutely not a bargain so we turned it down.

[ore-ee-gun]

We did a guarantee only once (with Princess) because we booked last minute and that was the only way we could reserve a mini-suite. We got exactly the category that we booked, which was fine, but the agony of waiting for a cabin assignment was enough to convince me to never book a guarantee again if I have the option to do otherwise.

[Limeygirl]

Ok...now I'm a little nervous! I have an inside gurantee booked...looking at all of the insides on the deck plan, and being a newbie, location didn't really matter to me. BUT, I wouldn't want a cabin like the OP got. It never occoured to me until now that could happen..I figured it would just be ANY inside cabin. I guess I'll cross my fingers and hope for the best!

[SHERGIB]

OMG! I am booked on the Statendam in April in a H guarantee cabin. Now I am very nervous. I hate to pay for a upgrade, but I might need to. This my first guarantee and now I am stressed out on what we will get :eek:

 

We had an H gte on the Statendam last fall from Vancouver to Ft. Lauderdale and were assigned a great Promenade deck cabin. Upon arrival at the pier, we found we had been reassigned to a Veranda suite. Thought we'd died and gone to heaven.

[gregdude]

I wonder if booking through a discount TA or directly with HAL makes a difference in how guaranteed cabins are assigned and who gets moved as indicated above?

[Jimbo]

I wonder if booking through a discount TA or directly with HAL makes a difference in how guaranteed cabins are assigned and who gets moved as indicated above?

 

Million Dollar question which no one really knows the answer to.

 

Jimbo:)

[kickin904]

Had to chuckle at the poster who comlained about the promadade deck cabin windows being washed at 07:00, on the Veendam last year they hosed ours at 04:30:(:(:(

[kickin904]

Please make the following corrections; "complained" and "promenade" ;);););)

[Tricia724]

Does the upgrade fairy ever visit if you have booked a specific cabin ? We would naturally love a balcony of one was ever offered, but in all our years of cruising on many different lines, this has never happened to us.

 

I have posted about this before, but we were upgraded last year from a D oceanview to a B balcony cabin. When we booked the D, we chose a specific centrally located cabin and had it marked "no upgrade" because we especially didn't want a C cabin on the promenade for this cruise. Two weeks before sailing, I went into our booking to check on something and discovered we had been assigned to a balcony cabin. I guess HAL figured that no one would complain about being moved from an oceanview to a balcony.....and as far as we were concerned, they were right!

 

The other two couples at our dinner table who had booked specific D and E oceanview cabins were upgraded to C's, but they were OK with it. This sailing had a lot of open cabins close to sail date, and we met a lot of people who got upgrades of one kind or another. The cabins that were left were dumped into the South American market, and the ship sailed full.

 

If you read the teeny, tiny print of your cruise contract, you'll find that the cruiseline "reserves the right to upgrade a guest or guests to more expensive accommodations." They don't move you from a specific room too often, but they can, as long as it's considered an upgrade (higher priced cabin) by the cruiseline's standards. It pays to keep an eye on your booking.

[CruisinManiac]

I wonder if booking through a discount TA or directly with HAL makes a difference in how guaranteed cabins are assigned and who gets moved as indicated above?

 

My parents had a specific SS cabin booked through our TA. When we arrived at the pier, we found out they had been moved. At first, we were upset because they were originally near my cabin. Upon further review, we found that they had been upgraded to a larger suite from their SS. ;)

[serendipity1499]

Do I understand this correctly: you book an inside or obstructed outside cabin, and then expect an upgrade and are disappointed? You were lucky twice and decided to take your chance again and it went sour. You opted for a room with an "issue" (obstructed view) and got a room with another "issue". How is that not fair? If you want a specific cabin, you have to book one, otherwise you get what's left. Probably cruise lines are aware people have found out that guarantee cabins have a bigger chance of a free upgrade and have stopped that. They probably upgraded the person that was in this cabin originally.

 

We have a hotel and people will book a room without a balcony although there are lots free with a balcony, and then put in the free text "please give us your best room with balcony". Sorry guys, if you want, you book, that's the way the cookie crumbles...

 

Please don't rush to judge all those who book guarantees...We always choose our cabins but there are times that the cruise Line will only sell guarantees..For instance, we've been trying to get either a "D" cabin forward or a "C" cabin mid-ship on the Noordam for a 20 day B2B, Nov 13, 2010..

Both Nov 13 & Nov 3 are fully booked in both "D" & "C"...HAL & TA's only have guarantees in those catagories..We've never booked a guarantee, but are considering a "C" guarantee, as only want an unobstructed view cabin..

 

We did a guarantee only once (with Princess) because we booked last minute and that was the only way we could reserve a mini-suite. We got exactly the category that we booked, which was fine, but the agony of waiting for a cabin assignment was enough to convince me to never book a guarantee again if I have the option to do otherwise.

 

Agree the waiting for us would be agony, as I like to have everything planned out..That's what worries me, but we may have to accept a guarantee if we want to travel then..

 

Another option, might be booking 90 days prior to departure & hope that some cabins open up in our desired category, but that tack might completely backfire on us...

Our Friends don't want to travel in the height of the Hurricane season...They have a dog & boat to worry about.. Their dog will stay in their house & their DD will visit every day, play with her & feed her..We sold our boat, our house will be completely closed up with shutters & our Fur Baby "Brandy" will go with her adopted Aunt, Uncle & "Fritz" her boyfriend, who she adores! So, no worries for us...;);)

Decisions, Decisions, Oh, what to do? :confused::confused: LOL

Cheers...:)Betty

[hammybee]

 

 

Agree the waiting for us would be agony, as I like to have everything planned out..That's what worries me, but we may have to accept a guarantee if we want to travel then..

 

 

 

Recently did our first guarantee on another cruise line because that's all that was available for booking. I booked the cabin grade that I would minimally accept and never once thought about it again because there was not a darn thing I could do to influence the outcome, kind of like the sex of an unborn child.

 

We got what we paid for, a delightful cabin in the cabin grade we chose, for the price we wanted to pay. It was a win-win for us and the cruise line.

[kwar]

We too were on the Volendam (Jan 6 thru Feb 3) with Cruiser Bill and supposedly got an upgrade unobstr. view to the promenade deck, which location great, room bad, the kitchen was above us, with machines and banging at 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. and washing of the deck starting at 6 a.m. with banging chairs and hosing down our window and view was obstructed as people were always walking on deck and at night bright fluorescent lighting shining in room - we will pick our room from now on - not rely on guarantee.