"Guaranteed Cabin" Anyone ever get upgrade?

[RJake1]

Thinking of booking a guaranteed cabin for a Med cruise this summer. I understand thats interior rate, but I'm gambling for an upgrade. Party of 3.

Anybody have any experience with this approach that they could share? Thanks.

[cmyers]

We did this once and learned our lesson. We booked an oceanview guarantee with hopes of getting the upgraded to a balcony and did - We got a room that nobody would have booked with so much noise you couldn't sleep. I suggest if you want a certain category to pick your own room and book it and not wait for the upgrade fairy and be dissappointed. Not all turn out like this -but why chance it.

[Pennhoo]

We had booked a guaranteed balcony cabin... by continually checking the forums here, I had learned that NCL was having a sale/special and was offering free upgrades... I called and was upgraded to a mini-suite free of charge!!

 

I think we got lucky.... and we ended up being extremely happy with our cabin!! ;)

[MrLee]

Good Luck! It certainly is not a risk I would take considering how few actually get upgraded.

[bakerintn]

We booked the lowest category of inside cabin as a GTY on the Pearl and ended up in and inside on Deck 10 forward. That was an upgrade to me.

 

Generally, the GTY only guarantees you a cabin in the same general category, not an upgrade to a higher category. For example, book a balcony GTY and you may end up in a higher deck balcony (higher priced cabin) but not a mini-suite.

[KandJCruising]

I've booked both GTY balcony and OV and ended up with mid- to high-level cabins in both categories. However, I also knew I could end with the lowest end of the category and that was OK. I've never been upgraded to a different category.

If you're OK with the fact you can and with any cabin within the category I say go for it. If you might be disappointed with certain cabins in the category you should probably book a specific cabin.

[Crissy699]

its stated in the ticket language that you will only be upgraded WITHIN your category (inside to inside, etc). I've almost always booked a GTY, and I've never NOT been upgraded-i.e I booked a GTY in an H OV room-I was placed in a DD OV, etc. If you are set on your placement, you should book the room you want and not chance a GTY. I've had some crappy rooms on GTY-BUT I wouldnt have known they were crappy before staying anyway.

[mellygo]

We booked a GTY balcony BD, and our cabin has been assigned in a BB (10020). There are only maybe 28 rooms that are in the BD category - so the chance of an upgrade is good. Where we are now, we are surrounded by cabins, so noise should not be a problem, but I'll let you know when I return next month!

[cargoagent]

We've booked gty twice and been upgraded twice. On our upcoming 4 day on the Sky (Feb 22) I booked an inside gty and was assigned 6303. We have since been upgraded to an inside cabin on Deck 9 fwd.

 

Our first cruise was a once in a lifetime upgrade. It was a 4 day YVR-LAX repo on the Pearl and I booked a Balcony gty, we were assigned a BB and then 3 days prior to departure were upgraded to an AB Penthouse. I feel like I've used up all my upgrade luck on that cruise. :D

[Big Chippy]

Sorry wrong thread

[biker@sea]

Thinking of booking a guaranteed cabin for a Med cruise this summer. I understand thats interior rate, but I'm gambling for an upgrade. Party of 3.

Anybody have any experience with this approach that they could share? Thanks.

 

I Bought an upgrade a couple of weeks ago .:D Had an inside gty. and noticed the price of and O.X. Gty. Called, my PCC upgraded us for sixty dollars .;) Still waiting for an assignment with sailing in 28 days.:D:D

[jdvmd]

We have only gotten what we paid for with our guarantees. Three to a cabin also. Don't expect anything and if you should get something, be happy.

[Shelli]

The best two [free] upgrades I ever got were on other cruise lines: inside to obstructed OV on Princess and inside to a "deluxe balcony" (which was HUGE) on Carnival.

 

That said, though, we booked GTY cabins on our last 2 NCL cruises. An obstructed OV last year on the Star was upgraded to a picture window OV. And recently, we booked an inside GTY for our upcoming Dawn cruise. When we were assigned a cabin, it was on deck 8... but as far forward as you could get, and I knew that my husband (prone to seasickness) would be worried. So I called my TA and she found us another inside-- this one is on deck 5, but much closer to midship, so I'm happy.

[pyrrhus]

My last med cruise was an inside GTY because we got such a good price on it, $399 each and I already had lucked into an airfare sale for $250 each round trip. We were "upgraded" to a high level inside which ended up being a a little bit of a nuisance because it was above the theater. Not horrible, but not something I want again. An inside in the med is not bad. Since most of the things people want to see are an hour or more from port, you tend to be gone all day and arrive back at the ship in time for dinner and the evening entertainment.

 

Except for the sea day I don't think I would have personally used a balcony much. Plus we had made such good friends from the private tour groups we formed here on CC we spent the evenings around the ship enjoying the company of our new friends. Then having the darkness of an inside made for some relaxing sleep before you spent the next 8 to 10 hours trouncing around the med.

 

If you get an upgrade or a cheap upsell to another type of cabin, fantastic! But if you don't, not a big deal.

[SeaShark]

The thing I see that seems to cause a lot of issues is when somebody gets upgraded to something that NCL considers to be a better category cabin while the people upgraded do not. You see this time and time again.

 

 

Many times (although not always) it involves someone with say a Deck 8 Obstructed OV guarantee and they get upgraded to a forward porthole on Deck 4. Yes...the Deck 4 cabin is considered to be a better cabin, but it seems to upset people greatly who would much rather be on Deck 8 and were actually hoping :rolleyes: for an upgrade to a balcony instead.

 

Another great example...any many of you might remember this...is a woman who booked a balcony guarantee. She was assigned a hull balcony in the forward part of the ship. She was so upset that she spent days lying in bed (during the cruise) crying over her "ruined" vacation and blaming NCL because they didn't tell her that a balcony guarantee meant that she could be assigned to any balcony cabin...including this one. Her ruined cruise was followed up by weeks of her carrying on about it here on the boards as well.

 

 

I have nothing against guarantee's...just take some caution, examine the situation, and make 100% sure that you will be happy with ANY possible cabin that they might move you into.

[Big Chippy]

Booked an ocean view guarantee on the Brilliance of the Seas last year and ended up in a very nice Superior Balcony Cabin. This year have taken a chance and booked an inside guarantee, at a great price, on the NCL Spirit, not expecting much but fingers crossed. :)

[HighVoltage#9]

My first cruise we booked the cheapest inside GTY you could get.We ended up with a nice mid ship OV which was a 5 Cat upgrade.We have not booked a GTY since until now.I am booked on the Breakaway,originally booked a MA mini suite for 3.Two weeks after we booked our daughter says she will be out of college and wants to come.I called back NCL to add her and our room did hold 4.ncl said I could down grade to a reg balcony,upgrade to family mini or do GTY.I took the GTY because the Breakaway is expensive enough,and got M6 with the large balcony on deck 8.Anytime you get more real estate for the same $ it's good.

[lgfromdg]

I booked a Guaranty Oceanview on the Sun and was upgraded to a Balcony. The guaranty was for the highest category OV and there were only a few cabins in the category - the next highest category was Balcony but they did place us in a BA, so it was a great free upgrade.

[cod]

On NCL, the couple of GTY I've booked were insides and that's what I got.

 

The only upgrade I ever got was on a RC transatlantic. I booked an assigned inside cabin (mid ship, upper deck) and a couple of weeks before our cruise, our TA called saying she was notified that we were reassigned to a mid ship oceanview. She asked me if I'd called RC direct (no) because she never saw a change from a cabin that had been picked out.

[Da-Painter]

We have done GTY's before and always happy with the results, and save $$ in doing so also.

On our upcoming 12 Grand Med cruise, we booked a BD, then BX, balcony GTY, and got assigned last week to a BA balcony.

On the Spirit all the balcony's are the same, 201 sq ft, so it sounds good. :)

[kacurl]

Booked inside guar on the Dawn and got upgraded to nice ov on our trip to Bermuda

[mom2tcdx2]

Booked 3 oceanview guaranty cabins for the TA sailing next month. All three cabins were upgraded to a balcony cabin. We are happy with what we were given.

[packman1029]

my wife and I book a GTY cabin on the Sun for an Alaska cruise in 2 months.

 

We are cheap and we were only booking a OX room anyway, so we are happy with whatever we get. I know it seems like some folks are super picky about what room they get, and they have every right to be, but for us, its vacation and we are happy regardless :)

[carribean soul]

going on med cruise in may booked a GTY balcony and got 9024 which has a larger balcony than the rest of the balcony staterooms. Nice upgrade

[ChiSloop]

Booked an outside GTY, which was OX, on our recent Spirit cruise and ended up with a deck 5 mid-ship. We were very happy with the cabin as we only paid for a deck 4 porthole. By the way, the Spirit was an awesome ship and the itinerary to the Canary Islands outstanding.