what is guarantee

[christineross7]

we booked a guarantee oceanview - they upgraded us to a completely obstructed view on a higher deck. is there anything that we can do - obstructed view to me is not an upgrade -they said that the sailing is full - except a suite. they of course will not give us that. so we have any recourse.

 

thanks christine

[vannma]

The exact same thing happened to me. See my thread "GTY nightmare or not".

 

BTW, what ship are you sailing on?

[dawcruiser]

THEY DIDN'T SAY A REALLY GOOD OR THE BEAST OCEANVIEW!!

 

With a GTY cabin you are GTYed a cabin in the class you boked or better. I am sorry to say if you book cheapest Oceanview cabin the obstructed are in them.

 

If you want a cabin better than obstructed book GTY in class of cabins just above obstructed. This will not give you the cheapest rate but it will GTY you an oceanview better than an obstructed view cabin.

 

Don

[vannma]

I booked a cat. H ocean view GTY on the Majesty. Now there are no obstructed view cabins in cat. H b/c the life boats don't hang that low.

 

What they gave me is an "Ocean view" cat. G 100% obstructed, same cabin size, different deck.

 

To me, this is not customer service, it is customer NON-service.

[mbisson]

Whenever I book a gty, I always first book the lowest cabin class I would be OK with AND THEN, I check out the catagories above it and see if they are ALL something I'd be OK with.

 

For instance, on the Majesty, for an outside cabin without any obstructions, I wouldn't do a gty at all, because the highest outside catagory (other than suites) is a "CC", and any gty below that class could be upgraded to it. The description for that catagory (in the NCL brochure) includes "some staterooms have partially obstructed views".

 

If I were ok with partial obstructions, but not fully obstructed, I'd book a D Gty. Nothing above that is fully obstructed and the next class below it is.

 

But that's just my method. The descriptions are all in the book

 

-Monte

[christineross7]

norw. dream- i believe that the guar is a scam to sell the obstucted viewrooms.

[christineross7]

no - i could have for the same price booked the porthole and i would have been very satisfied. they told me to take the guar and that i would have that or better - to me this is not better-i even offered to trade with another guar that did not receive the upgrade and her answer at ncl was -i don't think that anyone will be willing to trade - if this is better why not? i am offering to downgrade? anyway we are going to have a great time it just makes you feel tricked!

[christineross7]

that is exactly what they did to me. moved me from the deck i was on to a "higher deck" but obstructed. what if anything did they do for u?

[christineross7]

monte

i bookedon ncl -an oceanviewguar-they upgraded me to the completely obstructed-i do not think that is what they offered as an upgrade?

[cruiserb]

Booking a guarantee is really a gamble. You gambled on getting a good upgrade and lost. If you really wanted an oceanview with a window you should have booked a specific cabin. The cruiseline considers anything in a higher category an upgrade.

 

You don't say whether this is your first cruise or not. If so, I am very sorry you are so unhappy with what you got. Please don't let this ruin your cruise vacation.

 

We have booked guarantee before and were very happy with what we got -- no upgrade. We are booked guaranteed on the Sea for April. There is a chance we could get "upgraded" to a partially obstructed view cabin. If that is what happens, it happens. The worst day on a cruise is STILL better than the best day at work.

[Suesan Jean]

I have always wondered what a "guaranteed cabin" ment. Now I know. My questions is this: "Why WOULD you book a "Guaranteed Cabin"? Why don't you just book the cabin you want on the deck you want? "

Is there a price difference when you book "guaranteed"? When you book that way. are you hoping to get the higher end of your cabin "category", like an "upgrade" at no extra cost?

Interesting........ It sounds a lot like gambling, sometimes you win :), sometimes you don't:(......

 

Suesan:):):)

[zimmerjulie]

With a guarantee, you are guaranteed the category that you booked OR higher. You can be assigned any cabin in the designated category, or any cabin in the higher categories. For the chance of an attractive upgrade, you agree to put the cabin selection in the hands of the cruise line. It is a gamble. If there is a certain category of cabin which you will not consider acceptable, you need to do a guarantee starting at the level ABOVE this category. Many people enjoy the opportunity to roll the dice and sometimes get nice upgrades. Guarantee does not particularly suit those of us who have a strong preference of location, obstruction, etc.

 

Those who book Cat H guarantee presumably don't have a problem with Cat G because it is in their possible cabin pool. I might seem weird to you, but there are those who book outside cabins because they want the natural light and the normal day/night indicators they are used to with windows. The obstruction, in that case, isn't a biggie for them and they might enjoy the upgrade to a different deck.

 

christineross7 and vannma, I sympathise with you because it seems that "oceanview" is the operative word for you and you didn't consider this possibility at booking? The prospect of re-assigning everyone who booked a guarantee and is unsatisfied with the cabin they got is not an efficient option for the cruise lines, especially when the ship is sold out. The perception is that you agreed to a guarantee of a cabin in your category or higher.

 

There is a certain learning curve to all these procedures and their implications and I am sorry that you have found yourselves on the downside:( . I would call NCL and explain your situation without being accusatory ("scam", "downgrade", "customer non-service", etc). After all, they did honor the terms of your agreement "by the book". However, it can't hurt to explain your situation in a nice way ( I think the point that you were expecting Cat H unobstructed or BETTER, and it did not occur to you that obstructed view cabins would be considered better) to see if anything can be done for you. I see that you have tried this, but perhaps if there is cancellation, you could be re-placed?

 

I find that most of the customer service agents would like to make you happy if there is a way that they can do that without unfairly penalizing other passengers.

 

However it works out, I sincerely hope that this setback and the stress involved will not taint your cruise. I know that feeling "tricked" is not a good way to start out terms:( . Do let me point out that dealing with the corporate side of cruise lines is VERY different from the onboard experiences. I hope that the crew makes you feel very welcome and special, as has always been my experience on NCL.

[zimmerjulie]

I have always wondered what a "guaranteed cabin" ment. Now I know. My questions is this: "Why WOULD you book a "Guaranteed Cabin"? Why don't you just book the cabin you want on the deck you want? "

Is there a price difference when you book "guaranteed"? When you book that way. are you hoping to get the higher end of your cabin "category", like an "upgrade" at no extra cost?

Interesting........ It sounds a lot like gambling, sometimes you win :), sometimes you don't:(......

 

Suesan:):):)

 

Yes, you've got a good handle on it Suesan! Sometimes the price is reduced for that category. Sometimes you are just allowed to pay the price for the rock-bottom category when there are really only 5 of those cabins in existence and you will likely be upgraded. You are guaranteed the category you booked or a higher one, so you may end up with a much higer deck and cabin category than you booked. (Usually within your cabin type: inside-to-inside, oceanview-to-oceanview, etc.). However, you have no control over which cabin or category you ultimately receive (at or above your specified category).

[thunder_lin]

ChristineRoss7 - I read your post with interest. I see your point. I too would have thought had I booked oceanview GTY, that is what I would have recieved because I thought obstructed view was a different category, lower than oceanview. I'm learning all kinds of things.

We too booked GTY for our upcoming cruise. (two rooms)

We booked Category L inside rooms (bottom of the barrel) and received an upgrade to a Category D Obstructed View both rooms side by side.

I'm OK with this as the rooms are larger and now we will have some natural light. I really don't plan on gazing out my window too much, I'll be busy doing other things.

So in some cases it is in ones best interest to book GTY but you really have to be willing to gamble.

I think in your situation, it was more of a misunderstanding than anything and someone should have clarified that with you before your booking.

Enjoy your cruise - it will be fine.

[Zeno]

Unfortunately booking a GTY does not necessarily guarantee you a "better" cabin merely one in the same or a "higher" category and unfortunately "higher" is not always better. I don't think I would book a GTY outside unless I had assured myself that all the "higher" categories were better than my GTY category. It really is a gamble and unless you are SURE you would be happy in any of the possible cabins in higher categories, I would just book a specific cabin. On our last cruise we booked a GTY inside. When our cabin was assigned we were OK with the category but did not like the location. However we were VERY lucky. The sailing was not full - so we PAID for an upgrade to an obstructed ocean view (BTW the obstructed ocean view cabins on the Sun are fine UNLESS you like to leave your drapes open at night (The window glass is tinted - no one can see in in daylight but they are on the promenade deck.) In the future I think I would just book a specific cabin.

[seahorse]

I did a GTY. ONCE, on Carnival. The price was so attractive I booked my brother and his friends with us. There were 5 cabins in that cat. I figured no way are we going to get 3 of them:eek: You guessed it, we did. We all knew that we could so there was no problem. I still sell gty. but I make certain that the pax. knows what he may get.

 

Look at the first sentence again, I did it one time;)

[mrsfry3]

On my first cruise I had the bottom deck right next to the anchor. It was so noisy and not a great location. I would have loved to do a GTY to get a different room, even an obstructed view. After that cruise I learned the importance of booking your stateroom where you think you want to stay, and booking it with an assigned stateroom.

 

I just booked the Dream for December and I booked room 8235. I wanted a balcony, but did not want to spend a lot of money. I was able to book my husband and I on this cruise for a few dollars less than one person with a balcony. It was a great value and I am only in my room for a few hours a day anyway.

 

I would rather spend my money on really cool excursions and shopping, than a more expensive stateroom. I now research where the partially obstructed rooms are, and I will book one next to something that looks like it might give me a better view, i.e. a balcony, or the start of the lifeboats.

 

To me, a higher deck is important (no engine noise, anchor, or waves crashing), and the restaraunts and other public areas are usually on the deck with the lifeboats. I would rather book a lower priced cabin on a GTY and get bumped to an obstructed view than to suffer the wrath of the engines roaring, crowds tendering and the anchor dropping really early.