Yet Another Question about Guarantees

[DoverHeights]

We are very unhappy holders of a guarantee for a VD cabin on the July 28th sailing of Nieuw Amsterdam from Venice. We made our booking in November 12th last year, wanting a particular cabin which we enjoyed on the carbon-copy Eurodam in 2009. "No cabin choice for VD cabins WITH bath is available - you have to take a guarantee!"

 

Since finalisation of booking date has come and gone, we are wondering what is stopping the allocation of cabins to remaining guarantees.

 

We dread arriving at the ship, with no allocation and being assigned an unsuitable cabin - we were forced to take a guarantee - not our choice.

 

WE will be travelling for 2 weeks before the cruise with internet access uncertain and we will be 10,000 miles away from our TA.

 

Is there any way we can "lobby" to get suitable allocation. VD with bath is all we require - NOT an upgrade - though obviously we would not refuse one - as long as it had a bath.

 

Are we in limbo between initial bookings and HAL attempting to push "upgrades" first?

 

Because of our HAL enforced, Australian 25% surcharge I don't necessarily believe that HAL's interests and our's are the same.

 

Michael in Sydney

[Jade13]

We have taken our first QTY too. I was told allocations are normally made 10 days in advance, but we might not know until we arrive at the port.

 

We have a Veranda Suite Guarantee on Maasdam. Interestingly our only question was whether we could be assigned a HC with shower only and were told all of the Suites have bathtubs. On further review the plans show 3 Suites with shower only, so we are just hoping people booked them who need them.

 

In your case you never said whether you had the option to take the next category Veranda and pick your cabin, or whether you just wanted the cheapest Veranda option? We normally take VA's on Visa or Signature class ships and would have paid the difference for the next Veranda and would not be taking the gamble of getting a stateroom with shower only.

[patseacruiser]

If you are going to have limited access to the internet then I suggest you contact your TA and tell them exactly what you are looking for and they should be able to help you out. Hopefully you booked with a customer service oriented agent and will track and it and lobby on your behalf if it is not the cabin you want. Make sure your TA knows everything you want and what you don't care about as long as a certain criteria is met and she should take care of it. Have a great trip - don't stress.