Best guaranteed rate room assignment

[Hcblcb]

On my next cruise (Holland America) the people I am traveling with opted for the "Best guaranteed rate" that guarantees a room in the category I booked or higher. I'm concerned about the kind of room I will be assigned. Has anyone had experience with this? Did you end up with a nicer room or a less desirable location? Thanks for any help.

[CruiserBruce]

The best place for HAL info is on the HAL board, here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=171

 

Your friends are guaranteed at cabin in a certain level or higher. They could get the worst, or best location in that minimum level, or the best or worst cabin at some higher level. That is how GUAR cabins work.

 

You will find lots of discussions about GUAR cabins on the HAL board.

[eh2zed]

Are you saying your friends did a guaratee and you didn't? In any event when you do a guarantee you get the guarantee room as a minmum and may get a better room. By definition this better room is better either by location or by room classification. the better room would normally cost more. As for how often this happens it depends on a number of factors including how full the ship is, your travel record with the line and what classifications are available to guarantee customers. There generally is a relatively good chance for a minor upgrade but less so for a major upgrade.

[gerryl12]

You are guaranteed a room at least to the level you paid for. You may be upgraded depending on how the bookings go, and there is no way of knowing how or if the upgrade ferry is going to work her magic charm.

The main thing being that you are guaranteed a room and you will cruise.

[Nebr.cruiser]

We often book guarantees and usually get an upgrade of some kind--or at least what the cruise line considers an upgrade. We usually go up a couple of cabin grades, like from AD to AB or something, which generally means a higher deck or what's considered a better location. Sometimes we don't agree!

 

We've never gotten a truly bad or a truly great cabin, except once on Carnival when we were offered an upgrade from a balcony to a mini-suite and we hadn't even booked a guarantee.

 

Sometimes the great upgrades do happen, like oceanview to balcony, balcony to suite, but it's rare.

[SadieN]

The general rule for booking a Guarantee is to be able to accept the worst cabin in your chosen category. If you are not a 'gambler' then see if you can book a specific cabin. The cost will be more than the guarantee.

 

Last HAL cruise we could only book as a Guarantee because it was the last 6 days of a 21/15day cruise. We got the cabins vacated by the 15 dayers.

[Colorado Kat]

The cabins still available are the ones other people on your ship have not booked. Whether because it's a bad location, or a more expensive room. We've booked guaranties 3 times. Happy once, disappointed once, neutral once.

[marco]

We almost always book a "GTY" and more often then not, we've been upgraded. The location on the ship is very subjective and some folks would rather have a lower priced cabin, say, in "location A" than a higher priced category cabin, but in "location B". For us, the exact location of the cabin has never been an issue and we've always been happy with whatever cabin we've been assigned. If the exact location is really that important to you, don't book a "GTY", book a cabin in the specific location you want, at whatever price it is.

[wldflr]

We booked a balcony gty for a HAL cruise a few years ago and got a nice upgrade from VH to VA (on a higher deck) but it was right by the elevators. We were afraid we'd hear the 'ding' of the doors all week but only did a few times.

 

Booked another balcony gty for our upcoming cruise cause the $ was such a deal and as long as we're on the ship, we're happy! But if location is a big deal, pick a cabin and pay a bit more for it.

[Angiet75]

well whats the difference betweent hat and Early Saver?

we did early saver and they just had a price drop and because we had already paid in full we got a 400.00 on board credit and a resident upgrade from deck 5 to deck 8 balcony.

Is that what you are talking about

[tak81288]

well whats the difference betweent hat and Early Saver?

we did early saver and they just had a price drop and because we had already paid in full we got a 400.00 on board credit and a resident upgrade from deck 5 to deck 8 balcony.

Is that what you are talking about

 

 

No GTY and ES are different. Early saver has some restrictions if you need to cancel or make name changes. You get to pick your room and if the price drops in your category, things like what you describe can happen when you submit the price drop form.

 

GTY is when you book a specific catergory but the cruiseline picks your room for you. You may end up with either in the category you paid for or a higher one. Less restrictions when canceling, changing names...etc...No price drops adjustments after final payment like you get with Early Saver...