Advice please: suite gty

[ken987]

Hi,

We are within 45 days for the cruise. For the past few weeks our cruise has fire saled the SS's.

They have been nonexistant on the availability list for over a week.

All that is left are the CS, RS, and PH.

 

The price is back up to where I can pay 900 total to upgrade from my C1.

 

From your past experience or knowledge. Is this worth a gamble? Or could there be at this late date could there be SSs left that they are holding back? I have acquaintences who are on the HC waitlist so I feel that getting one of those is low as their location is not worth the $900 extra.

 

This is listed as a Suite GTY now.

 

I could also wait...if so, at what point days before wise should I pull the trigger?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Orator]

Hi,

We are within 45 days for the cruise. For the past few weeks our cruise has fire saled the SS's.

They have been nonexistant on the availability list for over a week.

All that is left are the CS, RS, and PH.

 

The price is back up to where I can pay 900 total to upgrade from my C1.

 

From your past experience or knowledge. Is this worth a gamble? Or could there be at this late date could there be SSs left that they are holding back? I have acquaintences who are on the HC waitlist so I feel that getting one of those is low as their location is not worth the $900 extra.

 

This is listed as a Suite GTY now.

 

I could also wait...if so, at what point days before wise should I pull the trigger?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

A guarantee is a guarantee and you may find yourself in the worst cabin in the category. Or, you might get a nice surprise. As you said quite correctly, it's a gamble. There is always a possibility that you can get better than a Sky Suite, but it is also possible that the powers to be will move someone who paid more for a Sky Suite to a higher category and give you the Sky Suite. I've noticed that the recent trend has been to assign HC cabins as the guarantee. They are much larger, but some don't like the bathroom. It may really come down to price and only you can answer if a SS is worth $900 more. For me, on a TA "yes", on a 7 day cruise "no". Remember, you can always shift your cabin to another location if a better location in your category is available. With the Suite you get a Butler, a ability to dine in Blu and a comp. dinner for 2 in the speciality restaurant of your choice. Is this worth $900 more, that's your call. Personally, I love the Sky Suite layout and space. Be aware that there can be noise if you are on the deck under the Oceanview.

[tompeter]

I think you need to go into this with the expectation that you may very well end up with a SS. There is no way to tell how many SS rooms are unsold, or if they may try to upsell/upgrade current SS passengers into higher categories.

[ken987]

I'm well aware of the pitfalls and benefits as this will be my first cruise with Elite status. I was hoping for actual experiences so that I could then make a decision based on that data. This is an 11 day cruise with 5 sea days!!!

 

I do have access to the site that lists the unsold rooms. That is why I mentioned the past happy hour sales and the waitlist for the HC SS rooms. I will wait a week and see if any of the higher suites start to disappear from the available list.

[Orator]

I'm well aware of the pitfalls and benefits as this will be my first cruise with Elite status. I was hoping for actual experiences so that I could then make a decision based on that data. This is an 11 day cruise with 5 sea days!!!

 

My actual experience is that I have not received a cabin category higher than the guarantee. I've been on more than 30 celebrity cruises in the last 3 years. I once met a person who received a higher category, but that was the very rare exception.

[A Sixth?]

My actual experience is that I have not received a cabin category higher than the guarantee. I've been on more than 30 celebrity cruises in the last 3 years. I once met a person who received a higher category, but that was the very rare exception.

 

30 cruises in three years!!!! :eek::p

 

We are not worthy!!!!

 

Orator! Orator! Orator! :D

 

[TobyKnits]

My actual experience from booking a suite guarantee on Millenium for the Oct 7, 2012 Panama Canal sailing:

- we booked 60 days out

- from memory I would say there were about 6 Sky Suites available at the time, on Deck 6. I do not know if there were any larger suites still available.

- about 47 days out we were assigned cabin 9121 which is HC, under the pool deck.

- there have not been any other cabins available in the class since we were assigned so no opportunity to request a cabin switch

 

We saved $1400 US. This was worth it to us to let them assign the cabin and I'm sure we will enjoy our cruise. Reviews for the cabin on M class ships are mixed - some say the noise was terrible and began in early AM hours and another couple said they liked the location so much they booked it again for another cruise. Frankly, if I was just picking from the list of Sky Suites without having stayed in any of them (I have not been in any of them) it is one of the last cabins I would have picked.

 

ETA: this is our first cruise with Celebrity. So, obviously no status factoring in.

 

Not that it will help you now, but I will come back after the cruise and let everyone know in my review if I'd risk the guarantee again or if I'd hand pick the cabin.

[Orator]

30 cruises in three years!!!! :eek::p

 

We are not worthy!!!!

 

Orator! Orator! Orator! :D

 

 

You are more than worthy. I won't usually mention numbers, but the OP wanted to collect date and he said that he is aware of the pitfalls since he's now Elite. I've met many on cruises that make me feel like a newbie. Arno has more than 200 cruise points. RMSeadog is getting close to that number. Yes, some have become seriosly addicted to the Celebrity product.

[ken987]

My actual experience is that I have not received a cabin category higher than the guarantee. I've been on more than 30 celebrity cruises in the last 3 years. I once met a person who received a higher category, but that was the very rare exception.

 

This will be my 13th cruise in four years...and my friends make fun of me. I will certainly let them know I am not as crazy as I thought. LOL.

Now does it make a difference that this is called a Suite GTY? The past three weeks it was listed as a SS GTY.

 

Ken

[Orator]

This will be my 13th cruise in four years...and my friends make fun of me. I will certainly let them know I am not as crazy as I thought. LOL.

Now does it make a difference that this is called a Suite GTY? The past three weeks it was listed as a SS GTY.

 

Ken

 

You can always find some whose "crazier". However, it is a wonderful addiction. The Suite Gty means that they can assign any Suite. I might suggest based on recent reports that better upgrades tend to go to new cruisers rather than "loyal past cruisers". They seem to be using upgrades as a marketing tool to hook the new cruiser. There have been a number of recent threads on this topic. I'm repeating here, the most recent reports and my personal experience is that people who book gty are receiving HC Suites.

[phoenix_dream]

I have one experience with a suite gty - it went on a fire sale last minute (3 weeks or so out) and we upgraded from a C1 to it for $100 pp. We ended up with a corner aft SS1 sky suite. Several others on our sailing also booked it around the same time since we talked about it on our roll call. Most got SS2 sky suites (some handicapped). One couple got upgraded to a Celebrity Suite, and I am pretty sure they were new to Celebrity. Celebrity tends to award the best rooms to their newest customers (I guess they want them to think this is what usually happens:rolleyes:- it does not). I was very satisfied with our cabin as it was one of the nicer sky suites. I am not sure I would pay as much extra as you mentioned, although for that many days at sea it would be tempting. The odds are that you will get an SS2 handicapped room.

[katmich12]

I'm well aware of the pitfalls and benefits as this will be my first cruise with Elite status. I was hoping for actual experiences so that I could then make a decision based on that data. This is an 11 day cruise with 5 sea days!!!

 

I do have access to the site that lists the unsold rooms. That is why I mentioned the past happy hour sales and the waitlist for the HC SS rooms. I will wait a week and see if any of the higher suites start to disappear from the available list.

 

Can you share the site that lists unsold rooms? Thanks!

[Lois R]

Can you share the site that lists unsold rooms? Thanks!

 

If it is site that is a Travel Agency? It is against CC policy to

give a name.