Balcony Guarantee

[dandonna]

Help!!!

Wife and I booked a balcony guarantee for the Emerald Princess on Nov 17th and we are now at 67 days till the cruise but no room assisgnment???

I thought at 75 days you get your documents and your cabin. I called princess and they said we might not know our cabin number until we board. Seriously???

I am worried we may get stuck in a bad cabin as why not give us our assisgnment now since the website shows all balconies and suites are sold out? First time we have done a balcony guarantee and a bit stressed.

Any advice?

[CruisinKLB]

Help!!!

Wife and I booked a balcony guarantee for the Emerald Princess on Nov 17th and we are now at 67 days till the cruise but no room assisgnment???

I thought at 75 days you get your documents and your cabin. I called princess and they said we might not know our cabin number until we board. Seriously???

I am worried we may get stuck in a bad cabin as why not give us our assisgnment now since the website shows all balconies and suites are sold out? First time we have done a balcony guarantee and a bit stressed.

Any advice?

 

I also have a BG Balcony guarantee on the Emerald but for the 4/6/13 sailing. I'm assuming that I will not get an assignment until sometime after final payment. However, if for some reason I don't get an upgrade out of the BG Catagory, I will be fine with what I receive. If I wasn't, I wouldn't have done the guarantee to begin with. Don't get me wrong, I'm hoping and praying for a leg up outta that catagory, but if it doesn't happen, I know I'll at least get what I paid for. I can't ask for more then that.

 

Unfortunately, sometimes you don't find out about your room until right before, sometimes the day of......sometimes way ahead of time. It's all up to them :D

[Astro Flyer]

Help!!!

Wife and I booked a balcony guarantee for the Emerald Princess on Nov 17th and we are now at 67 days till the cruise but no room assisgnment???

I thought at 75 days you get your documents and your cabin. I called princess and they said we might not know our cabin number until we board. Seriously???

I am worried we may get stuck in a bad cabin as why not give us our assisgnment now since the website shows all balconies and suites are sold out? First time we have done a balcony guarantee and a bit stressed.

Any advice?

First of all try to not stress out because when you get a guaranty cabin it may take a while to get an assignment. Reading posts from others the majority of the time people will get up upgrade even if it's only the same type of cabin in a different location.

 

We sail on November 20th & have not received our balcony guaranty cabin yet either. In April we booked 4 weeks in advance in the lowest category of balcony & about 3 weeks prior to sailing were assigned a BB category. :D

[Waynetor]

We are also on the Emerald on Nov 17 and again on the 27th sailing. We booked inside guarentee and got both within a couple days of paying. The closest to sailing we have got in the past is about a week.

Princess saying you may not get an assingment until the day you sail is just their way of covering themselves in a worst case scenario.

Just in case you do not have an assignment before heading to the port make sure you see a Princess staff person at the port before handing over any luggge

[Pam in CA]

Help!!!

Wife and I booked a balcony guarantee for the Emerald Princess on Nov 17th and we are now at 67 days till the cruise but no room assisgnment???

I thought at 75 days you get your documents and your cabin. I called princess and they said we might not know our cabin number until we board. Seriously???

I am worried we may get stuck in a bad cabin as why not give us our assisgnment now since the website shows all balconies and suites are sold out? First time we have done a balcony guarantee and a bit stressed.

Any advice?

Yes, seriously. You may know today or not until you check in for the cruise. There's no way of telling. You can still print out your documents. If you don't receive a cabin assignment, you would just hand over your luggage to the porter and he will look up the cabin # and make out luggage tags for you.

 

Really nothing to stress about. You are guaranteed a cabin and by booking a GTY, you are willing to accept any cabin in the category you booked, or better. It's a gamble you'll be assigned a cabin that you like, or not.

[gliles]

Help!!!

Wife and I booked a balcony guarantee for the Emerald Princess on Nov 17th and we are now at 67 days till the cruise but no room assisgnment???

I thought at 75 days you get your documents and your cabin. I called princess and they said we might not know our cabin number until we board. Seriously???

I am worried we may get stuck in a bad cabin as why not give us our assisgnment now since the website shows all balconies and suites are sold out? First time we have done a balcony guarantee and a bit stressed.

Any advice?

 

They'll do plenty of shuffling, you'll get a balcony, that's guaranteed. It might be the worst balcony in the category you booked but that's what you paid for. Look at it this way, if you get stuck with a bad cabin are you better off knowing in advance? Maybe not! We've done several guarantees, only once did we not find out until we arrived at the port...and only once have we not received an upgrade and that's on the cruise we are taking next month but we have a cabin in the category we booked so we got what we paid for, and we are close to the laundry which is a plus for me :)

 

As has been stated before, don't worry. You'll have your balcony and maybe an upgrade! If they have to upgrade minis to suites then balconies to minis and outside to balcony and inside to outside. They'll move people around until the ship is full.

[onthehighseas606]

We are booked BG on the Island Princess. The day after we paid in full, I got an email from Princess with our assigned room on the Aloha deck balcony aft. I'm not stressed about it and it could have been worse some place else. Don't fret, Princess told us the longer you wait to get assigned a cabin, the better your chances are for an upgrade.

[geoherb]

I am worried we may get stuck in a bad cabin as why not give us our assisgnment now since the website shows all balconies and suites are sold out?

You should never book a guarantee unless you'd be happy in any cabin in that category and all higher categories. Princess is going to fill every cabin, if possible, so even the cabins you might consider bad will have someone in them and it could be you. You might end up at the very front of the ship or under a pool or under the gym. Some folks don't mind these cabins and enjoy those locations.

 

The latest we've received cabin assignments was four days before a cruise. Both times it was for the Sapphire to Alaska. This summer we did not find out until after we had started our five-night land tour. Fortunately we were still in Fairbanks when I found out and we were able to send one of our pieces of luggage to meet us at the ship instead of having to deal with going to the different lodges and hotels on our tour before the cruise.

[caribill]

You should never book a guarantee unless you'd be happy in any cabin in that category and all higher categories.

 

Sometimes a GTY is all that is available.

[COMBOY]

Sometimes a GTY is all that is available.

 

A GTY is no different then booking a hotel room. When you book a hotel you only select a "type of room" or "Grade" and the actual room number is assigned when you physically check-in at the property. However, cruise lines do try to assign your cabin in advance when possible, but there are no guarantees. Booking a GTY does NOT mean you will necessarily get a bad cabin location. It just mean the cruise line will assign the actual cabin at their discretion in the grade purchased or BETTER. Keep checking your on-line Princess Personalizer page for a cabin assignment. If for some reason you don't like the cabin location then call Princess to see if something else is available. If another cabin is available within your cabin grade purchased there should be no reason you can't request a switch. Remember new cabins open up all the time as people cancel for various reasons. With a GTY booking there is always a slight chance for a cabin upgrade by the upgrade fairy...just don't count on it.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

booked for a balcony guarantee on the Caribbean for December.

 

Booked back in June and received our cabin assignment about 2 weeks later.

 

Got a BB.

 

Bill

[dandonna]

we appreciate all the advice and comments from all of you. Wishing you a wonderful vacation!

[dorisis]

we appreciate all the advice and comments from all of you. Wishing you a wonderful vacation!

 

No matter what cabin is assigned it is still a cruise. no cooking, no cleaning NO STRESS! ENJOY!!

 

~Doris~

[ChrisB123]

I leave Nov 17 on Sapphire, have a BC guarantee and no cabin number yet. I'm not worried at ALL. As the previous poster said, no cooking, cleaning or housework! All is well. :D

[paul929207]

Help!!!

Wife and I booked a balcony guarantee for the Emerald Princess on Nov 17th and we are now at 67 days till the cruise but no room assisgnment???

I thought at 75 days you get your documents and your cabin. I called princess and they said we might not know our cabin number until we board. Seriously???

I am worried we may get stuck in a bad cabin as why not give us our assisgnment now since the website shows all balconies and suites are sold out? First time we have done a balcony guarantee and a bit stressed.

Any advice?

When you book a guarentee, you are giving the cruise line the right to assign you to any cabin in the category you book or any higher category. You also allow them to assign your cabin when they want to. This can be as late as the day you board.

 

Never book a guarentee unless you would be happy with any cabin in the category you are booking or any higher category.

[geoherb]

Sometimes a GTY is all that is available.

Since we book many of our cruises after the final payment date, I see this a lot of the time. But I stand by my recommendation that someone should not book a guarantee unless they would be happy with any cabin in that category--and all the higher categories of cabins. Anyone worried that they "may get stuck in a bad cabin" should always pick a specific cabin and forgo taking a chance on a guarantee. People who go into a cruise thinking negatively about their cabin assignment are not going to have as good a time as people who can roll with the punches and be happy just to be on a cruise.

[moosenaroundtheship]

Call Princess and make sure there is not a no upgrade on your reservation. I waited & waited as well and finally called princess and was told there was a no upgrade which I thought was strange considering I booked a BG guarentee knowing in the past hopfully getting an upgrade. As soon as they changed to upgrade two days later I got my cabin number to a BB caribe deck. :)

[Kerry&LuAnn]

We have done the guarantee thing several times, and sometimes did not find out our cabin assignment until we checked in... the mystery added to the excitement of the adventure! But in every case, the cabin assigned to us was always better than we had anticipated.

[caribill]

We have never had a bad cabin assigned to us from a GTY booking.

[Thrak]

We're booked on Star Princess for Hawaii in November. We booked a BE and just got moved from that category on deck 8 to a BB on deck 12. The original cabin was in the forward section and the new cabin is more mid-ship. I'm wondering about the location though as it's below the pool on the next deck. Is there an issue with such a location? It's obviously not directly under the pool but I'm wondering about noise, smoke, etc. from the open-air deck directly above our balcony.

 

My wife is actually pretty happy with the upgrade of location. After we booked our cruise my son decided to go as well. He got the only wheelchair accessible room left and, after the upgrade, we are actually only 12 doors down the hall from him rather than 4 decks and a lot of doors away. The cruises are booked separately - one in my name and the other in his name - so I guess it's a lucky coincidence that the rooms are now so close to each other.

 

NOTE: I'd really like to find a comprehensive guide that details what BE, BD, BF, BB, BA, etc. actually mean. I realize there's a difference in price so likely in desirability of location, etc. but isn't there anyplace one can get solid information regarding what the classifications mean and why a room has the classification it has?

[caribill]

 

NOTE: I'd really like to find a comprehensive guide that details what BE, BD, BF, BB, BA, etc. actually mean. I realize there's a difference in price so likely in desirability of location, etc. but isn't there anyplace one can get solid information regarding what the classifications mean and why a room has the classification it has?

 

In general, Princess has believed that the closer to the middle of the ship the better and the higher up the better. There are some exceptions to this as, for example, the BA cabins are not the highest balconmies but have a larger and fully covered balcony.

 

In May of next year the classifications change as Princess has learned that what they have considered better is not always what passngers have considered better.

[Lancer1568]

I also have a BG Balcony guarantee on the Emerald but for the 4/6/13 sailing. I'm assuming that I will not get an assignment until sometime after final payment. However, if for some reason I don't get an upgrade out of the BG Catagory, I will be fine with what I receive. If I wasn't, I wouldn't have done the guarantee to begin with. Don't get me wrong, I'm hoping and praying for a leg up outta that catagory, but if it doesn't happen, I know I'll at least get what I paid for. I can't ask for more then that.

 

Unfortunately, sometimes you don't find out about your room until right before, sometimes the day of......sometimes way ahead of time. It's all up to them :D

Have sailed on princess 5 times. 4 of the 5 times, we had guarantees booked. Got room assignemnets anywhere from 45 days down to 7 days before cruise. Was anywhere from happy to ecstatic with the room assignment. Was always an upgrade over what we booked (not an an upgrade from balcony to mini just a better balckony). You asked for advice. Mine is to chill it will all be great!!!!!!!!!!!

[onthehighseas606]

Adding one more comment. When I booked the cruise BG category - I repeated several times that we did not want an obstructed view. They even put it on our reservation "unobstructed view." If you are adamant about certain things, you should tell the TA what you will not accept when booking. We aren't picky about location, we're in a cabin aft - like 3 cabins from the aft on the Aloha deck--which is an upgrade from what we could of had.