What is a guaranteed cabin rate?

[lisabees]

I got an unbelievable rate for a family of six sailing Magic in February. $4049!! What exactly does a guaranteed cabin mean. We would like our two cabins to be close, if not next to, each other. Will that happen?

 

Thanks!

 

Lisa

[LibertyBelle]

When you book a guarantee vs an assigned room you are basically accepting whatever they give you. You are guaranteed the price of whatever category that you booked and they will assign your room to that category or a higher one at a later date. With a regular booking you are issued your room number immediatley and that will be your room unless you change it (or some unforseen circumstance should arise...which is rare). With a Guarantee you are leaving it to the cruise line to assign your room prior to sending the documents to you so you can not choose a deck, you can't choose forward, mid or aft, you can not say you want to be close to someone or something...you are basically giving them the freedom to put you wherever they have room.

 

So if you are looking for a room that is close to someone else a guarantee is not the way to go as you are only guaranteed rooms on the sailing not location. They will "try" and keep you together (or as close as possible) if your reservations are linked to one another, but don't be upset if you end up on opposite ends of the ship or on different decks as a guarantee gives them the liberty to put you anywhere.