How does NCL assign GTY cabins?

[CasinoCruzGirl]

Just booked Nov 30 cruise as a Balcony GTY on Breakaway and curious to what we will get. The only other GTY we ever booked with NCL was an inside cabin about 3 weeks before the cruise and was given an upper level inside cabin and was pleased.

 

All our other cruises were balconies or mini's that we chose the cabin and we are Platinum members but I really don't think that will matter. Just so happy to be going on a cruise when we really weren't planning on one again this year.

 

A few times we 'upgraded' ourselves when we had booked a specific cabin and noticed better cabins for not much more in rate. Twice we requested to be moved to aft balconies when they suddenly became available closer to the cruise, and paid more of course, but not as much if we had originally booked them.

 

 

Come over to the roll call we have a M&G and slot pull organizing. My sister is also booked on that cruise with a balcony GTY and my son and his GF with an inside GTY we will see what they get. I have a cabin assignment for a mid ship balcony that I got comped through CAS so I'm happy. Hopefully they all won't be to far from me but you never know when it's a GTY.

[DaisyL]

Come over to the roll call we have a M&G and slot pull organizing. My sister is also booked on that cruise with a balcony GTY and my son and his GF with an inside GTY we will see what they get. I have a cabin assignment for a mid ship balcony that I got comped through CAS so I'm happy. Hopefully they all won't be to far from me but you never know when it's a GTY.

Thanks GeriC... will do.

[meglet]

My nightmare would be to book a guarantee and then be "upgraded" to an aft balcony over the Spinnaker on the Dawn.

[Starry Eyes]

My nightmare would be to book a guarantee and then be "upgraded" to an aft balcony over the Spinnaker on the Dawn.

I am waiting for an assignment for an inside gty on Star (Dawn's sister), so I'd take any balcony, even a noisy one. Maybe it is worse than I imagine, but we are both sound sleepers. Heck, late at night I could probably fall asleep inside Spinnaker;).

[bigfoot88]

We booked the BA to Bermuda for 8/3, we booked a BX GTY. This was the first time I have booked a GTY and await a cabin number.

 

SO,,, do the Latitude Level/points have any effect on the cabin you get/ an upgrade?

[fshagan]

I think its based on marketing. They can sell the cheaper cabins, so if the cruise doesn't fill up, they drop prices and move you up, and sell your cabin. If the cruise fills up and they are selling the higher category cabins anyway, you stay where you bought.

 

I've started buying the cheapest gty in the category we want ... a BX balcony on deck 8 on the Sun for our upcoming cruise. It will be interesting to see if we are assigned one of the two BX cabins or if they assign us to a higher category balcony and sell the BX to someone else.

 

Our last cruise on the Epic I booked the cheapest balcony gty and we were indeed moved to a cabin one category up (a large partially enclosed balcony port side at the bow). We actually loved the balcony (which is to say we hated the cabin on the Epic, and are glad to see NCL will torture the Europeans with the horrible design from now on).

[Demonyte]

SO,,, do the Latitude Level/points have any effect on the cabin you get/ an upgrade?

 

Nope. We were gold at the time we got "upgraded" from OA GTY (all OAs are on deck 8 which would have been fine) to O1 under the casino on deck 5.

[Rhea98]

So your OA GTY wasn't really GTY for an OA?

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Demonyte]

So your OA GTY wasn't really GTY for an OA?

 

GTY is always booked category or higher. NCL considers family cabins higher than regular ones so O1 cabin is indeed placed higher on their category list.

[Rhea98]

Thanks.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[KeithJenner]

I'm not totally convinced that latitudes points / cruise history doesn't have an impact. Just not in the way you'd think.

 

When we were on the Breakaway TA, there were a lot of reports of people getting upgrades. I did a small amount of very unscientific research, and did notice some possible correlation.

 

Remember, this was a very small sample, related to upgrades rather than guarantee allocations and may have been pure coincidence.

 

What seemed to possibly be happening is that the people who were being upgraded were those who had cruised with NCL before, but not often (this was their second or third cruise). Those with lots of cruises behind them, or future ones booked didn't seem to have as much luck.

 

For example, it was only third NCL cruise and I had two further ones booked. No upgrade.

 

Gold/Platinum customers didn't seem to be getting much

 

People on their second / third cruises with nothing booked for the future seemed to be more likely to get upgraded.

 

If this was deliberate (and I'm not saying that it was) then it does make some sense from a marketing point of view. Give the upgrades to those people who are showing they like the brand, but may not necessarily be loyal yet. Don't worry as much about those who are already showing signs of loyalty.

 

If this theory is actually right, then the OP with his 14 latitudes points may be more likely than gold/platinum members to get the decent allocation.

 

Or it may all be nonsense of course. :)

[Nisky18]

I'm booked on a September Breakaway with an oceanview OX guarantee but there are three of us so the upgrade cabin opportunity is limited. This will be my fourth NCL cruise. I'm of course hoping we can snag an upgrade to a balcony but a family oceanview at 214 sf would be fine too. I've never before risked booking something that is an unknown. We'll see what happens.

[bigfoot88]

I'm not totally convinced that latitudes points / cruise history doesn't have an impact. Just not in the way you'd think.

 

When we were on the Breakaway TA, there were a lot of reports of people getting upgrades. I did a small amount of very unscientific research, and did notice some possible correlation.

 

Remember, this was a very small sample, related to upgrades rather than guarantee allocations and may have been pure coincidence.

 

What seemed to possibly be happening is that the people who were being upgraded were those who had cruised with NCL before, but not often (this was their second or third cruise). Those with lots of cruises behind them, or future ones booked didn't seem to have as much luck.

 

For example, it was only third NCL cruise and I had two further ones booked. No upgrade.

 

Gold/Platinum customers didn't seem to be getting much

 

People on their second / third cruises with nothing booked for the future seemed to be more likely to get upgraded.

 

If this was deliberate (and I'm not saying that it was) then it does make some sense from a marketing point of view. Give the upgrades to those people who are showing they like the brand, but may not necessarily be loyal yet. Don't worry as much about those who are already showing signs of loyalty.

 

If this theory is actually right, then the OP with his 14 latitudes points may be more likely than gold/platinum members to get the decent allocation.

 

Or it may all be nonsense of course. :)

 

:( Platinum 119 points

[Starry Eyes]

We booked the BA to Bermuda for 8/3, we booked a BX GTY. This was the first time I have booked a GTY and await a cabin number.

 

SO,,, do the Latitude Level/points have any effect on the cabin you get/ an upgrade?

 

Outside of NCL office personel, I do not think anybody really knows for certain how it works. People can guess, of course. As a platinum, I'd like latitudes points to help, but I really do not think they do count. And, even if they do count, sometimes what the cruiseline considers an upgrade is an unappealing cabin in the eyes of the gty cruiser. Take the OA to O1 example below. To the cruiseline, that was an upgrade, but not to the person who got that assignment. Not my idea of an grade, either, but when considering booking a gty, I try to consider if I could happily accept undesirable cabins in a "higher" category.

[Tuxman22]

I booked a GTY Balcony room at the beginning of July for an October cruise on the GEM through my TA. I have only paid my deposit. I checked this morning and a room was assigned already with an upgrade within the balcony rooms.

I was very surprised plus it was exactly where I wanted to be near our friends who booked earlier this year specific cabin.

[cliffd64]

I'm almost certain there is a computer program that assigns guarantee cabins at a particular point, probably after final payment I would imagine, and it may even run several times. There is no way to know all the factors that go into it unless you designed it... Basically, when you look at any given ship, you are not likely to luck out tremendously and get an AFT balcony when you book a balcony guarantee (BX) mainly because there are so few AFT balcony cabins and they are usually booked up directly. It's far more likely that you will be given a balcony elsewhere, especially on the balcony intensive ships like Epic, Breakaway and Getaway. Depending on the number of BX guarantee sold versus remaining balcony cabins, a select few (most sailings) could get bumped up into Spa balconies, but that is certainly not the norm. I have no faith that my 188 latitude points will have anything to do with where I end up... I am sure its just a mindless algorithm that will make my determination this fall... We can all dream in the meantime :)

[Starry Eyes]

I'm almost certain there is a computer program that assigns guarantee cabins at a particular point, probably after final payment I would imagine, and it may even run several times. There is no way to know all the factors that go into it unless you designed it... Basically, when you look at any given ship, you are not likely to luck out tremendously and get an AFT balcony when you book a balcony guarantee (BX) mainly because there are so few AFT balcony cabins and they are usually booked up directly. It's far more likely that you will be given a balcony elsewhere, especially on the balcony intensive ships like Epic, Breakaway and Getaway. Depending on the number of BX guarantee sold versus remaining balcony cabins, a select few (most sailings) could get bumped up into Spa balconies, but that is certainly not the norm. I have no faith that my 188 latitude points will have anything to do with where I end up... I am sure its just a mindless algorithm that will make my determination this fall... We can all dream in the meantime :)

I also suspect the computer assigns the gty's. I would guess that sets of cabins are picked (computer or revenue dept) to maximize revenue, the computer puts cruisers in various rooms in that set of cabins. As ship fills, the likelihood of various assignments might change (revenue driven). In fact, we got an aft balcony on Epic when we booked a balcony gty relatively last minute a couple years ago. There were multiple B1's left and the price on them was high, but there were also multiple other categories with multiple vacanies. I was thrilled as I knew I could get a rather undesirable balcony cabin by booking gty, but the price of the gty was so much lower than picking any balcony cabin.

[wichitastatecruiser]

I'm almost certain there is a computer program that assigns guarantee cabins at a particular point, probably after final payment I would imagine, and it may even run several times. There is no way to know all the factors that go into it unless you designed it... Basically, when you look at any given ship, you are not likely to luck out tremendously and get an AFT balcony when you book a balcony guarantee (BX) mainly because there are so few AFT balcony cabins and they are usually booked up directly. It's far more likely that you will be given a balcony elsewhere, especially on the balcony intensive ships like Epic, Breakaway and Getaway. Depending on the number of BX guarantee sold versus remaining balcony cabins, a select few (most sailings) could get bumped up into Spa balconies, but that is certainly not the norm. I have no faith that my 188 latitude points will have anything to do with where I end up... I am sure its just a mindless algorithm that will make my determination this fall... We can all dream in the meantime :)

 

That or they throw darts with reservation numbers at boards...

[CasinoCruzGirl]

I'm not totally convinced that latitudes points / cruise history doesn't have an impact. Just not in the way you'd think.

 

When we were on the Breakaway TA, there were a lot of reports of people getting upgrades. I did a small amount of very unscientific research, and did notice some possible correlation.

 

Remember, this was a very small sample, related to upgrades rather than guarantee allocations and may have been pure coincidence.

 

What seemed to possibly be happening is that the people who were being upgraded were those who had cruised with NCL before, but not often (this was their second or third cruise). Those with lots of cruises behind them, or future ones booked didn't seem to have as much luck.

 

For example, it was only third NCL cruise and I had two further ones booked. No upgrade.

 

Gold/Platinum customers didn't seem to be getting much

 

People on their second / third cruises with nothing booked for the future seemed to be more likely to get upgraded.

 

If this was deliberate (and I'm not saying that it was) then it does make some sense from a marketing point of view. Give the upgrades to those people who are showing they like the brand, but may not necessarily be loyal yet. Don't worry as much about those who are already showing signs of loyalty.

 

If this theory is actually right, then the OP with his 14 latitudes points may be more likely than gold/platinum members to get the decent allocation.

 

Or it may all be nonsense of course. :)

 

 

I hope your right. This will be my sons first cruise he's booked for an inside GTY and my sister and her family's first cruise booked a balcony GTY. Watch them all get a better cabin than me who is booked in a mid ship balcony assigned cabin lol

[DorothyB]

I booked in IB guarantee in Feb for a cruise at the end of Sept. I was assigned my cabin this week - and got an IB exactly what I paid for.

[brookie848]

Even "sold out" may not tell the whole tale. From my experience, NCL.com does not always reflect the inventory.

 

For example I once upgraded to a BA gty when no BA or better balcony cabins were shown as available on ncl.com, nor had any shown for a week or more (I'd been watching for upgrade opportunities). I was fine with anything BA or better, but, from what I saw on line, I thought I might get a minisuite. I was promptly assigned a BA cabin. From that I gathered there may be hidden inventory.

 

Right now I am holding a IX (inside gty) for the September 22 Star cruise. Only two inside cabins are shown as available right now, both I1. So maybe I'll get an I1 or maybe an upgrade to an obstructed OV or better. Maybe. While I do hope for an upgrade (or an upsell call), I will not be surprised if I am eventually assigned a lower category inside that is currently shown as "sold out". They may be holding one of those "sold out" for me without yet informing me of such. No matter which cabin, I'll be happy to be on the ship. If the upsell fairy eventually calls with a decent offer, I'll be even happier!

 

 

We booked our cruise last night and my husband asked our PCC regarding a week that was sold out online in the category we wanted. She told him that they usually have inventory available, even if it says sold out. Basically, their online inventory is sold out. Cabins are being held for people who call and Latitudes members.

 

Several years ago, friends of ours booked a cruise a month out. They booked a balcony guarantee and ended up with a mini-suite, so they were pleased!

[cliffd64]

I hope your right. This will be my sons first cruise he's booked for an inside GTY and my sister and her family's first cruise booked a balcony GTY. Watch them all get a better cabin than me who is booked in a mid ship balcony assigned cabin lol

 

I would give odds that you will still have a better cabin by a LONGSHOT compared to your son's cabin! Your sister... well... roll the dice...

[Starry Eyes]

I hope your right. This will be my sons first cruise he's booked for an inside GTY and my sister and her family's first cruise booked a balcony GTY. Watch them all get a better cabin than me who is booked in a mid ship balcony assigned cabin lol

 

I would give odds that you will still have a better cabin by a LONGSHOT compared to your son's cabin! Your sister... well... roll the dice...

I agree with Cliff. Odds are high your son will be assigned an inside cabin, small odds he will get an OV (possibly obstructed), and very low odds he will be assigned a balcony (unless he pays to upgrade/upsell). Hope springs eternal.

Balcony gty could net your sister a desirable balcony or a less desirable one...of course desirable is in the eye of the beholder.

 

Best of luck to both of them.

[bluegirluk]

How do you get notified that your cabin has been allocated? does it just appear on your My NCL vacation summary page? I am still waiting to be allocated my BF GTY balcony cabin for October 5th sailing.

[CasinoCruzGirl]

I agree with Cliff. Odds are high your son will be assigned an inside cabin, small odds he will get an OV (possibly obstructed), and very low odds he will be assigned a balcony (unless he pays to upgrade/upsell). Hope springs eternal.

Balcony gty could net your sister a desirable balcony or a less desirable one...of course desirable is in the eye of the beholder.

 

Best of luck to both of them.

 

Thanks I am extremely happy with my cabin and would. Or change it even if they asked me if I wanted an upsell to a aft balcony