Pick my room vs guarantee

[N00B]

I'd like your advice. I think i have the opportunity to benefit from one last price drop before i make my final payment in just a few days (I dont have early saver).

 

Currently i have selected a balcony cabin on deck 7, i beleive its a somewhat premium deck because there are cabins above and below. Other than that my balcony is unremarkable. Under the conditions of the price drop i would have to let Carnival pick my room. The tradeoff is that I would save almost $300. Which is something like 20%,of my entire cost.

 

Should I do it? Would you? Why or why not?

[falkcor]

for $300 i'd go for it.

[QTPieRye]

We are in a similar situation, except we have 5 cabins total. Because we have 6 young adults travelling with us, I'm opting to stay put with assigned cabins and them across the hall... HOWEVER, if this was for just DH & I, I would totally change to a GTY and save the $300 ;)

[Can'tWait2SetSail]

I always pick my own room because I get seasick so I like to stay low and in the middle. I also always take bonine. My last cruise was so rocky and I still did not get sick. I mean it was so bad they had vomit bags hanging on the hand rails on the stairs. The bonine saved me. With this current promotion I opted for a GTY. As long as I have my bonine I am willing to take the chance. Yesterday the fare for an OV in which I picked the room was $339PP, today it was $150pp for an OV GTY. I booked that baby! -

[mswildeye]

Unless you have special needs, such as being near an elevator, I would go for the savings.

[springs741]

Only you know what you are comfortable with. I could save a little over $400 with the currently sale if I went into the guarantee category. My favorite location is deck 7 or 8, slightly aft (two below the lido) depending on the ship.

 

There is nothing special about this location EXCEPT it is near the elevator, staterooms above and below, slightly aft so very little foot traffic. We love love love this location. It is not worth it to us to save the money.

 

We do spend a great deal of time in our room and on our balcony. I do not want to hear galley noise or chairs scrapping across the deck. I don't want the work out room with weights dropping on the floor early in the morning. I don't want to feel the vibration of one of the night clubs into the wee hours of the night.

 

It's my vacation. If I want to stay up all night or get up at the crack of dawn I want it on my terms. Not what is going on around me.

 

So for these reasons I will stay in the chosen stateroom and forgo the OBC from this sale.

[serene56]

IK would stay where I was-- not willing to take a chance of the noisy areas along deck 6.

 

Have you peeked at whats available for your sailing?

 

and will your agent allow you to downgrade?

Edited October 29, 2014 by serene56

[snc_cam]

I agree with your logic Springs. We are usually on Deck 7 (have done deck 9 forward once and was very quiet) in the forward part. Usually at least 1/2 up the forward area to reduce the foot traffic. I too would not forgo this spot and actually could have had a $400 savings to get a GTY on the last cruise (total was 1200) but didn't want to risk where we would end up. If I couldn't afford the cabin I'm in, I wouldn't have gotten it.

[serene56]

looking at Splendor January 18th

8440 is available-- which is right under the pizza kitchen- opened 24 hours a day=== think of all those dropped pans at 3am

 

nothing at all is available on the empress deck 7

 

MANY are on Upper deck 6-- aft right above those lounges-- one of which is the comedy club opened at midnight.

 

but there is quite a few left on the panarama deck 10- hoping for one NOT under the fitness center- gym opens at 6am and people do drop the weights

[riffatsea]

We always pick our cabin and just pay the price for that privilege! We do not want Carnival to pick just any old cabin for us. We like balconies mid ship and on deck 6 or 7 and that's that!

IF you want to save money and let Carnival pick your cabin then that's up to you!!

[ccruisequeen]

I always call my PVP. I need a HC cabin and I doubt seriously I can get those on GTY.

 

 

[dadroy]

Think about the worst possible room you could get. Tiny balcony, below the pool, and ask youself if you would be happy with that room.

 

If the answer is yes, take the savings. If you answer no, I could never sleep with chairs being bang around from 1am to 5am and I need more than a 2 foot deep balcony, then do not take the chance.

 

With the guarantee you never know if you will get a good room or a bad one. You may be assigned a room the next day and have a chance to move to another room in that same category or you may not get the room assignment until you get to the port and then cannot change. As Dirty Harry was fond of saying "Do you feel lucky"?

Edited October 29, 2014 by dadroy

[Arizonagirl14]

I contemplated this morning to switch my Valor cruise room to a GTY balcony, but that contemplation only happened for a few short minutes. I love the room We chose 11 months ago, so We will keep it. That being said, on our 1st Carnival we did the GTY ocean view and were fine with it. Of course we did not know any better on our first cruise!

 

If location doesn't matter and your ok with taking a chance there are some smoking deals under the 36 hours Halloween sale. I don't think We would benefit from the offer, so we will keep the room we have at the price we paid 11 mo the ago. bTW, it was a really good deal compared to what the rates have been prior to today.

 

 

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[buddylover]

It all depends how much of a "risk taker" that you are. As Serene pointed out, you need to take a look at the cabins that are left, any one could by yours....are they in a location you would like?? We gladly pay the price and book very far out to get the exact cabin in the exact location we know and like.....don't want to be below or above theatres, lido deck, galley, casino, night club, comedy club etc.....and those are the cabins generally left.....hmmmm.....choice only you can really make! $$$ or location?? :rolleyes:

[Elaine5715]

As Serena said, I don't think you can downgrade to a guarantee. You can only benefit from a price drop in your cabin category or upgrade to take advantage.

[N00B]

I decided to take the savings. Although i had a nice deck, there was nothing else special about my cabin. I only booked a month or so ago so there wasnt much selection even when i booked. I have looked at the worst case scenarios and discussed with DH and we are willing to risk them. We would still be happy with our cruise even if we end up with a cove or in a noisy spot. We are travelling with a young baby and seldom get much sleep at the best of times. Not to mention the trashy dive bar that lets out at 2:00am almost under our bedroom window at home in the summer. We dont ever seem to bothered by it. Maybe it will make us feel like home. lol.

 

Anyway, its not like we booked a cruise we cant afford (something a previous poster mentioned) but at this point we have saved almost $ 1,000 off our initial booking price and i can sure think of a few things we can spend that money on.

 

Thank you all for your thoughtful advice, it helped me to see what i might not he tinking of and to hink through the possibilities.

Edited October 30, 2014 by N00B

[BklynLola]

Sorry to jack your post, but I have a similar question and hate seeing multiple threads on the same topic. :). I'm glad you got your answer, N00B!

 

My question is this... Back in July I booked on the Breeze in a 1A during the no solo supplement sales. I got an amazing deal of ~$550 total for 8 days. I didn't care that my room is tiny because it's just me but I have a friend who is able to use some vacation time and is planning to join me now. I can add her to my room for the same price as me OR as I found out from the call center today, I can upgrade to an ocean view gty rate at only +$15 for me and about $565 for my guest. Seems like a no brainier, right? I checked out the room availability and 2 ocean views are left, one I'd love and one that's meh. Do I take the 50/50 shot that I'll get the better room? Is there a good chance I'll end up in a room that doesn't show as open through a mock booking?

[SNJCruisers]

Is there a good chance I'll end up in a room that doesn't show as open through a mock booking?

If someone that has another OV cabin booked decides to upgrade to a BL GTY, then that would open up another cabin for you to possibly get. Since your cruise is only 5 weeks away, I believe that any cabins that are on hold by any travel agencies would have already been turned back into Carnival. Does your 1A have a porthole? If so, then maybe you should keep it. If not, then I would roll the dice, because at least you would have the larger cabin and the window. Good luck with your decision.

[BklynLola]

If someone that has another OV cabin booked decides to upgrade to a BL GTY, then that would open up another cabin for you to possibly get. Since your cruise is only 5 weeks away, I believe that any cabins that are on hold by any travel agencies would have already been turned back into Carnival. Does your 1A have a porthole? If so, then maybe you should keep it. If not, then I would roll the dice, because at least you would have the larger cabin and the window. Good luck with your decision.

thanks for the response! My 1A doesn't have a porthole, it's just a regular room with one twin and a sofa bed all the way in the front. I'm thinking an upgrade is in order... What are the odds I can get worse?! Haha :D

[serene56]

My question is this... Back in July I booked on the Breeze in a 1A during the no solo supplement sales. I got an amazing deal of ~$550 total for 8 days. I didn't care that my room is tiny because it's just me but I have a friend who is able to use some vacation time and is planning to join me now. I can add her to my room for the same price as me OR as I found out from the call center today, I can upgrade to an ocean view gty rate at only +$15 for me and about $565 for my guest. Seems like a no brainier, right? I checked out the room availability and 2 ocean views are left, one I'd love and one that's meh. Do I take the 50/50 shot that I'll get the better room? Is there a good chance I'll end up in a room that doesn't show as open through a mock booking?

 

 

is that for the dec 6 breeze? I am seeing over 700+ for a delux oceanview-- if you pick your own which is the same price as a regular one-- and there are many. then if you change the number of people put in three-- you will see more. take your chance

[snc_cam]

thanks for the response! My 1A doesn't have a porthole, it's just a regular room with one twin and a sofa bed all the way in the front. I'm thinking an upgrade is in order... What are the odds I can get worse?! Haha :D

 

You are correct.. there is nothing lower than the 1A. Only upgrades from this category :)

[serene56]

i see 1448 is available-- what space in there...LOL

[BklynLola]

is that for the dec 6 breeze? I am seeing over 700+ for a delux oceanview-- if you pick your own which is the same price as a regular one-- and there are many. then if you change the number of people put in three-- you will see more. take your chance

Yes - that's the one! I'm looking at it now and just realized that the Halloween sale includes $10 OBC so it ends up only being under $5 for me to upgrade with all things considered, and her portion will still be ridiculously low for an 8 day cruise.

You are correct.. there is nothing lower than the 1A. Only upgrades from this category

Haha that's what I thought! It was fine for just me, but two women and all of our stuff? Not a chance!

i see 1448 is available-- what space in there...LOL

That's the one I saw that I'd LOVE to get! What a great stateroom!!! :D

Thanks everyone - I'm going to do the hard sell on my friend now. haha!

[serene56]

i see 1448 is available-- what space in there...LOL

 

 

Just remember that being back that far in the aft and that far low you could experience a LOT of vibration and shuddering when entering or leaving aport

[BklynLola]

I was thinking about that, but a lot of the reviews on rooms in my current area (2208) say that there's a lot of noise from the waves, so I'm hoping I'd just be trading one noisy room for another. I called back Carnival and it'd be about +$103 per person to guarantee we get 1448. For +$14.64 per person, we get "an ocean view, could be anywhere, could be 1448 and [we] get the $10 OBC". So... it looks like we're going to take our chances and just go for the gty deal. Thanks! :D

 

Also, Carnival's call center reps yesterday and today have been super sweet and helpful. It's been a total pleasure to deal with them.