Guarantee cabins

[phoenix_dream]

My opinion is that overall they are randomly assigned. That said, it is my belief (which I cannot prove) that first time Celebrity cruisers are more likely to get an upgrade on their GTY. Why do I say this? In reading these boards for many, many years, more often than not when someone is posting about an upgrade they received they are virtually always talking about an upgrade on a GTY, and almost always are on their first cruise with Celebrity. The latter is particularly notable when we are talking big upgrades (for example, booking a sky suite guarantee and getting a celebrity suite). I am not saying it never, ever happens to anyone else - for sure it does at times. But I have seen a definite trend. I have to think Zenith cruisers would get preference as well but is just a supposition (and given that level I would certainly understand why).

[CathyCruises]

Well 9102 is clearly a 1B. Have you double checked your booking to be sure you booked a CC guarantee? I've never heard of a situation like this before. Got to be fixable. What do you mean when you say 'ticket'?

[FlorenceItaly]

Well 9102 is clearly a 1B. Have you double checked your booking to be sure you booked a CC guarantee? I've never heard of a situation like this before. Got to be fixable. What do you mean when you say 'ticket'?

 

I agree. I would double check my receipt with the TA to see exactly what was BOOKED. Good luck to you!

[ohiolovescrusing]

There's been a few comments on critic that mention that some 1B cabins deck 9 were becoming C3 cabins (as in pay more for C3, or move cabin to another 1B area for someone who had booked earlier). Also, if you try to book a C3 room on your sailing today, deck 9 upfront cabins come up. Temp or perrm, who knows.

[CathyCruises]

There's been a few comments on critic that mention that some 1B cabins deck 9 were becoming C3 cabins (as in pay more for C3, or move cabin to another 1B area for someone who had booked earlier). Also, if you try to book a C3 room on your sailing today, deck 9 upfront cabins come up. Temp or perrm, who knows.

 

You're right, I forgot about that thread!! The lady who suddenly had to pay $900 more or move. Do we know the date of the sailing? I can check for other C3s, but shame on celebrity for not updating the website.. Duh, what else is new!

 

I just checked the German site and it is showing all those Deck 9 cabins as C3, so this is probably correct. There are a few available cabins a little farther back, maybe 10 cabins or so but no good C3s on any of the May sailings I checked. The good news is that the ships are so stable that there won't be much extra motion.

Edited April 7, 2015 by CathyCruises

[lupa]

You're right, I forgot about that thread!! The lady who suddenly had to pay $900 more or move. Do we know the date of the sailing? I can check for other C3s, but shame on celebrity for not updating the website.. Duh, what else is new!

 

I just checked the German site and it is showing all those Deck 9 cabins as C3, so this is probably correct. There are a few available cabins a little farther back, maybe 10 cabins or so but no good C3s on any of the May sailings I checked. The good news is that the ships are so stable that there won't be much extra motion.

 

Waiting for further word from the agency we booked through. I got a call from someone this morning after a day of phone tag yesterday- not the same agent I booked through. They said what some here mentioned earlier, that apparently Celebrity is reclassifying the block of cabins in the fore of Deck 9 and that it does not show on any of the deckplans but if you go on to book now, it shows those cabins as what's available for 3C on that deck.

I understand that the main difference in Concierge Class is different linens, priority boarding/dining, and champagne and flowers upon arrival- that the cabin itself is the same as a regular veranda stateroom. It was the amenities AND the location of the CC cabins that enticed us to book in that class.

Having Celebrity slap a new category on a 1B state room after we booked CC feels like a bait and switch. Especially b/c this particular cabin is at the very front-no review for it but a review of the room across the hall says it is next to the crew quarters entrance and has a man overboard camera projecting from the top of the veranda.

I know there is a risk in booking Guarantee but this feels like paying to upgrade to Business class on a flight and then being assigned the seat in front of the rear restrooms and being told that since you get a free cocktail and a blanket the airline is calling it Business class.

The agent says he's going to contact Celebrity and see if we can at least be booked to farther back in this newly recategorized 1B block of cabins. I will share the outcome when we find out.

Would it be worth starting a new thread about stateroom re-categorization so others take this into consideration when booking Guarantee?

[nkwoman]

I totally understand your disappointment! I would be upset too if a room was reclassified after I booked. It may be the same room but that section was not C-3 when you booked. Definitely bait and switch to me. I'm always too chicken to book guarantee and this confirms my hesitation. They absolutely should find you something within the parameters of what was C class when you booked. Good luck!

[minz56]

One thing I would be interested to know with regards to the allocation of GTY cabins, is whether this is done by a human being or by the computer.

 

I suspect that a human being would be more random ...

[Karynanne]

One thing I would be interested to know with regards to the allocation of GTY cabins, is whether this is done by a human being or by the computer.

 

I suspect that a human being would be more random ...

 

Our Travel Agent told me that almost all "Guarantees" are done my a computer program. I'm sure there are exceptions, but this is the information I was given a few weeks ago.

[Iamthesea]

Are there any other C3's available on the ship...in a good spot? You can have your TA change you to one of those now that you have an assignment.;)

[SRQCruiser189]

We are going with our first guaranteed cabin. Booked Aqua class in February. As best as I can tell, the ship has been sold out for weeks. Leaving Saturday and we have yet to hear our cabin.

 

It seems unusual, in reading the threads, that the assignment is so late. Any ideas why there might be this delay? Have others had to wait til the last day or two? BTW, I know that their literature says it could be to the last day. They are treating us fairly, but I see so many instances where the assignment is weeks in advance.

 

Thanks

[DaisyFire]

We have been with the same TA for many years, and recently we had a discussion about "Guarantees". What was the cruiseline's criteria, etc.? We were told that there is a computer program that decides the assignments.

 

Twice we have booked a Suite Guarantee, and both times under unusual circumstances.

 

The first time we had paid a very high fare for an S2 cabin. We were happy with this particular cabin, but immediately after final payment, the total price of the cabin dropped by over $4000.00.

 

At that time there was a Suite Guarantee (W) available. In our case, there weren't any S1 or S2 cabins left...only CS and above. We changed our booking to a Suite Guarantee...still keeping the higher fare, and gambled on one of the higher Suites. We were assigned a Royal Suite.

 

The second time, we again booked an S2 cabin, and again at a very high fare. But we wanted to go on this particular cruise, so we paid the fee. And again, after final payment, the Suite fares dropped dramatically, and there was a Suite Guarantee available. This time it was a $4500.00 drop in fares.

 

But there was a game changer in changing our booking. We would lose our original deposit fee, and possibly not get our cabin of choice. But we again gambled and ultimately ended up with same cabin...and a savings of $3400.00.

 

My point is...if you know the risks, and are willing to jump in and be happy with a choice, and possibly get lucky...then go for it. But you had better be pretty knowledgeable about what your risking, and what you could possibly lose in the process.

 

For our future bookings, we just may wait until after final payment to book Suites. We enjoy the extra space and locations.

 

Hi Karynanne!

 

I am intrigued by the rebookings you described above. I was under the impression that after final payment, you cannot update your reservation if the price drops. So - does that mean you cancelled, incurred the cancellation penalty and then rebooked? In one example you did state that you had to forfeit your deposit so it sounds like that might be the case, but in the first example - you say you paid the same rate. So does that mean that you were allowed to change to another cabin category that was currently priced lower than yours - so long as you paid the rate you had already agreed to?

 

Thanks!

Marguerite

[lupa]

What is the cabin #? You're right, I don't see any CC cabins on the 9th floor forward, only in the aft. If you booked a CC guarantee, there is an error and you need to contact your TA ASAP. You ARE guaranteed at least a C3 cabin or higher. It is very unlikely that they'll change your cabin once assigned.

 

However, once you receive your CC cabin assignment, you can change into any other available cabin in that same class, i.e. C3, C2, etc.

 

Please come back and let us know what happens.

 

Today someone from Celebrity called, saying that my TA had asked them to contact me about my issue of being assigned a 1B stateroom for a C3 booking. Here's what I found out-

 

Regarding the recategorizing of the Deck 9 1B staterooms to C3, they said there is 'such a demand for C3 bookings' they opted to change that block of staterooms for some of the Alaska cruises this Spring on the Solstice and one other ship ( I assume this must be due to the big sale last month offering gratuities and beverage plan for Concierge bookings and higher and they want to sell as many cabins as possible at the higher price).

 

They said they deck plans have not been updated to reflect changes of cabin categories because this change is only temporary.

 

They said every Concierge amenity and perk will be the same for the reclassified cabins, the only difference is that the cabins are usually offered as 1B without the extra amenities we will be receiving.

 

I explained to the representative that when I considered booking Concierge Guarantee, all of the available C class cabins shown on the Celebrity website deck plans were mid-ship or aft. I made it clear I understood that part of booking Guarantee means that you don't get to pick your location but, being assigned in a different area of the ship than typical C class staterooms seemed a stretch the Guarantee concept that you will be assigned to at least the category cabin or higher. (We had been assigned to a 1B cabin located at the front of the ship on Deck 9 ).

 

The representative offered to move us- and I accepted. We'll still be in that 're-categorized block of cabins' but will be about 20 staterooms further back which will be a little better- especially because the very front cabin we had been assigned to also shared a wall with either crew quarters or a service area. There was no review posted for that cabin (9102) but 9101 had reviews saying there was crew door slamming 24/7 in the area immediately adjacent.

 

So I agreed to the offer to moved back 20 cabins and I made sure to confirm that the move doesn't affect any other aspect of our reservations or amenities.

I do think that people should be aware that Celebrity is opting to change categories of staterooms as they 'run out' of available staterooms in the higher categories. I would not have booked Guarantee if I knew about it in advance and I will definitely keep this in mind in the future.

[Iamthesea]

Great going for you! :)

[DYKWIA]

Today someone from Celebrity called......

 

They said every Concierge amenity and perk will be the same for the reclassified cabins, the only difference is that the cabins are usually offered as 1B without the extra amenities we will be receiving.

 

.

 

Don't they have different shower fixtures in the concierge cabins ?

 

If it's an easy fix for Celebrity i'm surprised they don't do this more often (and just put iti the small print that your assigned concierge room could be a 1b 1c whatever.

 

The cruise we're currently looking at the guaranteed concierge rooms are cheaper than all other balconys (including 2d!) apart from the guaranteed balcony category.

[varoo]

We are going with our first guaranteed cabin. Booked Aqua class in February. As best as I can tell, the ship has been sold out for weeks. Leaving Saturday and we have yet to hear our cabin.

 

It seems unusual, in reading the threads, that the assignment is so late. Any ideas why there might be this delay? Have others had to wait til the last day or two? BTW, I know that their literature says it could be to the last day. They are treating us fairly, but I see so many instances where the assignment is weeks in advance.

Have you checked your reservation number under your Celebrity account?

 

That is the place where our cabin assignments always show up first whenever we book a guarantee.

 

If your reservation is not already listed there, you can click a link and add it.

 

[SRQCruiser189]

Thanks. Yes, that is where they told us to look. Since day 1, the following appears.....

 

Stateroom :

You booked AquaClass<small>^®</small> Stateroom Guarantee View

[dutchclogs]

We are going with our first guaranteed cabin. Booked Aqua class in February. As best as I can tell, the ship has been sold out for weeks. Leaving Saturday and we have yet to hear our cabin.

 

It seems unusual, in reading the threads, that the assignment is so late. Any ideas why there might be this delay? Have others had to wait til the last day or two? BTW, I know that their literature says it could be to the last day. They are treating us fairly, but I see so many instances where the assignment is weeks in advance.

 

Thanks

 

Do let us know the eventual outcome! I asked the exact same question -- we know X conditions state assignment could be up to day of sailing but in practice there are many instances of earlier assignment-- to my TA . She said in her experience assignment was 'most often not' until final payment but she had known cases of assignment being the week of sailing or so. Did you book AQ guarantee? Good luck!

[SRQCruiser189]

Yes. We booked AQ Guarantee. I am happy we did because the pricing was very favorable, but I had no idea that I would be checking frequently and wondering where we will be booked.

 

Well, at least I will chill out about this by Saturday afternoon on the boat!

[tbmrt]

I had corresponded with someone on CC who did a last minute booking...Hubby had lost his job and they had other personal problems so they decided to get away even though $ was very tight.

 

We met onboard and they invited us to their cabin. When we got there I noticed that we were in a suite area.

 

Shocked when we entered.....They were bumped up from a guar. inside to a suite, complete w/butler, etc.

[SRQCruiser189]

OK. We received our cabin assignment last night and...........AQ2 as promised. Cabin 9044. Thanks Celebrity, we are on our way.

[FlorenceItaly]

OK. We received our cabin assignment last night and...........AQ2 as promised. Cabin 9044. Thanks Celebrity, we are on our way.

 

Thanks for the update. Bon Voyage!

[DinaS]

I had corresponded with someone on CC who did a last minute booking...Hubby had lost his job and they had other personal problems so they decided to get away even though $ was very tight.

 

We met onboard and they invited us to their cabin. When we got there I noticed that we were in a suite area.

 

Shocked when we entered.....They were bumped up from a guar. inside to a suite, complete w/butler, etc.

 

Just curious to know - was it their first time on Celebrity?

[tbmrt]

Just curious to know - was it their first time on Celebrity?

 

Not sure...

[Stefan_Cruise]

Hi!

 

Two days ago we booked a GTY Suite on the Constellation for the sailing on the 11th of july from Venice. There was a price difference between GTY and S1 (about $ 550,-- per person - although the price was really unexpensive $ 4.564,-- for both for a 8 night cruise including $ 500,-- OBC, free classic beverage package and free tips). With the booking I made the final payment. There are 46 days to the embarkation!

 

Does anyone now when celebrity is showing the cabin number (there a six suites left to book)?

 

P.S. I booked a lot of GTY cabins with Seabourn! And always got a nice cabin!

Edited May 25, 2015 by Stefan_Cruise