Guarantee cabin on long voyage

[ehogan]

We are booked in a guarantee cabin on a long voyage that is also being sold in three separate segments. We have booked the entire cruise as one voyage.

 

We are not fussy people, but is there a chance we might have to move cabins during the cruise?

 

Thanks in advance for your comments.

[GUT2407]

If you have booked as one cruise No you should not have to change cabins, but will have the one cabin throughout the cruise.

[Mary Ellen]

There is always a chance you might have to move, but they will do their best to keep you in the same cabin. FIL once took 5 cruises in a row with a guarantee cabin. He didn't get his cabin assignment until a day or two before sailing, but he had the same cabin for all 50+ days.

[GUT2407]

There is always a chance you might have to move, but they will do their best to keep you in the same cabin. FIL once took 5 cruises in a row with a guarantee cabin. He didn't get his cabin assignment until a day or two before sailing, but he had the same cabin for all 50+ days.

 

 

But 5 cruises in a row is different to one long cruise.

[OCruisers]

We are booked in a guarantee cabin on a long voyage that is also being sold in three separate segments. We have booked the entire cruise as one voyage.

We are not fussy people, but is there a chance we might have to move cabins during the cruise?

Thanks in advance for your comments.

 

With only one reservation # it will be the same cabin for all three segments. :)

 

LuLu

[catl331]

You may be offered a chance to upgrade for later segments.

[take us away]

Agree that you should be able to keep one cabin for the entire cruise as you booked this as 1 cruise - but then there may be upgrades offered.

[rkacruiser]

For a long voyage, I would want to know for certain where I am going to be living for that period of time. While there may be some cost savings by doing this, I would not ever consider such an arrangement.

 

I do not mean to offend, but I find your thinking to be rather short-sighted.

Edited June 23, 2015 by rkacruiser

[catl331]

For a long voyage, I would want to know for certain where I am going to be living for that period of time. While there may be some cost savings by doing this, I would not ever consider such an arrangement.

 

I do not mean to offend, but I find your thinking to be rather short-sighted.

Some of us have to book what we can afford, and hope for an upgrade to what we would prefer - especially on longer voyages.

.

Edited June 23, 2015 by catl331

[kazu]

For a long voyage, I would want to know for certain where I am going to be living for that period of time. While there may be some cost savings by doing this, I would not ever consider such an arrangement.

 

I do not mean to offend, but I find your thinking to be rather short-sighted.

 

Some of us have to book what we can afford, and hope for an upgrade to what we would prefer - especially on longer voyages.

.

 

I didn't realize there was that much of a difference in price between a guarantee and a chosen cabin on long cruises. I've only seen around $300 but those are only the ones that I have looked at.

 

I would be very nervous doing a long cruise (30+ days) and not choosing my location.

 

You learn something new every day.

[pv girl]

Have to chime in here - booking a guarantee is not an unwise decision IF YOU WOULD BE HAPPY IN THE CATEGORY BOOKED. For some, location is not a big deal. And the cost savings is sometimes a good deal. What is a mistake, is to book a guarantee in a room you know you will hate, hoping for an upgrade.

 

I have most of the time got a small upgrade from the guarantee booked - e.g. HH to C. Only once did I get a great upgrade - HH to BB Vista Suite. And twice got exactly what I booked - once an MM and once a porthole G.

 

My upcoming Norway trip, I knew I would not be happy with less than a balcony for the views, so booked a guarantee BB Vista Suite at a good sale price. Got assigned a mid-ship A. Would have been okay with the BB though.

[kazu]

Have to chime in here - booking a guarantee is not an unwise decision IF YOU WOULD BE HAPPY IN THE CATEGORY BOOKED. For some, location is not a big deal. And the cost savings is sometimes a good deal. What is a mistake, is to book a guarantee in a room you know you will hate, hoping for an upgrade.

 

I have most of the time got a small upgrade from the guarantee booked - e.g. HH to C. Only once did I get a great upgrade - HH to BB Vista Suite. And twice got exactly what I booked - once an MM and once a porthole G.

 

My upcoming Norway trip, I knew I would not be happy with less than a balcony for the views, so booked a guarantee BB Vista Suite at a good sale price. Got assigned a mid-ship A. Would have been okay with the BB though.

 

agree that you should select the minimum you would be happy with and you are very wise.

 

But....the OP is crossing the Pacific I believe - I think location could potentially be important if there is motion to the ocean. We normally do a number of ocean crossings and I guess that is why I am so fussy on location and choosing ;)

[RuthC]

Have to chime in here - booking a guarantee is not an unwise decision IF YOU WOULD BE HAPPY IN THE CATEGORY BOOKED. For some, location is not a big deal. And the cost savings is sometimes a good deal. What is a mistake, is to book a guarantee in a room you know you will hate, hoping for an upgrade.

That's the thinking when booking one cruise.

 

However, OP is booking three separate cruises as, essentially, a Collector's Cruise. In that case the question becomes do you want to risk getting different cabins for each segment, allowing for the possibility of an upgrade on one or more of them, or do you want to guarantee not having to move between cruises.

That makes the question a lot more complex.

 

OP didn't object to moving, only asked if it was possible. Possible? Yes. HAL will do the best it can to put OP in one cabin for the entire cruise, but there is a possibility OP will have to move.

[Tante Amalie]

You won't have to change cabins, but you are taking a big risk. For reasons unknown to anyone but HAL, there are some very undesirable cabins that have a fairly high category. You could end up in a crappy cabin for a long trip. I don' think it's worth the risk, but that's up to you. You might get lucky and have a good cabin that sells for a higher price than you paid, but you might end up under the MDR or Showroom and spend your entire trip wishing that you had locked in a quiet and comfortable cabin.

[catl331]

I didn't realize there was that much of a difference in price between a guarantee and a chosen cabin on long cruises. I've only seen around $300 but those are only the ones that I have looked at.

We have never seen a difference in price between a gty and a specifically selected cabin of the same level on the same day. The only savings comes when you get an upgrade to a higher level cabin than you paid for ... and we have gotten upgrades on all 9 of our guarantees. (The best was 17 steps, from an H to a V on the N.A.)

 

Where did you see a $300 difference between a gty and a chosen cabin of the same level on the same day?

 

However, OP is booking three separate cruises as, essentially, a Collector's Cruise.

No, OP said

We are booked in a guarantee cabin on a long voyage that is also being sold in three separate segments. We have booked the entire cruise as one voyage.

Edited June 23, 2015 by catl331

[Tampa Girl]

We have never seen a difference in price between a gty and a specifically selected cabin of the same level on the same day. The only savings comes when you get an upgrade to a higher level cabin than you paid for ... and we have gotten upgrades on all 9 of our guarantees. (The best was 17 steps, from an H to a V on the N.A.)

 

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Perhaps I misunderstood you, but I have never not seen a difference between a guarantee and a specific cabin at the lowest level of that category, i.e. balcony; signature suite; etc. Usually around $200 for a 10 - 15 day cruise. Actually, I guess that makes the guarantee the lowest level, doesn't it?

[RuthC]

No, OP said:

(quote)Originally Posted by ehogan

We are booked in a guarantee cabin on a long voyage that is also being sold in three separate segments. We have booked the entire cruise as one voyage.

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Which is precisely what a Collectors' cruise is. OP is taking one cruise in the sense that they board and disembark once, and have one booking number. But HAL is selling three separate cruises.

 

The odds are great that OP will be assigned the same cabin throughout, but it is not a given.

[catl331]

Actually, I guess that makes the guarantee the lowest level, doesn't it?

No.

 

You can do a guarantee at any category and step level. We have twice done VE gtys to be certain that we would not get a VF on deck 4 with steel railings or a VT on the Eurodam. (*) Had we chosen a specific VE at that time the price would have been exactly the same as the gty - but we were gambling on getting an upgrade, and we did.

 

Now if you tell your TA that you just want a "balcony guarantee" s/he's going to put you down for a VH gty, which is, of course, one or two hundred dollars cheaper than the VE. In other words, it's not that fact that it's a guarantee that makes it cheaper, it's that the cabins being advertised as "guarantee only" are at a lower level. When you are just browsing for prices it's not obvious that the VE gty is the same price as a specific VE, but they always are. At least in our experience.

 

Call a TA and ask for a price on a specific cabin, and then ask how much for a guarantee of the same category and step level.

 

(*) Note that this will no longer work because after the re-categorization in 2014 there are now VEs on deck 4 with the steel railings.

.

Edited June 23, 2015 by catl331

[cruz chic]

You won't have to change cabins, but you are taking a big risk. For reasons unknown to anyone but HAL, there are some very undesirable cabins that have a fairly high category. You could end up in a crappy cabin for a long trip. I don' think it's worth the risk, but that's up to you. You might get lucky and have a good cabin that sells for a higher price than you paid, but you might end up under the MDR or Showroom and spend your entire trip wishing that you had locked in a quiet and comfortable cabin.

 

I see this type of post way too often. Most of the time I take a cruise I book a guarantee. That's about 350 actual sailing days with hal, which includes collectors cruises. It's been rare when I've been assigned a crappy cabin. I find posts like this come from posters that never have done a guarantee so real experience of what can happen is very limited and usually consists of stories heard on cc.

[cruz chic]

No.

 

You can do a guarantee at any category and step level. We have twice done VE gtys to be certain that we would not get a VF on deck 4 with steel railings or a VT on the Eurodam. (*) Had we chosen a specific VE at that time the price would have been exactly the same as the gty.

 

Now if you tell your TA that you just want a "balcony guarantee" s/he's going to put you down for a VH gty, which is, of course, a couple of hundred dollars cheaper than the VE. When you are just browsing for prices it's not obvious that the VE gty is the same price as a specific one. Call a TA and ask for a price on a specific cabin and then ask how much for a guarantee of the same category and step level.

 

(*) Note that this will no longer work because after the re-categorization in 2014 there are now VEs on deck 4 with the steel railings.

 

It's difficult to book a VH guarantee now because hal doesn't generally roll them out until sometime after final payment. They have also put those sucky VT cabins up to the second highest catagory in the balcony catagory which is just wrong. If anything they belong in the oceanview catagory.

[Boytjie]

The OP asked whether they may have to change cabins if they had a guarantee booked on a long cruise. The OP did not ask for opinions on whether to book a guarantee or not, so why post opinions against about why guarantees?

 

The OP specifically stated: "We are not fussy people".

 

SMH

[DeeniEncinitas]

The OP asked whether they may have to change cabins if they had a guarantee booked on a long cruise. The OP did not ask for opinions on whether to book a guarantee or not, so why post opinions against about why guarantees?

 

The OP specifically stated: "We are not fussy people".

 

SMH

 

I agree with you Peter! Kind of got off topic.

Denise:)

[kazu]

The OP asked whether they may have to change cabins if they had a guarantee booked on a long cruise. The OP did not ask for opinions on whether to book a guarantee or not, so why post opinions against about why guarantees?

 

The OP specifically stated: "We are not fussy people".

 

SMH

 

I was one of the ones that posted a warning on a guarantee and yes, I have had a guarantee cabin on shorter cruises. Certainly, I don't like thread drift and apologize for doing but......

 

As per my post #12, I posted as the OP is going on a LONG cruise (not a Caribbean collector) and will be doing a transpacific crossing. IMO location can be important on a trans oceanic sailing and thought I should share with the OP based on experience and reports from fellow passengers.

[Krazy Kruizers]

OP

I am sure that HAL will do everything they can to assure that you will have the same cabin for that long a cruise and certainly since you booked it as one cruise.

I know that your cruise is a way off, but do let us know what happens.

[catl331]

It's difficult to book a VH guarantee now because hal doesn't generally roll them out until sometime after final payment.

True, they don't advertise them as being available until late - but last year friends of ours told a PCC about 6 months before a cruise that they wanted a balcony guarantee at the lowest possible price, and what was put in their OnLine CheckIn forms was VH Guar.

 

In the end they were assigned a VT, which was a little disappointing at first, but by the end of the cruise (a North Atlantic T-A) they realized that they wouldn't have done much sitting outside on a larger balcony anyway, and the tiny balcony high up was great for views when entering, in, or leaving ports.