If you've ever booked a guaranty cabin, were you pleased with the result or not?

[Clarea]

How long prior to sailing do they assign the cabin?

No set time. Could be assigned immediately, or on the day of the cruise.

[Keith1010]

The risk will be where no the deck you are located.

 

If you have no concerns about getting sea sick it is not an issue.

 

Keith

[Piggeldy]

We have so far been on three cruises (with the fourth one booked) and have booked guarantee cabins three times. We never received a major upgrade but were always happy with what we got.

 

For our second cruise (Celebrity) we booked a midship balcony on deck 6, then paid for an upgrade to a Concierge guarantee (20 Euros per person) and received a C2 on the hump with an oversized balcony. Loved it.

For our third cruise (Cunard) we booked an inside guarantee (all that was available) and received an IE (second lowest category) which we were completely happy with.

For our upcoming cruise (Royal) we booked a D3 guarantee and have already received an unexpected upgrade to a D2... our travel agent made a mistake and offered a D3 but booked a D2, they have credited us for the price difference. We hope to be as happy with what we receive as we have previously been.

 

However, I really don't care if I am under the gym or the galley (we were right under the Princess/Queens Grill galley on QM2 and didn't hear a thing, on Eclipse we were close to the forward elevators - again, no problem at all) and have no preferences concerning location (forward, midships, aft).

I am sure you can end up in less than stellar locations though. Our table mates on QM2 changed cabins twice during an 11 night cruise because they were unhappy (first one must have had some kind of high whistling noise that wouldn't let them sleep, second one was creaking and was dirty when they were moved, they weren't happy with the third cabin either but stayed... no idea if it was them or bad luck).

[Jeannie333333]

Hi,

 

Whenever a guarantee room is available, I usually book it. Bit more risky with a UK booking, as you get what you are assigned with no chance to change - which is a bit unfair and I have no idea why UK bookings are not allowed to do that :(

 

That said, we booked a JS gty and was assigned a JS, then 2 weeks before sailing checked my booking and we had been moved to a GS !! Yayyy...:D

Booked an obstructed Gty balcony on Anthem - and received a D6 unobstructed..so very happy

Recently booked 2 x Gty balcony on Harmony and got assigned a D4 & D6..so happy again coz I don't know what is good and what is bad on the Oasis class ships.

 

I always assume I will get the worse cabin, then Im very happy if it isn't . My personal opinion is that if you assume you would get the worst and would be happy with that assignment - go for it.

 

We have saved quite a lot of money bookings Gty's - which means more cruising for us!!

 

Good luck with your choice

 

Jean :)

[cheezwiz]

The idea of booking a guarantee is one of those cruise details that seems really mysterious to those who have never done it or known someone who has. Often enough, threads on the subject, when not announcing fantastic upgrades, are begun by someone who was not pleased and ends up in one of those "you should have known better" pile-ons with which we are all too familiar.

 

There is so much good information here that I hope the "regulars" will suggest people search for this thread should new cruisers inquire about guarantee cabins.

 

Many thanks to all!

Cheezwiz

Edited February 23, 2016 by cheezwiz

[Funbobby68]

It's my first time booking will see how it pans out in the end , might be the new normal for us

[SteadyBetty]

I recently cruised in an inside cabin, which was a first for me. As a solo, my husband's preference for a balcony didn't matter so I decided to save a few bucks. I was pretty pleased with the experience and expect to do a few more solo cruises in the future. I'm considering trying a guaranty and would love to know whether folks were pleased to have taken that choice, or regretted it. Please tell me some of your stories! Thanks!

 

With my upcoming cruise on Anthem, I am both pleased and "bummed" (a little).

 

I booked a Studio Guarantee since this is my first solo cruise and I was super-excited to check out the new studios after reading about them and watching videos of them. I was especially eyeing the elongated balcony. A week after booking, I checked online and saw I was assigned to a D7-Superior Oceanview w/Balcony. While I was happy about the upgrade, I still wanted to see how that Studio slept.

 

Guess, I will have to book another Quantum class cruise and grab a Studio!

[2BSailin]

Have been very happy the times we have booked a guarantee! In fact, just received an upgrade on our April cruise - E3 to D2. Very happy with cabin and location....

[DaniDanielle]

We were assigned an aft cabin on our June Liberty cruise. Huge balcony, loved it.

[texas bound]

Our first time booking gty. Ocean view gty on Liberty are shown as deck 2. Was hoping to get higher as son is on deck 10. Could it get changed on day of departure? Right now we're by skating rink.

 

 

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[KG1924]

We've only done it once-on our current cruise booked for the Allure in May. We were just assigned yesterday to a D5 on deck 14...of all the "available" cabins that I could see, we ended up w/ what we would consider worst case option. But we took that gamble and we paid about 1k less then what it would be for us to pick our cabin....in that case it's a no brainer and we would do it everytime. If the savings were minimal (in my head, $100 or under) then we may not do it.

 

That being said, we were able to switch to at least a better location in our opinion in the same category. We would have probably never picked a deck 14 cabin, so maybe we'll like it??? You don't know until you try it :)

[jmf123]

Many years ago I booked an Inside ROS (Run of Ship) on the Voyager. We received our cabin assignment upon embarkation and were thrilled to open the door to a D1- our first balcony! Other than that one time (and on the Royal Majesty, where a friend and I shared a 118 s.f. Interior :)) we've always booked an assigned stateroom in Oceanview, Balcony, or JS.

[cheezwiz]

So far, it looks like those delighted outnumber the not-so-pleased about 4 to 1, but my rough eyeball count. Even those who wouldn't do it again seem at least philosophical about the outcome, rather than really put out by it.

 

The savings that can be realized through a guarantee are pretty appealing, even without the remote chance of an upgrade. However, a couple of the sailings I've looked at have the balcony guarantee priced HIGHER than the regular balcony choices. These would be upcoming April/May sailings on Adventure. I wonder what that's about?

[UandMe4Ever]

Have been very happy the times we have booked a guarantee! In fact' date=' just received an upgrade on our April cruise - E3 to D2. Very happy with cabin and location....[/quote']

 

Hi did it 2x...Once, many years ago called "run of the ship". We wound up next door to where the staff hang out. HORRIBLE...so loud every night. we complained but they said they had nothing else to change us too. never again.

 

Tried again a couple of years ago on explorer...wound up with a very, very forward hull cabin. we paid more and got a better cabin, higher up and near mid...

 

NEVER EVER AGAIN!!! pay for what we can afford and we approximately we want to be located.

 

That's my story and I'm sticking to it :-)

[jmf123]

Our first time booking gty. Ocean view gty on Liberty are shown as deck 2. Was hoping to get higher as son is on deck 10. Could it get changed on day of departure? Right now we're by skating rink.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

Sounds like you were assigned a Category I on Deck 2. That is the only deck offering that category. CAT H (Oceanview) are located on Decks 3, 6, and 7, and CAT F (Large Oceanview) are offered on Decks 6-10. You could ask about availability/cost of upgrading to a CAT H or F to be on a higher deck. Otherwise, your stateroom near the ice rink should be a quiet location, stable (low on ship), and just a few more seconds in the elevator. :)

[cheezwiz]

Hi did it 2x...Once, many years ago called "run of the ship". We wound up next door to where the staff hang out. HORRIBLE...so loud every night. we complained but they said they had nothing else to change us too. never again.

 

Tried again a couple of years ago on explorer...wound up with a very, very forward hull cabin. we paid more and got a better cabin, higher up and near mid...

 

NEVER EVER AGAIN!!! pay for what we can afford and we approximately we want to be located.

 

That's my story and I'm sticking to it :-)

 

Thanks for posting this! It's important to balance all these good reports with the fact that it can go badly!

[cruisegirl1]

If you care at all about your cabin location please do not consider a guarantee. We've booked a guarantee maybe 20 times. At this point, cabin location is not that important to us. Throughout the years, we've been able to book some of the most desirable cabins, corner afts, center afts, center humps, specific suites and really enjoyed those cabins. We are somewhat "over that " and are now very happy with guarantees. We decide the minimum type of cabin we want i.e. suite, balcony, OV etc. and if there is a guarantee in that category, we book it in a heartbeat.

 

Most of the time the assignment has been OK and have been assigned in the guaranteed category. Only once or twice were we given a category higher than that promised. Just for clarification, if I am booking a balcony guarantee, I don't consider a balcony on deck nine any better than a balcony on deck 8. There were a few times that the assigned category was sold out so we were not able to change our cabin if the location was a little subpar.

 

I would never book a guarantee with the hopes of getting a better category cabin. The best advice I can give is to pick the particular category you want, and then determine if location is important. If not – go with the guarantee. I always take a look at the worst cabin in the guarantee category, even if it is not showing as available, as that may be the assignment. If I'm happy with that I go for it. If one has mobility issues I would advise against a guarantee as the walk to the elevator could be too difficult.

 

Good luck all

M

[robtulipe]

We definitely learned from our booking 2 weeks ago for our March 7th Anthem cruise that the RCI computer doesn't consider C&A status when making cabin assignments to guarantee bookings. When we booked the only option for us to have a regular, non-suite balcony cabin was to book an X guarantee as no balcony categories, even DO, were showing available for selection.

The next day we were assigned one of the worst view deck 6 DO balconies as its outward view is at least 80% blocked because of two lifeboat davits, one right in front and the other right beside that balcony. It's only good feature was it was mid-ship and it had a slightly larger balcony. Being on Anthem for it's Jan.3rd sailing last month, I have shots of that cabin's balcony which was below and to the left of our deck ten balcony we had then which by the way was a D7 assigned to the X guarantee we booked in late October while on our back to back Freedom of the Seas cruises..

There were 11 Spa JS available prior to our assignment and all disappeared the day of our assignment and a few higher category cat. D were now available for selection booking. The RCI web site shows one of the benefits of being Diamond Plus is priority access to and reduced rate upgrades when available. There were higher category D balcony cabins available after our DO balcony cabin was assigned and nothing was ever done nor offered us in this respect.

We were simply informed by RCI the room assignments are done by computer software and not by humans. It’s not personal, it’s all computer driven and C&A status priority upgrades benefit isn't applicable with guarantee assignments is exactly what the RCI agent stated, after checking with her supervisor. That's not exactly what RCI website shows on their C&A benefits page. See this below.

By the way when I called in I had simply requested that we be put back into the X balcony guarantee pool and had mentioned the D+ priority upgrade benefit while doing so. In our opinion we couldn't be assigned a much worst view balcony cabin. Well I concede there are a few worst obstructed view DO balconies on Anthem, but not many. Even though an X guarantee was still a booking option available online RCI wouldn't even do that for us. They would sell that guarantee pool spot to anyone and not give a chance to a C&A D+ member for another assignment which is what we found very hard to fathom since we would be in the same boat in this respect with anyone else with an X guarantee. We've seen it posted here many times that others have been able to do this but we've never done this in our 20 or so guarantees we've done.

As it turns out a much better mid-lifeboat view DO, on the rear jump did showed up available a few days later. I called in to RCI and got us switched to that better view DO cabin. I did send an email message to C&A and to Mr. Bayley's office re the above and to RCI credit someone from their executive office did contact us on this matter. By then all the higher category regular balconies were again gone and that person said we would just likely be assigned the same DO we now had if we went into that pool again and we didn't want to chance getting another terrible view DO again. They did give us some onboard benefits in consideration of the manner our request was handled. the real funny part was when they initially called and left a message to call them back she added that they were pleased to inform us that they had assigned us a better view cabin. Of course when I checked it was the still the same DO cabin I had seen and switched to.

It was also mentioned that maybe the upgrade option we had in our C&A profile was such that prevented our upgrade but we both have prefer automatic upgrade checked off and that wouldn't apply with a guarantee anyway.

 

Below is what shows on the C&A benefits page.

 

 

19 We may, in our sole discretion, offer complimentary upgrades to Diamond Plus and Pinnacle members if stateroom upgrades are available. Please provide the upgrade preference information requested below, which will be considered if a stateroom upgrade is offered to you. Neither upgrades nor upgrade preferences are guaranteed.

 

Double Crown and Anchor Society points are not applicable for reduced or complimentary upgrades, that would berth a guest into a deluxe or suite category.

 

This whole episode reminds us of our first RCI cruise on Empress of the Seas, then the Nordic Empress. We booked an inside Z guarantee and got the most forward possible deck 2 inside cabin by a service doorway. You would almost think RCI considered us newbies again for this cruise anyway. :D

Edited February 23, 2016 by robtulipe

[Clarea]

Bob, I really don't think the assignment of guarantee staterooms is considered an upgrade. I think it's two different processes.

[robtulipe]

Bob, I really don't think the assignment of guarantee staterooms is considered an upgrade. I think it's two different processes.

 

Yes I agree RCI considers it two different processes and that's what I confirmed with our most recent booking but that is unclear as stated on the C&A benefits page as upgrades from the minimum are assigned to guarantees. I'm certain upgrades were done the day we got our DO, possible to others with X guarantees. As I stated C&A status doesn't come into play when assigning upgraded or any cabins to a guarantee. In fact that's what I read here previously on CC.

What really bothered us was that RCI wouldn't put us back into the guarantee pool when they were still selling X guarantees to others. We booked late thus paid the full amount due when booked and were in the 75% penalty period already. If you read my post that's all we wanted. I read here on CC and in my discussions with others onboard ships of people doing that many times with an guarantee to get an upgrade. In fact today RCI's website is still offering a X guarantee for our sailing. Going back into that pool was denied us the only time we ever tried to do this as there were no other DO cabins showing available to switch to and we had one of the worst obstructed DO balconies. Lucky for a better DO did show up a little later but no other have since that one did and our originally assigned DO disappeared quickly.

Actually most of our past guarantee bookings have worked out well for us. We've either have gotten assigned a cabin to our liking immediately or have been able to switch to such a cabin in the same category.

All except that first cruise with RCI on the Nordic Empress but then I wasn't on CC and didn't know about switching cabins after an assignment. It was a few years before we booked a guarantee again and by then I was on this forum. :D

Edited February 23, 2016 by robtulipe

[Clarea]

Yes I agree RCI considers it two different processes and that's what I confirmed with our most recent booking but that is unclear as stated on the C&A benefits page....

Yes, very surprising that Royal would publish something unclear.:rolleyes:

[cruisegirl1]

Bob, I really don't think the assignment of guarantee staterooms is considered an upgrade. I think it's two different processes.

 

Agreed. And, C&A status does not figure into any guarantee assignment. Given some of the less than desirable assignments we've had, there must be an inverse relationship between the points one has and the guarantee assignment.

 

M

[GUT2407]

Never regretted it but health has needed us to become fussier over the years.

[BigHouseFootball]

So question for everyone, which may sound dumb, but how do you go about booking a guarantee cabin? I have never seen that option available on the website? Do you have to go through a travel agent, or call RC directly? Or am I not looking in the right place when booking?

[GUT2407]

So question for everyone, which may sound dumb, but how do you go about booking a guarantee cabin? I have never seen that option available on the website? Do you have to go through a travel agent, or call RC directly? Or am I not looking in the right place when booking?

 

If your not picking your cabin by number, you're booking a guarantee.