Princess Guarantee Results

[paul929207]

I often see people asking about guarantees, what they will get and when they will get it. This is just my experience. I don't know if it made any difference, but I am Elite and sail regularly with Princess.

 

I booked a cruise last November and got an Obstructed View guarantee. (Category OV). It is for a July 9, 2016 sailing.

 

I saw yesterday on Princess.com that I have been assigned to cabin E508. This is a obstructed view cabin, just what I booked.

[Kinkacruiser]

I often see people asking about guarantees, what they will get and when they will get it. This is just my experience. I don't know if it made any difference, but I am Elite and sail regularly with Princess.

 

I booked a cruise last November and got an Obstructed View guarantee. (Category OV). It is for a July 9, 2016 sailing.

 

I saw yesterday on Princess.com that I have been assigned to cabin E508. This is a obstructed view cabin, just what I booked.

 

No doubt you are pleased that you didn't receive a less favorable upgrade...and surely that's what a "guarantee" cabin booking is all about.

Enjoy your July cruise.

[Yehootu]

How booked is your cruise? I booked my Mom who's an Elite into E735, Premium Balcony aft facing on the Carib as a solo and my wife and I as a Balcony Guarantee. I logged on to Princess and thought I'd made a mistake as the room listed was E734. The other "Premium" balcony on E deck. What a surprise, and it was done a month or so before the cruise.

I would assume a guar room would depend on the amount of rooms booked vs the amount of guar booked in each category.Ya roll the dice, sometimes you crap out. Looks like you got the pass line.

[OCruisers]

Guarantees are Dicey!

Sometimes you "luck out" and sometimes you don't!

[paul929207]

I got what I paid for, so I have complaints.

[CruisinChris]

Many people don't realize that you can book a specific cabin and book it as a guarantee. This can be a very good strategy.

[lovevacadays]

Thank you for posting your experience. I hope you have a great cruise. I have only booked one guarantee. It was an obstructed OV and I got upgrade to a ocean view cabin on Plaza deck. I was very happy.

[Times Prince]

Before the latest change in cabin categories we often would book a guarantee cabin. The worst we ever got was a cabin in the category we booked, however the majority of the time we were assigned something better than the category we paid for.

 

This goes back to the oft posted saying "never book a guarantee for a cabin category that would not satisfy you, in the hopes of an upgraded cabin assignment." You could end up with exactly what you booked.

 

Many people don't realize that you can book a specific cabin and book it as a guarantee. This can be a very good strategy.

Please explain. My understanding is that a guarantee is simply that you will pay a certain price and a cabin will be assigned in that category or better.

 

Booking a specific cabin is not a guarantee, however one can book a specific cabin and signify that an upgraded cabin assignment is acceptable. That is not, in common parlance, a "guarantee" booking.

Edited June 23, 2016 by Times Prince

[bigenna]

We have only twice booked guarantee cabins, interior. On a seven day Alaska cruise on July 1st we waited and waited for our assignment, finally two days before sailing we got a balcony. Very happy with that.

The other time again interior guarantee on a one day cruise we were assigned a mini suite. For one day didn't really matter.

Both of these were booked only about 45-60 days prior to sailing.

[moki'smommy]

In my experience, the closer you book to your embarkation date, the more likely you are to be upgraded. But that could just be me.

 

I fully agree that you should always book something where you will be happy. If the upgrade fairy comes to call, that's great. If not, you got what you paid for and are satisfied.

[idahospud]

We are also elite and always book guarantee cabins. We've found our best chances of getting upgraded have been on the Alaska cruises when we've booked obstructed oceanview. We've booked an obstructed oceanview cabin 10 times. Nine times we have been upgraded for free to a balcony cabin. The 10th time we were offered an upsell to balcony. On the Caribbean cruises we haven't been so lucky. We've frequently get upsells to balconies on those cruises or free upgrades within the same category. Not sure how the upgrade fairy decides who gets what, but we've been happy with our cabins. As long as we have a cabin somewhere on the ship, we're good!

Edited June 23, 2016 by idahospud

[Kenswing]

I got what I paid for, so I have complaints.

 

Why would you have complaints for getting what you paid for?

[OzKiwiJJ]

Many people don't realize that you can book a specific cabin and book it as a guarantee. This can be a very good strategy.

 

Do you mean book a specific cabin category, not just the class? in other words booking an IA guarantee instead of just an Inside guarantee which is the lowest currently available Inside category - could be IF, could be IE etc depending on what cabins are already booked.

 

If so, yes, that can be a good strategy although there is always the risk you will still get upgraded to a less desirable part of the ship.

 

Or did you mean booking by selecting an actual cabin number? In which case that isn't what is commonly understood as a guarantee booking.

[triple7tahoe]

We often book a guarantee and get upgraded. In April we booked 3 B2B cruises with a guarantee at the same level for all three. Our cruises were linked so it was known that we were staying on for a month and we are elite with over 100 cruises(I do not think that has anything to do with process). We did not get upgraded for any of the legs AND we had to change cabins for each leg. To make it even more uncomfortable the ship could not tell us until one or two days before each new leg where we were going next. There was so much misinformation regarding how the switch was going to happen it made those days miserable. Imaging a turn around day in Sydney and being told we had to stay onboard until everybody else got off then move all of our belongings to our new cabin by ourselves. It did not turn around that way but that was what we were told on the night before arrival in Sydney :mad:

[mum and son]

Why would you have complaints for getting what you paid for?

 

I assumed that was a typo and that it was supposed to say "I have no complaints"... well, I hope it was :eek:!

[idahospud]

We often book a guarantee and get upgraded. In April we booked 3 B2B cruises with a guarantee at the same level for all three. Our cruises were linked so it was known that we were staying on for a month and we are elite with over 100 cruises(I do not think that has anything to do with process). We did not get upgraded for any of the legs AND we had to change cabins for each leg. To make it even more uncomfortable the ship could not tell us until one or two days before each new leg where we were going next. There was so much misinformation regarding how the switch was going to happen it made those days miserable. Imaging a turn around day in Sydney and being told we had to stay onboard until everybody else got off then move all of our belongings to our new cabin by ourselves. It did not turn around that way but that was what we were told on the night before arrival in Sydney :mad:

We've switched cabins on B2Bs and usually don't find out our new guarantee cabin until the new card arrives the night before. That's typical when booking those B2Bs with all guarantee cabins. We've never had a problem with the staff moving our things for us. We have to pack the suitcases of course and then we leave all the things on hangers and never had to worry about our things not being in the new room right away. So sorry they led you to believe you had to move your own things!

[pris993]

I often see people asking about guarantees, what they will get and when they will get it. This is just my experience. I don't know if it made any difference, but I am Elite and sail regularly with Princess.

 

I booked a cruise last November and got an Obstructed View guarantee. (Category OV). It is for a July 9, 2016 sailing.

 

I saw yesterday on Princess.com that I have been assigned to cabin E508. This is a obstructed view cabin, just what I booked.

 

We have always booked the cabin we want, request no upgrade too. That is the best guarantee in my book.

:D

[SiBreeze]

I got what I paid for, so I have complaints.

 

Paul probably has complaints because he didn't get upgraded. ;)

[paul929207]

Why would you have complaints for getting what you paid for?

I have seen a number of people who have convinced themselves they would get an upgrade from the guarantee process and then are unhappy when they get what they booked.

[paul929207]

Paul probably has complaints because he didn't get upgraded. ;)

I have no complaints. Sure I would have preferred an upgrade to a suite, it was not to be. I am just happy to be able to go on the trip.

[geoherb]

I've had a lot of travel agents try to convince me that booking a guarantee will almost always get us an upgrade. I don't believe them, and I bet they have a lot of unhappy customers. But we have booked guarantees several times and ended up happy. Sometimes it's been in the exact cabin category we booked. Other times it's been in a slightly higher category--but not a real upgrade, like from an obstructed view guarantee in the bottom category to the highest category of obstructed view. Twice we've been upgraded from obstructed view to unobstructed ocean views. Once we were upgrade from an obstructed view to a cabin with a balcony (although it was classified as a deluxe ocean view because the balcony did not have any furniture). That was our best upgrade ever.

[blizzard44ca]

We've done guarantees a couple of times. Never got a meta upgrade. Once upgraded within category ("better" balcony), and once got what we paid for (lowest mini-suite).

 

Cabin location doesn't matter much to me, so even when picking a room, will put down to accept any upgrade.

[triple7tahoe]

We've switched cabins on B2Bs and usually don't find out our new guarantee cabin until the new card arrives the night before. That's typical when booking those B2Bs with all guarantee cabins. We've never had a problem with the staff moving our things for us. We have to pack the suitcases of course and then we leave all the things on hangers and never had to worry about our things not being in the new room right away. So sorry they led you to believe you had to move your own things!

We have not had this kind of problem before either. There were many things about this particular ship that would have benefited from better communication. I put that on the shoulders of the Commanding Officer:(. We actually had dinner in the specialty restaurants on three occasions with the Staff Captain and his wife. He could not speak but his wife was more than willing to talk. Problems and all, still no better way to spend 30 days than on a cruise:D

[paul929207]

I am the OP for this thread. Thought I should drop by and give everyone an update.

 

After I received my assignment, I got 2 upsell offers. Both would move me from an obstructed view to a balcony for our 7 Alaskan cruise. First was $250 pp, The second was $200. We declined both.

 

Then we got moved from the Obstructed view on the Emerald deck (E505) to an obstructed view min-suite on Caribe deck (C202). It is the front cabin on that deck.

[mrsihopes]

I booked a guarantee interior for our cruise to Alaska on the 30th of this month. I am elite and like booking guarantees. I like the suspense as I really do not care where I am on the ship, just so long as I am on it. Our cruise is currently showing sold out and we do not have a stateroom assignment as of yet, which does not bother me because I know we will get a stateroom. Like playing the waiting game. Will see what we get, whatever it is I will be happy.....