You're experience with gty reservation with celibrity?

[quaker77]

In April with will cruise on the summit for the first time. We reserved an Oceanview gty and was curious about others traveller's experience about gty and celebrity way of dealing with this.

In the past we sailed with princess and our Oceanview gty turned out with a veranda. I know that it's rare luck this can of opportunity.

On the celebrity policy their way of dealing with gty isn't like others companies. Our TA booked us a gty cat6 Oceanview but on the confirmation email it's written TBD Oceanview cat8 [emoji15] I will clear that we her later on today

 

Found on cruise critic website

 

How It Works: Celebrity Cruises offers two types of guarantees, both of which are based on availability. Passengers can choose a category type (inside, outside, etc.) and pay a price lower than the regular fares for that category. They will be berthed in a cabin within the chosen category. Or, they can choose a specific category and pay the associated fare (no discount), and be berthed in that category or a higher category.

 

Thanx for sharing you're good and bad experiences with that type of booking with celebrity

[HaliMakai]

We have booked GTY two times with Celebrity. Both times the cabins were assigned right away. First time booked OV GTY, we got 1 category up from the lowest price cabin. Turned out we loved the room, had lovely large window and good location. Recently we booked a Xmas cruise on the Silhouette,, 2 cabins Veranda GTY, again the were assigned within a day. We got assigned 2C obstucted view on deck 6. I was fine with obstucted view part, but we had a cabin between us. So I called to see if they had anything in same category side by side they said no. I waited a few weeks and prices dipped a little and I paid like 140. To upgrade both cabins to 1C side by side. It seemed to me they assign the GTY cabins and fill all the lower categories first, people who book GTY latter get better cabins. My theory is pay for lowest cabin class you will be happy with and enjoy!

[DYKWIA]

Three years in succession we've booked a Guarantee Balcony - UK booker - so no changing cabin allowed once assigned

 

Year 1 - booked about 4 months before - assigned cat 1B within 24 hours - excellent cabin (aft deck 8)

Year 2 - booked about 3 months before - assigned cat 2B within 2 weeks - good cabin but very far fwd near observation platform (deck 6)

Year 3 - cruise had sold out, then about 6 weeks before it was showing Guaranteed Balcony inc Drinks Package and $400 credit. Rang celebrity they said there were only 3 cabins available on the ship a cat 1A, an Aqua Class cabin, and a suite - all other cabins assigned. - booked and 24 hours later assigned excellent Cat 1A on Deck 9 near lifts.

 

We wouldn't hesitate booking a Guarantee Cabin again as long as (1) it included a classic drinks package (2) the price saving was sufficient to make up for no drinks package (certainly was Year 2 - £2000+ saving)

[nekzaadvakil]

Booked a GTY Veranda stateroom a couple of times and was very happy with my assigned cabins both times.

[Caribbean Chris]

I didn't have good experiences with Celebrity guarantees. We seemed to get assigned the worst cabin in the category.

 

Been assigned next to the door that led to some crew quarters on Century. People came and went all hours, much noise and traffic. The furnishings were stained.

 

Another time in 2013 in different area near staff cabins and offices. A lot of smoking at night apparently in those staff areas, seeping into the corridor until we spoke to the front desk...and very poor to non-existent cabin steward service.

 

Final time in a Constellation Sky Suite - a view of machinery from our balcony and our door was across from the crew pantry. Noise and talking all hours, bright lights shining and much wheeling of carts that were lined up daily in the hall outside our room.

 

So now we pick our own rooms and usually book way in advance of sailing. We may pay more but the experience has been like night and day.

[jagoffee]

In April with will cruise on the summit for the first time. We reserved an Oceanview gty and was curious about others traveller's experience about gty and celebrity way of dealing with this.

In the past we sailed with princess and our Oceanview gty turned out with a veranda. I know that it's rare luck this can of opportunity.

On the celebrity policy their way of dealing with gty isn't like others companies. Our TA booked us a gty cat6 Oceanview but on the confirmation email it's written TBD Oceanview cat8 [emoji15] I will clear that we her later on today

 

Found on cruise critic website

 

How It Works: Celebrity Cruises offers two types of guarantees, both of which are based on availability. Passengers can choose a category type (inside, outside, etc.) and pay a price lower than the regular fares for that category. They will be berthed in a cabin within the chosen category. Or, they can choose a specific category and pay the associated fare (no discount), and be berthed in that category or a higher category.

 

Thanx for sharing you're good and bad experiences with that type of booking with celebrity

 

I believe Celebrity only has one kind of GTY. The one where you book a category and Celebrity assigns a cabin in that category or higher. Once I booked a C2 GTY on an exciting deal near the cruise date and was assigned AC and another time I booked a suite GTY and I was assigned the lowest level suite category S2. Since I was US based I was able to move my cabin assignment within the same level. In both our examples we were assigned a cabin within a week. In both cases I was satisfied and would have been happy with the lowest grade on each booking or I would never book a GTY. I usually book years in advance for cabin chose.

 

If you have not already checked you should check on line to see if you have been assigned. You can also see what the TA booked for you.

 

I have read of examples where some cruisers have booked a GTY even at the same price as a assigned cabin with the hope for an upgrade. I would never follow that pattern.

 

I am not sure that Celebrity has two different types of a GTY and of course a GTY is not available for every sailing or category.

 

Good luck and enjoy your cruise.

[tvlgoddess]

I believe it's the luck of the draw.

We always book AQ once the itinerary opens for our favorite cabin. I monitor from time to time to see cabin availability and pricing. Twice we switched to Suite Qty because the price wasn't that much higher. Both times we got the Royal Suite and also the cabin was assigned when I did the upgrade directly with Celebrity.

[DYKWIA]

I believe Celebrity only has one kind of GTY. The one where you book a category and Celebrity assigns a cabin in that category or higher. .

 

Not always.

 

On the Eclipse earlier this year they were definitely advertising a minimum category within the veranda category, ours was advertsied as a Guaranteed IA with Drinks Package and OBC

[ChucktownSteve]

Several months ago I booked a Concierge guarantee on the Equinox in December through a TA. Within a couple of days, I noticed online, that I was assigned a port side C3 close to the stern. I saw a C3 starboard closer to mid-ship and requested my TA to switch the cabin to that one. It was done that day.

[shovelrae1959]

This year was my first experience with a GTY booking. We stumbled across a sale on the cruise we were thinking about doing next April. This one sails in November, so was past the pay in full date. I didn't notice that we had a GTY veranda until checking for a cabin assignment so I could locate us on the decl plans. Wasn't happy when they told us it was a possibility that they would give us our cabin assignment at the port!! Think it was well over a week before they got us assigned, and we ended us with an Aqua Class cabin. So our one experience with a GTY booking was a positive one (maybe - we are underneath the buffet, so will see about the noise factor).

 

Cheryl Corcoran

[villauk]

Several months ago I booked a Concierge guarantee on the Equinox in December through a TA. Within a couple of days, I noticed online, that I was assigned a port side C3 close to the stern. I saw a C3 starboard closer to mid-ship and requested my TA to switch the cabin to that one. It was done that day.

 

Not all countries allow you to change an allocated cabin. In the UK, you do not have the option to change, even if there are other available cabins in the same category you have been assigned ;). Only mentioning as not sure where the OP has booked their cruise. I, personally, would only book GTYs via my US TA for this very reason ;).

[quaker77]

Were from Canada using a TA based in Houston. And for now after talking with the TA we are assigned at deck 2 and looking for the remaining cabins on the celebrity website we should be ok. But the TA said that there sometimes upgrade available on-board with some fees .

 

And thanx for sharing your own experiences on gty

Edited October 14, 2016 by quaker77

[johhnnyt]

I believe Celebrity only has one kind of GTY. The one where you book a category and Celebrity assigns a cabin in that category or higher. Once I booked a C2 GTY on an exciting deal near the cruise date and was assigned AC and another time I booked a suite GTY and I was assigned the lowest level suite category S2. Since I was US based I was able to move my cabin assignment within the same level. In both our examples we were assigned a cabin within a week. In both cases I was satisfied and would have been happy with the lowest grade on each booking or I would never book a GTY. I usually book years in advance for cabin chose.

 

If you have not already checked you should check on line to see if you have been assigned. You can also see what the TA booked for you.

 

I have read of examples where some cruisers have booked a GTY even at the same price as a assigned cabin with the hope for an upgrade. I would never follow that pattern.

 

I am not sure that Celebrity has two different types of a GTY and of course a GTY is not available for every sailing or category.

 

Good luck and enjoy your cruise.

 

I do think there is only one type if guarantee you book a category and Celebrity assigns a cabin in that category or higher

 

I think at least half of the cruises I've taken were GTY, some GTY suites, some GTY CC, and some GTY balcony

 

Never been disappointed as price has been substantially less, and the worst cabins I've had were the ones I've chosen rather than the luck of the GTY. Luckily been upgraded on the GTY CC from CC3 to CC2 or CC1, and on suite GTY been upgraded twice to a Celebrity Suite.

 

Probably 75% of the time the room is assigned right away, but twice I didn't know cabin assignment till the week before sailing

 

To me the reward outweighs the risk on GTY

[smtcan]

We have booked inside and balcony guarantees and have never been upgraded beyond the highest level in the category booked. We have had cabins assigned well ahead of sailing date and have been able to change within the level if not happy. It works for us, because we prefer a basic price and are not interested in drink packages when booking balcony cabins.

 

If I was not able to change the assigned cabin I would be less likely to book guarantees, but with that choice the cost saving suits us.

 

Sheila

[diwanna]

We booked an inside gty holiday cruise about 3 weeks ago and our room was assigned that evening, good room cat 10. Saw the prices went down a bit these past few days so called to check. They upgraded me to a balcony 2d gty for no charge. This is the price with no perks but the resident rate. I'm impressed. So lets see if I can keep this a secret from hubs till we get there :)

[merinski]

We have booked a cruise in May. We booked an inside gty. I'm guessing that

once they have given you a rm. that you will not be moved up?

[RickT]

We have booked a cruise in May. We booked an inside gty. I'm guessing that

once they have given you a rm. that you will not be moved up?

 

I've booked a guarantee a number of times and once my cabin has been assigned it has never changed. Doesn't mean it won't but I think a change in cabin once assigned would be very rare.

[diwanna]

I would not have been moved if I hadn't phoned and asked to upgrade. When my TA came back on line and says I get a veranda with no charge, I just about fell on my face. Room is assigned already... yeah it's obstructed but who cares!

[QuakerBoy]

Booked veranda GTY, got assigned a well located C2 two weeks before sail date. Happy camper.

[diligaf51]

I'm wondering if Captains Club status has anything to do with what cabin you are ultimately assigned?

[digital_curator]

We have booked GTY veranda rooms twice.

 

Once was a relatively last minute booking, changing a January Summit cruise to a February one just before final payment. We originally had a CC cabin but the prices were much higher on the new cruise. The only way to book a veranda was a GTY. The ship was almost completely sold out and no verandas were available but there were a lot of suites. I kept my fingers crossed for a BIG upgrade but it was not to be. We waited a long time for a cabin assignment but we were eventually given a balcony on 8 starboard, just a few doors forward of the last CC cabins. We thought it was a great room, close to the forward elevators.

 

The second time was this week. We were gifted a Christmas cruise from my mom and while we were waiting for DH's work to approve his vacation time, a sale came up that had a balcony GTY with all 4 perks (including premium drinks) included for the same price we were looking at a balcony with one perk. I checked and there were no 2D or 2C cabins available and I didn't hate the 2Bs that were. We were assigned our cabin right away and it was a 2B- my favorite of the three available.

 

So far we have been happy with GTY bookings but I'm not sure I would do one with lots of undesirable cabins available. However, the prices are excellent. If we had booked the 2B instead of the GTY, we would have paid almost $1000 more! But we understand that we could get the crappiest cabin in the lowest category we book. You have to decide if that is a gamble you are willing to take!

[Lastdance]

It is always a gamble. When you book a suite GTY, you don't know what you will get. Those who have paid more might be asked if they want to pay a little more for an upgrade and so on. Whatever is left over, they start filling. Anything can happen due to last minute circumstances and I mean anything!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[north29]

I just canceled a reservation made on board, that had a balcony on deck six. I lost my deposit but saved 1500$ on a guarantee veranda cabin. Long story to this, but I made final payment, checked the next day and I was moved to deck 7 at the front side of the hump first cabin on the so called hump. I have no idea what the balcony will look like reduced in size etc.

[Educators2]

I decided to "upgrade" to a balcony guarantee on our September Summit cruise to Canada/New England. No balconies were available when we booked six months ahead of the cruise. We returned two weeks ago. The room assigned was the worst balcony and the most forward room. We then upgraded to a concierge guarantee. The room was aft but it was a lovely room. It was on deck 9 but not noisy.

 

On our first Celebrity cruise in 2003, we booked a balcony guarantee and got the most forward balcony on a fjords cruise. We were never able to use it.

 

We have cruised with Celebrity six times, so being a frequent cruiser, in my opinion, does not affect the room you are given. I was happy I was able to switch this time around.

[wrk2cruise]

I just canceled a reservation made on board, that had a balcony on deck six. I lost my deposit but saved 1500$ on a guarantee veranda cabin. Long story to this, but I made final payment, checked the next day and I was moved to deck 7 at the front side of the hump first cabin on the so called hump. I have no idea what the balcony will look like reduced in size etc.

 

If it's on the slant of the hump (category 1A) that's a great GTY assignment. The balcony is 2 to 3 times larger. Location to the elevators is also very nice.