Guaranteed cabin option

[HoneyG6]

I read somewhere that you can purchase a cruise but not pick a specific cabin, you receive a guarantee that you will have a cabin upon embarkation, but not know what it is until you are on the ship. Has anyone had any experience with this? If so, was it a good experience? What did you pay to hold the cabin? What ship were you on?

[CruiserBruce]

Lots of threads here by people who have booked a "GTY" booking. It goes pretty much how you describe. The key issue is you usually book at the minimum level cabin you will be happy with (for example, inside, outside window, balcony or Suite), and you will get a cabin no lower than that level.

 

We have done it 3 times (in 19 cruises) always at minimum suite level, and received a suite.

 

The deposit policy may vary by cruise line, but as far as I know, you deposit the same way you would a standard booking. The price is that level you book, so if you get a better level cabin, you have saved the difference in the two levels of cabins.

 

Each cruise line uses GTY bookings for different reasons. Sometimes to kick on sales, to sell out a ship. Sometimes if a sailing is in segments, you book a GTY for one of the segments, then the cruise puts you where they need you relative to others who may be on the ship for varying segments.

 

Lastly, when the cabin is assigned also varies by cruise line. Some assign very quickly after you book, many don't assign until the last 10 or 20 days, and may assign at he pier.

[Sea Hag]

I recommend that you sit down with the deckplans for the ship and make very, very sure that there's not a single cabin in your category or above it that you couldn't live with. If there's not a single one that you couldn't tolerate, then you've got nothing to lose. Book the guarantee. But if, for instance, you can't stand motion then you probably won't want to book a guarantee, since you might end up in the front of the ship and high up. You'll get more motion there.

[leaveitallbehind]

I recommend that you sit down with the deckplans for the ship and make very, very sure that there's not a single cabin in your category or above it that you couldn't live with. If there's not a single one that you couldn't tolerate, then you've got nothing to lose. Book the guarantee. But if, for instance, you can't stand motion then you probably won't want to book a guarantee, since you might end up in the front of the ship and high up. You'll get more motion there.

 

Using RCI as an example, if you choose the GTY option, once your stateroom is assigned you can request to change it without penalty to another available same category stateroom if you prefer a different location than that assigned. Have done this several times.

 

To the OP - you cannot just buy a cruise without a specific stateroom assignment unless a GTY option is offered for the type of stateroom you would be interested in. If it is offered you then have to select that option with your booking. The staterooms can be assigned anytime after final payment and up to day of departure. In our experience the assignments have usually been made 1-2 weeks prior to sailing.

Edited April 18, 2017 by leaveitallbehind

[marco]

We're not fussy as far as cabin location so we always book a GTY. Usually, you can book either the minimum rate for the sailing, but you may end up with a minimum inside cabin, or you can book a certain category guarantee, and that category cabin is the lowest category cabin you'll end up with. Again, if you are very particular regarding location of your cabin IE: not too forward, not too far back, near/or not to an elevator, stairs etc, don't book a guarantee. Usually regardless of cabin, category, GTY or not, the deposit is the same, regardless. Sometimes we've gotten a cabin assignment a month or a week or a day prior to sailing, sometimes at check-in and sometimes even if we've gotten the assignment prior to sailing, it's changed when we check in. The "worst" we've ever gotten was a minimum inside cabin and the "best" we've ever gotten was a mini-suite.

[leaveitallbehind]

Just remember not all cruise lines offer GTY's on every itinerary. They may also be limited to certain stateroom categories when offered.

[Markanddonna]

We have booked two guarantee cabins and once received the cabin number as soon as we registered online. On the other cruise, we found out about two weeks before sailing.

[ExpatBride]

We live in driving distance of Hamburg and Copenhagen and usually book less than 90 days out from sailing (I just booked one 49 days out), which means that most (or all) of the good cabins are taken, so we usually book guarantees because it can save a fair amount and the choices are slim anyway.

 

I've heard of people getting a higher level cabin than they booked, but in my experience on RCCL, NCL, and HAL, I got exactly what I booked, generally in an undesirable location (e.g., near the elevators, in the extreme front or back of the ship, etc.).

 

I've had my cabin assigned anywhere from as soon as my payment was processed to a few days before sailing.

 

If you're not picky about your cabin, you can save quite a bit of money by booking a guarantee, however, don't expect much in the way of perks like OBC, drink packages, etc., which are sometimes excluded from guarantee bookings.

 

We're sailing the fjords in June. Since Denmark has 18 hours of daylight a day in the summer, we've booked an inside and are hoping for an inside because it's likely to be the only decent sleep we get all summer. But we know we could end up with a window and we're just hoping that this isn't the sailing where they'll finally decide to upgrade us.

[Nebr.cruiser]

We often book guarantee balcony cabins; don't want anything less than a balcony. We have been assigned cabins from almost immediately after booking to about a month out. Usually we get a slight upgrade; like regular balcony to deluxe balcony.

 

So far the cabins have been fine. The worst was on last Dec. on the Regal; we booked a guarantee partially obstructed cabin, and although we received an upgrade to a deluxe balcony, the obstruction was fairly significant, although only looking down. On that ship, the lifeboats are not flush with the ship as on many others. So we had no view looking down, only out.

 

Since we've cruised quite often, it really didn't bother us that much. Also, it was midships, which on the Regal is not a great thing.

 

We'll still book guarantees again, if the price is right--which it was.

[jocap]

We've booked last minute cruises with guaranteed cabins, but only for shorter cruises of a week to 11 days. I need to know where I am beforehand for anything longer.

[leaveitallbehind]

We live in driving distance of Hamburg and Copenhagen and usually book less than 90 days out from sailing (I just booked one 49 days out), which means that most (or all) of the good cabins are taken, so we usually book guarantees because it can save a fair amount and the choices are slim anyway.

 

I've heard of people getting a higher level cabin than they booked, but in my experience on RCCL, NCL, and HAL, I got exactly what I booked, generally in an undesirable location (e.g., near the elevators, in the extreme front or back of the ship, etc.).

 

I've had my cabin assigned anywhere from as soon as my payment was processed to a few days before sailing.

 

If you're not picky about your cabin, you can save quite a bit of money by booking a guarantee, however, don't expect much in the way of perks like OBC, drink packages, etc., which are sometimes excluded from guarantee bookings.

We're sailing the fjords in June. Since Denmark has 18 hours of daylight a day in the summer, we've booked an inside and are hoping for an inside because it's likely to be the only decent sleep we get all summer. But we know we could end up with a window and we're just hoping that this isn't the sailing where they'll finally decide to upgrade us.

 

Just a couple of comments to your post - and they are specific to RCI as the cruise line:

 

A GTY does not mean a bad location. Very often it is a method to sell out a category that has too many remaining staterooms available at the particular sales cycle of that given itinerary. We often have gotten very good locations through a GTY. And IMO near the elevators are among the most desirable locations. Never a noise issue in our experience and always convenient to get to the different decks.

 

We have always been assigned at least the minimum category stated in the GTY, and have also been upgraded. In particular on one Explorer cruise we booked a Junior Suite GTY and were issued a Grand Suite. Also, if an OBC or other perk is offered by the cruise line for a given itinerary, it is not excluded from the GTY. All the GTY does is reduce the stateroom rate - it does not eliminated perks offered on that sailing.

 

If you are not happy with an upgrade should you receive one, you can always request to be placed back in the GTY "pool" for a different assignment. If you do not like a given stateroom assigned, you can also request a specific stateroom location if one is available within the same category as that assigned and they will reassign it to you.

 

I only say all this to be sure the OP understands how GTY's work - at least with RCI.

[geoherb]

We've booked guarantee cabins for about half our cruises. We have never had a truly bad cabin for us--but have received cabins that others might find intolerable. For instance, on our last cruise (on a Holland America ship), we booked an obstructed view guarantee. We ended up in an unobstructed one--but it was right underneath the galley. The noise from above started early in the morning, but I'm an early riser and it did not bother me. (And DH can sleep through anything.)

 

On our most recent Princess cruise, we also booked an obstructed view guarantee. We ended up in an unobstructed view--but one at the very front of the ship that was way smaller than other cabins and only had a small window that was recessed. It really should have been categorized as an obstructed view. But we still had a great cruise.