Guaranteed vs Picking Your Cabin

[Thrak]

Don, I totally agree with you. My friend booked a GTY once it was awful.

Tony

 

We had a gty balcony once and ended liked where we ended up. Mid ship balcony. It was on Aloha and under the pool deck but we had zero noise from above. No MUTS noise, no drifting cigarette smoke, and no chair scraping. We sailed 15 days in that cabin and it was great.

 

We are currently booked for a gty in October of 2019. It's a gty for a premium ocean view. There are only 10 on the ship and they are all booked but we still have a gty. Something has to give somewhere. Somebody will be upgraded, up sold, or down sold. Either that or someone may cancel. It's a long time before the cruise so who knows what will happen.

[Lucky TGO]

We had a gty balcony once and ended liked where we ended up. Mid ship balcony. It was on Aloha and under the pool deck but we had zero noise from above. No MUTS noise, no drifting cigarette smoke, and no chair scraping. We sailed 15 days in that cabin and it was great.

 

We are currently booked for a gty in October of 2019. It's a gty for a premium ocean view. There are only 10 on the ship and they are all booked but we still have a gty. Something has to give somewhere. Somebody will be upgraded, up sold, or down sold. Either that or someone may cancel. It's a long time before the cruise so who knows what will happen.

 

Thrak,

Some guys have all the Luck.:) LOL You know you will never have a cabin better then the Yo Ho Ho Suite on the Rowboat. :D Good Luck!!! Thrak a hope you get upgraded to a suite.(yn)

The Captain of The Rowboat,

Tony

[bbum]

My suggestion and what I always do, is book a cabin I will be happy with and tell the Princess CSR to mark it 'Meta' upgrade only. That way I'm not going to lose the cabin I chose and the only upgrade that would be offered to me would be to a completely higher cabin (balcony to mini, mini to suite, etc). If I can't book the cabin I really want I will book something I can live with and then keep a close eye on the cruise online and if the one I really want opens up, I'm on the phone to Princess and switched over. I've never had a problem switching cabins. As many may have noticed nowadays there doesn't seem to be as many upgrades as there used to be, but more so upsells, which in some cases are good as well, as we've taken a few, and let a few go by.

[Cruise-Crazzy]

I booked a Mini Suite guarantee , it was $25 more than Balcony. 2 days before the cruise I was upgraded to Suite. Unfortunately it doesn't happen often.

[Aus Traveller]

I booked a Mini Suite guarantee , it was $25 more than Balcony. 2 days before the cruise I was upgraded to Suite. Unfortunately it doesn't happen often.

That's a 'Crazzy' good deal! We recently booked a guarantee balcony that was offered as a special. It was a great price and that was the only way to book the offered deal. We were allocated a cabin in a couple of days with an upgrade of two categories. That also offered other types of cabins, all as guarantees.

[metairiegal]

From our experience, booking a guarantee cabin means a guarantee to be disappointed!

 

(That is, unless you don't mind being under the treadmills, getting a handicapped room, or a connecting room, or sharing a wall with an elevator!)

[Dididi]

We were on a port side deluxe obstructed balcony cabin on the Royal Princess two years ago. This was not a guaranteed cabin but one that I chose because of the large balcony. I forgot to check what was on the deck below before booking the cabin. We were on the Emerald deck (deck 8) right above the piano in Crooners. It was miserable every night. It was as if the piano was INSIDE our cabin. I had to make sure I put the kids to sleep between sets or had to wait until the next set was over.

 

If you are sensitive to noise and are booking a guaranteed deluxe obstructed balcony on the Royal (or her sister ships), you might get lucky or not.

[jlp20]

What is the benefit (if any) to choosing a guaranteed cabin as opposed to choosing one yourself at time of booking?

 

Money, period. We've done it about 5 times. Saves about $10 a day per person. Cabin is assigned 3-14 days before cruise. At this point there are few if any desirable cabins left. You choose whatever category you would be HAPPY to be in for the cruise. Any upgrade (usually movement by feet amidships, while major category upgrades occur it's the exception) is a good thing.

[geoherb]

From our experience, booking a guarantee cabin means a guarantee to be disappointed!

 

(That is, unless you don't mind being under the treadmills, getting a handicapped room, or a connecting room, or sharing a wall with an elevator!)

Other than our one disappointment, we've received some great cabins by booking guarantees. We still had a great cruise the time we got the tiny upgraded cabin. Getting an accessible cabin was great. It was just too bad we only had it for a short cruise. The extra space is amazing.

[jewels89]

We booked an inside guarantee on our upcoming Cruise and got notification that when they assigned our cabin they had upgraded us to a Balcony!

 

Thank you upgrade fairy [emoji120]

 

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[riclop]

I would never do a gty because you may get a cabin that nobody wants.

[OCruisers]

I would never do a gty because you may get a cabin that nobody wants.

 

:D Per above ... Funny but also very True! :D

[rdsqrl]

Ok so that’s enlightening. My partner really really likes a balcony, of any sort. Even at the cost of what others might consider amenities (location, cabin size, etc.) But Princess could decide that an upgrade from an obstructed balcony could be a mini suite? Does that mean w/o a balcony? Wait, maybe all mini suites come with balconies...I have only been on 7 or 8 cruises and was just grateful to be ON A CRUISE. So maybe I am overthinking this. I will be happy no matter where we are because we will be on or by the sea... I just want my partner to be as blissful as I will surely be. LoL

No, they wouldn't upgrade you from a cabin with a balcony to one without. People in oceanview cabins get the upgrades to window minisuites (got one of those myself) and window suites. No worries; you won't lose your balcony.

[caribill]

Money, period. We've done it about 5 times. Saves about $10 a day per person. Cabin is assigned 3-14 days before cruise. At this point there are few if any desirable cabins left. You choose whatever category you would be HAPPY to be in for the cruise. Any upgrade (usually movement by feet amidships, while major category upgrades occur it's the exception) is a good thing.

 

How do you calculate the savings? If you get assigned a cabin of the exact same type and category (example: BC Balcony) that you booked as a GTY, there is no price difference from having booked a specific BC cabin instead of a GTY.

 

Of course if you get an upgraded assignment (such as BB Balcony for the BC GTY), you will have paid less than a BB would have cost at the time of booking your BC GTY.

[Aus Traveller]

Money, period. We've done it about 5 times. Saves about $10 a day per person. Cabin is assigned 3-14 days before cruise. At this point there are few if any desirable cabins left. You choose whatever category you would be HAPPY to be in for the cruise. Any upgrade (usually movement by feet amidships, while major category upgrades occur it's the exception) is a good thing.

The discount we have on the guarantee is 43% - just over half price. Yes - this was a great special. The cabin was allocated 2 months ahead of sailing date. It is a good location on deck 11, a few along from the elevators.

[jlp20]

How do you calculate the savings? If you get assigned a cabin of the exact same type and category (example: BC Balcony) that you booked as a GTY, there is no price difference from having booked a specific BC cabin

 

As I stated, we went through T/A and there was a $10-$15 per day per pax difference each time.

[Aus Traveller]

As I stated, we went through T/A and there was a $10-$15 per day per pax difference each time.

It wouldn't be worth taking a chance on a guarantee for that small amount of saving.

[metairiegal]

Other than our one disappointment, we've received some great cabins by booking guarantees. We still had a great cruise the time we got the tiny upgraded cabin. Getting an accessible cabin was great. It was just too bad we only had it for a short cruise. The extra space is amazing.

 

A tiny cabin would not bother us. But - for us - we did not like how the shower was set up in the handicapped cabin. And, we have always found connecting rooms to be noisy.

[susancruzs]

I sail solo, get a better price through my TA than Princess, want a certain area of the ship. On some ships I want Plaza Deck (those cabins go fast), Royal class I want Emerald Deck. My cruises for late 2019 and 2020, slim picking already in those areas. I'm glad I booked early, would not be happy with GTY cabin. I do not like aft cabins, rarely use the buffet, no point being up high as I spend most of my time on 5, 6 and 7. I rarely use elevators, location is important. I like coming back from ports, use the stairs, avoid the crowds.

[Roses2]

In our over 50 Princess cruises all have been booked as guarantee. Normally we book a gty mini-suite for the same price as a mid level balcony. Every mini suite is a mirror image of every other mini suite -- except on the 3 new ships. We no longer book them since the balconies, even on the full suites are not usable.

We often take advantage of an upsell to a full suite. When we do, the full suite cost is about the same as a top mini suite and less than a club.

How can you go wrong. You never get less than you pay for and often get more.

P&J

[Colo Cruiser]

Every mini suite is a mirror image of every other mini suite -- except on the 3 new ships.

 

 

This is not correct..........

Besides the 3 you mention,

Minis are not a mirror image of every ship. There are also some that don’t allow the beds to be placed together. There are some that only have a shower. There are some with no balcony.

 

 

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[MCC retired]

You could pick the best Balcony on the ship , then have lousy neighbors . Go with the Guarantee if it saves you $$.

 

 

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[pamesacruisin]

We booked a guarantee for the first time for our recent 4 day cruise on the Sea Princess from Auckland to Sydney. We did it strictly for price and wanted to cruise vs. fly over to Sydney. We knew that there was a chance we would get an undesirable cabin anywhere on the ship, but that was okay because the price was so good. We'd still get all you can eat food, shows, everything everyone else that paid more would get. The day before the cruise we got our cabin assignment and was pleasantly surprised to get an oceanview in a great location, after paying for the cheapest category cabin. Thank you Princess!

[jlp20]

It wouldn't be worth taking a chance on a guarantee for that small amount of saving.

 

You do not understand. You select the category YOU WANT. That's the whole idea, your guaranteed that type cabin at a minimum.

[cruisingrob21]

Here is a site with some odds - its old, but I've been bugging the webmaster (a friend of mine) to update it and he says he will get to it eventually when he has more input (he only has about 100 data points to work from which isn't enough to get a good statistical analysis). There are some very big differences from sailing to sailing and itinerary to itinerary (even ship to ship) but it seems like most people get about a 4 cabin upgrade, plus or minus a few.

https://sites.google.com/site/princesscruisesfaq/home/cabin-upgrade-statistics

 

If you want to play the gty/upgrade game, book in a category with fewer cabins - some cabin category counts are on this page.

https://sites.google.com/site/princesscruisesfaq/home/cabin-upgrade-statistics/upgrade-tips

Edited October 3, 2018 by cruisingrob21