Guaranteed room assignments

[Spender Nui]

Glad it worked out to your satisfaction.  Enjoy your upgrade.

[RMLincoln]

We had porthole rooms (2 rooms, had 3 grandkids with us) on Dolphin deck on Volendam (sister ship to Zaandam).  Worked great!  Have a grand time!  m--

 

[DocJohnB]

6 hours ago, RMLincoln said:

We had porthole rooms

Great picture!  I am positive I will not only enjoy my trip, but also my cabin.

[sambamama]

I have usually got my cabin 10 - 14 days out, but once it was 3 days out and my last cruise it was 2 days out. And yes, this time, they needed to make luggage tags at the pier. 

[RMLincoln]

 

 

If this uploaded correctly it should show the two portholes of room 1815.  We had 3 in the room, myself and 2 granddaughters. Of course you can put the beds together.    It was odd when the tide was low in Skagway (IIRC) and our portholes looked at the dock for a short time!  Frankly the portholes are not great for viewing because of their depth through the hull, maybe 15 inches, but you can see out enough to get an idea of the weather and location clues.  1806 may be shorter as it is more in the curve of the hull, so may have a loveseat instead of a full couch, just speculating, but with it being an Accessible room it may be configured differently.  Enjoy!  m--

[syesmar]

On 4/30/2019 at 8:58 AM, DaveOKC said:

I have tried this a couple of times without success.  Funny story on my recent (April) cruise . . . .

I meant to ask, when you proactively called to inquire about upsells, did you call the same number for the upsell department (I’ve seen this # on other Threads) or just a regular number for HAL?

 

THANKS!

[cormike1]

We got our guarantee inside 2 weeks ago and we sail on the 22nd.  Then I noticed a huge price drop and called my HAL TA and asked what she could do for us.  In order to keep our beverage pkg. and dinner at the PG we could take an ocean view.  Drop the perks and get a suite.  I kept the perks.  We are with friends and we need the drink pkg. lol.  It is 17 days to go and we haven't got our ocean view assignment.  I am hoping we will be upgraded to balcony lol.  One can only hope eh.

[Plan.B]

Does Holland America notify your Guarantee cabin assignment by email?  Or, check their website?

[RMLincoln]

You may get an email that says there has been a change in your booking and notifies you of your room assignment.  but you might see the room assignment earlier if you check you edocs, especially check your luggage tags.  Good luck!  m--

[Vineyard View]

We are looking at booking a trip next year and there is the option of taking a GTY vs choosing our room. I have always chosen our rooms for location preferences. 

I am curious - is the main incentive of booking GTY for possible upgrades?  

[CruiserBruce]

31 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

We are looking at booking a trip next year and there is the option of taking a GTY vs choosing our room. I have always chosen our rooms for location preferences. 

I am curious - is the main incentive of booking GTY for possible upgrades?  

An incentive certainly could be upgrade possibilities.

 

Be aware if you are booking a B2B or Collectors Cruise, GTY might be the only option. The complexities of booking across two separate cruises cause this. For example, we are booked on the N. Amsterdam next summer in the Med. A 24 day Collectors Cruise, also being sold as 2 12 day cruises. We could only select a GTY booking at the Suite level. This has happened to us a couple of times.

[Vineyard View]

Thank you. I am still working on that piece - we did decide on the itinerary - but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing something different with a GTY on HAL 

[KroozNut]

On 4/29/2019 at 11:08 AM, DocJohnB said:

What is the current feeling amongst posters as to when "guaranteed" cabin assignments will be made by HAL.  I have a "guaranteed" inside cabin and leave in 12 days on the Zaandam.  On Saturday, I received the "Your cruise documents are now ready" email, but no cabin assignment, ergo, no luggage tag availability.  Hopefully, not pier side.

 

 

Thoughts would be appreciated.

 

My thought is that your first mistake is booking a 'guarantee' in the first place. If one is even minimally concerned about their cabin location, booking a 'guarantee' is a mistake.

 

We always select the cabin of our choice at booking, and therefore lock it in. No stress about when our cabin assignment will be made, or which cabin we might be assigned.

 

We're not gamblers, so we dislike 'throwing the dice' when it comes to cabin assignments.

[DocJohnB]

2 hours ago, KroozNut said:

My thought is that your first mistake is booking a 'guarantee' in the first place. If one is even minimally concerned about their cabin location, booking a 'guarantee' is a mistake.

And, I would agree, but only if there is a concern about cabin location.

I have been doing this cruising thing for 25 years or so now.  When my wife was alive, we always chose the cabin we wanted.  Location meant a lot to her for a few reasons.

 

However, since her passing and lately when single supplements have become harder to find, I will occasionally opt for a guarantee.  Location means very little to me as I can block out noise fairly easily and having been a Navy man for almost 30 years prior to cruising the "motion of the ocean" has little to no effect on me.

[DaveOKC]

14 hours ago, KroozNut said:

 

My thought is that your first mistake is booking a 'guarantee' in the first place. If one is even minimally concerned about their cabin location, booking a 'guarantee' is a mistake.

 

We always select the cabin of our choice at booking, and therefore lock it in. No stress about when our cabin assignment will be made, or which cabin we might be assigned.

 

We're not gamblers, so we dislike 'throwing the dice' when it comes to cabin assignments.

I also dislike guarantees.. I would rather pay a bit more and select my cabin.  On some ships and in certain categories this is a bigger issue than on others.

 

[catl331]

30 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

I would rather pay a bit more and select my cabin. 

This is a fallacy. On any given day if you choose a specific cabin and I choose a guarantee at the same class and level within that class we will pay the exact same price.  I, however, have a much better chance than you of getting a cabin at a higher level.  We got an upgrade on all 9 of our guarantees.  DH was not totally happy with one of them, but I was happy with all, and very pleased with a couple. 

Edited May 8, 2019 by catl331

[DaveOKC]

1 minute ago, catl331 said:

This is a fallacy. On any given day if you choose a specific cabin and I choose a guarantee at the same class and level within that class we will pay the exact same price.  I, however, have a much better chance than you of getting a cabin at a higher level.  We got an upgrade on all 9 of our guarantees.  DH was not totally happy with one of them, but I was happy with all, and very pleased with a couple. 

You are correct in that if we book the same class and level.  However, most times the guarantees that are offered on the website (and the ones that people select) are for the lowest level in a specific class (lets use Vista on the Amsterdam as an example).  If I book a guarantee I could end up in a BC, BB or B cabin that I do not like, as some of them are over the Mainstage theater or under the Seaview pool (I dislike both of these locations).  Instead, I paid about $50 more pp to select a B cabin over the dining room and near the aft elevators.

 

As to free upgrades from these cabins, I could get placed in as high as an A Vista, but some these are over the casino and bar areas, which I would rather avoid.  On a free upgrade, you cannot (for the most part) select the cabin HAL places you in.  Remember, most times the "better located" cabins in a category are taken first.

 

As to an upgrade to a Neptune cabin (next category higher), getting a free one is very unlikely (IMO) since HAL will first try to do a paid upsell offer to those in Vista (and lower) cabins.  That way they can make a few extra dollars over just giving them away for free.  On the smaller HAL ships, there are a very limited number of Neptunes, so if an upsell does occur they will go quickly.

 

Now, my example is for a higher level class of cabins and if you are referring to Insides or Oceanviews the situation could be different.

 

IMO, with HAL being so aggressive anymore with offering upsells, reserving a guarantee cabin is less of a value than it used to be.  If it works for you and you can save some money doing it, great.  It really does depend on the situation and your feelings/concerns.

[catl331]

I am just saying that "saving money doing it" is not a valid reason for choosing a guarantee, because it doesn't.

 

Only once did we choose a guarantee at the lowest level of a class - a VH on a Vista - and we were assigned a stern VB. OTOH one of the worst cabins we ever had - an H on the Amsterdam - was one that we chose!

Edited May 8, 2019 by catl331

[Vineyard View]

13 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

You are correct in that if we book the same class and level.  However, most times the guarantees that are offered on the website (and the ones that people select) are for the lowest level in a specific class (lets use Vista on the Amsterdam as an example).  If I book a guarantee I could end up in a BC, BB or B cabin that I do not like, as some of them are over the Mainstage theater or under the Seaview pool (I dislike both of these locations).  Instead, I paid about $50 more pp to select a B cabin over the dining room and near the aft elevators.

 

I am curious as to  ‘and the ones that people select’ - did you mean selecting GTY on the website or selecting an actual cabin on the website being the lowest level in a specific category?  

I am fine with paying a little more for preferred location - 

[DaveOKC]

19 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

I am curious as to  ‘and the ones that people select’ - did you mean selecting GTY on the website or selecting an actual cabin on the website being the lowest level in a specific category?  

I am fine with paying a little more for preferred location - 

What I meant was that I think most people select the lowest level of guarantees in a specific class (like Vista) and this is also the one that HAL shows you on its website when you go to book.  You can select a guarantee on any of the levels within a class (like BC, BB, A, etc.) and of course you will pay more the higher you go.

 

I think where the confusion comes in between what Catl331 and I said is that I was referring to the fact that many people select the lowest level of guarantee within a class (BC in this example) and this level often does not always allow you to select a specific cabin, thus one has to go to a higher level to be able to pick a specific cabin (like my B in my example).  Now, Catl331 is correct in that you can book  guarantee in a B level and the cost will be the same as I paid to select my B cabin.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 8, 2019 by DaveOKC

[Vineyard View]

Thank you for that clarification.  I appreciate it. It makes sense 

[cormike1]

On 5/5/2019 at 6:28 PM, Plan.B said:

Does Holland America notify your Guarantee cabin assignment by email?  Or, check their website?

They sent us an e-mail.

 

[jennaja]

On ‎5‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 3:58 PM, Vineyard View said:

We are looking at booking a trip next year and there is the option of taking a GTY vs choosing our room. I have always chosen our rooms for location preferences. 

I am curious - is the main incentive of booking GTY for possible upgrades?  

We booked our 6/3/19 sailing last  week, and the only thing left was various types of guarantee (outside - fully obstructed, or partially obstructed, or porthole, or unobstructed-- unobstructed oceanview was the most expensive.  Apparently this ship doesn't have regular balcony cabins, and all the suites were sold out.

[catl331]

deleted

 

Edited May 9, 2019 by catl331

[fla_sunshine]

On our most recent Zaandam cruise we booked an inside Category MM Guarantee. About 2 weeks out we were assigned a Category J inside which we would have been happy with, but less than a week out we were changed to a Category G oceanview (portholes). Then we were shifted to an Oceanview midships and finally overnight before embarkation we were switched to an Oceanview near the Forward elevators and had to have our printed luggage tags removed and replaced at the pier. Despite all of the changes we were happy with the room we actually received and there was no problem with our luggage delivery.