Are Guarantees really that bad?

[mitsugirly]

I can imagine that an interior could potentially be a bad spot for a guarantee if it's located over/under a venue with a lot of noise or by an area where you hear a lot of banging (I've had one of those rooms before). But what about a balcony? Would it be the same problem? I'm guessing yes but want to hear experiences from those of you that have actually booked a guarantee and what did you get? (I know YMMV but still want to hear the stories good or bad to get me motivated). 😄

[BirdTravels]

You know that there is no real answer to your question.  
 

You could get a wonderful room. You could get a room that no one would pick id they had a choice (like over a club with pounding music to 1 in the morning or over the theater with early morning rehearsals and late shows).. 

[mitsugirly]

6 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

You know that there is no real answer to your question.  
 

You could get a wonderful room. You could get a room that no one would pick id they had a choice (like over a club with pounding music to 1 in the morning or over the theater with early morning rehearsals and late shows).. 

 

 

Yea I know but want to hear the stories...good or bad. I need some encouragement. 😄

[versuco]

We've always had good luck with guarantee balconies when we book last minute.  When I book a specific cabin, I always book a higher deck towards the aft.  The two last minute balcony guarantees assigned were in the same location.  We have at least 20 cruises with NCL and I don't know if they look at our cabin location on prior cruises or if we just got lucky.  One time we booked an oceanview guarantee and ended up with what I considered a bad location, all the way to the front of the ship on deck 2.  A few weeks before sailing, balcony cabins with perks had dropped to almost the same as our oceanview guarantee and we were able to upgrade for just a few extra $$$.  Good luck

[Kdanemjm]

We just did GTY balcony cabin, and even though it could have ended very badly... We got cabin 9112 on the Gem. We are thrilled with the location and the slight upgrade. As we book a GTY BD and ended up with a BA cabin. We have done the GTY once before with the same results. Do it and don't' fret. 

 

[hallux]

I did a balcony guarantee and ended up on deck 14 near the aft elevators on the Bliss.  My travel companions ended up more mid-ship on deck 9.  Neither was horrible, IMO, as the deck 9 cabin was over the shopping areas, not a restaurant or bar.

 

The deck 14 cabin allowed me a view of the pier runners (including some that didn't make it)...

[Trimone]

We got a privacy balcony once, NCL or the TA would change it, put me off using GTY again.

[mitsugirly]

8 minutes ago, versuco said:

We've always had good luck with guarantee balconies when we book last minute.  When I book a specific cabin, I always book a higher deck towards the aft.  The two last minute balcony guarantees assigned were in the same location.  We have at least 20 cruises with NCL and I don't know if they look at our cabin location on prior cruises or if we just got lucky.  One time we booked an oceanview guarantee and ended up with what I considered a bad location, all the way to the front of the ship on deck 2.  A few weeks before sailing, balcony cabins with perks had dropped to almost the same as our oceanview guarantee and we were able to upgrade for just a few extra $$$.  Good luck

 

I use to always book the higher decks as well but over the last few years (and sailing with Carnival and RC) I have found that the lower decks offer some great perks too (such as getting off and on the ship is such a breeze and only having to walk up/down a few flights of stairs instead of waiting on the elevators with long lines). I also know the lower you are the less movement you experience (which hasn't been a problem for my family and we don't get sea sick). So, I guess I could potentially be happy with upper or lower. I have also had cabins in the middle, front and back. I actually prefer the front over the back but it could have just been the cruise we were on when we got the back cabin. 

 

What do you consider "last minute"?

 

6 minutes ago, Kdanemjm said:

We just did GTY balcony cabin, and even though it could have ended very badly... We got cabin 9112 on the Gem. We are thrilled with the location and the slight upgrade. As we book a GTY BD and ended up with a BA cabin. We have done the GTY once before with the same results. Do it and don't' fret. 

 

 

Thanks for the encouragement. I have a lot of cruises under my belt and have never booked a GTY to date. I'm used to being "in control" LOL

 

2 minutes ago, hallux said:

I did a balcony guarantee and ended up on deck 14 near the aft elevators on the Bliss.  My travel companions ended up more mid-ship on deck 9.  Neither was horrible, IMO, as the deck 9 cabin was over the shopping areas, not a restaurant or bar.

 

The deck 14 cabin allowed me a view of the pier runners (including some that didn't make it)...

 

Thanks for your story. 

[All-ready2cruise]

I've done several Balcony GTYs (may even consider a sailaway at some point) and have been pleasantly surprised each time.  Did a balcony GTY on Epic, deck 10 just aft of mid-ship, the Jade, deck 10 midship, Joy deck 15 just forward. The others have all been great locations for me just can't remember, LOL. 

 

If I'm doing a GTY it will only be a balcony, couldn't care less what deck it's on. 

[mitsugirly]

3 minutes ago, Trimone said:

We got a privacy balcony once, NCL or the TA would change it, put me off using GTY again.

 

What does a "privacy balcony" mean? Can the TA change the room for you if you get a bad room? I thought they always asign these rooms like as little as days before the cruise and no time to make any switches??

[mitsugirly]

1 minute ago, All-ready2cruise said:

I've done several Balcony GTYs (may even consider a sailaway at some point) and have been pleasantly surprised each time.  Did a balcony GTY on Epic, deck 10 just aft of mid-ship, the Jade, deck 10 midship, Joy deck 15 just forward. The others have all been great locations for me just can't remember, LOL. 

 

If I'm doing a GTY it will only be a balcony, couldn't care less what deck it's on. 

 

 

Wait, there's a difference between a GTY and sailaway?

[All-ready2cruise]

Just now, mitsugirly said:

 

 

Wait, there's a difference between a GTY and sailaway?

Yes, absolutely.  GTY cabins, in most cases, include FAS perks/promos. Sailaway cabins, zero.  

Sailaways are generally a few hundred less than GTYs.  

 

HTHs

[valleyvillage]

11 minutes ago, mitsugirly said:

What does a "privacy balcony" mean?

It's actually PrivaSea and it's the enclosed balcony type. 

[mitsugirly]

8 minutes ago, All-ready2cruise said:

Yes, absolutely.  GTY cabins, in most cases, include FAS perks/promos. Sailaway cabins, zero.  

Sailaways are generally a few hundred less than GTYs.  

 

HTHs

 

 

I went back and did a "mock" booking and I only see an option for sailaway. How do you find the GTY then? I guess I have never noticed any difference before or thought they were the same thing. 

[mitsugirly]

1 minute ago, valleyvillage said:

It's actually PrivaSea and it's the enclosed balcony type. 

 

 

Oh ok. I have had cove balconies before and loved them. So I wouldn't mind getting one of those either!

[versuco]

What do you consider "last minute"?

 

For me, 4-6 weeks from sailing date.  Also in my experience, prices usually drop again about 2 weeks before sailing, so I watch closely and if I don't like my assignment I will upgrade.  NCL will almost always let you upgrade if as long as you are willing to pay a few dollars more.  It helps to have a good TA on your side too!

[ighten]

13 minutes ago, All-ready2cruise said:

Yes, absolutely.  GTY cabins, in most cases, include FAS perks/promos. Sailaway cabins, zero.  

Sailaways are generally a few hundred less than GTYs.  

 

HTHs

 

Think this is dependent on your region - a sailaway in the UK allows the exact same add ons as any other cabin whilst being cheaper (ie sailaway any lvl still 99£ to add 2 perks on the current promotion - only thing that changes is any xtra room credit but its still the same levels).

 

Dont actually think guarantees exist in the UK anymore

 

Last time I booked a guarantee it was 3 yrsago a cheap as chips last minute10day Med on the Epic - room then assigned was actually balcony  https://notesfromthebarn.blogspot.com/2016/05/ncl-epic-10-day-western-med-day-1-2.html

 

 

Edited November 12, 2019 by ighten

[All-ready2cruise]

Just now, mitsugirly said:

 

 

I went back and did a "mock" booking and I only see an option for sailaway. How do you find the GTY then? I guess I have never noticed any difference before or thought they were the same thing. 

At some point I think they were the same thing then they decided to allow some cabins to have the FASs but still not choose their cabin.  

In some cases the GTY and Sailaways aren't offered when a cruise is first offered.  6-8? months out they usually start offering both.  (not sure of exact timing, sorry)

[DinaS]

3 minutes ago, mitsugirly said:

 

 

I went back and did a "mock" booking and I only see an option for sailaway. How do you find the GTY then? I guess I have never noticed any difference before or thought they were the same thing. 

 

You have to keep going with the mock booking.  If you try selecting a regular category with limited inventory, it will not give you a choice of cabin numbers, and will come up with "GTY".

 

We did that with a BD Balcony and ended up getting upgraded to an MA Mini-suite.  We had to beg our TA (NCL) to downgrade us back to an MC category, since the MA was right under the pool deck.  They don't normally do that, but thankfully ours did.  I believe that is one of the benefits of booking with an NCL TA.

[ighten]

3 minutes ago, All-ready2cruise said:

At some point I think they were the same thing then they decided to allow some cabins to have the FASs but still not choose their cabin.  

In some cases the GTY and Sailaways aren't offered when a cruise is first offered.  6-8? months out they usually start offering both.  (not sure of exact timing, sorry)

 

 

Think its 8 as its available for Aug 20 sailings (UK site)

[HuliHuli]

1 hour ago, mitsugirly said:

I can imagine that an interior could potentially be a bad spot for a guarantee if it's located over/under a venue with a lot of noise or by an area where you hear a lot of banging (I've had one of those rooms before). But what about a balcony? Would it be the same problem? I'm guessing yes but want to hear experiences from those of you that have actually booked a guarantee and what did you get? (I know YMMV but still want to hear the stories good or bad to get me motivated). 😄

We've only booked a Getaway on one cruise, our last on the Escape, where we booked 14 days prior to sailing.  Had we selected a cabin, it would have been an aft balcony on decks 12 or 13.  Just days after making our booking, we were assigned cabin 13908, ... yes, an aft balcony.  Coincidence?  I don't know, but it seems like a decent risk to try again, particularly if there are several cabins of the type we prefer at a few days from sailing.

[mitsugirly]

25 minutes ago, versuco said:

What do you consider "last minute"?

 

For me, 4-6 weeks from sailing date.  Also in my experience, prices usually drop again about 2 weeks before sailing, so I watch closely and if I don't like my assignment I will upgrade.  NCL will almost always let you upgrade if as long as you are willing to pay a few dollars more.  It helps to have a good TA on your side too!

 

Ok, what I'm looking at is about 4 weeks away. I can't really wait 2 weeks before because of having to book airflight and it would be too expensive at that point and not worth it to wait. 

 

 

21 minutes ago, All-ready2cruise said:

At some point I think they were the same thing then they decided to allow some cabins to have the FASs but still not choose their cabin.  

In some cases the GTY and Sailaways aren't offered when a cruise is first offered.  6-8? months out they usually start offering both.  (not sure of exact timing, sorry)

 

I have looked at other ships and picked the "pick your own cabin" button only for it to come up as GTY and wondered why it would be more expensive than if I picked the button letting them pick it. 

 

Honestly, we usually pick the drink package on our cruise but this time there won't be any drinking (other than soda) so won't be picking that and not interested in the other offers so I guess a sailaway would be the way to go if it's cheaper. 

 

19 minutes ago, DinaS said:

 

You have to keep going with the mock booking.  If you try selecting a regular category with limited inventory, it will not give you a choice of cabin numbers, and will come up with "GTY".

 

We did that with a BD Balcony and ended up getting upgraded to an MA Mini-suite.  We had to beg our TA (NCL) to downgrade us back to an MC category, since the MA was right under the pool deck.  They don't normally do that, but thankfully ours did.  I believe that is one of the benefits of booking with an NCL TA.

 

Ok, I have noticed that with the regular category and then it saying they were going to pick. I thought "how odd". 

 

7 minutes ago, HuliHuli said:

We've only booked a Getaway on one cruise, our last on the Escape, where we booked 14 days prior to sailing.  Had we selected a cabin, it would have been an aft balcony on decks 12 or 13.  Just days after making our booking, we were assigned cabin 13908, ... yes, an aft balcony.  Coincidence?  I don't know, but it seems like a decent risk to try again, particularly if there are several cabins of the type we prefer at a few days from sailing.

 

Thanks for the info. 

[Two Wheels Only]

For the OP, 

Find the worst stateroom in your particular category (location, view, etc) and if you would be happy with that, take the guarantee. 

 

33 minutes ago, HuliHuli said:

Had we selected a cabin, it would have been an aft balcony on decks 12 or 13.  Just days after making our booking, we were assigned cabin 13908, ... yes, an aft balcony.  Coincidence?  I don't know, but it seems like a decent risk to try again, particularly if there are several cabins of the type we prefer at a few days from sailing.

 

Deck 13 has the smallest aft-facing balconies. Deck 12 has the 2nd largest aft-facing balconies. 

Edited November 12, 2019 by Two Wheels Only

[HuliHuli]

3 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

For the OP, 

Find the worst stateroom in your particular category (location, view, etc) and if you would be happy with that, take the guarantee. 

 

 

Deck 13 has the smallest aft-facing balconies. Deck 12 has the 2nd largest aft-facing balconies. 

Well, it was more spacious than a standard balcony, plenty enough for us, and provided a great view as we sailed in and out of port.  No complaints here.

[julig22]

Always had good luck with GTY balcony.  Almost always get a bump (8 to 9, even when I choose the lower-priced deck 8).  Was once assigned a PrivaSea cabin, which I was willing to try but ended up upgrading to an aft-facing suite when prices dropped.

 

Had a terrible cabin with GTY oceanview (porthole, level 4, forward).