When can I expect our cabin assignment.....?

[Qcruise]

At the risk of asking another question that may have been addressed here.......we are aboard the Koningsdam repositioning cruise April 28th San Diego to Vancouver and could not select a cabin as this is a continuation that began on the East coast through Panama canal so we understand the reasoning behind this policy.  Being it's our first HAL cruise,  at what point can we expect our obstructed balcony cabin to be assigned.....?   I suppose we might not know until we board.....but then how do luggage tags work.....?  Any ideas would be appreciated.....thank you.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

HAL typically assigns guarantees within 5-7 calendar days of sailing, sometimes even less.  It is very, very rare to get a cabin assignment more than 7 days out.

[CruiserBruce]

7 minutes ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

HAL typically assigns guarantees within 5-7 calendar days of sailing, sometimes even less.  It is very, very rare to get a cabin assignment more than 7 days out.

Ah, not true. Guarantees are assigned anywhere from about 30 days out to dockside. (we have gotten ours at 25 or so days twice, and as late as 8 days). The general consensus is 10-14 days prior to sailing. But you may not get it until you arrive at the Terminal.

[ZSandy25]

I’ve gotten some guarantees 3 weeks out, some closer to sailing. Seems to be no rhyme or reason. Always had time to print boarding pass and luggage tags. If for some reason you don’t get your assignment in time your bags will be tagged with your information at embarkation. Never had this happen to me and would think it’s not the norm after reading others reports on guarantees. 

[DaveOKC]

As already mentioned, it can vary but typically is during the final week or two.  I think it depends on how sold out the cruise is in advance.  If they are still doing the upsell process during the final weeks, this will definately delay the process of assigning cabins.  If you cruise is sold out months in advance, they will assign guarantees sooner.

 

[catl331]

Seven of our 9 guarantees came 10 or 11 days out. The other two were at 18 days and 7 days, and then the latter was re-assigned higher just 3 days out.

 

[VTcruisenut]

We are on the Veendam Feburary 5th.   On our Roll Call, others who have Suites or Balcony cabins began receiving them Sunday, Monday- yesterday were the Oceanview Cabins that reported they got an email.  All of these are GUAR booked.  They state the email comes in the evening as HAL Home office is on the West Coast and 2-3 hours later than we are.  I am (im) patiently still awaiting our GUAR Inside cabin assignment!

[FlorenceItaly]

23 minutes ago, VTcruisenut said:

We are on the Veendam Feburary 5th.   On our Roll Call, others who have Suites or Balcony cabins began receiving them Sunday, Monday- yesterday were the Oceanview Cabins that reported they got an email.  All of these are GUAR booked.  They state the email comes in the evening as HAL Home office is on the West Coast and 2-3 hours later than we are.  I am (im) patiently still awaiting our GUAR Inside cabin assignment!

I am curious about your assignement because I recently booked on a casino rate, Nieuw Amsterdam, inside guarantee.  I am not sailing until later March.   It states N guarantee, but I do not believe there is a N category on NA.  I will be happy with whatever assigned.  I will not be upset if I am under BB Kings since I plan on being there, lol.  Best wishes, and please update.

[CruiserBruce]

8 minutes ago, FlorenceItaly said:

I am curious about your assignement because I recently booked on a casino rate, Nieuw Amsterdam, inside guarantee.  I am not sailing until later March.   It states N guarantee, but I do not believe there is a N category on NA.  I will be happy with whatever assigned.  I will not be upset if I am under BB Kings since I plan on being there, lol.  Best wishes, and please update.

Yes, there is, on Deck 4.

[FlorenceItaly]

9 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Yes, there is, on Deck 4.

I missed it when I looked.  THANK YOU!

[farjar]

3 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Ah, not true. Guarantees are assigned anywhere from about 30 days out to dockside. (we have gotten ours at 25 or so days twice, and as late as 8 days). The general consensus is 10-14 days prior to sailing. But you may not get it until you arrive at the Terminal.

We have our first ever guarantee cabin booked through a travel agent for an Alaskan cruise.  Will our travel agent notify us when our cabin is assigned or will it just show up in our HAL cruise documents?

[CruiserBruce]

6 minutes ago, farjar said:

We have our first ever guarantee cabin booked through a travel agent for an Alaskan cruise.  Will our travel agent notify us when our cabin is assigned or will it just show up in our HAL cruise documents?

We have been notified by email from HAL that "our reservation has changed". We then go into our booking and find our room assignment.

 

If HAL doesn't have your email, they will probably notify your TA. Or, you can monitor your reservation yourself. It will typically show on the luggage tags first.

[VTcruisenut]

1 hour ago, FlorenceItaly said:

I am curious about your assignement because I recently booked on a casino rate, Nieuw Amsterdam, inside guarantee.  I am not sailing until later March.   It states N guarantee, but I do not believe there is a N category on NA.  I will be happy with whatever assigned.  I will not be upset if I am under BB Kings since I plan on being there, lol.  Best wishes, and please update.

Well everytime I have talked to HAL about the Casino offer, they state the Inside cabin on a Casino offer is always listed as an "N" cabin. but "usually" guests are assigned a higher category Interior if there are cabins available. ON our ship, the Veendam, the N cabins are on Deck 4 in the very front of the ship just  beyond the infirmary!

[pilot]

We got our cabin assignment on 16 January for our 26 January cruise on Nieuw Statendam. 

[NCTribeFan]

I also just booked a casino fare for Zaandam 4/21 repo sailing.  I've never had a guarantee cabin (I really like to pick midship, lower decks for motion issues).  Plus, it's the first sailing right out of dry dock, so i'm a bit anxious that I'll end up in a cabin all the way forward on a higher deck with rough seas around NE/Canada and hammering going on all day/night for unfinished repairs!! 😭

 

If I expect the worst, maybe I'll end up with a beautiful cabin in an ideal location and she will be sparkling clean with beautiful new areas to explore.  Keeping my fingers crossed! 😁

[VTcruisenut]

2 minutes ago, NCTribeFan said:

I also just booked a casino fare for Zaandam 4/21 repo sailing.  I've never had a guarantee cabin (I really like to pick midship, lower decks for motion issues).  Plus, it's the first sailing right out of dry dock, so i'm a bit anxious that I'll end up in a cabin all the way forward on a higher deck with rough seas around NE/Canada and hammering going on all day/night for unfinished repairs!! 😭

 

If I expect the worst, maybe I'll end up with a beautiful cabin in an ideal location and she will be sparkling clean with beautiful new areas to explore.  Keeping my fingers crossed! 😁

did you book an interior cabin?  I was told that the Casino offers Interior cabins ALWAYS get the "N" category interior cabin and if there are other cabins available when the ship sails, you might get a "better" interior cabin.  Right now, we still don't have our cabin assignment, we are still an "N" which on our ship the Veendam, is up front on Deck 4 beyond the infirmary.  Not where I want to be, but a free cruise for just port fees and taxes, I guess I will take it!

[FlorenceItaly]

23 minutes ago, NCTribeFan said:

I also just booked a casino fare for Zaandam 4/21 repo sailing.  I've never had a guarantee cabin (I really like to pick midship, lower decks for motion issues).  Plus, it's the first sailing right out of dry dock, so i'm a bit anxious that I'll end up in a cabin all the way forward on a higher deck with rough seas around NE/Canada and hammering going on all day/night for unfinished repairs!! 😭

 

If I expect the worst, maybe I'll end up with a beautiful cabin in an ideal location and she will be sparkling clean with beautiful new areas to explore.  Keeping my fingers crossed! 😁

Great itinerary!  We would have booked this one had we not had commitments during this time frame that could not be rearranged.  Weddings and graduations are pretty set in stone,LOL.

[AtleeH]

On 1/29/2020 at 2:16 PM, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

HAL typically assigns guarantees within 5-7 calendar days of sailing, sometimes even less.  It is very, very rare to get a cabin assignment more than 7 days out.

 

We are 38 days out from sailing, and we got our room assignment today (01/31/20)

[catl331]

8 hours ago, AtleeH said:

We are 38 days out from sailing, and we got our room assignment today (01/31/20)

 

Wow! What ship/itinerary/cabin class?

[FlorenceItaly]

On 1/29/2020 at 4:38 PM, VTcruisenut said:

We are on the Veendam Feburary 5th.   On our Roll Call, others who have Suites or Balcony cabins began receiving them Sunday, Monday- yesterday were the Oceanview Cabins that reported they got an email.  All of these are GUAR booked.  They state the email comes in the evening as HAL Home office is on the West Coast and 2-3 hours later than we are.  I am (im) patiently still awaiting our GUAR Inside cabin assignment!

VTcruisernut, anything yet?

[VTcruisenut]

58 minutes ago, FlorenceItaly said:

VTcruisernut, anything yet?

NO!  I think we are going to be sleeping on the Promenade deck or in a tender!

[snaebyllej]

On 1/29/2020 at 3:38 PM, VTcruisenut said:

We are on the Veendam Feburary 5th.   On our Roll Call, others who have Suites or Balcony cabins began receiving them Sunday, Monday- yesterday were the Oceanview Cabins that reported they got an email.  All of these are GUAR booked.  They state the email comes in the evening as HAL Home office is on the West Coast and 2-3 hours later than we are.  I am (im) patiently still awaiting our GUAR Inside cabin assignment!

We're on the Veendam on the 12th, outside guarantee.  Our cabin assignment showed up on the HAL site by Wednesday evening (1/29), and the emails arrived Thursday morning around 8 CT (and then again this morning).

[VTcruisenut]

9 minutes ago, snaebyllej said:

We're on the Veendam on the 12th, outside guarantee.  Our cabin assignment showed up on the HAL site by Wednesday evening (1/29), and the emails arrived Thursday morning around 8 CT (and then again this morning).

OK, now I am getting concerned!

[AtleeH]

4 hours ago, catl331 said:

 

Wow! What ship/itinerary/cabin class?

Zuiderdam, Sunfarer to the Panama Canal, Verandah VB 4178.  It was originally a VH Guarantee.

 

What helped, I think, is my SIL was linked to our booking, and she booked a Neptune suite.

[HAL4NOW]

9 hours ago, VTcruisenut said:

NO!  I think we are going to be sleeping on the Promenade deck or in a tender!

Maybe you will get a cot in the casino:)