sail away vs guaranteed cabin

[Cruising1122]

Has anyone tried their luck with sail away? or only book sail away. Any horror stories? With Sail Away cruise line can put you near engine room or below pool deck. I am sure cruise people knows trick people deploy, book cheapest inside sail away then perhaps hope to get either free (depending upon your cruise status) or pay little extra for upgrade? Cost difference between inside sail away and balcony can be few hundreds to thousands of dollars.

[SimplyAlbert]

As DH and I like the aft balconies, we usually pick our room.  Having said that we got a great deal on an RCCL cruise and booked the sail away balcony category.  The price difference was in the thousands between the sail away rate and the pick your own room rate.  We were very happy with our cabin location, but decided that we'd just suck it up if we got a crappy location and spend as little time in the room as possible.  We brought ear plugs and have sound machine app on our phones and would have just made the best of it.

[outbackpaul]

I'm not picky over the cabin so I usually book a sail away rate.  I've never had an issue.

[Cruise5life]

I book sail away balcony’s all the time.   No issues.    Don’t drink don’t do specialty dinning. Just the basics please.   Lol.  

Edited January 4, 2023 by Cruise5life

[UnbridledEnthusiasm]

I've booked Sail Away twice. First was for an oceanview cabin. I ended up with a quiet room with a big porthole. Good view however it was partially obstructed because it was at the same level as the walk/jogging path. Wasn't a problem though and was well worth the savings. The 2nd time was for an interior cabin. I thought maybe I could luck out and get an oceanview but didn't. Room was still quiet. 

[outbackpaul]

1 minute ago, Cruise5life said:

I book sail away all the time.   No issues.    Don’t drink don’t do specialty dinning. Just the basics please.   Lol.  

Yep, same here.  Basic is good enough for me!

[Sailing12Away]

I like knowing where I'm going to be, so it's not something I would like. Plus we don't cruise unless we have the drink package, and with the NCL promo it doesn't make any sense for folks who drink to NOT take the FAS package.

[julig22]

I'm not picky about location so for me, sail away would be good for a balcony and probably inside, if I wasn't looking for room choices and perks. But I personally wouldn't for OV because that ranges from a porthole on deck 4 to a nice unobstructed picture window.  

[PATRLR]

We've done it a few times and not had any problems.  We always do balconies.  Years ago, our concern was obstructed view balconies which we wouldn't want so wouldn't take that chance.  On new ships, there are no obstructed view balconies. 

 

With NCL, part of the equation is the drink package and how much you are likely to drink.  If you don't drink at all, Sail-Away can be a "no brainer".  Even if you only have occasional drinks, Sail-Away can be a decent savings.    I actually posted my analysis of doing Sail-Away in this post, maybe it will help you: