Does Status count in the assignment of Guaranteed Staterooms?

[omro1975]

Hi, 

 

We just booked a guaranteed state room on Jewel OTS for next year. It was a $4k difference between guaranteed and selection. By the time we board, the cruises we've taken this year will have tipped us just high enough to cross the Diamond threshold. 

 

I was wondering if your status with RCI had any bearing on how they assigned your rooms?

 

Thanks!

[fpcruiser]

I don't think so.

[molly361]

No

[Tlbecker1]

I definitely don’t think so.

[omro1975]

That's fair enough. It would have made our willingness to buy guaranteed rooms much higher. Doesn't look like there are that many obscured rooms on Jewel.

[Jimbo]

41 minutes ago, omro1975 said:

That's fair enough. It would have made our willingness to buy guaranteed rooms much higher. Doesn't look like there are that many obscured rooms on Jewel.

There are some balconies on deck 7, mostly mid ship(other then the bump outs) that when standing at your balcony railing and looking straight down, you don't  see the ocean, you see the  tops of covers over the life boats. You can however look straight out and see plenty of the ocean from those balcony cabins.

Edited February 11, 2023 by Jimbo

[lovesthebeach2]

We love that class of ship, but would hesitate to book guarantee. For example, along with what was said previously here that there are balcony cabins with obstruction - we book balconies to see the ocean - we wouldn’t book on deck 7 if it’s over any bar that had music until late. We did that once and it was very noisy for us in the cabin.

it all depends on what’s important to you.

[Ourusualbeach]

If anything I would say status could work against you.

 

Say they have 2 cabins left and 2 guarantees to fill, one cabin is great midship location and the other is an obstructed view..  One is a new cruiser and the other is Diamond.  Who do they want to impress to get them back sailing a second time with Royal and who do they know that they have already won their loyalty and will cruise again regardless of room assignment.

[beachnative]

Have there been cases where Royal says, "Sorry, we don't have an empty cabin for your guarantee"...and you do not get to go on that cruise?

[Jimbo]

27 minutes ago, beachnative said:

Have there been cases where Royal says, "Sorry, we don't have an empty cabin for your guarantee"...and you do not get to go on that cruise?

Would highly doubt it,  they would just call other cruisers and make them offers for their cabins. Just like airlines do when they over book a flight. Ask for volunteers to give up their seats for Airline Credit plus , they get them on the next flight.

[Ourusualbeach]

30 minutes ago, beachnative said:

Have there been cases where Royal says, "Sorry, we don't have an empty cabin for your guarantee"...and you do not get to go on that cruise?

Yes, they have oversold gty cabins.  ask for those booked if they can go on a different sailing

Edited February 11, 2023 by Ourusualbeach

[grandgeezer]

We never got upgraded on RCL.

Several years ago we talked some friends into trying Celebrity with us. Their first cruise and we are Elite Plus. We both booked balcony’s, we got the cabin we booked, they got upgraded to Concierge Class. They weren’t impressed, they went backed to Princess and never strayed again.

[BecciBoo]

6 minutes ago, grandgeezer said:

They weren’t impressed,

Wow

[omro1975]

3 hours ago, Jimbo said:

There are some balconies on deck 7, mostly mid ship(other then the bump outs) that when standing at your balcony railing and looking straight down, you don't  see the ocean, you see the  tops of covers over the life boats. You can however look straight out and see plenty of the ocean from those balcony cabins.

 

We did look at the deck plans before we committed. Looks like the obscured balconies are either what you describe or some sort of ladder. 

 

We're doing a Norwegian Fjord cruise and decided for $4+k in savings, essentially another cruise, we would take the punt.

[omro1975]

3 hours ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

We love that class of ship, but would hesitate to book guarantee. For example, along with what was said previously here that there are balcony cabins with obstruction - we book balconies to see the ocean - we wouldn’t book on deck 7 if it’s over any bar that had music until late. We did that once and it was very noisy for us in the cabin.

it all depends on what’s important to you.

 

I totally get what you're saying, but it was 8.5k for a guaranteed and 13k for pick your own. For that difference, I could book another cruise and still get balcony!

[omro1975]

2 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

If anything I would say status could work against you.

 

Say they have 2 cabins left and 2 guarantees to fill, one cabin is great midship location and the other is an obstructed view..  One is a new cruiser and the other is Diamond.  Who do they want to impress to get them back sailing a second time with Royal and who do they know that they have already won their loyalty and will cruise again regardless of room assignment.

 

I can see what you're saying here, but loyal cruisers actually also more likely to return than a newbie, especially once they've built up status. For instance, we have friends who are newbies, they liked their cruise on Royal, they had a balcony, but they feel no loyalty, they just care about the itinerary and the bottomline cost. They're cruising with Carnival next. Once we have the status, with the benefits that provides, we're more likely to book again and again and again, rather than waste time and money building up status with another line. So, I actually think rewarding someone with status would actually make them more money in the long run.

[RD64]

Loyal cruisers do not come back and spend on the frills. As a generalization, they come on board and spend a minimal amount. In return they think that their loyalty should be rewarded with every possible free bell and whistle known to the cruising public. These items are a cost to the cruise line. They would much rather have the newbies on board that are willing to spend extravagantly on all the frills.

 

[omro1975]

2 hours ago, beachnative said:

Have there been cases where Royal says, "Sorry, we don't have an empty cabin for your guarantee"...and you do not get to go on that cruise?

 

As I understand it, they expect the ships to be full and there to be cancellations at the point of final payment, which tends to open up inventory. So they certainly hedge their bets there. Once you to the final payment section, all of the guaranteed rooms are assigned somehow and then the system can only sell what continue to be vacant rooms. Again, this is just how I have had this explained to me. 

 

If they sell every room in a particular class, so much so that there are a few guaranteed rooms needing to be allocated, then they move to the next class up to see if they can place you. While a class upgrade is incredibly unlikely, I have known someone to whom this happened. They booked a balcony guarantee and once they were onboard they actually got a junior suite. This is not something we're even remotely pinning any hopes on.

[omro1975]

2 minutes ago, RD64 said:

Loyal cruisers do not come back and spend on the frills. As a generalization, they come on board and spend a minimal amount. In return they think that their loyalty should be rewarded with every possible free bell and whistle known to the cruising public. These items are a cost to the cruise line. They would much rather have the newbies on board that are willing to spend extravagantly on all the frills.

 

 

You may very well be right. Extravagant spending isn't limited to newbies though. I'm sure every cruise line has stats on this.

[neverbeenhere]

8.5K for a balcony on a 12 night UGH. I'd find another week.

 

I know this isn't helping the guessing related to if status effect stateroom assignment and Loyalty status.  As far as I can tell, assignment of the staterooms is random.

[ARandomTraveler]

9 minutes ago, neverbeenhere said:

8.5K for a balcony on a 12 night UGH. I'd find another week.

 

I know this isn't helping the guessing related to if status effect stateroom assignment and Loyalty status.  As far as I can tell, assignment of the staterooms is random.

Depending on the route, it makes sense. I'm on a 12 night cruise where balcony cabins are currently selling for $7k for 2 people. A Junior suite is selling for $10k. But it's not a basic Caribbean cruise so I think they can sell those more rare routes at a premium.

[Starry Eyes]

36 minutes ago, omro1975 said:

 

As I understand it, they expect the ships to be full and there to be cancellations at the point of final payment, which tends to open up inventory. So they certainly hedge their bets there. Once you to the final payment section, all of the guaranteed rooms are assigned somehow and then the system can only sell what continue to be vacant rooms. Again, this is just how I have had this explained to me. 

 

If they sell every room in a particular class, so much so that there are a few guaranteed rooms needing to be allocated, then they move to the next class up to see if they can place you. While a class upgrade is incredibly unlikely, I have known someone to whom this happened. They booked a balcony guarantee and once they were onboard they actually got a junior suite. This is not something we're even remotely pinning any hopes on.

With the RoyalUp bidding for upgrades, Royal Caribbean would not need to give a free upgrade in the situation you describe in your post.  Instead the person in a balcony who placed the highest bid for a JS could be upgraded and Royal Caribbean collects the bid amount.  That upgrade frees up their balcony cabin to be assigned to your balcony gty booking.  You may or may not like the location of the balcony cabin vacated by that high bidder.  You may have the opportunity to place a RoyalUp bid for a JS.  If so, you could be the high bidder in your hypothetical scenario.  RoyalUp is the most common form of upgrade now.

Edited February 11, 2023 by Starry Eyes

[omro1975]

26 minutes ago, neverbeenhere said:

8.5K for a balcony on a 12 night UGH. I'd find another week.

 

I know this isn't helping the guessing related to if status effect stateroom assignment and Loyalty status.  As far as I can tell, assignment of the staterooms is random.

 

It's an Arctic circle cruise up the coast of Norway. 

[omro1975]

4 minutes ago, Starry Eyes said:

With the RoyalUp bidding for upgrades, Royal Caribbean would not need to give a free upgrade in the situation you describe in your post.  Instead the person in a balcony who placed the highest bid for a JS could be upgraded and Royal Caribbean collects the bid amount.  That upgrade frees up their balcony cabin to be assigned to your balcony gty booking.  You may or may not like the location of the balcony cabin vacated by that high bidder.

 

I'm not remotely expecting an upgrade. My example was from a few years ago. I'm not sure if Royal Up even existed then. I don't ever recall being asked if I wanted to upgrade my cabin that trip.

[grandgeezer]

1 hour ago, BecciBoo said:

Wow

Believe it or not, not everybody is impressed with the new Celebrity. Back in the day, we knew 10-12 couples who cruised regularly and we were the only Celebrity groupies of the bunch.

Ten years ago, we were addicted to them. Fast forward to now, we have no spent a dollar with them since May of 2019, in a Sky Suite, and December of 2016 in any other cabin,

Royal Caribbean has been since December of 2018 in a Celebrity Suite, October 2015 in a balcony.