Booked "guarantee" veranda through travel agent - already assigned, is this typical?

[Arizona Wildcat]

13 minutes ago, heatherkh said:

Thanks, everyone. Lesson learned. I'll be honest, this is not the greatest introduction to this type of vacationing, and I hope it doesn't cloud the trip.

 

I'm surprised there isn't more concern from cruisers over what, to me, seems like a shady advertising practice. First-time cruisers aren't necessarily going to be aware that it can't be taken at face value. It certainly wasn't clear to me, and I was definitely not assigned "best" as stated (quite the opposite, in fact). That is my major issue with this.

 

Harris, I'll watch for your reply - thanks again!

The number one rule today for cruising today is to be flexible.  You misunderstood.   If a Veranda GTY would get you a midship 2A Veranda; why would anyone ever book anything except a GTY.  Think of it logically.  Same with a suite.  A Suite GTY is not likely to get you the penthouse. 

Nothing shady.  You read the information and focused on the part that benefitted you.  Not the entire web posting.

Edited March 21, 2023 by Arizona Wildcat

[RD64]

Your cruise is not until November! Cancel and book the cabin guarantee that you want, or your specific cabin and location. Problem solved!

[RD64]

18 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

The number one rule today for cruising today is to be flexible.  You misunderstood.   If a Veranda GTY would get you a midship 2A Veranda; why would anyone ever book anything except a GTY.  Think of it logically.  Same with a suite.  A Suite GTY is not likely to get you the penthouse. 

Nothing shady.  You read the information and focused on the part that benefitted you.  Not the entire web posting.

Therein lies the problem - so many people post on these boards (their claim), that they booked the lowest possible inside cabin guarantee and got allocated a deluxe / supreme / super / ultra penthouse suite. Sadly people who book guarantees should have more realistic expectations and not set themselves up for disappointment when they do not get said penthouse.

[hcat]

As a PS, I would not blame the cruise line or the system..

Your TA should have explained how it works, esp if they knew you were new to cruising!  Hope there are no other unhappy surprises!

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Do they still sell cabins using the old categories ? 
on the website it only shows the new categories 

if you have V3 cabin, the best ones I think are over Blu and Quine 

Also get a better TA 

 

[lovecruzin]

Some mid ship deck 6 have larger balconies, did you get one of those by chance. Your travel agent should have explained accurately what a guarantee means. 
Since you are willing to pay to upgrade, tell your TA and get pricing for a cabin that you will be happy with.
Eclipse is a great ship with fantastic crew.
 

Edited March 22, 2023 by lovecruzin

[volk904]

Now that you know your cabin you can look through and find a cabin you like better in the same Cat.  You also will have the chance to bid on move up or just tell your TA you want to pay more to move.  

[volk904]

I just looked at some pictures of the ship and cabin Cat map. The deck 6 Obstructed view cabins are really just the lifeboat top below your balcony.  That said the life boats on the back half of the ship are not quite as high and if you go far enough back in the same Cat you will be past the life boats.  I don’t see it as a big deal. The boats don’t appear to block much of your view.  

f 

[baggal]

11 hours ago, heatherkh said:

Thanks, everyone. Lesson learned. I'll be honest, this is not the greatest introduction to this type of vacationing, and I hope it doesn't cloud the trip.

 

I'm surprised there isn't more concern from cruisers over what, to me, seems like a shady advertising practice. First-time cruisers aren't necessarily going to be aware that it can't be taken at face value. It certainly wasn't clear to me, and I was definitely not assigned "best" as stated (quite the opposite, in fact). That is my major issue with this.

 

Harris, I'll watch for your reply - thanks again!

It seems to me the problem is with your travel agent, not Celebrity.  Part of their job is to explain your options in booking a cabin and the relative costs. 

[Mark_K]

12 hours ago, heatherkh said:

 

We were assigned 2D. My understanding was that we would be assigned best in category (veranda).

In Celebrity terminology 2D is a category, Veranda is a supercategory.  It’s the same as with the free one category upgrade for Captain’s Club members.

[TMLAalum]

@heatherkh

Was your TA an actual person or did you book thru an online agency?

I agree that your cabin assignment is within the parameters of what is stated on the Celebrity website. Your TA should have explained your cabin category options to you, especially if she was aware you'd never booked a cruise before. 

FWIW, we were assigned a fully obstructed view veranda GTY the one time we selected that option. I knew full well that that type cabin would likely be the one we were given. It wasn't awful. Most of the time on S-class ships we book partially obstructed view veranda cabins- most recently 6241 on the Silhouette which had one of the big verandas with the smallest lifeboat in front of it. The cabin next door was a deluxe (aka spendy) veranda which, from what I could tell, had a somewhat slightly obstructed view. 

We've often booked one of the partially obstructed cabins circled by @Ex-Airbalancer in post #30 too as they have larger verandas with just the blue dining venue roof as the obstruction.

What cabin on what ship were you assigned?

[Cruiscs]

14 hours ago, heatherkh said:

We are brand new to cruising and just booked our first for November on Celebrity Eclipse. A few days ago, we booked a "guarantee" veranda, and although we are still waiting for the official documents from the travel agent, I can see the booking on the Celebrity app. We have been assigned a mid-ship obstructed view veranda on Deck 6. I thought "guarantee" meant it was assigned closer to sail day and that it would be best of what is still available in the cabin class. There are tons of non-obstructed verandas still available on higher decks. Any advice?

 

Edit to add that I'm feeling a bit disappointed and would be willing to pay a bit to upgrade at this point. I wish this would have been more clear when we were booking.

We did this as well on E class. Got an obstructed view (50% obstructed) on deck 6. Cancelled the reservation and made a new one where we could pick the cabin we wanted. 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

I'll echo what other people have said - when you book Guarantee you are giving the cruise line the right to assign you to that category OR better. At least with Celebrity people have reported finding a different cabin in their assigned category that is available and switch to it. 

 

In this case it sounds like you booked the general "Veranda Guarantee" meaning you are telling them you will take ANY cabin in the larger super category Veranda. It's a risk you take that they will put you in the lowest category of veranda - and that likely happens way more than you know as most people are only going to post about the random great assignments. If you know you're not going to be happy with the lowest category in a general type, don't book Guarantee.

 

(I'll also just add that "upgraded cabins" are in the eye of the beholder. I did a specific category guarantee on Disney once (as in a 8B GTY rather than a general OGT - meaning I'd be put in a 8B or higher whereas OGT would mean any ocean view cabin or possibly higher into a veranda). I personally LOVE the 8B stateroom as it is high, on the forward or aft ends of the ship, and has a super large porthole. Well, they assigned me a 4E - which most people would have been over the moon to get as it's a veranda stateroom with an extended veranda. But I'd never pick that category as it's on Deck 5 and midship. Disney, unlike X, doesn't let you call and ask for a change when you're assigned your Guarantee cabin - even within the same category, not that any of those cabins would have been better. Most people thought I was crazy to be disappointed in it, but it's just not where I like to be on the ship. Still, I made the best of it - and learned my lesson about guarantees on cruise ships.)

 

[thebutlerdidit]

I always feel that you need to enter into a Guarantee booking with the expectation of receiving the worst case scenario as far as cabin. After all, others are paying more to have a choice. 
 

I’ve booked Guarantees twice. Aqua Class guarantee on Eclipse: we were immediately assigned the furthest cabin forward on the starboard side. 1502. We were allowed to be thrown back into the guarantee pool (not allowed to choose a specific cabin - this was in 2012 or 3013) and ended up in 1517. A Suite Guarantee got us into an Accessible Sky Suite, which we expected, since there were 3 of them available.  Would I book another Guarantee? It depends on the category. I understand the risks. 

[Essiesmom]

I e had some great cabins that were gty.  Way back in 2012 I had booked a partially obstructed balcony on Silhouette from Venice.  A few days later, X ran a special, get a gty balcony for the price of an inside.  I jumped on it, as even if I got a fully obstructed balcony I would be saving $1200.  We got a hump balcony, no obstruction.  Now I am back to sailing solo, so cabin doesn’t matter, cheapest gty will do.  EM

[BazingAu]

@heatherkh Yep, the GTY cabins are super misleading. They don't tell you that "Veranda" isn't a category. It's the subcategories within the "Veranda" category that they consider a true "category". If you use a live person TA, they should have absolutely told you that, especially as a first time cruiser. If your TA isn't familiar with cruises, then you should switch to someone else (I believe you can change TAs once within 30 days of initial booking, but I'm not sure if that's from TA to TA or only from Celebrity to TA.) Is it too late to cancel and start over? I assume you already paid a nonrefundable deposit though. Maybe you can ask if you can switch to a better cabin and pay the price difference without losing your deposit?

[Jeremiah1212]

46 minutes ago, BazingAu said:

@heatherkh Yep, the GTY cabins are super misleading. They don't tell you that "Veranda" isn't a category. It's the subcategories within the "Veranda" category that they consider a true "category". If 

 

That is not right. Veranda is the category. Inside, Oceanview, Veranda, Concierge, Aqua and Retreat are the general categories. The supercategories under the Veranda category would be: 

 

Veranda Partial View (V3) 

Veranda (V2)

Prime Veranda (V1)

Deluxe Veranda (DV)

Sunset Veranda (SV)

 

If you choose a Veranda Gaurantee you can be assigned a cabin in any of those supercategories. Although it's far less common now, sometimes there are specific supercategory guarantee offers (Sky Suite Guarantee, Sunset Veranda Guarantee, etc) where the cabin is more specific but those are seldomly seen. 

Edited March 22, 2023 by Jeremiah1212

[BazingAu]

12 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

That is not right. Veranda is the category. Inside, Oceanview, Veranda, Concierge, Aqua and Retreat are the general categories. The supercategories under the Veranda category would be: 

 

Veranda Partial View (V3) 

Veranda (V2)

Prime Veranda (V1)

Deluxe Veranda (DV)

Sunset Veranda (SV)

 

If you choose a Veranda Gaurantee you can be assigned a cabin in any of those supercategories. Although it's far less common now, sometimes there are specific supercategory guarantee offers (Sky Suite Guarantee, Sunset Veranda Guarantee, etc) where the cabin is more specific but those are seldomly seen. 

That's not how Celebrity views it. If that's the case, then you can ask to switch to any Veranda as the booking is for a Veranda Guarantee. What actually happens is that they assign the passenger to a V3 or 2D (or whatever subcategory it is) and then the passenger cannot get out of that subcategory. A GTY booking is for whatever subcategory Celebrity puts them in.

[jwlane]

48 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

That is not right.

Convince Celebrity of that.

[Jeremiah1212]

1 hour ago, BazingAu said:

That's not how Celebrity views it. If that's the case, then you can ask to switch to any Veranda as the booking is for a Veranda Guarantee. What actually happens is that they assign the passenger to a V3 or 2D (or whatever subcategory it is) and then the passenger cannot get out of that subcategory. A GTY booking is for whatever subcategory Celebrity puts them in.

 

A bit of a logical leap there. If they wanted to be difficult, the T&C's say they won't move you at all. 

 

28 minutes ago, jwlane said:

Convince Celebrity of that.

 

It's already the way it is. No convincing needed. 

 

 

[jwlane]

3 hours ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

It's already the way it is. No convincing needed. 

It's interesting that the LAST thing they mention on their invoices is "Veranda"---the FIRST is your "supercategory".  You've convinced yourself alone.

[stavy]

On 3/22/2023 at 9:06 AM, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

That is not right. Veranda is the category. Inside, Oceanview, Veranda, Concierge, Aqua and Retreat are the general categories. The supercategories under the Veranda category would be: 

 

Veranda Partial View (V3) 

Veranda (V2)

Prime Veranda (V1)

Deluxe Veranda (DV)

Sunset Veranda (SV)

 

If you choose a Veranda Gaurantee you can be assigned a cabin in any of those supercategories. Although it's far less common now, sometimes there are specific supercategory guarantee offers (Sky Suite Guarantee, Sunset Veranda Guarantee, etc) where the cabin is more specific but those are seldomly seen. 

I booked a sunset veranda guarantee. Will I be assured of getting a sunset veranda?

[omeinv]

34 minutes ago, stavy said:

I booked a sunset veranda guarantee. Will I be assured of getting a sunset veranda?

@stavy

 

No,not necessarily.  You will get a sunset veranda OR BETTER.  This can be a problem on Edge class in particular, as most people would consider the sunset veranda to be superior to an infinite veranda, but the Prime Infinite veranda is usually priced higher than a Sunset Veranda, and thus is a "better" cabin for the purposes of a GTY booking.  Likewise, I would rather have a Sunset veranda on Edge Class than a Concierge or even Aqua cabin, but those would certainly be considered "better" cabins. 

 

Harris

Denver, CO

[stavy]

25 minutes ago, omeinv said:

@stavy

 

No,not necessarily.  You will get a sunset veranda OR BETTER.  This can be a problem on Edge class in particular, as most people would consider the sunset veranda to be superior to an infinite veranda, but the Prime Infinite veranda is usually priced higher than a Sunset Veranda, and thus is a "better" cabin for the purposes of a GTY booking.  Likewise, I would rather have a Sunset veranda on Edge Class than a Concierge or even Aqua cabin, but those would certainly be considered "better" cabins. 

 

Harris

Denver, CO

Actually this is on the millennium.  Does it make a difference?

[omeinv]

@stavy

 

Well, On the M class ships, a Sunset veranda is considered the highest category of veranda, so you should get it, although you could theoretically still get a Concierge or Aqua room you may not think is an upgrade.  On the M class, the Sunset veranda rooms have very large balconies. 

 

Harris

Denver, CO