When are we assigned our guaranteed cabin?

[dianeh]

Not expecting anything. Just wondering when we are assigned a cabin. That's all. 

[nho9504]

2 hours ago, lissie said:

What else would you expect of an upgrade? 

 

Never expect an upgrade.  I just want to let @dianeh know sometimes you get lucky booking a guarantee but in certain situation such as an obstructed view is a possibility, better not to book a guarantee. 

 

What is your problem, that you do not agree with such?

Edited March 27, 2023 by nho9504

[dianeh]

I am confused by your last sentence.  I do not expect, nor am I concerned. I am not an avid cruiser and am trying to inform myself. My apologies for coming across toxic. Never my intention. 

[lissie]

29 minutes ago, nho9504 said:

 

Never expect an upgrade.  I just want to let @dianeh know sometimes you get lucky booking a guarantee but in certain situation such as an obstructed view is a possibility, better not to book a guarantee. 

 

What is your problem, that you do not agree with such?

I think you mis-understood me.  I assumed that an upgrade was a change to a better location?  Your comment suggested that it might be something different? 

 

I  book insides so an obstructed view would definitely be an upgrade! 

[RuthC]

17 hours ago, lissie said:

I assumed that an upgrade was a change to a better location? 

'Better location' is in the eye of the beholder. What HAL considers 'better' may or may not be what someone else thinks of as 'better'. 

I have some inside cabins that I deliberately book because they meet my needs: very mid-ship, large enough to hold a mobility scooter (not accessible cabins). If HAL were to move me to an outside, or even a balcony cabin, it might not suit my needs at all. I would want to be moved back to my favored inside. 

[nho9504]

Agree, the "better location" often is nonsense to us.

 

You can put "Do Not Upgrade" on your booking.

 

When we have a desirable cabin (larger size in the same category, or very little obstructed view, etc) we put that notation on our booking.

 

For the upcoming cruise, the Lady of Luck does not smile at us...  We got what we booked for, at the Forward - it is a blessing in disguise because it would mean we would walk the whole length of the ship minimum 6 times a day on 21 days - good way to make sure we have enough exercises!  :)

[CruiserBruce]

44 minutes ago, nho9504 said:

Agree, the "better location" often is nonsense to us.

 

You can put "Do Not Upgrade" on your booking.

 

When we have a desirable cabin (larger size in the same category, or very little obstructed view, etc) we put that notation on our booking.

 

For the upcoming cruise, the Lady of Luck does not smile at us...  We got what we booked for, at the Forward - it is a blessing in disguise because it would mean we would walk the whole length of the ship minimum 6 times a day on 21 days - good way to make sure we have enough exercises!  🙂

Isn't the thread and OP talking about a guarantee booking? Putting a "no upgrade" notation on a guarantee booking is sort of nonsensical. 

[dianeh]

Op here. Booked an Oceanview guaranteed. Given an Oceanview DA. No idea what that upgrade is worth. If anything. 

[Sharon in AZ]

I got my inside guarantee cabin assignment yesterday for my sailing in 12 days. I am very happy with the location, almost midship on deck 1, and nothing noisy above. 

[Minoushka]

As late as  boarding the ship 

[cruzer0007]

7 hours ago, Minoushka said:

As late as  boarding the ship 

I am sailing in 5 days on a transatlantic, and for the first time ever, I have booked a guaranteed cabin rate (inside cabin).  Still no cabin assigned, and if we do not learn  the assignment until we board, how does the luggage get handled ?  We will be separated from luggage before we enter the terminal building and I had not considered this was a possibility until seeing this thread, so now am getting a bit nervous about lost luggage risk(s).  Am sure a part of the reason we don’t  yet have a cabin is because the ship is at or very near capacity (Nieuw Statendam) all the more reason I am concerned about luggage getting misplaced in the process.   Anyone been through that sequence know how they keep track of bags when the deck and cabin are not known when dropping bags at the curb ?   I really do not want to walk on with my bags, it’s a 14 day sailing so we will have several.

Edited April 3, 2023 by cruzer0007

[CruiserBruce]

4 minutes ago, cruzer0007 said:

I am sailing in 5 days on a transatlantic, and for the first time ever, I have booked a guaranteed cabin rate (inside cabin).  Still no cabin assigned, and if we do not learn  the assignment until we board, how does the luggage get handled ?  We will be separated from luggage before we enter the terminal building and I had not considered this was a possibility until seeing this thread, so now am getting a bit nervous about lost luggage risk(s).  Am sure a part of the reason we don’t  yet have a cabin is because the ship is at or very near capacity (Nieuw Statendam) all the more reason I am concerned about luggage getting misplaced in the process.   Anyone been through that sequence know how they keep track of bags when the deck and cabin are not known when dropping bags at the curb ?   I really do not want to walk on with my bags, it’s a 14 day sailing so we will have several.

The dockworkers at the port, that you give your baggage to, will have a list with all the cabin assignments.

[AV8rix]

19 hours ago, Sharon in AZ said:

I got my inside guarantee cabin assignment yesterday for my sailing in 12 days. I am very happy with the location, almost midship on deck 1, and nothing noisy above. 

Then we are probably neighbors on this sailing, Sharon.  I just got my guarantee assignment.  Also midship port side Dolphin Deck.  But was somehow upgraded to OV from interior.  Likely the doings of my AWESOME PCC.

Edited April 3, 2023 by AV8rix

[Sharon in AZ]

2 hours ago, AV8rix said:

Then we are probably neighbors on this sailing, Sharon.  I just got my guarantee assignment.  Also midship port side Dolphin Deck.  But was somehow upgraded to OV from interior.  Likely the doings of my AWESOME PCC.

Lucky you Susan!!  Maybe we are across the hall from each other.

[cruzer0007]

22 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

The dockworkers at the port, that you give your baggage to, will have a list with all the cabin assignments.

 

many thanks for sharing that info ... I figured they had to have some sort of plan but I had no idea how it would unfold, and with all the chaos around staff shortages, etc, my concerns were elevated to say the least.  My cabin assignment did show up within the last hour (~4 days prior to sailing) so my initial paranoia around the potential for lost bags has subsided significantly.  I can print my own bag tags, that have my deck and room number details. 

[Florida_gal_50]

2 hours ago, cruzer0007 said:

 

many thanks for sharing that info ... I figured they had to have some sort of plan but I had no idea how it would unfold, and with all the chaos around staff shortages, etc, my concerns were elevated to say the least.  My cabin assignment did show up within the last hour (~4 days prior to sailing) so my initial paranoia around the potential for lost bags has subsided significantly.  I can print my own bag tags, that have my deck and room number details. 

Glad it showed for you.  I would have felt the same way you did.  Enjoy your cruise.

[Peterbald Mama]

Got ours 10 days prior to sailing. We were a guarantee f and received a c. Happy with that. Best advice I can give to all if you chose to roll the dice on a guarantee, take the category you would be happy with and spin the wheel. Second time we have done this and both were favourable. I think if you have specific needs this may not be the way to go but for us we are just so grateful that we can do this at all and we can go again soon then it’s a huge win. 

[ClippyJoe]

We had a guarantee on our last cruise, the first time we had done this and were quite pleased with our cabin. It was on the deck we wanted and quite near everything...we would do this again.

[DaveOKC]

Guarantees can be a great deal if you get a good upgrade.  However I have found that it depends alot on how full your sailing is.  Thus, if your sailing is in a peak time, upgrades are harder to come by.

Also, IMO, the higher the category you book the less likely a good upgrade. as HAL works hard to get passengers to pay up for an upsell before they assign the guarantees (makes sense of course) and they work the upsells from the higher categories on down.

[kickboxrca]

On 4/3/2023 at 5:24 PM, cruzer0007 said:

I am sailing in 5 days on a transatlantic, and for the first time ever, I have booked a guaranteed cabin rate (inside cabin).  Still no cabin assigned, and if we do not learn  the assignment until we board, how does the luggage get handled ?  We will be separated from luggage before we enter the terminal building and I had not considered this was a possibility until seeing this thread, so now am getting a bit nervous about lost luggage risk(s).  Am sure a part of the reason we don’t  yet have a cabin is because the ship is at or very near capacity (Nieuw Statendam) all the more reason I am concerned about luggage getting misplaced in the process.   Anyone been through that sequence know how they keep track of bags when the deck and cabin are not known when dropping bags at the curb ?   I really do not want to walk on with my bags, it’s a 14 day sailing so we will have several.

 

We were in a similar position - we received a cabin assignment when we arrived at the pier.  We arrived at the cabin - and there was welcome information for someone else!!!  I went to the main desk, and they had done another last minute shuffle - we ended up (finally) in an even better location (same category).  For our trouble, they gave us a bottle of wine.

[Cln2day1]

Booked a sz guarantee and was given a sy handicap with only one sink and no whirlpool tub. Sounds like a downgrade to me!

[Will_Dieterich]

I got mine 3 days before departure.  Had already printed out all tags and everything so just hand wrote the room number on them.