Room Assignment - When do you know?

[robtulipe]

Hi Bob,

 

Great post! Yes that's right. Thanks for looking at this. It made me wonder...

 

If a kind of room, such as interior, is showing only a few left, does that really mean RCI has booked all the others? Or do they "reserve" some for whatever reason, releasing them later?

 

I'm seeing two M interior gty in midship on Deck 2 btw

 

Any opinions on which is better?

 

1. Lowest deck (2), guarantee, interior. Right now 2 rooms show in midship

 

2. 2 decks above that, midship, interior. Non-guaruntee (we pick the room), for $10 more per person.

 

If we "gamble" on #1, there's a chance:

a - we get one of those two rooms, which are ok; or

b - we get an upgrade.

 

Upgrades seem to be:

 

3. same deck as #1 (lowest), oceanview, farthest aft cabin (both available, plus 1 other nearby, and that's all on that deck), and I think this would stink due to the engines. Can we refuse such an "upgrade"?

4. upgrade to #2 but we don't pick the room but the 3 that are available are ok

5. upgrade to higher deck oceanview, such as Deck 3 (only 1 available 1/3 of the way from the bow), or two other oceanview types on Decks 3 and 4 (can't see how many there are).

6. A big upgrade to a suite or something.

 

We're not planning on being in the cabin unless pooped, meaning we doubt looking out the window is much of a concern, but I don't know.

 

This is fun!

 

Thanks.

 

P.S. Am I being really anal? It's ok, you can be honest :)

I don't see the two M cabins only gtys but the same two L cabins are there. I know Sue L. said pay the $10 and pick your cabin but IMO you stand less of a chance to be upgraded if you do this. If you are happy with the 3 L cabins locations (including the one you have on courtesy hold) go with the M gty. I know it is only $10/person less but I like the upgrade possibility.

For our Radiance cruise booked at the beginning of Feb., it was a much easier decision. We booked an X balcony gty, saving almost a grand over picking a E3 cabin and ended with an E1 on deck seven with a extra large balcony. Ours friends booked an inside gty and got assigned an H OV cabin.

It is a gamble (but not a major one) that only you must decide on. Let us know what happens. Good Luck.

[robtulipe]

I think it's safe to say that they never show all the rooms available on their site. sometimes the other places you can go online to book a cruise will show more rooms than on RCCL's page - although you can still call RCCL and get one of those too. And there always seem to be even more rooms available than those. I called the other day to upgrade and it turned out that out of the 6 cabins i wanted (that weren't showing on the site), 5 were available. If there's a room you want, ALWAYS call to check if it's there!

IMHO if there is 5 or less cabins available in a category, RC shows them all. It is only when there are more than 5 available not all are shown. Like I said in a earlier post it helps to look at other booking online sites to see what they show as being available.

[robtulipe]

3. same deck as #1 (lowest), oceanview, farthest aft cabin (both available, plus 1 other nearby, and that's all on that deck), and I think this would stink due to the engines. Can we refuse such an "upgrade"?

Our friend we met on our Legend (similar to Grandeur) Med. cruise in Nov. had one of the last OV cabin, 2602, on deck 2 and it was crew quarters not the engine room that was beside them and I believe there was another deck of crew quarters below them. The engine room was two decks down and they had no problems with noise what so ever.

[RNSANE]

Cabin inventory may actually change from day to day. If deposits aren't paid by the deadline, space opens up every morning, I believe, so something that may have been unavailable the afternoon before, may actually be there the next morning. I know that Royal Caribbean always holds some cabins on each ship in case there need to be cabin changes after sailing. As for true inventory, I believe a travel agent can access that through cruisingpower, the RCI site for agents. Some cruise sites may buy inventory in blocks as well.

[Jimbo]

I have been looking at this same sailing for about 6 weeks. I helped a buddy of mine and his girlfriend book a cabin about 2 weeks ago.

 

They had to Have aleast an OV cabin.

 

At the time we booked they had reseidence rate specials going on for the state of NJ so we booked at that time. At that time the cost was $909 (Category H) per person before taxes and fuel surcharges, so they end up paying about $1014 per person, not a bad rate considering it is 9 nights and they don't have to fly to the port.

 

Now, like you I have still been looking at the sailing trying to get them a better cabin, right now they are on deck 3 about 14 cabins past the mid elevators on the port side. Just past midship. Really it's not a bad location.

 

I told them that since this is a cruise that has a ways to sail through the Atlantic Ocean that the seas may be little more rough then thay may be used to, They have only been on 2 other cruises, 1 from Miami and 1 from San Juan.

 

I talked them about the Guarantees that are available for this sailing, Category H, G and F all have Guarantees showing now. Since ther location isn't bad right now the only GTY's we are really looking at right now is the Category F since that woudl either give them a Category F cabin or Balcony cabin :) :) :) .

 

About 10 days ago there were a load of Category F cabins, I mean the whole front(bow) of the ship was unbooked. Must have been aleast 15 cabins on both the portside and starboard side of the bow available.

The reason I know is because I tryed making fake bookings on the rccl.com site and opened up new windows each time. So I know there are alot of available cabins up there. I know there is no way they sold all those cabins in 1 freaking day.

It's just Royal Caribbean way of selling those cabins that Nobody wants.

 

Then all the sudden the next day on the Royal Caribbean site The Category F shows nothing available, only way you can book that cabin is by booking a Category F Guarantee.

 

The Reason RCCL is doing this is because no wants to book a cabin that far forward, I just know it !!:confused:

 

So for the past 2 weeks that Category has only showed GTY's. I told my friends I'm leary of booking that Category because you might get on of those forward Cabins and have rough seas and be sick the first 2 days of the cruise and the last 2 days of the cruise, since the middle of the cruise they will be down in the Caribbean and should be okay.

 

Plus right now all the GTY's are alot more money now and none show any Residence Rates available.

 

So for now they are staying where they are. We'll see how things shake out in the next 4 weeks.

 

Jimbo:)

[robtulipe]

Cabin inventory may actually change from day to day. If deposits aren't paid by the deadline, space opens up every morning, I believe, so something that may have been unavailable the afternoon before, may actually be there the next morning. I know that Royal Caribbean always holds some cabins on each ship in case there need to be cabin changes after sailing. As for true inventory, I believe a travel agent can access that through cruisingpower, the RCI site for agents. Some cruise sites may buy inventory in blocks as well.

RC will upgrade some people to have more lower priced inside cabins to sell. Earlier today M were on Gty only and now RC and the gnome online site is showing 3 M cabins available.

[TravelGirl10]

Hi All,

 

I'm a newbie to here and cruising. I'm about to book my first cruise on Granduer from Balt in mid-May but I've been cautioned to not get rooms near the anchor, engines, etc.

 

My question is, when do you find out what room you're getting? And what can you do about it if it's in such a place?

 

Thanks,

Randy

Hi Randy,

Acutally I just made a reservation for myself in a GTY and I found out 3 days after which cabin I was in. Sometimes you will not know until you get to the pier. I was acutally upgraded to a higher category then what I booked which was a real pleasure but then we decided to splurge for a suite since that had a great rate on it then paid the difference. I did find out though they can waitlist you for other areas if your not happy with your assigned room I am a Travel Agent but I did not get any special treatment due to were paying out right but they did us good! Do not hesitate and do make sure you tell your TA or the Cruise Line your preferrence but they will not guarantee it due to your booking a GTY which means you get what they give you. Happy Sailing and I hope this helped some.

[james_19742000]

Ok, this is an interesting thread, I am booked on the Maiden Cruise on IOTS from Southampton to Cork for 4 nights, we booked an Interior Gurantee as it was cheap, that or no cruise!!!

 

So, we are anticipating an interior, but if you look at the RC booking site and try to do dummy bookings etc all cat's are now gurantee apart from D2 upwards, so what would this mean???

 

We havent been assigned a room yet, although am intrigued to know what we will end up with :-s

 

Any ideas on that one??

 

Regards James

[robtulipe]

Ok, this is an interesting thread, I am booked on the Maiden Cruise on IOTS from Southampton to Cork for 4 nights, we booked an Interior Gurantee as it was cheap, that or no cruise!!!

 

So, we are anticipating an interior, but if you look at the RC booking site and try to do dummy bookings etc all cat's are now gurantee apart from D2 upwards, so what would this mean???

 

We havent been assigned a room yet, although am intrigued to know what we will end up with :-s

 

Any ideas on that one??

 

Regards James

IMHO it means some people will get upgrades and the ones with guarantees stand the best chance of getting this. Bonne chance.

[cot427]

My worry is the engine noise or anchor. Or traffic. I'm a light sleeper.

 

My wife thinks an oceanview matters but I'm not sold on that, esp. after seeing the options on their site just now. Most of them are the very last cabin at the ship's rear. Doesn't seem good to me!

 

Then there are inside rooms right next to elevators. Also doesn't sound good!

 

With the inside rooms near the elevators, you can hardly hear a thing. In the morning, on port days, it can get a little noisy, but you'll probably be up anyway. And, you can only here people right outside your door, not all the way by the elevator.

 

I've had rooms by the elevator 4/6 cruises, and I love them. You have easy access to anywhere on the ship with being so close to the elevators and stairs. And these cruises where on the Voyager and Freedom classes of ships, with more people, not the Grandeur.

 

Anyway, at morning, noon, or night, you don't here any noise(or barely any for port days), at least I didn't. Insides by the elevator are great, my favorite rooms on the ship, by far.