Gty Room Assignment - NOT HAPPY

[Carnival Platinum Cruiser]

Hopefully she comes back with a good option. Technically I do not think she was "allowed" to book the kids in to a room alone that was not across the hall or next to your room because of their ages (under 21). So I am suprised that she even talked with you about guarantee rooms :( .

 

Good luck!! I hope you get it worked out.

 

I read on this board how great the PVP customer service is all the time. I know there are some good, honest hardworking PVPs out there but my guess is by and large most of them just want your booking commission. Hence I have not used one in years and saved more $$ as well. I can't believe the PVP even booked 2 people in a cabin both under the age of 21. Correct me if I am wrong but I don't think that is even allowed??

[firefly333]

Yes, I was told that we had to book an adult in each cabin, and then we could switch it once onboard. Seemed reasonable to me at the time....

 

Yes, you had to agree to book one adult with each child in order to even be allowed to book a guarantee.

 

If you had booked a cabin for the children across the hall then you could have booked them into their own cabin in the first place.

 

Sounds like the PVP was just trying to save you money. Miscommunication? sorry :(

[LEtue]

I've never had a problem with doing guarantee cabins as long as the reservations were linked. Always ended up side by side. I guess that is the real issue - apparently the reservations were not.

 

I hope you can get it straightened out. Please let us know!

[happy cruzin]

I'm sorry, but what is a PVP? TIA!

 

PVP - Personal Vacation Planner - an agent that works for Carnival

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Yes, I was told that we had to book an adult in each cabin, and then we could switch it once onboard. Seemed reasonable to me at the time....

 

OK if that's the case you can't use that against them. Best is to call the PVP who told you that you'd be close together and see what they say.

 

Those PVPs are cut throat and I've read on here about them trying to steal you from your current PVP by telling you that your PVP is no longer with the company and what not.

 

Good luck and hope you have a satisfactory resolution.:)

 

Bill

[coolbasset]

Thanks for all your responses. My kids are 20 and 14. I know it is the luck of the draw, but my PVP kept reassuring me not to worry. I have never booked a gty before, and I really feel like she took advantage of me. We originally booked our trip for August, but were "bumped" off the ship because it got chartered by someone. So Carnival offered us the same rate if we wanted to book a different date. The price was significantly higher in June, so to book the difference now would cost us $$$.

 

I did send her an e-mail stating was not happy, let's see what she comes back with!

 

 

 

I'd raise hell with the PVP. I am in a similar situation but we're three rooms of adults with kids. We were told in no uncertain terms that the only way we were able to know that we were going to be together or close is to book room assignments. I'm not cruising until September and I know full well that we could be decks apart (I'm secretly hoping that we are but haven't told the other two families that).

 

You should have been told the same thing and you should have been told that with kids involved that you'd have to get room assignments.

[happy cruzin]

I read on this board how great the PVP customer service is all the time. I know there are some good, honest hardworking PVPs out there but my guess is by and large most of them just want your booking commission. Hence I have not used one in years and saved more $$ as well. I can't believe the PVP even booked 2 people in a cabin both under the age of 21. Correct me if I am wrong but I don't think that is even allowed??

 

OP says that they booked an adult in to each room and were planning on switching once on board.

[firefly333]

.....and you should have been told that with kids involved that you'd have to get room assignments.

 

....that's the bottom line. If you want cabins together, especially when kids are involved, you need to pay to get assigned cabins. Guess the OP knows now, next time she will do that Im sure.

 

If they could assure you of getting cabins together, then why would anyone pay to pick their cabins?

[tarps14]

We booked a balcony assigned cabin and an inside guarantee. We ended up SEVEN decks apart (we're on nine, kids on two). When we booked there were more than enough insides close by to accomodate. Now my kids are 21, 19 and 15 so it has just turned into one big joke in the family, but, I can certainly see where the OP would be very dissapointed. We did it the way we were supposed to with me in one and my DH in the other but I guess it's just totally luck of the draw. We also booked through a TA so maybe this also played a part. I think I'll give her a call tomorrow and see if anything can be done. I hope things work out for you, Mysticcruiser. Stick to your guns!

[Richard's Mom]

I've never had a problem with doing guarantee cabins as long as the reservations were linked. Always ended up side by side. I guess that is the real issue - apparently the reservations were not.

 

I hope you can get it straightened out. Please let us know!

 

 

I don't think that is true. I have been told over and over that our reservations were linked. Therefore, we would have the same dinner assignment and be close to each other. I only wish that was true. I will not let this experience ruin my vacation, but I will not trust my PVP again. I am very disappointed.

[PINEVIEW01]

Those PVPs are cut throat and I've read on here about them trying to steal you from your current PVP by telling you that your PVP is no longer with the company and what not.

Yep, from what I'm reading here lately, the PVP's are even getting into Carnival reservations and calling people booked currently with TA's (travel agents) to steal the booking.:cool:

[firefly333]

I've never had a problem with doing guarantee cabins as long as the reservations were linked. Always ended up side by side. I guess that is the real issue - apparently the reservations were not.

 

I hope you can get it straightened out. Please let us know!

 

 

Linking the reservations applies to where you sit at dinner, with others in your party or friends you want to sit with.

 

Linking the reservations doesnt mean you will get cabins next door, if you did then you were very lucky.

[dragonflymy2000]

i dont really see how she was lied to...they said it would be near each other, the room was booked with one child and one adult...she got waht she paid for..period...when you book gty you run the risk of this happening....if you want specific room, ajoining or across the hall you need to pay the extra....i am booking 8 gty balconies for Oct 2009 and we all know in advacne that although they can put us at dinner together its the luck of the draw....and i will be way past plat by that point...wont matter

[halos]

Yep, from what I'm reading here lately, the PVP's are even getting into Carnival reservations and calling people booked currently with TA's (travel agents) to steal the booking.:cool:

 

LOL!

Get O U T!

 

How would they possobly entice people to switch...are they giving them something to switch their bookings???

[happy cruzin]

Yep, from what I'm reading here lately, the PVP's are even getting into Carnival reservations and calling people booked currently with TA's (travel agents) to steal the booking.:cool:

 

WOW :eek: ...really???

[ala-kat]

I just received my cabin assignments for our upcoming cruise in June. We booked 2 rooms, one for me and my DH, and the other for the kids. My PVP told me not to worry, that our rooms would be close together. Well they are on opposite sides of the ship! My room is Aft, and the kids are mid-ship on the other side. Will we be able to have this changed???? I know this is part of the "game" of booking gty rooms, but I feel my PVP was not being truthful with us. She of course made it seem like I should not worry at all, that we would be close together. Is there anything I can do besides upgrading to assigned cabins and paying $$$???

Call back and INSIST that the rooms be together. It worked for us on a girls cruise, should be doable with a family.

[happy cruzin]

LOL!

Get O U T!

 

How would they possobly entice people to switch...are they giving them something to switch their bookings???

 

Yea...you have to wonder what they have to offer that would make it worth switching :confused:

[Sailfish]

There is something you might be able to try, but it will take some work on your part.

 

First off, find out if you and your kids have the same category stateroom. Parents often will book a balcony GTY and the kids an inside room GTY, so if your rooms are not in the identical category, you may be out of luck.

 

If your cabins are in the same category, go to any website and use their booking engine to find out if there are any cabins left in that category next to one another or really close by. If so, you may be able to request of your PVP that you can get those two available cabins for no additional charge.

 

I often book groups with Carnival, and nearly all of our bookings are GTY's. This kind of thing happens on occasion, and when it does, our group TA is always able to find two rooms close by as long as they are within the same category.

 

Knowing ahead of time - minutes before you call what's available - really does help. Since room availability comes and goes, it's best to check then call. Your PVP should look for you, but often they are lazy or counting on you being satisfied with what you got. Or they forget they promised to look for a room close by after the GTY is assigned by the cruise line. That's possible what happened.

 

I don't know when your cruise departs - if you have more than a month to go, you may be in luck. If your departure date is withing the next few weeks, it may not be possible to reassign any GTY.

 

It's worth a try. Like I said, this happens quite often with my groups - parents with kids and couples with friends who want to have rooms near by.

 

Good luck.

[wayne_trisha]

Not to be too up front but you got EXACTLY what you booked, 2 guaranteed cabins. If you had booked adults in 1 and kids in the other I do believe you would have ended up very close if not right beside each other's cabins. Seems strange to me that you are allowed to book kids in an adjacent cabin without a gty but you chose to take the route of an adult in each and swap after boarding. Were you hoping both cabins got upgrades? why not book kids in 1 cabin and parents in the other so you woule be linked and most likely very close together?

[lcpagejr]

THis is how the guaranty works...OP may have beem misled... but its the luck of the draw. I agree, being on same floor is still a "win". In the past I have always booked guaranty cabins. 1/2 the time we've been right across from each other...the other 1/2 on the same floor but different areas of floor. It should still be Ok... Especially with a 20 year old in the cabin. You'll get to know their room steward and he/she will take good care of them

[Ship Addict]

One adult would have to be booked into each cabin if the children are under aged. OP wouldnt have been allowed to book two under aged children in their own cabin with a guarantee.

 

This is not true. I currently have two cabins booked GTY -- one cabin with DH and I and one cabin with our 15YODD and 9YODD. They did not make us book one adult to each cabin.

 

Of course, now I'm really worried about where we're all going to end up! :eek:

[gpcruiser]

Carnival Platinum Cruiser you said you save money not using a PVP - How do you book your cruises?

[wayne_trisha]

We did similiar to what OP did on our next cruise. Put an adult in each room and then switch after boarding. We don't leave until November but I know or at least don't think we'll be close to each other. We' re in an 8B balcony gty and they are 4A inside gty. We certainly hope they come up to us but we're not counting on it. The kids are in their 20s so we're not too concerned about them.

[grandmato4]

op- I do sincerely hope you can find a way to get your cabins closer together. My other comments aren't directed to you but a general statement about guarentees and the misunderstandings surrounding them.

 

I don't understand what is so hard about understanding what booking a guarentee means. Simply getting any cabin the cruiseline wishes to give you in the guarentee category you paid for or above. Things do often work out to the pleasure of the customer but that is not part of the guarentee and doesn't always work that way. I think there's many good PVP's but they are sales people, that doesn't make them bad people, but their job is to sell. Often linked bookings will turn out to be very near each other, but that's not part of the gurarentee. PVP's don't get to decide who gets what cabin for guarentees. A guarentee is a gamble and the PVP's know the odds of things turning out a winner but unfortunately rarely do they spell those odds out in clear English and honestly the customer rarely actually hears the words "probably" or " most likely" in any other terms than meaning that they will get what they want. In the excitement of getting what they feel is a great price for their cruise they forget that the 3/4 full glass is also 1/4 empty ;)

[firefly333]

This is not true. I currently have two cabins booked GTY -- one cabin with DH and I and one cabin with our 15YODD and 9YODD. They did not make us book one adult to each cabin.

 

Of course, now I'm really worried about where we're all going to end up! :eek:

 

Iv been told over and over again that this IS true. If they allowed you to book a 15 and 9 year old in a guarantee cabin of their own, somebody wasnt doing their job.

 

I would be talking to whomever broke the rules now to make sure you get what you want.... 'cause it 'aint allowed.