Guarantee room

[mikefast]

You people have always been a help, and I have gotten a lot of useful information here. I have a question that somebody can probably answer. We have taken several cruises in the past few years. This time we booked a guarantee room. Our cruise leaves in January of next year. The cruise is already paid for. How soon will we know what room has been assigned to us, or won't we know until we get our documents a couple of weeks before the cruise? Thanks.

[Sea and Me]

I can only tell you about our experience on another cruiseline. Both my brother in law & wife and DH & I booked guarantees. My inlaws received their cabin # 4 months prior to sailing. We received ours 5 days prior to sailing. I was told that a computer assigns the cabins!! So it could be months before or days before, sometimes not until you get to the port. So with a guarantee you just never know. You can always check your reservation. I did that quite frequently. The end result was we were very pleased with our cabin location!! Close to everything!!

 

Hope I helped a little.

 

Carol

[Andy C]

My guarantee was assigned almost instantly. I did not like the assignment and asked my TA to change it. She was able to get me my first choice! And I did not have to pay the $2200pp that someone else would have paid for that category.

 

If you don't like the assignment (and if you used a TA) try to get them to change it for you and it may work. It's your money so squeeze as much as you can from them!

[wrp96]

Keep watching your reservation on RCCL's website. I've had guarantees assigned in as little as 24 hours after booking. Last time I booked a guarantee I was assigned a room about 2 weeks after booking (8 months before the cruise). Other times you don't find out until you get to the pier.

[amybear912]

When we have booked guarantees, the cabin was usually assigned shortly after final payment was due, like a week later.

 

My advice is to get friendly with the RC website, set up an account and keep an eye on both your reservation and the price of your cruise... one day you may login and find that your cabin has been assigned.

 

Once your cabin has been assigned, keep an eye on the price of that category of cabin as well as the going rate for the guarantee cabins in that category.

 

Especially since you are sailing in January, which tends to be a reasonably priced time to cruise... you may find that your category goes down in price from what you originally paid for the guarantee, in which case, call to see if you can choose a new cabin in that category and/or get the price adjustment or even upgrade to a higher category...

 

Beware though that changes to your reservation could end up kicking you into a higher fuel surcharge fee (if it goes up from what you had paid already) but on the other hand, the prices may come down enough that even an increase in fuel surcharge will still put you ahead... you never know!

 

You could end up doing quite well...

[cb at sea]

With a gty, don't be surprised if they change your cabin, even after they've assigned you one. If they do, it's usually an "upgrade" of a sort. That's why they do gtys--so they can re-arrange passengers, if they need to.

[veryhotred]

I did a gty on my last cruise, an OV gty, and my cabin was assigned right away and it didn't change after it was assigned. I ended up on deck 3 midship. At first I was thinking, oh gosh, deck 3? Then I got there and it was just fine, one deck down from the dining room! Also I take the stairs onboard so it worked out just fine. I was happier to be midship! Anytime would I take midship over a higher deck. I ended up paying $329 for an OV on a 5 nighter aboard the Enchantment of the Seas, not bad if you ask me :)

[Shelli]

I have booked nothing but guarantees for most of my cruises (the glaring exception is my upcoming cruise on Liberty, for which we booked a specific Promenade cabin). Generally, my guarantees have me staying in the same main category (inside, most often), but upgraded at least one deck, if not more. This is regardless of cruise lines; they all seem to do it the same, random way. Once, though, I was actually upgraded from inside to outside!

 

Again, generally speaking, I've found that the closer to sailing I've gotten my cabin assigned, the better the upgrade has been.

[CLQ]

I was going to ask the OP if they booked through a TA? Ours alerted us to an upgrade to a Ste. Gty category. We were placed within about 24 hrs. and then she was able to move us within that category to the cabin we actually wanted. Worked great for both couples in our party. A TA who does a lot of business with RCI could be the key there. Don't know.

[addicted2juicyy]

If you book a guarantee and have been assigned a room number can you call royal Caribbean to change the room or can that only be done if booked through a ta?

[Jfultz81]

How do you book a GTY? I never see them on RCL's website.. they always say N/A.

[cruisePRN]

If you book a guarantee and have been assigned a room number can you call royal Caribbean to change the room or can that only be done if booked through a ta?

Neither. If you want a specific cabin you have to pay for it at the published rate. GTY are for people who want to save money and accept any cabin assigned in the category they buy their GTY.