Downgrade on a Guarantee Room

[doone]

Coasterbill, sorry you had to learn this lesson, but we all have learned by either our own mistakes or someone else's. Enjoy your cruise, which I am sure you will, and the next time, book the cabin you want, that's what I do and I haven't been disappointed yet.

[gizmo]

CoasterBill,

 

A piece of info you may be interested in. On some of Hal's ships, the panels are not clear on any of the verandahs.

It all depends on which ship and it's age.

 

Hope you get lucky. Since I have done both , I agree it is nicer to be able to sit and see the ocean, but all is not lost, since you still have a verandah. :)

[CoasterBill]

I just wanted to give a responce to all who responded to my post last month. We had a good time but the room we were given was the one with the steel railing. As I thought it would be you had to go up to the rail to really see much out. The room was otherwise very nice and it did not make all that much of a diffrence. I did post a review of the trip and it is listed as "Back from Zuiderdam 12/18 Compared to Celebrity".

 

Thanks once again to each of you that posted on this topic and I hope each of you have a great trip on your next Cruise. We do not have any set up at this point which is sad. Everyone have a great holiday!

[DoctorFeelgood]

I'm glad things worked out for you for the most part. One question though: How did you know your railing would be steel and not glass? None of the websites I am familiar with have that kind of detail.

[CoasterBill]

When I got the room notice I looked it up on the web sight and it had a code on the room that showed that the room had a steel Railing rather then glass. There web sight will show this detail. Hope that helps.

[RevNeal]

Let me guess, you booked a BB Guarantee which should have put you on the Verandah Deck, but they've put you one deck down on the Upper Promenade Deck in a B either fore or aft of the tenders. That is, technically, an upgrade because -- drum roll -- the verandah is bigger. At least, that's what I'm told; and, that is how they appear on the deck plans.

[CoasterBill]

You are right in all cases. The Verandah is about a foot or two longer then the ones above on that deck but the space does not add anything. Its not like they give you better chairs due to the space and the big negative is the steel rail. It was not an upgrade to me at all but a large downgrade. All you can see from the room if you are sitting is sky. It did not make the cruise less to us but I would have liked to have gotten what we thought we were going to get.

[Birches]

I'm writing from Grand Turk on the Westerdam now. We booked a guarantee VD cabin as we wanted to be sure we had a clear balcony. Booked directly from HAL. Booking receipt showed INSTANT room assignment and upgrade to a VA cabin. It's terrible. Deck 5 room 5075 right above tenders. I can see 9 workers painting the tenders right from my deck chair. I can't see the water below because it's blocked by boats. I would have been happy with any in VD category. First and last time I will ever book a guarantee. Kind of gives me a bad feeling for HAL and I've sailed on her many times but this is clearly a way to get rid of undesirable cabins.

[jimmy2x]

This thread is over TEN years old.

[3rdGenCunarder]

This thread is over TEN years old.

 

And disappointing "upgrades" are still happening. I don't like guarantees unless I'm sure that I'll be OK with my guarantee grade and that any "better" grade of cabin will be acceptable.

 

Reading this makes me wonder. What is it about the BB to B (2004) and the VD to VA (2015) change that makes it an upgrade (in HAL's eyes)? What makes B "better" than BB or VA "bettter" than VD?

[Randyk47]

And disappointing "upgrades" are still happening. I don't like guarantees unless I'm sure that I'll be OK with my guarantee grade and that any "better" grade of cabin will be acceptable.

 

Reading this makes me wonder. What is it about the BB to B (2004) and the VD to VA (2015) change that makes it an upgrade (in HAL's eyes)? What makes B "better" than BB or VA "bettter" than VD?

 

What makes these cabins better? Well in some cases the cabins are on higher decks and supposedly that automatically makes them "better". ;) Secondly, HAL says they're better and charges more for them. :rolleyes::) That's really not to single out HAL as almost every cruise line follows the "higher is better" when setting categories and fares for what are by all other measurement (i.e, square footage, verandah size, finish, aft/forward placement) the exact same cabin.

[dogo88]

I know we will have a great time anyway but I just am not happy to not have the view I thought I was going to have. Just one of those little things we will have to live with for the week but its still great just to be on a ship what ever the room is like. Thanks again for the input. Bill

 

We've had the Verandah rooms with the steel panel for our Oosterdam and Nieuw Amsterdam cruises. We actually liked them better. First you're a lower deck so if there is rough weather you don't get as much motion. But trying to sit out on the balcony in the hot sun can be rough. The steel offers you a bit of shade. The glass panels, while smoked, do not offer as much as you would think.

 

Dan

[crystalspin]

this is clearly a way to get rid of undesirable cabins.

 

Quite true and did you think they were giving you $200/pp off for some other reason?

 

Sure, ease in filling rooms, but that's another way of saying what you did.

 

Only "guarantee" I ever had was a deal from ToA, an inside on the Nieuw Am for 26 days (!) -- The stock photos showed this nice big square-ish room with all kinds of seating... our assignment was a corridor shaped room with one chair BUT ON A HIGHER DECK. We ended up taking an upsell to an OV, which pretty much cancelled the exceptional deal, but gave us an acceptable cruise.

Edited November 30, 2015 by crystalspin

[cruz chic]

I've done many balcony guarantees and I've been happy with the so called "undesirable" cabins. That said, I'm pretty ok with most things. Sometimes I'm shocked at the laundry list of things that people don't want when they book guarantee. In those cases a person should really book a particular room.

[KAKcruiser]

Delete

Edited December 1, 2015 by KAKcruiser
Didn't realize there was a page 2 with more information.

[TSLady]

We booked a balcony guarantee on the Noordam last year on a Med Cruise and were "upgraded" to the observation deck. The balconies up there are half the width of a normal balcony and we were disappointed to say the least. If we'd known these smaller balconies existed we would have booked a set cabin but felt we were downgraded. Being up high was nice but we learnt our lesson. Apart from that, we loved it.

[sapper1]

Sometimes a guarantee is the only choice. Last June when I booked the November 2005 Amsterdam, Singapore to San Diego the only A and similar cabins available were guarantees. And that was not too long after the cruise was announced. My TA works for a very large company and she couldn't do any better.

 

That was my experience with my Koningsdam booking for 2017. I booked very early as the Koningsdam only has 12 SS suites and I wanted to be sure to get one. HAL would only offer a guarantee and no assigned room. I reluctantly took a guarantee to get the category we want but since the SS are all well located and the only alternative is to upgrade us to a Neptune suite I feel fairly safe.

[3rdGenCunarder]

That was my experience with my Koningsdam booking for 2017. I booked very early as the Koningsdam only has 12 SS suites and I wanted to be sure to get one. HAL would only offer a guarantee and no assigned room. I reluctantly took a guarantee to get the category we want but since the SS are all well located and the only alternative is to upgrade us to a Neptune suite I feel fairly safe.

 

Once you get to the suite levels, there aren't any bad upgrades unless you have a favorite room. It's the lower grades where there's a lot of variability that the guarantee can land you in a disappointing cabin. I usually know where I want to be so I try to book the cabin I want rather than accept a guarantee.

 

You really have to know the ships and where the upgrades will take you. I took a look at my winter cruise on Oosterdam. The corner afts are sold out (I've got one of them!) and there's only one SC showing as available. So if you take the guarantee SC, there's a very good chance you'd get one of the available SAs, at a difference of $500 pp. That's a "risk" I would take.

[DaveOKC]

Once you get to the suite levels, there aren't any bad upgrades unless you have a favorite room. It's the lower grades where there's a lot of variability that the guarantee can land you in a disappointing cabin. I usually know where I want to be so I try to book the cabin I want rather than accept a guarantee.

 

You really have to know the ships and where the upgrades will take you. I took a look at my winter cruise on Oosterdam. The corner afts are sold out (I've got one of them!) and there's only one SC showing as available. So if you take the guarantee SC, there's a very good chance you'd get one of the available SAs, at a difference of $500 pp. That's a "risk" I would take.

 

On an R or S class HAL ship I like to book a SB guarantee. There are only two of them so you likely will end up in an SA. Either way is fine by me, plus you save hundreds of dollars.

[Randyk47]

On an R or S class HAL ship I like to book a SB guarantee. There are only two of them so you likely will end up in an SA. Either way is fine by me, plus you save hundreds of dollars.

 

That's one of the few guarantees that make any sense to me but that's because we typically book Neptune Suites. Haven't sailed on HAL since they designated the forward Neptune Suites on R and S class ships as SBs so haven't personally tested it. Up until they did that I could never see why I'd want to book a guarantee as there was no incentive like a reduced fare over booking a specific cabin.

[catl331]

What makes these cabins better? Well in some cases the cabins are on higher decks and supposedly that automatically makes them "better". ... That's really not to single out HAL as almost every cruise line follows the "higher is better" ...

But that's not true on HAL since the re-categorization. For example on the Vista and Signature ships VF/VE/VD are up on decks 7 and 8, and the central cabins on deck 5 with the small balconies right above the life boats that used to be VE are now the "top" level - VA on Vista and V on Sig. For that reason we no longer book guarantees.

[Randyk47]

But that's not true on HAL since the re-categorization. For example on the Vista and Signature ships VF/VE/VD are up on decks 7 and 8, and the central cabins on deck 5 with the small balconies right above the life boats that used to be VE are now the "top" level - VA on Vista and V on Sig. For that reason we no longer book guarantees.

 

Thanks. We haven't cruised with HAL since the changes and even then we only cruise the R and S class ships having no liked the Oosterdam. Never been on a Signature class ship.

[3rdGenCunarder]

But that's not true on HAL since the re-categorization. For example on the Vista and Signature ships VF/VE/VD are up on decks 7 and 8, and the central cabins on deck 5 with the small balconies right above the life boats that used to be VE are now the "top" level - VA on Vista and V on Sig. For that reason we no longer book guarantees.

 

(bold is mine) HAL would probably justify that because they're midships. Randy pegged it several posts ago when he said "Because HAL says so." :rolleyes:

[catl331]

(bold is mine) HAL would probably justify that because they're midships. Randy pegged it several posts ago when he said "Because HAL says so." :rolleyes:

I believe HAL always had a hard time selling the deck 8 far forward or aft cabins as VA (because of motion there) and ended up giving out many as upgrades to people booking VE and VF guarantees. (We got three or four that way.) OTOH the deck 5 mid-ship were very popular priced as VE, and sold them easily. So ... HAL figures swap them around and get the same money for the upper VA given as upgrades, and get more money for the deck 5 mids!

 

I just feel sorry for people who don't do their homework here and book the deck 5 mids thinking they are getting the "best" verandas on the ship! ;)

[Randyk47]

(bold is mine) HAL would probably justify that because they're midships. Randy pegged it several posts ago when he said "Because HAL says so." :rolleyes:

 

Well it is interesting that cabins that were once considered desirable by the cruise line are now considered less desirable. Obviously they looked at bookings and realized that they were booking similar cabins but on lower decks more easily but for lower fares. Guess it took awhile but somebody finally figured it out. After it was pointed out to me that HAL had indeed redesignated cabin categories I pulled up the Maasdam, which I'm familiar with, to see what had happened. I notice with interest the old A category cabins on the Navigation Deck are now in the B category. Golly gee whiz. Really? I thought everybody wanted a top deck cabin right under the Pool Deck/Lido Cafe and was willing to pay extra for that privilege. :rolleyes::D