Guarantee Cabins?

[suvicki]

Ok so I am expecting the answer to be no but here goes.:)

 

Can you ask for a guarantee HC cabin? You can do it with lots of other cabins but is it ever available for disabled people?

I was thinking you could say balcony/inside whatever but specify it has to HC cabin then we might be able to get better prices.:D

 

Just 'pie in the sky' I expect but I thought it was worth asking.

[uppitycats]

Ok so I am expecting the answer to be no but here goes.:)

 

Can you ask for a guarantee HC cabin? You can do it with lots of other cabins but is it ever available for disabled people?

I was thinking you could say balcony/inside whatever but specify it has to HC cabin then we might be able to get better prices.:D

 

Just 'pie in the sky' I expect but I thought it was worth asking.

 

Given how few HC cabins there are, I don't know that this would be at all possible. Pie in the sky for sure. I appreciate you wanting to save $$; I always get annoyed when there are so many last-minute cruise "deals"..and the HC cabins are booked.

[kyriecat]

I don't know about other cruiselines, but on RC, you cannot book a guarantee cabin if you MUST have an HC. You can book a guarantee and hope for an HC (sometimes there are some left that end up as guarantee assignments). If you MUST have an HC cabin, you have to book a cabin number. It's not really fair, but there is no way my mom could be in a regular cabin. When we travel together, I book the HC so I know that she has the space for her chair.

[leoandhugh]

Whether it is fair or not is another matter, but the fact remains that with so few HC cabins available as it is, if you need one, you need to book one right up front. From the experience of over 30 cruises, we would NEVER risk booking a guarantee because if we did not have an HC we would be SOL:)

[Arwenmark]

The answer to the question is No. you can however receive any discounts that anyone else can for the category cabin. If the price drops at least before final payment then you can call and get the reduction assuming it is not for new bookings only or over 55 or something for which you would not qualify.

[SunLover7]

This is something we have been wondering about as of late. Are you saying that if we book now for next spring because we need a HC but find the price drops before, the final payment, we could get the reduced price. How would you do that? We are traveling with Royal Caribbean.

 

The answer to the question is No. you can however receive any discounts that anyone else can for the category cabin. If the price drops at least before final payment then you can call and get the reduction assuming it is not for new bookings only or over 55 or something for which you would not qualify.

[uppitycats]

This is something we have been wondering about as of late. Are you saying that if we book now for next spring because we need a HC but find the price drops before, the final payment, we could get the reduced price. How would you do that? We are traveling with Royal Caribbean.

 

Arwenmark insists this is possible. In my experience it has never happened; once I've booked, I'm booked, and there have been no price reductions offered, or accepted when I've called.

 

But presumably she's called either her travel agent or the cruise lline and asked for the reduced price (but of course you have to have the same "category" of cabin that they're advertising at a reduced rate), and she's gotten the reduction. Good luck!

[kyriecat]

Arwenmark insists this is possible. In my experience it has never happened; once I've booked, I'm booked, and there have been no price reductions offered, or accepted when I've called.

 

But presumably she's called either her travel agent or the cruise lline and asked for the reduced price (but of course you have to have the same "category" of cabin that they're advertising at a reduced rate), and she's gotten the reduction. Good luck!

I booked my folks on RC's Jewel of the Seas for a Feb. 2009 cruise in an HC cabin. There were two senior price drops and one Texas resident discount. The price drops were honored each time. I booked directly with Royal Caribbean. The key is to make sure it is the same category cabin that offers the price drop and that it isn't a new bookings only special. I haven't seen any price drops on previous cruises so it doesn't always happen.

 

EDITED: One price drop was after final payment. The difference was refunded to my credit card.

[etoile]

I have seen lower prices advertised simply for booking a guarantee. For example, choose a cabin and it's $549, or pick guarantee and it's $499 - something like that. Same cabin category, but a lower price for the guarantee option.

 

I find it unfair that HC people would be unable to take advantage of that opportunity.

[suvicki]

We booked our cruise in May 08 for July 09 to ensure we got a HC cabin, we couldn't cruise without one.

It seems unfair that a HC cabin should go to someone who doesn't need it for a guarrantee price when we have had to book so far out to get one. If i could have got our cabin alot cheaper without being able to choose i would have been happy with that, lets face it we dont have much choice to start with so a guarrantee wouldn't make much difference.

Saying all that we are going on our first cruise and we are very excited about it. Now all we need is to some of the HC cabins to have ceiling hoists fitted to save us the expence and trouble of hiring a mobile one.

[Oceanwench]

We booked our cruise in May 08 for July 09 to ensure we got a HC cabin, we couldn't cruise without one.

It seems unfair that a HC cabin should go to someone who doesn't need it for a guarrantee price when we have had to book so far out to get one. If i could have got our cabin alot cheaper without being able to choose i would have been happy with that, lets face it we dont have much choice to start with so a guarrantee wouldn't make much difference.

Saying all that we are going on our first cruise and we are very excited about it. Now all we need is to some of the HC cabins to have ceiling hoists fitted to save us the expence and trouble of hiring a mobile one.

 

When a person books "guarantee," he/she is booking ANY cabin in that category that is available ... or possibly a higher category.

I sail HAL, so I will use that as an example.

If I book a VF guarantee, I am telling HAL I don't care which cabin I get, I'll take whatever is available at the time of sailing. If all the VFs sell out, then lucky me, I may get a VD cabin ... or maybe even a VA!

 

BUT ... DH is in a powerchair and needs a HC cabin.

So I can't book a guarantee ... I have to book a specific cabin.

If I were to book a guarantee, I'd be out of luck if other people with disabilities booked the HC cabins, leaving none in the inventory.

 

And I have never seen a guarantee cheaper than a specific cabin in all my years of cruising. I've only seen guarantees offered at the same price as the specific cabins in the same category.

 

Sometimes AB people end up in HC cabins because they did book a guarantee, and the HC cabin was not booked ... so it ended up in the inventory for the guarantee people.

A lot of people don't want the HC cabins because sometimes the modifications mean no tub, maybe a single sink instead of double, that sort of thing.

[norcalal]

Arwenmark insists this is possible. In my experience it has never happened; once I've booked, I'm booked, and there have been no price reductions offered, or accepted when I've called.

 

But presumably she's called either her travel agent or the cruise lline and asked for the reduced price (but of course you have to have the same "category" of cabin that they're advertising at a reduced rate), and she's gotten the reduction. Good luck!

 

Arwenmark is correct. We recently had HC cabin 7304 on the Mariner, an E-2. We booked it early and watched the prices on the RCCL web site. Whenever there was a drop, for value, residence or geezers like me we called and received. We even got a price drop from the next higher category as there were no HC cabins in that category. The original price was a bargain and we managed to reduce it by 160 dollars by watching the web site. We did not use a TA, but if you do you can still monitor the web sites and if you see a reduction, even after final and it does not say for new bookings only, call your Ta. If your TA says you cant get that, get a new TA or do it your-self.

[Queenie2]

Some TAs also monitor the prices, and if the price drops before final pymt they will reprice it at the lower fare. You can of course do it yourself. But if you work with a TA, ask them if they monitor the prices before you choose your travel agent. A good TA will.

 

Candy