unassigned rooms?

[CruiseDad]

Originally posted by Kristle:
Hi,
I'm going to book a cruise soon and was wondering how many of you select your room for the extra cost or if you let them pick it in a guarnteed class with possible upgrade. The only thing I'm really worried about is getting bunk beds or twin beds that won't convert to queen/king. Do you think it's a big risk or do you usually get good rooms?

Kristle,
For our first cruise in many many years it didn't matter what cabin we had, it was so exciting we could have been in after steering and had a super vacation. Now that we have cruised multiple times the cabin has begun to matter as we spend more time there, sitting on our private balcony and entertainig friends and crew. We actually prefer a balcony cabin forward, the ship movement is not apparant to us and it puts us directly over the big Theater and we like that. If this is your first cruise in a long time go for the guarentee is my advise and then get choosy later

[TrvlPro]

Neil can correct me if I am wrong, but it seems the earlier one books the Guarantee the better the possible upgrade.

Hi Dwayne, the luck of the draw is different with different lines. With HAL later is better. They go through a series of cabin assignments as time goes on. The early bookers in Gty are assigned and docs sent, then they often re-open Gty status under SWAT or Falsh promos for last minute bookings. These are more commonly upgraded and sometimes dramatic upgrades as they'll give out anything left regardless of category. These are where those stories of getting moved from an inside to a balcony come from. Although not common there are a few that happen on many sailings as they just close out inventory without regard to category.

Princess has a purely luck of the draw system, even past pax status doesn't increase odds of upgrade.

I don't know exactly how Carnival does their system but I haven't found that those booking early have any better results with upgrades than those who book last minute. One cool thing about CCL is that if the dining is cross referenced with another guarantee cabin they do a remarkable job of getting the cabins on the same deck, category, area of the ship. Sometimes next door to each other although there is never a way to assure this when taking random assignment.

Cheers, Neil

[Dwayne]

Thanks Neil. It is interesting how they do it differently. Not to go down memory lane, but before CCL was a mega corp. you could actually call the "ship/sailing coordinator" and make a request. I have done it a few times when I booked the old "run of the ship" rates. I got this real nice lady once, and she told me my choices. The last time that happened was in '96 though. Then they started making you fax in requests. I don't think they even do that now.

My resident rates and past guest rates are usually the same or better than the Guarantees now, especially when the upgrade promos are available. So I have been picking my cabin the last several years.

Thanks again for the information, I love learning things.

Best wishes for the New Year,
Dwayne

[etinca]

Last time I did that, I booked an oceanview guarantee and got a Penthouse Suite on the Ecstasy. Definitely not the norm, but a very welcome surprise. It can happen.