"Guaranteed Stateroom" - Question

[Pluto1976]

All of the verandah category staterooms for the cruise I was looking at are of the "Guaranteed Stateroom" type. We have always selected our stateroom in the past and knew what we were getting so I have some trepidation about not being able to select a room, and I have this question I was hoping to get feedback on:

Are guaranteed staterooms just the leftover, undesirable staterooms that no one else wants?

I would expect to at least get the category I booked, but are upgrades to a higher category typical?

Thanks!

 

[mmouse37]

Anything is possible. You will get people that say that only the worst cabins go into GTY status but we have not found that all. Several of our GTY cabins have been in great locations....even had an upgrade or two but I certainly don't count on those as is it is not very common.

MJ

 

[lorimay]

I agree with mmouse37, theres no guarantee of what you're going to get.
For us, if we get a better deal booking a *VGT or a GTY rate, we will chance it. The one time we did a GTY, I was nervous when we got put in a cabin on deck 5, I thought it was going to be noisy with the clubs and Buena Vista Theater on that deck. We ended up loving it. We had the grandkids and it was so convenient to be on the same deck as the clubs.
I have yet to be disappointed.

 

[happytime]

My experience with GTY has also been positive, though I've read others how other cruisers did get problem cabins. BUT that was NOT the majority of responding individuals. Most seemed very happy with it. It's a gamble for sure, however, for this poster, I personally would consider again.

Once you've been assigned a stateroom, I believe you can exchange it for another, if available, in at least the category (or less) you've been assigned. Things do happen that people move around the ship and have their personal reasons for doing so. Good luck.

Hope this helps.

 

[Dug720]

My experience with GTY has also been positive, though I've read others how other cruisers did get problem cabins. BUT that was NOT the majority of responding individuals. Most seemed very happy with it. It's a gamble for sure, however, for this poster, I personally would consider again.

Once you've been assigned a stateroom, I believe you can exchange it for another, if available, in at least the category (or less) you've been assigned. Things do happen that people move around the ship and have their personal reasons for doing so. Good luck.

Hope this helps.

I know over on Cruise Critic people on RCCL talk about calling and complaining about their GTY assigned cabin, but I have not heard of allowing that carrying over onto DCL. You rolls the dice and takes your chances. After I got stuck with a stupid deck 5 verandah (too low, too midship, and the extended verandah was lost on me) rather than my beloved 8B category, I'll never do GTY or *GT again.

 

[happytime]

I know over on Cruise Critic people on RCCL talk about calling and complaining about their GTY assigned cabin, but I have not heard of allowing that carrying over onto DCL. You rolls the dice and takes your chances. After I got stuck with a stupid deck 5 verandah (too low, too midship, and the extended verandah was lost on me) rather than my beloved 8B category, I'll never do GTY or *GT again.

Thank you for clarifying what I wrote. I don't want OP to think that once assigned a stateroom, she could change. I was thinking OP might be able to do so on embarkation day when some cruisers upgrade and open up cabins.
Rereading my post didn't clearly state that.

And I did a reserve a GTY once on another cruise line where I didn't complain about my stateroom, just asked the reservationist if I could, and she did. I had never sailed on that cruise line so I didn't know if the room I was going to originally get was good or bad. Plus I know Disney doesn't do what other cruise lines do.

Again thank you for helping me clear up what I meant to say.

 

[kiford]

Note that, just because you select a stateroom, it doesn't mean that you won't get moved later for reasons that will remain unknown. We've twice been moved from our selected stateroom. Once upgraded to a 4A and once a move within cat 5B from one that was more mid-ship to the very last 5B cabin on the same deck (6) aft.

It was interesting to try out a 4A. There's only two of us so the size wasn't needed so I would never bother to actually book it and it was on deck 8 which means more walking up and down the stairs (we don't take the elevators). I was rather annoyed at the time that we got moved from our cat 5B mid-ship to one aft but having now stayed there, we find that we have no problem staying aft rather than mid-ship so are happy either way. Plus it ended up being only a few doors down from friends we were sailing with so it all worked out.

So 80% of the time our selected cabin stayed our cabin and 20% of the time it was moved. Probably better odds than doing GTY or *GT if you have a preference for location but no guarantee and it was all OK in the end anyway. If that's all they've got in your preferred category or it's less expensive (for *GT), taking the chance may be worth it.

 

[jrabbit]

We are deck 2 porthole dwellers. Earlier this year we booked a last minute cruise and had a guaranteed Ocean View Room (like our deck 2 porthole). We ended up on Deck 5 Forward (way) and was a little concerned - but being on a cruise is way better than not being on a cruise). We ended up loving the location. And we got to visit with several of the entertainers - their rooms were up there with ours.

Like a prior poster - 97% of the time we take the stairs (yep all the way up from deck 2 to the pool deck - those darn Dream class ships have a couple of extra flights of stairs to climb - but I get to eat more desserts this way). And we found that getting to and from deck 5 was pretty easy, so we actually ended up going to our room between activities (walk on deck 4 -> room for dry clothes -> cabanans -> room to change into swimwear -> pool -> room to change -> trivia -> room to drop off the trivia paper -> movie -> room to change back into swim suit -> pool deck , etc, etc, etc.

 

[Shanti]

All of the verandah category staterooms for the cruise I was looking at are of the "Guaranteed Stateroom" type. We have always selected our stateroom in the past and knew what we were getting so I have some trepidation about not being able to select a room, and I have this question I was hoping to get feedback on:

Are guaranteed staterooms just the leftover, undesirable staterooms that no one else wants?

I would expect to at least get the category I booked, but are upgrades to a higher category typical?

Thanks!

Upgrades happen, but just getting your guaranteed category is the more common experience. DCL isn't really into giving stuff away for free. The stateroom you get isn't necessarily bad. It's just what happens to be leftover. DCL doesn't have a lot of really badly located staterooms. We cruised in a guarantee for our first cruise, and it was fine. It was in the category we paid for. But if you're super-particular about where your cabin has to be, I don't recommend a guarantee. You'll get what you'll get, and many DCL cruises sell out, so don't expect to be able to upgrade at the port. Might be possible, might not.