Why GTY?

[tntstults]

Why does Disney offer Guaranteed rooms? Why not just let guests pick their rooms?

I booked GTY 7A, but looking at the cruise site, there are no rooms listed as available that sleep my party of 4 the are 7A. Does this mean I'll get bumped up?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Why does Disney offer Guaranteed rooms? Why not just let guests pick their rooms?

I booked GTY 7A, but looking at the cruise site, there are no rooms listed as available that sleep my party of 4 the are 7A. Does this mean I'll get bumped up?

Guaranty rooms (GTY) are offered when the number of available rooms within a specific category are low. You can select your room if you book early enough before the category starts to fill up.

You may or may not be upgraded, there's no way of knowing for sure.

 

[auntlynne]

Why does Disney offer Guaranteed rooms? Why not just let guests pick their rooms?

I booked GTY 7A, but looking at the cruise site, there are no rooms listed as available that sleep my party of 4 the are 7A. Does this mean I'll get bumped up?

Not necessarily. Someone else may get bumped up, leaving you with the 7A.

 

[cvjw]

Why does Disney offer Guaranteed rooms? Why not just let guests pick their rooms?

I booked GTY 7A, but looking at the cruise site, there are no rooms listed as available that sleep my party of 4 the are 7A. Does this mean I'll get bumped up?

Not all cabins that are available will show up as being bookable. We booked a 4E guarantee on a cruise last year. There were zero 4E cabins showing up as bookable. But, DCL assigned us one.

 

[Marc D]

GTY are offered when most of a specific category is filled, to allow DCL to optimize guest distribution around the ship. Since they have more beds onboard than their max capacity, and a limited number of lifeboat slots in each muster station, they can’t let a specific station get overbooked. That’s why they go to GTY at some point. The remaining staterooms in that category disappear from the inventory.

If they notice they have too many guests in a specific muster, they play around with the GTY/*GT bookings to make everything fit. Some may see an upgrade, but I’m sure they try to minimize changes.

 

[n2mm]

We have booked 4E GTY many times and have always happily gotten it. That’s the only category I’ll book a GTY specific category. I will book OGT and VGT and take the risk of getting any room too. Just remember to set the bar low and you’ll be happy.

rembemer, when you book a guaranteed 7A (or any specific category room) you are telling dcl you want this category. If you book a guaranteed level (like IGT, OGT, VGT) with restrictions, you’re telling dcl you will accept any room in the category, which often will be some sort of upgrade.

 

[Clarkson U]

Why does Disney offer Guaranteed rooms? Why not just let guests pick their rooms?

I booked GTY 7A, but looking at the cruise site, there are no rooms listed as available that sleep my party of 4 the are 7A. Does this mean I'll get bumped up?

I am pretty sure most of this thread is speculation since no one really knows for sure.

My own experience - we booked one GTY and one VGT out of 10 sailings so far. The GTY was a 7A GTY and we ended up with 5A. The VGT room we ended up with a Cat 5 room also but don’t recall the actual letter.

I don’t have any inside knowledge on why we got one room over another. I speculate it may have to do with CC status and timings of bookings but honestly that’s just a wild guess of ideas.

 

[n2mm]

I am pretty sure most of this thread is speculation since no one really knows for sure.

My own experience - we booked one GTY and one VGT out of 10 sailings so far. The GTY was a 7A GTY and we ended up with 5A. The VGT room we ended up with a Cat 5 room also but don’t recall the actual letter.

I don’t have any inside knowledge on why we got one room over another. I speculate it may have to do with CC status and timings of bookings but honestly that’s just a wild guess of ideas.

Definitely not CC status. I’ve gotten a mix of rooms. I watch silver and newbies get 8A & 8B assignments on my last cruise (November) while we ended up on deck 2 in a 9B room And all of us booked OGT. As an upcoming Pearl tier member, there has never been any rhyme or reason to my guaranteed assignments. Though I have to say that when traveling with multiple rooms, the dcl assigner does work very hard at getting folks connecting or close together, so have been pleased with that aspect.

 

[cmph]

I booked a GTY for March b/c the only available stateroom showing in the category I wanted didn't look great (next to laundry) and had no reviews to sway me toward it. It was only 6mo out when I booked, so I wasn't surprised to have limited options. I figured that at worst, I would get that room, and it would be fine, but maybe there was some chance for an upgrade. I got my assignment already in early December, surprisingly. I ended up with a room in the exact category I booked but most definitely better than that one that showed up at the time I booked. So either someone canceled in the 2ish months between my booking and room assignment, or it was being held back for lifeboat capacity reasons. (Only 2 of us, and this room could sleep 4.)

 

[Marc D]

I got my assignment already in early December, surprisingly. I ended up with a room in the exact category I booked but most definitely better than that one that showed up at the time I booked. So either someone canceled in the 2ish months between my booking and room assignment, or it was being held back for lifeboat capacity reasons. (Only 2 of us, and this room could sleep 4.)

As I wrote previously, once a category goes GTY, you cannot book a specific room in that category. They hold back the remaining rooms. You got the category you requested rapidly because your party would not be problematic for muster assignment. You had the least chance of getting upgraded since they plan for a minimum of 2 guests in each room. The problematic groups are those with 4 or 5 guests.

 

[cmph]

As I wrote previously, once a category goes GTY, you cannot book a specific room in that category. They hold back the remaining rooms. You got the category you requested rapidly because your party would not be problematic for muster assignment. You had the least chance of getting upgraded since they plan for a minimum of 2 guests in each room. The problematic groups are those with 4 or 5 guests.

Maybe the system was fake-holding that room after I priced it out? Who knows! Not sure, but I priced out that specific room (the only one left in my category), researched the room, sat on it overnight b/c I was really unsure about that room, and booked GTY in that exact category maybe 16h later. Guess my brain is faulty and only remembering that both were available when I booked.

Perhaps I got really, really lucky that some other person took their chances on that room in the intervening 16 hours between when I priced it and booked GTY LOL.

 

[Anais]

Hello, I booked a GTY but did not see what category how do you get that info? I see some saying they booked 7A GTY or 5 GTY.

 

[Karin1984]

Guaranteed rooms are a cruise tradition many cruiselines have. But you also see it in airlines, to pick your seat in advance, either pay extra or book a more expensive ticket.

 

[Clarkson U]

Hello, I booked a GTY but did not see what category how do you get that info? I see some saying they booked 7A GTY or 5 GTY.

Great question. If your GTY came with a category it would have said it in the booking itself. Did you book a GTY for inside, ocean view or verandah?

Many times the GTY don’t say a category. So for example, I booked a GTY verandah room for our upcoming cruise and the only guarantee is that I get a verandah room somewhere on the ship. Currently for my sailing DCL is selling GTY verandah but now listing it as 4A or 4B with different prices. So in that sense if it lists a category then you know you get that category or better. If it doesn’t (like my booking) then the only thing I am guaranteed is a verandah room.

Typically, the GTY without any category or cheaper than those with a category.

I hope this helps.

 

[lanejudy]

Typically, the GTY without any category or cheaper than those with a category.

A "*GT" also known as IGT (interior guarantee), OGT (oceanview guarantee) or VGT (verandah guarantee) is a discounted rate that comes with restrictions. The party will be assigned a stateroom in the broad category of interior, oceanview or verandah. Restrictions apply such as paid-in-full at booking, no refunds, no room requests, no changes (or limited - I've heard you can add a guest), etc.

A number-letter category GTY (such as 7A GTY or 10A GTY, etc.) is a regular rate that DCL offers once a certain percentage of staterooms in that specific category have been sold. It allows DCL some leeway on bookings and room assignments. The guest is assigned a room in that specific category or higher. These rates do not come with restrictions outside the usual booking requirements (deposit, final payment due @ 120 or 90 days, changes allowed, requests allows, etc.).

I booked a GTY but did not see what category how do you get that info?

What exactly did you book? It can be confusing because the room assignment is listed as "GTY" for both types of booking. If you booked a "restricted fare" you will not have a number-letter category.

 

[kiford]

They also may hold some back to account for the occasional stateroom being taken out of commission. We had booked and selected a specific room for our Baltic cruise months in advance. About one week before sailing we were suddenly moved down the hall to a room of the same category but at the very end of that category section, much closer to aft than mid-ship where we'd wanted to be. I suspect that the room we had booked may have had some maintenance or other operational issues and had to be temporarily taken out of inventory. Initially, we weren't very pleased since we'd selected that cabin, but after sailing in it, we decided that we actually preferred the location and now tend to book more in that section. It also placed us closer to friends, so it all worked out. No one knows for sure why or how DCL assigns staterooms or moves people, but there are probably multiple factors such as operational issues, balancing room assignments for stateroom attendants, lifeboat assignments, etc. We were upgraded from 5A to 4A on our 4th cruise and moved down the hall on our 9th, so I seriously doubt CC status or the guests' preferences or convenience is one of those factors.

We booked a VGT on our Wish cruise in January since we didn't know anything about the best place to select and it was $500 cheaper for 4 days, so we didn't care and figured it was only four days so no big deal. We ended up with a navigator's verandah - partially obstructed - which is supposedly not as desirable but we liked it. I'm starting to think that we may book VGT or GTY in the future. While we have some preferences, we have been discovering that we may find other locations to be as good or better for us than what we might have selected so why not take the chance? There are some minimum requirements (verandah) and not too low deck-wise, but other than that, it's a good opportunity to try out other locations for less cost.

 

[holula]

They also may hold some back to account for the occasional stateroom being taken out of commission. We had booked and selected a specific room for our Baltic cruise months in advance. About one week before sailing we were suddenly moved down the hall to a room of the same category but at the very end of that category section, much closer to aft than mid-ship where we'd wanted to be. I suspect that the room we had booked may have had some maintenance or other operational issues and had to be temporarily taken out of inventory.

This happened to me on the Magic last year except we started with an IGT, got assigned inside rooms. On the day of the cruise we were moved to an oceanview down the hall but it ended up being a total nightmare on day 1 trying to sort keys out as they’d put the keys by the old rooms and they didn’t work on the new rooms.

I did like the location and I would also book there in future! It was super convenient but never would have picked it myself.

 

[Dug720]

I'd just caution that with the category GTY their idea of an upgrade and yours may differ significantly.

I booked a 8B GTY once and they gave me a 4E. Most people would have been ecstatic over that, but I am not one who likes lower decks OR midship, and the extended veranda was just meh - especially since everyone above could look down. I decided after that cruise I'd only book a category GTY for something above 4E - and I'd never book a *GT rate. I want much more control over where my cabin is.

 

[Erica1016]

We've almost exclusively booked GTY or IGT on our 7 cruises (unless traveling with others and wanting to ensure rooms were together). We don't mind where we are - as long as we're on the ship! We also like the possibility that we'll get upgraded to something else, which we certainly have!

 

[SteffyLou]

I have a question about this as well. We are on a cruise that is offering a very specific GTY- Deluxe Family Guaranteed Oceanview with Verandah Category 4B Deck 8. The cruise does not show any Family Oceanview with Verandah on deck 8. It only shows a few rooms on Deck 6 or 10. The price of this GTY is also more expensive than most of the Family Oceanview with Verandah that you can choose the location (Deck 6 is cheaper, deck 10 a little more).

So are there actually rooms left in 4B on deck 8 that people can get placed into?