What Is a Guarantee Cabin, and Should I Book It?

You’ve likely seen the terms “guarantee”, “GTY”, or even “We pick the room”. But what exactly does it mean for you? Simply put, you’ve likely saved a little money in return for a little more uncertainty for your cruise vacation. It’s not a bad thing, especially when you are saving a few extra dollars to put towards those excursions, drink packages, pre-cruise hotel stays, and flights. But, are there risks involved? Let’s dive deeper!

The Basics

Your Travel Advisor (hopefully me) has helped you pick out the cabin category you want. Above, we have a beautiful ocean view cabin facing the bow (this is one of my favorite styles for Ocean View cabins). You get the price back from the Travel Advisor and it’s a bit more than you wanted to spend. However, another option provided to you is the “Ocean View GTY”. Do you take it?

Well, your chances of getting lovely cabin 9504 on Adventure of the Seas is probably about a million-to-one. Well, since there aren’t a million cabins, probably not that, but your odds are pretty low.

You see, when you choose the GTY cabin, they can put you anywhere on the ship. Deck 2, Deck 3, underneath the Star Lounge where they like to hold those silent disco parties (tons of fun, by the way!)

You will receive your cabin assignment from the cruise line anywhere from 90-0 days before your cruise. You very well can board and still not yet have your cabin assignment, although this is rare. The only way to change your cabin after choosing a guarantee is to upgrade it to choose your own, or upgrade it to a higher category. All that being said, that’s IF there is still availability.

The Process

Once you’ve settled on booking that guarantee cabin you will then wait for the cruise line to assign it. This generally happens after final payment and before embarkation, but can occasionally be as late as boarding day.

Once it’s been assigned, you are locked in unless you participate in an upgrade program such as Royal Up or Move Up, or ask your Travel Advisor to upgrade your cabin (based on availability).

Cabins can be assigned anywhere on the ship (any deck, forward, aft, midship), and are guaranteed to be in your chosen category or sometimes better. Could you get a balcony? It’s possible, but not likely.