Stuck with guaranteed cabin :-(

Thank you so very much.

Getting boring complimenting MARYRED...got it covered down to a gnats ass....Cruised from a few different ports, and those porters always ask if you have all your docs etc...I think they think they're "earning their tips"..yeh, they can provide luggage tags..and every hotel has a business center with printers and and so on, but you get to play with their equipment, and to me its a turnoff....but thats just me...I've done it, for other reasons, and I have yet to get it to function without help from someone at the desk or in their office....the mechanics of it make me uncomfortable....

I understand the uncertainty of not knowing your cabin. Yeh, the actual location will probably turn out ok, given the weirdness of the times, and the "vacancy rate" but unless you're one of those folks who doesn't really care much about anything (like details), and I suspect you guys aren't that type, ..I bet it'll be the last time you book one of those "wherever" cabins....

As far as "throwing in the towel" he's in good company....we've had a few cancelled, and rebooked. You need an accounting degree to keep track of it...And then of course there's COVID, and the "rules". Calling them or even reading their websites doesn't really help...The person you're talking to (if you can get thru) oftentimes doesn't know what they're talking about, and the websites can and do change daily...I've seen it......I've posted ad nauseum that this stuff stopped being "fun" quite awhile ago...and I keep hitting my finger with a hammer and telling myself it feels good.....

I meant it when I said our next one end of NOV will tell me ALOT about what we do going forward with the rest of our bookings......I'll bet there's lots of experienced cruisers who feel the same way...GOOD LUCK!!!!!

In this day and age, even before Covid, it's not unusual for cruise lines to wait till the week or even the day before boarding to to assign cabins under their TBA rates. The reasoning has more to do with passengers being willing as the sailing gets closer to pay for upgrades, and that leads to the need to leave open for booking prime location choices.

But the "good" news is because of the pandemic, and all the CDC strictures that come along with the Conditional Order for Sailing, is that ship is only booking at 35-70% of it's full capacity which leaves plenty of cabins in each category unoccupied. This means it is less likely for those with GTY booking rates to find out last minute they have a cabin directly under the galley or above the theater. But unfortunately it does not change how fast the cabin assignment comes along nor the fact that even if assign prior to the week before sailing that a assigned cabin can be changed.

One thing you can try to do is monitor the fares for your date to see if there are any price drops that would bring a pick-your-location cabin in your current guaranteed category that would bring being able to book a specific cabin number for little to no cost to upgrade to. Currently big price drops can be found as soon as the cruise line announces what the boarding, sailing, and port visitation guidelines will be for a date range that includes your sailing date. As those are announced and the email sent to the effected passengers you will find on some sailing some pretty big price changes because of potential passengers not meeting the criteria.

As for the luggage tags don't worry too much, the terminal porters will have a list of passengers that received "last minute" cabin "changes" that they can write out tags for check luggage as you check the bags with them.