Cutting corners to save money on a cruise vacation can be worthwhile, especially if you’re trying to stretch your budget. There are many ways to cut costs when planning a cruise, such as booking a cheaper cabin or forgoing a drink package.
Moreover, cruising continues to be one of the most affordable and convenient ways to travel. Although costs have certainly increased over the last few years, there is great value in cruising with meals, entertainment, transportation, and accommodations included in the base cruise fare.
Of course, cruise lines always find opportunities to upsell guests with add-ons. These up-charges include internet purchases, drink packages, specialty dining meals, onboard thrills, and shore excursions. With all of these upsells, the cost of cruising can add up quickly, especially for budget-conscious travelers.
As someone who cruises almost every month, I am constantly looking for ways to save money. The more money I save, the more often I can cruise and that’s my goal! One of the easiest ways I have saved money when planning a cruise is by booking a guaranteed cabin. However, my last few experiences with guaranteed cabins have left me feeling disappointed and frustrated.
When booking virtually any cruise, you typically have the option to book a “guaranteed” cabin. Essentially, this means you are guaranteed to have a stateroom onboard the sailing based on the category you book; however, you won’t get to decide on the specific cabin location. The cruise line will assign you a stateroom, and you are often provided with a cabin that no one else wants.
As you can imagine, there are advantages and disadvantages to this style of cruise cabin. More often than not, booking a guaranteed cabin is a gamble. While you usually save money, you might be subjected to an undesirable cabin location, leading to a bad cruise experience overall.
While I’ve likely saved thousands of dollars over the years booking guaranteed cabins, my last experience was the final straw. After not sleeping for four nights in a row, I swore off guaranteed cabins for the foreseeable future. Here’s why I won’t be booking guaranteed cabins anymore, even if I have to spend a little extra money to avoid them.
What is a guaranteed cabin?
As a budget cruiser, I’ve booked 16 different guaranteed cabins to save money over the years. Most of these have been interior staterooms, although I’ve also booked balcony guarantees as well.
When it comes to booking your cruise, you’ll have to first decide what kind of stateroom category you want to make a reservation for. This largely depends on your budget. Cruise ships will offer a variety of cabin options, including the following categories: inside, oceanview, balcony, and suites.
In addition, nearly every major cruise line offers the option to select a guaranteed stateroom during the booking process. Long story short: If you choose to book a guaranteed cabin, you’re throwing caution to the wind.
Guaranteed cabins are available in most stateroom categories, including interior, oceanview, balcony, and suites. So, what’s the catch? Well, you aren’t able to actually select which stateroom on the ship you want to sail in. As such, you typically aren’t assigned a cabin until the sailing date is close.
When a guest selects a guaranteed cabin, they are "guaranteed" a stateroom in the booked category or higher. This means you could technically be assigned a more expensive room than what you paid for. However, it’s pretty rare to be awarded a cabin in a category above what you paid. Most of the time, you’ll receive a cabin in the stateroom category that you booked.
By forfeiting control of choosing your cabin, you are able to get a lower price on your cruise fare. Consider guaranteed cabins like playing the lottery. While there is a chance you could score big, you’re more likely to feel disappointed.
The cheapest cabins onboard are usually interior (or inside) guarantees. These are windowless staterooms located throughout a cruise ship. You won’t find a balcony or window in these staterooms; however, interior cabins have all of the necessities you need for a comfortable stay.
Guaranteed cabins are usually in the least desired locations on a cruise ship
When cruise lines assign guaranteed cabins to guests, they’re essentially handing out the leftover staterooms that other passengers did not choose to book. As you might imagine, there are typically valid reasons that passengers choose not to book certain staterooms.
These undesirable cabins could be located near noisy areas like the elevator, the anchor, under the pool deck, above the nightclub, or by an employee service door. No one wants to be kept awake all night by noises, especially on vacation!
Similarly, guests usually choose midship as the most desired location on a cruise ship because of its convenience. Staterooms located midship are also better for those prone to motion sickness. This leaves many of the guaranteed cabins situated in the ship’s forward or aft.
In this way, guaranteed cabins are best for flexible cruisers who aren’t concerned about where their stateroom will be located. You don’t have to worry about the pressure to select the perfect cabin during the booking process, either. If you’re concerned about booking the cheapest cabin possible, this is an easy way to save money!
For many years, I didn’t mind where my stateroom was located on a cruise ship
Cost used to be the biggest driving factor for me when booking a cruise. I didn’t exactly mind what ship or cabin I would be sailing in. I just wanted to be on a cruise ship! Additionally, I really never spent that much time in my cabin while cruising anyway. My time on a cruise is normally spent enjoying the amenities or exploring the exciting ports of call.
On a port-intensive itinerary, I would spend most of my day exploring the destinations before spending the evenings onboard enjoying the dining and entertainment experience. I am a destination-focused cruiser, so I am usually booking itineraries with new ports every single day.
This was the easiest way I justified the cabin guarantee gamble. As long as I could sleep well at night and I had everything I needed for a comfortable stay, I was happy to be saving money with a guaranteed cabin.
In addition, many of the cruise ships were not sailing at full capacity until the last year or so. When cruising restarted after the pandemic shutdown, some ships were continuously sailing at half capacity! For these few years, I never had a bad experience with guaranteed cabins.
I even received a balcony upgrade once or twice when I only paid for an interior guarantee. I have also booked a few balcony guarantees over the years, which typically resulted in a balcony with an obstructed view. Again, I didn’t mind as long as the experience was positive and comfortable.
However, I had three horrible experiences with guaranteed cabins in the last year
My good luck with guarantee cabins came to an end last year, starting with a short cruise on Celebrity Silhouette. In March 2023, my sister and I booked a last-minute spring break cruise to Key West and Cozumel for a 4-night sailing.
During this cruise, we were assigned an interior stateroom at the front of the ship on Deck 9. Our guaranteed cabin was located at the end of the hallway, requiring us to weave around long hallways to reach our stateroom.
Next to our cabin was a “Crew Only” service door, proving to be quite noisy starting very early in the morning. Each day, we were awoken at 5:30am by clinks, thuds, and bangs coming from the crew area. Although our cabin steward was concerned about all of the noise and stated he would report it to his supervisor, I didn’t expect any changes. The crew members work very hard on cruise ships, often starting work very early.
Even with wearing earplugs, blasting white noise, and taking sleeping medication, I couldn’t drown out the noises. I slept so little on this cruise that I became run down with bronchitis! As I lay awake in the night, I was dreading the fact I had another guaranteed cabin booked a few months later.
That summer, my husband and I booked a guaranteed balcony cabin for our Iceland cruise on Jewel of the Seas. We saved around $400 booking a guaranteed stateroom, which we thought was worthwhile. Unfortunately, we were assigned a cabin directly above the nightclub. This meant every evening until midnight, we could hear the loud bass of the music thumping the floor of our cabin.
Considering we had many long days exploring the destinations in Iceland, my husband and I were so annoyed that we couldn’t fall asleep before midnight each evening. We started to plan afternoon naps anticipating that we would be up each night until the music stopped playing below us.
Later in the year, I was sailing on Norwegian Star around the British Isles in a guaranteed interior cabin with fellow writer, Hayley. Because this was such a port-intensive itinerary, I didn’t plan to spend much time in our stateroom.
Unfortunately, our cabin was located - again - above the nightclub. We were kept up late into the evenings listening to the music playing in the club. It was so loud that it almost sounded like they were playing the music in our cabin. After these frustrating experiences, I started to question whether booking a guaranteed cabin was worth it.
Even still, the worst guarantee cabin experience happened recently while sailing on Carnival Sunshine
Carnival Sunshine was my final straw. Consider this stateroom the one that broke the camel’s back for guaranteed cabins. My sister and I booked the cheapest stateroom on Carnival’s oldest ship, Carnival Sunshine. We were assigned an accessible cabin, which had a more unique configuration than other staterooms we’ve stayed in.
During the first night, I was kept awake by loud thumps and bangs. The wall would shake, and I couldn’t understand what was happening. I was so tired and frustrated by the morning that I was almost in tears.
Making our way to breakfast, I figured out that our cabin shared a wall directly with the elevator shaft. I didn’t even know cruise ships had staterooms this close to the elevator, let alone sharing a wall.
My sister and I swapped beds after the first night, as she’s a heavier sleeper than I am. Even with ear plugs, two white noise machines, and sleeping medication, the elevator noises kept me awake most of the night.
Unsurprisingly, there was a reason no one had booked this cabin with its terrible location next to the elevator shaft. Who wants to be willingly kept awake all night by the elevator thuds moving up and down the cruise ship?
After four nights of not sleeping, I made a vow to myself to never willingly book a guaranteed cabin again!
Even though I’ve saved money over the years booking guarantee cabins, I don’t see the value any longer. Ships are continuously sailing at full capacity with guests booking the most desirable cabin locations. This leaves only the bottom-of-the-barrel cabins available for guaranteed bookings.
If you want something - like a balcony cabin in a decent location - you have to pay for it. Gone are the days of winning the guarantee cabin lottery and saving money while doing it. Now, the only thing you’re pretty much guaranteed is an unpopular cabin selection.
When I’m cruising, I want to make sure that I am not setting myself up to be disappointed. Feeling relaxed and rested during vacation is a priority for me as well. I don’t want to feel rundown, and I certainly shouldn’t be waking up earlier on a cruise than I do at home for work.
This summer, my husband and I spent an extra $500 to choose the location of our balcony stateroom on Celebrity Apex while sailing around the Norwegian fjords. I meticulously researched the available cabins, choosing a porthole balcony near the aft of the ship. It was one of the best stateroom experiences I've ever had, and we never heard a single peep while trying to sleep!
Moving forward, I will spend the extra money to avoid guaranteed staterooms. I don’t mind booking interior cabins, as long as I can choose the best location on the ship. If I am spending thousands of dollars to take a cruise vacation, especially on a longer itinerary, I am going to ensure my cabin selection is not an issue.
Finally, some cruisers with guaranteed staterooms have been denied boarding their cruise due to overbooked sailings
Recent headlines in the news have provided even more evidence that I do not want to book guaranteed cabins anymore. Although rare, some cruisers have been denied boarding their cruise with a guaranteed cabin at the cruise terminal because of overbooked sailings.
Last November, one first-time cruiser posted on Reddit about their experience booking a guaranteed cabin on Quantum of the Seas, which was set to sail from Australia. The cruiser received an unexpected letter at the boarding terminal explaining the overbooking situation. Because the cruise was oversold, Royal Caribbean was unable to find a cabin for the cruiser.
The devastated traveler was given the option to wait at the cruise terminal in hopes of last-minute cancellations. When all passengers arrived as scheduled, the cruiser was turned away from their holiday. The other passengers turned away also booked a guaranteed cabin.
In a letter posted to Reddit, Royal Caribbean said to the cruiser, ”We regret to inform you that currently we have been unable to allocate a stateroom number to your reservation.”
Although extremely rare, the incident is a good reminder of the risk taken when booking guaranteed cabins. When cruises are oversold and last-minute cancellations fail to happen, cruise lines are forced to turn away paying customers. Based on the few rare occurrences, the passengers turned away usually have a guaranteed cabin booked.
As if I needed more reason to avoid guaranteed cabins! After hearing this story, I was further validated that the risk and gamble of booking a guaranteed stateroom on a cruise simply isn’t worth it for me anymore.
Allie Hubers
Allie Hubers has been cruising since she was a tiny toddler. What started as a yearly vacation with family quickly turned into a passion for travel, cruising and adventure. Allie's been on over 45 cruises all over the world. She even studied abroad on Semester at Sea, sailing the world on a ship while taking courses for college and visiting 4 continents.
