New Secret for booking GTY

[abridgel]

GTY rates are standard rates that come out once a category starts to fill up. And because of this, that rate tends to be higher than opening day rates. It is very possible than a category goes up in price, while another category doesn't move.

Also, any upgrades you request from DCL before or after PIF, would result in rates based on your original booking day. This could lead to a lower price for a higher category, or a very small difference.

Hope this helps...

Hmmmm not following all I know is it cost me a smidge to move from a 5E GTY to a guranteed 4E.

Are you saying the day I booked the 5E GTY it was only a "smidge" to move up to a 4E so I should have done this originally?

 

[Tngrl78]

Hmmmm not following all I know is it cost me a smidge to move from a 5E GTY to a guranteed 4E.

Are you saying the day I booked the 5E GTY it was only a "smidge" to move up to a 4E so I should have done this originally?

It depends on what kind of room you want. If you would be satisfied with any room from 5E and above, then you can keep it. But if you really want a 4E, then move to that and then you'd be guaranteed a 4E or better.

If you go into your reservation, you can play with potential upgrades and you will see the difference in costs. For us the upgrade to 4E from 5E was $272. When I did the upgrade from the 8C that we originally booked onboard, the upgrade to 5E was $217...that I felt was a good upgrade, but it would have been $489 to go to 4E. Since we liked 5E (we had that last time), I didn't feel it was worth it to us to move to 4E.

I really wanted the 5E, so I'm happy to stay there. When I decided on it, I looked at everything and even though I wanted a 5E, I still would have been happy with anything from 5E and above.

 

[abridgel]

Tngrl78 I don't think you read my original post

We booked a 5E GTY wanting the 5E - we were assigned 5A which was disappointing for us.

We upgraded to 4E since 4E and 5E are the only rooms with oversized balconies.

The cost to do this in my mind was minimal and I am guessing it is because we were assigned a 5A so only had to pay this difference. 5A->4E

 

[Tngrl78]

Tngrl78 I don't think you read my original post

We booked a 5E GTY wanting the 5E - we were assigned 5A which was disappointing for us.

We upgraded to 4E since 4E and 5E are the only rooms with oversized balconies.

The cost to do this in my mind was minimal and I am guessing it is because we were assigned a 5A so only had to pay this difference. 5A->4E

Got it...sorry I didn't look back at your original post as well.

The cost for us, a family of 3 would have been $272 to go from 5E to 4E. And that was based on our booking onboard 1 year in advance. I'm glad you got to upgrade to 4E... if we had been upgraded to some of the other 5X categories, we might have been looking at the 4E upgrade too.

 

[mom4fun]

Last year we upgraded from a 8A GTY to a 7A (wanted to try balcony) which was less. DCL refunded us about $35

So are most of you saying this person could have gotten a 7A from the get go $35 less. That doesn't make sense to me. Wouldn't they have noticed since they wanted a balcony to begin with.

 

[lanejudy]

Last year we upgraded from a 8A GTY to a 7A (wanted to try balcony) which was less. DCL refunded us about $35

So are most of you saying this person could have gotten a 7A from the get go $35 less. That doesn't make sense to me. Wouldn't they have noticed since they wanted a balcony to begin with.

Actually, shburks doesn't indicate they initially wanted the balcony when they booked the 8AGTY. I interpret that to be at some point after making the initial reservation, they decided to try a balcony and upgraded -- which ended up costing less. If they hadn't initially looked for a verandah room they may not have realized the 7A was lower from the start; verandah staterooms are on a separate tab and it's possible for someone to not even check, assuming the lower category oceanview would be lower price. There are fewer interior and oceanview staterooms than verandah rooms, and yes sometimes those sell-out faster and therefore the fares can be comparable to (or higher than) a verandah category that has fewer bookings.

 

[lanejudy]

Hmmmm not following all I know is it cost me a smidge to move from a 5E GTY to a guranteed 4E.

Are you saying the day I booked the 5E GTY it was only a "smidge" to move up to a 4E so I should have done this originally?

Probably. Since you used a TA you may never have realized the fares were so close, because probably you didn't initially ask for a quote for a 4E because you wanted a 5E.

Regardless...all's well and you now have a stateroom you are happy with. Enjoy your cruise!

 

[mom4fun]

I for one am hoping there is some truth to the original post. I guess we won't know for sure until someone on here can look at their original booking and make a comparison. Things change often with dcl so even if this wasn't the case in the past it may be now.

 

[steph12]

I booked a 6a GTY and got assigned a 5A. I called and tried to get this changed to a 4A and the rate to change was based on the 6A vs 4A.

 

[mom4fun]

I booked a 6a GTY and got assigned a 5A. I called and tried to get this changed to a 4A and the rate to change was based on the 6A vs 4A.

Well there you go. Mystery solved. No secret for booking gty. Too bad.

 

[jahber]

Well there you go. Mystery solved. No secret for booking gty. Too bad.

Exactly. Even if you are upgraded by Disney, your reservation will still always show your original, paid-for category. That category will be what is used to calculate upgrade pricing. Sometimes the difference could be minimal, though, depending on availability of categories.

 

[staceyeileen]

Is the OP saying that Disney is essentially "bridging" the fare similar to how they do park ticket prices when you buy at a discount?

 

[jahber]

Is the OP saying that Disney is essentially "bridging" the fare similar to how they do park ticket prices when you buy at a discount?

I think that's what they assume happened, but I've never heard of DCL doing that. Why would they? They know what category everyone actually paid for. For example, in the port, upgrade costs are based on the category you paid for, not the category you were actually assigned.

 

[abridgel]

It's still a secret - you can take your chances on a GTY and if your not happy just upgrade to the category you want.

If we had gotten the 5E than we would not have upgraded to the 4E and saved the 160 USD.

I am emailing my TA for an explanation and see what she says.

 

[abridgel]

Further to that it makes sense to book any GTY rate now since you are locking in all rates at that time.

So if you see a 11C GTY early in your cruise I'd take it and see if you get pixie dust - if not than you can just "upgrade" and pay the difference down the line since you locked in your rate.

If you just wait and don't book the GTY rates will probably rise.

 

[mom4fun]

I think what everyone is saying is that their was $160 difference between a 5e and a 4e, at the time of your original booking which is very well possible. The figure doesn't sound too far off for most sailings.

 

[abridgel]

Looks so - from my TA:

When changing stateroom categories on the same cruise, You pay the rate that it would have been when we booked you originally-


Still a good plan as now I know a GTY locks in all rates.

 

[mom4fun]

Looks so - from my TA:

When changing stateroom categories on the same cruise, You pay the rate that it would have been when we booked you originally-


Still a good plan as now I know a GTY locks in all rates.

All rates lock you in at the time of booking, gty or regular.

 

[abridgel]

If that's the case than we should always book the cheapest room on the cruise we think we will go on and worry about what we actually get later.

 

[Dug720]

If that's the case than we should always book the cheapest room on the cruise we think we will go on and worry about what we actually get later.

Only if you would be happy in that cheapest category (not really booking a specific cabin if it's GTY) in the event you are not upgraded and other higher categories are sold out.