Guarantee Status vs. IGT/OGT/VGT

[SnackyStacky]

I've seen a lot of confusion about the difference between a Guarantee Status Stateroom and IGT/OGT/VGT bookings.

What is Guarantee Status?

Guarantee Status means that when you book a particular category, Disney is not able to assign you a stateroom number at the time of booking. As you get closer to your sail date, Disney will assign you a room number. You can end up in any stateroom that is in the category you booked. However, at their discretion, Disney may upgrade you. It's not necessarily likely that you'll receive an upgrade - but it is possible.

If you try to book a stateroom and you want to be next to or near (or maybe, even - far away from) a particular stateroom, you may wish to book a the next highest category so you can confirm a particular stateroom number where you need it.

This is just like any other Disney Cruise Line booking. There's nothing special about; other than the fact that you won't know which particular stateroom you're in. All the normal deposit, change and cancellation policies will apply.

On some confirmations/documentation, you'll see this referred to as "GTY". That's an abbreviation for Guarantee status.

Guarantee status is similar to a room assignment. Suppose you book category 8A. You go to pick a room, and you must select "guarantee status". You would then talk about this as "category 8A, guarantee status".

What is IGT/OGT/VGT?

IGT/OGT/VGT is a special type of discount program. In return for some very strict cancellation/change policies, Disney will sell you a stateroom that is an Inside Stateroom (IGT), and Oceanview Stateroom (OGT) or a Verandah Stateroom (VGT). You can end up in ANY category on a particular ship that is within the those types of staterooms.

Categories for staterooms on the Wonder/Magic:
Inside (IGT): 10A, 10B, 10C, 11A, 11B, 11C
Oceanview (OGT): 9A, 9B, 9C, 9D
Verandah (VGT): 4A, 4B, 4E, 5A, 5B, 5C, 6A, 7A

Categories for staterooms on the Dream/Fantasy:
Inside (IGT): 10A, 11A, 11B, 11C
Oceanview (OGT): 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D, 9A, 9B, 9C, 9D
Verandah (VGT): 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E, 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 5E, 6A, 6B, 7A

IGT/OGT/VGT staterooms are not available on every sailing. If they're available for the sailing you're looking at, it will be the first option listed when you click on "Inside Staterooms", "Oceanview Staterooms" or "Staterooms with Verandah" on the Disney Cruise Line booking engine.

When you book one of these rooms, you can end up in ANY of the above listed categories that falls into the class you booked (Inside, Oceanview or Verandah). In exchange for the lower price, you give up not only knowing where your stateroom will be, but also which category it will be. Further, no changes are permitted to one of these booking. Payment is due, in full, at the time of booking. Once it's booked, THAT'S IT. No changes. No sail date changes. No passenger changes. No name changes. Nothing. It is also completely non-refundable. You will lose everything if you try to cancel one of these. Additionally, once you are assigned a stateroom, again - that's it. You have no recourse to change the room.

The only way one of these staterooms is similar to Guarantee Status is that you don't know where the room will be located.

IGT/OGT/VGT is a stateroom CATEGORY. If you book one of these, you refer to it as OGT, IGT or VGT. (Or, if you're speaking of them in general terms, people will sometimes say *GT or XGT)

There's a lot of posts on the board that confuse the two. If you're wondering when you'll get out of Guarantee Status and have a stateroom assignment, you can refer to "guarantee status", "guarantee", "gty" or "GTY" in your question or post.

If you're wondering when you'll get your stateroom assignment based on an IGT/OGT/VGT, reference it as IGT, OGT or VGT.

Hopefully that will help clear up the confusion between the two.

 

[llqool]

Thanks for posting this! It's a good explanation on a puzzling topic. We are Category 9 GTY for our June NYC cruise, but *not* OGT...this was especially confusing for us since we switched last minute from an August cruise on the Fantasy, and if we wanted to book any excursions/Palo, we had to pay in full since we were already within our window.

We *did* sail last year with the "other kind" of discount GTY fare, I believe, when we did the KSF special on the May Alaska cruise. We had to pay in full with no changes allowed.

 

[All American]

Thanks for posting this. Since I am new to this cruising thing, I have found these combinations of letters to be the most confusing on the Dis. Often, I skip threads with them in it because I simply did not understand. It makes much more sense now.

 

[scoob2011]

Thanks for the posting.
We are doing our third cruise in June and it turns out we are still noobs.

 

[Green Tea]

You can still purchase trip insurance that could cover the cancellation of the restrictive booking. When you go through insuremytrip.com they ask total amount to insure. Special restrictions wouldn't matter as far as the independant insurer was concerned.

 

[226ra]

We were able to upgrade an IGT at the port.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

We were able to upgrade an IGT at the port.

Good to know!

 

[abbyar]

What was the price differential?

 

[Tiger926]

We booked GTY last April for this August on Fantasy, and our stateroom was declared at time of booking.

It changed a few weeks later, to the room next door (not sure why?).

I keep reading that you don't get your GTY stateroom right away, but we did.

Not sure why? Tiger

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We booked GTY last April for this August on Fantasy, and our stateroom was declared at time of booking.

It changed a few weeks later, to the room next door (not sure why?).

I keep reading that you don't get your GTY stateroom right away, but we did.

Not sure why? Tiger

GTY room assignments can be made at any time (including the day of booking and the day of embarkation).

My guess on the room change was someone wanted to book that room specifically, or there was a party of multiple rooms that wanted it.

 

[DisneyOrBustColorado]

Thanks for posting this!!! I've always been confused about all of these bookings. Is it possible to save $$ when booking in these catagories? I usually already have the onboard booking bonus & I book very far out to get the best rate. From your experience are the GTY or OGT/VGT room less expensive than booking normally with the onboard bonuses?

 

[Tiger926]

GTY room assignments can be made at any time (including the day of booking and the day of embarkation).

My guess on the room change was someone wanted to book that room specifically, or there was a party of multiple rooms that wanted it.

Thanks. That is contrary to what the OP has above, as it states that Disney is not able to assign a stateroom number at time of booking.

Our new stateroom is within our category, so it will be interesting to see if it changes again.

Tiger

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Thanks. That is contrary to what the OP has above, as it states that Disney is not able to assign a stateroom number at time of booking.

Our new stateroom is within our category, so it will be interesting to see if it changes again.

Tiger

Did you actually pick the first room? Or was it assigned the same day by DCL? That would be the difference.

 

[lark]

We were able to upgrade an IGT at the port.

Finally! A first hand report. Can you give any more details -- particularly if you know any of the details about what category they used as a baseline for the upgrade.

 

[lark]

You can end up in any stateroom that is in the category you booked. However, at their discretion, Disney may upgrade you. It's not necessarily likely that you'll receive an upgrade - but it is possible.

This gets reported a lot. It also seems consistent with many reports on this board.

It's interesting, though, that it doesn't appear to be documented anywhere by DCL. In fact, the language on the web page indicates that you are guaranteed the category you booked. I think if you put a "do not upgrade" on your GTY reservation, they supposedly attempt to honor it.

I think one reason it's not documented is because they assume nobody would ever mind an upgrade, but there actually might be circumstances one might wish to put a do not upgrade note on the reservation.

 

[226ra]

Finally! A first hand report. Can you give any more details -- particularly if you know any of the details about what category they used as a baseline for the upgrade.

It was ~$490 to go to an ocean view cabin, $900 to go to verandah. The verandah upgrade was ~$500 cheaper at port than if I had purchased a VGT at the time of booking. we checked in at around 12:30 pm so in our case there were still upgrades available 90 min after the first check in window opened.

 

[lark]

It was ~$490 to go to an ocean view cabin, $900 to go to verandah. The verandah upgrade was ~$500 cheaper at port than if I had purchased a VGT at the time of booking. we checked in at around 12:30 pm so in our case there were still upgrades available 90 min after the first check in window opened.

Thanks for the report. It makes sense. The mantra that you can't upgrade because the room already is heavily discounted didn't make sense. More revenue is more revenue.

 

[Annabell]

Thanks for posting this!!! I've always been confused about all of these bookings. Is it possible to save $$ when booking in these catagories? I usually already have the onboard booking bonus & I book very far out to get the best rate. From your experience are the GTY or OGT/VGT room less expensive than booking normally with the onboard bonuses?

In my opinion, those IGT/OGT/VGT rates are similar to the day-1 prices so if you have booked a cruise far out and used the onboard booking discount you would still have a better deal than the restricted rates.

The restricted rates seems "heavily" discounted because you compare it to those fares that is offered close to the sail dates and hence much higher than prices at day-1. This all due to the tier pricing system that DCL uses.

In summary.....it is still good if you can book far out but if you cannot do that then it might be OK to wait till last minute and hope for some restricted rates ! Just my 2 cents !

 

[TDC Nala]

Thanks. That is contrary to what the OP has above, as it states that Disney is not able to assign a stateroom number at time of booking.

What the OP should say is that the PASSENGER cannot choose the stateroom number at the time of booking. DCL CAN possibly assign a stateroom at booking though.

 

[lark]

In my opinion, those IGT/OGT/VGT rates are similar to the day-1 prices so if you have booked a cruise far out and used the onboard booking discount you would still have a better deal than the restricted rates.

When Fantasy started releasing some IGT/OGT/VGT fares, I actually did a comparison, and you're basically right, although I found a few occasions where IGT was better than opening day cat 11C -- one one sailing by nearly $400 for a family of 4 even with an onboard booking discount. VGT also was pretty close, although it depends on what you compare to. If you compare to 7A, which is the lowest category you can get with a VGT, day one bookings actually come out better, but of course many with VGT get cat 4 or 5, where the difference can be thousands. Depends on your risk tolerance.

Unfortunately, the data on Fantasy day-1 is not extensive, despite the great resources here.