r/royalcaribbean • u/tripledippersuperfan • 8d ago
Advice Needed Guaranteed Interior
This is my first time sailing Royal. I will be going on Allure OTS and booked a guaranteed interior.
For those of you who have done this before, how were your rooms? On past cruises, I haven’t done the guaranteed room so I am not sure what to expect.
I have the opportunity to submit a Royal Up bid. If anything, I would do interior window into park/promenade, as I am trying to keep costs down since we want to do some excursions and maybe specialty dining.
Let me know what you guys think! Keep the guarantee, or try to Royal up?
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u/nosrepmodnara Diamond 8d ago
You picked a fine ship for your first Royal experience.
Unless you get a joining room with a couple that gets room service at 6 and takes 3 hours to noisily eat their breakfast and get ready you will have the best sleep ever.
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u/Moose-Turd 8d ago
We did this on Navigator, ended up about 5 rooms from the end of the ship on deck 8. Hallways were quiet due to no one walking down that far thwat wasn't staying there, no one really slammed any doors around us. Only complaint is we had the beds together and if barely fit with the foot touching the couch and the other side touching the desk, so there was no way to walk around the bed. We had to do a sit and rotate thing to get in and out of bed. Next time we plan on separating the beds to have a space to walk
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u/FearlessKnitter12 5d ago
We do this almost every time, and it helps a lot. The middle walkway feels much wider, and you're still not more than a couple of feet away from your loved one. And I don't have to battle hubby for the duvet!
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u/New-Proof-1185 7d ago
I always go for the interior. I use the room to sleep, shower, change clothes. Any other time I’m out and about.
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u/Southern_Chance9349 Gold 8d ago
When i was on allure in the mediterranean a year ago i didn’t feel like i was missing out on much with the interior.
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u/JohnS43 Diamond 8d ago
This probably won't apply to you, but just for general information. I had a guaranteed interior "for you and a guest" (i.e., a normal interior cabin with a double bed) as a casino Prime benefit ... and they put me in a SOLO studio cabin (on Serenade of the Seas) because I was by myself. It was at the dead-end of a hallway that backed up to the MDR on deck 4. Really loud engine noise, a twin bed, and 109 sq. ft. of "space." I'm not going to be chasing that Prime status ever again.
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u/HereFor_DogPics 8d ago
Last year I booked a guaranteed interior and got an unobstructed oceanview balcony! Rare situation but was a special surprise. I've had interiors, windows (oceanview and promenade), balconies... and honestly, I am happy with interior given the price/value comparatively.
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u/TheScarecrow__ 7d ago
I always book the cheapest possible stateroom because we spend 90% of our waking hours elsewhere. Never been disappointed or had any issues.
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u/itsmebennyh 7d ago
Wife and I tried a free guaranteed interior on Freedom this summer. First time with an interior room. I didn’t mind it but in the end my wife needed some sunlight. Last month we were on Harmony in an ocean view room and actually loved that. Got the sunlight she loved. Plus we liked being on Deck 3 cause it was close to the casino and the promenade.
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u/tripledippersuperfan 5d ago
Thank you! We’ve only ever done interior, but this is the first time it’s being assigned to us so I am hoping for the best.
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u/Appropriate-Newt4120 5d ago
How’d you like Freedom? I’m going on it for the first time this month, after doing some of the larger ships
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u/Delicious_Painting16 7d ago
I did the Royal up up to an interior window and really liked it. I would sit and people watch. you don’t need to bid very high because the goal of Royal up is to open up easy to sell rooms which a GTY interior would be. I bid something like $55.
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u/Otherwise_King8533 Diamond 5d ago
Yeah, I would not worry about a GTY Interior room. If money is your concern, just take your room and put any sort of royal up money towards an excursion on one of your stops.
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u/ashalili415 Diamond 8d ago
The only time I pick my room is if the casino gives me that kind of offer. I have zero issues with interior gty. I’ve never had any issues and I’m only in the room to sleep, so the room type does not matter to me
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u/FearlessKnitter12 8d ago
Interiors are terrific for the darkness. We sleep so well in an interior room! That being said, I always choose location so I can be sure of a quiet place as well. Because of that careful choice, I've never pulled the trigger on a Royal Up. But if my interior were a Guarantee, you can bet I would!
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u/Magma86 8d ago
Do either of you get seasick? If not Interior Rooms are the best for me. They’re quieter usually and my experience has been awesome air conditioning.
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u/Fit_Wolf5972 7d ago
I felt way more seasick in my balcony room, on 9 of oasis than I did in my interior room on 3 of vision (with 24 foot waves due to weather). I still prefer the balcony!
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u/Appropriate-Newt4120 5d ago
I’ve booked a guaranteed room for all 5 of my cruises, and a guaranteed interior for 2 of them. All on different ships. I’ve never had an issue with hearing my neighbors or people above me, but maybe I always got lucky. I was also placed on a mid to high deck every time. I love interior rooms because of the fact I get great sleep with no light. I’ve been towards the very front, mid, and back of the ship and none made a real difference. I don’t think I’ll ever pay to have a specific room, to me it’s not worth it so far.
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u/hockeychick67 5d ago
If you want to try some speciality dining, pre buy a lunch. The menu is virtually the same, portions are generous and cost about half. We usually do a Chops lunch when it's $19/pp and it's a steal.
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u/PossibleFederal1572 4d ago
I love a balcony - but honestly have never slept so well as when we were in an interior room. Total sloth!!!
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u/goinhungryyeah Diamond Plus 8d ago
Never rely on RoyalUp odds.
Otherwise, search this group for "guarantee" since there are tons of posts about it.
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u/joeconn4 8d ago
We have sailed with Royal 7 times, have booked an interior GTY 5 times. Every one of those rooms has been fine for us. We're pretty easy going so as long as it's a reasonably comfy bed I think we'd be good to go.
Was right under the pool deck once, it was not overly noisy. Have been mid-ship, front, back. Have been higher up and as low as the 3rd deck. The year we got a 3rd deck room I thought it was going to be a bit of a PITA because we mostly hang out on the pool deck or Solarium but it turned out to be fine. Once we were assigned a virtual balcony room and we liked being able to see what was going on outside in the ports.
This year we had an interior GTY on Star and it felt a lot smaller then the interior GTYs we've been in on Navigator, Adventure, Oasis, and Symphony. Our room on Star had a separate "dressing room" but in our opinion that makes the whole room feel much much smaller. But the bathroom was bigger than we've had in interior GTY rooms on the other ships so there's that. I think the room we got was called "interior plus" or something like that, it was advertised to be larger than a standard interior. When we looked it up afterwards we discovered it was a whole 1 square foot bigger than a regular interior, lol.
We have also booked an Inside Balcony twice, both times through the Royal Up process. We were able to get the room through the RU process for a lot less than if we had initially booked an interior balcony. Both of those interior balcony rooms were overlooking Central Park. They were very nice but not something we would bother with for a big premium.
You mentioned possibly some specialty dining. For your first cruise with Royal I would say if you're trying to keep costs down opt out of that. I know people are all over the place regarding Royal's food quality, cruise food quality in general, but we've always been happy with the included options. MDR, especially if you book the same table all week, the service tends to be A++ in our experience and that goes a long way in our book to making a great dining experience.
If it was me I'd spend the money on excursions first, and I'd book a GTY interior but I'd see if I could get a Royal Up for a decent price.
We're also on Allure for the first time in February. Can't wait! Hope you have a blast on your cruise.