Since Ngaire is cruising, I'll put in my two cents here. RSSC changed the procedure on cabin guarantees last year. Previously, you didn't get a cabin assignment until very late in the game( sometimes you didn't know your cabin # until a day or two before the cruise and folks had even not known until they got to the ship ). Now, when a cabin in your guarantee cat becomes available it's assigned to the first person on the list and they just work down the guarantee list. You may get a good stateroom and/or an upgrade and you may not. It's not the good deal that it used to be and Ngaire doesn't seem to like the guarantee system as it is now.