Ymmv = huaca
So after a no-help interaction described above, and seeing the mixed results that the rest of you were getting, this am I tried again, from scratch.
This time I got a knowledgeable person at the other end of the line who make the booking, took the name of my GoH (without demanding their WoH number), and sent out an e-mail right away confirming everything and listing "Guest of Honor" under Preferences, at the bottom of the e-mail.