Upgrades at Port on day of sailing?

In the off chance that there are still some cabins in a higher category unsold on the ship on sailing day, does HAL have a Port Upgrade system?

I know that I've seen signs before at checkin, but I can't remember which cruise line it is - they say something like "Cabins available - ask the Port Captain" for more information and then they give you a price list and tell you what is available.

Does HAL have this?

Although ships do sometimes sail with empty cabins, it is still fairly rare. HAL makes every effort to fill those cabins before the cruise. In the last weeks before a cruise sails, there are upsell offers, and some upgrades. It's the lower categories that are then resold.

Once in a while there may be a last-minute cancellation in an upper category, but you can be sure that the charge will be full price.

Better to arrange the cabin you want now.

Oh, I'm happy with my cabin (VA), but *all* categories (even PS!) above me are still open, with less than 60 days to go, so I was just wondering how they're gonna work it :)

On our recent 21 day repositioning cruise a few people did get upgrades at the pier.

BUT remember this was a 21 day cruise.

As for 7 and 10 day cruises -- have not seen it happen in the last couple of years. HAL can sell cabins at the last minute quicker for these shorter cruises than they can for the longer ones.

Way back in l995, we got upgraded to a suite on a 10 day cruise. We had been promised a OBC which was not shown in our cruise paperwork and I questioned it. We had nothing in writing, had a new TA. Just before we were about to board, our TA called about upgrade, so she came thru in the end.

Suspect we got the upgrade in lieu of OBC. Sweet deal for a suite. :D

Yeah, this is a 19 day, and it's wide open.

On our 14 day on the Maasdam in Feb 09 we got an upgrade from an outside to a veranda at the pier for no cost - very nice surprise. I know that there had been someone else assigned to our cabin as we got their notices the first couple of days (turned them into the desk) so they must have gone from a Veranda to a suite. Nice things can happen at the last minute!!!!:D:D