Any luck with upgrades?

[huberfam]

Has anyone ever had luck with requesting an upgrade? 

[tree.critter]

Can always request and get an upgrade before departure if there are cabins available and you're willing to pay for it.  If you booked through a TA they will have to do it for you, if booked online/directly through Carnival all it takes is a phone call to customer service. Once on the ship it is pretty unlikely as the ships nearly always sail full.

[evandbob]

Upgrade is free, upsell is paying extra. 

 

I had one great upgrade, from an inside cabin  on a 10 day Journeys cruise, to a balcony on the subsequent 11 day sailing of a b2b.

 

I've had offers to pay for what Carnival considered a better cabin, say from a mid ship empress balcony to a spa deck balcony on a Conquest class ship, or an inside midship 1A to a porthole way forward, but I always declined.  I didn't consider those as better, JMO, so why should I pay extra for them?

Edited December 6, 2019 by evandbob

[ray98]

Sure....as long as you have your credit card number handy.

[Corby114]

Plenty of upsells since I got hooked in 1983 on Royal Caribbean’s Song Of America. On forty plus cruises I have had only one free upgrade on the Carnival Paradise in October 2001. Went from an ocean view on the Empress Deck to a suite on the Upper Deck for my family of three. Very tough to receive a free upgrade these days. You have to be very lucky! Enjoy your cruise.

[skrufy]

3 hours ago, evandbob said:

Upgrade is free, upsell is paying extra. 

 

I had one great upgrade, from an inside cabin  on a 10 day Journeys cruise, to a balcony on the subsequent 11 day sailing of a b2b.

 

I've had offers to pay for what Carnival considered a better cabin, say from a mid ship empress balcony to a spa deck balcony on a Conquest class ship, or an inside midship 1A to a porthole way forward, but I always declined.  I didn't consider those as better, JMO, so why should I pay extra for them?

Had two up sell offers in the last two months to a Family Harbor OV

[rtfnl]

I'm on the Sunrise this Monday and received an email today regarding an upsell. Luckily I read the email. I went from 7th deck balcony for 4 to an Ocean Suite deck 7 for $350.

[Nic6318]

17 hours ago, huberfam said:

Has anyone ever had luck with requesting an upgrade? 

 

Hi

 

Welcome to cruise critic.

 

If you don't want to pay for an upgrade, the likelihood of you randomly being upgraded is slim or more realistically nil. However, the price of cabins is fluid, they can change daily/hourly. The cabin prices can move either way, up or down and they don't necessarily move in the same direction or at the same time for all cabin classes. This is determined by supply and demand on your particular sailing.

 

This is generally more useful if you are some time out before your sail date. There are "booking rates" that will give you credit if the cabin class that you booked falls. So, if you continue to follow the cabin prices for your sail date, you may get a price drop. Even if that doesn't happen, you might see that the price for a more desirable cabin class has fallen enough for you to upgrade yourself for little or no extra money. If you see this sort of situation call your TA (if that is how you booked) or Carnival right away. It happens often enough to make it worthwhile to keep checking.

 

hope this helps

have a great cruise

[new_cruiser_75]

I've never gotten a reasonable upsell offer from Carnival, but did upgrade our room on our upcoming Panorama cruise from an inside on deck 9 forward to a huge, corner 4J (!!!) on deck 7 for only an additional $188 total.   We're soooo excited for the cruise and the new room is just the sweet, sweet icing on the cake! 😄  Found it by being lucky enough to be checking when it came available; actually 2 came available but by the time I clicked through the booking there was just the 1 left and I jumped on the 24 hour hold super speedy.  Then confirmed with my SO and called Carnival to make the change. The person who helped us declined to let us know that she completely canceled our prior booking to get us the new room, but luckily I happened to notice this a few days later as we had to completely re-buy excursions, re-check in, re-request dining time and bed arrangement... It was a bit of a pain but worth it, just thankful that we noticed as soon as we did.

[VentureMan_2000]

You don't have to wait for email or phone call for an upgrade.  Do a Mock booking... you may be surprised... certainly worth the time.

The price went down on both my cruises for next year ($800 total), while also getting category upgrades ( 8C to 8E, and 8C to 8D).  Best of both worlds.

[RiPPn]

Got on the Panorama last minute for the New Years cruise.  I had to get a Guaranteed 1A as it was that or a very expensive balcony.  Really hoping for an upgrade or reasonable upsell as me and my wife don't want to sleep on bunk beds. lol

[LuckyStar]

I have gotten plenty of upgrades without a fee.  I cannot for the life of me get on board credit.  I had $25 and had to pull teeth to get that.  I don't think I am slopping sugar well enough.