Upgrade Pricing...

[NavyCruiser]

Just went to Carnival & other booking sites to see availability of balcony cabins & price difference if we want to upgrade from our current interior cabin for our upcoming late Aug cruise.

It shows the difference of only $115 pp between interior & balcony.  Great price, so I called Carnival.  They said the price difference to upgrade is $350 pp. Since we booked using VIFP Past Passenger discount, that's the price difference.   Even asked if other discounts (Military, Senior, AAA, AARP, etc...) were any better, they said VIFP was the lowest.

 

That eats up more than twice the $300 OBC for our 5 day cruise, so didn't make sense for us.

 

Prices are much higher than when we booked back in March, when we were notified that our May booking was cancelled, otherwise we would cancel & rebook if pricing was the same, to get the less upgrade pricing for balcony.

 

Don't get these pricing games...

[Schoifmom]

Most likely, they are correct.  You would pay the difference between what you paid for your interior and the current price of the balcony cabin.  You said it shows a difference between interior and balcony of $115 pp, but that is a difference between the current interior price and the balcony price, if I'm guessing correctly.

[xitappers2bx]

On 5/12/2020 at 11:49 AM, NavyCruiser said:

Just went to Carnival & other booking sites to see availability of balcony cabins & price difference if we want to upgrade from our current interior cabin for our upcoming late Aug cruise.

It shows the difference of only $115 pp between interior & balcony.  Great price, so I called Carnival.  They said the price difference to upgrade is $350 pp. Since we booked using VIFP Past Passenger discount, that's the price difference.   Even asked if other discounts (Military, Senior, AAA, AARP, etc...) were any better, they said VIFP was the lowest.

For reasons I don't understand VIFP offers change depending on how you booked etc... I have found if you have a TA with a good relationship with someone at Carnival you can get things done--usually.  I was trying to upgrade my sister from an OV to a balcony before they cancelled the Bermuda cruises, and because of the fare she booked, certain rooms weren't available, and the cost to upgrade into the available categories for that fare was double what the website showed. It was weird.  Very weird.  

On 5/12/2020 at 11:49 AM, NavyCruiser said:

Prices are much higher than when we booked back in March, when we were notified that our May booking was cancelled, otherwise we would cancel & rebook if pricing was the same, to get the less upgrade pricing for balcony.

Our cruise for Aug. 1 on the Magic is more than $1500 more than it was when we booked in April.

On 5/12/2020 at 11:49 AM, NavyCruiser said:

Don't get these pricing games...

It's all supply and demand.  It's an interesting economics game for sure; with bookings up the way they are, CCL can ask for whatever they want, and get it.  

[mlshum]

Here’s another strange thing...my husband and I had two different prices listed on the website for the same dates, same ship, same cabin, etc.  We called Carnival and we were told that sometimes “specials” would be offered, but not the same things to everyone.  I thought that was very odd.