Switching cabins embarkation day.

[jolyroger]

So out of curiousity what are the chances of going to guest services on embarkation day and seeing if there are any cabins available to switch to? Is this a thing? Our ship is booked but wasn't sure if there's a chance in asking.

Thanks for any feedback

[rolloman]

My answer would be similar to the famous line from the movie Dumb and Dumber.  At the end of the movie he asked Miss Swanson what are his chances and she said not good...he follows with you mean like 1-100 and she said more like 1-million. The scene ends with him being elated as he said "so you are telling me there is a chance" lol

[shof515]

impossible

[Elaine5715]

2 hours ago, jolyroger said:

So out of curiousity what are the chances of going to guest services on embarkation day and seeing if there are any cabins available to switch to? Is this a thing? Our ship is booked but wasn't sure if there's a chance in asking.

Thanks for any feedback

They post a sign at Guest Services so people don't waste time in line.  

[JoeMo]

I have heard people trying to switch cabins since our 2nd Mardi Gras cruise. Even then the Pursers office had the "SHIP FULL" sign out. 

Edited March 26, 2023 by JoeMo
Spelling

[RD64]

Are you referring to a better grade cabin than that which you have booked? Are you looking for a free upgrade or a paid upgrade?

[mz-s]

Carnival discounts rooms as necessary, even giving rooms away to gamblers, to get the ship full because an unoccupied cabin doesn’t make carnival a dime. So it’s extremely unlikely that there will be any rooms to switch to. Unless somebody doesn’t show up, in which case they wouldn’t know until after the ship sails. 

[Guest BasicSailor]

5 hours ago, jolyroger said:

So out of curiousity what are the chances of going to guest services on embarkation day and seeing if there are any cabins available to switch to? Is this a thing? Our ship is booked but wasn't sure if there's a chance in asking.

Thanks for any feedback

Carnival ships are not like hotels whereas you can switch rooms more to your liking. The comments (we sail full) is exaggerated now and especially during the covid years.

There are rooms, but there not available for switching to once the ship has boarded with people. Let a room become soaked (by accidental) with water from an overhead fire prevention sprinkler system and a room will be found.

Edited March 27, 2023 by BasicSailor

[bguppies]

9 hours ago, BasicSailor said:

Carnival ships are not like hotels whereas you can switch rooms more to your liking. The comments (we sail full) is exaggerated now and especially during the covid years.

There are rooms, but there not available for switching to once the ship has boarded with people. Let a room become soaked (by accidental) with water from an overhead fire prevention sprinkler system and a room will be found.

I can vouch for this.

 

On our last Pride cruise, it was full, and when we boarded, there was a wet spot with a large fan blowing on it in the entrance hallway to the room. (Seemed more like after a deep cleaning of somebody yacking or something in the hallway or something else. If it had been the bed, would have been a different story. )

 

DW had chosen that particular cabin for its proximity to everything we like to do on a cruise.

 

Just before dinner I get a call from Guest Services saying I had requested a cabin change. (which is hilarious, as I have zero say in which cabin, or even which cruise we are on)

I guess our cabin steward had told his supervisors that we had requested it, due to the fan in the hall of the cabin. (we hadn't even met him yet)

I appreciate the thought he had , not wanting to inconvience us, but the cabin the wanted to move us to, would have been much more logistically difficult for DW to get around with her walker.

 

We wound up staying in our chosen cabin and dealing with the fan for another day and took a couple of free meals in lieu of changing cabins. (thanks to our steward I guess)

Edited March 27, 2023 by bguppies

[jolyroger]

10 hours ago, RD64 said:

Are you referring to a better grade cabin than that which you have booked? Are you looking for a free upgrade or a paid upgrade?

I'm not looking for anything free. Was just curious that is all.

[jsglow]

3 hours ago, jolyroger said:

I'm not looking for anything free. Was just curious that is all.

We understand OP.  It's just not something that happens.

[Ferry_Watcher]

Also, the shore-side staff that work check-in at the pier can not do upgrades or switch / change staterooms.  

[FlaMommy75]

There is only one scenario where a room change/upgrade is possible and that is if the ship ends up very under capacity due to a storm and last minute cancellations/people not making it to the port in time. We actually had that happen a few years ago. I am usually very particular about the room I want and would never even want to ask for a room change but  we booked a last minute cruise for my daughter's birthday in October.... peak hurricane season.🙄  Since it was last minute the 4 of us were in one inside room, which I normally never would do, but it was a last minute decision and that was all that was available. 

Well, about 3am the morning of our embarkation Hurricane Matthew pummeled the area including the port!  The cruise before us was stuck out there an extra half day while the port was cleaned up. Since we only live a couple hours from the port we were able to make the trip over but Cocoa was a mess with power lines and trees down everywhere. Cocoa beach was under mandatory evacuation up until around 1pm that day so it was a ghost town. We originally planned on spending the night before the cruise in a hotel on Cocoa Beach but our reservation was cancelled because of the mandatory evacuation.

Long story, short we ended up being able to board about 7pm that evening and the cruise was only about 25% full. I went down to guest services at dinner and they gladly switched us to 2 adjoining ocean view rooms. 

 

[MississippiMom]

17 hours ago, mz-s said:

Carnival discounts rooms as necessary, even giving rooms away to gamblers, to get the ship full because an unoccupied cabin doesn’t make carnival a dime. So it’s extremely unlikely that there will be any rooms to switch to. Unless somebody doesn’t show up, in which case they wouldn’t know until after the ship sails. 

Since I imagine that all of the cruise lines run similarly, they really don't know their exact cabin inventory, immediately.  I'm sure that someone knows, as they would need a head count for safety reasons, but not every department knows what is going on.  Our family had a total of six cabins booked on RCCL last summer (back when you still had to take a covid test before boarding the ships), and our oldest tested COVID positive, before leaving for the port city.  She and her husband had luckily not been around anyone else, so it was only the two of them who could not board.  The travel agent was notified immediately, and she then notified RCCL.  Two days after boarding, housekeeping still didn't know those passengers weren't going to be on the cruise.  Somewhere between mid-day 2 and mid-day 3, the charging ability for that canceled cabin was stopped, and mistakenly impacted two other cabins.  We had to go up to guest services to get our charging turned back on and explain the situation.  Guest services had NO IDEA that my daughter and son-in-law weren't even on the ship.

[Elaine5715]

If going to Guest Services and request a free upgrade was likely, it would create pure chaos as people threw elbows to be the first onboard and in line.  Every unfilled suite/balcony would be filled anyways by Diamonds and Plats who are usually first onboard.  Every clickbait article and YouTubi video tells viewers "here's how to get a free suite", just ask!  Being that muster station counts are also calculated as staterooms are filled, there is more than just "see room, fill room".