Upgrades - Does this make sense?

[habby]

Found this posted by a "cruise specialist" on the Carnival forum board:

 

"Someone posted that they had a Cat 6A Guarantee, and received a Cat 11 balcony...woo hoo! But that is not typical for two reasons 1) depending on the ship (like the Elation or other Fantasy Class Ships) there are so few Balconies that they are GONE fast!, and 2) all other OV catagories would have needed to be sold out. For example Fantasy Class has Ocean View Cabins in 6A, 6B, 6C, and 6D which would need to be completely sold before someone gets an upgrade to Cat 11. Since most people book and immedaiately get a cabin assignment in the catagory they want, this would obviously get you an upgrade to a better cabin, before you get to the ship."

 

I don't remember seeing upgrades explained like this before. Just wondering if this makes sense to anyone who has experience with these types of things.

[Travelitis]

I'm no expert, but it doesn't make sense, because I think it much more likely that there IS an upgrade fairy sprinkling the lucky with her magic dust than that there is a real system.

 

Point #1 makes sense, but #2 - not so much. That's the point where I think the fairy theory is just as likely.:p

[BrendaB1]

No rhyme or reason to how Carnival does upgrades. It doesn't matter when you book or how much you pay, or number of times cruised. It's random luck of the draw.

[grandmato4]

While true that on a Fantasy class ship booking a 6A is rarely going to get you a category 11 these are just 2 more theories that don't hold up to fact. Only the upgrade fairly knows the real reasons !!:)

[cruisinstim8r]

Its magic to me.

 

My wife and I reserved a Balcony cabin. Both of my sisters booked OV guarantees. One sister gets upgraded (for now) to the balcony cabin 2 doors down from us at 60 days out. My other sister is still listed as TBA at 35 days out. Go figure. The only thing is there are no more OV cabins available and only 1 balcony available. If my second sister gets upped to a Suite I'm calling NO FAIR.

[caribbeanboy]

How do you know that there are no more OV available or only 1 balcony ?

[cruisinstim8r]

I tried to "buy" a cabin on the Carnival site. OV were not available and there was only 1 Balcony room available. Still 7 or 8 Suites were listed. I assume this is the current availablity but my sister may have been assigned an OV already but has not been updated on her reservation.

[cod]

I'm sure cabins are set aside in specific categories just for 'guarantees' and then at some point the juggling begins. They can't sell everything within a category and then get left holding the bag....guarantees with no where to put them!

[Jsme]

We just booked a cruise and we were given a two Cat upgrade. Actually they upgrades us as a perk for being a past passenger. We were given a group of cabins to chose from when we booked with Carnival. The CVP was told us which cabin would be the best to chose from and we went with what he advised.

[petro772]

No rhyme or reason to how Carnival does upgrades. It doesn't matter when you book or how much you pay, or number of times cruised. It's random luck of the draw.

So true. Upgrades are like sex--some get it, some don't. ;)

[firefly333]

1) depending on the ship (like the Elation or other Fantasy Class Ships) there are so few Balconies that they are GONE fast!,.

 

.... There are no real baclony cabins on any Fantasy ships, only suites that have a balcony. They arent just gone fast, there never were any lol.

[VacaCrazy]

So true. Upgrades are like sex--some get it, some don't. ;)

 

Hers how I always knew the process to work. My last cruise my self and 2 other people were upgraded from a regular balcony to a suite cat 11...and the 4 other rooms and couples with us also were upgraded from ocean views to balconies....

When Ever my family books we never take our room assignment...you get a guarantee that you will get at least what you booked..ie if you booked an ocean view thats the lowest room cat you can get but you have the possibility to be upgraded because you are kind of floating around the reservation system...so when the category you selected has sold out and Carnival wants to sell more of them they might move you up to a higher level in order to sell more of their lower category inventory...

I also used to work for liberty travel in the online dept for http://www.libertytravel.com and I also verified this at work

[okgirl]

Found this posted by a "cruise specialist" on the Carnival forum board:

 

"Someone posted that they had a Cat 6A Guarantee, and received a Cat 11 balcony...woo hoo! But that is not typical for two reasons 1) depending on the ship (like the Elation or other Fantasy Class Ships) there are so few Balconies that they are GONE fast!, and 2) all other OV catagories would have needed to be sold out. For example Fantasy Class has Ocean View Cabins in 6A, 6B, 6C, and 6D which would need to be completely sold before someone gets an upgrade to Cat 11. Since most people book and immedaiately get a cabin assignment in the catagory they want, this would obviously get you an upgrade to a better cabin, before you get to the ship."

 

I don't remember seeing upgrades explained like this before. Just wondering if this makes sense to anyone who has experience with these types of things.

 

This exact upgrade happened to me on my Freedom cruise in Europe last year......My PVP called about 60 or so days out and offered the upgrade, he said that the OV's were easier to sell.

 

No rhyme or reason to how Carnival does upgrades. It doesn't matter when you book or how much you pay, or number of times cruised. It's random luck of the draw.

 

I agree with Brenda, no real rhyme or reason

[sassy0930]

The upgrade fairy has a rhyme and a reason, she just doesn't want it to be known. She's like God in that she works in Mysterious ways.

 

Luckily for me, she's a romantic!! (well hopefully she's a romantic and not a practical joker) You might have seen my thread of being "upgraded" from an IS GTY to a Balcony cabin on the Victory for our honeymoon!!! (I just hope it stays that way, I found it with the little trick in the gift section so keep your fingers crossed)

[mustgo]

Please explain the gift "little trick". TIA

[Wennfred]

No rhyme or reason to how Carnival does upgrades. It doesn't matter when you book or how much you pay, or number of times cruised. It's random luck of the draw.

 

AMEN to that :D

 

 

Fred

[Wennfred]

Please explain the gift "little trick". TIA

 

Youre better off refreshing your eDocs, its much faster. If its not listed on your eDocs, its not going to be posted in the Gifts and Services section.

 

 

 

Fred

[dan40]

The non-existent "Upgrade Fairy," is a clerk in the sales dept. responsible for making cheaper cabins available on sailings that are not selling well. Carnival needs to have cheaper cabins available for sale to avoid mass OBC's by lowering the prices. So they move the people in cheaper cabins [that booked guarantees] anywhere to make their cheap cabin available to advertise. Doesn't matter which cabins are available, as long as they can be moved out of the low price one. Move a party from a 6A to a cat 12 suite and you have not lowered prices at all, so nobody can be demanding OBC. Plus now there is a 6A available for sale.

Carnival won't tell us but I'd bet that holiday and peak season sailings have far fewer upgrades then the sailings in slow season. High demand=few upgrades, low demand=more upgrades

Just a sales/marketing tool, no mystery.

 

Dan

[tamcase]

We were amongst the blessed that received a Penthouse Suite (Cat 12) and book a OV guarantee. First cruise, no rhyme or reason. Happy as heck though!!! It was an amazing venture for the first time out! I am hooked and sure wouldn't expect it to ever happen again.

[Wennfred]

We were amongst the blessed that received a Penthouse Suite (Cat 12) and book a OV guarantee. .

 

You totally suck :D That only happens to people from Michigan :)

 

 

Fred