I was wondering if anyone knew if you got a better upgrade if you paid off your cruise early? My final date for my next payoff is September. If I paid it off now......would there be better chance for upgrade? Or should I just hold on to my money until the last minute. :-)
Nope, I haven't heard that by paying cruise early makes any difference when it comes to upgrades. Actually, its after final payment that sometimes cabins free up. There are those who may have to cancel their cruise before final payment without penalty, so those cabins come back into the inventory. Just keep your money earning a little interest until its time to pay fully.
I paid my cruise off two months ago, and final payment wasn't due until two weeks from now. I booked a cabin I wanted and if they upgraded em I would likely say no, unless it was a Cat 11 or 12 suite, then I might say Yes! Otherwise, I picked the perfect cabin with the quickest access to Lido deck possible!!!!!!
If you get an upgrade it will be a total suprise and I hope it is a nice upgrade!!!
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1991 Holiday
2007 Victory & Triumph
2008 Conquest & Liberty
2009 Valor, Freedom, and Splendor
2010 Glory and Liberty
2011 Glory
how do they determine who gets the first chance at upgrades?
No one knows that, otherwise everybody on the cruise boards would be doing it. The suspicion is that those that paid the most are the first to be upgraded.
Also remember that almost ALL upgrades are pseudo-upgrades. Like a cat. 4A to a cat.4C. Or a 8A to a 8F. Neither is a true upgrade, both are to the same exact kind of cabin on a different deck. Only if the cat. NUMBER changes, is it a true upgrade. Like a cat. 4x to a cat. 6x, that's an inside cabin to an ocean view cabin.
how do they determine who gets the first chance at upgrades?
Also remember that almost ALL upgrades are pseudo-upgrades. Like a cat. 4A to a cat.4C. Or a 8A to a 8F. Neither is a true upgrade, both are to the same exact kind of cabin on a different deck. Only if the cat. NUMBER changes, is it a true upgrade. Like a cat. 4x to a cat. 6x, that's an inside cabin to an ocean view cabin.
Dan
Id take that upgrade. Id rather be on a higher deck and have less time on the elevator to the main pool. pseudo to you, real upgrade in my book.
Beware the Upgrade Fairy! Back in the early nineties (before we had graduated to outside cabins!) we got a really good deal on a 10 day cruise on Celebrity Horizon. We got a cabin assignment midship on the lowest deck-looked good to me. When we checked in, they informed us that we had been upgraded-oh goody! We had been moved up one deck-directly below the galley :evil: It was without doubt the worst location on the ship. We complained bitterly and begged to be downgraded back to the original location but no luck. We never got more than 1 hour of uninterupted sleep-at one point we threatened to sleep on the couches in the lobby! On the upside, customer relations logged aour DAILY complaints and I also wrote to Celebrity when we got home. We ended up with a very generous credit which we used the following year for our first outside cabin on the Summit-one of the best cruises ever!
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Horizon 2000
Summit 2001
Sovereign of the Seas 2003
Noordam 2003
Zenith 2004
Mercury 2005
Princess Sun 2006
Princess Sea 2007
Constellation 2008
Mercury 2009
Constellation 2010
Out of all the passengers I have booked on Carnival, only those who were past passengers and were not upgraded at the time of booking through some sort of deal or special... and none of the upgrades were ever anything that the passenger was overly thrilled about.
At Christmas, I had this sweet guy who wanted to surprize his fiance who was a dancer for a few months on a Carnival ship... we booked his cabin, inside guarantee (the only thing left) and he ended up in a cabin with only 1 lower berth! I spent 3 hours on the phone with Carnival trying to find SOMEONE who would think that it would be nice to help out a fellow employee and move him... especially since he paid twice the cruise fare for himself. Nope... nada... nothing. ...
If it's upgrades you are looking for, I have had the best results from Princess and Holland America... usually if you book a higher category balcony with Princess, you are upgraded to a mini suite if you are willing to take the risk of opting for 'open to upgrades' checked off on your passenger profile. Of course, 9/10 times, that means sacrificing a midships cabin for a forward or aft minisuite or higher category
We have been upgraded twice, but that was done on the phone with our Carnival planner getting Past guest deals on slow selling cruises. We usually look for the cheapest cruise and book a guarantee balcony early. Sometimes there is a 1 or 2 level automatic upgrade, some times a run of the ship. We watched the prices online and called back when the price went down. We were offered a run of the ship upgrade instead of the 2 levels that had been offered when we initially booked.
Of course, as a previous poster stated, that’s just any cabin just like we booked on any deck that cabin is offered. Well wanting to make the most of our wind fall I chose the highest (priciest) deck offered and ended up just below the Lido deck. I was ok, but the next trip I opted for a more reasonable upgrade to the Empress deck where we could be between two decks of cabins. It was much quieter.
To answer your question though, it is harder to get upgrades or concessions once they have your final payment. If the price of the cabin drops after you make your final payment you can still get the lower price, it just comes in the form of a sail and sign credit instead of making your payment lower.
how do they determine who gets the first chance at upgrades?
Also remember that almost ALL upgrades are pseudo-upgrades. Like a cat. 4A to a cat.4C. Or a 8A to a 8F. Neither is a true upgrade, both are to the same exact kind of cabin on a different deck. Only if the cat. NUMBER changes, is it a true upgrade. Like a cat. 4x to a cat. 6x, that's an inside cabin to an ocean view cabin.
Dan
Id take that upgrade. Id rather be on a higher deck and have less time on the elevator to the main pool. pseudo to you, real upgrade in my book.
[quote]Each to his own. I didnt say I would pay for it, but if they offered me to go to a higher deck for free, yup, I would like it. We hang out at the pool a lot during the day, so for us it works.
Offering me a free upgrade to a higher deck isnt fooling me at all, in fact I like having a cabin on the Lido deck. Nothing wrong with it if they dont offer a free upgrade to a higher deck, then I stay where I am.
To answer your question though, it is harder to get upgrades or concessions once they have your final payment. If the price of the cabin drops after you make your final payment you can still get the lower price, it just comes in the form of a sail and sign credit instead of making your payment lower.
Are you saying that if the price goes down right now on the same cabin I've already paid for... they will give me on board credit? What if you have a TA? Do I have to get her about checking for discounts.... Carnival won't just do it automatically, right?
And suppose I did get a credit.... is it possible I still may get an upgrade?
We booked a balcony guarentee.
I have had the opportunity lately to get some passengers a lower cruise fare but if you booked before the fuel supplements went up, they will charge you the higher fuel supplement...lately, it works out to be the same or within $20.
Carnival prefers to upgrade to the equivalent of the fare you have already booked but will also give you an on board credit for the difference if you do not want to move cabins. . . all of this is quite time consuming so do not expect that your travel agent is calling Carnival every week to find you a lower rate... you can do the research and call her when the rate goes down and let her know what you would like to do (move or credit)
It's not that as travel agents we don't want to find you the best deal, but it would not be feasible for us to call for everyone. (i think Carnival would get sick of us too) and if you were happy with the rate you were quoted at the time of booking...you know where I am going with this.
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paying off cruise - upgrade?
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