Just Booked DCL in December

[cm041977]

I am so excited - I just booked a Disney Cruise sailing Dec. 12th! I've been reading everyone's posts for the past two months and the info has been phenomenal and so useful. I ended up booking a GTY Cat 12 room to save money. Are there any tricks to getting upgraded where I can be proactive (or do I just have to wait it out for luck of the draw)? If I continue to keep my eye on pricing and the Ocean Views or Verandah's come down in price can I upgrade at any time? Thanks so much!

 

Claudia

[wwinfl91]

Unfortunately Disney cruises tend to be full or close to full so they don't seem to do as much upgrading as some of the other lines. They only have two ships they need to fill which is probably easier to do than when you have 10 or 12. I have seen posts that say as long as you have booked a guarantee that you have a chance to be upgraded at least to an outside cabin if you are starting with an inside.

 

We booked a Florida resident special which has a fantastic price for a couple of days and I grabbed it. Less than $1500 for two people in an outside cabin so I don't really expect them to upgrade me but it would be nice.

 

This will be the first outside cabin we have had for awhile. We got into balcony cabins and I admit really liked being able to go out especially on sea days and sit on the balcony.

 

Good luck in getting an upgrade.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[mangomike]

Just wait and cross your fingers. We booked cat 12 as well, but noticed we got upgraded to an outside cabin when we got your boarding tickets. We didn't call or ask for an upgrade.

There is a channel on the tv inside your room that faces out to the front of the ship. So don't worry too much. You can always leave the tv on that channel to know what time of day it is.

Also, you won't spend a lot of time in your room. There are so many things to do. Pack your swim suits in your carry on luggage so you can go swimming as soon as you get on board. Your stateroom will not be ready until 1:30pm. Don't pack beach towels, they have plenty for you to use (even on Castaway Cay). Save the space. They provide a sufficient amount of good quality shampoo, conditioner and body lotion as well. Bring walkie talkies! They were sooo useful to us. Bring a highlighter so you can highlight all the activites you want to do on the schedule. Also, budget for pictures! They have so many character appearances where you can take pictures with the characters and they also have an area set up on the ship in the main lobby where you can take portraits (no sitting fee, no obligation). We got 20 6x8 pics for $139.

[metrowon]

Don't count on an upgrade, but who knows? The main thing is Your on the Ship. Once you leave your accomdations, every one is equal. And everyone is equally Special. If catagories are available above your 12, Disney may push you up, they want you to have a Great Time. I don't know whether persons who have booked a cat 12, long ago would have a priority. Good Luck, and Enjoy. Let us know what happened. Metrowon

[Shelebeen]

Welcome! We are sailing on that date as well. We are in a cat 5 room on deck 7... can't wait! We traveled the Western Caribbean last January but the weather was not great, so we are hoping for good weather this time!!

[cm041977]

you guys are so awesome! Thanks for all the tips and advice.....I know, I know, I am just really glad to be on the ship. Definitely not planning on spending a lot of time in the room, but a little concerned that my husband will be able to handle it. He's prone to motion sickness and headaches but he can always go see the nurse or head out on deck for fresh air.

 

I'll go check out the site with others on our sail date!

[Shelebeen]

Lots of people wear those little behind the ear patches to help with motion sickness..

 

Have you guys booked your excursions yet? or know what you are going to do?

We are going to do the snorkel, kayak, sail excursion in Key West,

Stingray city (privately with stingraysailing.com) in Grand Cayman - we went out with them in January and loved it!

Not sure about Cozumel - a beach day of some sort - most likely grab a cab to Chankannab Park for the day.

Castaway Cay is a beach day for us.

Have booked a Palo brunch for first sea day

 

Looking forward to it... praying for good weather!

[cm041977]

I booked the Dolphin swim/encounter in Cozumel. I did that one direct through the Dolphin Discovery website. We would really like to Snorkel and do more adventurous activities, but our daughter is only 3. Some of the 'all ages' excursions look a little boring, so I think we'll do a lot of beach and pool. I'm going to research a little more. I think Stingray City sound interesting - I'm going to go check that out, especially since you did it last time and loved it. Thanks!

[cm041977]

Hey Shelebeen - I booked the Stingray City excursion this morning. Looks like lots of fun and they had no problems with a 3 year old. Are you all set with everything else? I'm working on a hotel the night before right now.

 

See you there!