How do you ask for upgrade day of sailing?

[Hugh0906]

My TA told me the same thing just last week... he basically just said it never hurts to ask because IF the ship is not full, they like to up-sell people when they can. Pretty sure they would rather have an empty interior room vs an empty balcony? Granted, I am sailing NCL and not Carnival but this is obviously something that can definitely happen. I do not want or need to upgrade but he definitely told me it was an option. *shrugs* I am new to cruising so maybe this does not apply to Carnival but I thought I would share what I was told.

 

Look it won't hurt to ask for an upsell. You won't get a free upgrade however. I've done it at the front desk onboard on another line, and was very glad to buy my way out of the inside cabin. It was discounted a little bit, but not a lot from what I would have paid in the first place. It takes a few minutes maybe, why not give it a shot?

 

Hugh in Dallas

[Toronto Guy]

Somehow I don,t believe it's been on Carnival in the last several years. Please tell us which ship and when or as I now believe, you are blowing smoke! Or then again, you might be the TA giving wrong info.

 

Every Carnival ship in the last 5 or more years that we have sailed, had a sign stating all cabins are full. So, how did you do this on Carnival??????

 

Apologies - I guess I didn't realize this thread was on the Carnival board - dang phone app.... Anyway...I have upgraded on board ship through Guest Relations on Azamara, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and also on a European River Cruise when there has been space available. Not on Carnival though that I can think of. Azamara actually gave me a free upgrade - they were supposed to charge to my onboard account the difference in price, but never did. Don't think it was any cheaper than if I had booked before hand - but sometimes I get on board and don't end up liking a cabin for one reason or another - and have asked to be moved. I have done an upsell through NCL as well just prior to sailing - and that was a good bargain. As far as Carnival is concerned, I see no point in upgrading to a suite or similar as I don't think their suites are that special compared to the regular balcony cabins since they are larger cabins than the industry norm to begin with.

[LizaMM]

My TA told me the same thing just last week... he basically just said it never hurts to ask because IF the ship is not full, they like to up-sell people when they can. Pretty sure they would rather have an empty interior room vs an empty balcony? Granted, I am sailing NCL and not Carnival but this is obviously something that can definitely happen. I do not want or need to upgrade but he definitely told me it was an option. *shrugs* I am new to cruising so maybe this does not apply to Carnival but I thought I would share what I was told.

 

Carnival upsells BEFORE the cruise. They have a separate dept to do this.

 

Exactly. This is what everyone refers to as the "Upgrade Fairy" - do a search on here and you will see TONS of threads!

 

Carnival Upsells in advance of the sailing. If they are not full they call people and offer an Upsell to a higher category then they have lower categories which they can sell for a reduced price more easily.

 

This Advance Upsell/Upgrade Fairy was not the case when I first started sailing and about 8 years ago there used to be many many threads on CC about how people wound up with "free" upgrades or very low cost upgrades when they got to the ship. BUT for several years now this has not been the case and Carnival has done the advance upsell.