Upgrade Question

[haehaehaley]

Okay so we are booked on an 8 day cruise in August in a balcony room for our honeymoon. I know upgrades aren't guaranteed but my question is if it's even possible for the upgrade fairy to call to upgrade a balcony to a suite? And my second question is if the prices on suites drop am I able to upgrade us myself and just pay the difference on the suite or how does that work?

 

Thanks!

[Tannison]

Carnival will gladly take your money if you want to upgrade and pay the difference.😀. Just give them a call if you see the price is at something you are willing to pay.

 

There really is no upgrade fairy... Its more of an upSell fairy and you never know if they will call or not.

[haehaehaley]

Carnival will gladly take your money if you want to upgrade and pay the difference.[emoji3]. Just give them a call if you see the price is at something you are willing to pay.

 

There really is no upgrade fairy... Its more of an upSell fairy and you never know if they will call or not.

 

 

Thanks!!

[carrieluvsgreg]

It was explained to me like this... There is an intricate process that determines who gets "the call" to be offered an upgrade. It is based upon what price you paid to book and what category you are booked under. Trust me, Carnival wants to make as much $$$ as possible on every sailing. So, they want to free up popular or desirable staterooms to sell them again. So, if you are booked into a balcony and paid a little more when booking than some of the other balcony rooms already sold and your balcony is considered one that will be desired, you might get the call. But remember, they will try to upgrade to another balcony too, perhaps higher in the ship or maybe a aft that would seem desirable to free up your cabin to be sold again. The will also try to free up interior cabins as they rather sell those at "rock bottom" and offer a current interior cabin holder an ocean view, then offer the ocean view the balcony and then the balcony will be offered the larger balcony, then the jr. suite and so on. I am leaving on cruise #13 in 38 days and we have never been offered a "free" upgrade. We were offered to move higher in the ship once for $50 per stateroom extra.

[haehaehaley]

It was explained to me like this... There is an intricate process that determines who gets "the call" to be offered an upgrade. It is based upon what price you paid to book and what category you are booked under. Trust me, Carnival wants to make as much $$$ as possible on every sailing. So, they want to free up popular or desirable staterooms to sell them again. So, if you are booked into a balcony and paid a little more when booking than some of the other balcony rooms already sold and your balcony is considered one that will be desired, you might get the call. But remember, they will try to upgrade to another balcony too, perhaps higher in the ship or maybe a aft that would seem desirable to free up your cabin to be sold again. The will also try to free up interior cabins as they rather sell those at "rock bottom" and offer a current interior cabin holder an ocean view, then offer the ocean view the balcony and then the balcony will be offered the larger balcony, then the jr. suite and so on. I am leaving on cruise #13 in 38 days and we have never been offered a "free" upgrade. We were offered to move higher in the ship once for $50 per stateroom extra.

 

 

Oh I see. Thanks for explaining the process, I wasn't sure how it all worked. We are in a balcony on the lido deck of the conquest so we are pretty high up, which is why I wasn't even sure if they'd even try to upsell us a suite or different cabin.

[lizardhowson]

Oh I see. Thanks for explaining the process, I wasn't sure how it all worked. We are in a balcony on the lido deck of the conquest so we are pretty high up, which is why I wasn't even sure if they'd even try to upsell us a suite or different cabin.

 

The percentage of cruisers who receive "upswell" calls depends on how well the particular cruise sells.

 

The percentage of cruisers who receive "upgrade" calls is minuscule compared to number of cruisers on ship.

 

There is no "sure" anything about receiving an upsell or upgrade call. IMHO most people are unrealistic in their expectations of this happening unless they initiate the call themselves and spend more money for a higher priced cabin.

Edited March 26, 2015 by lizardhowson

[haehaehaley]

The percentage of cruisers who receive "upswell" calls depends on how well the particular cruise sells.

 

The percentage of cruisers who receive "upgrade" calls is minuscule compared to number of cruisers on ship.

 

There is no "sure" anything about receiving an upsell or upgrade call. IMHO most people are unrealistic in their expectations of this happening unless they initiate the call themselves and spend more money for a higher priced cabin.

 

 

I wasn't expecting to get a call, I was just wondering if it was even possible because I wasn't familiar with how it worked.

[RenoNanaOz]

When we booked in January for our upcoming April cruise there were no Aft Balconies available to pick (which is what we love). I did a mock booking yesterday and "voila" there were 4 Afts on the Empress Deck. I called Carnival and they switched me for $100 total. Completely worth it in my opinion. I have never had them call me but I typically will do mock bookings a month or so away and see what they have to offer.

[liquorstore]

I actually received an upsale call from my spa balcony on Sunshine to a suite. Caller said it was worth 700/p but would upgrade us for 650. It was a great savings but we felt that much money could be spent in other ways on the cruise... It can happen.....

[volmoma]

We had an inside on Lido deck on the Sunshine in February and got the call for a Spa Balcony for $300. Needless to say we jumped on it!!

[haehaehaley]

We had an inside on Lido deck on the Sunshine in February and got the call for a Spa Balcony for $300. Needless to say we jumped on it!!

 

 

Wow that's great!

Also can't help but notice your user name, I'm a big orange fan as well. Go Vols!

[haehaehaley]

Glad to hear from many of you that it is possible!

[volmoma]

Wow that's great!

Also can't help but notice your user name, I'm a big orange fan as well. Go Vols!

 

 

18 days till leave on the Valor, 17 until we leave going down a few days early. Getting really excited. Hopefully BIG ORANGE will do well this year, looking at their recruiting season and returning players it's really looking good. Been an vol fan all my life. GB[emoji521]

[winddawn]

Okay so we are booked on an 8 day cruise in August in a balcony room for our honeymoon. I know upgrades aren't guaranteed but my question is if it's even possible for the upgrade fairy to call to upgrade a balcony to a suite? And my second question is if the prices on suites drop am I able to upgrade us myself and just pay the difference on the suite or how does that work?

 

Thanks!

Congratulations on your wedding and honeymoon!

 

Have you looked to see how many suites are still available for your sail date? Availability is a big part of upsells. If you see a suite available at a price difference that interests you, you can call Carnival and ask to be upgraded and pay the difference. Or you can just wait to see if the upsell fairy calls you.

 

Some people post on this board that they never get upsell calls. I get them almost every time I cruise on Carnival.

[haehaehaley]

Congratulations on your wedding and honeymoon!

 

 

 

Have you looked to see how many suites are still available for your sail date? Availability is a big part of upsells. If you see a suite available at a price difference that interests you, you can call Carnival and ask to be upgraded and pay the difference. Or you can just wait to see if the upsell fairy calls you.

 

 

 

Some people post on this board that they never get upsell calls. I get them almost every time I cruise on Carnival.

 

 

Thank you, we are very excited! I did look the other day and it looks like there are a lot of suites still available. The price hasn't gone down enough for me to call yet. Hopefully it will or hopefully the up sell fairy will call with a good deal! :)

[islanders1986]

Thank you, we are very excited! I did look the other day and it looks like there are a lot of suites still available. The price hasn't gone down enough for me to call yet. Hopefully it will or hopefully the up sell fairy will call with a good deal! :)

 

I am booked on a cruise for June and originally had a Balcony but upgraded ourselves to a suite. The suite price has dropped probably around 30-40% since the final payment due date. The price we are paying for the suite is almost the same as our original price for the balcony. So definitely keep an eye on the price especially after the final payment date.

[daisychain11]

The Upgrade Fairy called me on tax day this week. We are now upgraded to a balcony for the first time ever!

 

It was over $300 more, but on the website they were still going for $550 extra, so a good deal!

 

I did ask him how they choose the people they call. It sounds like it's pretty much up to the individual. This person picks returning Carnival cruisers. I thought it was maybe because there were 3 adults in our room, but that wasn't it. He said getting calls for upgrades depends on how many unfilled upgraded rooms there are and how close the sailing date is. (Ours is in 50 days).

 

I told him I was thinking of next time getting a room I didn't want and wait for the upgrade call and he said never, ever do that. The chances of being called are extremely low. In fact, the room you really want might sell out months in advance and you'll be stuck somewhere you don't want to be. (Which is true, another ship I looked at was out of ocean view rooms.)

 

He told me a story of this one guy he upgraded who was stoked - major suite. The guy called him back 12 years later, asking why hasn't he called him again for an upgrade?!

 

Anyway, I guess it's true: it's an Upgrade Fairy - and you don't see or hear from Fairies often, if ever.

[BigRed93]

I've had 3 upsell calls in the past year on 2 different cruises. In fact, I have had 2 in the last two weeks for the same upsell. I am booked in an extended balcony and they offered an ocean suite for $550 more. It would be $910 if I were to upgrade on my own. I declined the offer, and then a few days ago I got it again. Same offer...sorry, still no.

 

 

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