Beware of the upgrade fairy!

[katiel53]

We had a similar experience on Carnival Liberty. We had booked a balcony guaranty--the one and only one we have ever done. We didn't receive our cabin assignment until 2 days before the cruise. Our keys did open the door.

 

We had reservations for the Steak House for the first night, but we had no confirmation in the cabin. I called the Steak House to confirm and they said we were in a different cabin. For whatever reason, I wrote down the other number.

 

I then went to purchase Cheers and my S&S card didn't work. I tried it a couple of times and I tried to just order a drink, but each time my card was denied. I went to guest services and they gave me a new card. I once again tried Cheers and still no go.

 

Back to guest services I went. I also asked if our OBC from our travel agent was on the account and explained about the Steak House and also that we had things sent to us that weren't in the cabin. I gave the employee the other cabin number and she told me that everything was in the other cabin and the ship wasn't informed that we were in a different cabin. I explained we never knew the cabin until 2 days earlier and she explained that evidently, we were assigned one cabin and changed to another one.

 

By this time it was time to get ready to go to the Steak House. The card worked at the Steak House so I thought all was fixed with it.

 

After dinner, I went to the casino. My card wouldn't work. I went to the cashier and the woman there was so nice. She said there is definitely a mixup with your card. Back to guest services. The woman helping me went to the casino with me. The casino cashier said their records showed the old cabin number.

 

Back down to guest services for both of us. The guest services woman gave me about 8 tickets for free drinks. She said that she had to contact Miami to get this straightened out and she couldn't do it until the next day as there was no one there to help her at night.

 

My husband and I used a few of the tickets for drinks and then went to bed. The next morning I went back to guest services. The woman I was dealing with said that she still hadn't heard from Miami and to give her another hour or so. She again gave me a few tickets for free drinks. I think she was doing this because we couldn't get Cheers.

 

Later in the day our cards started working. Yippee! Not so easy though! I saw our cabin steward had the gifts for Platinum cruisers. He bypassed our cabin so I asked him if he showed that we were Platinum because we didn't get anything in the cabin that indicated that we were previous cruisers. He told us no, that his paperwork showed we were on our first Carnival cruise.

 

Back to guest services. I also at this time asked about the OBC and things sent to us that were in the "old" cabin. I was told that later that day all would be taken care of.

 

We waited until after dinner and still nothing in our cabin including the Platinum gift. Back to guest services and I was told to just wait there until it could be straightened out. The woman I had dealt with all the times was just about pulling her hair out. She apologized so many times and I know she felt badly. She made a couple of phone calls and I could tell she was quite stern. She told me to go back to the cabin and that someone would be there within 15 minutes with everything. Sure enough it was.

 

The rest of our trip was good, but I was so annoyed that I didn't purchase Cheers. My husband and I just bought a drink here and there after we used the free drink tickets. In the long run, Carnival lost out with our onboard spending as we didn't/couldn't use the casino the first night and the money from Cheers.

 

We have sailed on many Carnival ships and this is the only time we have ever had a problem. I'm sure it's because of the guaranty cabin. We decided that we would never, ever do a guaranty again. It wasn't because of the problems we encountered, but because the cabin we were assigned in the end was below the Lido restaurant so we heard carts being rolled around all night and it was across from the Steward's pantry so early mornings it was noisy. We had only done the guaranty because we booked late and the cabins we would normally choose weren't available. It wasn't worth the $100 savings on the cabin--but I guess in the overall scheme of things we saved a lot by getting that cabin.

[Pesh]

I just paid to upgrade my cabin - not because I got a call from the upsell fairy, just decided to upgrade. I had only booked a few days before I upgraded and am about 70 days out, haven't yet completed online check-in, etc. Should I be concerned about having these mix-ups/issues? Or am I far enough out that it won't be an issue?

[Jimmy Geegitz]

Looks like drinks on the people who cancelled.

[OfcSupport]

Last year we changed our cabin a week before sailing. While we had no issues with our card, we did find welcome aboard gifts in our cabin with a note to someone else. Also, our cabin steward addressed us by the wrong name. Obviously they have issues with changes close to sailing.

[crusinpsychRN]

I just paid to upgrade my cabin - not because I got a call from the upsell fairy, just decided to upgrade. I had only booked a few days before I upgraded and am about 70 days out, haven't yet completed online check-in, etc. Should I be concerned about having these mix-ups/issues? Or am I far enough out that it won't be an issue?

 

You should be okay. I've done that a few times and never had an issue as long as I get the email confirmation.

[Pesh]

You should be okay. I've done that a few times and never had an issue as long as I get the email confirmation.

 

 

Thanks CruisinpsychRN! I did get an email confirming the change, so hopefully should be good!