What is your best guantee upgrade?

[spike007]

What is your best guantee upgrade? How far ahead did you book? Were you a previous Carnival guest? Any ideas that may increase your upgrade?

[candigirl41]

Booked in March of 2005 for January 2006. booked a 4a guarantee and received a 7a obstructed balcony for both the cabins I booked and my friend got the same cabin for her 4a guarantee. We are all on the same deck one cabin away from each other and my friends who booked a cat 8a with two category upgrade is in an extended aft balcony on same deck, upper.

 

Good luck.

I am a past guest this is my 9th cruise with Carnival, my daughters 8th husbands 4th and friends 1st. Friend who booked 8a with two category upgrade is on her 3rd.

 

Candi

[Rowan555]

We booked on Oceanview guarantee on 10-5 for our upcoming 11-27 Conquest cruise, and we were upgraded to a family stateroom on the spa deck, which is EXACTLY what we wanted (however, to book the room directly would have cost $400 or $500 more than what we paid). We are thrilled with our upgrade, but we would have been satisfied with any oceanview stateroom. I mentioned to the PVP that we had been on Spa Deck before and would choose that over a balcony stateroom - I have no idea if that had anything to do with our upgrade. We have an oceanview guarantee for next December on Sensation - who knows where we'll end up on that cruise (last time we did an inside guarantee and were midship on Upper Deck).

[KenMo]

On my third cruise, we were upgraded from an OV to Cat 12 on Elation. We booked about a year ahead.

[MSSQRL]

On our first cruise in June 2004 on the Glory, we were upgraded from a balcony guarantee stateroom to a suite. We booked about 6 mos ahead of time and I mentioned to our PVP it was our 25th wedding anniversary.

However, we booked the same type room on the Miracle in May 2005 and did not receive an upgrade because the ship was wait list only. So, there really doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to who gets what. It is just sort of the luck of the draw.

 

Have fun.

[Cruisin Oma]

I'm only speaking from 7 cruises worth of observation - but the 5 times I booked directly with the cruise line, we got an upgrade, the 2 times we booked with a TA we never got upgrades.

[airhead22]

We booked with TA in August for October Miracle cruise. Booked 8a guar. and got 8H, right under lido aft. LOVED being so close to ice cream and had no noise!!!!!

[big_duck]

On our first cruise in June 2004 on the Glory, we were upgraded from a balcony guarantee stateroom to a suite. We booked about 6 mos ahead of time and I mentioned to our PVP it was our 25th wedding anniversary.

However, we booked the same type room on the Miracle in May 2005 and did not receive an upgrade because the ship was wait list only. So, there really doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to who gets what. It is just sort of the luck of the draw.

 

Have fun.

 

It seems likelym, that your PVP made some sort of note on your file that aided with your upgrade.

 

Other than that it is hit or miss. I still am a firm believer that the upgrade dart board is used by whoever is in charge of them. :D

[sausimayok]

Hi,

we booked last January for uor upcoming cruise, Jan/01/01, we are past guests on Carnival. We booked A 7A AND A 4A, both were gtys. About two weeks ago, we found out that our 4a was upgraded to a 7a, and our 7a was upgraded to an 8g. The cabins are on both sides of the shipand two floors apart, but just go down two flights of stairs and you are at the other cabin.

We have the best of both worlds, it doesn't matter what side the ship docks on, we can see everything. After this, we will always book the least that we will be happy with.

Brenda

[spike007]

Do you think that a good GTY upgrade on a sailing that has sold out all the lower subcatagories, (8A, 8B, 8C,...) is more likely? We have booked a BL GTY quad, and the online booking engines are showing 8A, 8B & 8C as sold out, but still offering a GTY. Or is the thinking the less bookings the better the upgrade? Seems to me that the lower catagories are the easiest to sell.

[GoinCruisin]

Do you think that a good GTY upgrade on a sailing that has sold out all the lower subcatagories, (8A, 8B, 8C,...) is more likely? We have booked a BL GTY quad, and the online booking engines are showing 8A, 8B & 8C as sold out, but still offering a GTY. Or is the thinking the less bookings the better the upgrade? Seems to me that the lower catagories are the easiest to sell.

 

It depends, is your cruise less than 70 days away? If so, they have probably already done the upgrades. There is no rhyme or reason for upgrades... don't fret about it, it'll drive you crazy. Good luck!!

[amarco]

Booked the cheapest inside guarantee at leasts 9 months in advance. Got upgraded to a balcony cabin midship. This happened to us three times. Once was on a 10 nite Panama Canal cruise during Spring Break. We are going on the Glory in a couple of weeks. Booked cheapest inside and got a OV midship on the Riviera Deck.

[Patfan]

:cool:I booked an inside GTY and recieved an outside Cat9:)

[Top-Cat]

Not sure which is the best because out of 6, we have booked four GTY. Onece we booked Is Riviera and got OV Riviera. Most of the time we booked IS 4A Gty and were ugraded to the upper deck IS. That happened twice. We book anywhere from three to five months out.

 

The very best Updgrade we ever got was on RCCL. We booked three weeks out, IS Gty and got moved up 5 decks from the deck we paid.

[sa7776]

1st cruise - Mardi Gras - 4A to 11

 

2nd cruise - Celebration - Booked OV guarantee - upgraded to 6C - TA called

two weeks out and they offered to upgrade to 12 for $200, we took them

up on the offer

 

5th cruise - Elation - OV guarantee - got 6D

 

7th cruise - Sensation - OV guarantee - got 6D

 

All other cruises we either had assigned cabins or got the minimum.

[The Cruisers]

On the Triumph (our third Carnival cruise) a couple of years ago, we booked an 8a guarantee and were upgraded to a cat. 11 suite. We just returned from the Liberty, which was our 5th Carnival cruise, we booked an 8a guarantee and were upgraded to a 9a with the large deck.

[cruzn buckeye]

This past September we booked and paid for our cat 9 , cabin 7445 on the Valor. It was $1149pp. The couple traveling the week before us had left their boarding pass in the information book in the cabin (nicely tucked in one of the slots). I actually think they did this so future cruisers could see their great upgrade. They had booked an 8agty for about $849pp and ended up in this cabin....the one we had paid a total of $600 more for. I'm sure they were very happy!

[jetskier]

Dream Cat C to Cat DD

Holiday 6A to a 6D

Sun Cat M-Cat II then upsell to a BB

Elation 5A to a 5A (first time no upgrade) :(

 

Dave

[jobster71]

We booked with the travel agent, disappointed that we did not get an upgrade at all. It was also our first cruise.

[celticd1]

First cruise on the Sensation...booked a 6A GTY with an online TA, upgraded to a cat. 11. Second cruise on the Valor...booked OV GTY with brick and mortar TA, no upgrade. Just found our cabin number for third cruise on the Legend...booked a 6A GTY and looks like we were upgraded to a 7A obstructed view balcony.

 

So, does it matter if you book 6A GTY as opposed to a OV GTY? Wish I knew. I wonder if you have a better chance at an upgrade if you book at the (usually) higher 6A GTY rate as opposed to the OV GTY rate (wich is usually discounted)? We booked each cruise at about 6 months out. I have also heard that many first time cruisers get an upgrade.

 

Good luck!

[MICruizers]

is pretty much the same deal Candigirl41 got. We booked 3 cabins in Feb 05 for January 2006 on the Legend. My mother and step-father booked a balcony gtee and got an extended balcony....this will be their 8th or 9th Carnival cruise and had never gotten any type of upgrade in the past...don't know what they paid for their balcony gtee. My MIL and FIL booked an IS GTEE @ $656.00 pp/incl taxes, etc....this will be their first cruise. My wife, son, and myself booked an IS GTEE also at the same $656.00 pp and $438.00 for third pax. Both IS GTEE cabins have been upgraded to 7A obstructed balconies. I'm just glad that we were upgraded to balconies from inside guarantees at an inside price....mind you this is for the 8 day Southern Caribbean (Panama/Belize/Costa Rica), so I think we ended up with a great deal overall. By the way, this will be my 5th cruise (4th on Carnival), my wife's 4th cruise (3rd on Carnival) and baby boy's 1st cruise.....

[MICruizers]

is pretty much the same deal Candigirl41 got. We booked 3 cabins in Feb 05 for January 2006 on the Legend. My mother and step-father booked a balcony gtee and got an extended balcony....this will be their 8th or 9th Carnival cruise and had never gotten any type of upgrade in the past...don't know what they paid for their balcony gtee. My MIL and FIL booked an IS GTEE @ $656.00 pp/incl taxes, etc....this will be their first cruise. My wife, son, and myself booked an IS GTEE also at the same $656.00 pp and $438.00 for third pax. Both IS GTEE cabins have been upgraded to 7A obstructed balconies. I'm just glad that we were upgraded to balconies from inside guarantees at an inside price....mind you this is for the 8 day Southern Caribbean (Panama/Belize/Costa Rica), so I think we ended up with a great deal overall. By the way, this will be my 5th cruise (4th on Carnival), my wife's 4th cruise (3rd on Carnival) and baby boy's 1st cruise.....

[ocngypz]

He who pays the higher rate, gets the upgrade... ta or not.

 

I had a choice.. $575 for 1A single or $733for 1A single. Two different rate code programs. My agent asked if I really wanted to stay in the inside. OMG... no of course, not. I paid the higher rate and was upgraded to a Cat 6a. If I had booked the 6A single, it would have cost me $725 more than the 1a did.

 

Thus, I saved myself 725 and wound up in the cabin I wanted in the first place.

[CrusinAgain]

Well this is our 3rd cruise and we have never been upgraded. All were booked through a TA.

 

The one we are about to take is a military discount and we chose our decks and rooms, so my understanding is once you choose a room it is yours and you won't get upgraded. Also found out that a TA cannot offer rates cheaper than the cruise direct - all they can offer are "extras".

[aggieastrosfan]

On our first cruise in June 2004 on the Glory, we were upgraded from a balcony guarantee stateroom to a suite. We booked about 6 mos ahead of time and I mentioned to our PVP it was our 25th wedding anniversary.

 

You might be onto something here. For our May '04 trip on the Elation, we booked through a TA and said we were celebrating our anniversary (which we were). We booked a 6B assigned, upgraded it to a 6D assigned when the prices dropped, and ended up getting an upgrade to a 12 about 2 1/2 weeks prior to sailing. We booked that trip maybe 3 months in advance.