Cabin Upgrade Offer

[mhills]

We are currently booked for a 5-day cruise on Carnival Valor next summer. I just got an email about upgrading our cabin from a balcony cabin on deck 8 (mid-ship) to deck 11 (fwd/front). I like that the Spa deck (11) has fewer cabins, but I'm not sure if we will feel the sway up there, or if it is worth being further away from the main amenities. The upgrade is only $26, which seems like a really good deal. Any advice on this? FYI this is only my second cruise so I still have a lot to learn. 🙂

[leaveitallbehind]

The front of the ship will feel the most up and down motion, in particular on the higher decks.  Side to side will be the same anywhere on the ship, again the most intensive on the higher decks.

 

Can't help you with your other questions.

Edited November 16, 2023 by leaveitallbehind

[GeezerCouple]

1 hour ago, mhills said:

We are currently booked for a 5-day cruise on Carnival Valor next summer. I just got an email about upgrading our cabin from a balcony cabin on deck 8 (mid-ship) to deck 11 (fwd/front). I like that the Spa deck (11) has fewer cabins, but I'm not sure if we will feel the sway up there, or if it is worth being further away from the main amenities. The upgrade is only $26, which seems like a really good deal. Any advice on this? FYI this is only my second cruise so I still have a lot to learn. 🙂

What is the actual upgrade?  Only the location, or is it a better/larger/? cabin?

Or is it simply that there are fewer cabins nearby?  (Will there be traffic for other reasons, like use of the spa, or...?)

 

And yes, a forward higher cabin is very likely to have more motion of the ocean than a lower mid-ship cabin.  If you tend to get seasick, this would probably not be a good idea, but you know how likely that is...

 

ETA:  Oh, and Welcome to CruiseCritic!

Which leads me to ask:  Is this your first cruise ever?

 

GC

Edited November 17, 2023 by GeezerCouple

[Essiesmom]

51 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

What is the actual upgrade?  Only the location, or is it a better/larger/? cabin?

Or is it simply that there are fewer cabins nearby?  (Will there be traffic for other reasons, like use of the spa, or...?)

 

And yes, a forward higher cabin is very likely to have more motion of the ocean than a lower mid-ship cabin.  If you tend to get seasick, this would probably not be a good idea, but you know how likely that is...

 

ETA:  Oh, and Welcome to CruiseCritic!

Which leads me to ask:  Is this your first cruise ever?

 

GC

In his post he says it is his second cruise.  EM

[crystalspin]

4 hours ago, mhills said:

We are currently booked for a 5-day cruise on Carnival Valor next summer. I just got an email about upgrading our cabin from a balcony cabin on deck 8 (mid-ship) to deck 11 (fwd/front). I like that the Spa deck (11) has fewer cabins, but I'm not sure if we will feel the sway up there, or if it is worth being further away from the main amenities. 

Joining in welcoming you to Cruise Critic. I would only take the move IF you plan to use the spa. Otherwise the convenience of mid-ship/mid-height trumps a little less traffic in the aisles.

 

I have not sailed Carnival but looked at your locations on cruisedeckplans.com and both locations are under public areas. I would only move to be between two decks of cabins! 

[ldubs]

3 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

The front of the ship will feel the most up and down motion, in particular on the higher decks.  Side to side will be the same anywhere on the ship, again the most intensive on the higher decks.

 

Can't help you with your other questions.

 

Really?  Doesn't seem possible.   If a ship is rolling, how would a cabin 6 -8 decks up have the same motion as the lower deck cabin? 

[ldubs]

All other things being equal, I would take the cabin nearest the elevators/stairwells (for egress).  

 

 

[Dwright826]

Make sure you do your research on location. My terminology is probably wrong so bear with me, but Carnival has a tendency to "upgrade" people from a good tier in a category to a bad tier(less sought after room) in the next category up. I.e.- from a tier 3 ocean view to a tier 1 balcony. Enabling them to sell a more popular room twice. I hope that makes sense. 😋

[haehaehaley]

16 hours ago, mhills said:

We are currently booked for a 5-day cruise on Carnival Valor next summer. I just got an email about upgrading our cabin from a balcony cabin on deck 8 (mid-ship) to deck 11 (fwd/front). I like that the Spa deck (11) has fewer cabins, but I'm not sure if we will feel the sway up there, or if it is worth being further away from the main amenities. The upgrade is only $26, which seems like a really good deal. Any advice on this? FYI this is only my second cruise so I still have a lot to learn. 🙂

I love using the spa so I would take the upgrade for that price. I don’t get seasick though so I can’t say much on how you’d feel up there if you do. 

[csm5986142]

Carnival considers a higher deck an upgrade (after 30 cruises, in general I don't agree with them).

But in this case, where you are moving to a spa cabin, I agree it is a good deal if you will use the spa (since it does offer different amenities).  Also, deck 8 midship on Valor would be way too noisy for me, so I would take it for that reason alone. 

I took a look at the deck plans and can't tell for sure on Valor, but I have read here that sometimes on that deck, you won't have any type of cover on your balcony making it extremely hot.  But again, not sure about this ship in particular.

There aren't many spa cabins so it's possible the upgrade has offer is already gone (taken by someone else).  That has happened to us - the offer was gone by the time we logged in to accept it.

 

[ldubs]

6 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

 

Yes, you are correct.  And we are saying the same thing, but I am also discussing the two types of wave motion.

 

Again, if you look at what I originally commented (quoted above) I said that the up and down motion (encountered when moving forward through rough seas) - to which you are referring - is felt most in the front of the ship and more so on higher decks.  The side to side, or rolling motion (encountered when waves hit the side of the ship when moving forward) - the second motion - will be felt the same anywhere on the ship, again more so on higher decks. 🙂

 

That makes sense and thanks for clarifying. I think we were having a language barrier.  😀

[leaveitallbehind]

42 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

That makes sense and thanks for clarifying. I think we were having a language barrier.  😀

Simple misunderstanding.  Have a good weekend.

[mhills]

Thank you for all of the responses. The cabin upgrade was the exact same room set-up just on a higher deck. It was certainly appealing to move to a deck with much fewer rooms than on deck 8, but since we will be traveling with our kids (12 & 8 ) we decided to pass so we could be close to the main floors. Plus this is our youngest kiddo's first cruise so I have no idea if he will have motion sickness or not, and it wasn't worth finding that out on a higher deck lol. 

[janice2348]

We booked a forward suite on deck 12 (on NCL Jade)  in 2018 as an upgrade. Not only was the pitching motion more pronounced, we could hardly use the forward deck because it was so windy. I think the OP made the right call to decline. 

[ProgRockCruiser]

15 hours ago, janice2348 said:

We booked a forward suite on deck 12 (on NCL Jade)  in 2018 as an upgrade. Not only was the pitching motion more pronounced, we could hardly use the forward deck because it was so windy. I think the OP made the right call to decline. 

I'm a bit confused, I went to look at the deck plans for that ship and deck 12 has the spa up front, and no cabins on that deck?  Maybe deck 10?

 

Anyway...

 

We had a forward extended balcony on Mardi Gras, Deck 14, and we could stand outside just a couple feet back from the railing and feel almost no wind, even at "full speed" into the wind.  At the railing you felt it a bit more.  I don't know exactly what Carnival did in designing the front of the XL class, but they must have rented out a wind-tunnel from a Formula 1 team or something...

[Earthworm Jim]

On 11/16/2023 at 10:07 PM, ldubs said:

All other things being equal, I would take the cabin nearest the elevators/stairwells (for egress).  

 

 

 

On the flip side, elevators and stairwell lead to more foot traffic, hall conversations, and elevators dinging too. So it's a matter of what you value more.

[ldubs]

3 hours ago, Earthworm Jim said:

 

On the flip side, elevators and stairwell lead to more foot traffic, hall conversations, and elevators dinging too. So it's a matter of what you value more.

 

Good and valid point.   I personally am acutely aware of emergency exit pathways just about anywhere I go.