How to Get Upgraded Cabin?

[bombcat9]

I am leaving Saturday, August 28th on Holland America. I have taken two cruises before and was put on the list for an upgrade but never got one. What is the best way to get a free cabin upgrade? Any tips? Personal experiences?

[Bill S]

Free upgrades are few and far between on HAL-we have sailed with HAL 9 times now, and only once have had a free upgrade and I THINK that was largely due to my TA requesting one. If you have a guaranteed cabin category, you have a better chance for an upgrade than you do with a specific cabin number booked. A couple of times we have gotten upgrades for a discounted fee. It is very hard to predict when the upgrade fairy will visit you, if ever.

[WASUP]

If we wish to be upgraded, and are willling to pay, if the price is right, can we request that through the TA or NCL? Just wanting to let it be known we are looking to upgrade.

 

Thanks

[LARGIN]

If we wish to be upgraded, and are willling to pay, if the price is right, can we request that through the TA or NCL? Just wanting to let it be known we are looking to upgrade.

 

Thanks

You have to face North, look up towards the heavens and spread your arms and call out for the Upgrade Fairy.. Perhaps if she is listening she will upgrade you.. I know of no other way.. :D

[linda47]

Largin,

 

Thanks so much for the laugh!

 

I've never gotten a free upgrade. Now I know why!

[1cruiselvr]

HAL cruises are notorious for sailing full. Not much chance of a free upgrade unless you booked a gty.

Happy Sailing!

[oscarmoraz]

I will try this next time ....lol

[rgbigun]

What about Carnival? My wife handles all of the cruise-related items but I'm just wondering if people get upgraded by Carnival when they get on-board. I've heard of this before but I have'nt had actual proof of it. Anyone got anything for me?

[SafeHarbor]

What about Carnival? My wife handles all of the cruise-related items but I'm just wondering if people get upgraded by Carnival when they get on-board. I've heard of this before but I have'nt had actual proof of it. Anyone got anything for me?

 

Carnival? You'll get a kick out of this. Four years ago DW and I booked Fantasy for 4-day Bahama trip. Bought one of their balcony suites on the Upper Deck. There aren't that many balcony cabins on Fantasy class ships.

 

So we arrive at the terminal and the lady says, "Oh, I see you've been upgraded!" Fearing that by upgrade she meant one of those small balcony cabins on the Verandah Deck, I asked where on the ship it was. She wouldn't tell me, except to say that it was very nice. So I quietly asked, "But how can you upgrade from 1st Class?!" She gets her supervisor who pulls me aside and says, "Sir, you don't understand. This is the best of the best."

 

Hmmm. I thought I knew the Fantasy class ships forwards and backwards, but this stumped me. Sometimes thinking you know everything can bite you in the rear. Decided to take her word for it, then said, "I suppose you're going to go home tonight, open a beer, and have a good laugh about this with your husband, aren't you?" "Yes, I am!", she proudly exclaimed.

 

We were assigned a personal escort for boarding, bypassing the lines for security and embarkation photos. The lady took us aboard and onto the glass elevator. We passed the Upper Deck and I started dreading that she was taking us to the Verandah Deck where some of the balconies have obstructed views. But she took us beyond that and we got off on the Spa deck. Now I'm really confused.

 

She leads us off the elevator and around the curved railing to the port side towards a door with a sign that says "Fire Station 286". There's another door 90 degrees to its right. She takes one of our key cards and puts it in the slot of the second door.

 

Fire Station 286 was one of the two penthouse suites! It was huge, with a dozen floor to ceiling windows, marble everywhere, a wet bar, and some of the funkiest overhead lighting we've ever seen. It is not labelled on the published deck guides.

 

That supervisor at the terminal is probably still telling the story about the guy who started to put up a fit about being upgraded! :o

[gambit57]

bahahaha, that's a great story!

[rgbigun]

Man, I can only dream. Great story.

[dishealth11]

Why did they upgrade you? Did something happen?

 

 

 

Carnival? You'll get a kick out of this. Four years ago DW and I booked Fantasy for 4-day Bahama trip. Bought one of their balcony suites on the Upper Deck. There aren't that many balcony cabins on Fantasy class ships.

 

So we arrive at the terminal and the lady says, "Oh, I see you've been upgraded!" Fearing that by upgrade she meant one of those small balcony cabins on the Verandah Deck, I asked where on the ship it was. She wouldn't tell me, except to say that it was very nice. So I quietly asked, "But how can you upgrade from 1st Class?!" She gets her supervisor who pulls me aside and says, "Sir, you don't understand. This is the best of the best."

 

Hmmm. I thought I knew the Fantasy class ships forwards and backwards, but this stumped me. Sometimes thinking you know everything can bite you in the rear. Decided to take her word for it, then said, "I suppose you're going to go home tonight, open a beer, and have a good laugh about this with your husband, aren't you?" "Yes, I am!", she proudly exclaimed.

 

We were assigned a personal escort for boarding, bypassing the lines for security and embarkation photos. The lady took us aboard and onto the glass elevator. We passed the Upper Deck and I started dreading that she was taking us to the Verandah Deck where some of the balconies have obstructed views. But she took us beyond that and we got off on the Spa deck. Now I'm really confused.

 

She leads us off the elevator and around the curved railing to the port side towards a door with a sign that says "Fire Station 286". There's another door 90 degrees to its right. She takes one of our key cards and puts it in the slot of the second door.

 

Fire Station 286 was one of the two penthouse suites! It was huge, with a dozen floor to ceiling windows, marble everywhere, a wet bar, and some of the funkiest overhead lighting we've ever seen. It is not labelled on the published deck guides.

 

That supervisor at the terminal is probably still telling the story about the guy who started to put up a fit about being upgraded! :o

[LynnA]

We joined the Carnival Vacation Club. I read alot of negative post here about the club but I love it. We went on Carnival Destiny Jan 2nd, 2005. I booked an 8 cat balcony room. When we got there they told us they had changed our room. I was kind of like the other guy, not sure if I was happy with this. They would not tell me anything. They took us to our room and we started going all the way to the back of the ship. We kept going, going and going. We ended up at the very back of the ship in one of the 9 cat rooms, the corner room with the large balcony. Our balcony went across the back and down the side of the ship. You could probably have gotten 20 poeple on our balcony. We we're very pleased. We are booked on the Conquest next month. Waiting to see what happens.

[AACJ]

have a question about upgrading too. I am sailing to Bermuda at the end of this month, the X website shows some cabins available in a higher grade than ours, if we get to the dock, should we ask the person there about upgrading? AND does it cost anything to upgrade? I constantly hear of people getting free upgrades either from their TA or the cruise line directly but don't know how to get one myself. I asked my TA and she seemed only interested in booking the trip and taking my money and showed NO interest in an upgrade, and I have asked her many times about it.

 

Also, when I read my my contract or the X brochure, it says all upgrades will be charged the difference in what was paid at the time of booking for the original room, to the current price of the upgraded room. I always thought that if you "got" and upgrade it was a comp from the cruise line.

 

Any suggestions?

 

THREE MORE WEEKS!!!

art

[SafeHarbor]

Regarding the question as to "what happened" that we were upgraded to one of the PH suites on M.S. Fantasy, we honestly don't know. Maybe it was because we booked directly through Carnival and not a TA. I had considered going through an online broker, but the price he (the Carnival TA) gave us for the large balcony was very close to theirs. I mentioned this to him and said I would rather go through him for peace of mind; didn't want to nickle and dime this thing to death. Perhaps he appreciated that (more than we ever imagined).

 

I might mention, it took forever to get our luggage on the ship. Thought it was lost. Actually, it was delivered to our original cabin, but the people who were upgraded to that cabin tossed it out back out in the hall. They left the cabin to wander the ship and their steward tossed it back in their cabin. Our steward finally tracked it down at about 8:00pm. Oh, and those folks in our old cabin opened the bottle of wine I had pre-ordered, thinking it was part of their upgrade!!

 

Our steward (Santana) was simply wonderful. The hatch near Fire Station 286 led to a stairwell. Since the crew are not allowed to take the public elevators, he had to hike those stairs everyday day. We were above the uppermost residence deck, so we invited him to stay a little longer with us whenever he would allow it.

 

By the way, we didn't mention anything about our cabin to our tablemates, at least not until the last night when we asked, "Say, would you like to see a part of the ship few people even know about?" When we got there and DW put in her card key, one lady asked, "Oh, do all of our keys work in this door?" Lots of "Oh my God"s when the door swung open to the marble floors. We ordered drinks from Room Service and spent our last 2 hours together there. What a great time.

 

When we returned home I sent the Carnival TA a nice "thank you" letter with a little something in it. Santana, our cabin steward, received equal honors.

 

Our next cruise is on HAL's Oosterdam to Alaska. Taking the whole famn damily. This time, however, I decided to go through a discount broker since I had to book 3 cabins and I'm doing what I can to watch the nickles and dimes. One of the biggest expenses will be the helicopter tour everyone wants to go on. (Tip: book direct through tour operator instead of through ship and save).

 

Anyway, regarding the original question on how to get an upgrade, my best advice is the same as others on this board. Reserve the cabin you know you will be happy with and try not to dream of an upgrade. If it happens that you are upgraded, well, enjoy it for all it's worth. If not, well, you got the cabin you paid for, so enjoy it even more!

[linda47]

The only time I got a complimentary upgrade was on my very first 'luxury' cruise. But that was because the date I had originally booked was oversold and Celebrity was asking people to change their dates with the incentive of a better cabin and lower price.

 

Aside from that, I upgraded at the pier when I went on Serenade of the Seas, but I paid for that. It cost $100 per person to go from a guarantee outside to a balcony. It was well worth it. The only problem with doing that is that now I want a balcony on all my cruises. That's not always a possibility, particularly from a financial standpoint.

 

This July, I'm taking my nephew on the Carnival Triumph from NYC to Canada for 5 nights. It's his high school graduation present. I booked the minimum outside guarantee and am expecting to get the worst outside cabin on the ship with only a porthole. If I get anything better than that I will be happy. But I will miss the balcony!

[SassyPrncess]

We did the inside guarantee. Call the day before the cruise leaves and ask how full it is. Ours was plum full, so we got what we got, even with a Gold Member in our group. If you are cruising off-peak, you may have a chance. Otherwise, pay for the room you want.

[jjdmom8]

What website can you go to and see available cabins? We just booked today for the Sensation on 7/2. Booked an Oceanveiw guarenteed. Just wanted to see what was avail that we might get.. Any suggestions?

[musicmansmom]

i have been upgraded twice and that was when i had booked very early each time on the carnival spirit. one was a guarentee ( 1a to 4a inside ), the other was with a specific cabin number choosen==== i went from the riviera oceanview #1200 to the verandah deck with a balcony #7268. wow, it was awesome. a large group had booked after us and they wanted to have the cheaper cabins. so some of us were bumped up to some cabins that were still open. the ship made much more money giving the group alot of the cheaper cabins rather than having a few more expensive ones setting empty. it is the luck of the draw and when the ''' up-grade fairy '' visists you, just say thank you and enjoy your up-graded cabin :D

[fiorita]

Out of 9 cruises we have been upgraded 3 times. Twice we did not know it untill we got our paper work 6 weeks or so before the cruise. The first time it was on HAL and we were up graded from a inside upper and lower to a large outside cabin. This was our third cruise with them and we had booked it 1 year in advance. The second time it was on Princess and we were booked again for an inside and got a outside. The last one was this pass November with NCL we got a call about 1 month before our cruise from our TA did we want to up grade to a Suite for $150.00 each I told her no but would do it for $75.00 each. While I held on the line she worked it out and we got our upgrade for $75.00 each to a Suite from a inside cabin. So you can get upgraded for free. I do not ask for upgrades as we are happy in and inside cabin.

Fiorita:)

[jnc411]

You have to face North, look up towards the heavens and spread your arms and call out for the Upgrade Fairy.. Perhaps if she is listening she will upgrade you.. I know of no other way.. :D

 

For goodness sake , now I get it. all this time I have been faceing East and it never worked. So I have to face North.Why didn't you say so before.

OK next time I expect an upgrade.

:)

Cori

[Sun R Bunns]

Sounds like getting a free upgrade is about as by chance as standing in the airport watching your name move down the upgrade to First Class Cabin list until it falls off the bottom of the screen. :( But I still try!!!!!

[cw0904]

We got an upgrade when we went on the NCL Star when it was sailing the Hawaiian Islands. Although we had a balcony guarantee on the bottom level with the balconies, we were upgrade two decks. Same cabin but a higher deck. We were just excited to have a balcony cabin and really didn't care what deck it was on. It worked out better for us since all of the action was going on around us and we didn't have to take elevators all the time.

[socialworker]

This past April, cruising X from HNL to SAN we were upgraded from an oceanview guarantee to a balcony. When TA called with that news, I almost dropped dead. It was our first ever balcony cabin, and we loved it. But alas we usually can't afford to book such accommodations, so we're back to our standard oceanview. But...if the upgrade fairy chooses to visit us again, we won't turn it down. ;)

 

Another cruising friend of mine, watches the availability, and if suites remain open close to her sailing date, she has T/A call cruiseline with a "bid" on one of the available suites. She recently got a penthouse suite for half-price. Of course, half-price is still way out of my reach, but she thought it was a good enough deal.

 

Judy