Carnival upgrades? "PVP's" versus "outside agencies"

[seafun]

Ah, the age-old upgrade questions...:o

Dear friends,

In your experience, does it give you a better shot at an upgrade by booking through a Carnival PVP, versus booking through an outside agency? (In my current booking-to-be, the outside agency would save me just over $200.00 on a guaranteed balcony.)

Most feedback I've seen on here indicates it is random, but I would think they would lean more toward rewarding people that had booked through Carnival.

I'm torn between throwing the extra $200.00 at Carnival in the hopes that my chances would be better, or just saving the $200.00, since there are no guarantees of visits from the elusive Upgrade Fairy. ;)

Would you please share your advice and experience? :D

[firefly333]

I read an article, from a site I subscribe to, who said that some of the large sites get the best upgrades. the ones that sell carnival cruises in large volumn.