changing room type/ upgrade schedule

New to Carnival cruising and have a couple of questions. We (one adult and one child) are booked on the Freedom for April 2019. I realized after booking that the room I chose (porthole/inside) has 2 twin beds. I would prefer a queen/king for myself and a bunk/sofa bed for my 13 year old. I called Carnival to see what I could do and they informed me that since there are only 2 of us, they will not allow us to move to a room with an extra bed. Kind of ridiculous but whatever. I offered to upgrade to an oceanview or balcony room but the Carnival person said they would still only give me a room with beds for 2 people.

What are the chances I can upgrade closer to sailing? Is that something that I need to call Carnival for or will they reach out to me with an offer? In your experience, what timeframe does that usually happen?

Anyone with any advice on how to get around this? I have sailed on other cruiselines and was able to book the room I wanted without any consideration as to how many people would be in the room.

Thanks!

In my experience if you only have two people they will only allow you to book a 2 person room. We had a great room when we sailed with 3 one time, next cruise with just 2, we were not permitted to book the same room again because we did not have enough people to book it.

Now whether or not they will let you move to a room that can accommodate more if the ship is not sold out when it's time to sail, I have no idea. Others may be able to tell you if they have ever had any luck with that. Generally though, the ships do tend to sail sold out.

Rooms are capacity controlled to assure they have rooms available that need the extra beds, versus those that might just want it. With there just being two of you, getting a room that holds 3 or 4 will be difficult.

The one suggestion I can make however is. If you book a room with a couch in it, the child can sleep on that (it is plenty big enough and I have actually slept on one myself with no issues) and then you can request the bed configuration to be that the two twins are made into one king.

Keep in mind there are rooms where the couch makes into a bed (and these are designated as sleeping more quests), I am just referring to a room designated for 2 and sleeping on the couch itself. They are quite wide and comfortably cushy

Your room steward most certainly would provide you with an extra blanket if you requested it. This is what I would do.

New to Carnival cruising and have a couple of questions. We (one adult and one child) are booked on the Freedom for April 2019. I realized after booking that the room I chose (porthole/inside) has 2 twin beds. I would prefer a queen/king for myself and a bunk/sofa bed for my 13 year old. I called Carnival to see what I could do and they informed me that since there are only 2 of us, they will not allow us to move to a room with an extra bed. Kind of ridiculous but whatever. I offered to upgrade to an oceanview or balcony room but the Carnival person said they would still only give me a room with beds for 2 people.

 

What are the chances I can upgrade closer to sailing? Is that something that I need to call Carnival for or will they reach out to me with an offer? In your experience, what timeframe does that usually happen?

 

Anyone with any advice on how to get around this? I have sailed on other cruiselines and was able to book the room I wanted without any consideration as to how many people would be in the room.

 

Thanks!

My suggestion would be to pay the 3rd person fare with a dummy guest, its usually pretty cheap compared to the 1st and 2nd guest. If the bed situation is that important to you, that's what I would do

If there is a sofa in the porthole room just have them make it up as a bed. And they will push the twins together for a King for you.

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Just Eyeballed the Pride deck plan and it looks like Ocean View rooms on main deck would have the couch (just look at the deck plan and click on an open room and make sure)... and pretty much all balcony rooms will have a couch (except the special aft wrap ones).

If there is a sofa in the porthole room just have them make it up as a bed. And they will push the twins together for a King for you.

 

 

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Inside rooms will not have a sofa

If there is a sofa in the porthole room just have them make it up as a bed. And they will push the twins together for a King for you.

 

 

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I am pretty sure most Porthole rooms will not have a couch, could be wrong, but they are "inside" cabins and I haven't seen an inside cabin with a couch yet.

Pay for upgrade to ocean view cabin. oops sorry that will not work. Think you are stuck with two twin beds

If it is an inside, it will not have a couch. If it is a porthole, it will have a couch. EM

On my Magic cruise this past December, we were upgraded to a higher deck at no cost but were given a room that

would accommodate 4 people. We didn't ask for it, they just gave it to us. So it does happen.

If Carnival will not allow you to book into a cabin that holds more than 2 guests, it is probably capacity controlled, at this time. That does not mean it will stay that way. When I was booked on the Dream sailing in 2017, it was capacity controlled for a long time. Then suddenly, just maybe 3-4 months before sailing, they opened up triple and quad cabins to be booked by any number of guests (as long as you didn't go OVER capacity, of course). It probably has to do with how well the sailing is selling out. I'm sure they don't want unsold cabins at the time of sailing just because they wouldn't allow parties of 2 to book into triples and quads. If you really want to move, keep checking and something may come available.

My suggestion would be to pay the 3rd person fare with a dummy guest, its usually pretty cheap compared to the 1st and 2nd guest. If the bed situation is that important to you, that's what I would do

I've done this before. No problem.

Thanks for all the advice. I guess I’m stuck for now but will watch for an upgrade closer to sail date.