Upgrading from GTY Interior....When? How?

[bowlinmoe]

Hello everyone,

 

My girlfriend and I (along with our mothers who will be sharing their own room) just booked guaranteed interior rooms on the Solstice. We are interested in possibly upgrading (our cruise sails April 8). When is the best time to do this? I assume that come April 8th, pretty much every cabin will be booked, correct? Should we call in a couple of weeks and ask? Any chance that it could be a free upgrade? FWIW, the cruise rep did say that the cruise is currently not at full capacity.

 

Any other general tips/suggestions on going about this?

 

TIA

 

-bowlinmoe

[kitty9]

Free upgrades? No. Cruise lines just dont give out freebies anymore. You can call and request a change of cabin at any time, but you will pay the price difference. If I might ask, why didn't you just book a category you're happy with from the beginning, instead of having to go through all this stuff? Plus, if you booked with a travel agent, they might have change fees.

[Azulann]

You will have a inside stateroom but there are at least two categories of these and you will not know which deck you will be located on until they send your the stateroom number. I assume you have already paid in full for the cruise.

As kitty 9 said, if you want to upgrade call Celeibrity and pay for a OV or balcony upgrade.

 

You do not spend that much time in your stateroom which will be the same size of OV or the balcony rooms. You will just not have a window or balcony. Everything else will be the same.

Have a great cruise.

[Lsimon]

If it were me and I wanted to upgrade I'd do it ASAP. Look at the options available online and pick something you'd like considering the difference in price between the current cost of the desired cabin and the actual payment you've already made to the cruise line. Then contact whomever you booked through and request the upgrade.

 

Some people might wait until closer to the cruise hoping to find a better deal, but that is playing stateroom roulette, and you might totally miss out on a nice upgrade opportunity as selection can evaporate and prices can go up as easily as they can come down - it is all based on sales (supply and demand).

[Tayana Freedom 45]

Last year on my cruise on Solstice, I booked an inside (not guarantee) category 9 - so I had an assigned cabin from the start. I paid in full (booked January/February timeframe for late April cruise). I booked through Celebrity. I continuously kept checking prices on cabins (I use online large travel website - starts with a T - because I find it easier to see what is available at what price). One or two weeks later I saw that ocean views were at the same price I paid so I called Celebrity and switched to it. The next day I saw that the cheapest balcony was almost the same price. I paid $25 more for lowest balcony category. A day later I switched it to one that was not as obstructed. Another price drop a few weeks later, I switched to a better balcony. Then I started seeing Florida resident sale which was really good but figured it was for new bookings. After 2 weeks I called Celebrity and asked the representative whether it was only for new bookings and she said no. So I paid another $25 and ended up with a C1 aft balcony cabin!:p Now I am addicted to aft balconies.

[ridolphi]

Keep in mind, as discussed on another thread, that if you are paid in full at which time you are now under penalties for cancellation, that if you switch even to a higher category they may consider that a cancel for the original category and charge the appropriaate penaty even though you are moving up to a more expensive category.

[Lsimon]

Keep in mind, as discussed on another thread, that if you are paid in full at which time you are now under penalties for cancellation, that if you switch even to a higher category they may consider that a cancel for the original category and charge the appropriaate penaty even though you are moving up to a more expensive category.

 

I don't believe this is true. Not in the USA anyways. In any event you'll never get hit with this penalty without knowing about it before you make any changes. The only circumstances where I can see this is the rare occurrence where a "new booking only" special is so compelling that it would be worth the cancellation penalty to cancel your existing paid cruise and make a new booking.

[grayjay]

If you are not picky about the cabin you will be assigned and if you are willing to gamble I'd wait a few weeks to see if another category of guaranty cabins will open up. As April is already a quieter time in the Caribbean I think you should have a good chance for a balcony GTY at a good price. I have just checked the sailing and there are still a lot of cabins open for booking and prices are already quite good.

[ridolphi]

I said they may choose to enforce a penalty for the cancelled cabins if the final payment date has passed, finaly payment has been made and the booking is under penalty.

 

There was another thread regarding this issue a while back, where the people sailing had two cabins and wanted to move to one Celebrity suite cabin, and Celebrity was telling them that fine, but there would be a penalty on the two cancelled cabins since they had passed the final payment date and had paid in full. Sometimes the cruise line will waive that penalty, it just depends, but as a TA I have dealt with this very situation. Yes, you would know if they are going to do this before you make any changes.

 

I was just giving a heads up to the OP to be aware.

[Gonzo70]

I said they may choose to enforce a penalty for the cancelled cabins if the final payment date has passed, finaly payment has been made and the booking is under penalty.

 

There was another thread regarding this issue a while back, where the people sailing had two cabins and wanted to move to one Celebrity suite cabin, and Celebrity was telling them that fine, but there would be a penalty on the two cancelled cabins since they had passed the final payment date and had paid in full. Sometimes the cruise line will waive that penalty, it just depends, but as a TA I have dealt with this very situation. Yes, you would know if they are going to do this before you make any changes.

 

I was just giving a heads up to the OP to be aware.

 

Not in US. I don't know about in other countries, but in US no penalty applies for upgrading.

 

What you are talking about in another thread is a completely different issue; if you have to staterooms and want to change to one stateroom, yes a cancellation fee would apply to the cancelled stateroom.