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Chances of an upgrade with a Cabin Guarantee?

Cruisegoer

By Cruisegoer,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Cruisegoer

Cruisegoer

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I know this is an age old question, pondered since the dawn of time itself.

 

I booked an O/V Guarantee many moons ago on an upcoming sailing. Now 39 days out and still no assignment and I just looked on the CCL website and it's showing O/V is now sold out and doing a quick count there are 47 unsold balcony cabins. I'd generally assume that people who paid more or have a higher past passenger status would more likely receive an upgrade before me. So with this info and knowing I don't yet have an assignment can I be alittle excited (beyond the fact I'm even going on a cruise) that I may get a bump? I'm perfectly happy with an O/V cabin but this would be a nice 40th birthday present from Carnival since that's what this cruise is celebrating.

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Zamar42

Zamar42

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We are leaving on our first cruise in January, so by no means will my answer be definitive, but I'd thought I'd let you know our experience. I purchased a Balcony guarantee room and hadn't seen anything come through for room assignment for a couple weeks. Then my sister mentioned to try printing out our luggage tags. I did and sure enough our room is right on there. We ended up with a category 8D Balcony playing the roulette.

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Cruisegoer

Cruisegoer

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We are leaving on our first cruise in January, so by no means will my answer be definitive, but I'd thought I'd let you know our experience. I purchased a Balcony guarantee room and hadn't seen anything come through for room assignment for a couple weeks. Then my sister mentioned to try printing out our luggage tags. I did and sure enough our room is right on there. We ended up with a category 8D Balcony playing the roulette.

 

Thanks for the idea and I just looked, just say "TBA". We booked in July or August, been paid-in full for some time, 39 days to go.

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Zamar42

Zamar42

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Thanks for the idea and I just looked, just say "TBA". We booked in July or August, been paid-in full for some time, 39 days to go.

 

That seems like an excessive amount of time. I booked about 3 weeks ago and already had it. And we are leaving in 39 days as well. Are you going to be on the Magic?

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Zamar42

Zamar42

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Thanks for the idea and I just looked, just say "TBA". We booked in July or August, been paid-in full for some time, 39 days to go.

 

And good luck too, maybe the lack of room assignment does mean you might get an upgrade. :)

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LiveToCruise99

LiveToCruise99

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You never can tell. We often buy guarantee and have never been disappointed. On one of our Celebrity sailings we booked a guaranteed OV. We were assigned an OV in a good spot and were quite happy BUT a few weeks before we sailed it was re-assigned. We ended up in a family aft cabin with a separate sitting area and a huge balcony. We were ecstatic. It worked out for Celebrity (and other cruise lines) too -- we've never booked anything less than a balcony since then.

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lisajm

lisajm

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The last time I booked a guarantee I did not get room assignment until 5 days prior to sail.

 

BTW booked twice and have been pleased both times. First time booked inside and was upgraded to OV. Second time had balcony guarantee, ended up on Lido.

 

Good Luck!

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Elaine5715

Elaine5715

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I know this is an age old question, pondered since the dawn of time itself.

 

I booked an O/V Guarantee many moons ago on an upcoming sailing. Now 39 days out and still no assignment and I just looked on the CCL website and it's showing O/V is now sold out and doing a quick count there are 47 unsold balcony cabins. I'd generally assume that people who paid more or have a higher past passenger status would more likely receive an upgrade before me. So with this info and knowing I don't yet have an assignment can I be alittle excited (beyond the fact I'm even going on a cruise) that I may get a bump? I'm perfectly happy with an O/V cabin but this would be a nice 40th birthday present from Carnival since that's what this cruise is celebrating.

 

It is more likely that those who booked a assigned OV will be offered a upgrade for $$ and you will get their cabin.

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Cruisegoer

Cruisegoer

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It is more likely that those who booked a assigned OV will be offered a upgrade for $$ and you will get their cabin.

 

Not quite sure how the upgrade fairy would fare in this case. From the time I booked prices went up almost $200pp for an O/V and a balcony would typically be another $150 on that. Not sure how many people would consider it a deal to pay $200-$300 more pp to move to a balcony.

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kteachcruiser52

kteachcruiser52

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Not quite sure how the upgrade fairy would fare in this case. From the time I booked prices went up almost $200pp for an O/V and a balcony would typically be another $150 on that. Not sure how many people would consider it a deal to pay $200-$300 more pp to move to a balcony.

 

They would probably offer them an upsell at a reduced rate - not $200-$300 pp. For example, we had booked a specific French Door interior room. We were offered an upsell to an extended balcony for $19 per day per cabin for the new extended balcony cabin. (That was well below the current rate on Carnival's site for this room). That allowed Carnival to make a little more money on our upsell and then use our room to resell at a higher rate than we paid. Very seldom do you hear of an actual free upgrade where one gets moved up to a different type of room (OV to Balcony). On one cruise where we booked a guarantee inside, all rooms were sold out and the cruise was no longer available for booking and we still did not have a room assignment. We did get the assignment 30 days before sailing and it was a deck 10 interior - a pretty good room. I think they take guarantees into account when they say there are no more OV available. In other words they have allotted a room for you, but have not yet told you the specific room. If they have inadvertently overbooked OV rooms, they will try to do reduced price upsells before just giving you a balcony room.

Edited by kteachcruiser52
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loxley

loxley

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I know this is an age old question, pondered since the dawn of time itself.

 

I booked an O/V Guarantee many moons ago on an upcoming sailing. Now 39 days out and still no assignment and I just looked on the CCL website and it's showing O/V is now sold out and doing a quick count there are 47 unsold balcony cabins. I'd generally assume that people who paid more or have a higher past passenger status would more likely receive an upgrade before me. So with this info and knowing I don't yet have an assignment can I be alittle excited (beyond the fact I'm even going on a cruise) that I may get a bump? I'm perfectly happy with an O/V cabin but this would be a nice 40th birthday present from Carnival since that's what this cruise is celebrating.

You can hope, but there is no way of knowing how many rooms are being held for guarantees. They are probably doing upsells right now. I would be expecting to get exactly what you booked, an ov.

 

Of course, you are still allowed to dream.

 

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

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Cruisegoer

Cruisegoer

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Your PVP has absolutely no control over assignments which they will confirm if you end up hating your guarantee.

 

 

Elaine please read my messages, I am fine with an OV room, since it's my bday I am hoping...thought perhaps my PVP might have a "notes" field they could mention my bday. I know he can't assign my cabin, that's above his pay grade.

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PekingeseLady

PekingeseLady

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I got a call from the UPSELL fairy a few days ago. We were like 53 days out for my next sailing. I had Great rate on a Inside GTY. So the $200 ea more I agreed to pay for a 7A balcony was still $500ea under the cheapest rate when I booked. I am very happy as I was worried about enough room on a inside for DH's scooter, it would have been our first inside.

 

Good Luck on your cabin assignment, and have a Fantastic Cruise!

 

Cheers, Debbie

Edited by PekingeseLady
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Cruisegoer

Cruisegoer

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I got a call from the UPSELL fairy a few days ago. We were like 53 days out for my next sailing. I had Great rate on a Inside GTY. So the $200 ea more I agreed to pay for a 7A balcony was still $500ea under the cheapest rate when I booked. I am very happy as I was worried about enough room on a inside for DH's scooter, it would have been our first inside.

 

Good Luck on your cabin assignment, and have a Fantastic Cruise!

 

Cheers, Debbie

 

 

That does sound like a good deal if in total it was less than $500pp, the average pricing difference from an interior to a balcony does seem about $200pp on most Early Saver discounts.

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MisterFidgetpants

MisterFidgetpants

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If they aren't selling those balcony cabins according to whatever internal formula or metrics they have, they might assign you a balcony cabin so they can "re-sell" your lower priced OV slot on the thinking that the lower priced categories has a larger pool of potential buyers. So, there IS a possibility of being upgraded out of an OV, but there's really no way to know.

 

You can be unassigned up until arriving at the pier basically and if you REALLY want a specific location or room category you could be disappointed.

 

I would not be concerned about not having an assignment yet at all.

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