How to upgrade from interior to balcony

[jermeg]

Hi All! A friend and I are traveling on our first cruise on Glory in February. Currently we have an interior to be assigned room. I have done a lot of research and am trying to figure out if having a balcony is worth it.

 

Has anyone upgraded their room after booking? Do you just pay whatever the current price is on their website? Is anyone ever allowed to upgrade when you arrive at the ship?

 

Thanks everyone! This forum has been an amazing resource for us!

 

 

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[MtnDweller]

On our last cruise we upgraded twice. We originally had a OV room booked with the ES rate. I kept watching the rates so I could take advantage of it if the price ever came down. It never did. HOWEVER, balcony prices dropped significantly at one point so I called our PVP and asked to be switched to a balcony and he did. We just paid the difference between the two rates.

 

Later on, I found a balcony on Lido deck that opened up and it would only cost us $30 to switch again. So, I made another call and scored that room.

[AdGuyMG]

...

Hi All! A friend and I are traveling on our first cruise on Glory in February. Currently we have an interior to be assigned room. I have done a lot of research and am trying to figure out if having a balcony is worth it.

 

Has anyone upgraded their room after booking? Do you just pay whatever the current price is on their website?

Yes. Call Carnival and they will take your money for an upgrade.

 

Is anyone ever allowed to upgrade when you arrive at the ship?

No.

Thanks everyone! This forum has been an amazing resource for us!

[Drazil65]

EASY! Call Carnival and see if there is a balcony cabin available and then upgrade yourself. As previously posted, they will gladly take your money.

 

If you have never had a balcony, beware, you may be hooked!!! Hard to go back to OV or inside once you get a taste of a balcony, love having that outdoor space to watch the sunrise in my PJ's drinking coffee or having a glass a wine while getting ready for dinner out on balcony. A quiet place to read or just relax away from the crowds or place to watch pulling into or leaving port.

 

A little piece of heaven all your own ;).

[Rosethorn40]

As ship rarely sail less then full, there is almost no chance of being able to upgrade once on board.

 

Your best opportunity is to watch prices for the category you are interested in, and when they fall to a level you are willing to pay call whoever you booked your cruise with and see about an upsell. If you used a travel agent you need to call them, if you booked directly with Carnival, then call them.

 

Your chances will depend upon the popularity of your cruise. If your cruise is over Presidents Day weekend, the sailing will probably sell out sooner rather than later.

 

Good luck. We did it once on the Freedom, upsold ourselves from an interior to an OV for $25pp. The room was huge!

[caribsun]

If the upgrade is outside your budget consider a Ocean View, so nice to wake up to the morning sun.:) Most OV's are larger then Insides, 220 sq ft vs 185 sq ft.

[IntrepidFromDC]

I decide based on the variance in the cost. Sometimes balcony is $300 or more per person, more than the inside, sometimes less. I've done inside, window and balcony and I like all three because each time I feel like I got the best value possible. The two times we went with balcony we did not upgrade, but we did upgrade from inside to window once. We don't spend time in the room except changing clothes, showering and sleeping so we don't get a lot of use out of a balcony but it is nice to be able to go out on it when you first wake up or if you wake up in the middle of the night.

Edited December 10, 2016 by IntrepidFromDC

[easyboy]

Hi All! A friend and I are traveling on our first cruise on Glory in February. Currently we have an interior to be assigned room. I have done a lot of research and am trying to figure out if having a balcony is worth it.

 

Has anyone upgraded their room after booking? Do you just pay whatever the current price is on their website? Is anyone ever allowed to upgrade when you arrive at the ship?

 

Thanks everyone! This forum has been an amazing resource for us!

 

 

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If you still can, maybe you may want to consider transferring your booking to a reputable TA who can advise you the pros and cons according to your specific budget and preference. Otherwise, you can simply call the cruise line for your upgrade.

 

 

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[drakes2]

Haven't had an inside cabin in over 16 years, but unfortunately since I am solo in my cabin on this cruise, decided to forgo the balcony for financial reasons, however, if one does come up at a reasonable cost I may decide to upgrade at the time. Booked a guarantee cabin at a great price and am told I won't even get assigned until I reach the port. Anyone know if this is true, as I've ready many postings that people have been assigned their cabin location prior to sail date.

EASY! Call Carnival and see if there is a balcony cabin available and then upgrade yourself. As previously posted, they will gladly take your money.

 

If you have never had a balcony, beware, you may be hooked!!! Hard to go back to OV or inside once you get a taste of a balcony, love having that outdoor space to watch the sunrise in my PJ's drinking coffee or having a glass a wine while getting ready for dinner out on balcony. A quiet place to read or just relax away from the crowds or place to watch pulling into or leaving port.

 

A little piece of heaven all your own ;).

[Computer Nerd]

Hi All! A friend and I are traveling on our first cruise on Glory in February. Currently we have an interior to be assigned room. I have done a lot of research and am trying to figure out if having a balcony is worth it.

 

Has anyone upgraded their room after booking? Do you just pay whatever the current price is on their website? Is anyone ever allowed to upgrade when you arrive at the ship?

 

Thanks everyone! This forum has been an amazing resource for us!

 

 

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I've upgraded several times. Sometime, when the price of the higher cabin category has fallen to less than what I paid I get the upgrade for free. Other times, X amount of dollars to upgrade. As for whether it is worth it or not, that is a personal decision.

[IntrepidFromDC]

Haven't had an inside cabin in over 16 years, but unfortunately since I am solo in my cabin on this cruise, decided to forgo the balcony for financial reasons, however, if one does come up at a reasonable cost I may decide to upgrade at the time. Booked a guarantee cabin at a great price and am told I won't even get assigned until I reach the port. Anyone know if this is true, as I've ready many postings that people have been assigned their cabin location prior to sail date.

 

...never again. The discount over the "choose your cabin" price was not worth it as they stuck us on Riviera deck (never again!) and right across the hall from the room where the stewards get their supplies so we heard their banter all cruise long. Also had a twangy-accented neighbor family who yelled at each other all cruise - not angry yelling, it seemed they just yelled to speak over the other family member as a way of ensuring they were heard. :eek:

[coevan]

for us, it's not always about the money and we would not sail without a balcony. Yes, that's a period. Having room service bring coffee, juice, fresh fruit and danish every morning on the balcony, priceless.

[Aaronmaissell]

Do not book a guarantee room. You will be sorry afterwards. This should be a relaxing experience not a nightmare!

 

 

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[FloridaMommyof3]

Yes! I just recently upgraded myself from an OV on deck 1 to a Lido Balcony on my upcoming June Magic cruise. After my last cruise it seemed my son wanted to spend more time in the room then usual, so having the balcony on the lido I know we will use and love. It was quite an upcharge so I'll be watching the prices and hope they go down, but if they don't, I'm ok with that too. This is going to be our last cruise for the foreseeable future, so I decided to just go for it!

[Shoof]

EASY! Call Carnival and see if there is a balcony cabin available and then upgrade yourself. As previously posted, they will gladly take your money.

 

 

 

If you have never had a balcony, beware, you may be hooked!!! Hard to go back to OV or inside once you get a taste of a balcony, love having that outdoor space to watch the sunrise in my PJ's drinking coffee or having a glass a wine while getting ready for dinner out on balcony. A quiet place to read or just relax away from the crowds or place to watch pulling into or leaving port.

 

 

 

A little piece of heaven all your own ;).

 

 

I have never been in any room less than a balcony, so I can't compare really. The only time I attempted to book an OV room, my then secretary (who is an avid Cruiser) tried convincing me to upgrade, which I told her would have pushed the price up more than I would want to spend, only to find out that she secretly called up the cruise line and upgraded me (using my CC LOL), but also had a bottle of champagne and a bunch of drink vouchers (on her) because I was cruising on my birthday. I am glad she did what she did, though. This time I'm traveling with a little one and chose a suite on my upcoming cruise for the extra space. All this being said, I don't think I would ever book anything less than a balcony unless it's a SIGNIFICANT price difference, which in most cases it isn't. Good luck!

 

 

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[vcmds]

We've been on six cruises. On five of them we booked a guarantee room, and we've never been disappointed. On one cruise I booked an inside guarantee and we were upgraded, for free, to a balcony room. I enjoyed sitting on the balcony early in the morning, but my husband wasn't interested at all. For our next cruise I've chosen a specific interior Lido cabin. This will be our first time in an interior so I won't know until after our trip if I'll wish I'd upgraded to something different. Anyway, my point is that if a guarantee is booked it doesn't mean you'll get an awful cabin. We spend very little time in our cabin and just want to be on the ship.

[winddawn]

Hi All! A friend and I are traveling on our first cruise on Glory in February. Currently we have an interior to be assigned room. I have done a lot of research and am trying to figure out if having a balcony is worth it.

 

Has anyone upgraded their room after booking? Do you just pay whatever the current price is on their website? Is anyone ever allowed to upgrade when you arrive at the ship?

 

Thanks everyone! This forum has been an amazing resource for us!

 

 

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If you decide you'd like to upgrade, do not wait until embarkation day and try to upgrade when you arrive at the ship because most of the time, Carnival's ships sail full and an upgrade likely won't be an option.

 

It's best to book or upgrade to the cabin you will be happy with when you see a price and cabin you'd be happy with. And yes, you pay the prevailing price difference at the time of the upgrade. Prices can change frequently so it pays to watch prices to get a feel for what is a good deal.

 

That being said, occasionally Carnival will call or email you before your cruise to offer you an upsell. In those cases, they usually offer a better cabin category for a reduced price. Those are sometimes a good deal and sometimes not. These upsell calls tend to happen within the last couple months or so prior to your sail date. There doesn't seem to be any particular criteria about who might receive these upsell offers. You often don't have very long to make up your mind when you receive an upsell offer because if you don't accept the offer, they will continue offering the upsell to others and it is capacity controlled.

 

Good luck getting a cabin you'll be happy with!

[simplelife]

We have done guarantee three times, and have gotten pretty much what we bargained for (no big upgrade). One when things were financially tight, it enabled us to afford the cruise (we learned that we do not like interior cabins and will not book them again). Another time our TA got us a balcony guarantee when the balcony cabins appeared to be sold out. We got a nice balcony room just as expected. Another time we picked a high enough category OV guarantee that we would have been happy with any cabin that category or above. If cabin type or placement is very important to you, the savings provided by a guarantee are probably not worth it, but I weight the saving by considering how many drinks that extra money will buy. Even if it's just a few, that is worth it to me -we don't spend much time in our room except for sleeping, showering ,and dressing.

 

 

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Edited December 11, 2016 by simplelife

[GradUT]

...Also had a twangy-accented neighbor family who yelled at each other all cruise:

 

Gosh, you make it sound as if having a twang is a bad thing! 😉

 

While I'm sure the yelling was annoying, I'd much rather hear a twang than many other regional U.S. accents.

[IntrepidFromDC]

Gosh, you make it sound as if having a twang is a bad thing! 😉

 

Actually I was just trying to be descriptive, so readers could imagine and chuckle at my unfortunate situation. Looking back, it was pretty funny. Our steward was not named Jose but the dad kept opening the cabin door and shouting down the hallway "Where's Jose... JOSE!!!". Mom was no less entertaining... "EARL, WHERE'S MY OINTMENT!"... then there was the chatter in Filipino right outside the door at 6am with banging of carts, etc. Anyway point is I tried the "spin a wheel and see what cabin you get" once, and wouldn't risk being a victim in a sitcom again.

[jh2360]

Do not book a guarantee room. You will be sorry afterwards. This should be a relaxing experience not a nightmare!

 

 

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I've booked a gauranteed cabin a couple times and have had no issues. I've also read about many people doing the same and having no issues. You should avoid making blanket statements that aren't always true.

 

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[FloridaMommyof3]

I've booked a gauranteed cabin a couple times and have had no issues. I've also read about many people doing the same and having no issues. You should avoid making blanket statements that aren't always true.

 

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As did I on my Victory cruise. It was an inside cabin so nothing special, but the location was good on deck 6. Absolutely no issues.

[riclop]

Call who you booked with.

[sc4125]

I was always in a ocean view (on the smaller ships where the only balconies are suites with itty bitty balconies) and balconies until a couple of years ago when I switched most of the time to interiors. There were several reasons for the switch - free interior casino deals, smoking no longer allowed on balconies, and last minute on smaller ship. Here's my take:

 

If you like to enjoy quiet, alone time, balconies are great. If you get a great deal on balconies, they are great. But if you don't spend much time in your cabin or you like people watching, interior cabins will be fine for you.

 

I never thought I would like interior cabins, but I have to say, they're not bad. I find that when I'm in an interior cabin, I tend to spend much more time out on the Lido and feel more like I'm on a cruise when I'm in an interior - and you can't beat an afternoon nap in a totally dark cabin.

[jermeg]

Thank you so much everyone for all of your thoughts, tips and advice! We really appreciate it!!

 

 

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