Upgrade Fairy Question

[young_k92]

I got an upgrade offer yesterday. First off, let me say, I got a really good deal on my current inside porthole cabin. Anyway, the upgrade Fairy offered me an ocean view for $405 more. I did a mock booking. The upgrade only saved me $25 over the current oceanview rate.

 

My question is, are there actual upgrade offers that are really good deals? Or are they generally just a few dollars off what you would've gotten if you'd just booked that upgraded category in the first place?

[jbethel11]

56 minutes ago, young_k92 said:

I got an upgrade offer yesterday. First off, let me say, I got a really good deal on my current inside porthole cabin. Anyway, the upgrade Fairy offered me an ocean view for $405 more. I did a mock booking. The upgrade only saved me $25 over the current oceanview rate.

 

My question is, are there actual upgrade offers that are really good deals? Or are they generally just a few dollars off what you would've gotten if you'd just booked that upgraded category in the first place?

I once got a balcony upgrade from an interior with promenade walkway view for $300 ($75pp). I think that was an excellent deal!

[Elaine5715]

Sometimes yes, sometimes no but that's an Upsell not an upgrade. 

Edited July 31, 2019 by Elaine5715

[amyotravel]

1 hour ago, young_k92 said:

I got an upgrade offer yesterday. First off, let me say, I got a really good deal on my current inside porthole cabin. Anyway, the upgrade Fairy offered me an ocean view for $405 more. I did a mock booking. The upgrade only saved me $25 over the current oceanview rate.

 

My question is, are there actual upgrade offers that are really good deals? Or are they generally just a few dollars off what you would've gotten if you'd just booked that upgraded category in the first place?

This is why many people have changed their terminology to the "Upsell Fairy." 🙂

[PhillyFan33579]

1 hour ago, jbethel11 said:

I once got a balcony upgrade from an interior with promenade walkway view for $300 ($75pp). I think that was an excellent deal!

 

Who is responsible for the finances in your family? Just curious, because when I was your age the only money I managed was money I earned delivering papers, cutting grass, working at McDonalds, etc. I definitely wasn’t making financial decisions for my parents  

[TEXSUN46]

For my upcoming October cruise on Vista we got upgrade offer from a cove balcony to a spa balcony for $100 pp. We jumped on it since we intended to get spa pass anyway. I didn't do a mock booking to validate my decision since I thought it was good enough deal. 

[pirateg11]

On my last cruise I got an upsell offer from 1st level midship interior to a Spa interior (with all of the spa features) for like $12pp. I thought that was a great deal.  For reference they sent me a series of email upsell offers before that that were horrible, i.e. move up a few decks for $10pp and the locations were under the pool or MDR, no thanks.     

[tennboy1981]

Its what you think the larger window is worth. 400 dollars more for a larger window doesn't seem worth it to me. I am perfectly fine with the porthole view.  I just like being able to have some natural light come into the room so I know what time it is.

 

I am going on a cruise in 10 days on the Fantasy, this will be my first time with a full oceanview picture-window.  I normally book the porthole view because they tend to be a LOT cheaper than an Oceanview but this time it was the opposite.

 

Carnival offered me an "upgrade" if you call it that.  50 dollars more for the same room, but a floor or 2 higher.  Definitely didn't seem worth it at all.  Now, if they ever offered me a decent deal on a Balcony, I would maybe consider it, but never seem to get offers like that with Carnival. only upgrades to higher floors. No thanks, I am ok with walking.

 

I did book a last minute cruise in June on the Norwegian Sun, I got an AMAZING deal.  Since they abruptly stopped cruises to Cuba, I paid literally 169 per person (interior) for a 4-day cruise including open bar.  It was a no-brainer.

 

I got an offer where you "bid" for an upgrade, so I put in $30pp ($60 total) for an Oceanview and $55 ($110 total) for a Balcony.  I was hoping I'd get the balcony, but I did get the upgrade to an oceanview for 60 bucks more.  It was worth it.

Edited July 31, 2019 by tennboy1981

[jbethel11]

1 hour ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

Who is responsible for the finances in your family? Just curious, because when I was your age the only money I managed was money I earned delivering papers, cutting grass, working at McDonalds, etc. I definitely wasn’t making financial decisions for my parents  

I work my magic, and save my parents money they earn from working hard everyday. Then, I am rewarded with a cruise!

[young_k92]

Thanks, all. Now I know there's such a thing as an upsell vs. an upgrade!

[candigirl41]

Believe it or not but free upgrades can happen.  I sailed on the Miracle in November of 2017.  We were in our hotel room getting ready to go to the port when my friends phone rang.  He asked me where 305 area code was and I told him Florida, answer it.  We got a free upgrade from an inside cabin to a mid ship balcony.  We were shocked, as I thought those days were gone forever.  You just never know.

 

Candi

[lensonlife]

We are sailing the Radiance next summer and were offered an upgrade from an interior to an ocean view at $152 pp- it would have taken us from Lido to Deck 1. It was a quick, no. 

[sanmarcosman]

11 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

Sometimes yes, sometimes no but that's an Upsell not an upgrade. 

Few know the difference anymore due to the very few true ( no extra money exchanged ) upgrades from Carnival. We haven't been offered an upgrade in over 9 years but every year we get at least one upsell offer via phone and several more through email.

[Elaine5715]

1 hour ago, candigirl41 said:

Believe it or not but free upgrades can happen.  I sailed on the Miracle in November of 2017.  We were in our hotel room getting ready to go to the port when my friends phone rang.  He asked me where 305 area code was and I told him Florida, answer it.  We got a free upgrade from an inside cabin to a mid ship balcony.  We were shocked, as I thought those days were gone forever.  You just never know.

 

Candi

Those days aren't gone because the same reason you were upgraded is true today.  When cabins are taken out of service for maintenance, the cruisers on the next cruise are moved.  No one is given a free upgrade because the cruise line is feel generous.

[pirateg11]

I received upsell offers today for my Sept. 21st cruise on Dream.  My cabin was deck 2 aft interior (was a guarantee) and one offer was for $38 to move to deck 6 aft or middle and the second offer was $96 for a Spa Interior on 11, I jumped on the latter.  If I had purchased the spa pass for the week for my previous room, it would have been $150 plus I would have had to schlep all the way from aft deck 2 to forward deck 12.  So yeah, I considered that offer an awesome deal! 🙂  

[wemjam]

Went almost 30 cruises, and a dozen or more years before I ever received my first upsell offer.  First one I got saved me almost $400 on the cabin upgrade.  Since then I seem to get them quite frequently now, most are usually not that great and the savings is very minimal - and most times they want me to take a cabin that is an "upgrade" but really is in a less desirable area.  A few though are worth it and I will take them.  Just took one to move from my deck 7 balcony on the Horizon to a Spa balcony for $129 total.  Was about a $320 upgrade, and we like being higher on the ship on the decks with less rooms (usually means less traffic).

 

Received a free "upgrade" on our last cruise (cruise 38 for me, 36 for hubby),   Never got a call or anything, was sitting in the hotel looking at our home email an hour before heading to the port and had a new email confirmation from Carnival with our booking details.  Couldn't figure out why at first because you usually only see those when you make a payment or something changes.  Then it dawned on me the room number was different.    They moved us from an inside room to a ocean view (problem was it was under the galley!).  

 

Had I not checked we would have never known and it would have been a mess at the port.  Went straight to the counter and they gave us a new boarding pass.  The entire cruise was a bit of mess, our room was not ready even though it should have been when we boarded, the room steward didn't know there was new passengers in the room, and it had someone elses keys, so we had to go to guest services and get new keys, and the whole cruise nothing could "find" us, we kept getting paperwork, etc. for the wrong guests and would have to go ask at Customer Service for the correct items for us.  Not to mention the noise from the galley!  So much for a free upgrade! 

 

Day 3 when I was awoke from an afternoon nap and had the crap scared out of me because someone dropped something loud and heavy in the galley I went to guest services and said, look, we have been dealing with the inconvenience of having our room moved without so much as a question as to if we wanted it or not, can someone please tell me WHY you did this?  They wouldn't give us a straight answer and just apologized... they did offer to buy us both "steak house" selections off the menu at dinner and give us some photo credits if we wanted them for our trouble though.  We declined the photo credit but had a nice steak dinner that night in the dinning room (no steakhouse on the ship). Don't even get me started on the last day they were cooking onions and garlic up there.... our room smelled to high heaven! 

 

Prime example of how not everything free (or at a discount) is really truly an "upgrade"

Edited August 28, 2019 by wemjam

[CruzCra-Z]

On 7/31/2019 at 1:13 PM, jbethel11 said:

I work my magic, and save my parents money they earn from working hard everyday. Then, I am rewarded with a cruise!

that's fantastic!  Saving money is a great skill to have at any age.  

[Shaded Lady]

1 hour ago, pirateg11 said:

I received upsell offers today for my Sept. 21st cruise on Dream.  My cabin was deck 2 aft interior (was a guarantee) and one offer was for $38 to move to deck 6 aft or middle and the second offer was $96 for a Spa Interior on 11, I jumped on the latter.  If I had purchased the spa pass for the week for my previous room, it would have been $150 plus I would have had to schlep all the way from aft deck 2 to forward deck 12.  So yeah, I considered that offer an awesome deal! 🙂  

 

Make sure you check- I've heard others complain that when they accepted an upsell to a spa cabin that they were not entitled to full access to the spa facilities... one person said she had to end up paying for the week long spa pass anyway.

[Shaded Lady]

I also wanted to mention that I got a true 'upgrade' to an OV cabin on deck 8 from Deck 6 after we booked our cruise in 1998... haven't had a single offer since- upgrade or upsell!

[airlink diva]

For all the years prior sailing on Carnival,  only received one upgrade call, missed at while at work.

Last year after about five years away, my last three bookings received upgrade offers. 

First of all I primarily cruise solo so I look for sales on sailings but know the ss is a bite I have to bear. 

Last year on the Dream booked a balcony on the 7th floor.  Right after final payment  received an email for an upgrade to a spa balcony for $150. I was already  looking into booking a spa pass and the offer was cheaper than when I originally looked at a spa balcony  when first  booking.

Cruising in less than two weeks.  Booked on the Valor, originally going cheap and planned to book an inside cabin.   The pricing between an inside and outside was same price so of course outside in a good location. 

A month later Carnival sends an email with upgrade offers.  However  while it was outside to balcony, more the $250 which was more than I was willing  to pay and declined. 

Week later another offer, but balcony for $100 with several cabins to pick ( there was also spa balcony and Lido deck but priced more than I was willing  to spend). I did moved but to one that four people can stay.  Did this to see would I get a better offer or not.

Fast forward to a month  later, Carnival wanted that cabin and offered for under $30 balcony upgrade to Lido deck.  Checked where the cabin located,  like it and accepted. 

Got a cruise in December booked and for under $140 balcony upgrade from inside 7th floor to 7th floor balcony. 

I always had deck plans pulled up to see where the request will be.  If I don't like it,refuse.

While I had the money to afford the higher  cost, but a certain point  is cut out time 

[pirateg11]

1 hour ago, Shaded Lady said:

 

Make sure you check- I've heard others complain that when they accepted an upsell to a spa cabin that they were not entitled to full access to the spa facilities... one person said she had to end up paying for the week long spa pass anyway.

 

While I have previously read this in much older posts, 2015 and prior, I do believe this is no longer the case.  All of Carnival's terms pages previously referenced in these posts were updated 2017 -2018 to either remove the "people who are upgraded do not get amenities" wording or have been entirely revised to specifically state that people who upgrade will get the amenities.  I upgraded to a spa room for a 2016 cruise before they changed that wording and still had no problems accessing the spa amenities.  

Edited August 28, 2019 by pirateg11
addition

[Shaded Lady]

4 minutes ago, pirateg11 said:

 

While I have previously read this in much older posts, 2015 and prior, I do believe this is no longer the case.  All of Carnival's terms pages previously referenced in these posts were updated 2017 -2018 to either remove the "people who are upgraded do not get amenities" wording or have been entirely revised to specifically state that people who upgrade will get the amenities.  I upgraded to a spa room for a 2016 cruise before they changed that wording and still had no problems accessing the spa amenities.  

Great to hear!

[airlink diva]

1 hour ago, Shaded Lady said:

 

Make sure you check- I've heard others complain that when they accepted an upsell to a spa cabin that they were not entitled to full access to the spa facilities... one person said she had to end up paying for the week long spa pass anyway.

I received an upgrade to spa balcony this past December and had full spa access and no issues

[VentureMan_2000]

Y'all don't need to wait for the upgrade/up-sale fairy call or email to get an upgrade.  You just need to keep an occasional eye on the current prices after booking your cruise... that is, do a mock booking every now and then to check prices.

I booked two cruises back in March... 10 day Alaskan and 16 day Hawaiian cruises... both Cat 8C Balconies.  Since that time, prices have gone down with an upgrade besides.  I rebooked my Alaskan cruise for $500 less with a category upgrade to an 8D.  I rebooked my Hawaiian cruise for $200 less with a 2-category upgrade to an 8E.   

I know this will not always be the case, but it never hurts to look every now and again.

 

Edited August 28, 2019 by VentureMan_2000

[Isasprings]

On 7/31/2019 at 8:52 AM, young_k92 said:

I got an upgrade offer yesterday. First off, let me say, I got a really good deal on my current inside porthole cabin. Anyway, the upgrade Fairy offered me an ocean view for $405 more. I did a mock booking. The upgrade only saved me $25 over the current oceanview rate.

 

My question is, are there actual upgrade offers that are really good deals? Or are they generally just a few dollars off what you would've gotten if you'd just booked that upgraded category in the first place?

On my next cruise sept 9 2019

I got an offer for just $20 total

inside riviera deck to deck 7 O/V

great deal!!