Real upgrades (Guarantee)

[Bases5]

Has anyone who booked a guarantee received a real upgrade. Not a higher Cat but a real upgrade?

inside to outside, outside to balcony, ETC

[crookedhalo]

Yes, in 2007 DH and I booked inside and got OV on Fascination. Upgrades are getting rarer these days sadly 😞

 

[ontheweb]

We once went from an inside guarantee to an Oceanview on Holland America on an Eastern Mediterranean cruise.

[PhillyFan33579]

1 hour ago, crookedhalo said:

Yes, in 2007 DH and I booked inside and got OV on Fascination. Upgrades are getting rarer these days sadly 😞

 

 

It’s all about upsells these days. 

[Jamman54]

In 2014 we booked an OV guarantee on the Fascination about a month out and we received a balcony cabin. Only time it's happened to me in over 50 Carnival cruises. 😎

[idraconis]

May 2018 booked cabin 1257 on the Pride (solo) when I checked in there was some confusion. After about ten minutes of searching they told me I was upgraded to a balcony cabin, 7248. Complete surprise. Good thing too, turns out cabin 1257 was next to the galley.🍻

[vcmds]

Yes.  In 2007 I booked an inside guarantee on the Imagination 8-day Mexican Riviera.  We ended up with a balcony.  I booked it nine months out and the cruise was in January which is usually a slower time.

 

[wemjam]

In 39 cruises once, booked inside, got an ocean view (don't usually book guarantee though, maybe only have done that 7 or 8 times).  Others for the most part we at least ended up in a pretty good location on higher floors (rooms I might have picked myself).

[Shaded Lady]

I've only received one upgrade- from deck 6 to deck 8 (both OV), no cost. And in 10 cruises I've never been offered an upsell either!

[crookedhalo]

5 hours ago, Shaded Lady said:

I've only received one upgrade- from deck 6 to deck 8 (both OV), no cost. And in 10 cruises I've never been offered an upsell either!

 

On our upcoming trip we were offered an upsell from a cove balcony to an 8G on deck 11 for $27 per person, which we took :).

[virginiab]

I think it was 2003, so not recent. We had an Inside Guarantee and got assigned to a obstructed view balcony on the Legend.

We were thrilled.

[Elaine5715]

On 9/14/2019 at 4:30 AM, Bases5 said:

Has anyone who booked a guarantee received a real upgrade. Not a higher Cat but a real upgrade?

inside to outside, outside to balcony, ETC

That may have happen as noted 10 plus years ago but it is a myth nowadays.  Occasionally you hear stories from someone who swears their spouse booked the cheap seats and lo and behold, they were "upgraded" to a suite or some nonsense.  The reality is the spouse booked the higher priced stateroom and told cheapo spouse they got a deal.  

[CorvetteLady]

Our first cruise we went from an OV to a balcony, that was 2003.  Decided we'd try an Inside and got a cabin with a window that was over the bed, so had to kneel on the bed to look out.  It was across the bow so there was a deck that we could walk onto from doors at the end of the hall, we were sailing back up the Atlantic and it was a bumpy sea and I almost bounced right off the bed!  That was the last time we booked a guarantee until last January on the NCL Epic, booked late, only guarantees left, got a cabin in 2 days.  Same thing this year, booked late on the Breeze, Nov. 2, still waiting for a cabin, don't think we'll book anymore guarantees, just too stressful waiting for a cabin.

;

[LinkTuck]

For our honeymoon in 2008 we booked a balcony on the Glory and were upgraded to a suite! Nice surprise!

[Essiesmom]

Not on Carnival, but on MSC.  Canny people said, book an OV gty and get a balcony.  Seaside has only 80 OV cabins, equally divided between Bella and Fantastica experience.  But there are over 1200 balconies.  So I booked a Fantastica OV gty and got a great balcony.  Equation is about the same on Meraviglia, so if I decide to try her, I will do the same.  (But I would be happy with an OV).  EM

[MistyRo76]

Years ago, I was traveling with a co-worker who was claustrophobic. She wanted to book an oceanview, so we did an OV guarantee. We did not know our room assignment by the time our departure date came around. We arrived at the port and got our cabin assignment when we checked our bags with the porter. This was back in the day of the paper brochures with the ship maps in them. I had my brochure in my carryon and took it out to see where our cabin was and was SHOCKED to see that we were in a Grand Suite! I thought for sure it was an error! I was prepared for someone to come take our key back and give us a key to our lowly Riviera Deck Oceanview cabin! But that didn't happen and we got to enjoy that Suite for the full four days of our cruise! 

 

It's always a mystery to me how people are chosen for upgrades....back then we worked for an airline, booked the cheapest fares and got even bigger discounts due to our airline travel agreements. So we sure weren't selected because of how much we paid! But whatever the reason...we loved it! 

[Elaine5715]

8 hours ago, MistyRo76 said:

Years ago, I was traveling with a co-worker who was claustrophobic. She wanted to book an oceanview, so we did an OV guarantee. We did not know our room assignment by the time our departure date came around. We arrived at the port and got our cabin assignment when we checked our bags with the porter. This was back in the day of the paper brochures with the ship maps in them. I had my brochure in my carryon and took it out to see where our cabin was and was SHOCKED to see that we were in a Grand Suite! I thought for sure it was an error! I was prepared for someone to come take our key back and give us a key to our lowly Riviera Deck Oceanview cabin! But that didn't happen and we got to enjoy that Suite for the full four days of our cruise! s 

 

It's always a mystery to me how people are chosen for upgrades....back then we worked for an airline, booked the cheapest fares and got even bigger discounts due to our airline travel agreements. So we sure weren't selected because of how much we paid! But whatever the reason...we loved it! 

It isn't much of a mystery.  People are "spontaneously upgraded" when their preselected stateroom is removed from service and by making the new cabin a higher category, people are usually pleased vs being told they can't have their carefully selected cabin.  Upsells happen because the cruise line needs their cabin for another cruiser, like the other side of a connecting or an interior across from a balcony for minor children. 

[MistyRo76]

On 9/27/2019 at 9:41 PM, Elaine5715 said:

It isn't much of a mystery.  People are "spontaneously upgraded" when their preselected stateroom is removed from service and by making the new cabin a higher category, people are usually pleased vs being told they can't have their carefully selected cabin.  Upsells happen because the cruise line needs their cabin for another cruiser, like the other side of a connecting or an interior across from a balcony for minor children. 

I get all of this...but we never had a cabin since we booked a guarantee. And this wasn't an upsell. It was a pure upgrade based on the fact that we booked a Oceanview guarantee and received a Grand Suite. I'm not sure how or why WE were picked to get that awesome upgrade from all of those who booked a guarantee cabin. 

 

But we sure enjoyed it! My first experience with a balcony. 

[Elaine5715]

11 hours ago, MistyRo76 said:

I get all of this...but we never had a cabin since we booked a guarantee. And this wasn't an upsell. It was a pure upgrade based on the fact that we booked a Oceanview guarantee and received a Grand Suite. I'm not sure how or why WE were picked to get that awesome upgrade from all of those who booked a guarantee cabin. 

 

But we sure enjoyed it! My first experience with a balcony. 

They did have a stateroom for you, they just pulled it out of service or they oversold and the computer spit you out.  You could have also been the only guarantee waiting.