Upgrade Offer from Cove Balcony to Standard Balcony

[ACeruland]

Currently booked in a cove balcony on deck 5 of the Mardi Gras for the 12/1 sailing and got an email from Carnival with an offer to upgrade to a standard balcony on a higher deck. I'm not convinced it is truly an upgrade, but this would be my first time in a stateroom on a low deck. Are there any pitfalls to deck 5 that I'm not thinking of? (I've checked the deck plans to see what is above/below and no concerns there.) Will we have more elevator issues than if we were higher? We plan to take the stairs down as much as possible, but probably won't be able to take stairs up more than one or two decks due to knee issues.

[BlerkOne]

I wouldn't take it, but we love Cove Balconies.

[tigers04champs]

Depends on what deck they offered? 11 or 12 is normally the highest we will do on Excel class. Also depends on location of front/mid/back vs what you have now. Only thing about cove would be if rough seas/bad weather they would lock the balcony door and you couldn't go outside.

[jsglow]

Remember Charlton Heston talking about not allowing something to be pried out of his cold dead hands? Word. 

[teknoge3k]

*I* wouldn't do it. To me, that's a downgrade. I'll take a cove balcony over a regular balcony every single time. They're so much better imho.

 

As far as "locking the door", I have seen that said before. However we've sat on a cove balcony on more than 1 occasion during a tropical storm and enjoyed watching the waves. Nobody had their balcony closed. 

[wareaglefan444]

That's a downgrade to me , but cove balconies are my favorite staterooms

[DAllenTCY]

I turned my similar offer down within a millisecond.

 

Even if offered a suite....I probably wouldn't want it.

 

David

Edited August 12, 2023 by DAllenTCY

[cellfree]

Would not do upgrade. Did Cove Deck 5 on Celebration loved it. Mardi Gras similar deck plan. Perfect location. Enjoyed location so much we are doing OV on Deck 5 because Coves are gone. 

[Susan in Maine]

I'd MUCH rather have the cove balcony!!

 

[csm5986142]

I much prefer the lower decks and cove balconies (especially on those huge ships). Deck 5 on Mardi Gras is a great location in my opinion.

But I love Carnival's marketing (higher is always an upgrade according to them).  Do whatever you need to do to bring in revenue/get that stock price back up Carnival! 🙂

 

Edited August 12, 2023 by csm5986142

[notscb]

I'd prefer the Cove as well, and on the Mardi Gras they are a bit higher up than on other ships in the fleet so I doubt you'd run into the door being locked due to weather (although there's always a chance). I always found their idea of an upgrade from the coves to "standard" to be a weird way to put it. Maybe some folks see it as an upgrade, but I see it as a lateral switch not worthy of paying more for.

[Theosprey247]

Well, don’t they charge more for a standard balcony?

[ZoeyVictoria]

We have our first cove balcony booked on the Celebration for October 1. I received the upgrade offer and immediately turned it down based on the rave reviews from so many people here on CC.  That many people can’t be wrong!  We also enjoy odd or unusual cabins over the standard cabins that can be booked on any ship. 

[luvs2beachit]

Love cove balconies!  Would take the cove over a regular balcony every time.

[Dwright826]

Cove all day baby. Way more private, much closer to the water, almost have complete shade coverage, and it goes on and on.

[ACeruland]

Thanks everyone for the replies! We were mostly on the side of NOT taking the "upgrade" already, and you've definitely convinced us to stay put. 🙂 

[Dwright826]

I've heard that carnival will offer people "upgrades" to less desirable rooms, because it's easier to sell the room that has already sold. If that makes sense. They're trying to get you to take a room that's not selling so that they can resell the popular one that you have. Gotta fill that ship baby!

Edited August 14, 2023 by Dwright826