Upgrades due to economy???

[cakesnjammom]

I have heard that upgrades are RARE but several people have posted here recently that they received them? I am interested to know if you all think this is due to the economy? Thoughts?

 

[jrabbit]

upgrades, more frequent (like all of the time now) Florida rates, kids sail free, 50% deposit, etc, etc

It's the Economy

 

[B9erSteve]

I was thinking that I've been hearing more upgrade buzz than usual. Hopefully the upgrades continue (although I'd rather have a booming economy) We're onboard in Oct and while I like the room I picked, I wouldn't turn down a verandah!

 

[cakesnjammom]

I was thinking that I've been hearing more upgrade buzz than usual. Hopefully the upgrades continue (although I'd rather have a booming economy) We're onboard in Oct and while I like the room I picked, I wouldn't turn down a verandah!

we sail in Sept and I agree with you!

 

[trimix]

I blew it - I booked us a cat 5. Here's what I guarantee is going to happen:
People want to spend less, so they book the cheaper staterooms.
So few people want cat 6+ that most of those staterooms remain available while other categories are selling out.
People in lower categories are upgraded to categories 4-6 to make room for more bookings in the lower category staterooms.

It is always possible that I will see an upgrade, but watching what people post here I don't expect it. If I were in charge of filling the ship and upgrades were necessary I would do a cascade of upgrades - upgrade 5 to 4, 6 to 5, 7 to 6, etc. This seems more fair as nobody who paid for a cat 10 will end up in a cat 4 with better staterooms than people who paid for a cat 5, but this just doesn't appear to be how Disney does things.

If upgrades are available at the port, I will have to pay.

 

[jrabbit]

cascading upgrades seems to be more fair, but its at least twice the work. If you have 10 cat 5 rooms to fill and you move cat 9 / 10 / 11 /12 cruiser you have to change 10 rooms and sell 10 rooms.

Cascading upgrade 10 rooms would look something like this...
10 cat 6 to cat 5 = 10
10 cat 7 to cat 6 = 10
10 cat 8 to cat 7 = 10
10 cat 9 to cat 8 = 10
selling 10 more rooms = 10 so you have 50 transactions to process (and 40 cabin assignments to disturb ) vs. the 20 just moving the cat 9's up

 

[kcashner]

DCL does typically (not always!) give "pixie dust" upgrades from one TYPE of cabin to another. For instance, they will typically upgrade from an inside stateroom to an oceanview stateroom or from an oceanview stateroom to a verandah. While it has happened, they do not typically pixie dust you from an inside to a verandah.

The reason is simple--more families can be delighted with upgrades this way despite the fact that it is indeed more computer work for one CM. If they upgrade family A from a porthole to a verandah, they can take family B from an inside to a porthole. Result: 2 happy families. If they just moved family B from an inside to a verandah, family B would be very happy, but that's only one family.

They do not typically "upgrade" from a 6 to a 5 as those are basically the same cabin. They may rearrange people in order to better control their inventory, but even they don't consider that an upgrade! They will upgrade from a 5 or 6 to a cat 4 as that is an upgrade--3 feet more space!

 

[tjbaggott]

We have two rooms booked in Cat 11 and 12 (what the difference is between those two I have NO idea). We booked those (inside staterooms) based on my DH's philosophy that we will only be in our rooms to sleep. Once we are awake we won't be in the room anymore, so why pay more for a better category?
Well, today I figured out why we SHOULD have. LIGHT! Specifically, DAYLIGHT! I need it to really wake up in the morning. It is SO hard to awaken in a dark room.
I talked with our TA today about it, and since we are removing ground transfers from the package (as we don't need them since we'll be driving down), perhaps an upgrade to a category 9 or 10 (outside stateroom) with a porthole window, won't be that much more out of our pockets.
OR, should I wait and hopefully get a free upgrade?
How does Disney determine who gets the upgrade if they are given. Do they go by who booked first ect...?

 

[cakesnjammom]

DCL does typically (not always!) give "pixie dust" upgrades from one TYPE of cabin to another. For instance, they will typically upgrade from an inside stateroom to an oceanview stateroom or from an oceanview stateroom to a verandah. While it has happened, they do not typically pixie dust you from an inside to a verandah.

The reason is simple--more families can be delighted with upgrades this way despite the fact that it is indeed more computer work for one CM. If they upgrade family A from a porthole to a verandah, they can take family B from an inside to a porthole. Result: 2 happy families. If they just moved family B from an inside to a verandah, family B would be very happy, but that's only one family.

They do not typically "upgrade" from a 6 to a 5 as those are basically the same cabin. They may rearrange people in order to better control their inventory, but even they don't consider that an upgrade! They will upgrade from a 5 or 6 to a cat 4 as that is an upgrade--3 feet more space!

you must have missed some of the BIG jump upgrades recently posted...9or 10 to a 4???

 

[Prose]

I have no idea why we were upgraded....we had booked one of the secret verandah rooms (cat 6), not a GTY, and just learned yesterday we have been upgraded to a Cat 4 ...the only thing I can think of is that we booked 14 months ago, so maybe that is a factor.

I hope someone in a Cat 10, 11, or 12 is doing a happy dance today because they have been bumped up to our former Cat 6 SV room!!!

 

[cakesnjammom]

I have no idea why we were upgraded....we had booked one of the secret verandah rooms (cat 6), not a GTY, and just learned yesterday we have been upgraded to a Cat 4 ...the only thing I can think of is that we booked 14 months ago, so maybe that is a factor.

I hope someone in a Cat 10, 11, or 12 is doing a happy dance today because they have been bumped up to our former Cat 6 SV room!!!

I would be doing the HAPPY DANCE!!! Congrats to you!

 

[Sabeking]

Where are these upgrades coming from? We booked with DCL. Do these upgrades come through TA's or directly from DCL?

 

[jrabbit]

The upgrades come from DISNEY. As always, no one knows how they select the people to get the upgrades - it is Pixie Dust. There is nothing you can do to get an upgrade (other than book 4 people in a cat 12 room - then you will get bumped up to a cat 11 room).

To increase your chances of getting an upgrade you have to book a lower category room (1 being the highest and 12 being the lowest-its backwards - go figure ). If you book a cat 10 room there are 619 rooms that you could be upgraded to, but if you book a cat 5 there are only 102 rooms in higher categories.

Additionally you need to book your cruise at slow times for Disney - traditionally that mean September and October after the kids are back in school. With the way the economy is right now, upgrades are becoming more frequent (even though we are in one of those times in the year when they happen more frequently - after new year, before spring breaks) since people are spending their money more carefully.

Doing these two things can help your chances of being upgraded, but it's still a long shot.

So you need to book the room that you will be happy in.

 

[hgon76]

We have two rooms booked in Cat 11 and 12 (what the difference is between those two I have NO idea). We booked those (inside staterooms) based on my DH's philosophy that we will only be in our rooms to sleep. Once we are awake we won't be in the room anymore, so why pay more for a better category?
Well, today I figured out why we SHOULD have. LIGHT! Specifically, DAYLIGHT! I need it to really wake up in the morning. It is SO hard to awaken in a dark room.

Daylight is highly overrated We LOVED being able to go back to our stateroom midday and take a nap in the pitch dark. I have to say, you will have so many reasons to get up in the morning on a DCL cruise, you won't need the daylight to do it! I can't sleep in the light, so having a dark room was wonderful!!!

 

[runwad]

We're a family of 5 in two cat 12's anyone ever hear of them upgrading two rooms into one cat 4? That would be great, but if not we're fine w/the 12's just wondered if something like that could be a possibility?

 

[rkwier]

This may be a little OT, but how do the upgrades at the port work? Do they say "I see that an upgrade is available if you are interested" or do you have to specifically ask about it yourself?

 

[MiknMinMouse]

This may be a little OT, but how do the upgrades at the port work? Do they say "I see that an upgrade is available if you are interested" or do you have to specifically ask about it yourself?

My parents booked an 11 and I had asked about upgrades for them since I was helping with their stuff. I was told so many different things that I think there is no rhyme or reason to upgrades. I do know that on our cruise last week, there was a sign posted saying the ship was full and upgrades were not available. Athough I did hear of one family upgrading at the port, but they had to pay the difference.

 

[Cruise]

We have two rooms booked in Cat 11 and 12 (what the difference is between those two I have NO idea). We booked those (inside staterooms) based on my DH's philosophy that we will only be in our rooms to sleep. Once we are awake we won't be in the room anymore, so why pay more for a better category?
Well, today I figured out why we SHOULD have. LIGHT! Specifically, DAYLIGHT! I need it to really wake up in the morning. It is SO hard to awaken in a dark room.
I talked with our TA today about it, and since we are removing ground transfers from the package (as we don't need them since we'll be driving down), perhaps an upgrade to a category 9 or 10 (outside stateroom) with a porthole window, won't be that much more out of our pockets.
OR, should I wait and hopefully get a free upgrade?
How does Disney determine who gets the upgrade if they are given. Do they go by who booked first ect...?

If you really need daylight to get going, I'd say book a porthole now. Don't count on an upgrade. Our last two cruises, we were in an inside cabin - no upgrade. We didn't think it would be a problem at the time, but we ended up sleeping way too much. And even when we did make ourselves get up, we were groggy till we could really get outside. For the next cruise, we'll book at least a porthole. While extra sleep is nice on a vacation, I also want to enjoy the ship and ports!

Some people can get up and get going without daylight. But if you know you do better with a little light peeping in to tell you it's time to get up, then get a porthole!

 

[B9erSteve]

So you need to book the room that you will be happy in.

This is my philosophy. I booked a cat 9 cabin last time that I was totally happy with. And got an upgrade to a Cat 5 This time I booked that same cabin with the thought that at least I'll be happy with my cabin. But since we're sailing in October the chances of being upgraded is pretty high, so I'll not turn down an upgrade if it comes again.

 

[TerryCRZ]

Back in 2006, we were booked in a Cat. 8, ocean view room. We never got that upgrade we hoped for so upon arrival at the port we asked if an upgrade was a possibility and they said yes. We had to pay an extra $394, and we got a (Cat.5) veranda on the 7th deck, it was fabulous!!! The port employee said it was cheaper to upgrade at port than if we would have paid regular rate for it at booking. However, this only applies during slower seasons. I'm guessing we got lucky because we went in September during school time and Hurricane season. Just make sure you book a room you will be happy with in case you don't get that pixie dust or opportunity at the port.