Alaska Cruise Port Upgrade Success Stories (2022)

[LionKingCPA]

Checking to see if anyone has had luck attempting a port upgrade in Vancouver. As I understand it was nearly impossible pre COVID but I'm "wonder"ing if things are different this year. I see a couple of Concierge rooms left and a bunch of Deluxe Family Verandahs (Aug 22-29). If you did score an upgrade, what the price was compared to the room category you were coming from. And what time did you get on the ship (or group number).

TIA

AJ

 

[LiZaArd]

We were on the July 11th Alaskan. We had an 11 PAT with group 3 but got there at 10:30 with the intent to drop off luggage and go grab a cup of coffee until 11. We dropped it off and were directed right upstairs to check in with lots of people already there. We decided to check on upgrades and were told there were (we had inside) Verandahs available from $1100-$2200 depending on obstructed or not. The agent also said we were early still so we could think about it if we wanted, even check Guest Services. We chose not to upgrade and save the money for other stuff. We left and walked around for about 30 minutes, came back, and went directly through security and on the boat - zero group numbers being called unless they did it in that 30 minutes! Eating in Cabanas by 12:30 after mandatory drill and Wifi instructions.

 

[ssgtravel]

How is it you arrived at 10:30 instead of 11, which was your PAT? I thought they would turn you away if you arrived at the port earlier?

 

[lanejudy]

How is it you arrived at 10:30 instead of 11, which was your PAT? I thought they would turn you away if you arrived at the port earlier?

Port Canaveral has been turning people away. They have more control there due to having a dedicated terminal. In other ports DCL shares terminal space so they can’t necessarily turn you away. They could make you wait in line, but if check-in was open with no line there isn’t really any reason to make them wait. The PAT is to try and control crowds. I think when DCL was still testing everyone at embarkation it was a bigger issue than now, too.

 

[LiZaArd]

How is it you arrived at 10:30 instead of 11, which was your PAT? I thought they would turn you away if you arrived at the port earlier?

We went with intention of cab dropping us off to wait out the 30 minutes but he drove down the hill into the luggage drop-off area. We weren't checking in at 10:30, just dropping off luggage. The porters came over and took the luggage with a "have a nice day". Security directed us up and out and when we got upstairs they pointed us to check in so we went and took care of it. I did mention we were a little early and would come back but they said it was ok. I will stress though that it was minutes, not HOURS earlier than our PAT. So yes, if you have a PAT for 12 and get there at 11, most likely they will turn you away. Also, there was a line for check-in but nothing major. Yes there were other cruises there but everyone asked what ship we were on and DCL had crew there dealing with only DCL.

 

[LionKingCPA]

Bumping to see if there has been any more success.

AJ

 

[CamillaF]

we had a similar experience. We got their an hour before our PAT dropped off our luggage without problem. Had to deal with a parking issue (my prepaid parking QR code did not work). We got to the start of the check in process 30 minutes early and walked through without any questions. We got stuck at doing ArrivrCan and arrived at the first desk that actually looked at our papers about 15mins early. If I was going to be stopped it would have been their. He just checked our IDs, checked us in and wished us well. We went through customs (we had to wait inline because we used our passport cards) and security and then kept walking till we were on our boat about 30 minutes after our PAT. The whole process was 1 hour it could have been 30 minutes if we had already done ArriveCan and had our passports on us.