Experience w/paid upgrades at port?

[gassmandy]

We had to down-grade from a cat. 7 to a 10 (saving over $900 w/ FL res. rates) because we're not sure how much of our DD's ER/48 hr. hospital stay insurance won't cover.We may be lucky and it may all be covered--but just to be safe, decided to down-grade. With that said--it would be so AWESOME if on our sail date we showed up and could upgrade for a price comparable to what I've seen posted here. But if not--we'll be thrilled just to be on the ship w/ the other 19 people in our family!!! By the way-- does anyone know if you're more likely to get a better price up-grading if you're at the port early or if you're towards the end and they do it for less just to make a little more money???

 

[pcutrone]

I got to the pier late compared to everyone else and my upgrade was still pricey. I have heard that the prices are lowest after the ship has already sailed. Has anyone had experience with this?

 

[MBFergie]

We upgraded at the port on our July 26 cruise, according to DCL it was a sold out cruise. We were very early at the port and the fifth person in line for check in (castaway line). Anyway, we were told to move to another line when we asked about the upgrade. One person was there already...thankfully they didn't have their docs filled out so she helped us first. We were in a catagory 9, the only cabins available for 4 people were a cat 4 and cat 3. Even though it was an awesome deal for the cat 3 (around $1300) we took the cat 4 for $700.00. The other people were not happy campers since it was the only cat 4 available and they didn't want to pay the $$ for the cat 3. SO HAVE YOUR PAPERWORK FILLED OUT!!

We do love the balcony and extra room (especially storage trunk) in the cat 4 but have decided we would rather take more trips in a lower cat and chance getting an upgrade then paying for it upfront. Amazingly we didn't use the balcony as much this cruise, guess the kids are bigger so we didn't "Hang out" in the cabin as much.

 

[LAMPSKIES]

On our "first" cruise Feb 2000 My DD's then7 and 9 saw "The Titanic" in December of 1999. My eldest asked where we were on the ship when she saw the "lower class" get locked behind the bars when the ship was sinking. We had booked a cat. 9. Well I called DCL about 6 weeks before our cruise and asked about an "upgrade". We went to a cat. 6 verandah room for 100.00 per person.

 

[Woobie]

Is there a specific line at the port for upgrades that I should head straight to? Is it marked? Thanks for all your feedback. It has been very informative!

Woobie

 

[klynch]

Can upgrades be in the Castaway sign in line? Where do you go on board to ask about upgrades? Do you have to wait to ask onboard until after the ship has sailed?

Thanks for any info

 

[pcutrone]

There is a separate line for upgrades, it is the furthest desk all the way to the right. You have to check in first before you can go to the upgrade line I believe. If you want to wait, you can go to the desk on Deck 3 after the ship has sailed. I don't have experience with that personally, but I have seen other posts where people have done that.

 

[WebmasterAlex]

Just go to any line and ask. They will send someone over to the "upgrade" person and come back with availability and pricing. They will tell you exactly what to do from there. On the luggage question... I did end up going to our "old" cabin and getting it myself, we waited about an hour and it hadn't made it to our "new" cabin yet.