Paying for upgrades at the pier

[castle701]

We are in a cat. 10 and wish to upgrade at the pier if at all possible. Does anyone have any pointers? How early can we arrive to check-in (not board)? What (if I may ask) are the upgrade costs?
Thanks for any info.

 

[Ashley24]

I would arrive at the port between 10:30 and 11:00, depending on how full your cruise is. Go to the very end of the check in areas, right next to the Castaway Club line. We got a paid upgrade from a cat. 11 to a cat. 5 for 4 people on a 3 night cruise for just under 600.00. We were pleased since we are pretty much addicted to having a verandah! One of the highlights of my cruise is being on the verandah in the early morning or evening, relaxing with a great book and some food! Heavenly!
Ann

 

[Samsma]

What would be a reasonable amount to expect to pay, going from Cat 6 to maybe a Cat 3 in late June?

 

[garys_fan_club]

This was suggested to us by the Pier coordinater for Royal Caribbean, and it worked.

You may wish to wait and try to upgrade your stateroom AFTER the ship leaves port. Once the ship leaves port you are in a much better position to negotiate a better price because no one else will be booking your cruise. Any stateroom empty at this point will remain so. Don't expect the Pursers desk to contact you... You will have to be proactive. Let the Purser know when you embark that you are interested in an upgrade if one is available.... Then if you don't hear from them, contact them only after the ship has left port to see if any cabins you are interested in are available. The upcharge may be less than half the advertised price. Don't unpack your luggage until you know if you will be changing cabins... You will probably have to move your luggage yourself...

We have not done this on a Disney cruise, but have accomplished this on Royal Caribbean.

Good Luck

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

How much would it be to upgrade from a cat 11 to cat 6 or from a cat 11 to cat 9? We might upgrade on our march 1rst cruise
Matt

 

[garys_fan_club]

Go to Disney's web site to get the brochure price for the various category staterooms you have already booked or may be interested in upgrading to. Remember... Whatever the difference is... Is only the retail price... The real cost to you is negotiable... Make the Purser (Guest Services?) an offer he/she can't refuse. You should be able to save more than half on the upgrade difference in price. You can also request the opportunity to preview (do a walk through) the cabin you want to upgrade to. But be careful... If you go from an inside cabin to an outside with balcony you're going to be dissatisfied unless you complete your upgrade.

 

[shelly3girls]

Samsma
Which cruise and how many people for your upgrade. We upgraded from a cat 6 to cat 3 on the 4-day Wonder for a family of 4. I could give you the info, but it wouldn't help much if you are on the 7-day. I would be happy to help if I can.

 

[pgesler]

Is there a way to tell which rooms (or if any) have not been booked?

If so, when and where can you get this information?

 

[Ashley24]

Shelly3girls,
I am cuirous...what did you pay for that upgrade?
Ann

 

[mbaidacoff]

Please let us know if you have any success upgrading. Have a great cruise!

 

[smchan]

I had a locked reservation (with cabin number assigned) for a category 11 for my March 2nd Wonder cruise which I booked only a few weeks ago. I just received a complimentary upgrade from Disney to a category 8.

If I were to try to upgrade to a higher category from 8, would it be reasonable for me to look at the price deltas from category 8? Or will Disney expect a larger sum given that I paid for a category 11 (at 50% off at that since I used the promotional rate)?

Thanks,
Sam

 

[shelly3girls]

We paid about $850 for our upgrade for a family of four from a cat 6 to a cat 3 while on the 4 - day Wonder. It was worth every penny to us expecially since we had our DD in a pack-and-play. We also loved the quiet location, we were in the far aft of the ship.

 

[Lisa F]

This is the way it works from what we could tell upgrading on our January cruise. First of all, they have 3 categories of regular staterooms. Cat 10-12 are grouped together as "inside", cat 8-9 are grouped together as "outside" and cat 4-7 are grouped together as "verandah" (I THINK this is the case, though cat 4 might be it's own category since it costs so much more than the rest.) They have a price chart that basically tells you how much the upgrade is from inside to outside, inside to verandah or outside to verandah.

They have a separate chart for upgrades in cats 1-3. They are all based on being in a verandah cabin and I am not sure if they discriminate between cat 7-4 as far as price goes. If you want to upgrade to a cat 3 from something lower than a "verandah" then they add the cost to upgrade to a verandah to the cost to upgrade from a verandah to a concierge. I hope that makes sense.

On our 7 day cruise we upgraded from a cat 11 to a cat 6 for $698 for two people. We had a choice of a cat 6 room or a cat 5 room, but the location on the cat 6 room was slightly better so we took that one instead. The price would have been the same for cat 5 and cat 6. Just for kicks we asked how much to upgrade to cat 3. It was another $1,000 or so (so around $1700 for an upgrade from cat 11 to cat 3). We decided not to spring for the extra $1,000 although it would've been a great deal if we had (we would've ended up getting a cat 3 on a 7 day cruise for 2 adults for under $3,000 total, which is about 50% off the brochure price).

I also remember someone on the boards posting that the cost on a 7 day to go from a cat 9 to a cat 5 (outside to verandah) was $398? Going by fuzzy memory. Hope that helps.

And to answer the "how to do it" yes, you shoudl be one of the first people checking in. The upgrades available on our western did not take very long to disappear. There was also a sign up saying that the ship was full and there was no changing of cabins but we asked anyway and were glad that we did. If they have the sign up it might be worth it to ask anyway.

Lisa

 

[Samsma]

Shelly3girls - thanks anyway, I am on the 7 day eastern with 2 kids to adults in June. Anyone know what the difference from a 6 to a 3 would be at port?

 

[Lisa F]

I'm guessing the difference would be somewhere between $1-2,000 (closer to $2,000). For 2 adults the diff between a 3 and a 6 was $1,000. BTW, it is VERY rare for a cat 3 to be available as an upgrade. We sailed in January on a sailing that wasn't particularly full... I would expect in June that the cat 3's would be taken by the time you got there.

Lisa