upgrade from cat. 10 to cat. 6 ??

[crazyaboutdisney]

We are cruising 11/19/05 and are thinking of upgrading from a cat 10 to a cat. 6. I e-mailed du and was told that we could upgrade for about $1300 more and that the room would be on a guaranty status. We wouldn't find out our cabin # until a few weeks prior to sailing. What should we do?? I would love a verandah but is it worth it. This will be our third cruise(others were both 3 day ).In the past we had outside cabins with the windows. Does it matter that we are not sure of our cabin #.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

1300.00 more for a verandah.....that's quite a bit. Do you think the time you will spend hanging out on the verandah justifies the cost? If you think it's worth it and you don't mind the cost then go for it. What if you get a verandah but then it's in an area of the ship you don't really care for? If I were you I'd stick with what I have and use the extra 1300.00 for spending money!! But that's just me.

 

[captaincrash]

Frankly,

I like haveing a guarantee reservation as you might score with a higher catagory than what you're paying for... on the DOWNSIDE ---- you might get a less or un-favorable position (but correct catagory or better) on the ship. If you have ANY preferences for ships location, then this guarantee thing may not be for you. Example - if you wanted to buy a cat 9 on the Sept 3rd 2005 sailing AND you wanted the larger single round window (as opposed to getting 2 smaller portholes) then you would be offerred room 2500 on deck 2 ... this is THE FIRST CABIN at the front of the ship. This is absolutely nearly the worst position IF you are concerned with ship motion. We sailed on an Alaskan cruise where one day had heaving seas... and it was worst at the front of the ship... fortunately our cabin was towards the rear but we had friends up there and they were miserable.

Another consideration... getting a guarantee implies you have an extremely remote chance of NOT getting a cabin at all. On some cruise lines I have heard of folks who had a guarantee reservation and received NO assignments prior to sailing. They proceeded to port as instructed and when they got therer they were denied boarding because the ship checked in full! In this case the folks were given a decent credit for the inconvenience. And I imagine in most cases DISNEY would advise you BEFORE you depart for the port. So... you may want to call Disney and ask them what their policy is with possible sell outs - or if your guaranty assigns to a really undesirable position on the ship.

Hope this helps a little.

 

[crazyaboutdisney]

What!! after i paid in full they could not let us on the ship. That is hard to believe. Has this happened to anyone out there.

 

[mommasita]

I have never heard of that on a DISNEY cruise. Unfortunately did read about this last year with Carnival.

Correct me if I am wrong, I thought that a Gurantee stateroom means you get that category or higher, nothing less...

 

[crazyaboutdisney]

that is the way that it was explained to me. The $1300 is for 2 adults and 2 children ages 5 and 10 for the thanksgiving cruise. As for cat. 6 there is no location that would bother me. It is deck 5 in the rear of the ship or deck 6. Who knows we could end up in one of the disney suites!!

 

[mommasita]

I hope you do, and totally agree with your assessment of those category of rooms. I definitely would do a guarantee, but not in cat.9, only due to our BAD luck with staterooms there.

Good Luck..and pixie dust for the suites...

 

[BigAl]

I've only sailed with verandas so I'm biased, but I love to sit outside on the balcony, especially at night with my wife relaxing at the end of the day, listening to the ship cutting its way through the ocean and watching the moon's reflection across the ocean.
Bottom line though, its about personal preference and what its worth to you.

 

[jel0511]

that is the way that it was explained to me. The $1300 is for 2 adults and 2 children ages 5 and 10 for the thanksgiving cruise. As for cat. 6 there is no location that would bother me. It is deck 5 in the rear of the ship or deck 6. Who knows we could end up in one of the disney suites!!

We're booked in a Cat 6 guarantee for our July 9th West Coast cruise. Would I have preferred to have picked out my room location, sure, but I wanted a veranda and all the veranda categories were on GTY status when I booked. I like being able to get fresh air in my cabin, and I have to have the veranda. Also, all the category 6's on deck 5 only have an occupancy of 3 people, and all the 6's to the aft of 6120 and 6620 also only fit 3 people. So, you'll be forward of those locations. Trust me, I've looked into this, since we're guarantee. IF there is an upgrade, the only cat 5's WITH the metal veranda that hold 4 people are the two handicapped rooms in the far aft. As you can tell, I just want to ensure we get a clear veranda since my kids will be 7 and 4 at time of sailing.

 

[crazyaboutdisney]

clear veranda? that sounds great. So as far as you are concerned we would have a great chance at getting the clear veranda. What about the chance of not getting a cabin, is that really a possibility? My family might just leave me in florida if that were to happen!! I haven't heard from du yet but if they do have the cat 6 or better available i'm going for it. Heck it is only money!!!

 

[jel0511]

Based on the research I've done, there aren't ANY category 6's with a metal veranda that will accomdate 4 passengers. There are only two category 5's that will accomdate 4 passengers and those are the LARGE handicapped cabins far aft. I would "sacrifice" the clear veranda for the larger cabin. If you go up to a category 4, there aren't any of those rooms that have a metal veranda, and if you happen to get a category 3 with ametal veranda, I'm sure either of us could live with that hardship!!!! I've looked at the Passporter website which lists cabin capacity, and confirmed with with DCL. Now, as for not getting a cabin, you'll most likely get your cabin assignment when you get your documents. That's what both my TA and DCL has told me. I don't think DCL would like the bad press of overselling a ship, so I'm confident that I'll get on with my guarantee.

 

[jrabbit]

I like haveing a guarantee reservation as you might score with a higher catagory than what you're paying for

Yea you might but most likely NOT. And from a cat 6 what are you going to be upgraded to really Going to a cat 5 gives you the same room just different location. Then there's the cat 4 - Deluxe Family stateroom - that would be nice and then there are the suites. Since these generally speaking are hard to get being comp upgraded to them is very rare (it has happened though).

Really, the bottom line always has been: book the room you will be happy with. Remember, regardless of the stateroom, you get to use the same common areas of the ship as EVERYONE else!! And that's really what you're after. Staterooms are for changing clothes and sleeping (unless you have youngsters that need a nap )

 

[Hieatt]

Yea you might but most likely NOT. And from a cat 6 what are you going to be upgraded to really Going to a cat 5 gives you the same room just different location. Then there's the cat 4 - Deluxe Family stateroom - that would be nice

On the one Disney cruise we went on, we were in fact upgraded from a Cat 6 GTY to a Cat 4 deluxe family. I do agree that you should book what you'll be happy with, but if you are happy with a Cat 6, chances are you will be happy with ANY Cat. 6, so may as well to the GTY thing and maybe be surprised like we were with an upgrade! Nothing to lose really.

 

[kikipug]

$1300 is a good downpayment for another cruise... I would guestimate how many hours you will actually spend on your verandah, and do the math, to figure out what that verandah costs you per useful hour... you might change your mind about wanting one.

For example... if 4 of you each spend 2 hours (and I doubt that you would) a day for 7 days actually out enjoying the verandah, that's $23.22 an hour per person for 'verandah rental'...

 

[jel0511]

For example... if 4 of you each spend 2 hours (and I doubt that you would) a day for 7 days actually out enjoying the verandah, that's $23.22 an hour per person for 'verandah rental'...

We easily spend 2 hours a day on our veranda and probably more. Whenever we're in our cabin, which is a lot, the door is always open and at least one of us is out there. We reallu use our veranda and I'd never sail without it. We're actually paying about $2,000 for the veranda on our West Coast cruise, and it will be worth EVERY penny for us.

 

[logan1_2000]

Just sat in last night at a meeting at my Temple led by one of our congregants who owns a cruise specialty travel agency called The Cruise Authority, here in Atlanta. He was discussing trends, such as the newer dining options in the industry, the pricing aspects of the economy and the exchange rate with the Euro, and the growing popularity of certain types of crusing such as river cruising. As we got into a Q and A and the aspect of GTY and oversold circumstances became the topic, our discussion leader did not mention DCL but did say that all major cruise lines to a certain extent, and apparently Princess in particular, occasionally find themselves oversold to the point where they will need to contact scheduled cruisers with very sweetheart offers to give up their stateroom. Told the story of one of his clients on Princess who got such a rare call, and agreed to give up a confirmed stateroom on an upcoming 10 day cruise, and instead he booked, for no additional cost, a 21 or 28 day cruise in a suite, as compensation for accomodating the cruise line in a crunch. So as to the question could you be told there is no room for you--maybe, very slight possibility. And if this happened and you were in a position to be flexible with the the cruise line, perhaps it might end up being worth your while.

Book the stateroom you want. Upgrades are like a lightning strike. Apply the $1300 to your next cruise and you would be left needing only how much more? Only you can decide how you will get the most value for that $1300.

 

[minniemouse1]

We had a verandah on our first cruise and never used it because it was filthy dirty. Everything was covered in fine black dirt, the floor, the chairs, everything so we never used it and have never gotten a verandah again. For me and our experience it was not worth a dime. Having 3 small DDs I would love somewhere to go an relax after they fall asleep but its alot of money for the chance that we will never use it.
On our last cruise we booked a 9 gty and were upgraded to an 8. We did not know until we checked in at the port which made it hard for our luggage to find us. Our garmet bag with ALL of our dress clothes in it for dinner never made it back to us until the next day so we were in Animators Palate in shorts and t-shirts. Not exactly what I wanted for attire during our first dinner of the cruise!

 

[PShew]

This is our first cruise (family of 3 DD,DM and DK age 5 to turn 6 on the cruise!). Right now we are booked for category 11 standard inside deck 6. Our disney cruise professional suggested that if we wanted, we could upgrade at the port. Okay, how much more do you think we should pay to upgrade to a room with a port hole? or veranda? We don't plan on spending a ton of time in our room. I should also point out we are sailing on the 3 day cruise on March 10.
Thanks for your thoughts in advance!