What category?! and Upgrades question...

[momdoc]

Hi. I am trying to help a friend. She is planning in April and needs to book. Here are my questions..
1. Has anyone had experience booking a category 12 with unassigned room? Do you have a better chance for an upgrade than if you book a higher category?
2. If book a category 11 with room assignment, will you get an upgrade (what are the chances of one?)

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

The conventional wisdom, which I tend to agree with, is that there's no surefire way to get an upgrade. Some have suggested that booking a category guarantee (no specified room) gives you a better chance, but I've heard of about the same amount of people getting upgrades both with and without an assigned room. I think that they make it as random as possible so that people won't catch on and try to beat the system.

In any case, the overwhelming majority of passengers end up in the category for which they've paid. The best advice is to book that category in which you will be comfortable and don't count on an upgrade, because in all likelihood you will not get one. That way, if don't get one, you won't be disappointed, and if you do, it's a nice bonus.

 

[MarkLem]

I agree with Lloyd. Upgrades do happen, you see them posted now and then here, but the overwhelming majority get whats they paid for. For our first cruise we booked a cat 4 a year out, and during that year there were several people on the boards that posted that they got upgraded from 4 -> 3. I was thinking, man, that would be nice! Did it happen? No. But we booked what we wanted from the get-go, and were certainly happy with it. Moral: Never book with an upgrade in mind...

 

[logan1_2000]

Even though I am a recently upgraded traveler for next month's cruise--I was going to be very happy had I sailed in the category I booked and have always booked. Remember--the square footage on a category 11 is HUGE compared to most other cruise lines and comparable to many/most oceanview or even balcony staterooms on RCCL, for example.

 

[jrabbit]

People here on the DIS are usually very excited about getting an upgrade and they post it. 6 or 8 months ago there seemed to be a flury of upgrades being posted ... I haven't noticed many or ANY here for a while now.

Upgrades are really few and far between (on DCL that is). Book the room you want so that you will be comfortable and happy. Remember, all of the common areas are open to everyone regardless of room category.