My husband and I are booked to cruise next month on the Liberty.  This will be our 6th cruise with Carnival.  I read on both Cruise Critic and this site also about how people are contacted by Carnival and offered great deals to upgrade their cabin.  Why do some people get contacted by Carnival to receive these offers and others do not?   I was told by Carnival that "some are chosen to receive these calls".  What can a customer do to get on that list of the chosen ones?

Most of the upgrading is done due to the bookings for any particular cruise. If the bookings are slow then an upgrade might be offered. For example if there are a lot of any catagory that is not selling then a guest in a lower cat will be offered an upgrade. The reasoning being that CCL can sell a less expensive cabin than a more expensive one. The upgrading is not done randomly. So you need to book a cruise that is not popular at the time.

Don,  the people that were discussing the calls from Carnival for the upgrades are on the cruise that I am booked on and were booked in balcony rooms just like me.  I called Carnival after reading the posts about getting the call to upgrade at a reasonable cost and the price for an upgrade was out of sight!  The Carnival Representative said that people are just chosen to receive those calls.  I think it might be that some PVPs look out for their customers.  I lost my PVP quite a while back and just talk to whomever answers the phone.  Oh well!  I can't wait for my cruise and will be very happy in my balcony cabin.  I love Carnival!

i had ask the same question after hearing all the 'glory stories' i told them i had never been offered a thing. i was told it was random and it also has to do with the room you have, if they need it. i pick my cabin and was told that most of the time, they would not need my cabin. so much for anything big happening for me.  the only thing i do get is i have learned about watching the price and i call each time it goes down and get deals. first one was a little off the price (had not paid in full yet) then the obc's. yes, they take out all the extra that fuel has gone up and even tax's had gone up once. i have gotten obc's 3x for the upcoming cruise. i see the price has gone down yet again and feel like an idiot calling again tongiht, but i think i will.

as far as keeping the same pvs, i quit that a long time ago. i used one for two cruise's with no real perks and took forever to get a call back. i call and whoever answer's get's to handle my questions, obc, bookings, what ever. had many many friendly ones, helpful ones, and only one 'had an attitude' . whatever works for you.

in short, only upgrade i have had is when i paid dearly for a cat. 12 suite for a spring break cruise for us and 3 grandkids. i did not even know how to ck prices, so if it went down, oh well. it was really expensive. our cabin was fabulous and all went well, so get that is the main thing.

If u have a cabin that is very close to the elevators and in the midle ofthe ship is that a good location? Would you upgrade if u had a good location? Also, what ports have u sailed from. You have been on a lot of cruises. I hope i get addicted too. I am looking forward to my cruise 11/6/08 Ecstasy cozumel!!!

I would only be interested in an upgrade in a cabin type but not another balcony on a higher deck.  It sounds like you have a good location if you are mid-ship.  If you are prone to sea sickness, the lower decks and mid-ship cabins are great.  They say that you feel the ship move less there. I am very happy with what I have.  We are able to get military rates which are great prices.

We have cruised from Mobile, Alabama.  We can drive there so it saves lots of money.  Last Christmas, our entire family sailed from Jacksonville which is also close enough to drive to.  The other two ports that we have sailed from, Fort Lauderdale and Miami, we always have to fly because it  is so far away from North Georgia.  I love cruising so much that I don't care which ports the cruise travels to.  We have been to Nassau, Freeport, San Juan, St. Thomas, Antigua, Tortola, Cozumel, Key West, and Coco Cay. It wouldn't matter to me if we just sailed for seven days out in the ocean with no stops!

Have a great cruise!  It is coming up soon!  There is nothing else like it. 

brt49:

If you use the code PS1 or P1S. You can get a free upgrade on certain cruises.

Unfortunately about 90% of the sailings will show those codes as INVALID, and some categories on those sailings would not offer that discount. Always best to talk to someone that can see all the fare codes available for each sailing.

DS -

I used the P1S code for Carnival's upcoming Thursday Sale (prices are already there).  When I booked earlier using Past Passenger discount, I paid for a 4a and was upgraded to 4f.  With the P1S code, I can get upgraded to 4g for $100.  No thanks.

Hey Cruiser1952,

 I think your right that som ePVP's look out for thier customers.  I use Michele at 800-819-3902 x-82521.  We are sailing on Splendor in December and I told her that if anything came up (sales or upgrades) to let me know.  well, she called me last week to let me know that there was a one day sales coming an dto call her that day so she could see if there was anything we could do.  Bottom line, I had booked an 8A got the 8C due to past guest, when the sale happened this week we got moved to an 8S (new spa rooms) and got a $100 OBC.  There are still many suites open and I told her to keep watching up to oor sailing date.

 Good Luck...call Michele next time and tell her Susan sent you.

I'm booked on the Destiny for 11/27/08 and have called a couple of times when I saw the price drop and I got OBC's for the differance.  Friday a Carnival rep called me and offered to upgrade my balcony to a jr. suite for $200/person.  I said thanks but no thanks he then put me on hold for a few and came back with the offer at $122/person, I still said no thanks, I'll keep my balcony and use the extra $'s for fun on board.

I have written down her name and phone number.  Thanks!

 In the middle of the ship is a good location.  And in the back.  The front is not the best location.   I would only upgrade if you can move from a inside to oceanview or a ocenview to a balcony and so forth.    We had a great location when we first booked our cruise then I called my TA and they found a deal for us to upgrade from a oceanview room to a balcony room for 160.00 for all 3 of us!  (not bad)  so we took ran with it and took it.   So now we have a front of the ship location instead of prevoius in the back of the ship.   But the balcony we will enjoy much more!

I receive by email for free upgrades all the time and our first cruise was in November.  I recently won a cruise and I paid the taxes, port charges and upgrade to OV. When I asked the lady about using my free upgrade, she said carvival will have to do it.  So I called carvival and the girl was rude, so I spoke to a supervisor and he called them and they told him I had to do it at booking.  Who is telling the truth???

 Keryn

it is just random. i ask myself after hearing of all the good deal offered to first time cruiser's and such.

well i finally got a call just before my last cruise (8th) and the deal was easy to pass up. we could upgrade from a mid ship balcony room on upper deck of the conquest to a cat. 12 suite for an additonal 2000.00 (for 4) like i said i found that easy to refuse. some people get free upgrades or for little $$$$$$$$$$$. go figure