No Upgrade - Debate to upgrade now or at port - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Feeling kind of down about getting our Stateroom assignment today on our GTY booking for April 13th on the Magic. We booked a 9C GTYand was assigned Stateroom 2098 today which is a 9C. We were hoping that as Gold Castaway Club members that we might get some type of upgrade. We have never upgraded at the port. Is it that much of a difference in price if you wait till then instead of biting the bullet and upgrading now ? The ship has plenty of availabilty still.
What time are you scheduled to arrive at the Port? If you have been assigned an early arrival time (11:00) then maybe you can wait until you get to the port, but if you have really anything later and you KNOW you want to upgrade, I would do it now.
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I wouldn't discount getting an upgrade. I've been upgraded 30 days before cruise day, two different times. I think sometimes that they wait until the last minute. It works like this, if they have more folks that want on the ship at a lower rate, then they bump you up to sell those staterooms. Just keep good Pixie Dust thoughts and who knows maybe the Disney Magic will come through.
If you absolutely must have an upgrade, I would book now and not worry about at the port. Yes, you will be paying whatever the going rate is today for that upgrade, but you have the peace of mind of being in a category you want to be in.
If you can live with a maybe we will, maybe we won't chance at getting the category you want, then yes upgrading at the port will be less.
DCL has a chart they go by for at the port upgrades, and it is a flat amount. They determine the flat rate by whatever category you are booked in (not what you are assigned) and what category you are upgrading to.
Just as any FYI, in October 2009 on the Wonder, we upgraded from an inside stateroom category 12 (now an 11C) to a family verandah category 4 (now a 4B) for a total of $570. They did not have any regular verandahs remaining...just the deluxe family verandah. The second time was in Nov 2010 on a 7-night Western Magic cruise. We went from a verandah category 6 (now 5B) to a category 3 (now T) one-bedroom suite for a total of $1550. If we had purchased the one-bedroom suite ahead of time, the total difference to puchase it ahead of time would have been around $4500 more (and once we scored a FL rate on the original verandah room, it would have been even more since they do not offer FL rates on the suites).
Your experience points up one of the issues that's come up since DCL subdivided the categories. An "upgrade" can simply be a 9C to a 9B, which is hardly an upgrade at all. The chances of a 9C GTY leapfrogging into a verandah room over folks in 9B and 9A who might also qualify for an upgrade don't seem very good.
The odds of an upgrade from a 9 to a verandah have never been that great - not like the odds of an upgrade from inside room to outside. 9s are in fairly generous supply, so even if they needed to offer a GTY at the time you were making your reservations, the chances of folks canceling Cat 9s before the full payment deadline are good enough that you're very likely to get the result you've experienced.
As far as Castaway Club status being considered... I wish it was so (My Platinum trumps your Gold, so there! ), but I've never seen evidence that it has been considered as a criteria for upgrade. Random acts of magic tend to work better than something that's expected as a matter of rank. With the number of Gold and Platinum Castaway Club members out there, the chances of more than a handful getting an upgrade are pretty small - if you can't please a substantial number of guests with a "benefit," it's generally best to not raise their hopes.
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No Upgrade - Debate to upgrade now or at port
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), but I've never seen evidence that it has been considered as a criteria for upgrade. Random acts of magic tend to work better than something that's expected as a matter of rank. With the number of Gold and Platinum Castaway Club members out there, the chances of more than a handful getting an upgrade are pretty small - if you can't please a substantial number of guests with a "benefit," it's generally best to not raise their hopes.
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