I'm going to be sailing on a Carnival cruise and noticed it would cost $500 to upgrade to a balcony. About 60% of the cabins on this particular ship have balconies. When they have those balcony cabins left over do they discount the price the day of the sailing? (I know I was once upgraded for free -- on a different cruise line.)

It would be nice to have a balcony -- but it's not critically important to me. I wouldn't mind paying an additional couple of hundred -- but $500 is too steep for me.

You were lucky once but don't bet on that. Upgrades are random thing and nobody can predict it. Chances are you'd have to pay for upgrade if you ask for it on board - if cabins are still available. Your best bet is to check the prices daily before the sail. They may change at any time.

Spurs is correct. In the past I have checked daily and often ended up being able to convert to a better cabin at the same or lesser price prior to sailing date. Not sure about Carnival so go to cruisecritic.com and post this question specifically to get loads of info.

Thanks for the advice. Will do

A good travel agent will watch this sort of thing for you. Ours did and the upgrade made the cruise.

I'm sailing as part of a large group event, so I've had no dealing with the travel agent who booked my ticket.

Someone on cruisecritic.com suggested I ask the travel agent to annotate on my booking that I desire an "upsell call." I sent an email requesting that -- and we'll see what happens.

Thanks for your help. I'll keep you posted if there's any news.