My Experience Upgrading at the Port on Disney Cruise Line

Disney Cruise Line offers day-of-departure upgrades at all of its ports, where unsold rooms are sold at a discount off the regular rate. This can be a great way to secure better rooms at a lower price, but only if there are rooms available for sale.

I recently had the chance to try this upgrade program on a cruise on the Disney Dream from Fort Lauderdale. It was a 3-night Bahamas sailing departing in early September 2025, and I upgraded from a Concierge Verandah Family Stateroom to a Concierge 1-Bedroom Suite with Verandah.

Upgrades Are All About Availability

The ability to upgrade at the port on the day of departure is contingent upon availability. If no upgrade rooms had been available, I’d have stayed in the room I originally purchased. There’s an adage in the frequent flyer world that if you “want first, buy first.” The same could be said for buying an upgraded cabin on a cruise ship before the day of departure.

There are several scenarios where upgrades may be hard to come by:

• Longer cruises tend to sell out premium rooms. The longer the cruise, the more space people want to sprawl out. Bigger staterooms are in high demand.
• Cruises with premium views are likely to sell out. I’m taking a 7-night Disney Cruise Line cruise in May 2026 from Vancouver through Alaska and back. Because this cruise passes through gorgeous scenery, glaciers, and stunning mountain ranges, rooms with a view are in extreme demand, and nearly all rooms with a view are sold out.
• Concierge Family Verandah rooms are among the most difficult to upgrade. These are the entry-level rooms at the Concierge level, offering the most affordable category for experiencing Concierge-level services. These rooms tend to sell like hotcakes, so they may not be available for purchase at the port.

Arriving Early

I arrived early to get my upgrade. My cruise port in Fort Lauderdale opened at 10 a.m., and by the time I arrived, there was a line to speak with guest services about upgrades.

Arriving early was crucial because it wasn’t just an upgrade at stake, but also an opportunity to select a room with a better location or view than others. There were multiple 1-bedroom suites available, but one had a bigger balcony than the others, for the same price, which I would have missed out on had I not arrived early.

I Upgraded After Checking In

After arriving at the cruise port, I was directed to the check-in area for Concierge passengers (since I was already booked in a Concierge family room). I wanted to upgrade to a 1-bedroom suite Concierge room, and I asked the agent at check-in to assist with this.

They could not help me and instead directed me to a customer service supervisor’s desk, which was located after security. Here’s why this is important: Luggage drop-off is located before security, and it’s automatically sent to your stateroom. But upgrading would change my room, and my bags would have been sent to my original, incorrect room.

Fortunately, I was traveling with just a carry-on suitcase and backpack. However, I still had to go through the metal detector, and, as I suspected, a bag was pulled for secondary screening. After completing this process, I then lined up for the customer service supervisor upgrade. In short, it’s not possible to proceed with upgrading until the original check-in and security are completed.

It’s backwards, to be honest, and I wish there were a way to do this before going through security, but it appears that it’s intentionally set up this way for some strange reason.

Upgrade Cost

For my voyage, I paid approximately $3,500 for a family Concierge room, the base Concierge room available. This was booked about a month before sailing, and at the time, a 1-bedroom suite would have cost more than $5,250.

At the port, when I inquired about upgrading from the family Concierge room I was in to the 1-bedroom suite, I was quoted a price of about $1,500. While it was less than I would have paid for the suite from the beginning, it still wasn’t a significant savings, only shaving off about $250. The price to upgrade varies depending on the room, dates, capacity, type of voyage, and many different factors, so there’s no one-size-fits-all cost.

That said, according to the cast member I spoke with, the upgrade price is determined that day and is fixed. For example, upgrading from one category room to another of the same category costs the same for all upgrades of that exact room type. It won’t change as rooms are taken before departure. Getting to the port early for upgrades is key, but there’s no incentive, as far as price goes, to be the first in line.

I paid for the upgrade with my American Express^® Green Card* and earned 3 Membership Rewards points per dollar spent.

I was hoping to save more than $250 for my upgrade, but I wanted that larger room type and was happy to save even just a few dollars on the cost. More money for Mickey merchandise!

*The information regarding the American Express^® Green Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.

Logistical Challenges

I faced a few logistical challenges when completing the at-port upgrade process. My room wasn’t ready right away, so I thought I’d have to keep my carry-on bag and backpack with me on the ship. I wasn’t too worried about dragging it throughout the boat since we were eating lunch first, but after boarding, a nice man near the restaurant offered to tag my bag and send it right to my room. That was an incredibly nice gesture. I’m not sure if it was because I was a Concierge guest or not, but it was much appreciated!

Since I switched rooms, any luggage checked at check-in could have ended up in my original room, and I would have had to contact guest services to retrieve it, a fairly cumbersome process. Several bags showed up in my upgraded room that didn’t belong to my traveling party.

We called guest services and found out that these were for someone who originally booked the room but later upgraded to a higher category. Not only were some of our bags in another room, but someone else’s bags were in ours. I’d like to see Disney use a barcode, similar to what airlines do on luggage tags, so that when an employee scans it, the most current room information is displayed.

Another issue we noticed is that our MagicBand+ keys still worked for the old room, even after we had fully switched to the new room. This seems like a security issue that Disney should rectify promptly. Not only could we open our original room’s door, but it also seemed possible to charge onboard expenses to the original room via MagicBand+.

There’s a lot of room for improvement in both the at-port upgrade process and the logistical steps that follow.

How To Upgrade Besides the Port

Waiting to upgrade at the port was risky, and it was challenging to reach a customer service representative. I could have taken an easier upgrade route.

To upgrade in advance, I could have called Disney Cruise Line to request a category upgrade. I would have only paid a 10% deposit of the price difference for the room I wanted to upgrade to, if I’d been within the deposit window, or the full difference if I was beyond the window.

Although that wouldn’t have gotten me a day-of upgrade discount, it’s another option to secure a preferred room, aside from choosing that category when initially making the reservation.

Final Thoughts

I am glad I tried upgrading at the port for my cruise, but I found the experience to be cumbersome and uncertain, which I’m not a fan of. While I did receive a discount from the retail cost of the room, it didn’t seem worth the hassle of dealing with bags after security and the uncertainty of knowing which room we’d get and whether there’d be any availability.