I was reluctant to share my feelings. Let me start by saying this property is fabulous and met all of our family needs. Happy to share any info on specifics, but to answer your question...

I managed to negotiate it down to a rate we were okay with. I did this by simply looking at what the Nor1 pricing was and it was way less than what was originally quoted. The representative had zero issue accepting that price, it came to approximately $600 all in for three nights to switch from a partial ocean view 2 queen room to CEIBA of the same category.

After securing that room type I made my best effort to kindly ask for consideration of a suite, even if it meant tropical view (which, FWIW, still faces the ocean). We wanted the suite so our child could nap and sleep in a separate room from us The representative said they could not make any promise. In the days leading up to our stay I noticed that the room types being sold for our same dates were such that the room we now booked (CEIBA partial view 2 queen) was more expensive than the suite we wanted. I figured this was a good omen. At the CEIBA check in I presented the pricing as my case and was told they would upgrade me, but the room was not available. I was kindly given a room to check into while we waited which was amazing since our toddler needed a nap. After a couple of hours we were told our room was ready and they would move our bags, however it was not a suite but rather an upgrade to an ocean view (partial --> ocean). I was furious as I thought I had already discussed the suite, and showed again the pricing online was such that the room I was being upgraded to was less expensive. It didn't matter. I spoke with a manager and got nowhere. I knew I was wasting my time. I was even offered the upsell to a suite at one point. We didn't even take the upgrade provided since it would just mean switching rooms. It felt very shady at times, but also seemed like the check in staff had no authority to do things on their own. My biggest takeaway was that they were clearly hurting for revenue if they would shake me down after already paying for one upgrade.

I did my best to let it go because really we only wanted the extra space for my son and we survived without it; the CEIBA club itself was amazing and absolutely could be worth the money. Again the resort is great. I would definitely go back but just set my expectations on upgrades at zero. Also, for anyone wondering, the room tiers are equal to floor numbers, with 1 being "tropical", 2 being "partial" and 3 being "ocean". There is nothing substantively different otherwise.