These were obviously low level, but I doubt it would make any difference.
I do use high level most of the time, as I’m a tubeliner guy, and the altitude entry in the nav log is always respected, but I’ve never tried asking for 33500.
That wouldn’t be assigned to you IRL.
I have always had the sim ATC clear me to the altitude I’d requested.
When you enter in the Alt in the Nav Log, do you ensure you click on the graph as well?