Upgrade offers questions

Greetings!

Thinking about booking our second Oceania cruise! We got a lot of upgrade offers on the first one, booked directly with Oceania. We accepted an offer to upgrade to concierge class.

If we booked with an online TA would we still get these upgrade offers?

The cruise we are thinking of is currently wait listed for the entry level cabins. We were thinking of going on the wait list and then wait for upgrade offers. Is this the way to do it? Would our personal agent at Oceania have more/better offers than if we were using an online cruise seller?

Thanks!

When you ask "if you booked with an online TA" would you get the upgrade offers ... I'm not sure what you mean by an "online TA".

I book all our cruises with our TA and we get frequent upgrade offers. If we were to book with Oceania, I would expect that we'd still get these offers. But I'm not positive about that!

We tell our TA what we will entertain in such an offer so that she can respond quickly if one comes through.

That's one reason that we think using a TA is a benefit. You tell your TA that you are interested (if you are) and what you are willing to pay. The TA then can respond immediately to say yes or no. These offers tends to be snapped up quickly. Although, sometimes not ... If people aren't interested in the offer, it tends to go down (in terms of cost to you). If they are, they disappear.

SO! Consider what an upgrade would be worth to you and respond quickly if you think it's good.

I responded very quickly many years ago when we had an offer to upgrade to an OS on Regatta (this was in 2005). I wanted that room and the price was worth it to me.

Plan in advance is a good idea. Decide what an upgrade would be worth to YOU so that you can respond right away. Let your TA know what you want as well.

If you book a cabin that they may want to clear a GTY or waitlist then the offers will come

They will go to TA's to pass on to their clients

Your strategy is flawed IMO

Mura, we have booked other cruises using Internet only cruise sites. Sometimes you never hear from them after booking. We did get a free upgrade on HAL from one of them. But that's rare.

So the flaw in my strategy is that Oceania will try to clear the wait list by offering upgrades to people who have confirmed cabins, and not to me? Entirely possible.

Anyone on a wait list have experience getting upgrade offers?

Thanks for the responses so far!

My only addition here would be to make sure that you would be happy in the cabin you have booked if the upgrade offers did not arrive.

We just booked through our rep at Oceania. We are first on the wait list so she was pretty sure we would be OK.

She said upgrade offers might come, but no guarantees. It seemed like it didn't matter if we were wait listed or not. We shall see!

We just booked through our rep at Oceania. We are first on the wait list so she was pretty sure we would be OK.

 

She said upgrade offers might come, but no guarantees. It seemed like it didn't matter if we were wait listed or not. We shall see!

That's great to be first on the wait list! That is IF you paid the deposit which puts you on the 'priority' wait list. If not, and someone else comes along and pays the deposit for the waitlist, you have now dropped down in the pecking order.

In other words, if you haven't put down the deposit, call O now and give them your credit card info so you can retain your first in line place.

Donna

That's great to be first on the wait list! That is IF you paid the deposit which puts you on the 'priority' wait list. If not' date=' and someone else comes along and pays the deposit for the waitlist, you have now dropped down in the pecking order.

 

In other words, if you haven't put down the deposit, call O now and give them your credit card info so you can retain your first in line place.

 

Donna[/quote']Yes, we put down $500 per cabin.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Forums mobile app

Yes, we put down $500 per cabin.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Forums mobile app

Good for you, you've secured your position!

That's great to be first on the wait list! That is IF you paid the deposit which puts you on the 'priority' wait list. If not' date=' and someone else comes along and pays the deposit for the waitlist, you have now dropped down in the pecking order.[/quote']

 

How does this work if you book a cabin and pay that deposit, but then get on a waitlist for a higher level category on the same cruise? Do you have to pay another deposit (for the waitlist cabin) in order to have a priority spot on the waitlist?

Since no one answered I'll hazard a guess. I'd say you have money on the books so you wouldn't need to put an additional deposit down.

BUT, as always you should get the advice of your agent.

Go Bucks;

Not sure . I did that once. I booked a cabin (A2) and paid the deposit, then waitlisted a PH3, for which I didn’t pay another deposit. I did not clear the waitlist.

This story is only anecdotal as any circumstance is. My TA told me only one person waitlisted for any of the PH got one on that cruise! I was smart to have booked the A2 because that cruise sold out early. Every cruise is different.

There is a hope, on O’s side, that since they are now selling the Future Cruise Certificates and discouraging placeholder bookings, that the number of early waitlisted cabins will decline. For many cruises, the PH do seem to fill up and waitlist fairly quickly, particularly on the R ships.

Terminology matters also. Some people speak of getting an “upgrade “ when they go from a B3 to a B2, which is technology true, I suppose. To me, an upgrade is from a B to an A or an A to a PH, etc.

We just booked through our rep at Oceania. We are first on the wait list so she was pretty sure we would be OK.

 

She said upgrade offers might come, but no guarantees. It seemed like it didn't matter if we were wait listed or not. We shall see!

I believe that is true. I think no one knows the secrets of move/up/downgrade offers from O. If there was a ("legal") strategy to get cheap upsells many would be doing it.

First on the wait list is a very good place. Enjoy your cruise

How does this work if you book a cabin and pay that deposit, but then get on a waitlist for a higher level category on the same cruise? Do you have to pay another deposit (for the waitlist cabin) in order to have a priority spot on the waitlist?

Yes, pay a second deposit on the "priority" wait list. You can put down a deposit for one not two.

Waitlists are an odd O thing. I would not take one except if I wanted to travel with already booked friends or already had a booking and was wanting a change of category as you all are doing. A waitlist without a booking, not knowing what the actual price would be in the potential of last minute airfare greatly diminishes the value. And does one do all that work to arrange excursions only to possibly cancel, after all you don't have a booking, or be you just hope you can find something last minute.

It is especially odd in that in effect you have a double booking which is technically not allowed on most cruse lines. I imagine managing these wait lists takes a fair bit of manual work but it does help to fill the ships. Though not as effectively as GTYs and those O is doing away with it seems. Being as I would and have booked GTYs but not a wait listed category that eliminates me from the potential customer pool on many sailings.

A waitlist on an already booked cruise is a different matter of course though you must watch the prices when the waitlist is cleared. But at least you can go ahead with the fun part of planning your cruise.

I booked our next week's Riviera cruise a year ago with an online TA. Over the last 3 months I have received 8 upgrade offers from an OV to veranda, concierge veranda, and penthouse. The price on the offers never came down, they were always the same amount by category. I declined them all. The ship is still not sold out with 9 days until boarding. Apparently, my itinerary has turned out to be not very popular.

Then you could have wonderful personal attention with fewer pax. Enjoy the sailing

SusieSan, I forget which category you had booked, but just checked O's site and see there are two extended balcony cabins available (B3) - 7118 and 7127. Both are well located with those very large balconies. Deck 7 aft is always our choice on Marina and Riviera! Stayed on 7 in both B3 extended balconies twice, and PH1, with the aft wrap and in PH2 with the extended veranda. :D

Donna

Yes, pay a second deposit on the "priority" wait list. You can put down a deposit for one not two.

Hmm.....I don't think we're interested in putting down $15K in more deposit money. Guess we'll just have to take our chances. We booked a B1, put down a 20% deposit and are #1 for the waitlists for PH1, PH2 and PH3. Hopefully we'll get one of them but 2 huge deposits is more than we can do.

Thanks for the info!

Hmm.....I don't think we're interested in putting down $15K in more deposit money. Guess we'll just have to take our chances. We booked a B1, put down a 20% deposit and are #1 for the waitlists for PH1, PH2 and PH3. Hopefully we'll get one of them but 2 huge deposits is more than we can do.

 

 

Thanks for the info!

I'm not sure I understand the math here. Why did you put down a %20 deposit? That's only required for the upper suites. The regular deposit is $750 per person. So the total would be $1500, not $15,000

I'm not sure I understand the math here. Why did you put down a %20 deposit? That's only required for the upper suites. The regular deposit is $750 per person. So the total would be $1500, not $15,000

I think they are doing the RTW cruise

I think they are doing the RTW cruise

Oh, that's different. Well in the classic words of Emily Latella, "Nevermind"

Yes, I was talking about the world cruise. We already put down $11K each, so not interested in adding another $15K each on top of that. I think that's asking too much of someone. We'll just have to take our chances withput an extra deposit. We're not rich - we're just nurses.