To upgrade or not?

[mochi]

My mother (77), brother, his wife, and I just booked our first Alaskan cruise! We will be sailing on the May 29th Golden Princess RT out of Seattle and are so excited. To save money, we booked inside cabins. Originally, we were hoping that we might be lucky enough to be upgraded to an outside cabin :rolleyes: The agent helped us select 2 cabins fairly close together on the same deck (Baja), 1 is mid-ship, the other is a little further aft. She recommended the aft location because it's closer to the restaurants (just hop on and off the elevator), and would be easier for my mother, who is mobile, but walks slowly and may tire more easily. But, the theater is at the front of the ship, and we do plan on attending the shows. So, maybe having a cabin further aft isn't that much more beneficial :confused: The agent also mentioned that if we were to get an upgrade, the location may be bad (she said she once got upgraded to an oceanview cabin, but it was right above the anchor room :eek:). So, my question is: Has anyone ever regretted getting an upgrade? I know there is no guarantee of getting an upgrade, but wondering if we should even allow one. Would appreciate any advice from past experience.

[vbmom87]

My mother (77), brother, his wife, and I just booked our first Alaskan cruise! We will be sailing on the May 29th Golden Princess RT out of Seattle and are so excited. To save money, we booked inside cabins. Originally, we were hoping that we might be lucky enough to be upgraded to an outside cabin :rolleyes: The agent helped us select 2 cabins fairly close together on the same deck (Baja), 1 is mid-ship, the other is a little further aft. She recommended the aft location because it's closer to the restaurants (just hop on and off the elevator), and would be easier for my mother, who is mobile, but walks slowly and may tire more easily. But, the theater is at the front of the ship, and we do plan on attending the shows. So, maybe having a cabin further aft isn't that much more beneficial :confused: The agent also mentioned that if we were to get an upgrade, the location may be bad (she said she once got upgraded to an oceanview cabin, but it was right above the anchor room :eek:). So, my question is: Has anyone ever regretted getting an upgrade? I know there is no guarantee of getting an upgrade, but wondering if we should even allow one. Would appreciate any advice from past experience.

 

I would just watch for price drops and you might be able to get an ocean view. We originally booked an inside, but with price drops got OVs for less money than the original price for an inside. Don't rely on your TA for this. Keep checking yourself. If your mother has mobility issues you might even want to think about rebooking with a HAL cruise instead. Their ships are smaller.

 

Another thing to consider is to get one OV now. If anyone gets sick and is confined to their cabin, it would be nice to be able to have one cabin with a window view so they could see the scenery outside the ship. JMHO

[c-cruise]

I wouldn't worry about getting upgraded to a room you won't like. If you do get offered an upgrade on one or both cabins you will have the option to decline the upgrade(s).

 

We have been fortunate enough to receive 5 or 6 upgrades and only once have I regretted it because of the location. It was a forward facing suite and the balcony was pretty much useless at sea because of the wind.

 

One thing you might consider is looking for a ocean view or balcony room with an inside room right across the hall. That makes it convenient for those in the inside room to walk across the hall to the other room and either be able to look outside or go out on the balcony.

 

Even if you go with two insides I would try to get them as close together as possible especially if you want to coordinate going to dinners, shows, excursions, etc. with the people in the other cabins. Not absolutely necessary of course, but it can make life easier.

[iamaqt2]

If you are a very close family and don't mind sharing quarters, you might consider switching to HAL. Right now many of their sailings are offering 3rd and 4th passengers free, but you pay the taxes. You could upgrade to a balcony cabin and might end up paying less than you would on the 2 insides.

 

Just a thought and something you might want to look at.

[mochi]

Thanks, everyone, for your replies.

 

As much as I would love to be able to switch to a balcony cabin, I don't think the 4 of us would survive with a single bathroom!

 

Our agent told us that Princess would not check with us first before doing an upgrade. And once they did it, we would not be able to get our original cabins back if we didn't like the new ones, because they would have been given away already. I have to assume she knows what she's talking about because she worked for Princess for 4 years. Unless their policy has changed fairly recently?

 

We want to stay with Princess because we actually like the larger ships, having sailed on RCCL's larger ships.

 

I think for now, we will take vbmom's advice and stick with our cabins unless we see a better deal on an outside cabin before final payment. I was careful to pick an agency which doesn't charge a cancellation fee. Ended up paying a little more for the peace of mind compared to booking with an agency which has a cancellation penalty. We do like that the cabins we currently have are fairly close together, for all the reasons that c-cruise pointed out.

 

Thanks again!

[frugaltravel]

Thanks, everyone, for your replies.

 

As much as I would love to be able to switch to a balcony cabin, I don't think the 4 of us would survive with a single bathroom!

 

Our agent told us that Princess would not check with us first before doing an upgrade. And once they did it, we would not be able to get our original cabins back if we didn't like the new ones, because they would have been given away already. I have to assume she knows what she's talking about because she worked for Princess for 4 years. Unless their policy has changed fairly recently?

 

We want to stay with Princess because we actually like the larger ships, having sailed on RCCL's larger ships.

 

I think for now, we will take vbmom's advice and stick with our cabins unless we see a better deal on an outside cabin before final payment. I was careful to pick an agency which doesn't charge a cancellation fee. Ended up paying a little more for the peace of mind compared to booking with an agency which has a cancellation penalty. We do like that the cabins we currently have are fairly close together, for all the reasons that c-cruise pointed out.

 

Thanks again!

 

You can always ask your agent to tell Princess "no upgrades" so you won't be moved against your will. I too have heard that upgrades are automatic if you don't specifically say "no upgrades" so don't count on being able to say no.

 

I have no problems with an inside cabin and having more $$ for activities at ports.

[c-cruise]

Our agent told us that Princess would not check with us first before doing an upgrade. And once they did it, we would not be able to get our original cabins back if we didn't like the new ones, because they would have been given away already. I have to assume she knows what she's talking about because she worked for Princess for 4 years. Unless their policy has changed fairly recently?

 

If you booked a specific cabin and not a guarantee it's our experience that they won't upgrade you without your approval. We have always been contacted by our TA about accepting or declining the upgrade offer. Of course if you really don't want to chance it you can specify no upgrade on the cabins.

[DD]

If you book a gty, you may be upgraded to any available cabin in any category anywhere on the ship at the sole discretion of the cruise line.

 

If you book a cabin assignment, on most lines you can generally refuse an upgrade, although they do NOT check with you 100% of the time. With Princess in particular, if you do not wish to have an upgrade, you need to have your agent mark the booking Do Not Upgrade.

 

Upgrades from interior to oceanview or from oceanview to balcony are not quite as prevalent as they were a few years ago. Yes, they still happen, but they're happening less and less as inventory to a destination is reduced and cruise lines better manage that inventory.

 

Choose the cabin that you can live with, that you're happy with.

[agabbymama]

Just a word of caution re: your mother's cabin aft. The Main Dining Room was only open for dinner on our Grand Princess cruise, so we still had to hike half the ship's length for breakfast. And you already mentioned you know the theatre is at the front of the ship.

 

I booked aft also close to the elevator, thinking we would have an easy time getting to the dining room. My friend and I have mobility issues and difficulty walking long distances. We went to the theatre only once, but did make the trek to mid-ships lounge for a couple of shows there.

 

I would definitely discuss this with your Mother and consider changing cabins to mid-ship.

[mochi]

Just a word of caution re: your mother's cabin aft. The Main Dining Room was only open for dinner on our Grand Princess cruise, so we still had to hike half the ship's length for breakfast. And you already mentioned you know the theatre is at the front of the ship.

 

I booked aft also close to the elevator, thinking we would have an easy time getting to the dining room. My friend and I have mobility issues and difficulty walking long distances. We went to the theatre only once, but did make the trek to mid-ships lounge for a couple of shows there.

 

I would definitely discuss this with your Mother and consider changing cabins to mid-ship.

 

agabbymama, after reading your reply, I checked the deck plans for our ship and discovered that the Any Time Dining rooms are indeed closer to mid-ship than aft. I called our agent and changed to a mid-ship cabin (the last one available in our category), which is so much more convenient to everything (dining, entertainment, casino, shops, etc.). Luckily, there is no change fee if made within 2 days of initial booking. Thanks so much for your advice. I think this will work out much better for my mom.