RCI website "My Cruises" profile preferences (yet another "upgrade" thread...)

[CntPAcruiser]

With our next cruise less than 6 months away, and our reservation number available, I finally logged into RCI's "My Cruises" page and the C&A page and set about updating my profiles. On the "Profile" tab under "My Cruises," there are additional tabs for upgrade preferences and onboard preferences. Has anyone had any experience with these settings/choices actually being taken into consideration? There's a "Dietary Needs" selection drop-down menu at the bottom of the onboard preferences page, but my impression was that it was best to constact RCI's special needs department in advance for such things. Of greater interest is the upgrade preference selection. I had not previously noticed, or maybe it has changed since I last cruised, but there are now two possibilities: Automatic Upgrade, and "I would like an upgrade but have restrictions" followed by seven options, such as "no inside promenade," "I need an accessible cabin," or "keep my group together." Has anyone used these options and gotten an upgrade that did or didn't fit?

[megr1125]

Ha...I have never gotten an upgrade....and something tells me that there is about a 50% chance of this info being used...heck, they don't even really get birthdays and anniversaries correct some times...

 

as for diet needs, you can mark your profile but i would still contact special needs, as well as the staff on the ship in the dining venues...

[Gilpet]

No idea if this works or not but I think they should have another restriction - Only upgrade to a suite. We always book a balcony and pick the location we want, I don't want a higher deck or six inches more room in the cabin but a suite (including JS).....yes please lol.

 

Gill

[Clarea]

The upgrade preferences on the website have worked for us.

[ehfl]

The special meal preferences have been there as long as I remember. The upgrade was added when they changed to the new C&A point system I believe.

 

I'm happy to get upgraded anytime!

[CntPAcruiser]

The special meal preferences have been there as long as I remember. The upgrade was added when they changed to the new C&A point system I believe.

 

I'm happy to get upgraded anytime!

 

Thanks for the clarification about the upgrade choices. I remembered the diet ones, but not the upgrade selections.

[BecciBoo]

I always have mine on Auto upgrade, but we DON'T want an upgrade on our next two cruises, so I called to ask how to "leave me alone". Agent said I should pick any of the specific upgrades as they have to call you before auto upgrading to anything. After Alaska, we'll go back to auto upgrade but can't afford to lose 9256 because of this silly thing:rolleyes:

[Penton]

I originally booked 9256 on Brilliance for our upcoming cruise and had set my upgrade preference to 'auto upgrade'. I then read on Cruise Critic that they could just upgrade from a D2 to a D1 category cabin so rang RCI UK to ask how I could prevent this happening as I didn't want to lose the coveted aft balcony cabin. I was reassured that they wouldn't upgrade without contacting me first. I then noticed that the Junior suite price had dropped considerably after final payment so paid to upgrade to 1602, an aft Junior suite. Within a few days I received an email advising me that there was a change to our cabin and we are now in a Grand Suite! This was good news and we are really looking forward to all the perks associated with the Grand Suite but we will miss the aft view. I'm also wondering whether having what appears to be one of the highly desirable aft cabins means that you are more likely to be upgraded, I believe that the popular cabins often have wait lists.

[rakes5]

We also had a last minute Aft to JS upgrade. On an Italy cruise we had an Aft cabin, and didn't even notice that our cabin had been upgraded. We tried to get into our room, and the keys didn't open the door. I left my DW with our carry-on luggage, and went to guest services, because I just thought the keys hadn't been setup correctly.

 

When the Representative told me I didn't have the Aft cabin, I started to express my disappointment, as we really wanted the Aft cabins for the port departures. He was trying to tell me about the upgrade, but he was whispering because everyone else in line was asking about upgrades, and there was a big sign that said there were no upgrades available. Finally I got the message, and thanked him.

 

When I went back to tell my DW the good news, I said we were upgraded to a different cabin. At first she didn't hear the word upgrade, just different cabin. She started to say, go back and tell them we want this cabin, but I had to repeat about the upgrade a few times before she realized.

 

When we got to the cabin, all of the paperwork was in Spanish, and the room steward still had the other couple listed for the room, so this was a last minute upgrade. Having the JS was really nice for the 13 day cruise. We had access to the Concierge, who was very helpful in recommending and booking excursions. We ended up booking one of their premium (smaller vans instead of buses) excursions in each of the Italy ports, which we never would have done without his suggestion. With this maybe being our only trip to Italy, we were so glad we spent the extra, we enjoyed each excursion.

 

We never figured out why we were upgraded. We knew there had to be individuals with more cruises than us. Maybe now I know. Was it the Aft Cabin???

[SPacificbound]

I always have mine on Auto upgrade, but we DON'T want an upgrade on our next two cruises, so I called to ask how to "leave me alone". Agent said I should pick any of the specific upgrades as they have to call you before auto upgrading to anything. After Alaska, we'll go back to auto upgrade but can't afford to lose 9256 because of this silly thing:rolleyes:

 

How do you set "auto upgrade"? Thanks in advance. :)

[Merion_Mom]

How do you set "auto upgrade"? Thanks in advance. :)

 

Sign in and go to the Members section. (C&A) Then on the left you will see a menu that includes upgrade preferences.

[CntPAcruiser]

I always have mine on Auto upgrade, but we DON'T want an upgrade on our next two cruises, so I called to ask how to "leave me alone". Agent said I should pick any of the specific upgrades as they have to call you before auto upgrading to anything. After Alaska, we'll go back to auto upgrade but can't afford to lose 9256 because of this silly thing:rolleyes:

 

Not sure I understand what your agent said about picking a specific restriction to the upgrade if "they have to call you before auto upgrading." If they have to call, you can say no thanks to the upgrade when they do. Did you mean (or did the agent mean) that they have to call before upgrading if you select one of the restrictions?

[smoosh21]

I originally booked 9256 on Brilliance for our upcoming cruise and had set my upgrade preference to 'auto upgrade'. I then read on Cruise Critic that they could just upgrade from a D2 to a D1 category cabin so rang RCI UK to ask how I could prevent this happening as I didn't want to lose the coveted aft balcony cabin. I was reassured that they wouldn't upgrade without contacting me first. I then noticed that the Junior suite price had dropped considerably after final payment so paid to upgrade to 1602, an aft Junior suite. Within a few days I received an email advising me that there was a change to our cabin and we are now in a Grand Suite! This was good news and we are really looking forward to all the perks associated with the Grand Suite but we will miss the aft view. I'm also wondering whether having what appears to be one of the highly desirable aft cabins means that you are more likely to be upgraded, I believe that the popular cabins often have wait lists.

 

Lucky You. Still waiting on first upgrade here

[NicNac4498]

We booked last minute (11 days) on Allure. We booked two Interior GTY rooms and ended up getting two Oceanview cabins right next to each other, and they were also extended cabins, all the way forward on deck 7.

[Gordo]

This will be our first cruise where we selected an automatic upgrade as we didn't want a change from our corner aft balconies we had booked.

 

It would be wonderful to receive the happy news of an upgrade!