Cabin upgrade even if you have chosen cabin???

[Dreamgirl1957]

Hi , just a thought. Do you ever get offered an upgrade when you have already paid the £39 ( or more now!!) to choose your cabin??

Just wondered as although we have picked what we would like within our cabin grade ( prom deck on dream, 9022) it would be nice to be offered an upgrade to see if we would fancy a move .

We booked on the day the cruise was released and i know when i worked as a TA we would get calls from P&O etc offering upgrades , sometimes to the early bookers first ,sometimes just in alphabetical order which is not fair really but hey ho... but i never experienced Thomson ever offering one although i believe they do.

Just wondered if by pre choosing a cabin they would not bother to offer you one ??? :confused:

[infoqueen]

dont think they are ever done but im sure if any of our members have had one they will let us know but i wouldnt hold my breath.

[Dreamgirl1957]

No im not getting excited about the prospect but it would be nice , ill just live in hope ! :)

[CRUISIN LINDA]

9022 :eek: Pull your curtains at night! People can see in when walking round the promenade deck ;)

[Dreamgirl1957]

Thanks Linda, will do. Mind you they wont see much thats very exciting ! ;)

[Dreamgirl1957]

Linda, do you know which side of the ship is the smoking side please .

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Linda, do you know which side of the ship is the smoking side please .

No, sorry, I can't remember. We don't smoke, so didn't really take a lot of notice. Jim will know :)

 

Not much exciting going on in our cabin either :D

[davecttr]

Been on 11 Thomson cruises and never met or heard of anyone getting a upgrade they did not have to pay for.

 

no free upgrades on Thomson.

 

Reception even say the ship is full despite your cabin steward telling you they have 5 free cabins in their section :eek:

[Sailaway487]

I've been offered an upgrade before after I've paid the £39 to choose a cabin. The upgrade was usually slightly cheaper than what it would be to book, but not really by much. Always wondered if you would then loose your £39 that you'd paid for, and then have to pay again to book a new cabin, or you could just choose another cabin free of charge.

[Dreamgirl1957]

Thanks Dave, at least we know. :(

I’ve just remembered something I had completely forgotten about till a few minutes ago! Must be my age now I’m over 50!

In 2011 when i worked as a TA i did what’s called a " staff late" on the Spirit.

Was great but very stressful as although you get the cruise and flights for very little you do not know till 24 hrs or less before you fly that you have been lucky and got the holiday. (They sell sell sell to the end so will only give staff a cheapie if def no chance of selling it which i suppose is right)

(You put your request in exactly 7 days before giving 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice from a list and a long procedure of checking what’s left ,cabins and flights etc or rooms if you want a hotel then just cross your fingers!!)

I had put the Spirit as my first choice (Adriatic) then the Dream ... found out after that Peter Andrea was on board that week too afterwards so would have loved that but perhaps he wouldn’t have ! and Celebration as 3rd choice as i went by dept date order. (As it happens the Dream and Celebration were chokka so wouldn’t have got on anyway)

Back to the story, after putting in my request I looked daily to see how many seats left on all three flights from DSA and how many cabins on each ship , there was less than 5 cabins on each and by the day before only one on the spirit which was deck 1. I thought we would not be going anywhere after all as it was August and everything almost sold out on our “lates” list.

The night before i was due to find out if we were going to be on the Spirit i checked once again on the net at home and there was still one cabin left but not deck 1 it was on an upper deck with a extra charge of £140pp , if that had been the only one left the next day then we would have had to pay the extra but wouldn’t have minded!

Following morning we got the call to say yes we were on it!! So happy I expected to be asked for the extra for the nicer cabin but wasn’t so went off to the airport very happy thinking id got an even better bargain and was in the posh cabins!!

We arrived in Corfu to be told we were on Deck 1, never mind we were still very happy.

Two nights later we sat with a lovely couple for dinner, guess what… they were thrilled to have been given a free upgrade. They had booked the day before and booked deck 1, on arrival they had been told they had what I now called “our cabin” up on the posh decks. I would think Thomsons thought better to upgrade them than let us have it and they were really nice people so it does happen and I had completely forgotten this when I asked the question ! Also funny as one cabin turned into 2 overnight! I did double check once on board and def every cabin sold so there must have been a very last minute cancellation too.

On top of getting our cruise and flight for just over £100 each we had more good luck. Due to the ship being given bad fuel in Slovenia we couldn’t move for 8 hours, they had to change itinerary so decided to miss out Split so we still went to Dubrovnik and Venice and it also gave us one and a half days in Venice so a night there was a real bonus and we were quite happy.

They announced it all the morning we left Slovenia with big apologies and aid we would all be compensated.

There were a few moans as you would expect but on the whole not too bad. As it wasn’t their fault and we were getting a night in Venice I expected a £50 voucher each as did many. What a shock we got.

We were given £150 per passenger ( even children) which you could have as cash or off your OBA.

We thought we would not get it and would have not worried at all or expected to be included but we got a note in cabin saying we had!! I went to check explaining we were on a staff late but were told it was for us too!

This meant they had paid us about £40 each to go on the cruise, not bad eh? ;);)

[kruzseeka]

Thanks Dave, at least we know. :(

 

I’ve just remembered something I had completely forgotten about till a few minutes ago! Must be my age now I’m over 50!

 

In 2011 when i worked as a TA i did what’s called a " staff late" on the Spirit.

Was great but very stressful as although you get the cruise and flights for very little you do not know till 24 hrs or less before you fly that you have been lucky and got the holiday. (They sell sell sell to the end so will only give staff a cheapie if def no chance of selling it which i suppose is right)

 

(You put your request in exactly 7 days before giving 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice from a list and a long procedure of checking what’s left ,cabins and flights etc or rooms if you want a hotel then just cross your fingers!!)

 

I had put the Spirit as my first choice (Adriatic) then the Dream ... found out after that Peter Andrea was on board that week too afterwards so would have loved that but perhaps he wouldn’t have ! and Celebration as 3rd choice as i went by dept date order. (As it happens the Dream and Celebration were chokka so wouldn’t have got on anyway)

 

Back to the story, after putting in my request I looked daily to see how many seats left on all three flights from DSA and how many cabins on each ship , there was less than 5 cabins on each and by the day before only one on the spirit which was deck 1. I thought we would not be going anywhere after all as it was August and everything almost sold out on our “lates” list.

 

The night before i was due to find out if we were going to be on the Spirit i checked once again on the net at home and there was still one cabin left but not deck 1 it was on an upper deck with a extra charge of £140pp , if that had been the only one left the next day then we would have had to pay the extra but wouldn’t have minded!

 

Following morning we got the call to say yes we were on it!! So happy I expected to be asked for the extra for the nicer cabin but wasn’t so went off to the airport very happy thinking id got an even better bargain and was in the posh cabins!!

 

We arrived in Corfu to be told we were on Deck 1, never mind we were still very happy.

Two nights later we sat with a lovely couple for dinner, guess what… they were thrilled to have been given a free upgrade. They had booked the day before and booked deck 1, on arrival they had been told they had what I now called “our cabin” up on the posh decks. I would think Thomsons thought better to upgrade them than let us have it and they were really nice people so it does happen and I had completely forgotten this when I asked the question ! Also funny as one cabin turned into 2 overnight! I did double check once on board and def every cabin sold so there must have been a very last minute cancellation too.

 

On top of getting our cruise and flight for just over £100 each we had more good luck. Due to the ship being given bad fuel in Slovenia we couldn’t move for 8 hours, they had to change itinerary so decided to miss out Split so we still went to Dubrovnik and Venice and it also gave us one and a half days in Venice so a night there was a real bonus and we were quite happy.

They announced it all the morning we left Slovenia with big apologies and aid we would all be compensated.

 

There were a few moans as you would expect but on the whole not too bad. As it wasn’t their fault and we were getting a night in Venice I expected a £50 voucher each as did many. What a shock we got.

 

We were given £150 per passenger ( even children) which you could have as cash or off your OBA.

 

We thought we would not get it and would have not worried at all or expected to be included but we got a note in cabin saying we had!! I went to check explaining we were on a staff late but were told it was for us too!

 

This meant they had paid us about £40 each to go on the cruise, not bad eh? ;);)

 

 

Wow! What good luck and a bargain with a fab itinerary too. No wonder you are a Thomson fan! ;)

[Sailaway487]

Loving this behind the scene stuff Dreamgirl! :D

 

Would love to be paid to do the Adriatic Explorer! ;)

[Dreamgirl1957]

Hi Kruzseeka and Sailaway, yes brilliant wasn’t it and we still can’t believe how lucky we were. ;)

 

I'll try to give you as much inside info as i can, just ask if there’s anything t you want to know.

 

Funnily though it seems to be me always asking the questions!! :confused::confused:

 

As far as the actual ship details its the people on here who are in the know. Much more so than the agents by a mile. :D

 

In fact it often makes me laugh when i see people say they like the comfort of booking with an agent (hope that doesn’t sound bad, just didn’t know how else to put it ) as the agents often know next to nothing about the ships.

 

Of course there are some brilliant agents who know lots about them but when you work as a TA you can imagine the wealth of knowledge you need worldwide. You just cannot be an expert on every destination or holiday type and sadly the public think you do know everything. So much of it is pure bluff im afraid. As I was really interested in cruising I did all the extra training I could, read every brochure cover to cover, studied all the different details of each different cruise line etc but although I was actually given the title (and a special badge loll) saying cruise adviser I still had to often ask my manager all sorts of things as she was really experienced and had done several cruises herself too. I was always happy to do that as i wanted the customer to be happy and get what they wanted, sadly with some they dont want to look like they dont know so just make it up to some extent.

 

Most staff only scratch the surface as far as cruise training and as Thomson is quite different to sell to most of the others then they are really not well equipped to advise most of the time ( as I said in my question to FE).

 

If anyone does feel the need to book at a high street TA there are some fantastic cruise specialists about who really do know lots but you need to find them!! Ask who goes on cruises amongst the staff at a TA as they will be better placed to understand your needs but please don’t just presume the young girl in the smart uniform knows more than the basics when it comes to a Thomson Cruise.

 

……oh dear I will probably be in trouble now but im afraid its true. :eek:

 

The idea someone put forward for cruise Ambassadors was great.

 

I think there should be a page or half page in the brochure written by someone on here in the know on each ship and a page of info on Thomsons cruises in general with all the really good advice/info that a new cruiser needs and I think it would only increase bookings and be a great addition to the brochure. :D

[Jakanne1]

Hi Kruzseeka and Sailaway, yes brilliant wasn’t it and we still can’t believe how lucky we were./I]

 

I'll try to give you as much inside info as i can, just ask if there’s anything t you want to know.

 

Funnily though it seems to be me always asking the questions!!

 

As far as the actual ship details its the people on here who are in the know. Much more so than the agents by a mile. :D

 

In fact it often makes me laugh when i see people say they like the comfort of booking with an agent (hope that doesn’t sound bad, just didn’t know how else to put it ) as the agents often know next to nothing about the ships.

 

Of course there are some brilliant agents who know lots about them but when you work as a TA you can imagine the wealth of knowledge you need worldwide. You just cannot be an expert on every destination or holiday type and sadly the public think you do know everything. So much of it is pure bluff im afraid. As I was really interested in cruising I did all the extra training I could, read every brochure cover to cover, studied all the different details of each different cruise line etc but although I was actually given the title (and a special badge loll) saying cruise adviser I still had to often ask my manager all sorts of things as she was really experienced and had done several cruises herself too. I was always happy to do that as i wanted the customer to be happy and get what they wanted, sadly with some they dont want to look like they dont know so just make it up to some extent.

 

Most staff only scratch the surface as far as cruise training and as Thomson is quite different to sell to most of the others then they are really not well equipped to advise most of the time ( as I said in my question to FE).

 

If anyone does feel the need to book at a high street TA there are some fantastic cruise specialists about who really do know lots but you need to find them!! Ask who goes on cruises amongst the staff at a TA as they will be better placed to understand your needs but please don’t just presume the young girl in the smart uniform knows more than the basics when it comes to a Thomson Cruise.

 

……oh dear I will probably be in trouble now but im afraid its true. :eek:

 

The idea someone put forward for cruise Ambassadors was great.

 

I think there should be a page or half page in the brochure written by someone on here in the know on each ship and a page of info on Thomsons cruises in general with all the really good advice/info that a new cruiser needs and I think it would only increase bookings and be a great addition to the brochure. :D

 

I agree, cruise Ambassadors and information for new cruisers in the brochure would be an excellent idea. I picked up loads of excellent info and reassurance from this site before my first cruise but lots of people are not even aware of this site.

 

I am one of those who like to book through a TA because it keeps people in a job who you may need locally if anything goes wrong. I have just booked a cruise but I went into the shop knowing exactly what I wanted. The bonus for me was that they rang up and found out if there were any suitable cabins before I actually booked and paid the deposit which I don't think I could have done with the Thomson online site.

 

Mind you they were quite surprised (horrified) when I told them that Majesty was for sale! :eek::eek::D

[Dreamgirl1957]

Hi Jakanne, you are right of course, it does keep people in jobs and I often say to people please use a ta because of this but do your homework first, if not you will pay more I'm afraid.

Just wanted to explain that not all agents know more than the basics on cruise, Thomson in particular.

Sadly the firm I worked for went into receivership last week , another casualty and very sad.

I think there's def more "plain speaking" info needed for the new bookers and only the regular cruisers can give this , as they would not think to look on here then something in the brochure and also on the main Thomson site online, on the cruises home page etc would be fantastic.

All the questions you want to ask when new answered in a straight forward way . I know Thomsons have tried to do this but I think it could really be improved.

There are magazines out there on cruise but not many read them and again Thomsons are that bit different anyway. :):)

 

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

[Huddersfieldtourist]

Been on 11 Thomson cruises and never met or heard of anyone getting a upgrade they did not have to pay for.

 

no free upgrades on Thomson.

 

Reception even say the ship is full despite your cabin steward telling you they have 5 free cabins in their section :eek:

 

 

yes - that pretty much sums up my experience too. All 3 statements.

 

Upgrades can happen when a cabin becomes inoperative ( eg flooded on the day of arrival ) and they have to put someone in a "better" one - but that is the exception rather than a policy.