Does HAL upgrade in steps?

[SetAnOpenCourse]

Yesterday I booked a cruise for Dec. 1 which is less than a week away. Our category is HH Guarantee. I was already sent an upgrade offer: VQ-VH or CA-F for $79 or $39 respectively. From what I've read so far about the staterooms, I'm not interested in the deal for some of those categories, and the final price ends up close to what I could have booked some of those cabins originally. The offer does not say whether we'd remain in "Guarantee" status with potential for another upgrade at no additional cost (e.g. offer gets us VH but potential for VC, etc.).

 

Did I receive this offer in lieu of being given (without extra charge) a higher category based on the Guarantee? It would be nice to first see what cabin we'd be giving up.

 

By ignoring the offer, will I be forfeiting a chance at another upgrade (either the no-charge kind, or a different offer that has a charge?

 

Thank you.

Edited November 26, 2013 by SetAnOpenCourse

[kazu]

Yesterday I booked a cruise for Dec. 1 which is less than a week away. Our category is HH Guarantee. I was already sent an upgrade offer: VQ-VH or CA-F for $79 or $39 respectively. From what I've read so far about the staterooms, I'm not interested in the deal for some of those categories, and the final price ends up close to what I could have booked some of those cabins originally. The offer does not say whether we'd remain in "Guarantee" status with potential for another upgrade at no additional cost (e.g. offer gets us VH but potential for VC, etc.).

 

Did I receive this offer in lieu of being given (without extra charge) a higher category based on the Guarantee? It would be nice to first see what cabin we'd be giving up.

 

By ignoring the offer, will I be forfeiting a chance at another upgrade (either the no-charge kind, or a different offer that has a charge?

 

Thank you.

 

An upsell is different than an upgrade. If you turn down an upsell, you can still receive another offer. With the sailing so close off, there are not likely many upsells left to offer (just my best guess).

 

It shouldn't affect what cabin you get or may be upgraded to.

[Krazy Kruizers]

As you are close to sailing, I would not count on getting any more upsell or even an upgrade offer.

HAL expects you to respond right away if you are interested in the upsell offer. HAL has other people on their calling list (from the guarantees) and they just keep moving on until someone excepts the offer.

[cruise_bunnies]

We are cruising for the first time, but this is what happened for us. It might help decide what you want to do. We set sail on the 11th.

 

Our booking went like this:

 

We booked MM, but found out that we could get a free upgrade offer to HH, so we called and they applied that.

 

We then checked in a guaranteed HH where we could end up. Most of the automatic upgrades would be decks lower, but it would get us a view. We might lose our bath (some rooms only have showers). We decided we were ok with that.

 

When then formulated our Upsell strategy. What would we consider a good upsell offer? We wanted to book CA (Lanai), but it was €200 pp more and that was above what we wanted to pay for our first cruise. We decided if we could get 50% off, a €100 pp offer, we'd upgrade.

 

What would we gain? We'd get a view, balcony door, guaranteed chairs on the lower promenade deck, and we would be on deck 3 for sure. For less then €10 pppd it would be worth it.

 

We thought that AA/BB/B etc. or /S*/PS would be unaffordable, but if they would offer it for €200 pp, we'd upgrade to a verandah from HH

 

Yesterday we got the offer for €99 pp to CA (Lanai), yes, it's possible that next week we get a better offer, but it's also possible that it's booked full, so we pounced and booked it. They told us we responded quickly :D

 

We are now guarantee CA. It's possible we get bumped to a verandah for free, which would be excellent, it's possible we stay CA. We are thinking CA is getting full, because the price on the website is now €300 pp more instead of €200.

 

We immediately received a new upsell offer, this time even with PS prices. We made a new strategy, as we are now comfortable with what we have and the price we paid.

 

What do we have to gain? Verandah would mean better deck, concierge service and private balcony. For an additional €10 pppd it might be worth it, it might not, but for €20 pppd it isn't for us.

 

So unless the verandah is going to go for cheap next week (a week before sailing), we are staying where we are. Oh, and if PS would become affordable, we'd do it in a heart beat ofc, but with the €1599 pp offer it's more then we paid for the cruise as a couple.

 

What surprises me is that all the upsell offers are significantly cheaper then the prices on the website, but apparently they weren't for you? I also doubt that you will get another upsell offer, but if you are satisfied with HH, keep that.

Edited November 26, 2013 by cruise_bunnies

[jtl513]

You may still receive an upgrade (free) anytime, including at the pier check-in. When we booked an H on the Nieuw A we were first assigned a C at 11 days out. At 3 days out we were re-assigned to a V. Even if the ship is fully assigned today, there is still a possibilty of cancellations, and nothing is "final" until boarding day.

...

Edited November 26, 2013 by jtl513

[SetAnOpenCourse]

Thanks, all, for your replies! It sounds like I shouldn’t count on a different upsell at this stage, but if we forego it, a pleasant surprise is still possible.

 

I guess it makes sense for HAL to try to upsell before I know which cabin I’ll land via the Guarantee. BTW, “upgrade offer” is the term used by HAL (not “upsell”, but I’ll try to use accepted CC jargon going forward).

 

I may have misunderstood the offer. Next to the deck plans in my HAL catalog, the color-coded guide to staterooms shows VQ first and VH last. Therefore, where the upsell says “VQ-VH”, it may mean that all the verandah categories are possible. Anyway, we splurged a bit on our last cruise, so this time we’re content to scale back.

Edited November 26, 2013 by SetAnOpenCourse

[Roz]

I'm on your cruise. I got my cabin assignment yesterday (Nov. 25), and I was the last one on my roll call to be notified of those that booked guarantees. With the holiday approaching, I'm thinking Seattle will have things pretty well firmed up by today or tomorrow. I wouldn't expect many more offers at this late date.

 

Roz

[doublebzz]

Yesterday I booked a cruise for Dec. 1 which is less than a week away. Our category is HH Guarantee. I was already sent an upgrade offer: VQ-VH or CA-F for $79 or $39 respectively. From what I've read so far about the staterooms, I'm not interested in the deal for some of those categories, and the final price ends up close to what I could have booked some of those cabins originally. The offer does not say whether we'd remain in "Guarantee" status with potential for another upgrade at no additional cost (e.g. offer gets us VH but potential for VC, etc.).

 

Did I receive this offer in lieu of being given (without extra charge) a higher category based on the Guarantee? It would be nice to first see what cabin we'd be giving up.

 

By ignoring the offer, will I be forfeiting a chance at another upgrade (either the no-charge kind, or a different offer that has a charge?

 

Thank you.

 

I assume this is a 7 day cruise. Of course, each to his own preference, but to me a guaranteed balcony over a possible no view HH is certainly worth another $25 a day.

[take us away]

We have been upgraded the day before a cruise and have 2 sets of friends who were upgraded at the counter when they checked in for the cruise.

 

There is always hope that the upgrade fairy will visit you!