Turned down 2 free upgrades so far. Starting to see how the game is played.

[geoherb]

It is a stupid game that Princess plays. Some upgrades I admit are very good and really worth it and possibly help out be encouraging passengers to book a higher grade on return.

 

However some upgrades are really poor, lousy and a deliberate attempt to shaft passengers into undesirable cabins that they cannot sell to the more savvy cruise passengers who know their ships well.

I don't think your analysis is correct. It's not a deliberate attempt to "shaft passengers." It's just an attempt to maximize profits by selling every available cabin. Most people would be thrilled to move from an inside to an outside cabin. Not everyone wants to be close to the pool area.

 

For instance, I don't like being any higher than the Caribbean Deck. If I were originally assigned an inside midship on the Aloha Deck or Riviera Deck and were upgraded to an oceanview on the Plaza Deck, I'd be happy.

[Stockjock]

Thanks for the "meta upgrade only" suggestion. I wasn't aware of that.

 

At this stage, I have one of the better obstructed cabins, as it's between lifeboats and there's very little obstruction. And there really aren't many good oceanview cabins left. So rather than risk getting "upgraded" to an inferior cabin, I had them slap the meta upgrade tag on the reservation.

 

That way, if by some miracle, they offer me a balcony or the like, I'm all in. If not, at least I know that I have one of the best rooms in the category as it stands and don't have to be concerned about not getting it back and ending up facing the side of a lifeboat!

[7leagueboots]

Well, that's a tad judgmental.

 

I thought the same thing.:eek:

[KarateMan]

I don't think your analysis is correct. It's not a deliberate attempt to "shaft passengers." It's just an attempt to maximize profits by selling every available cabin. Most people would be thrilled to move from an inside to an outside cabin. Not everyone wants to be close to the pool area.

 

For instance, I don't like being any higher than the Caribbean Deck. If I were originally assigned an inside midship on the Aloha Deck or Riviera Deck and were upgraded to an oceanview on the Plaza Deck, I'd be happy.

 

Then how do you explain it when passengers are shafted into cabins that no-one in their right mind ever wants to purchase. There are plenty of bad cabins on ships that passengers deliberately avoid. The cruise lines know this, they cant sell them so they shaft people into them by upgrading them.

[shredie]

What is worse than getting a lesser desirable room? That's right! Not cruising!

 

Amen.

[cdngrl]

" trying to find a way to make more for less."

Is that not what the passenger is doing when they book a "guarantee"?

Mike:)

 

sometimes when I book, the category is sold out and a guarantee is the only choice I have. I would prefer to book a specific category but that option isn't always available.

[dms42]

That was not true in our case this summer on the Ocean Princess. Our TA was told that the cabin we were originally booked in had been taken out of the inventory. This turned out not to be true; the cabin was occupied during our cruise.

 

IDK... When I was upgraded two weeks ago, I called withing minutes of the email hitting my inbox. When I called Princess, the rep said that there was no need to rush- I had 48 hrs to respond. If I had not responded in that timeframe, then Princess would have assumed I was good with the change. The rep said Princess has to hold the original reservation until then- they cannot rebook it until after the time has expired. Now, what really happens???

[KarateMan]

IDK... When I was upgraded two weeks ago, I called withing minutes of the email hitting my inbox. When I called Princess, the rep said that there was no need to rush- I had 48 hrs to respond. If I had not responded in that timeframe, then Princess would have assumed I was good with the change. The rep said Princess has to hold the original reservation until then- they cannot rebook it until after the time has expired. Now, what really happens???

 

Perhaps someone at Princess is not telling the truth.

 

When I received an unwanted upgrade for my last cruise I called within a few hours of receiving the email. The email was sent 4 days before the cruise. I managed to get my original cabin back.

 

However when I arrived at the ship my cabin had the wrong name on the doors, the wrong bed configuration and all my Captain Circle invites were sent to the wrong cabin.

 

Now if Princess recons they hold the cabin for 48 hours after an upgrade is issued then how on earth did someone else's name end up on my cabin door and why did their luggage get delivered to my cabin.

[HomelessBear]

WOW! I now see how lucky some of you guys are over the pond! If we could book a 3 night cruise for that kind of money, we'd feel very blessed! I'm also talking the original price, not the ones quoted after further discounts!

 

You lucky, lucky cruisers.

[shredie]

Now if Princess recons they hold the cabin for 48 hours after an upgrade is issued then how on earth did someone else's name end up on my cabin door and why did their luggage get delivered to my cabin.

 

Did you ever communicate with the people whose luggage you got? I wonder what their story was. The "official" policy is that you have 48 hours to get the original cabin back or accept the upgrade. As with lots of things on Princess, I think the policy is inconsistent across the ships and within the home office. I had a fight to keep a cabin they wanted to upgrade me out of. It was a three-day ordeal. I leave on that voyage next week, so we'll see whose luggage I end up with. :)

[KarateMan]

Did you ever communicate with the people whose luggage you got? I wonder what their story was. The "official" policy is that you have 48 hours to get the original cabin back or accept the upgrade. As with lots of things on Princess, I think the policy is inconsistent across the ships and within the home office. I had a fight to keep a cabin they wanted to upgrade me out of. It was a three-day ordeal. I leave on that voyage next week, so we'll see whose luggage I end up with. :)

 

I never saw them. When the steward tried to deliver their luggage I told him straight away that it was not mine. The beds were in two singles as well as the fact that there was another set of names on the door.

 

I am guessing that the couple (two men) were possibly upgraded to the cabin after Princess tried to move me and they had to move them out when I got my cabin back. They only had a blue label on their name so clearly Princess did not care about them.

 

As far as I was concerned that cabin belonged to me for that cruise. I booked it over a year in advance, I wanted that location and I was entitled to have it. I could not believe they would try to upgrade me to an lower deck cabin without even asking me.

[Kulafu]

Currently Carnival offers 3&4 day cruises out of Long Beach from $129. Due to the security problems in Mexico. At $32 a day, almost cheaper than staying at home.

[readytoembark]

I think some of you may be missing the point. The OP isn’t complaining, he’s trying to figure out the answer to a mystery. There are many posts here asking how upgrades work because the logic seems mysterious. The OP is giving an analysis based on his personal experience that may or may not shed some light on the answer. What is interesting is that he is taking actions based on his belief that his current choices may limit his future options – so he’s not necessarily simply choosing the better deal at the moment – he’s making calculated decisions that take into account the future limitations that may be imposed by his current decisions.

 

Bottom line is that he’s suggesting the upgrade fairy uses a complex model that despite appearances is anything but random.

[shredie]

Currently Carnival offers 3&4 day cruises out of Long Beach from $129. Due to the security problems in Mexico. At $32 a day, almost cheaper than staying at home.

 

I'm not sure that's the primary reason for the cruises (Carnival or Princess) to Ensenada and back, but you can't beat the prices.

[Kulafu]

Shredie:

Cruise ships are starting to return to Mazatlan, according to Frank Cordova, secretary of tourism for the State of Sinaloa. He told Cruise Industry News that Norwegian Cruise Line and Holland America Line will being calling in November

 

Secretary Cordova said that the primary reason the ships left was security issues. “When we came into office in 2011, we had some serious security problems in the port area,” he explained. “We have since added more police officers; we have introduced new training for the police; and we have new security protocols we follow. In two years, we reduced the crime rate by 80 percent.

[likeadisguise]

IDK... When I was upgraded two weeks ago, I called withing minutes of the email hitting my inbox. When I called Princess, the rep said that there was no need to rush- I had 48 hrs to respond. If I had not responded in that timeframe, then Princess would have assumed I was good with the change. The rep said Princess has to hold the original reservation until then- they cannot rebook it until after the time has expired. Now, what really happens???

 

That's wrong. As soon as the upgrade goes through, the cabin is put into inventory. There's a reason Princess calls this automatic complimentary upgrades.

 

The language on the upgrade notice you receive specifically says "If you choose to decline, please notify us within 48 hours, and we will attempt to return you to your original cabin."

 

Key word -- attempt. There's no promise you can get the cabin back, and they're not holding it waiting for you to contact them.

 

If you leave your booking open to upgrades thinking you can pick and choose whether you like an offered upgrade, you take the risk of losing your cabin.

 

As others have posted, marking your cabin "no upgrade" isn't a guarantee that you won't get moved, either, but then you should have a much stronger argument that you deserve your cabin back.

[SeagoingMom]

We only cruised on Princess once, and I heard about the policy Princess has of "upgrading" pax unless asked not to. I did not fully understand what that meant, so I did not indicate "no upgrade" on my booking. But then I spent the entire time until my cruise worrying that I would be upgraded but not like the new cabin, but be stuck with it. My online TA said that I would have some time (probably 48 hours, based on this board, but I don't remember what he said) to say "no" if I was upgraded, but he also said that upgrades could happen, and often did, while pax were traveling to the port (we had to fly in) and the 48 hours would go by and the pax would not know about the upgrade because they were incommunicado while en route to the ship. So they would find themselves in a different cabin than they booked once they got onboard.

 

We booked a mini-suite, but it was on Dolphin deck, so it was uncovered. I had no idea there was such a thing as an uncovered balcony, so I did not research this before booking, and of course, Princess does not advertise that Dolphin deck balconies are uncovered. So when I realized that this is what I had booked I was pretty upset about it (and in the end, rightly so, as it was either too rainy or too hot for us to use our balcony much on the cruise.) I thought I might possibly be upgraded to a covered balcony, so I did not say "no upgrade." But then I found out that a cabin Princess considers superior to a mini-suite is a "family" suite with no balcony, and I certainly did not want that! So even if I had asked for a meta upgrade, I still could have ended up with no balcony.

 

We got onboard and we had not been upgraded, and we managed to live with our uncovered balcony. We realized it was better to have other people looking down on us from their balconies than it would have been to look down on them -- at least we got an unobstructed view of the sea.

 

What I still don't understand from this discussion is all the talk about what these upgrades cost. I thought the word upgrade implied no cost -- "upsell" includes a cost, right? So why are the OP and others talking about what it cost to change cabins, and what they gained in OBC, etc? I don't get why money is changing hands... I imagine this is clear to all of you who understand the topic, but it is still a mystery to me. For that matter, I don't really understand what rebooking means, either... :o

[Stockjock]

I think some of you may be missing the point. The OP isn’t complaining, he’s trying to figure out the answer to a mystery. There are many posts here asking how upgrades work because the logic seems mysterious. The OP is giving an analysis based on his personal experience that may or may not shed some light on the answer. What is interesting is that he is taking actions based on his belief that his current choices may limit his future options – so he’s not necessarily simply choosing the better deal at the moment – he’s making calculated decisions that take into account the future limitations that may be imposed by his current decisions.

 

Bottom line is that he’s suggesting the upgrade fairy uses a complex model that despite appearances is anything but random.

 

Bingo. You are exactly correct.

 

There is an Upgrade Fairy. It's a computer that makes decisions based on what is best for the cruiseline.

 

Even upgrades that can seem to make sense can limit future options.

 

Of course, if someone is happy with an upgrade and willing to forgo future pricing changes and/or the possibility of not getting back their prior cabin, then by all means go for it and be happy.

 

But, yes you do need to think things through and understand why what is being done is being done.

[Stockjock]

 

What I still don't understand from this discussion is all the talk about what these upgrades cost. I thought the word upgrade implied no cost -- "upsell" includes a cost, right? So why are the OP and others talking about what it cost to change cabins, and what they gained in OBC, etc? I don't get why money is changing hands... I imagine this is clear to all of you who understand the topic, but it is still a mystery to me. For that matter, I don't really understand what rebooking means, either... :o

 

Let me address this question with respect to "cost", which isn't really a cost at that time but could be later.

 

Let's say you have a mid-aft partially obstructed (but barely) cabin that you chose and you got it for $450. Then, the sweethearts give you a free upgrade and move you into a non-obstructed on a higher floor going for $575. Very cool right?

 

Well, maybe...

 

They then drop the price of your old cabin to $375 and the new cabin price drops to $550. You see this and ask for a $75 per person price reduction.

 

Too bad. Your new "upgraded" has been lowered to $550, which is still more than the $450 you paid. So from Princess' perspective, there has not been a price drop at this point. In fact, lucky you, they'll tell you you're actually getting a $100 discount on that cabin.

 

No soup for you, or no specifically, no price reduction for you.

 

You might say, "That's cool. I like my new cabin and I'm perfectly content here, even if I can't get a price reduction".

 

Or, you might say, "Hey, there was a substantial price drop and I want that adjustment".

 

In order to get it, you have to move back into your old partially obstructed category.

 

Surprise, surprise. The best cabins (least obstructed) often go the fastest and/or they might have already put someone else in it.

 

Of course, there are still a couple of rooms in that category available...Facing the side of a lifeboat with zero view. But hey, if you want your $75 price reduction, we'll give it to you if you don't mind the new room with the boat in the way.

 

Oh...you don't want too look at the boat? Just stay in your upgraded cabin with no obstruction and you'll be good to go (no price reductions though).

 

Again, I went through this drill a couple of times. I ultimately changed it to "META" upgrade only, as I have a feeling they'd otherwise take me out of my relatively nice OW partially obstructed oceanview cabin, throw me back on the bow and immediately put someone else in my old cabin.

 

In fact, when I asked to be moved back to my old cabin for the 2nd time (moved from the non-obstructed forward cabin over the theater), I noticed that they *immediately* put someone else back in that forward cabin once I was moved out.

 

So it was like, "Let's move stockjock out and upgrade another OW obstructed instantaneously". I was online and I watched me being moved back to my old room and then, in less than 1 minute, my former forward "upgrade" room was assigned to a new passenger.

 

Got a feeling that the process is a lot more sophisticated and a lot less random than many might suppose.

 

As I also mentioned, once final payment is paid, that's when the real games begin, if there's still room. They'll run "flash sales" for new bookings only that you won't be able to match. In fact, they'll probably tell you they don't even see them and that you are getting the best price.

Edited October 9, 2014 by Stockjock

[caribill]

But then I found out that a cabin Princess considers superior to a mini-suite is a "family" suite with no balcony, and I certainly did not want that! So even if I had asked for a meta upgrade, I still could have ended up with no balcony.

 

 

Family suite does have a balcony.

[RickEk]

Family suite does have a balcony.

 

Probably meant window suite...:)

[caribill]

Probably meant window suite...:)

 

Passengers in cabins with a balcony do not get upgraded to window suites

[jenp123]

As I also mentioned, once final payment is paid, that's when the real games begin, if there's still room. They'll run "flash sales" for new bookings only that you won't be able to match. In fact, they'll probably tell you they don't even see them and that you are getting the best price.

 

I actually believe that princess agents can't see some of the flash sale pricing. Every time I have looked at a big online discount cruise site, the prices before final payment were worse or similar to booking directly with princess. Once final payment date has passed, I have never been able to get princess to come close to the much cheaper price of online discount sites. My theory is that the cruise lines sell off final inventory to these sites to sell so they don't have to give booked passengers any obc or upgrade because the sale on the cruise is not listed on their own site

[JimmyVWine]

We realized it was better to have other people looking down on us from their balconies than it would have been to look down on them -- at least we got an unobstructed view of the sea.

 

And this is exactly why I love Dolphin Deck Mini-Suites so much. When I am on the balcony, there is nothing but ocean and sky in my field of vision. If other people want to stare at the back of my head and watch me sip a glass of wine, then so be it. I choose to believe that people on cruise ships have better things to do with their time than watch me enjoying myself. I have never understood the extreme concern some have with the "lack of privacy" of the Dolphin balconies. I have the same level of privacy there (more, actually), as I do dining in the MDR in full view of the other passengers. Is cruising on a ship with 3000 other people really the best place for people to vacation if they have extreme privacy issues? :confused:

[SeagoingMom]

Family suite does have a balcony.

 

Probably meant window suite...:)

Yep, that must be what they called it -- all I know is it was a "better" cabin than ours and didn't have a balcony. :)