Do first time cruisers ever get upgrade offers?

[galensgrl]

Have any first time cruisers ever gotten a last minute upgrade offer? I am holding out hope, but wondering if it's a pipe dream.

 

Our cruise is 10 days out and for what it's worth it appears that there are 8 Signature Suites and 8 Neptunes still available.

 

Oh my gosh get on that phone and call them! Just tell them who you are and your current stateroom booking, and ask if there are any upsells available, start there. If they say yes, if you have a particular stateroom in mind, ask about it. It's easy to feel shy about these things but this is just business as usual for them. You never know unless you ask. If they say they can't do it, at least you tried. Hopefully though you might get a better stateroom assignment. We cruised 4 times on NCL, and the first three cruises we were offered better digs by the upsell fairy, but our last cruise was sold out, so no upsell that time. Good luck. :D

 

Lorie

Edited March 20, 2015 by galensgrl
more information to add

[Shmoo here]

Have any first time cruisers ever gotten a last minute upgrade offer? I am holding out hope, but wondering if it's a pipe dream.

 

Our cruise is 10 days out and for what it's worth it appears that there are 8 Signature Suites and 8 Neptunes still available.

 

Our first cruise with HAL we never received an upsell offer. However, 2 days before our cruise we were upgraded (free). From a G to a VB.

 

Our last cruise with HAL (our 3rd HAL cruise) we received 3 different upsell offers. Didn't accept any of them.

[Hlitner]

The HAL upsell "scheme" is somewhat unique. On most other mass market lines you might get lucky and get a free upgrade. But HAL has taken "upgrades" to a new level with the philosophy of why give anything away they can sell. From a business perspective it does make a lot of sense. That being said, we once had a HAL cruise booking that cost us about $22,000 for a lower category cabin and our cruise agent roared (with laughter) when HAL faxed her an upsell offer for only $9,999 to a nice suite. The agent was still laughing when she got me on the phone and we also joined in the chuckles. So we actually had the agent call HAL and make a counteroffer of $4999.99 which HAL quickly rejected. And the outcome was that the particular suite was empty for the entire 2 month cruise except when it was used by Guest Entertainers (who paid nothing).

 

Hank

[winddawn]

Oh my gosh get on that phone and call them! Just tell them who you are and your current stateroom booking, and ask if there are any upsells available, start there. If they say yes, if you have a particular stateroom in mind, ask about it. It's easy to feel shy about these things but this is just business as usual for them. You never know unless you ask. If they say they can't do it, at least you tried. Hopefully though you might get a better stateroom assignment. We cruised 4 times on NCL, and the first three cruises we were offered better digs by the upsell fairy, but our last cruise was sold out, so no upsell that time. Good luck. :D

 

Lorie

That's a good point. You don't know unless you ask. In my case, I'd ask except that I'm cruising solo and I know I'd have to pay 2x the upgrade price and that is just not acceptable to me.

[cl.klink]

Having said HAL yet, but first ever cruise we were upgraded to a Royal Suite (2nd best type for ship) on Celebrity Infinity. Spoiled us forever.

- Joel

[winddawn]

I ended up with 2 upsell email offers and did not take either one. HAL upgraded me last night to an oceanview from inside. So after the free upgrade, I took galensgrl's advice and called HAL today to inquire about what they would do for an upsell. I got a VQ verandah for $158 (solo fare). Considering the cruise was free to start with (just paid taxes), I'm pretty happy with what I ended up with. VQ wouldn't have been my preference if I was paying full price, but for $158 solo, I think it is worth it and at least I have a balcony and convenient location.

[Friend100]

This is great! Enjoy the cruise.

[NCLuckyWon]

Oh my gosh get on that phone and call them! Just tell them who you are and your current stateroom booking, and ask if there are any upsells available, start there. If they say yes, if you have a particular stateroom in mind, ask about it. It's easy to feel shy about these things but this is just business as usual for them. You never know unless you ask. If they say they can't do it, at least you tried. Hopefully though you might get a better stateroom assignment. We cruised 4 times on NCL, and the first three cruises we were offered better digs by the upsell fairy, but our last cruise was sold out, so no upsell that time. Good luck. :D

 

Lorie

 

I called HAL directly about this roughly 2 weeks ago and was told I would not get upgraded for free because I indicated when I booked that I did not want any automatic upgrades. I was told there was no way to change that now and the person I spoke to said I would have to pay full price if I wanted to pay for an upgrade - around $1500 each, which I declined. I was given an e-mail address and told te only other thing I could do was send a note letting HAL reps in charge of such things know that I was open to an upsell at a discount, but I never got a response one way or the other. Now I'm wondering if the person I spoke to gave me bad info?

[cruz chic]

I called HAL directly about this roughly 2 weeks ago and was told I would not get upgraded for free because I indicated when I booked that I did not want any automatic upgrades. I was told there was no way to change that now and the person I spoke to said I would have to pay full price if I wanted to pay for an upgrade - around $1500 each, which I declined. I was given an e-mail address and told te only other thing I could do was send a note letting HAL reps in charge of such things know that I was open to an upsell at a discount, but I never got a response one way or the other. Now I'm wondering if the person I spoke to gave me bad info?

 

No, I think the info you got was correct. It's very possible that there are no upgrades available to upgrade you to.

[galensgrl]

That's a good point. You don't know unless you ask. In my case, I'd ask except that I'm cruising solo and I know I'd have to pay 2x the upgrade price and that is just not acceptable to me.

 

Those solo supplements seem so unfair, but I am glad it all worked out and you got a better cabin. Bon Voyage!

 

Lorie

Edited March 25, 2015 by galensgrl

[winddawn]

Those solo supplements seem so unfair, but I am glad it all worked out and you got a better cabin. Bon Voyage!

 

Lorie

Thank you for the kind words, Lorie. I'm looking forward to enjoying that verandah. :-)

[samisone]

she had no clue what the DVD player was as this was their 1st trip out of Iowa.

 

I can understand your confusion. It is a common misconception that we in Iowa don't have running water, DVDs, DVRs, the Internet, or even M&Ms. :)

[jeepster93]

My 1st HAL cruise is 10 days out.

No upgrades. Yet. And most likely not going to be any...

As of this morning.

[winddawn]

I called HAL directly about this roughly 2 weeks ago and was told I would not get upgraded for free because I indicated when I booked that I did not want any automatic upgrades. I was told there was no way to change that now and the person I spoke to said I would have to pay full price if I wanted to pay for an upgrade - around $1500 each, which I declined. I was given an e-mail address and told te only other thing I could do was send a note letting HAL reps in charge of such things know that I was open to an upsell at a discount, but I never got a response one way or the other. Now I'm wondering if the person I spoke to gave me bad info?

I looked this evening and it looked to me like the Neptune suites are gone for the 29th sailing, having sold since I last checked yesterday. In fact, it looks like there are few cabins remaining at all.

 

I'm glad I called them yesterday.

[cruz chic]

My 1st HAL cruise is 10 days out.

No upgrades. Yet. And most likely not going to be any...

As of this morning.

 

Unless you are in an inside there is no place to go from the look of it.