Celebrity Cruises Introduces Upgrade Program for Loyal Cruisers

[kenevenpar]

To me:

 

Upgrades are free

 

Upsells are for a fee

 

These are definitely for a fee and I would suspect they will be at amounts that the market will bear.

[cle-guy]

To me:

 

Upgrades are free

 

Upsells are for a fee

 

These are definitely for a fee and I would suspect they will be at amounts that the market will bear.

 

My friend upgraded Aqua to Sky suite for flat $500 (not pp). The difference in the price between what he paid for Aqua and what Sky was selling for was about $2700.

[ghstudio]

The complimentary upgrade of one level within the same cabin class for captain's club members has not changed. You can still book a C2 for the price of a C3, or an A1 for the price of an A2 for example. You have to do this when you first book your cabin.

 

This latest offer is for a last minute upgrade at a fee, most likely between classes (eg. C2 to S2), at what's likely a very attractive cost....but there is a cost. You can call this an upsell offer.

[FloridaGirlLovesToCruise]

The complimentary upgrade of one level within the same cabin class for captain's club members has not changed. You can still book a C2 for the price of a C3, or an A1 for the price of an A2 for example. You have to do this when you first book your cabin.

 

 

 

This latest offer is for a last minute upgrade at a fee, most likely between classes (eg. C2 to S2), at what's likely a very attractive cost....but there is a cost. You can call this an upsell offer.

 

 

I have asked for the complimentary one category upgrade after final payment (C-3 to C-2) and my travel agent was able to get it for me. When I originally booked, there were no C-2 cabins available I wanted. I was able to keep all my perks and no additional cost to upgrade.

[kathynorth]

My friend upgraded Aqua to Sky suite for flat $500 (not pp). The difference in the price between what he paid for Aqua and what Sky was selling for was about $2700.

 

Was your friend able to keep all prior perks?

[cle-guy]

Was your friend able to keep all prior perks?

yes. this paid upgrade policy allows one to keep all perks.

 

You are not upgrading to a new cabin and fare, you are paying a fee for an upgrade. The fee is much like paying for a shore excursion, or buying a dinner package, not part of cabin fare.

[hcat]

That sounds like a good upsell for your friends...but we liked cruising better when it was less about the money, alcohol, loud music and being "chic".

[kenevenpar]

yes. this paid upgrade policy allows one to keep all perks.

 

You are not upgrading to a new cabin and fare, you are paying a fee for an upgrade. The fee is much like paying for a shore excursion, or buying a dinner package, not part of cabin fare.

 

And if it matters, IIRC, you earn CC points at the old (booked) level.

[elkay68]

Are the upsell offers random? We are 33 days from sailing. We booked a GTY suite and got a S2. As on now there are still 6 RS available and 1 CS. I am willing to pay for an upsell (within reason).

We booked through Cekebrity, is there any number I can contact?

[az_tchr]

The upgrade offer is with 45 DAYS -- not 45 minutes. You are emailed an offer to PAY a fee to upgrade. Plus because the UPGRADE is considered a perk - you only get the Captains's Club points of the cabin class you originally booked. So if you end up in a Sky suite from an Aqua - you get the Aqua points x number of days. They say this new program was due to CC customers feedback -- so looks like free upgrades, as rare as they were - are most likely gone.

 

Absolutely correct. On our last Med cruise with about 20 empty cabins there were some 5 upgrade offers. On a recent TA cruise - NONE. Very simple - once Celebrity gets past the pay in full date or 45 days they will send out emails offering upgrades IF there are any. You get the freebies you already booked and waive additional CClub points. How is there is much ado about what is only formalizing what was already in place?

 

As to upgrading to a RS from a GTY cabin S2 - not likely. They in the past offered suites on an upsell to AQ cabins first. The RS to smaller suites etc. Usually one grade up. We did have the offer of a Celebrity suite from AQ on one cruise for $900pp. Would keep my expectations a bit lower.

Edited November 17, 2015 by az_tchr
spelling

[elkay68]

Absolutely correct. On our last Med cruise with about 20 empty cabins there were some 5 upgrade offers. On a recent TA cruise - NONE. Very simple - once Celebrity gets past the pay in full date or 45 days they will send out emails offering upgrades IF there are any. You get the freebies you already booked and waive additional CClub points. How is there is much ado about what is only formalizing what was already in place?

 

As to upgrading to a RS from a GTY cabin S2 - not likely. They in the past offered suites on an upsell to AQ cabins first. The RS to smaller suites etc. Usually one grade up. We did have the offer of a Celebrity suite from AQ on one cruise for $900pp. Would keep my expectations a bit lower.

 

Thank you. I thought they were random but thought I would inquire as I have only experienced upsells with HAL. No need to keep my expectations lower as I have no expectations:)

[cle-guy]

Thank you. I thought they were random but thought I would inquire as I have only experienced upsells with HAL. No need to keep my expectations lower as I have no expectations:)

 

I'd recommend calling Captains club (not the general number, since this is a perk for members now) and asking about upgrade if you are close in and there are better cabins open. Be proactive. Worst case they say no.

[elkay68]

I'd recommend calling Captains club (not the general number, since this is a perk for members now) and asking about upgrade if you are close in and there are better cabins open. Be proactive. Worst case they say no.

 

Will do! I am one who is not affraid to ask for the very reason is the worse one can say is no.

[boscobeans]

I'd recommend calling Captains club (not the general number, since this is a perk for members now) and asking about upgrade if you are close in and there are better cabins open. Be proactive. Worst case they say no.

 

I did, less than a half hour ago and got what is either bad information or good information on another Celebrity mess.

 

After verifying each point repeatedly with the CC agent I was told the following:

 

1. There will be only ONE (1) email sent out if there is only (1) cabin that can be upgraded to.

 

2. The ONE (1) email will only be sent out to ONE (1) member of the CC and that ONE (1) member has 24 hours to accept or reject the offer. (Shades of Willy Wonka's Golden Ticket.)

 

3. The kicker is that (YES I ASKED IF THIS WAS CORRECT THREE TIMES) the email will be sent only to Captain's Club members who booked directly with Celebrity If you booked with an agent the AGENT and only the AGENT will get the GOLDEN TICKET email and hopefully will get in touch with the client.

 

Why make such an announcement to so many Captain's Club members if only a scant few will have the opportunity to take advantage of the offered upgrade if it is worth the bother to begin with? Why not just send out the one or two emails with a first come first served message to a dozen or so members and keep their silly BIG ANNOUNCEMENT of a CAPTAIN'S CLUB PERK to themselves?

 

OMO

 

bosco

[cle-guy]

I did, less than a half hour ago and got what is either bad information or good information on another Celebrity mess.

 

After verifying each point repeatedly with the CC agent I was told the following:

 

1. There will be only ONE (1) email sent out if there is only (1) cabin that can be upgraded to.

 

2. The ONE (1) email will only be sent out to ONE (1) member of the CC and that ONE (1) member has 24 hours to accept or reject the offer. (Shades of Willy Wonka's Golden Ticket.)

 

3. The kicker is that (YES I ASKED IF THIS WAS CORRECT THREE TIMES) the email will be sent only to Captain's Club members who booked directly with Celebrity If you booked with an agent the AGENT and only the AGENT will get the GOLDEN TICKET email and hopefully will get in touch with the client.

 

Why make such an announcement to so many Captain's Club members if only a scant few will have the opportunity to take advantage of the offered upgrade if it is worth the bother to begin with? Why not just send out the one or two emails with a first come first served message to a dozen or so members and keep their silly BIG ANNOUNCEMENT of a CAPTAIN'S CLUB PERK to themselves?

 

OMO

 

bosco

 

I can understand the policy being as you laid out. There's usually only a half dozen or so cabins in the high categories to upgrade to. If they sent out emails to 800 CC members on that sailing for 6 potential upgrades, can you imagine the chaos at the call centers? The hold times are bad enough now. Add 800 calls, 794 of which the call center can only say," sorry you called too late"...chaos.

 

My friend booked with an agent, and his agent contacted him, and my friend took the upgrade - the system worked perfectly in his case.

[boscobeans]

How does it work?

When these Reduced Rate Upgrades are made available, our valuable Captain's Club members will be given a one-day advanced notice to take advantage of the offer. The notification will be made only by email and sent to you on a Tuesday. If we have the consumer email on file too, then Loyalty consumers will also be notified on Tuesdays, while Non-Loyalty consumers will be notified on Wednesdays. Should your clients be the lucky recipient of one of these offers, please call us immediately for details and to check on remaining inventory, as the upgrades are provided on a first-come, first-served basis and are reliant on availability.

 

Was this meant for agents ONLY? I haven't been a CLIA member, a Certified Celebrity Cruise Consultant or sold a cruise in almost 15 years, I am retired.

 

Why send out the message at all? If there is one upgrade open, send out a couple of emails with the first come first serve stipulation instead of 1 and 1 only with a 24 hour right to refuse. Just seems like a poor way to do what could be done more rapidly with just a phone call or two to loyal members.

 

bosco

[1cruiselvr]

Maybe you have a better chance of getting a upsell with Celebrity then you do with HAL . It makes little sense offering these deals to new rather then frequent customers but , as I previously posted , I happily accepted an upsell on my one and only HAL cruse . So your odds are good .;)

 

Nice thought but we are not new to X....got 295 points, headed toward Elite soon. BTW I don't believe newbies are targeted for upsells. Just my opinion on the subject. I believe it's based on how bad they need your cabin category.

[POA1]

Nice thought but we are not new to X....got 295 points, headed toward Elite soon. BTW I don't believe newbies are targeted for upsells. Just my opinion on the subject. I believe it's based on how bad they need your cabin category.

Might just be luck of the draw, but we're travelling with family - 3 rooms on the Silhouette. None of us have been on Celebrity before. Two of the 3 parties have gotten upsell emails. Could just be a fluke, but we're still pretty far out from our sailing. We're Florida residents, so maybe that's the reason?

[1cruiselvr]

Might just be luck of the draw, but we're travelling with family - 3 rooms on the Silhouette. None of us have been on Celebrity before. Two of the 3 parties have gotten upsell emails. Could just be a fluke, but we're still pretty far out from our sailing. We're Florida residents, so maybe that's the reason?

There are lots of reasons for upsell offers. For example, your Silhouette cruise, is it sold out? If not, your categories might be easier to sell than the cabins offered for the upsell. Many are hoping for suite offers for little $$ incentive and I find that often X cruises are sold out at the suite level and above so that's not a possibility.

You didn't say whether the 2 parties in your group took the upsell offer and if so what was it. I think this board should start a new sticky thread where people can post if they've been offered an upsell, details and if they took it. Would make for interesting reading and people would soon find that not too many get that golden email offer.

[dodger1964]

... I think this board should start a new sticky thread where people can post if they've been offered an upsell, details and if they took it. Would make for interesting reading and people would soon find that not too many get that golden email offer.

 

I agree. It will be nice to start getting some real world examples so,we know what to expect going forward.

[need2bespoiled]

There are lots of reasons for upsell offers. For example, your Silhouette cruise, is it sold out? If not, your categories might be easier to sell than the cabins offered for the upsell. Many are hoping for suite offers for little $$ incentive and I find that often X cruises are sold out at the suite level and above so that's not a possibility.

You didn't say whether the 2 parties in your group took the upsell offer and if so what was it. I think this board should start a new sticky thread where people can post if they've been offered an upsell, details and if they took it. Would make for interesting reading and people would soon find that not too many get that golden email offer.

 

This is a common thread on flyertalk, for various topics, but no sticky needed, any more than it is for the Who's Who thread, Just start it and hope people post to it.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[bsp]

It will be interesting to see how the program operates. We could start a sticky where people can post after they receive the offer & compete the deal. They could let us know what cabin class they were in and what class they were offered, the price and their CC level (if they cared to divulge). We would quickly get an idea of how it was working.

 

I'm in the camp that will guess that it is not be based on CC level but on the open cabins a level above you. I'd doubt a person in a regular veranda cabin is offered a suite - more likely offer a suite to Aqua or Concierge and the balcony gets offered a move to the Aqua or Concierge. Just my humble guess. :D It will be fun to watch! :D

 

I originally booked a verandah guarantee on the Constellation and was assigned cabin 6068 not long after booking. I received the upgrade email and was able to move to any concierge cabin for $100 (I chose 7206 - the very back of the ship). A sky suite would have been an additional $550. We got to keep our perks that we originally booked with and the only other charge was the difference in amount of tips (I think about $5 more). Happy Cruising and good luck on upgrades. Bonnie

[POA1]

We have a family trip booked on the Silhouette out of Port Everglades. It's the first Celebrity cruise for any of us Two of three cabins received an upgrade offer email. They could be targeting new passengers, or they could be targeting people who are close to the port. Whatever it is, it's not because we're long time Celebrity cruisers.

[richstowe]

We have a family trip booked on the Silhouette out of Port Everglades. It's the first Celebrity cruise for any of us Two of three cabins received an upgrade offer email. They could be targeting new passengers, or they could be targeting people who are close to the port. Whatever it is, it's not because we're long time Celebrity cruisers.

Are you taking the offer ? What are the details ?

[POA1]

Are you taking the offer ? What are the details ?

No, we're not. I deleted the email, but it was offering upgrades for another 50% - 70% of the difference in room costs, depending on the category. You had to call for availability. Since we weren't interested, we didn't call. If it were just my wife and I, we might have, but it's a family trip and we picked our rooms based on proximity.