The suite gambit

[Ktuluorion]

Has anyone ever successfully executed the following scenario?

 

I see cruises for next week that have cheap inside rooms (~600$/pp) that still have available suites. My thought is to book the inside room, then immediately call the upsell department and ask to upsell to the suite. Seems like the going rate for the upsell is 500-700, which would mean a total of around $2000 for a suite room.

 

Does this work?

[abbyar]

Not generally - I've heard stories of the upgrade department not selling suite upgrades to Inside/Outside passengers, only Mini-Suite and up (occasionally balcony and up but haven't heard that happen many times). So you can try the Inside - Minisuite and then Minisuite - Suite and see what happens.

[kcwingwalker]

You can call and try. I upgraded from a balcony to the Owners Suite on the Jewel a couple of weeks before we cruised. Not a bargain, but the offer was reasonable. The OS had been reserved for a CAS member and her name was on our door for the entire cruise. She must have cancelled and I called at the right time.

 

Good Luck:)

[Rileyz]

Has anyone ever successfully executed the following scenario?

 

I see cruises for next week that have cheap inside rooms (~600$/pp) that still have available suites. My thought is to book the inside room, then immediately call the upsell department and ask to upsell to the suite. Seems like the going rate for the upsell is 500-700, which would mean a total of around $2000 for a suite room.

 

Does this work?

 

Be prepared to stay in that inside room. I won't say you have no chance but it's slim at best.

[Boschmann]

I moved from an OV to the GV on the Star in March. Booked a decent price just after final payment date with good promos. The up sell email for suites started about 30 days out (I called w/in 10 minutes of receiving). Villas were gone in two hours, and all suites, starting with the higher levels, were filled about 10-12 days later. So waiting until one week out is very dicey as I'm sure up sell offers have already been made and what shows on the NCL site is not always up to the minute/hour accurate. I've seen the same scenario one week or less out and mock booked the available suite only to get the "oops category unavailable" screen. Sometimes I've seen a suite or Haven guaranty booking which would indicate something may still be available, but in general - be prepared to stay in the inside....

Edited June 3, 2016 by Boschmann

[BirdTravels]

Seems like a big gamble. But,,, any time on a cruise is good time,,, even if it is not in a suite.

[triptolemus]

The more people attempt to game the system at the upsell department and post about it on a public forum, the quicker you can expect the upsell department to turn off the ringer on their phones and stop taking incoming calls.

 

Every day here, it's five or six threads about the upsell department... think NCL isn't reading?

[Boschmann]

I wouldn't call it gaming the system. NCL always has a last minute deal section, it was even prominently placed on the home page a few days ago. Those last minute discount deals are not always so great as they usually lack perks/promos and pre-embarkation reservations are often full. Since NCL decides to do up sells, I see no reason a last minute booker should not get the same opportunity as someone who booked months before. However, as previous replies have stated, the chances are very slim. By the time last minute discounts are given most up sells have already happened.

 

I do agree up sells may become rarer or even hidden if too many callers clog the phones calling multiple times. In my case I called at five weeks out and nicely asked to be put on a list for suites. I got an email based on whatever criteria they use.

[vicocala]

Not generally - I've heard stories of the upgrade department not selling suite upgrades to Inside/Outside passengers, only Mini-Suite and up (occasionally balcony and up but haven't heard that happen many times). So you can try the Inside - Minisuite and then Minisuite - Suite and see what happens.

 

I've had upsells from my last two seven day cruises from balconies. One they called me and one I called them. They were desirable balconies though, one was a spa balcony and was upsold into a spa suite and one was a large balcony to a penthouse suite.

 

To the OP: I would say that many others have the same idea so I doubt it would work. It is like booking a guarantee though, only book what you book if you can live with it.

[jobey]

Not generally - I've heard stories of the upgrade department not selling suite upgrades to Inside/Outside passengers, only Mini-Suite and up (occasionally balcony and up but haven't heard that happen many times). So you can try the Inside - Minisuite and then Minisuite - Suite and see what happens.

 

Yesterday I called the upsell department and upgraded from an Inside to a Mini-Suite. A week or so prior when I called I was offered upgrades from my Inside to any of three different Haven suites. I'm happy with my MA.

[graphicguy]

This was about a year and a half ago, but by chance I was able to talk to a business planner for Royal Caribbean. She was only into the job about 2 years or so but knew some interesting policies.

 

Not sure how much of this relates to NCL, but she offered the following...

 

-All cabins are priced within a variance of a few percentage points of what they try to sell for, and what they do sell for. The percentage was confidential, but the lower categories (i.e. inside) had the smallest possible variances and the Suites had the highest possible variances. Makes sense.

 

-TA commissions were set amount, unless there were a slow selling cruise or cabin category on a cruise. Some TA's bought blocks of cabins in specific categories. The most popular being balcony cabins (no surprise).

 

-RCL doesn't care if you dealt directly with them or through a TA.

 

-Upgrades offered were based on algorithms that allowed them to make more $$$ by doing the upgrade. If they couldn't make at or over that threshold, they'd rather let the cabin remain empty.

 

Bottom line, as it pertains to this thread, probably not going to get a suite, or anything in the Haven if you're booked in a lower level cabin, as it doesn't make financial sense to the cruise line. I'm sure there's a minimum per passenger they're adhering to. It costs the cruise line more for the services they offer to Haven guests, than it costs for a guest in an inside cabin.

 

 

 

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[don't-use-real-name]

Wouldn't it be better for NCL to accept an upsell from an IC OV cabin to a step

or two higher (BC or MS) then accept an offer of the BC or MS to the Suite

Haven or Garden minimizing the loss of profit ?

The upsell - If an upsell was the amount of the 4 or more promos that is giving

away the farm ah er cruise. Wouldn't make sense at all. Best for NCL would be

zero out the promos and then offer the upgrade to least expensive suite but no

jumping 3 or more cabin categories

[txagfan]

Mods...what's it going to take to get one sticky thread for this upsell nonsense. This works on other boards I visit like Flyertalk and eliminates this noise with some active moderation to merge new threads into the stickied thread.

 

Also, every time one of your posts this type of inquiry you increase the demand for upsells. I don't think these are a big secret, but a daily post will make them go up significantly in value. The only thing worse than these posts are the people who say they call every single day to upsell line...get a life.

Edited June 6, 2016 by txagfan

[suzycruise]

Mods...what's it going to take to get one sticky thread for this upsell nonsense. This works on other boards I visit like Flyertalk and eliminates this noise with some active moderation to merge new threads into the stickied thread.

 

Also, every time one of your posts this type of inquiry you increase the demand for upsells. I don't think these are a big secret, but a daily post will make them go up significantly in value. The only thing worse than these posts are the people who say they call every single day to upsell line...get a life.

Thank you^^^ all this talk about UPSELL and people freely distributing the number is ridiculous. Don't get me started on those who say they call daily.

I don't follow or read the threads for other cruise lines because I've been a dedicated NCL enthusiast for 6 years but I'm curious if there is as much talk about UPSELLS as there is here?

Don't get me wrong... I've been in a Haven Penthouse on the GETAWAY. When I got the EMAIL FROM NCL I was giddy and excited for the opportunity and I took the offer. I just would never imagine that it's a right to get to the HAVEN by booking insides and then trying to score a discount to the top. BTW I was booked in an AFT BALCONY and gave it up to upgrade to the HAVEN. I'm booked in an aft balcony on the Breakaway for Nov. 2016. I'll hope to get an offer from them to upgrade but I won't bug the crap out of them daily for 30 days prior to the sailing to get one. Rant over.