Where's my upgrade option?

[CricketCruiser]

Hello Cruisers,

 

Question for you. Booked directly through Princess, 4/8/18 Regal sailing (Western Carib), inside cabin category 1B (highest category for this type of room I guess). When I booked, the agent explained booking this higher category would mean I would be eligible for a free upgrade or up-sell offer before a customer who booked a lower category. I am very interested in a balcony upgrade up-sell but I seem to be the only one not receiving an offer via email. My agent doesn't know anything about it and it's too late to transfer my booking to an outside travel agent who may be better suited to help with a situation like this.

 

Any advice would be appreciated!! If I'm out of luck on the pre-cruise up-sell option, what about after I get on the ship?

 

Would really like a balcony for this important birthday + 26th anniversary cruise if possible plus having the fresh air option is helpful for my husband's sea sickness problem. There were financial issues or we would have gone with the balcony, but it meant adding over $600 to the booking at that time which wasn't doable for me. :o

 

Thanks!

Julie

[paul929207]

You can call Princess to verify that you are will to accept an upgrade. Princess aims to sell cabins at the normal price not give them away or even get an upsell. So often there are few if any upgrades and upsells offered. As to on the ship, by then virtually all the cabins will be filled. If there is an empty, it will not be with a discount price.

[miss prairie girl]

Hello Cruisers,

 

Question for you. Booked directly through Princess, 4/8/18 Regal sailing (Western Carib), inside cabin category 1B (highest category for this type of room I guess). When I booked, the agent explained booking this higher category would mean I would be eligible for a free upgrade or up-sell offer before a customer who booked a lower category. I am very interested in a balcony upgrade up-sell but I seem to be the only one not receiving an offer via email. My agent doesn't know anything about it and it's too late to transfer my booking to an outside travel agent who may be better suited to help with a situation like this.

 

Any advice would be appreciated!! If I'm out of luck on the pre-cruise up-sell option, what about after I get on the ship?

 

Would really like a balcony for this important birthday + 26th anniversary cruise if possible plus having the fresh air option is helpful for my husband's sea sickness problem. There were financial issues or we would have gone with the balcony, but it meant adding over $600 to the booking at that time which wasn't doable for me. :o

 

Thanks!

Julie

 

How do you know you are the only one not receiving an email for an upgrade or for an upsell? (BTW, an upgrade and an upsell are two different things).

[tailspintom]

Hello Cruisers,

 

Question for you. Booked directly through Princess, 4/8/18 Regal sailing (Western Carib), inside cabin category 1B (highest category for this type of room I guess). When I booked, the agent explained booking this higher category would mean I would be eligible for a free upgrade or up-sell offer before a customer who booked a lower category. I am very interested in a balcony upgrade up-sell but I seem to be the only one not receiving an offer via email. My agent doesn't know anything about it and it's too late to transfer my booking to an outside travel agent who may be better suited to help with a situation like this.

 

Any advice would be appreciated!! If I'm out of luck on the pre-cruise up-sell option, what about after I get on the ship?

 

Would really like a balcony for this important birthday + 26th anniversary cruise if possible plus having the fresh air option is helpful for my husband's sea sickness problem. There were financial issues or we would have gone with the balcony, but it meant adding over $600 to the booking at that time which wasn't doable for me. :o

 

Thanks!

Julie

I don't see a lot of balcony inventory that seems to be available. Princess will have held back some balcony cabins to fulfill their guarantee obligations. With only a week to go you will have to be very fortunate for an upgrade to a balcony. This cruise is nicely sold out with some good pricing for the cruiser. Enjoy your cruise from wherever you sleep, there are lots of good public spaces to get a view and air.

[memoak]

.If you look on line you will see that there are very few balconies shown as available on that cruise - I would not get my hopes up for any upgrade of upsell. I have done 35 cruises with Princess and have never gotten a free upgrade and only 2 upsell offers (both from mini suites to full suites Princess nearly always sails close to full on most cruises and I never plan on any upgrades or upsells

[skynight]

Cat 1A is the highest interior cat.. So you could receive an upgrade and still be in an interior cabin. Have you checked your cruise personlizer for cabin assignment. Does it still show the same? Sometimes upgrades are assigned and you don't receive notification. I think your T.A. gave you misleading information.

[moki'smommy]

There is no such thing as a promise that you'll get an upgrade. The upgrade (or upsell) drops the magic when it benefits Princess, not when we wish for one. Sorry that the booking agent gave you what might be false hope; they really shouldn't make anything close to a promise!

[CricketCruiser]

How do you know you are the only one not receiving an email for an upgrade or for an upsell? (BTW, an upgrade and an upsell are two different things).

 

Thanks for taking the time to respond with this helpful information.

[CricketCruiser]

.If you look on line you will see that there are very few balconies shown as available on that cruise - I would not get my hopes up for any upgrade of upsell. I have done 35 cruises with Princess and have never gotten a free upgrade and only 2 upsell offers (both from mini suites to full suites Princess nearly always sails close to full on most cruises and I never plan on any upgrades or upsells

 

I see, thanks. We've only done one other Princess cruise in the past, we've been on NCL five times in the last several years, being bumped up is pretty common in our experience, we always go with a guarantee, and normally book within one month of sailing. I've received a free balcony to mini-suite upgrade, gotten aft balconies twice and an ocean view to balcony. Every line is different. Looking very forward to going with Princess again!

[Lucky TGO]

Sometimes your luck just runs out. :eek: You will still be on a cruise and how bad is that??

Tony

[caribill]

Being eligible for an upgrade or upsell is the default status for every booking. In other words, just about everyone on the ship is eligible. Only those who specifically ask to have their booking marked "will not accept an upgrade" are not eligible for a free upgrade, but still might get an upsell offer.

 

So if your TA said you were eligible for an upgrade, he/she was telling the truth. Obviously thousands of passengers eligible for an upgrade or upsell will get neither.

 

Princess offers upsells when they have cabins in a higher category left unsold and want to get some additional income on the sailing. Princess offers free upgrades (and also upsells) when there is a need for the type cabin you have. If there is not an unmet demand for the 1B category, there is no reason for Princess to offer you a free upgrade.

 

There used to be many more free upgrades on Princess than there are these days. Two factors are involved.

 

1) Princess used to have a number of cabin categories with very few cabins in them, often as few as four or six cabins. Booking a GTY for such a small category almost always resulted in a free upgrade. However, several years ago Princess revised the categories and the categories with just a few cabins in them disappeared (except, of course, for full suites). Thus many GTY bookings could be satisfied in the category booked.

 

2) Princess figured out that people would buy what they had been giving away, in other words, upsells instead of free upgrades. Not only would people buy them, they were anxious to get upsell offers.

 

By the way, switching TAs (even if possible) would not make a difference in getting or not getting an upgrade or an upsell.

[geoherb]

It seems like the Princess agent misled you. There's really no rhyme or reason why some people get upgrades while others don't. For instance, sometimes (very infrequently) people get really lucky and get upgraded from an inside cabin to a balcony even on ships that have ocean view cabins, unlike the Royal and Regal. And that means that hundreds of passengers in ocean view cabins were skipped over.

 

It's possible that people with guarantees in lower inside cabin categories got upgraded to balconies on your cruise. Or it could be that no one did because balcony cabins sold well. On one of our cruises last year, Princess was actually having to offer move-down offers to people in balcony cabins because they had overbooked them.

 

The secret is to never book a category of cabin that you will not be happy with. Sometimes you get exactly what you paid for.

[Teesull22]

Wife and I booked a balcony last week for Alaska this August, 2 days later TA emailed us saying we are now in a mini for $20 less.

[Coral]

Wife and I booked a balcony last week for Alaska this August, 2 days later TA emailed us saying we are now in a mini for $20 less.

 

In this case, I think the TA was watching prices and realized she could get you a better cabin for less and then acted upon that.

[Coral]

Hello Cruisers,

 

Question for you. Booked directly through Princess, 4/8/18 Regal sailing (Western Carib), inside cabin category 1B (highest category for this type of room I guess). When I booked, the agent explained booking this higher category would mean I would be eligible for a free upgrade or up-sell offer before a customer who booked a lower category.

 

If you really want a balcony, book it.

 

Either the agent mislead you or you read more into what they said thinking it indicated you would get an upgrade or upsell.

 

Almost everyone is eligible for this. There are a lot of factors into this (availability) on how many are offered this. I have also seen where those in lower categories are offered upgrades over those in higher categories in the same type of cabin (insides, etc..). Having a birthday over the cruise may help the situation.

[cruzsnooze]

You won't get an email even if an upsell is offered because you used a TA they will get the email. The TA then hopefully will forward it to you. I used a big box retailer's travel dept and they do not forward upsells along becaue they say they don't get to their email in a timely fashion.

[caribill]

You won't get an email even if an upsell is offered because you used a TA they will get the email. The TA then hopefully will forward it to you. I used a big box retailer's travel dept and they do not forward upsells along becaue they say they don't get to their email in a timely fashion.

 

Right, that is how upsells usually work.

 

However, if Princess is really desperate to make a cabin of your type available, they will contact you directly even if you use a TA.

[CricketCruiser]

Sometimes your luck just runs out. :eek: You will still be on a cruise and how bad is that??

Tony

 

Exactly! We're not disappointed in the least, so thrilled to be going on a cruise next week regardless of the cabin type, which is a small thing. But, like many other people, if there's a chance to pay a bit more for an upgrade we'd like the opportunity if it's available. :D

[CricketCruiser]

You won't get an email even if an upsell is offered because you used a TA they will get the email. The TA then hopefully will forward it to you. I used a big box retailer's travel dept and they do not forward upsells along becaue they say they don't get to their email in a timely fashion.

 

I see. Well here's the thing, I actually I booked directly through Princess and paid $75 more than a quote I had already received from a TA because he sold me on the idea that he could give me an inside cabin in the highest category which would create a better pathway to a possible balcony upgrade. So because I paid extra for this it's natural that I would welcome the upgrade. The other thing is, when I was looking at this cruise a month ago, there were a lot more cabins available, they must have run good sales and now it's booked up.

[CricketCruiser]

It seems like the Princess agent misled you. There's really no rhyme or reason why some people get upgrades while others don't. For instance, sometimes (very infrequently) people get really lucky and get upgraded from an inside cabin to a balcony even on ships that have ocean view cabins, unlike the Royal and Regal. And that means that hundreds of passengers in ocean view cabins were skipped over.

 

It's possible that people with guarantees in lower inside cabin categories got upgraded to balconies on your cruise. Or it could be that no one did because balcony cabins sold well. On one of our cruises last year, Princess was actually having to offer move-down offers to people in balcony cabins because they had overbooked them.

 

The secret is to never book a category of cabin that you will not be happy with. Sometimes you get exactly what you paid for.

 

That's interesting. I agree with you, and I'm not complaining about the inside cabin just trying to learn how Princess works, we're as happy as clams to be sailing next week. Most of our cruises we book within 3-4 weeks of sailing so we're used to being on a guarantee, and getting bumped up (on NCL). Our loyalty situation on NCL may have worked in our favor as well. :D

[CricketCruiser]

Being eligible for an upgrade or upsell is the default status for every booking. In other words, just about everyone on the ship is eligible. Only those who specifically ask to have their booking marked "will not accept an upgrade" are not eligible for a free upgrade, but still might get an upsell offer.

 

So if your TA said you were eligible for an upgrade, he/she was telling the truth. Obviously thousands of passengers eligible for an upgrade or upsell will get neither.

 

Princess offers upsells when they have cabins in a higher category left unsold and want to get some additional income on the sailing. Princess offers free upgrades (and also upsells) when there is a need for the type cabin you have. If there is not an unmet demand for the 1B category, there is no reason for Princess to offer you a free upgrade.

 

There used to be many more free upgrades on Princess than there are these days. Two factors are involved.

 

1) Princess used to have a number of cabin categories with very few cabins in them, often as few as four or six cabins. Booking a GTY for such a small category almost always resulted in a free upgrade. However, several years ago Princess revised the categories and the categories with just a few cabins in them disappeared (except, of course, for full suites). Thus many GTY bookings could be satisfied in the category booked.

 

2) Princess figured out that people would buy what they had been giving away, in other words, upsells instead of free upgrades. Not only would people buy them, they were anxious to get upsell offers.

 

By the way, switching TAs (even if possible) would not make a difference in getting or not getting an upgrade or an upsell.

 

Great information, thanks!

[metairiegal]

The only time we have been upgraded was one time from an inside to a window - that was located under the treadmills!