Does Anyone Opt Out Of A Possible Cabin Upgrade

[LindaMG]

In the past we have had an oceanview cabin and a balcony cabin but this time decided to try an interior cabin for our first Alaskan cruise.  We are only ever in our cabin to sleep anyway, preferring to relax in public areas or spending our days exploring the ports.  I booked the cruise online myself and was able to select exactly where I wanted to be, I'm quite fussy about cabin location. The option came up asking if we would be interested in a possible upgrade and decided to reply 'no'.  I just didn't want to risk been upgraded to a cabin in a location I wouldn't be happy with.  So how many of you are also happy to stick with your choice and not risk the upgrade?

[Loritd]

We always mark do not upgrade. We pick a cabin we are happy with and want to stay there. We like being on a high deck, port side, and aft. 

[Retired_Army]

We have our reservations marked upgrade only if it is to a higher room category.  Balcony to a mini-suite or mini-suite to a full suite.  We will not accept in-category "upgrades" from BD to BC etc.  Like you we want the location of our choice and Princess's ideas of an in-category upgrade is not always what we would consider an advantage.

[JEH]

We research available  cabins then book marked upgrade only to Higher Room  Category  Only . It has never happened . 

[Micahs Grandad]

Sometimes their idea of an upgrade makes no sense at all

[PekingeseLady]

I had a NO UPGRADE put on my Alaskan cruise this April.  I had the perfect obst. view on Lido, perfect to me anyways.  But that doesn't stop them from offering you a UPSELL.  I was offered a balcony for only 200 dollars each.  I took it, and picked a balcony on Lido, even though I was offered a higher catagory.  I too love  my location.  If I were to book myself the balcony would have been 1,000 each more.  I didn't because like you we don't spend a lot of time in our cabin.  Have a wonderful cruise, I know I will.  Maybe you'll get a upsell offer too.

[voljeep]

where is that option when booking directly online with Princess ?

[toescat]

100% of the time we opt out. Well I guess 99% of the time as once we took the upgrade and we were given the worse cabin on the ship. We did not sleep the entire cruise except when we were not in our cabin. We did get a voucher for 50% off of our next cruise. We book early enough to pick our cabin and we did not ever upgrade or agree to to an up sell. 

[Colo Cruiser]

4 hours ago, LindaMG said:

In the past we have had an oceanview cabin and a balcony cabin but this time decided to try an interior cabin for our first Alaskan cruise.  We are only ever in our cabin to sleep anyway, preferring to relax in public areas or spending our days exploring the ports.  I booked the cruise online myself and was able to select exactly where I wanted to be, I'm quite fussy about cabin location. The option came up asking if we would be interested in a possible upgrade and decided to reply 'no'.  I just didn't want to risk been upgraded to a cabin in a location I wouldn't be happy with.  So how many of you are also happy to stick with your choice and not risk the upgrade?

You can always turn it down.

[cabin4three]

In the past we cruised  in school term time on longer cruises so would be open to an upgrade, now we sail in school holiday time on no-fly cruises.  These generally sell out so the  chance of getting a good upgrade is limited, we like a cabin midship not too close to main elevators so we tick the no upgrade.

 

In future we we cruise without the kids we will cruise on less popular dates and be open to up grades again.

[victory2020]

52 minutes ago, toescat said:

100% of the time we opt out. Well I guess 99% of the time as once we took the upgrade and we were given the worse cabin on the ship. We did not sleep the entire cruise except when we were not in our cabin. We did get a voucher for 50% off of our next cruise. We book early enough to pick our cabin and we did not ever upgrade or agree to to an up sell. 

Wow, what ship & what room?

[Princess Chatterer]

My T.A. calls cabin class upgrades like Balcony to Mini-Suite a Meta upgrade.  She says this is different than a cabin "upgrade" shuffle like Balcony to Balcony.  I've never been lucky or unlucky enough to receive a Meta upgrade even when flagged on the booking.  I have received upsell offers from a Balcony to Suite!  Sometimes the upsell offer is a great deal.  Other times the upsell offer is only at the full retail price difference which is not a good deal.  When the Princess web site shows your cruise is sold out the chances of an upgrade or upsell are greatly reduced.  One thing for sure.  If you get a cheap upsell offer evaluate it very quickly.  Otherwise you snooze, you lose.  BTW You can still get upsell offers even though your booking says no upgrade.

 

Final point.  Just book the cabin you'll be happy in from the get go.  Don't base your expectations on any upgrades or upsells. 

 

Edited March 2, 2019 by Princess Chatterer

[Reina del Mar]

We book the cabin of our choice and mark booking 'Do not Upgrade'. 

 

What someone in an office who might  never have sailed on a ship might not consider an upgrade to be the same as we consider it to be. 

[Sea Hag]

We opt out of upgrades. What Princess thinks is an upgrade doesn't always match what we think is one. We got bit on that once and won't risk it again.

[GloriaF]

We, too, mark 'no upgrade'.  

[grandma101]

Same here I opt out of upgrades.  I’m fuzzy I like it not far from elevator. This time I lucked out and got aft near elevator and larger balcony.  I’ll stick with what I got!   And saved 245.00 picking it myself!    

[NavyVeteran]

1 hour ago, Princess Chatterer said:

When the Princess web site shows your cruise is sold out the chances of an upgrade or upsell are greatly reduced.

 

I don't think this is true. When the cruise is sold out, they have often sold more lower category cabin guarantees than they have cabins available in those categories, so they will offer upsells to the higher category cabins that are still available.

[NavyVeteran]

6 hours ago, LindaMG said:

So how many of you are also happy to stick with your choice and not risk the upgrade?

 

We never book a mini-suite. Sometimes we book a window suite (if we're on one of the ships that has one) and sometimes we book a balcony. DW has mobility issues after knee replacement surgery and has problems stepping in and out of bathtubs - she needs a walk-in shower. We are not willing to give up the (small) walk-in shower in the balcony cabin for the shower in tub in the mini-suite.

[Thrak]

We've been automagically upgraded twice. Once from a poopy balcony - one of those right on Promenade deck - to a nice midship balcony and the other time from an IF category on Lido to a HC accessible balcony on Caribe deck on Crown Princess. Nice upgrade!

 

We're booked for the Northern Lights cruise in a Premium Obstructed View (actually has a balcony but it's locked except when in port) and are booked in that category as a gty. There are only 10 of those cabins and they are all booked. We should either get that category or maybe be upgrded to a balcony. One or the other of those things should happen or maybe they will offer us an upsell or a move down. Who knows with Princess.

[pris993]

we book a mini suite forward, where we wish to be and say no to any upgrades.

[Colo Cruiser]

41 minutes ago, Thrak said:

We've been automagically upgraded twice. Once from a poopy balcony - one of those right on Promenade deck - to a nice midship balcony and the other time from an IF category on Lido to a HC accessible balcony on Caribe deck on Crown Princess. Nice upgrade!

What balcony is on Promenade deck on the Crown?

 

I thought those were only on the Grand/Star/Golden?

[GottaLuvCruising]

8 hours ago, LindaMG said:

In the past we have had an oceanview cabin and a balcony cabin but this time decided to try an interior cabin for our first Alaskan cruise.  We are only ever in our cabin to sleep anyway, preferring to relax in public areas or spending our days exploring the ports.  I booked the cruise online myself and was able to select exactly where I wanted to be, I'm quite fussy about cabin location. The option came up asking if we would be interested in a possible upgrade and decided to reply 'no'.  I just didn't want to risk been upgraded to a cabin in a location I wouldn't be happy with.  So how many of you are also happy to stick with your choice and not risk the upgrade?

We have the sideways inside staterooms (three of them) on the Grand to Hawaii next month.  The staterooms are 22 sq ft larger than a typical inside, we like the sideways configuration and we love the location.  Princess offered us an ocean view for $109pp more and we (all of us) declined.  

[Cruise Raider]

We nearly always choose a 'meta' upgrade only option when booking on Princess.  This cannot be done via their website so it has to be done via a phone call, either to your TA or directly through Princess.  

We booked guaranteed cabins in the past, when it was cheaper to do so and never had a great cabin assignment when doing that and the last time, our cabin was so bad, we never ever choose this option anymore.  I don't think they offer cheaper prices for guarantees anymore, anyway ... so now there is absolutely no reason not to choose your own cabin in a location that works for you.  

With the meta upgrade listed, we got an upgrade from an inside to a wonderful 'non-obstructed' obstructed view cabin on the Emerald deck.  I was given the option of accepting it or not via a phone call from Princess the morning before the sailing.  Of note, I booked through a travel agency but it was Princess that called me directly.  It turned out to be a great upgrade.  Luckily, he told me the cabin # when he called and I knew the deck plans pretty well so knew it would be a good option for us.  The only thing was, our mail and benefits went to our old cabin the entire cruise ... we just went up a couple of decks to pick it up every other day.  Not an issue!!  

We were, for the first time ever in over 2 dozen sailings on Princess, an upsell on our last cruise.  I couldn't figure out how we kept missing out on these when I learned that the big box agencies don't forward these offers to their customers.  Whoa!!  I transferred the booking right back to Princess (the perks were so insignificant as we'd gotten such a good price on the booking) ... and then came the upsell offer from an obstructed OV to a premium balcony on the Caribe deck.  It did cost us an additional $500 for a 10 night cruise, so not really an upgrade but an upsell, but when they called me about accepting this offer, she did give me the option to pick any open cabin I wanted in the categories that were included in the offer.  So, yay...it was Alaska and balconies are usually not a bargain for those sailings!!  IMHO, if there is one itinerary where a balcony is worth the extra cost, it is Alaska ... especially when the weather is as good as what we experienced.  I treasured that offer (still a great deal) and being able to pick the cabin I wanted.  The other cabins included in the offer were in bad locations (right under a public deck), so I would have turned it down.  

If you mark your cabin as any upgrade, you usually don't know where you might end up.  I suppose they would do that with a Meta upgrade, as I don't think it is customary for them to actually make that phone call to ask you if you want that upgrade.  You'll just notice the change on your personalizer or at the port when you check in.  I know many have been unhappy with their so called upgrades so we only risk it if it means a full super-category upgrade  (inside to OV or better, OV to balcony or better, balcony to mini or better, etc).  I think the meta upgrades are so few and far between that I'm not really taking such a big risk.  

[Baystate]

I've been told that META upgrade doesn't mean much.  A year and a half ago I had a cabin in a location that I loved and had it marked META upgrade only.  Well I got "upgraded", in my opinion, to a very undesirable location.  I called almost immediately after this so-called upgrade happened.  Now the email said that I had 48 hours to decide, but when I called them back to decline I had to fight tooth and nail to get my cabin back.  I spoke with several supervisors and they all confirmed that META just doesn't mean much to them.  They consider it marked upgrade.  They also told me that once the cabin is assigned to someone else it probably will not return to you.  As a result of that incident I now pick my cabin and mark it no upgrade.

[Sea Gypsy 2]

We really enjoy the Lido deck  cabins to be near the pool, HC, etc. and choose our cabin there. We have been offered an upgrade before for a "small" fee, but it does not feel like an upgrade if you may move to another part of the ship that you do not care for.