Free room upgrades

[denmarks]

I have always purchased the lowest cost inside room. Some sales give me category upgrades at the time of booking. Almost every cruise I have been on I have been offered an upgrade at a later time. On a Sea of Cortez cruise I actual received 3 upgrades and ended up with a balcony room. What is the highest upgrade you have received and how often is Princess giving them? Does my Elite status help with the upgrades?

[suekel]

For a true upgrade, all it did was move my balcony to another balcony and then I got an upsell.  I've had upsells many times from balcony to mini.  Elite status has no effect as far as I can tell.  

[geoherb]

We've never been upgraded from an inside to a balcony. The closest we came was from an obstructed view to a cabin with a balcony on our Sapphire Princess Alaskan cruise. I did get upgraded from an inside to an unobstructed ocean view on my upcoming Island Princess cruises (also to Alaska). The last upsell offer we received was from a balcony to a full suite on the Regal Princess in December 2017. We took two cruises last year and did not get an upsell offer for either (but we did receive slight upgrades to better locations of cabins than the guarantee categories we booked).

 

I don't think Elite status has anything to do with upgrades. I think it's just whether Princess has oversold the category of cabin you booked, whether you reservation is linked to someone else's, whether you've marked your reservation "no upgrades," etc.

[denmarks]

7 minutes ago, geoherb said:

We've never been upgraded from an inside to a balcony. The closest we came was from an obstructed view to a cabin with a balcony on our Sapphire Princess Alaskan cruise. I did get upgraded from an inside to an unobstructed ocean view on my upcoming Island Princess cruises (also to Alaska). The last upsell offer we received was from a balcony to a full suite on the Regal Princess in December 2017. We took two cruises last year and did not get an upsell offer for either (but we did receive slight upgrades to better locations of cabins than the guarantee categories we booked).

 

I don't think Elite status has anything to do with upgrades. I think it's just whether Princess has oversold the category of cabin you booked, whether you reservation is linked to someone else's, whether you've marked your reservation "no upgrades," etc.

 

On my Sea of Cortez cruise I went from inside to obstructed, to window, and then to balcony. The only problem is that it rained most of the time and I couldn't use it. These were all free. I would not pay for an upgrade.

[skynight]

Believe that first time Princess customers receive preferential upgrade offers. Makes sense.

[karatemom2]

Ours wasn't free - it was an upsell, but for a very, very minimal extra charge and they upgraded us from a standard balcony cabin to the Grand Suite on the Grand Princess. It was our daughter's graduation trip and it was the best gift ever. We surprised her and she literally just about dropped to her knees when she walked in and saw it for the first time. We are Elite and this was the first upgrade offer we had received after more than 20 Princess cruises, however, it was also one of the first times we had booked direct with Princess and gotten the offer direct instead of it potentially going to a TA. Since that time we have received a free upgrade from a balcony to a mini-suite and upsell offers nearly every cruise. But none as good as that first one!

[Sea Hag]

We got a free upgrade once from an obstructed to a balcony. 

[victory2020]

I booked an inside on a 3 day for $59 (X two, I was on my own) & got a balcony.

[denmarks]

5 minutes ago, victory2020 said:

I booked an inside on a 3 day for $59 (X two, I was on my own) & got a balcony.

 

I'm hoping for a mini-suite this time.

[famski740]

On our first Panama Canal cruise, in 2003, we were upgraded from a balcony to a mini suite. That has been the only upgrade our upsell that we have had.

Edited June 11, 2019 by famski740

[Thrak]

Our best was when we booked (like you did) the cheapest inside cabin - all the way forward on Lido deck. We received an automagic upgrade to a Caribe deck accessible balcony. Huge room. Huge balcony. No idea why and never received a notice. I just saw it in the personalizer one day.

[Suncitycruiser1925]

Hope the upgrade fairy visits us someday!

[jlb91454]

for my upcoming cruise on the Caribbean Princess - I had booked an obstructed view.  Had a couple of upsale offers to a balcony; but turned them down.  Then was offered an upsale to a mini - but turned that down also.  And then right after final payments was do I got a FREE offer to a mini - that I did take.  Then a couple weeks later I got another FREE offer to another mini and I took that one - liked the location better.