Paying for an upgrade once on board.

[Ilovemygarden]

Because prices are plummeting (and the current situation re Coronavirus) I phoned my TA yesterday and asked for a price to upgrade from an inside cabin to a balcony. I was quoted in excess of £900 although a balcony cabin now costs what I paid for an inside. I was prepared for a few hundred more but not that much! I am due to sail in April so have paid the final balance. She was adamant and said I should wait and see if I could pay for an upgrade after boarding. Has anyone been successful doing that?  

[AndyMichelle]

8 minutes ago, Ilovemygarden said:

Because prices are plummeting (and the current situation re Coronavirus) I phoned my TA yesterday and asked for a price to upgrade from an inside cabin to a balcony. I was quoted in excess of £900 although a balcony cabin now costs what I paid for an inside. I was prepared for a few hundred more but not that much! I am due to sail in April so have paid the final balance. She was adamant and said I should wait and see if I could pay for an upgrade after boarding. Has anyone been successful doing that?  

P&O policy was that your upgrade price would be what it would have been at the time of booking. 

We were told the same from our ta, so phoned P&O direct and they upgraded us from inside to balcony for £70 each for 7 nights. 

It seems they are being more flexible than the rules at the moment. 

Andy 

[emam]

Doesn't answer your question, but I also rang last Friday for the same reason and got the same answer over £900 each for two weeks. Mine was for Azura last day of May and was quoted for a cabin on C deck forward. She did say they are popular on that desk due to being larger. She also said that it's not likely that we would be confined to cabin after the DP episode.

[Burgmeister]

9 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

P&O policy was that your upgrade price would be what it would have been at the time of booking. 

We were told the same from our ta, so phoned P&O direct and they upgraded us from inside to balcony for £70 each for 7 nights. 

It seems they are being more flexible than the rules at the moment. 

Andy 

Sounds like you did well there Andy. 

 

We already have a balcony cabin and were hoping for a magic upgrade to a suite - it didn't happen. Not sure its worth phoning to upgrade as I don't really know what the benefits of a suite would be (never had one before)

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, Ilovemygarden said:

Because prices are plummeting (and the current situation re Coronavirus) I phoned my TA yesterday and asked for a price to upgrade from an inside cabin to a balcony. I was quoted in excess of £900 although a balcony cabin now costs what I paid for an inside. I was prepared for a few hundred more but not that much! I am due to sail in April so have paid the final balance. She was adamant and said I should wait and see if I could pay for an upgrade after boarding. Has anyone been successful doing that?  

Ships often sail full with a notice at Guest Services saying ship full.

With what is currently happening with people cancelling or being prohibited from boarding it might be beneficial to enquire at GS when you board.

[jeanlyon]

Price of mine is still the same.  £400 pp more than we paid on Select.  Just over what we paid on Saver.  Only about 3 cabins available.

[beachmad123]

This was our experience we went to reception to ask for a balcony cabin.

We were prepared to pay extra and were put on a list . We held off unpacking for about 3 hours still no news.

They never got back to us either with its going to cost you x amount or sorry we can't do it .

We then hit some rough seas and were glad we stayed where we were.

[jeanlyon]

3 hours ago, emam said:

Doesn't answer your question, but I also rang last Friday for the same reason and got the same answer over £900 each for two weeks. Mine was for Azura last day of May and was quoted for a cabin on C deck forward. She did say they are popular on that desk due to being larger. She also said that it's not likely that we would be confined to cabin after the DP episode.

That's interesting.  It's the only thing that worries me.  I think maybe they learned that quarantining on board makes it worse!

[emam]

3 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

That's interesting.  It's the only thing that worries me.  I think maybe they learned that quarantining on board makes it worse!

 

I don't know if that was just her opinion or whether she had heard anything, but didn't go into anymore detail.

[daiB]

1 hour ago, emam said:

 

I don't know if that was just her opinion or whether she had heard anything, but didn't go into anymore detail.

It is quite clear form what is emerging from Japan you cannot quarantine just the passengers you have to do the same with the crew. Therefore you have an impossible situation. It has to be much more selective. Something like what is in place for N/V. P&O seem to be much better at controlling this now.

[Burgmeister]

We are doing a 7 nighter round trip out of Southampton and, whilst this is just my opinion, I reckon if anyone goes down with Covid-19 they will either be removed and returned to UK for isolation or the whole ship will sail back to UK and everyone will be put in isolation until tested - but not on the ship!

 

Given the experience of the Diamond Princess, I can't see any government insisting on quarantining on a ship again - it blatantly didn't work

[Harry Peterson]

27 minutes ago, Burgmeister said:

We are doing a 7 nighter round trip out of Southampton and, whilst this is just my opinion, I reckon if anyone goes down with Covid-19 they will either be removed and returned to UK for isolation or the whole ship will sail back to UK and everyone will be put in isolation until tested - but not on the ship!

 

Given the experience of the Diamond Princess, I can't see any government insisting on quarantining on a ship again - it blatantly didn't work

It worked exactly as it was intended to work, though. 

 

The purpose of quarantining is to protect others (in this case the Japanese) from an influx of potentially infected passengers - not to protect the passengers themselves.  That's another matter entirely, and whether that was achieved by Princess will be argued about for years doubtless, and played out in the courts.

[janny444]

On 3/1/2020 at 4:15 PM, Ilovemygarden said:

Because prices are plummeting (and the current situation re Coronavirus) I phoned my TA yesterday and asked for a price to upgrade from an inside cabin to a balcony. I was quoted in excess of £900 although a balcony cabin now costs what I paid for an inside. I was prepared for a few hundred more but not that much! I am due to sail in April so have paid the final balance. She was adamant and said I should wait and see if I could pay for an upgrade after boarding. Has anyone been successful doing that?  

Hi....some years ago when we were on the Oceana the crossing of the bay Of Biscay was quite " bumpy and at one point listed quite badly. When I first boarded the ship I asked at reception about upgrading to a balcony...they said the ship was full but took my cabin number ...just in case of a no show. After the Bay Of Biscay experience quite a few people disembarked at Madeira to fly home. In the afternoon I received a phone call from reception and was told that I could now upgrade BUT they wanted the price of what I would have paid at the time of booking. I said a great big NO....not only were we 3 days into the cruise but they had already received the price of a balcony from the people who were disembarking....thought it was a bit " off"

[timbs32]

I am in a deluxe balcony cabin and prices for a suite are now only an additional £83pp.

 

I booked through a travel agent and have tried both them and calling PO direct but they won't budge on letting me have it for that price.  They said it has to be based on the upgrade cost at the time of booking and that it would be unfair to other customers if they let me have it 😞

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, timbs32 said:

I am in a deluxe balcony cabin and prices for a suite are now only an additional £83pp.

 

I booked through a travel agent and have tried both them and calling PO direct but they won't budge on letting me have it for that price.  They said it has to be based on the upgrade cost at the time of booking and that it would be unfair to other customers if they let me have it 😞

They have not asked me, I would be happy for you to get a cheap upgrade in the circumstances, ask them to contact me so I can my approval. 

Or maybe point out to them that by employing fluid pricing, they themselves are already being unfair to me anyway, so why should I worry anymore if they gave you a cheap upgrade?😏

[glittergal1]

We have also thought about paying for an upgrade ,  Oceana Malta Croatia Venice itinerary .

We originally booked an inside Cabin because The Itinerary is so fantastic  we thought we wouldnt be in the cabin a great deal and would be perfectly happy with the inside , however in the light of this Corona Virus and how it could possibly effect the cruise I thought maybe Not having an inside would be a better idea. If the itinerary changes to different ports we have been to or we are forced to have extra days at sea because we are not being allowed to dock in certain places or God forbid we are not allowed to disembark after the cruise then having a Balcony would be the better option. 

It is the not knowing and the uncertainty that is worrying.

This is a special cruise for us We are not only Celebrating My birthday on board but renewing our wedding vows too.  When we booked the cruise we decided that instead of having a balcony which was very expensive at the time we would save money by having an inside and book another cruise to celebrate our Anniversary  the following year again an inside so 2 cruises inside for the price of 1 balcony and it seemed a good idea at the time 🤑

Selfishly I am hoping that Many many passengers cancel their cruises so that we have a chance of an upgrade once we board as from reading these posts P&O are sticking to their guns and not giving an inch  by offering pre boarding upgrades at reduced cost (to most that ask, those that did get a good deal who did you speak to)

This will be our first cruise with P&O we now have 4 booked with them so really hope they show some humanity with the situations at present and I also hope this all goes away as quickly as it came and all our  cruises are not effected in any way . Fingers crossed 

[wowzz]

20 minutes ago, glittergal1 said:

We have also thought about paying for an upgrade ,  Oceana Malta Croatia Venice itinerary .

We originally booked an inside Cabin because The Itinerary is so fantastic  we thought we wouldnt be in the cabin a great deal and would be perfectly happy with the inside , however in the light of this Corona Virus and how it could possibly effect the cruise I thought maybe Not having an inside would be a better idea. If the itinerary changes to different ports we have been to or we are forced to have extra days at sea because we are not being allowed to dock in certain places or God forbid we are not allowed to disembark after the cruise then having a Balcony would be the better option. 

It is the not knowing and the uncertainty that is worrying.

This is a special cruise for us We are not only Celebrating My birthday on board but renewing our wedding vows too.  When we booked the cruise we decided that instead of having a balcony which was very expensive at the time we would save money by having an inside and book another cruise to celebrate our Anniversary  the following year again an inside so 2 cruises inside for the price of 1 balcony and it seemed a good idea at the time 🤑

Selfishly I am hoping that Many many passengers cancel their cruises so that we have a chance of an upgrade once we board as from reading these posts P&O are sticking to their guns and not giving an inch  by offering pre boarding upgrades at reduced cost (to most that ask, those that did get a good deal who did you speak to)

This will be our first cruise with P&O we now have 4 booked with them so really hope they show some humanity with the situations at present and I also hope this all goes away as quickly as it came and all our  cruises are not effected in any way . Fingers crossed 

I think you are really brave to book 4 holidays in advance with the same cruise line, (or hotel chain come to that) without any prior experience! 

I would be surprised if P&O change their position regarding on board upgrades, as they will not want to set a precedent, but you never know!

[glittergal1]

2 hours ago, wowzz said:

I think you are really brave to book 4 holidays in advance with the same cruise line, (or hotel chain come to that) without any prior experience! 

I would be surprised if P&O change their position regarding on board upgrades, as they will not want to set a precedent, but you never know!

Weve been on Carnival and No cruise  could be as bad as that one was 

The Reason for P&O was the dates and itineraries fitted in for My birthday cruise, My husbands Birthday cruise, our Anniversary cruise and Well we liked the Baltic Itinerary and it was cheaper than MSC (who we were going to book this one with) We also like the fact you can take on board a litre of alcohol each  so that swayed it really, oh plus flights from our local airport that one a biggy  so enough pluses for us to take the leap of Faith and book the unknown We just hope P&O dont let us down 

[KnowTheScore]

On ‎3‎/‎1‎/‎2020 at 4:15 PM, Ilovemygarden said:

Because prices are plummeting (and the current situation re Coronavirus) I phoned my TA yesterday and asked for a price to upgrade from an inside cabin to a balcony. I was quoted in excess of £900 although a balcony cabin now costs what I paid for an inside. I was prepared for a few hundred more but not that much! I am due to sail in April so have paid the final balance. She was adamant and said I should wait and see if I could pay for an upgrade after boarding. Has anyone been successful doing that?  

 

Hi

 

Yes we have upgraded on-board a few times.   We always arrive at Southampton early (11am-11.30am) and find ourselves on-board pretty quickly  The VERY first thing we do is go straight to reception and ask to be placed on the list if any upgrades become possible due to any passengers not turning up.  Often they haven't even established that list so we end up first in the list.

 

Statistically with 1000s of passengers per ship there will always be some people who don't turn up due to illnesses or deaths in the family or other reasons.   So it makes sense to try for an upgrade if you want one.

 

When we have done this we have been in balcony cabins and putting ourselves on the upgrade list for mini-suites.

We have been successful at least twice, possibly more and we've only paid about £400 to do so.

 

When we have placed ourselves on the list we then don't unpack our suitcases and simply wait to see what happens.

The ship needs to set sail before they know where any empty cabins are so if you get an upgrade you don't tend to find out until late evening or even the next morning.   So we just unpack clothes for that evening's dinner and for the next day and leave everything else packed.  Then if the upgrade is acceptable we just wheel the cases to the new cabin.

 

You can unpack if you want to and then if you get an upgrade the staff will come with clothes rails and move everything for you.

 

If you are willing to pay a little extra for an upgrade then this is definitely worth a try. 

 

 

[Son of Anarchy]

Hmmmm, we get priority boarding, so providing we don't get denied boarding next month, might give it a go.

 

A few years back, we got a payable upgrade from and inside to a balcony by phoning our TA the day before.  Well worth it.

[glittergal1]

7 hours ago, KnowTheScore said:

 

Hi

 

Yes we have upgraded on-board a few times.   We always arrive at Southampton early (11am-11.30am) and find ourselves on-board pretty quickly  The VERY first thing we do is go straight to reception and ask to be placed on the list if any upgrades become possible due to any passengers not turning up.  Often they haven't even established that list so we end up first in the list.

 

Statistically with 1000s of passengers per ship there will always be some people who don't turn up due to illnesses or deaths in the family or other reasons.   So it makes sense to try for an upgrade if you want one.

 

When we have done this we have been in balcony cabins and putting ourselves on the upgrade list for mini-suites.

We have been successful at least twice, possibly more and we've only paid about £400 to do so.

 

When we have placed ourselves on the list we then don't unpack our suitcases and simply wait to see what happens.

The ship needs to set sail before they know where any empty cabins are so if you get an upgrade you don't tend to find out until late evening or even the next morning.   So we just unpack clothes for that evening's dinner and for the next day and leave everything else packed.  Then if the upgrade is acceptable we just wheel the cases to the new cabin.

 

You can unpack if you want to and then if you get an upgrade the staff will come with clothes rails and move everything for you.

 

If you are willing to pay a little extra for an upgrade then this is definitely worth a try. 

 

 

We are on a fly cruise so unfortunately we dont get there as early as many passengers. I  suppose we could try calling them a day before to see if they would offer a cheaper upgrade. Im pretty sure far more passengers will be cancelling at the moment than normally would for any cruise. 

[glittergal1]

On 3/1/2020 at 4:26 PM, AndyMichelle said:

P&O policy was that your upgrade price would be what it would have been at the time of booking. 

We were told the same from our ta, so phoned P&O direct and they upgraded us from inside to balcony for £70 each for 7 nights. 

It seems they are being more flexible than the rules at the moment. 

Andy 

When you rang P&O which phone number did you call?  So P&O were happy to do it for you? you didnt have to do it through your TA? our TA said it would cost an extra £450 each !!!!!