Do you check the box for free room upgrade? Have you ever gotten it?

[zhuangcorp]

The TA said that you can submit yourself to be considered for a free room upgrade. How many times have you ever gotten picked for it?

 

What was the overall experience like?

[ski ww]

After there was a price drop on a previous cruise, we could take the difference in OBC or up grade to a balcony, which we did.

[jakkojakko]

We never check the box as location is important. However I must say that twice we were upgraded from an oceanview to a balcony. In both cases I suspect that the non balcony was overbooked and they used the star system to upgrade passengers. We were three stars at the time. Both itineraries were over 15 days.

[DaveOKC]

I always (except when I am in a "guarantee" cabin) mark my reservation Do Not Upgrade.  My logic is that I have taken the time to select a cabin I like, so why should I allow the cruiseline to "upgrade" me to a different cabin?  Remember, their idea of a "better" cabin is not always the same as yours or mine.

 

Besides, the cruiseline will still contact me for upsells to a higher category, which generally are good deals, and most times they allow you to select your cabin with an upsell.

 

[FlaMariner]

Only "free" upgrade we have gotten (not counting guarantees) is as ski ww referenced....When the price dropped, we moved up the cabin food chain for "free".

 

And we asked for the upgrade.  It was not automatic, so to speak. 

Edited April 13, 2022 by FlaMariner

[Mary229]

I have gotten two or three free upgrades and really did not like where I was placed.  Now I click no upgrade .  Clicking no upgrade does not preclude you from upsell offers, I still get those 

[idiebabe]

We always mark box "No Upgrade" but received one from a Verandah to a Signature Suite on an 18 Day Hawaii Cruise.  We were pleasantly surprised when we found out at check-in at the Pier.

[RuthC]

For decades I always have my TA mark the booking 'No upgrades'. Once I have selected my cabin I don't want HAL to decide they have something 'better' for me. They don't have any idea what I may think is 'better'. 
In more recent years I rent a mobility scooter for the cruise, so select a non-accessible cabin that still has room for the scooter. Most cabins don't have the room, so being 'upgraded' would create a terrible problem for me. 

[grest]

I am totally unaware of this "box"...

[zhuangcorp]

6 minutes ago, grest said:

I am totally unaware of this "box"...

It's my first time cruising, so I had no clue either. But the TA just said that there is an box you can check during the booking where HAL will consider you for a free upgrade. 

 

As some suggested, it probably gives them more freedom to move customers around in case one section gets fully booked. Or maybe if they have better rooms available, its just their genuine way to give customers a better experience. I don't know. 

[atexsix]

I was upgraded from a main deck outside to a verandah on the Westerdam about 20 years ago because of a price drop, I had no idea until I arrived at the pier for check-in.  It was a much higher deck, Upper Verandah I believe, the location was forward, but not overly so, I wasn't far from the bend.  

 

But like others have said, I put too much time into cabin selection and I'm not willing to leave it up to chance.

[USN59-79]

We have never been super concerned about our cabin and generally book a guarantee at a certain price.  Of course, if it is a verandah it would not be the best verandah.  Almost always we are upgraded to a better one and are happy with the upgrade.  Once we had a pretty good outside and when we checked onboard found they had upgraded us to what they thought was a better one, but we thought was a bad location.  We dropped our luggage there and asked if the original one was still available.  It was, so we took it and moved into it after dinner.  Pays to ask.

Ray

[Btimmer]

Generally, if I have picked a room for us, I don't want to move.  If, however, I book a guarantee cabin, then I elect the option to be upgraded.  Virtually all of our bookings are for inside cabins.

 

Our best upgrade was on the Volendam in 2019 when at the gangway we were upgraded from an inside cabin to an ocean view for our Amazon River cruise.  We already had our room keys for an inside cabin and security stopped us and sent us to the front desk where we exchanged the room keys.  It was a nice room for us.

[liketraveling]

The only time I was upgraded was when I booked a guarantee cabin.

[mr. godfredo]

I have the box checked and have been upgraded a few times. Usually an inside to an obstructed view outside or from an outside to a verandah. 

[zhuangcorp]

what is obstructed view outside?

[USN59-79]

6 minutes ago, zhuangcorp said:

what is obstructed view outside?

An outside cabin is one with a window.  Obstructed view mean something is in the way of a full view, such as a lifeboat.

[zhuangcorp]

I see...that would indeed be pretty annoying. Can you still see the ocean a little bit??

 

Is there a way to check out the new room before accepting it?

[puppycanducruise]

We've been upgraded a couple of times.  Once, from an inside to an ocean view.  The best, which will never be repeated, was when we originally booked an inside cabin.  Because of a price drop, we paid for an upgrade to a balcony but when we got to the pier we were upgraded to a Neptune Suite.  We didn't know anything about the change until check in.