Unwanted upgrades

[emeraldlake]

We are set to sail on Regal in December.  Our booking has been marked No Upgrade.  However, today was the second time that our cabin was changed from mid ship BW to either aft or forward BE.  I understand Princess considers this an upgrade but I much preferred the cabin I booked.  It took my Travel Agent a couple of hours each time to get my cabin back.  Today, she had to get people booked in my cabin to switch which was very nice of them.  With the labor shortage going on, you would think that Princess would spend their energy on resolving real problems and not creating new ones.

 

Has anyone else had this issue?  Were you able to stop Princess from changing cabins even though marked no upgrade?  If yes, what else was done to

stop it from happening?

[Rick&Jeannie]

Most recently (pandemic) this was done due to the need to block off a section of cabins on a particular deck to serve as the "quarantine ward".  However, this does not appear to be the case with your situation since you shared that someone else was already booked into your original room.  A fair number of people have posted that even though their booking was marked as "no upgrade" Princess still "stole" their room.  Other than the Covid block angle nobody has really been given an explanation as to why it is being done.  But to answer your question...yes, it has happened to a lot of people.

[3littlefonzies]

That is disturbing that they can "upgrade" your cabin when you specifically asked not to. Could it be that there's no such thing as flagging your cabin as no upgrade, and they only said that back then to humor you?

[emeraldlake]

I dont know what Princess is trying to do but many people do not see the humor in what they are doing right now.  They need to fix their customer relations quickly.  I totally understand staff shortages, supply shortages, etc but creating problems for customers when their is no need is unacceptable.

[4x4bob]

The humor of a surprise upgrade can just leave you laughing , sometimes.  So, we arrived at the pier to find out that we had been upgraded?  First question was, what about our luggage?  Terminal employees said no problem.  Right, they were going home to find their clothes in their own closet, right?

So, we find out that we had been moved one whole cabin forward which put us into another category.  And, much to our surprise......My wife's sister was the passengers moved into our old cabin right next door. 

And, yes our luggage was delivered to old cabin.  

Bob

Edited June 26, 2022 by 4x4bob

[PacnGoNow]

4 minutes ago, 4x4bob said:

The humor of a surprise upgrade can just leave you laughing , sometimes.  So, we arrived at the pier to find out that we had been upgraded?  First question was, what about our luggage?  Terminal employees said no problem.  Right, they were going home to find their clothes in their own closet, right?

So, we find out that we had been moved one whole cabin forward which put us into another category.  And, much to our surprise......My wife's sister was the passengers moved into our old cabin right next door. 

And, yes our luggage was delivered to old cabin.  

Bob

Were you happy with the UG?

[JimmyVWine]

6 hours ago, 3littlefonzies said:

Could it be that there's no such thing as flagging your cabin as no upgrade, and they only said that back then to humor you?

The “No Upgrade” feature is like the “Door Close” button in elevators. 

[AZjohn]

Honestly, in all our years cruising I have never heard of stories like I have here on the Princess board the past several months.

 

We have our first Princess cruise coming up but think we have cruised most all the other lines previously and when someone gets an upgrade it’s from a inside to a OV or a OV to a balcony, etc. These small little class changes are just ridiculous and I also would be upset.

 

Just find this so bizarre for Princess to do??? 

[JimmyVWine]

29 minutes ago, AZjohn said:

Just find this so bizarre for Princess to do??? 

It’s a numbers game. The people who participate here are the upper 2% of people who cruise. For every person here who complains about a cabin move that is “technically” an upgrade that they don’t want, there are 50 people who see these as “actual” free upgrades and who are doing the happy dance. But we never hear from those people. 

[geoherb]

44 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

It’s a numbers game. The people who participate here are the upper 2% of people who cruise. For every person here who complains about a cabin move that is “technically” an upgrade that they don’t want, there are 50 people who see these as “actual” free upgrades and who are doing the happy dance. But we never hear from those people. 

 

I got a free upgrade from a Cat. BF to a Cat. DB on my last cruise. I was very happy. 

[4x4bob]

2 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Were you happy with the UG?

Oh yes.  It was 15 steps closer to the elevator banks.

Bob

[MommyOTwins]

1 hour ago, JimmyVWine said:

It’s a numbers game. The people who participate here are the upper 2% of people who cruise. For every person here who complains about a cabin move that is “technically” an upgrade that they don’t want, there are 50 people who see these as “actual” free upgrades and who are doing the happy dance. But we never hear from those people. 

We have three small kids and booked connecting rooms.  Will not be happy to get upgraded to nonconnecting rooms in a higher category. I can tell you I will never sail princess again if they do that. And I mean it—I said the same thing to united airlines after they moved our booked airplane seats and put my two year old on the other end of the plane from me, and Hyatt hotels when the downgraded us from another room type without enough beds for us, and I’ve kept my word.  This is how you lose customers.

[JimmyVWine]

32 minutes ago, MommyOTwins said:

We have three small kids and booked connecting rooms.  Will not be happy to get upgraded to nonconnecting rooms in a higher category. I can tell you I will never sail princess again if they do that. And I mean it—I said the same thing to united airlines after they moved our booked airplane seats and put my two year old on the other end of the plane from me, and Hyatt hotels when the downgraded us from another room type without enough beds for us, and I’ve kept my word.  This is how you lose customers.

Even if they moved all of you to adjoining cabins in a higher grade?  They would never move just one cabin if you are all booked on the same reservation. 

[AtlantaCruiser72]

15 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Even if they moved all of you to adjoining cabins in a higher grade?  They would never move just one cabin if you are all booked on the same reservation. 

Two cabins - two reservations 

 

Upgrades are done by a computer system - NOT by humans. If people who’s reservations are marked “do not upgrade” are getting upgraded it’s an issue with the computer algorithm. Evidently no one at Princess wishes to fix this as “accidental” upgrades have been happening for years and years. The boards are littered with tales full of sturm und drang on this topic. 
 

Edited June 26, 2022 by AtlantaCruiser72

[Ombud]

2 hours ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

2 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

Even if they moved all of you to adjoining cabins in a higher grade?  They would never move just one cabin if you are all booked on the same reservation. 

Two cabins - two reservations 

 

Upgrades are done by a computer system - NOT by humans. If people who’s reservations are marked “do not upgrade” are getting upgraded it’s an issue with the computer algorithm. Evidently no one at Princess wishes to fix this as “accidental” upgrades have been happening for years and years. The boards are littered with tales full of sturm und drang on this topic. 

If linked then both are moved together as one unit. If unlinked then each are treated separately 

Edited June 26, 2022 by Ombud

[caribill]

2 hours ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

Two cabins - two reservations 

 

Upgrades are done by a computer system - NOT by humans. If people who’s reservations are marked “do not upgrade” are getting upgraded it’s an issue with the computer algorithm.

 

Or the reservation is not really marked "do not upgrade." That is a box the passenger is unable to see.

[Airwavey]

9 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

The “No Upgrade” feature is like the “Door Close” button in elevators. 

Well.... actually..... the "close doors" button on our Sky Princess cruise just finished DID work, every time. 

We quickly learnt that you could close doors the moment a "sharer" stepped out

[PacnGoNow]

6 hours ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

Two cabins - two reservations 

 

Upgrades are done by a computer system - NOT by humans. If people who’s reservations are marked “do not upgrade” are getting upgraded it’s an issue with the computer algorithm. Evidently no one at Princess wishes to fix this as “accidental” upgrades have been happening for years and years. The boards are littered with tales full of sturm und drang on this topic. 
 

So true!  Possibly something in the program has changed.  Or, the do not upgrade has not been properly executed.

 

These programmable issues are also present with airline flight cancellations, schedule changes etc.  

 

[JimmyVWine]

8 hours ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

Two cabins - two reservations 

 

Upgrades are done by a computer system - NOT by humans. If people who’s reservations are marked “do not upgrade” are getting upgraded it’s an issue with the computer algorithm. Evidently no one at Princess wishes to fix this as “accidental” upgrades have been happening for years and years. The boards are littered with tales full of sturm und drang on this topic. 
 

You link the two reservations. 

[ontheweb]

11 hours ago, MommyOTwins said:

We have three small kids and booked connecting rooms.  Will not be happy to get upgraded to nonconnecting rooms in a higher category. I can tell you I will never sail princess again if they do that. And I mean it—I said the same thing to united airlines after they moved our booked airplane seats and put my two year old on the other end of the plane from me, and Hyatt hotels when the downgraded us from another room type without enough beds for us, and I’ve kept my word.  This is how you lose customers.

Good for you; I do think that they really do not believe the customers who say they will not come back. If more followed through on those threats, just maybe they would begin to notice and change accordingly.

[SargassoPirate]

8 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Or the reservation is not really marked "do not upgrade." That is a box the passenger is unable to see.

 

I'm able to see it on my big box store travel agency cruise summary that they send me. However, for every booking I have to call in and request "no upgrades" and then check my booking on Princess every few days to make sure they don't pull a Sneaky Pete on me.  

 

Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

3 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

You link the two reservations. 

 

9 hours ago, Ombud said:

If linked then both are moved together as one unit. If unlinked then each are treated separately 

Sadly I have seen (and had to fix for clients on several occasions) where linked bookings have had one room upgraded and not the other and both reservations were clearly marked dot upgrade.  It’s not supposed to happen, but it does

[caribill]

54 minutes ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

 

Sadly I have seen (and had to fix for clients on several occasions) where linked bookings have had one room upgraded and not the other and both reservations were clearly marked dot upgrade.  It’s not supposed to happen, but it does

 

I thought in the past that the only function of linking bookings was so that if Traditional Dining was requested, the different cabins would be assigned the same table.

[Cruise Raider]

14 hours ago, geoherb said:

 

I got a free upgrade from a Cat. BF to a Cat. DB on my last cruise. I was very happy. 

We got an upgrade from a caribe deck aft balcony to an aft facing penthouse suite once … that was early in the return to operations, though.  I will never expect to see that happen again.  We were so happy it happened at least once in our lifetime, though.  

[Sea Hag]

On 6/25/2022 at 11:18 AM, 3littlefonzies said:

That is disturbing that they can "upgrade" your cabin when you specifically asked not to. Could it be that there's no such thing as flagging your cabin as no upgrade, and they only said that back then to humor you?

My PVP says there is such a thing. I'm picky about cabins, and I've never gotten an unwanted upgrade after she told me that she'd marked the res no upgrade. Maybe I've been lucky, but maybe some other Princess staff just don't bother. Who can tell?