Unwanted Upgrade

[Westsail32]

So today I received an email about an upgrade for my cruise this month.  I seem to recall never asking for one and I think I’ve selected no upgrades in the past on the website.  I’m always very particular about my cabin location as I like to stay on Deck 8 so I can take the stairs to decks 5-7 and the public areas.  I spend about 90% of my time on those decks.  I had booked an obstructed balcony (like usual).  I like sunlight but I could care less about looking out the window.

 

So they upgraded me to an unobstructed balcony on deck 14.  I’m kind of ticked off.  I emailed my Princess Cruise Planner (who is great).  I was wondering if anyone else has run into this and if they were able to get their original cabin back.

 

I’m so against upgrades because the first time it happened they put me in a mini-suite.  I thought “hey great”.  But the reality sucked.  It was way forward, a high deck, I had to use elevators non-stop, I hated it.  I vowed never to do it again.

[startedwithamouse]

55 minutes ago, Westsail32 said:

So today I received an email about an upgrade for my cruise this month.  I seem to recall never asking for one and I think I’ve selected no upgrades in the past on the website.  I’m always very particular about my cabin location as I like to stay on Deck 8 so I can take the stairs to decks 5-7 and the public areas.  I spend about 90% of my time on those decks.  I had booked an obstructed balcony (like usual).  I like sunlight but I could care less about looking out the window.

 

So they upgraded me to an unobstructed balcony on deck 14.  I’m kind of ticked off.  I emailed my Princess Cruise Planner (who is great).  I was wondering if anyone else has run into this and if they were able to get their original cabin back.

 

I’m so against upgrades because the first time it happened they put me in a mini-suite.  I thought “hey great”.  But the reality sucked.  It was way forward, a high deck, I had to use elevators non-stop, I hated it.  I vowed never to do it again.

I don't think there's a way to opt out of upgrades booking on the website.

 

You mentioned you have a Princess Vacation Planner,  they would have to check no upgrades. Sounds like they dropped the ball.

Edited October 4, 2023 by startedwithamouse

[SCX22]

It happens.  Wait to hear from your CVP if you can get your cabin back or be assigned a cabin in a similar location/deck.

 

Below is a thread about an unwanted upgrade...

 

[Ombud]

@Westsail32. Delete

Edited October 4, 2023 by Ombud
Delete. No idea why CVP w/o a nsme is not allowed

[Honolulu Blue]

7 hours ago, Westsail32 said:

So today I received an email about an upgrade for my cruise this month.  I seem to recall never asking for one and I think I’ve selected no upgrades in the past on the website.  I’m always very particular about my cabin location as I like to stay on Deck 8 so I can take the stairs to decks 5-7 and the public areas.  I spend about 90% of my time on those decks.  I had booked an obstructed balcony (like usual).  I like sunlight but I could care less about looking out the window.

 

So they upgraded me to an unobstructed balcony on deck 14.  I’m kind of ticked off.  I emailed my Princess Cruise Planner (who is great).  I was wondering if anyone else has run into this and if they were able to get their original cabin back.

 

I’m so against upgrades because the first time it happened they put me in a mini-suite.  I thought “hey great”.  But the reality sucked.  It was way forward, a high deck, I had to use elevators non-stop, I hated it.  I vowed never to do it again.

I'm sorry this happened to you.  I've taken three Princess cruises so far and I've been upgraded by them on all three.  I didn't have any "no upgrade" option checked, and I found the upgrade acceptable for my needs and wants, and thus I kept them all.  One time they gave me a mini-suite on Lido deck (wherever it is) on the Majestic.  It was convenient for buffet dining, but a hike to almost everything else.  I don't use elevators much (and since this was during the pandemic, I had even more incentive to avoid them), so I mostly took the stairs.  Climbing 8-10 flights of stairs multiple times a day isn't fun, I assure you.

 

Good luck getting your original cabin back.  🙏

[PacnGoNow]

7 hours ago, Westsail32 said:

So today I received an email about an upgrade for my cruise this month.  I seem to recall never asking for one and I think I’ve selected no upgrades in the past on the website.  I’m always very particular about my cabin location as I like to stay on Deck 8 so I can take the stairs to decks 5-7 and the public areas.  I spend about 90% of my time on those decks.  I had booked an obstructed balcony (like usual).  I like sunlight but I could care less about looking out the window.

 

So they upgraded me to an unobstructed balcony on deck 14.  I’m kind of ticked off.  I emailed my Princess Cruise Planner (who is great).  I was wondering if anyone else has run into this and if they were able to get their original cabin back.

 

I’m so against upgrades because the first time it happened they put me in a mini-suite.  I thought “hey great”.  But the reality sucked.  It was way forward, a high deck, I had to use elevators non-stop, I hated it.  I vowed never to do it again.

It does still happen sometimes, even with a do not UG on yiur record.

The CVP should be able to help, if the cabin you had is still open, or a similar cabin. 
Make sure the CVP always marks it No UG in the future.

 

It only happened to us once on half of our b2b.  NO… we wanted the same cabin all the way through.  They UG both cabins to different decks! 😳

Luckily, we got our original cabin back on both cruises.

 

Best if luck to you.

[ontheweb]

We once had a Princess upgrade though not requested from an inside to an OV. But it was right under a bar, and I did not want it. I called our TA, and he was not able to get our original cabin back, but did get one near to it. It sounded like it took a lot of effort from him.

 

I remember at the time reading about many unwanted Princess "upgrades" at the time, and asked our TA about it. He assured me that that would not happen to us, but it did. Princess and its passengers do seem to have a different view of what is an upgrade.

[Lady Arwen]

1 hour ago, Honolulu Blue said:

I'm sorry this happened to you.  I've taken three Princess cruises so far and I've been upgraded by them on all three.  I didn't have any "no upgrade" option checked, and I found the upgrade acceptable for my needs and wants, and thus I kept them all.  One time they gave me a mini-suite on Lido deck (wherever it is) on the Majestic.  It was convenient for buffet dining, but a hike to almost everything else.  I don't use elevators much (and since this was during the pandemic, I had even more incentive to avoid them), so I mostly took the stairs.  Climbing 8-10 flights of stairs multiple times a day isn't fun, I assure you.

 

Good luck getting your original cabin back.  🙏

This made me smile.  Our absolute favourite spot and cabin is a mini suite on Lido deck.  We enjoy the enforced walk to get around the ship and we love the forward cabins for the huge balconies.  We also prefer stairs to elevators, so it’s quite the workout getting back to our cabin.  However, I would be upset if Princess just arbitrarily moved us to midship.  I rely on our CVP to make sure it doesn’t happen.

[Cruise till you drop]

10 hours ago, Westsail32 said:

So today I received an email about an upgrade for my cruise this month.  I seem to recall never asking for one and I think I’ve selected no upgrades in the past on the website.  I’m always very particular about my cabin location as I like to stay on Deck 8 so I can take the stairs to decks 5-7 and the public areas.  I spend about 90% of my time on those decks.  I had booked an obstructed balcony (like usual).  I like sunlight but I could care less about looking out the window.

 

So they upgraded me to an unobstructed balcony on deck 14.  I’m kind of ticked off.  I emailed my Princess Cruise Planner (who is great).  I was wondering if anyone else has run into this and if they were able to get their original cabin back.

 

I’m so against upgrades because the first time it happened they put me in a mini-suite.  I thought “hey great”.  But the reality sucked.  It was way forward, a high deck, I had to use elevators non-stop, I hated it.  I vowed never to do it again.

This happened to us as well and have posted about our experience.  Princess upgrades “are not upgrades in reality”.  We got moved from the 17th deck to both the 14th and 9th deck.  Same room different location but technically higher priced rooms in their system.  However we felt like it was a downgrade.
 

Our experience has really soured us from Princess (where we are Platinum) and haven’t been back since (have taken and booked 5 Celebrity cruises since).

 

I am a firm believer that Princess prefers people to book the cruise and not a specific room so they can assign passengers their rooms based on what’s most convenient for them.

 

Not sure for why this happens, but one possibility is they want people to book for the next week and want them to have their same room.  Just a hunch.

 

One of the posters mentioned that you can’t book “no upgrades” online which is true.  But I’ve also tried to do this with a Princess agent on the phone and am convinced this has no guarantee.

 

We will come back to Princess once they figure out how to guarantee a specific cabin, which Celebrity does.  If wanting a specific cabin is important to you, Princess might not be the cruise line for you

 

PS - Princess customer service both onboard and by phone as well as my TA were absolutely useless to do anything about this.  Both kept pointing the finger at the other

 

 

 

Edited October 4, 2023 by Cruise till you drop

[Lady Arwen]

Totally understand your frustration.  We have a couple Celebrity cruises and one HAL booked. The two we have booked Princess may be our last (currently using up FCC).  We have a CVP, so no booking problems, but just some things about Princess that we just don’t love.  I won’t go into details, but it’s to a point that we’re saying why bother, so many other options.  Our next Celebrity cruise in December will give us a good idea where we’ll tend to go in the future.

[Westsail32]

I sent a polite email to my Vacation Planner.  Hopefully she will be able to fix it.  I noticed there are nine mini-suites available on Deck 8 that I will mention to her as alternatives if she can’t got my obstructed balcony back.  I never use the balcony anyway.  The cabin on 14 is the exact same layout as the one I had on eight.  I know their system might consider it an “upgrade” because of the unobstructed balcony, but for me it isn’t.

 

I’ve always mentioned I don’t want an upgrade when I book.  I find the cabin I want online and run to almost the end to get a price, then screenshot the cabin info and send that to the planner.  She actually does all the booking, then I pay online.

 

The reason I like Deck 8 is my health.  Since I spend nearly all my time on 5-7 I like being close.  More important though is it forces me to take the stairs (or at least encourages me too).  I’m almost 60, overweight, and diabetic.  Exercise is really important and I watch my diet, no deserts, etc.  I can manage three flights of stairs from 8-5 or 5-8 without feeling all out of breath.  But it’s a workout.  On the older ships I’d do two miles a day on the Promenade circling the ship from bow to stern..  On these new ships you can’t do that (the only thing I don’t like about the Royal Class).   The only cruise I’ve ever gained weight on was the one I was upgraded on to the way forward cabin.  
 

I sure hope they can fix it.

[Lady Arwen]

6 minutes ago, Westsail32 said:

I sent a polite email to my Vacation Planner.  Hopefully she will be able to fix it.  I noticed there are nine mini-suites available on Deck 8 that I will mention to her as alternatives if she can’t got my obstructed balcony back.  I never use the balcony anyway.  The cabin on 14 is the exact same layout as the one I had on eight.  I know their system might consider it an “upgrade” because of the unobstructed balcony, but for me it isn’t.

 

I’ve always mentioned I don’t want an upgrade when I book.  I find the cabin I want online and run to almost the end to get a price, then screenshot the cabin info and send that to the planner.  She actually does all the booking, then I pay online.

 

The reason I like Deck 8 is my health.  Since I spend nearly all my time on 5-7 I like being close.  More important though is it forces me to take the stairs (or at least encourages me too).  I’m almost 60, overweight, and diabetic.  Exercise is really important and I watch my diet, no deserts, etc.  I can manage three flights of stairs from 8-5 or 5-8 without feeling all out of breath.  But it’s a workout.  On the older ships I’d do two miles a day on the Promenade circling the ship from bow to stern..  On these new ships you can’t do that (the only thing I don’t like about the Royal Class).   The only cruise I’ve ever gained weight on was the one I was upgraded on to the way forward cabin.  
 

I sure hope they can fix it.

Good luck!  Keep us posted, please.

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, Westsail32 said:

The reason I like Deck 8 is my health.  Since I spend nearly all my time on 5-7 I like being close.  More important though is it forces me to take the stairs (or at least encourages me too).  I’m almost 60, overweight, and diabetic.  Exercise is really important and I watch my diet, no deserts, etc.  I can manage three flights of stairs from 8-5 or 5-8 without feeling all out of breath.  But it’s a workout.  On the older ships I’d do two miles a day on the Promenade circling the ship from bow to stern..  On these new ships you can’t do that (the only thing I don’t like about the Royal Class).   The only cruise I’ve ever gained weight on was the one I was upgraded on to the way forward cabin.  

I hear you.  I find the jog down the stairs much, much easier than going up.  I could do 20 flights down, no problem.  But after about 6 flights up the stairs (especially when I've come from off the ship), I find myself sucking wind and starting to wonder why I didn't take one of those pretty elevators.

[cruisinsince75]

I booked our cruise online and we are in an accessible mini-suite.  We want to make sure that they don't upgrade us to a different location.  Is there a place online to check a box no upgrade?  If so, where is it?  Thanks!

[JGmf]

3 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

Our absolute favourite spot and cabin is a mini suite on Lido deck.  We enjoy the enforced walk to get around the ship and we love the forward cabins for the huge balconies.  We also prefer stairs to elevators, so it’s quite the workout getting back to our cabin.

 

I'm of the same mind: force the stairs for the exercise, regardless of number of flights. 

 

I try to avoid three things on any cruise to minimize weight gain: no desserts, no bread, and no elevator.

 

OP: good luck.  I hope you get your preferred location.

[PacnGoNow]

7 minutes ago, cruisinsince75 said:

I booked our cruise online and we are in an accessible mini-suite.  We want to make sure that they don't upgrade us to a different location.  Is there a place online to check a box no upgrade?  If so, where is it?  Thanks!

No.  You can call your TA/CVP and they can mark it NO UG.  If you booked directly with PCL, call them or the Chat and ask them to mark it NO UG for you.

 

 

[cruisinsince75]

2 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

No.  You can call your TA/CVP and they can mark it NO UG.  If you booked directly with PCL, call them or the Chat and ask them to mark it NO UG for you.

 

 

Thanks!  Will Do!

[Westsail32]

Success!!!  My awesome Vacation Planner just contacted me.  My original cabin is back on my itinerary and I’m good to go.  Happy day!!!   
 

😃

[Westsail32]

49 minutes ago, Honolulu Blue said:

I hear you.  I find the jog down the stairs much, much easier than going up.  I could do 20 flights down, no problem.  But after about 6 flights up the stairs (especially when I've come from off the ship), I find myself sucking wind and starting to wonder why I didn't take one of those pretty elevators.

I agree.  Returning to the ship on Deck 4 and climbing to Deck 8 is enough to leave me winded.  I have to stop and take breaks.  

[PacnGoNow]

10 minutes ago, Westsail32 said:

Success!!!  My awesome Vacation Planner just contacted me.  My original cabin is back on my itinerary and I’m good to go.  Happy day!!!   
 

😃

That’s great! Thanks for the update.  Did they mark it NO UG now?

[ontheweb]

33 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

No.  You can call your TA/CVP and they can mark it NO UG.  If you booked directly with PCL, call them or the Chat and ask them to mark it NO UG for you.

 

 

But even that does not guarantee they will not "upgrade" you. The cruise contract basically allows them to do whatever they want.

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, Westsail32 said:

Success!!!  My awesome Vacation Planner just contacted me.  My original cabin is back on my itinerary and I’m good to go.  Happy day!!!   
 

😃

All's well that ends well.  I'm happy for you!  👍

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

But even that does not guarantee they will not "upgrade" you. The cruise contract basically allows them to do whatever they want.

True.  But, it may help.  

[XBGuy]

I am pleased that the OP was able to be reinstated to her original cabin.

 

We have been upgraded three times by Princess.  All three times Mrs. XBGuy was dissatisfied with the location of the upgraded cabin.  (Unlike many, she prefers to be as far forward as possible, and the higher, the better.)  All three times a call to Princess resulted in our being restored to the original cabin.  I'm not sure if this is still the case but Princess used to allow 24 hours for upgraded passengers to decline the upgrade.  My experiences all fell into that 24 hour window.

[tserface]

I'm not sure why they call them "upgrades".  It seems like so many of these stories are from people who were switched to a cabin they liked less than their original cabin.  Yeah, it might be a category upgrade, but people book rooms for a reason.  It seems kind of arrogant of the cruise line to move them without asking them first if they want this, so called, upgrade.

Do they just want to sell the original room to someone they like better?  It doesn't make sense why they'd move people with no notice.