Auto Upgrades

[Go-Bucks!]

Does Princess have a policy of doing "auto upgrades?" If so, how do you go about opting-out?

[Rick&Jeannie]

Many people have posted here on CC that even though they have told their TA to mark their booking as "No Upgrade"...it still happens and it can be a real PITA to get it "undone".  As far as I know...there is NO WAY to get it marked as such if you book direct online.

[avonlady6390]

If you book with a princess vacation planner they can mark your cruise no upgrade.

[Paula_MacFan]

We pick specific cabins by locations we love, usually aft, so I always ask our CVP to mark our booking as 'no upgrade'.  They have always done it for me and we've never had an unwanted upgrade, so I assume whatever system they have is working.  

[Rick&Jeannie]

17 hours ago, avonlady6390 said:

If you book with a princess vacation planner they can mark your cruise no upgrade.

Yes...but there are WAY too many people here on CC that have shared that they had an upgrade forced upon them even though their booking was marked NO UPGRADE.

[startedwithamouse]

18 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Many people have posted here on CC that even though they have told their TA to mark their booking as "No Upgrade"...it still happens and it can be a real PITA to get it "undone".  As far as I know...there is NO WAY to get it marked as such if you book direct online.

Princess Live chat can mark no upgrade.

[SCX22]

OP's profile says that location is the the USA.  According to anecdotes told on this board, it's impossible to guarantee that Princess will not upgrade despite the booking being marked "no upgrade."  One country where "no upgrade" on Princess bookings works is the UK because of their consumer protection laws about binding travel providers to provided exactly what was sold to the client.

[DHP1]

If you do get a free upgrade you will received an e-mail from Princess regarding your free upgrade and if you chose to not to accept the free upgrade Princess will provide you an e-mail address to which you must reply within so many days. Princess will then assigned you back to your original cabin number. 

Edited December 6, 2023 by DHP1

[Rick&Jeannie]

3 minutes ago, DHP1 said:

If you do get a free upgrade you will received an e-mail from Princess regarding your free upgrade and if you chose to not to accept the free upgrade Princess will provide you an e-mail address to which you must reply within so many days. Princess will then assigned you back to your original cabin number. 

There have been multiple instances of members posting where they only found out about an "upgrade" was when they checked their online summary and saw the cabin had changed. 

[TN-Mountains]

11 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

There have been multiple instances of members posting where they only found out about an "upgrade" was when they checked their online summary and saw the cabin had changed. 

To add to this…sometimes they don’t “upgrade” you, but they still change your cabin.  This is what happened to me.  In my case there was no email or other notification regarding the cabin change.  I found out when I tried to take advantage of price drop.  Even though they kept me in the same cabin category, the cabin was a downgrade from my perspective.  I had booked a not-so-obstructed, obstructed balcony and was placed in a there-is-a-reason-for-the-discount, obstructed balcony. I couldn’t get my original cabin back because Princess decided to include it in a group of cabins designated for COVID isolation.   I ended up canceling the cruise and booking a different one.  I forgot about trying to save money by booking a niche cabin and spent an additional $3k for a deluxe aft facing balcony.  I really showed them!  😂 

[memoak]

Thank goodness we sail in suites it is pretty hard to upgrade from a penthouse 

[Go-Bucks!]

1 hour ago, DHP1 said:

If you do get a free upgrade you will received an e-mail from Princess regarding your free upgrade and if you chose to not to accept the free upgrade Princess will provide you an e-mail address to which you must reply within so many days. Princess will then assigned you back to your original cabin number. 

I've seen and read passenger stories that they were not contacted but were "upgraded" to a location they didn't want. Personally, I was offered an upsell (pre-pandemic) by email and I took it. But if I marked my booking as No Upgrade, I would be furious if they did it anyway. 

[Thrak]

We had a cruise last year where we booked an inside cabin all the way aft because it was a warm weather cruise and my wife loves the aft pool. We had it marked "No Upgrade". I was upgraded 3 or 4 times. (Can't remember now but it was either 3 or 4 times.) Each time I had my TA get the original cabin back. The last time I wrote to customer relations and also to John Padgett directly. I received a phone call apologizing for my hassle and was guaranteed I would not be "upgraded" again for the cruise. (Having spent most of my brain cells in the early 70s I can't remember if they gave me any OBC to boot or not. Probably not but I really can't remember and I'm too lazy to go back and look for my roll call posts from that time.)

Edited December 6, 2023 by Thrak

[Go-Bucks!]

1 hour ago, TN-Mountains said:

To add to this…sometimes they don’t “upgrade” you, but they still change your cabin.  This is what happened to me.  In my case there was no email or other notification regarding the cabin change.  I found out when I tried to take advantage of price drop.  Even though they kept me in the same cabin category, the cabin was a downgrade from my perspective.  I had booked a not-so-obstructed, obstructed balcony and was placed in a there-is-a-reason-for-the-discount, obstructed balcony. I couldn’t get my original cabin back because Princess decided to include it in a group of cabins designated for COVID isolation.   I ended up canceling the cruise and booking a different one.  I forgot about trying to save money by booking a niche cabin and spent an additional $3k for a deluxe aft facing balcony.  I really showed them!  😂 

If they did this to me, it would be the last time I'd be booking on this cruiseline.

[SargassoPirate]

1 hour ago, memoak said:

Thank goodness we sail in suites it is pretty hard to upgrade from a penthouse 

I sail in an Luxury Inside Suite and have to watch Princess like a hawk because their upgrades have been to balconies under the Melanoma deck or above a noisy nightclub, or right at the elevator lobby where the late night revelers sometimes take a while to say their good night's.

 

Fortunately, because checking my bookings every morning, I've been able to get my original cabin back.

 

 

 

[Bgwest]

1 hour ago, memoak said:

Thank goodness we sail in suites it is pretty hard to upgrade from a penthouse 

Thank goodness!

[Thrak]

Princess considers a mid-ship cabin to be an upgrade from any other location. Really stupid.

[schuddle]

Agreed! What a stroke of luck, avoiding those pesky upgrades from the Penthouse.