So How Does This Upgrade Thing Work??? All RCCL Upgrade Veterans Please Reply! :~D

[wsantelope]

;)I'm dying to get an upgrade (To a JS, GS or OS) on our upcoming repo cruise 4/19 out of Colon, Panama.

We're currently in a D2 Balcony Room on Deck 7 Midship.

This will be my 3rd cruise with RCCL and we are celebrating our 10 year anniversary.

The ship is rumored to be only 1/3 full so I think my chances might be okay if we knew how to work the system.

Our last cruise on Voyager we splurged BIGTIME and booked the Royal Suite to the tune of $8K - we won't ever do it again and we had all kinds of issues with the concierge, my 5 year olds hand getting sucked into the hot tub jet on the balcony (It was really bad folks...purple hand for 4 days! :eek:) and other stuff that I won't really go into.....It's like everything that could go wrong did. I wrote RCCL a 10 page letter and did get an I'm sorry phone call but nothing else....no savings certificate .... no anything. I was really nice about everything...probably too nice :rolleyes:! The person over Guest Services (On Voyager) did say if we were ever back on board Voyager that he would hook us up but I don't see that in our near future....

I know you can ask about paid upgrades on check in but I think once onboard we might have a better ear.

I won't be Platinum until I take one more....I think that gives you a little more pull....

Anyway....all you veterans tell me your best ideas!

You can't complain if you don't ask!

[Sue L]

there is no rhyme or reason why some get upgrades and others don't. There will be plenty of others celebrating anniversaries like 25th, 40th and 50th, so I wouldn't count on getting that and likely any really good upgrades will go to those D and D+ members, sorry to burst your bubble but book but you will be happy with.

[RevSmith]

Gosh, if anyone really knew they probably wouldn't tell....

I have heard from my TA that it is strickly a business thing and has nothing to do with being diamond or diamond plus...then I have heard from diamond plus members that they have been offered free up grades, just recently...I tend to believe the diamond plus members...but I think you have to have a lot of cruises under your belt...or it is just a plain matter of luck...there is no rhyme or reason as SueL said.

good luck...

[cb at sea]

We had friends who were 1st timers--and they got "upgraded" from an inside (deck 2) to a deck 9 balcony. No C&A status at all.

Unless you want to pay for an upgrade, don't expect one. If it happens, great! If it doesn't, hopefully you've booked a cabin you'll be happy with!

[nanfromatlanta]

From what I've been told, Diamond+ passengers get first crack at any available upgrades. ;)

[Happy ks]

So far, we've never been upgraded on any of our RCI cruises. I do have to say though, that we are normally cruising with family members and have cabins next to each other. We have also never been on a cruise that's not sold out.

 

So, perhaps you do have a better chance at upgrade :)

 

They have done some other nice things for us that we appreciate ;)

[ShipsInBergen]

I really don't think being diamond will increase your chances, but you are more likely to get an upgrade if you book a guarantee stateroom- anyone who has selected a specific cabin will probably be left where they are. I have booked 3 cruises with RCI, all guarantee staterooms. We have had 2 upgrades already, and have yet to receive our room assignment for the 3rd, but fingers crossed!

 

So, when I had no C&A status, no 'pull', etc. they upgraded us from oceanview to D1. The best advice is to book a cabin that you will be happy with no matter what. Then any upgrade is just a bonus.

[mems]

There is no rhyme or reason

[bubbadog]

Book a D-2 on the highest deck,and then hope it happens:D

[Tanker4]

Only the "Upgrade Fairy" knows and she isn't telling.;) Seriously, I don't think there's any rhyme nor reason at least that I've been able to figure out. We received one last month on a 10 day on the Grandeur. Had a JS booked and were upgraded to a GS. We're Diamond but not D+

[polodad]

We booked a balcony guarantee for our LOS sailing in 2 weeks and were upgraded to a hump junior suite. Here is the secret, but shssh.

 

Eat nothing but yogurt for 5 days & go to the gym 3 times a day.

Give 5 referrals to your TA.

Post 20 positive RCL posts a day to CC for 5 days.

Start 5 chain letters.

Adopt 5 dogs at your local shelter.

Guaranteed to work & if not you'll still feel good about what you've done.

[bubiesmom]

If they call an offer an upgrade, is it free or a discounted rate?

[rubrrick]

I can tell you that a Diamond Plus will get a shot at an upgraded cabin as long as there are 5 or more cabins open in a higher catagory.....21 days from the sail date.

 

And they will start with the D+ with the highest number of points.

 

After our next cruise we will have 60 C&A points.....and we are pretty low on the totem pole!!

 

I'm told that a very few have over 200 C&A points.

 

If there are any higher catagory cabins left by the time that you arrive at the pier......the best price for that cabin would be obtained at the pier. You would need to talk directly with the pier coordinator.

 

The second best place would be to talk to the Guest Services Manager once onboard.

 

Your chances of being visited by the upgrade fairy........well....no one knows how the upgrade fairy works. So.......to be on the safe side......don't count on an upgrade for free.

 

Rick

[cruisin4kicks]

We had booked the corner aft D1 balcony cabin 8168 on the Serenade for last April. I was looking forward to the big balcony. When we checked in, they had upgraded us to a Junior Suite (our 1st and only upgrade). Had mixed feelings about that until we opened the door to our cabin. This May we have corner aft D1 balcony 9256 booked on the Jewel. Again, looking forward to the big balcony but absolutely will not complain if we get upgraded again.

 

Tim

[rednancy1]

Could I get an upgrade if I donated a kidney? :o:p

 

A D+ who has never been upgraded. But then we are only baby D+'s with 32 cruise credits. :o

[wrp96]

If they call an offer an upgrade, is it free or a discounted rate?

 

 

If you get a true upgrade, it's free at least on RCCL. Other lines do what are called upsells which is where they call you and offer you a higher category - but you have to pay for it.

[rednancy1]

I forgot to add that we never expect a visit from the upgrade fairy.

 

We always book the cabin that we will be happy with. :):):)

[CatherineL]

I am thinking that asking once you're on board and mentioning the hand sucking incident, might be less likely to get you an upgrade. They would probably worry that something similar might happen again. They must have seriously big holes in that jacuzzi tub.

 

And I'm not sure about the wedding anniversary thing. We'll be celebrating our wedding anniversary on our cruise. But I checked the roll call and it seems every other person on that cruise is also celebrating a wedding anniversary.

 

Maybe you should set up a website called, I Love RCI. You could write amazing things about them everyday. You could even make up your own I Love RCI Song and put a video on there. I bet that would get their attention.

[rednancy1]

We've celebrated Anniversaries and Birthdays aboard a ship.

 

Nothin but a free cake brought to the table by singing waiters. :)

 

I wouldn't have told them but then my DH likes that stuff. :o

[wsantelope]

 

Eat nothing but yogurt for 5 days & go to the gym 3 times a day.

Give 5 referrals to your TA.

Post 20 positive RCL posts a day to CC for 5 days.

Start 5 chain letters.

Adopt 5 dogs at your local shelter.

Guaranteed to work & if not you'll still feel good about what you've done.

 

This is seriously my favorite suggestion!

Yes the hole on the hot tub was a big one....there was some screen missing from some sucking thing and a five year olds hand isn't very big and finds strange places to go! :eek::rolleyes:

 

I did book a cabin I'm happy with so we'll just see what happens!

 

I like the donated kidney ? too! :D

[rednancy1]

This is seriously my favorite suggestion!

Yes the hole on the hot tub was a big one....there was some screen missing from some sucking thing and a five year olds hand isn't very big and finds strange places to go! :eek::rolleyes:

 

I did book a cabin I'm happy with so we'll just see what happens!

 

I like the donated kidney ? too! :D

 

 

Sorry, you only get an upgrade if you donate both kidneys. :D

[beachchick]

If you get a true upgrade, it's free at least on RCCL. Other lines do what are called upsells which is where they call you and offer you a higher category - but you have to pay for it.

 

Some lines (such as Carnival and NCL) have both. The upsells are more common, but the elusive (free) upgrade fairy also works with those lines too. That's how it's differeniated: Upsell = discounted offer; upgrade = free.

 

beachchick

[kyriecat]

On my 4th RC cruise we had booked a deck 7 balcony on the hump. When our docs arrived, I noticed that we had been moved to a deck 9 balcony also on the hump. We used a TA for that cruise so I called her. She didn't know anything about the upgrade and hadn't even noticed that the cabin number we were assigned didn't match the one that we had booked. :rolleyes: That was the only time we got upgraded, but since then we've decided that we like aft cabins so book those directly with RC and ask them to add a note that we do not want our cabin changed.