How SHOULD Princess Assign UPGRADES?

[kooljamming]

. Anecdotally it seems that way, but bear in mind that the posters on this board arAnyway, you don't know for a fact that the majority of upgrades go to new cruiserse but a small fraction of the cruising public -- unless you've worked for Princess, you simply have no way of knowing if people with fewer cruises get more upgrades..

 

I often wonder why some assume if it's not happening to them or reported here, then it can't be happening industry wide. I ask for an upgrade on each cruise I book. So far out of 9 cruises, I have gone from inside to ocean view 3 times and got an offer to go from balcony to mini suite but declined. All my other gty I have had great midship location. Maybe this is more representative of the other 99 percent of travelers who aren't CC members. There is no way to tell unless one is on the pay roll or busy minding other cruisers business. At what point ugrades get mentioned in a conversation with shipmates? I am always happy for others good fortune because I have had my own. From what I understand, per Princess CSR, there is zero to zip chance of being upgraded in a quad. I did ask but I keep checking and hoping for a miracle. I might not report it here or even to DH because for the most part it's nunyah:D

[rdsqrl]

Pauline, you said the magic word (well, sort of a word!): nunya!

Way too many people seem totally obsessed with the nagging fear that somewhere, somebody else may be getting something that they aren't. Keeping "nunya" in mind might help some of those people from driving themselves crazy with mad jealousy.

[julia]

I have never booked a guarantee and I also have never received an upgrade. I would like to think that my loyalty to Princess would warrant an upgrade consideration as the years/cruises progress.

 

To answer the original question as to how Princess should assign upgrades?

 

It's very simple and is known as "Basic Business 101" (and it's the mantra of every major hotel in Las Vegas)....

 

"TAKE CARE OF THOSE WHO HAVE TAKEN CARE OF YOU!"

[captainron]

...as expeditiously as possible.

 

Ciao for now!!!

[Topaz_M]

Something I wonder about is whether the people, including cruise 'newbies', who pay a premium price for their cabin are the ones getting the upgrades? It would make sense to upgrade these to a better value cabin for what they have paid.

 

I've cruised with Princess three times - outside quad (no upgrade), inside twin (up to top inside category), obstructed view twin GTY (up to oceanview on same deck). 2/3 ain't bad. I'm just happy to be cruising :D

 

Cheers,

Moira :)

[Philip217]

I think that the current way Princess does upgrade is not fair. Why should someone that never cruise with them and books a cheap cabin get a upgrade. Past passengers should come first. It makes you more loyal to the cruise line. The talk about all the perks - we are platinum - the perks we get do not add up to what a upgrade would be. We book longer cruises and usually only use one internet account. We get aboard maybe a few minutes earlier. Big deal!

 

What bother me is our last cruise we saw BA cabins that were empty. Why not give someone a nice upgrade - it doesn't cost Princess. The cabin is empty, and they are not going sell it went the ship sails.

 

Many years ago there was a Greek cruise line (Royal Cruise Line) that marketed in the USA. They always upgraded their past passengers. It was a wonderful cruise line. After the owner die, it was sold. To bad to lose a great cruise line. The service was unbelievable. You never carried you tray in the buffet. Those were the times.

 

Uhhh, not quite right.

Royal Cruise Line was indeed a wonderful cruise line. I worked there for many years.

They frequently upgraded past passengers instead of selling the cabins.

The service was fantastic, and you never carried your tray in the buffet.

The owner, Achille Panagapoulos, did NOT die. He sold the cruise line to NCL.

FYI - he was kidnapped for ransom a few months ago in Greece.

 

Why would he sell such a wonderful cruise line?

Because he couldn't make any profit.

All those wonderful perks he gave out ate up any chance of making a profit.

 

Why didn't NCL continue operating such a wonderful cruise line?

Because they knew that RCL's small ships would never be able to make a profit.

They sold off the RCL ships and dissolved that wonderful cruise line.

 

So when you board an airplane and see all the empty seats in First Class, do you complain when the airline doesn't give you a free upgrade?

 

It doesn't cost them anything, right?

[welshdragon]

Another reason that newbie to cruising has got the upgrade - just maybe its been offered due to a mess up in the booking - this happened on my second cruise had booked a balcony and upgraded flights. Paid for it all and then found out I hadn't got my business class flights I was in economy. Complained immediately but I couldn't get the flights I paid for (through Princess). Upshot was I got the money back for the flights and got upgraded to a very nice mini at the stern of the ship.

Now - how can I get the upgrade fairy to upgrade me again couse I sure can't afford to pay for a mini!

[hook'em]

I agree with this:

 

 

So when you board an airplane and see all the empty seats in First Class, do you complain when the airline doesn't give you a free upgrade?

 

 

And when you check into a hotel on land, do you complain if someone who got the corner room (or the higher room... or the room with the balcony... or the room further from the elevators) paid less than you did? How do you even know???

 

Seems like we're booking hotel rooms here, so the same rules go... You should just be happy with what you get... If you get an upgrade- bonus! If not, you got what you agreed to pay for, so you should be happy and enjoy your vacation!

[jackdiamond]

Why not make it simple and run a lottery.

[choochella]

Why not make it simple and run a lottery.

 

Or, just keep everyone in the cabin they booked. I know that will never happen, since Princess needs to shuffle people around to open up available cabins that are needed. But, in all reality, the upgrade procedure should be a 50/50 split between newbies, and past passengers. How do you pick from the past passengers? Now, there's another thread.

[unboringuy]

One question raised was why book a GTY at all when you may not like the cabin assigned? Well, occasionally, GTYs are all that are available at booking time.

 

Our last assignment on the Crown turned out to be potentially disappointing. We booked a mini-suite GTY because that was all that was available in the category other than a couple of cabins that were not particularly good from our point of view. When the assignment was made several weeks later, it was an accessible mini-suite; meaning no bathtub and twin beds that could not be moved to a double. Ultimately, Princess was able to assign us to a conventional mini, so everything was fine. But that would have been a case where the GTY really could have resulted in a bad situation, in our opinion.

[Times Prince]

first, let's distinguish between Guarantee Cabin Assignments (GCA) and Upgrades. GCA is the luck of the draw, very simply a cabin assignment at Princess' convenience for an agreed upon price and minimum category - it is NOT an upgrade program.

 

As CEO, I would want to encourage repeat customers by doing the following:

• Specials to get them onboard in the first place
  
• Upgrades to repeat customers (2nd cruise onward) to delight them with the better category and encourage them to book these more expensive categories in the future.
  
• Random upgrades to encourage word of mouth free advertising "Wow Princess upgraded me to ...!"
  
• Targeted upgrades to known Big Spenders to keep them coming back to Princess and spending their money here and not on some other line. (you gotta believe they keep records on this)
  
• Targeted upgrades for loyalty. Keep these random, except for Most Travelled Passengers, as these people also help us advertise onboard.
  
• Targeted upgrades for special consideration (e.g. passengers who perform some outstanding service during their vacation)
  
• Customer Service cabin upgrades and/or assignment, to avoid significant negative advertising by offering compensation for real issues.
  
• Offer a meaningful Captain's Circle Customer Loyalty program with benefits that people use and will talk about (Free Internet, free laundry, etc.)
  
• Offer Future Cruise Sales and onboard credits to encourage customers to return
  
• Offer a Guaranteed Cabin program to encourage people to book with us (still at a profit to us) and get them onboard. Use guaranteed cabin passenger cabin assignments to fill the ship to our benefit (e.g. by opening up categories we can then sell to other new passengers last minute at a good rate, thus getting more PAX onboard the sailing). Added benefit of cabin assignments is word of mouth advertising (e.g. "Wow, I paid for a BF category and got a BA assignment saving $xxx !!!"
  
• Offer a superlative onboard experience and superlative customer service.
  

The health of any business, especially cruising, is dependent on satisfying and delighting customers so they book return visits, and provide free advertising to others so they will become new passengers.

[Ando]

Given the current trend of many people waiting until the last minute to book to get the almost inevitable cheap cruise fare (which is often upgraded as there are less cabins in the category you purchase compared to the number of guarantees sold) I would upgrade based on how early people booked. You book early, you generally pay a higher fare than the last minute cruisers, you get the upgrade. Those that book late get a heavily discounted fare, but not a better cabin than those who committed to the sailing perhaps more than a year in advance.

 

This may actually encourage our valued guests to book early and reduce the number of last minute cabins I need to sell at discounted rates :)

[Contessa30]

Uhhh, not quite right.

Royal Cruise Line was indeed a wonderful cruise line. I worked there for many years.

They frequently upgraded past passengers instead of selling the cabins.

The service was fantastic, and you never carried your tray in the buffet.

The owner, Achille Panagapoulos, did NOT die. He sold the cruise line to NCL.

FYI - he was kidnapped for ransom a few months ago in Greece.

 

Why would he sell such a wonderful cruise line?

Because he couldn't make any profit.

All those wonderful perks he gave out ate up any chance of making a profit.

 

Why didn't NCL continue operating such a wonderful cruise line?

Because they knew that RCL's small ships would never be able to make a profit.

They sold off the RCL ships and dissolved that wonderful cruise line.

 

So when you board an airplane and see all the empty seats in First Class, do you complain when the airline doesn't give you a free upgrade?

 

It doesn't cost them anything, right?

 

 

Actually I am an elite member with Northwest and Delta airlines. They always upgrade elite members to first class when there is an available seat. I always consider this possibility when I book with them. If I get the upgrade I am happy - if not, that is ok too.

[DrivesLikeMario]

They should assign upgrades to those that are most loyal to Princess.