Jeter02

2.5 months ago on the Regal, they only punched my card once for the Gelato.

Which ship did this occur on?

Ok. So I spoke to a rep on the upsell. This one in particular did not pay in my eyes. I originally thought it was $149 to upgrade from oceanview to a balcony, thinking $149 covering 200% meant double occupancy. I was ready to jump and take the opportunity thrown my way. Apparently not. She told me the upsell would be $300, with no additional things thrown in besides the cabin upgrade. Also this upsell ONLY applies to first week onboard, as I am there multiple weeks sailing B2B. The whole changing cabin thing, I became fine with, however, my mindset was, that $300 I could put towards one of my fabulous shore excursions that I am going on. Those Alaskan excursions don;t come cheap as you all know. Glacier National Park I will just watch on the open deck which is fine with me. I am just thrilled to fulfilling the Alaskan dream cruise. Still All Smiles By Me!

Got the email today. Already called and left a a message. Just awaiting for them to call me back. If its meant to be, it will be. We shall see.

As upsells are very popular, it's a first come, first serve. It may be too late for you to call.

 

I've also had an upsell from an OV to a balcony for my cruise to Alaska. I jumped on it! The balcony was used a lot!

I guess I shouldn't knock the whole upsell then. Thanks everyone for your comments, as it does may me rethink the situation / opportunity given. Will let you tomorrow how I make out, when I call to inquire.

On a 17 day cruise we were booked into an inside cabin and were offered an upsell to an Ocean View. We took it in a heartbeat. We ended up with an aft-facing OV on Coral Princess on Baja Deck. The rear viewing deck was maybe 10 steps from our cabin door and very underutilized so it was almost like having a huge balcony with loungers. Yes, we had to share it but it was the entire width of the ship and often there was either nobody else there or maybe 2 - 4 other people. With a full complement of loungers across the width of the deck it wasn't ever crowded nor were the other passengers intrusive.

 

On a 7 day southbound (Alaska to Vancouver) we were again booked into an inside and took an upsell to a Window Mini Suite. It's a mini suite that has the balcony space enclosed as part of the cabin and has a window instead. It was on Island Princess on Caribe Deck and this time the forward viewing deck was just a few steps away from our cabin door. While there were no loungers on the forward viewing deck it was usually deserted and afforded great scenic viewing.

 

Sometimes upsells are welcome. (Of course the free upgrade from a forward inside to a mid ship HC balcony cabin on Caribe when sailing on Crown Princess was a better "deal". :))

Wasn't sure with an upsell if it was like a guaranteed cabin. Some of the free upgrades I have been given, some would tell me prior what I was a upgraded too with cabin, and I've had others which were complete surprises when getting to the port. I will call and ask. My other thing too I need to check as well is that is a B2B cruises. I like straying in the same cabin for multiple sailings. Its make life easier and less of a hassle of having to pack and unpack things.

True, I may do that for fun, just for curiosity purposes. Thank You.

I believe you could have called and asked the location. That's what we did on our one and only up sell offer. We declined.

You know what I always fear, is being put on a deck or location I don;t really care for. I don;t know, its so hit and miss.

If there's any cruise where an upsell to a balcony is worth it, it's an Alaska cruise!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thank you for this. I completely enjoyed reading your experiences. :)

You should think of it from the cruise line's business perspective. Years ago, cruise lines routinely upgraded passengers...especially frequent customers. But then a few lines (we think that HAL probably led the pack) realized they were giving away something that is worth money.....upgrades. So the upsell was invented. In over 100 cruises we have had about a dozen upsell offers and accepted only one (which was on HAL from an outside cabin to a suite). Our funniest upsell was a HAL offer of an upsell for "only" $9,999." That was on a long cruise where our total cruise fare (with some amenities was about $20,000....so their offering was a 50% increase in our cost. Our cruise agent was in hysterics as she explained the offer. After we stopped laughing we countered with a much lower offer (which was rejected). The cabin that we have gotten with that upgrade was never booked (and it was a 62 day cruise) and HAL used it to house various entertainers. We mentioned this to the Hotel Manager on the cruise and all had a laugh about a stupid HAL business decision. They turned down several thousand dollars...which is what economists call "opportunity lost revenue." We figure they must have offered that penthouse cabin to many other cruisers...none of who would accept the upsell offer.

 

Hank

LOL! So I have been hit up for the famous upsell for my upcoming Alaskan cruise to upgrade from an ocean view to balcony. I still find them rather funny. Here's an upgrade, now which credit card would you like us to charge for you. Thank you, but not thank you. This is my first upsell email I have ever received. I have been given free upgrades before from balcony to a mini, which was lovely. I will more than likely be declining the upsell, as I have gotten to the point of, I like the deck I hand select, as well as my cabin now at most times. My problems with upgrades / upsells, what they considered an upgrade, based on cabin category and location, may not be your idea of an upgrade. That's why I have skipped over these. Just thought I would share, as these upsells are funny to me. Is it really thata hard to offer something to someone for free.

Love it!!! Keep the updates coming :) I will be on the Ruby in a few weeks, as it will be my first Alaskan cruise as well. I can;t wait :)

Its fun piecing the puzzle together, with all of these snippets of fun.

The explanation for the drop to 53 on the home page, is more than likely your count without double cruise credits, which can be obtained from traveling solo and paying double occupancy, ass well reviving double credits for staying in a suite.

All my count of cruises previously totalling 67 have been on Princess and now its showing 53.

So it cannot be just that P and O cruises or Sitmar cruises aren't counted any more

 

And yes they are still correct and the same as before on the next page

Jewish services for the Sabbath Friday nights is still ongoing on Princess. But ti has always been, ran by passengers, and they have a small spread available.

I know they do photo ops in the piazza for the sled dog puppies. It will be posted in the Princess Patter with the time they will be there. I am looking forward to this. I love puppies. I feel like they just make things better.

I am so sorry to hear. That's why I when reading other threads, I was slightly nervous, thinking I;d too would have to pay upfront. The Alaskan excursion, are extremely expensive, and that OBC helps break it down and make it somewhat affordable. It would be nice if they could at least apply the OBC automatically to the excursions via online as an option, if we are no longer able to just reserve. Otherwise I too would feel like the things I want to do would book up, and I'd lose out. That was my fear at least. Once again I'm sorry. I hope you are able to get the excursions you would like. Have you tried calling Princess by any chance, to see if there is anything they could do, such as apply the OBC. It can;t hurt to ask,

Then again, I just went to the Princess site, and check mine out. No issues for me. Mine is working just fine. Sorry.

They are apparently are working on these issues. With the who new look they premiered yesterday, there are several different problems at the moment.

Apparently this has all changed. It depends when your cruise is. I think its if your cruise is after July or August 2017, then Yes, you now have to pay up front for the excursions. My July ship excursions I was able to still just reserve and pay once I get onboard. This made my life easier, as I had OBC to apply towards it.

$130

Possibly.

On my homepage my # of cruises are shown as 34, although we have done 60. The only explanation for this may be that some of our earlier cruises were with P and O, and the home page shows only your Princess cruises. This may be a change to coincide with only Princess cruises nowbeing counted towards MTP prizes..

 

Be interesting to see if this affects the on board loyalty credit which do far has been done on overall #of cruises.

Nah, I re-checked. It is corrected. They just displayed it in a very odd way. The figure on the personalizer home page is the # of actual cruises you have taken, and the other number is days is your upcoming cruises. Once you check your cruise history. You have the # cruise credits you have earned, and the # of days sailed (completed cruises).

Love the new look. Like most, yup, number of cruises are way off.

I always get a balcony, and I did have one as well on the Regal for the Baltic too. I love sitting out on it. To me weather was perfect and ideal.

I absolutely LOVED reading your review!!! Thank You!