NCL upgrades

[bludevil]

Hi.

 

Does anyone have any experience with last minute and low cost upgrades?

 

I have two cabins booked on the Jewel for Thanksgiving week and have booked a balcony cabin and the inside cabin across the hall from it. I'd love to upgrade the inside cabin to a balcony cabin next door to the one I already have (which is still available) but don't want to pay too much for it.

 

Do I have a chance? If so, when should I ask? Who should I ask? How should I ask? Any other advice?

 

Thanks everyone!

[rickechambers1@aol.com]

Has the price change significantly since booking? You are now in 'final payment status' so check the price that you paid against the current selling price of the balcony (if you haven't already) and keep checking to see if it drops to a point that you are willing to upgrade with the fare difference. Otherwise, maybe check to see if the AB suites have dropped enough to where you could 'trade' both your cabins in toward that singular cabin...if that's an option. Seriously, if you only have 5 traveling and you can swing the difference from the balcony/inside combination to the AB, that's what I would do. It would be a little crowded during sleep time, but, hey, you're asleep. The rest of the time you have suite benefits!

[ubdkjrb]

NCL has a process called "upselling" that takes place two or three weeks before sailing where they offer "upsells" to passengers to move up in cabin class for reasonable prices. This process helps them eventually free up the insides which will sell better last minute. Most on this board believe that you must wait to get an upsell call from NCL making it a total "luck" deal. Recent threads on CC about NCL upsells demonstrate that passengers can call NCL about two to three weeks out and ask for and get upsells. Furthermore, it's also been proven that NCL's first offer can be counter-offered and accepted saving even more money. It is infinitely easier to orchestrate this if you have booked direct with the cruiseline.

 

I would advise you to check recent posts about upselling and read the success stories. This might be a way to upsell from your inside to a balcony for a very reasonable price.

[Arwenmark]

Your agent CAN call the reaccomodation desk and see what's available if anything for upsell they would do this at 2 weeks or less out. Not all agencies participate in the Upsell program however.

[DaisyBa6y]

I am sailing on the Sky in 5 days. I got the call from the upgrade fairy yesterday. She offered me the owners suite! The upgrade price was reasonable compared to the regular selling price.

 

If you "wait it out" it is possible to get an upgrade at a nice price, however being able to pick your exact cabin # may not.

[lambs2]

The odds of being able to upsell within the last couple weeks to the balcony cabin next to yours or even close are VERY SMALL. You can do a 'fake' booking and see if any suitable staterooms near yours show up at all, right now, either on NCL.com or the UK site: https://seaweb.it.ncl.com/sw/ConsumerIndex.do

 

This will give you an idea what is open before asking your TA. We just upgraded to a balcony on a 13 night NCL cruise still a couple months away. We did our research and found a good price drop on our sailing, then called our TA and paid an extra $368. to upgrade from a partially obstructed OV, but it was worth it to us as we now know the balcony cabin we will have (unless they upgrade us further). Perhaps we could have done better, but didn't want to take the gamble.

[garycarla]

lambs2 hit it well.

 

These ships tend to sail full or close to full. Therefore, rooms are not often available at any price. Yes, sometimes there are a few and sometimes folks get a deal, but not often.

[Reebster]

Maybe you guys can help me out:

 

I booked a cabin several months ago for a cruise in November. At the time, I was pretty strapped for cash and booked a low-price outside cabin. But now I'm thinking that I'd really like to upgrade to a balcony. I contacted my TA, but she will not offer me the new cabin at her Agency's rate. She says the only way she can upgrade my reservation is if I pay NCL's listed price for a balcony cabin, which is several hundred dollars higher than the Agency's price. I asked if she would contact NCL about an upsell, but she said her agency didn't do that, that they would pass along the offer if NCL calls them, but they will not call NCL on a passenger's behalf.

 

Should I try calling NCL on my own? Or should I just stick with the room I have? Is my TA being uncooperative or is this just the normal procedure, that once you make final payment it's too late to change? This agency was very cooperative with my last cruise, which was why I booked through them a second time, but now no one seems to be particularly helpful.

[Richie2pies]

Maybe you guys can help me out:

 

I booked a cabin several months ago for a cruise in November. At the time, I was pretty strapped for cash and booked a low-price outside cabin. But now I'm thinking that I'd really like to upgrade to a balcony. I contacted my TA, but she will not offer me the new cabin at her Agency's rate. She says the only way she can upgrade my reservation is if I pay NCL's listed price for a balcony cabin, which is several hundred dollars higher than the Agency's price. I asked if she would contact NCL about an upsell, but she said her agency didn't do that, that they would pass along the offer if NCL calls them, but they will not call NCL on a passenger's behalf.

 

Should I try calling NCL on my own? Or should I just stick with the room I have? Is my TA being uncooperative or is this just the normal procedure, that once you make final payment it's too late to change? This agency was very cooperative with my last cruise, which was why I booked through them a second time, but now no one seems to be particularly helpful.

 

Time to get a new TA

[ubdkjrb]

Maybe you guys can help me out:

 

I booked a cabin several months ago for a cruise in November. At the time, I was pretty strapped for cash and booked a low-price outside cabin. But now I'm thinking that I'd really like to upgrade to a balcony. I contacted my TA, but she will not offer me the new cabin at her Agency's rate. She says the only way she can upgrade my reservation is if I pay NCL's listed price for a balcony cabin, which is several hundred dollars higher than the Agency's price. I asked if she would contact NCL about an upsell, but she said her agency didn't do that, that they would pass along the offer if NCL calls them, but they will not call NCL on a passenger's behalf.

 

Should I try calling NCL on my own? Or should I just stick with the room I have? Is my TA being uncooperative or is this just the normal procedure, that once you make final payment it's too late to change? This agency was very cooperative with my last cruise, which was why I booked through them a second time, but now no one seems to be particularly helpful.

 

This is exactly why I always book direct with NCL.

[Reebster]

I plan to book directly through NCL next time. I'm disappointed, though, because this agency was great to work with on my last cruise, but now seems to have a total lack of interest in my business.

[Arwenmark]

Maybe you guys can help me out:

 

I booked a cabin several months ago for a cruise in November. At the time, I was pretty strapped for cash and booked a low-price outside cabin. But now I'm thinking that I'd really like to upgrade to a balcony. I contacted my TA, but she will not offer me the new cabin at her Agency's rate. She says the only way she can upgrade my reservation is if I pay NCL's listed price for a balcony cabin, which is several hundred dollars higher than the Agency's price. I asked if she would contact NCL about an upsell, but she said her agency didn't do that, that they would pass along the offer if NCL calls them, but they will not call NCL on a passenger's behalf.

 

Should I try calling NCL on my own? Or should I just stick with the room I have? Is my TA being uncooperative or is this just the normal procedure, that once you make final payment it's too late to change? This agency was very cooperative with my last cruise, which was why I booked through them a second time, but now no one seems to be particularly helpful.

 

 

By all means next time get a new TA. Mine is part of the NCL upsell program and they can call them directly for clients. but only two weeks out.

[flattop223]

Reebster as others have said it is time to get another TA at least for your next cruise...

 

I sail on 10/24 called my TA today and asked if they would check on upsells and they got back to me with a price of $20pp to go from balcony to mini-suite for one of our cabins and $50pp to go from OV to balcony for the other 2 cabins we have.

 

I requested that they put it thru but have not heard back yet...

 

I would make another run at the TA you have and see if you can sweet talk them into making the call.:)