Upgrade Fairy

[crusinpeg]

How do you think she works her magic? Is it purely the luck of the draw or is there some kind of logic involved???????

[paul929207]

Supposedly people are randomly selected by the computer

[DrivesLikeMario]

Totally agree. There are many posts about the theories if you want to do a search.

[laraja]

I think there is both logic and randomness (is that a word?) involved. Take my upcoming Hawaii cruise as an example.

 

Right now, every Oceanview category is waitlisted, meaning that although there are no more oceanviews available, there are still people who have put down deposits and are willing to pay for them should one become available. The only other waitlisted categories are E Obstructed Oceanview and PS and VS Suites. With two months left till sailing, Princess has now raised Oceanview prices and reduced balcony prices, obviously trying to encourage folks to buy those balconies.

 

As we get even closer to sailing, if those higher categories don't start filling up, Princess will move the Oceanview folks into the undersold higher categories and resell their cabins to the people lined up and waiting for them. In order to make a profit (and sometimes just to break even) Princess needs to sail with as full a ship as possible. That's the logic part.

 

The random part comes in with exactly who, and how many, are upgraded. There may be one person on a particular category waitlist, or there may be ten.

 

On my Alaska cruise last year, every single category on the ship was waitlisted and had been since before final payment date. The day before sailing I was plucked out of my E Obstructed Oceanview and landed in a BB Balcony. Obviously a last minute cancellation as his excursion tickets were on the desk along with mine and I got balloons on his birthday.

 

So, the Upgrade Fairy is real and has a good reason for doing what she does, but she sometimes has a really whacky way of doing it!;)

[hop_along]

I would assume the likelihood of an upgrade depends largely on the number of cabins available in the guaranteed category. On the Star, I took the low-cost BF and saw that it consisted of only four cabins (as I recall) so I figured that many people choosing that guarantee would be upgraded. That's what happened about four months from departure date.

[Bill B]

'Fairy dust' - a revenue maximization algorithm programmed into the booking mainframe.

[crusinpeg]

In English????????

[Bill B]

In English????????

You'll get 'sprinkled' if the computer figures Princess can make more money by selling the room (or cat.) you booked to someone else.

[caribill]

So, the Upgrade Fairy is real

 

She sure is

[NSWP]

Upgrade Fairy must be a North American (no offence intended !) she does not visit Aussies, in 10 Princess cruises never had an upgrade yet, nor do I expect one, you get what you pay for.

[Deb in Markham]

'Fairy dust' - a revenue maximization algorithm programmed into the booking mainframe.

I'll have to remember this one! :D

[LARGIN]

She sure is

 

I heard that the true Upgrade Fairy looks like this..