Upgrade but more of a downgrade

[Tiffany's mom]

We were assigned a cabin yesterday for our cruise on the Pacific. We had a guarantee BE. We are doing a b2b. The first cruise we were assigned a BB on deck 7. The second they assigned 6017. This cabin is above the lounge and next year will be categorize as a BF, one step down from our BE.

 

I know what you all are going to say - chose a category you will be happy with. That right but we are elite and have 43 days of cruising booked this year. I don't think it is right to give a loyal customer what the company considers the least desireable location for a cabin (this is according to Princess own chart for the new statroom category).

 

I called Princess and was told - must call your travel agent. My agent will not be in until Monday.

 

I told the Princess agent that I was unhappy with all the changes that Princess had made this last year. One of them being the caribe balcony furniture. She ask how I knew, I said Cruise Critic. Well did she change- "you can't believe what you read on CC". I told her Princess posted that they would consider what cruisers where saying, the anwser "well that was probably not Princess posting but some fake". I told her to find our for herself.

[Reader0108598]

Your TA can get you transfered on Monday to any cabin open in that catagory. Do a mock booking and see if there is a cabin you would rather have . I understand your frustration but Princess is a business and they do not care about us.

As for the Princess rep............take it with a grain of salt. :)

 

 

Reader

[compozer]

I don't think they care if you are elite or a first time cruises - who knows if that is even marked down when they do the guarantees.

 

Or, if a person did it and saw that you were elite, they may have thought that after cruising that much, you should know the good and bad with booking guarantees.

 

So, I'll say what you figured we'd say "You should only book categories you will be happy with".

 

I do hope that your TA can get you a cabin you will be more comfortable with. Good luck.

[cherylandtk]

I know what you all are going to say - chose a category you will be happy with. That right but we are elite and have 43 days of cruising booked this year. I don't think it is right to give a loyal customer what the company considers the least desireable location for a cabin (this is according to Princess own chart for the new statroom category).

I am sorry you are disappointed with the upgrade you received; as pointed out you can switch to another BD cabin if one is open.

 

Expecting better upgrades because you are Elite and have many days booked this year is not consistent with actual practice; postings over the last 8 years indicate the computer is not programmed to take either of those into account when handing out upgrades (and I think you probably already knew that:( but were just hoping for something different). I understand you disagree with that upgrade process, unfortunately you will only be disappointed if you expect something that does not actually happen.

 

In addition, comparing this year's cabin grades with next year's is futile unless you are booking a specific cabin. A computer does the upgrades, and it only sees the cabin grade, it does not distinguish between 'better locations' or 'worse locations' within a specific grade. If you need to make that comparison, you really have to book the specific cabin you want.

 

FWIW, this year the Pacific has only four BE cabins, aft on deck 6. Next year, there will be 34 BE cabins on deck 6 and 7. So booking a BE GTY next year is far more likely likely to put you into a BE cabin. The BF downgrade is strictly due to the new fore vs. aft sectioning. Those 16 new BF's forward on deck 6 are currently BD's, but 6 of the current BD's will actually upgrade to BC cabins. I hope you have better luck in planning your future voyages.

[paul929207]

Sorry you are disappointed, but when you booked a guarentee you said you would take any cabin in that category of any higher category. You know not to book it that way if there is an unacceptable cabin.

[san diego sue]

I rather book what I want and pay for it. Booking the lowest price balcony as a guaranty, doesn't always mean an upgrade. Consider yourself lucky if you get one.

[RockinRobin]

I had the same situation happen to me on the Ruby. The computer assigned me an "upgrade" that I was concerned about. I called my TA and it was no problem switching me back to my original guaranteed category and at the same time assigned me to a cabin within that category that I really liked. So.........don't worry, be happy........It will work out.

[Tiffany's mom]

It seems that my agent did not connect the b2b cruises on the reservation with Princess. My agent corrected that and was able to get a new cabin assigned. It does pay to have good agents. Princess told me the reservations need to be tied together. So we are very happy.

[hubofhockey]

It seems that my agent did not connect the b2b cruises on the reservation with Princess. My agent corrected that and was able to get a new cabin assigned. It does pay to have good agents. Princess told me the reservations need to be tied together. So we are very happy.

 

Hopefully, you are in the same cabin for both lengths of the B2B. After reading your original post, I thought your travel agent was your problem. I am not sure if your travel agent is such a great agent or just corrected an original mistake that he/she made. It sounds like Princess served you better than your agent in telling you that the reservations needed to be tied together.

 

I really don't buy into your "but I'm elite" argument. You already get $hundreds worth of benefits with that. THAT is your benefit. You really aren't entitled to any more than that.

[paul929207]

It seems that my agent did not connect the b2b cruises on the reservation with Princess. My agent corrected that and was able to get a new cabin assigned. It does pay to have good agents. Princess told me the reservations need to be tied together. So we are very happy.

Glad you got it to work out.

[Coral]

It seems that my agent did not connect the b2b cruises on the reservation with Princess. My agent corrected that and was able to get a new cabin assigned. It does pay to have good agents. Princess told me the reservations need to be tied together. So we are very happy.

 

Glad it worked out!

 

BTW -there are benefits to tying reservations together and benefits for not. I actually ask my TA not to do so.

[paddingtonbear]

Sorry you are disappointed, but when you booked a guarentee you said you would take any cabin in that category of any higher category. You know not to book it that way if there is an unacceptable cabin.

 

On the Coral princess the variety of uncovered/half covered/fully covered balconies is daunting. Once (after much consideration) I picked the cabin (and balcony) I want I ticked the "no upgrade" box because there are so many cabins in classifications above me with uncovered balconies and I particularly want starboard side. Also I didn't want the cabin next to the lift or opposite the service room : )

 

I still feel the "I might miss out on an upgrade" niggling doubt but think this is probably best for me since Alaskan weather is unpredictable and this will be our first cruise.

[NUGal]

Glad it worked out!

 

BTW -there are benefits to tying reservations together and benefits for not. I actually ask my TA not to do so.

 

 

Your comment intrigued me. What are the benefits for not tying the reservations together? We just booked a b2b yesterday, and I'm curious.

[Coral]

Your comment intrigued me. What are the benefits for not tying the reservations together? We just booked a b2b yesterday, and I'm curious.

 

Nothing that affects the cruise - so don't worry. I drive my agent crazy by changing things all the time and if the cruises are linked, sometimes it doesn't allow some online changes and they have to call to make the changes. Nothing major.

 

Though there was a time when Princess's system prohibited a Vancouver to Whittier and then Whittier to Vancouver as a B2B. Their system said it was illegal when in fact it wasn't. So in order to book it, they couldn't be linked. This has since been fixed in their system (and now they often will book it as a 14 night cruise) but I remember there was a time that linking these 2 cruises caused Princess to call the agent and tell them it was illegal. There were a ton of posts on this board back then saying Princess didn't allow their agent to do this and I then understood why my agent didn't link my bookings when doing a b2b on that route.

[Reader0108598]

It seems that my agent did not connect the b2b cruises on the reservation with Princess. My agent corrected that and was able to get a new cabin assigned. It does pay to have good agents. Princess told me the reservations need to be tied together. So we are very happy.

 

 

Glad you are happy,that's what matters. Enjoy your cruise:)

[NUGal]

Nothing that affects the cruise - so don't worry. I drive my agent crazy by changing things all the time and if the cruises are linked, sometimes it doesn't allow some online changes and they have to call to make the changes. Nothing major.

 

Though there was a time when Princess's system prohibited a Vancouver to Whittier and then Whittier to Vancouver as a B2B. Their system said it was illegal when in fact it wasn't. So in order to book it, they couldn't be linked. This has since been fixed in their system (and now they often will book it as a 14 night cruise) but I remember there was a time that linking these 2 cruises caused Princess to call the agent and tell them it was illegal. There were a ton of posts on this board back then saying Princess didn't allow their agent to do this and I then understood why my agent didn't link my bookings when doing a b2b on that route.

 

 

Thank you for the information. I neglected to mention that we just have a guarantee on the first cruise and an assigned cabin on the second one, and I wondered if linking or not linking might be better in this situation.

[Coral]

Thank you for the information. I neglected to mention that we just have a guarantee on the first cruise and an assigned cabin on the second one, and I wondered if linking or not linking might be better in this situation.

 

I would probably link them.

[NUGal]

I would probably link them.

 

 

Thanks again, Coral, for your help.

[critterchick]

If you link your reservations as a B2B will you still get credit for 2 separate cruises or will it only count as 1? I know that on some Caribbean itineraries I've seen in the past (and it was a couple of years ago)' you could book a 7-nighter or a 14 nighter that was actually a b2b, but then the b2b was considered a single cruise.

[Coral]

If you link your reservations as a B2B will you still get credit for 2 separate cruises or will it only count as 1? I know that on some Caribbean itineraries I've seen in the past (and it was a couple of years ago)' you could book a 7-nighter or a 14 nighter that was actually a b2b, but then the b2b was considered a single cruise.

 

If you link them, they are still counted as 2 cruises. You still have 2 booking numbers.

[triple7tahoe]

LInk them=two cruises Book them as one 14 night cruise then only one cruise. One benefit I have used is the extra OBC received when booked as two seperate cruises. We are presently booked on a TA which is 15 days and then the follow-up cruise which is 12 days. By making two bookings we got double in FFC (OBC) as well as double in Carnival stock and Military OBC. While this could have been booked as one 27 day cruise the extra OBC more than made up for the slight price difference.

To make matters even better, we have just been upgraded from a balcony to a mini suite for both legs.:)

[Tiffany's mom]

LInk them=two cruises Book them as one 14 night cruise then only one cruise. One benefit I have used is the extra OBC received when booked as two seperate cruises. We are presently booked on a TA which is 15 days and then the follow-up cruise which is 12 days. By making two bookings we got double in FFC (OBC) as well as double in Carnival stock and Military OBC. While this could have been booked as one 27 day cruise the extra OBC more than made up for the slight price difference.

To make matters even better, we have just been upgraded from a balcony to a mini suite for both legs.:)

 

Our cruises are 2 separate cruises with 2 different booking numbers. They are not sold as a single cruise. Linking only tells Princess that you are staying aboard. This way they will have your new card in your room the night before the first cruise ends and lets the cabin steward know that you are staying. If you have to move then the steward will help you and the new steward will have you room ready early for you to move into.

 

With different booking numbers you get FFC and stock credit for each cruise.