moved from one cabin to another, same category, cabin marked as no upgrade

[vmom]

Just curious as to if many others have had this experience.

 

I had booked an obstructed view cabin on the Grand. I used the wonderful website link which has views of the various obstructed views on the Princess ships. I love that website.

 

After great care using this site, I picked out 2 cabins with a good view although obstructed. Both cabins were on the same hallway, although not next to each other. Both cabins were marked as no upgrade.

 

When I got to port, I discovered I had been moved to a different cabin, same category, but on the other side of the ship. It was also an obstructed view, same level, so not an upgrade. My original room was occupied by two other people, so the cabin was not changed due to needing work done. It was also not a handicapped cabin.

 

I was initially irritated, since I had picked out those cabin locations specifically for their location on the same hall and for the view from the window. I just accepted the change and did not say anything.

 

I have now made reservations for another obstructed view cabin on the Caribbean Princess. It has minimal obstruction and I will be very upset if I get moved to another cabin unless its for a very very good reason (example, needed work done on it). I marked it as no upgrade.

 

Do changes like this happen often? I found out my cabin was moved 5 days before sailing and I was not notified.

 

 

Any way to lessen the chances of being moved?

[sept10dsm]

I don't know if done often, but I surely would have called to find out why and question the move.

[mm1251]

You know what? I think this would irritate me, too! Wouldn't ruin my day, but seems pretty strange.

[Loonbeam]

For a non-guarantee this is odd and normally because a cabin is being taken out of service for some reason. If it were to happen I would immediately inquire why...

[Cruisin' Chick]

As someone who does select specific cabins and marks my bookings "no upgrade" for the past three cruises, I would have certainly expressed my displeasure to Princess. They should have contacted you and asked if you would change.

 

I think that's the way to ensure you don't move: get on their case if they've done that before.

[Pam in CA]

For a non-guarantee this is odd and normally because a cabin is being taken out of service for some reason. If it were to happen I would immediately inquire why...

I agree. You should not have been moved and I would immediately write to Princess and express my displeasure, pointing out that I'd specifically marked the booking "No upgrade" and I wasn't contacted or notified that a change had been made. This is not the type of action one would expect from Princess.

[dforeigner]

Are you booking directly through Princess or a travel agent?

 

I would voice a complaint about what happened to you during the last cruise. At the same time, I would give them heads up that you are requesting a specific cabin and that under no circumstances should they move you in order to put someone else in that room.

[KruzPrincess]

It's never happened to me and I'd be very upset if it did. I'm very picky about cabin location. Did you book this yourself online? If you booked through a TA could they have forgotten to mark it 'no upgrade'? I'd dig into it further and see how it happened.

[san diego sue]

Just booked a mini suite on Island Princess. Selected specific cabin and it was a larger balcony and covered.(ME category)

Within a couple of hours, cabin was changed and upgraded to a Dolphin Deck smaller balcony and totally uncovered. The Island and Coral are different than other Princess ships. I emailed travel agent and got back original cabin. The next day, email from travel agent and it was done again and then changed back. So now our reservation says no upgrade unless a suite. Our friends are booked too and we are both watching our bookings to make sure this doesn't happen again.

[vmom]

Thanks for the input. I sent an email to Princess expressing my irritation. Will see what happens.

 

I booked through a large travel agency through a lengthy phone conversation. The booking was definitely marked as no upgrade or changes. I checked, double checked and triple checked that. I checked both the reservation and the cruise personalizer constantly.

 

The cruise personalizer consistently listed the original cabin number. I had no idea of the change till I checked in at the port. It was definitely a last minute change by Princess.

 

I had a lovely cruise and this was just a bump in the road in a wonderful vacation but an irritation I don't want to happen again unless for a very good reason.

 

To those of you who spend time specifically picking out a cabin and cabin location for a specific reason, then you will understand my irritation.

 

Will let you know if I get a response from Princess. If anyone has suggestions how to avoid this happening, let me know. Frankly even if I had made a complaint at the port or after I got on the ship, what really could have been done about it at that point.

[CamCruiser]

I am glad to hear you emailed Princess regarding your room reassignment. I will be curious to hear their reason for the change.

We often travel with family members and choose cabins close together. I would not want to have my cabin assignment changed.

How to you indicate "no upgrade" on a cabin selection. We have booked online and through a TA, but have never been asked if we want to make the no upgrade designation.

[geocruiser]

This happened to me on Emerald Princess. My TA told me that my cabin marked "no upgrade" was changed. I know it was marked no upgrade because I was with my TA when she made the reservation with Princess. She got me OBC for the move and was told that the PAX in our cabin were going to do a B2B and did not want to change cabins. Our cabin was an obstructed view cabin with only two beds. The one that they moved us to had bunk beds. With in one hour of us boarding the ship and being in my cabin I hit my head on the closed upper bunk while getting up from a nap. I reported my bump on my head to the front desk and ask if they could remove the upper bed or pad the sharp end of it. I told them how my cabin was change too. With in 15 minutes an officer came to my cabin. I told him I was fine. Just did not want to worry about hitting my head getting out of bed. Then he took me to deck 15 and ask me if I would take another cabin with a balcony instead of the one given to me. I told him I would be happy to stay were we were if they could pad the bunk. He said easier for them to give me the other cabin. So I got the balcony cabin. They were very nice to me, other than a small lump on my head I as fine. They even move all our stuff for us.

[ONT-CA]

On two occasions we have had second thoughts about a cruise and added a b2b to the original, although we were assigned different cabins. Our request to see if we could remain in the original cabin did not materialize and so we had to move, not an altogether pleasant activity but understandable.

 

But on the second occasion they did manage to alter someone's booking to allow us to remain in the same cabin. We approached the persons in the intended second cabin to thank them for agreeing to the change. They said that they were more pleased with the cabin they then had. We therefore believed that such a change could never be done without the consent of the original passenger. Obviously this is not the case.

[cruzsnooze]

Thanks for the input. I sent an email to Princess expressing my irritation. Will see what happens.

 

I booked through a large travel agency through a lengthy phone conversation. The booking was definitely marked as no upgrade or changes. I checked, double checked and triple checked that. I checked both the reservation and the cruise personalizer constantly.

 

The cruise personalizer consistently listed the original cabin number. I had no idea of the change till I checked in at the port. It was definitely a last minute change by Princess.

 

I had a lovely cruise and this was just a bump in the road in a wonderful vacation but an irritation I don't want to happen again unless for a very good reason.

 

To those of you who spend time specifically picking out a cabin and cabin location for a specific reason, then you will understand my irritation.

 

Will let you know if I get a response from Princess. If anyone has suggestions how to avoid this happening, let me know. Frankly even if I had made a complaint at the port or after I got on the ship, what really could have been done about it at that point.

You should have sent a letter to your TA not Princess since the TA handled your booking. I think your TA forgot to mark your booking no upgrade and the default allowing princess to move your cabin kicked in.

[cruzsnooze]

I agree. You should not have been moved and I would immediately write to Princess and express my displeasure, pointing out that I'd specifically marked the booking "No upgrade" and I wasn't contacted or notified that a change had been made. This is not the type of action one would expect from Princess.

They didn't mark the booking their TA did so how do we know what the TA did or didn't mark on this booking.

[5326jan]

I booked directly with Princess for our upcoming cruise and specifically marked "Category Only" upgrade. I got an email from Princess congratulating me for being selected to an upgrade. It was from Caribe aft balcony (my favorite B category) to a midship Baja cabin. I called and declined the upgrade immediately, but asked why ~ since it was marked Cat Only, did they upgrade to same and she said, "Sometimes the request gets overlooked." :rolleyes: They did put me back, but if you don't catch it within 48 hours, it becomes permanent.

 

I now watch my bookings more carefully.

[cherylandtk]

... The booking was definitely marked as no upgrade or changes. I checked, double checked and triple checked that. I checked both the reservation and the cruise personalizer constantly... If anyone has suggestions how to avoid this happening, let me know. Frankly even if I had made a complaint at the port or after I got on the ship, what really could have been done about it at that point.

 

... and she said, "Sometimes the request gets overlooked." :rolleyes: They did put me back, but if you don't catch it within 48 hours, it becomes permanent. I now watch my bookings more carefully.

Vmom, did you have any other codes on your booking such as use of a FCC deposit/credit, military or stockholder credit? From what I understand, the Princess system only 'shows' two such codes at a time, and if you have three codes in use, such as No Upgrade & FCC & Military, that one of these codes will drop off the page and won't show up. If the hidden code happens to be the NUP, that might explain how this sort of thing happened.

 

I don't know if you can 100% prevent this in the future, but it is actually rather rare that this happens (as stated above, often due to an onboard passenger deciding to stay for the next cruise, occasionally two parties travelling together linking their bookings late). Do have a chat with your TA about the codes and how they show up on the booking; I would make sure that the NUP code shows up in the first position. Given what happened, I would also ask your TA for a screen print of her booking page SHOWING the NUP code applied to your booking. That page, along with Princess' reply to your recent email, would be helpful to you if this sort of thing happened again. As Maria described above, the Hotel Manager onboard will likely make every effort to accomodate you into a suitable cabin.

[mafig]

I would check my Princess booking every day for price drops. My reservation is marked "no upgrade" but I still would check that every so often.

 

Final payment has been made. I have my luggage tags and boarding pass, so I thought that I could stop checking constantly. Guess not. I still have to check that I won't lose my Caribe deck balcony. Thanks for the heads up, OP!:)

[caribill]

On two occasions we have had second thoughts about a cruise and added a b2b to the original, although we were assigned different cabins. Our request to see if we could remain in the original cabin did not materialize and so we had to move, not an altogether pleasant activity but understandable.

 

 

On one B2B booked as seperate cruises we had a different cabin each segment.

 

Near the end of the first segment we received a letter saying that our request to stay in the same cabin for the second segment could not be honored. We had made no such request although it would have been nice not to move.

 

A day into the second segment our cabin steward from the first segment asked why we moved as the cabin was vacant for the second segment.

[avalong]

On one B2B booked as seperate cruises we had a different cabin each segment.

 

Near the end of the first segment we received a letter saying that our request to stay in the same cabin for the second segment could not be honored. We had made no such request although it would have been nice not to move.

 

A day into the second segment our cabin steward from the first segment asked why we moved as the cabin was vacant for the second segment.[/quote]

 

OMG. You know that expression, "the wheels grind slowly and exceedingly fine"? Well, in Princess' case, the wheels grind slowly and exceedingly coarse! Unbelievable.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Thanks for the input. I sent an email to Princess expressing my irritation. Will see what happens.

 

I booked through a large travel agency through a lengthy phone conversation. The booking was definitely marked as no upgrade or changes. I checked, double checked and triple checked that. I checked both the reservation and the cruise personalizer constantly.

 

The cruise personalizer consistently listed the original cabin number. I had no idea of the change till I checked in at the port. It was definitely a last minute change by Princess.

 

I had a lovely cruise and this was just a bump in the road in a wonderful vacation but an irritation I don't want to happen again unless for a very good reason.

 

To those of you who spend time specifically picking out a cabin and cabin location for a specific reason, then you will understand my irritation.

 

Will let you know if I get a response from Princess. If anyone has suggestions how to avoid this happening, let me know. Frankly even if I had made a complaint at the port or after I got on the ship, what really could have been done about it at that point.

 

Please keep us informed, even if you have to start a new thread by the time you hear back. You can see from some of the responses that many of us book specific cabins; I do appreciate you letting them know of your displeasure that your request didn't get honored. The last time we booked a cruise, I did ask about being informed about cabins opening up in certain categories (or something like that...We would have loved the same cabin we had two years before on the same ship. It was almost a year since that conversation so I can't remember my exact question) and was told that they don't do whatever I was asking about. So I just left our booking as "no upgrade."

On one B2B booked as seperate cruises we had a different cabin each segment.

 

Near the end of the first segment we received a letter saying that our request to stay in the same cabin for the second segment could not be honored. We had made no such request although it would have been nice not to move.

 

A day into the second segment our cabin steward from the first segment asked why we moved as the cabin was vacant for the second segment.[/quote]

 

OMG. You know that expression, "the wheels grind slowly and exceedingly fine"? Well, in Princess' case, the wheels grind slowly and exceedingly coarse! Unbelievable.

 

That is so weird.

[billie5]

Why so weird? Could have been no-shows. "Cancel for any reason" exercised at last minute. Other reasons, I am sure.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Why so weird? Could have been no-shows. "Cancel for any reason" exercised at last minute. Other reasons, I am sure.

 

This: "Near the end of the first segment we received a letter saying that our request to stay in the same cabin for the second segment could not be honored. We had made no such request although it would have been nice not to move."

 

Plus, if there was a no-show in their original cabin for the next sailing, that would have been evident by the time they sailed. Too late to have prevented their having to move in the morning (if the new occupants had simply not arrived in time), but surely they could have been asked if they preferred their original cabin by the passenger services desk.

[BuzzBuzzen]

We also had ticked " no upgrades " , booked a ME on Diamond Princess, directly with Princess, and last Friday received a " upgrade notice " email and advised we had been moved along the hallway about 10 cabins into a MB . I understand the original ME was marked as could accomodate an extra passenger , so I thought maybe that's why we were moved. I note the MB cabin can also accomodate an extra passenger . Perhaps other passengers wanted cabins together , i do not know. I also can read the T&C's that state you may be moved for operational reasons. So ticking no upgrades does not seem to mean much in my case. Regards to all , Buzz :)

[billie5]

This: "Near the end of the first segment we received a letter saying that our request to stay in the same cabin for the second segment could not be honored. We had made no such request although it would have been nice not to move."

 

Plus' date=' if there was a no-show in their original cabin for the next sailing, that would have been evident by the time they sailed. Too late to have prevented their having to move in the morning (if the new occupants had simply not arrived in time), but surely they could have been asked if they preferred their original cabin by the passenger services desk.[/quote']

 

I am sure you are right, but these purser's offices are managing thousands of passengers. Once an unusual situation develops, it is unlikely their computers are programmed to signal "hey, remember that b2b room we couldn't hold for both segments, well now that it is unexpectedly available...."