Upgrades

[HuaAZ]

Close to 400 nights at sea and not a single upgrade.

[Colorado Babe]

From what I have read on these boards, it appears that D plus and Pinnacle receive upgrades if there are staterooms at a higher class available. Every once in a while a poster who is lower in status lucks out and gets an upgrade. I've never been so lucky but have been able to upgrade at a fair price on several occasions.

[waterbug123]

Nice!! :D I am guessing not a lot of people want to spend for a suite on a short

cruise. Perhaps that is why they are not filling the suites?

 

I have that nice corner aft #7666 JS for our Enchantment New Year's Eve. cruise December

2014. :) Though, it may be hard to give that one up for a GS...but OS? Yeah, I think

I could be convinced. ;)

 

We had 7666 booked few weeks ago and were UG'd to a GS. While the balcony for 7666 is fantastic, the room itself is rather small, especially compared to JS on newer ships. We've always enjoyed that cabin, but I'd take the GS we were UG'd to again any time!

[island lady]

We had 7666 booked few weeks ago and were UG'd to a GS. While the balcony for 7666 is fantastic, the room itself is rather small, especially compared to JS on newer ships. We've always enjoyed that cabin, but I'd take the GS we were UG'd to again any time!

 

Thanks! That is good to know, and thanks for sharing! :)

 

I have never been inside that cabin, but have always noticed the huge

corner balcony on it. Especially when we go down to the port during

sail away to wave to the happy cruisers as they sail out (while I am

still on land and wishing! ;) ). We do love the big balconies, as we

use ours quite a bit.

 

Always nice to upgrade to GS...so I guess I won't mark my profile as

"do not upgrade". Thanks! :D

[Trekker954]

I don't know for sure, but I think when sailing the Caribbean, as a D+ you have stiff competition, even with Ps on board. If you sail other parts of the world (not including TAs where there are many D+/P), I believe your chances are better. I've been upgraded from a E2 to a JS obstructed, there were only 30 D+ on board. I personally didn't think it was at all obstructed.

 

But that makes me wonder, if you had a nice D balcony, say on a hump or aft corner, how would you feel to get upgraded to a JS?

 

As a D, I was offered a JS to move out of my corner aft (Alaska), we declined. My status actually wasn't the issue. I could have been a newbie and they would have asked. Someone on a b2b wanted my cabin.

 

Sometimes an upgrade isn't really an upgrade. I often juggle my preference page depending on my chosen cabin.

 

I'm in a JS corner aft on my upcoming Legend southern Caribbean cruise. I'm sure it doesn't compare to a corner aft on the Radiance in Alaska, so I left my preference to automatic upgrade (should I be so lucky).

[sjb317]

282 cruise points & two upgrades, both times to JS. The first time we were called about 3 weeks prior to the cruise, the second time I noticed a change on our reservation about 3 days prior to our cruise. We were excited both times!:D

 

Sherri:)

[scomar]

I did some checking and looks like three weeks out sailing on the Jewel and there are still some cabins available. I just checked on multiple websites for balcony cabins only I found these still available:

7016 Deck 7

7018 Deck 7

7036 Deck 7

7142 Deck 7

7164 Deck 7

7526 Deck 7

7662 Deck 7

7664 Deck 7

7666 Deck 7

7668 Deck 7

8512 Deck 8

9502 Deck 9

 

Have no idea what others are open. When I check on RCI website it shows none available. Can you say upgrade? Maybe, possibly, wishfully? Come on just give me the upgrade RCI!!!:D

[Trekker954]

I did some checking and looks like three weeks out sailing on the Jewel and there are still some cabins available. I just checked on multiple websites for balcony cabins only I found these still available:

7016 Deck 7

7018 Deck 7

7036 Deck 7

7142 Deck 7

7164 Deck 7

7526 Deck 7

7662 Deck 7

7664 Deck 7

7666 Deck 7

7668 Deck 7

8512 Deck 8

9502 Deck 9

 

Have no idea what others are open. When I check on RCI website it shows none available. Can you say upgrade? Maybe, possibly, wishfully? Come on just give me the upgrade RCI!!!:D

 

 

If you get the upgrade, I hope it isn't on Deck 7. A lot of those cabins the balcony is just above the lifeboats and you cannot look straight down standing at the rail. One of my favorite pasttimes. ;0

But then again, an obstructed balcony is better than no balcony. Our first balcony was on the Jewel. A gty. I didn't know about this and was not happy. Live and learn.

[teddie]

Pleasantly surprised to be upgraded from a D to a JS on our second RCI cruise, back in 2003. I'm thinking that the approach to upgrades has changed considerably since then.

 

I never consider myself "entitled" to an upgrade even after several cruises, and I have to shake my head when I have read here on CC about resentment when a newbie scores one. More power to them! Whether RCI is seeking to create a new loyal cruiser, or making a veteran cruiser happy, it's up to them to decide who gets an upgrade.

 

Teddie

[Paulette3028]

Pleasantly surprised to be upgraded from a D to a JS on our second RCI cruise, back in 2003. I'm thinking that the approach to upgrades has changed considerably since then.

 

I never consider myself "entitled" to an upgrade even after several cruises, and I have to shake my head when I have read here on CC about resentment when a newbie scores one. More power to them! Whether RCI is seeking to create a new loyal cruiser, or making a veteran cruiser happy, it's up to them to decide who gets an upgrade.

 

Teddie

 

I have to agree with you....I don't consider myself 'entitled' to an upgrade, and would enjoy it if it happened -- I choose a cabin I will like in a category I want...and then leave it at that.

 

We pay what we believe is a fair fee for the cabin choice or we wouldn't book it; of course, we watch if the price for our cabin goes down before final payment is due and it has happened and our TA gets us the better pricing.

 

We have over a 100 cruise nights with RCCL...and have enjoyed every one of them...once we got upgraded to a nicer cabin in the same category from our original booking and when we are on that ship, keep taking it.

 

I don't worry or lament about a visit by the Upgrade Fairy....I have other things to plan for to enjoy my cruise.

[scomar]

If you get the upgrade, I hope it isn't on Deck 7. A lot of those cabins the balcony is just above the lifeboats and you cannot look straight down standing at the rail. One of my favorite pasttimes. ;0

But then again, an obstructed balcony is better than no balcony. Our first balcony was on the Jewel. A gty. I didn't know about this and was not happy. Live and learn.

I have a balcony booked on deck 8 right where I want to be, since I never count on an upgrade, not that I have ever received one:(. It does not matter if I get one or not I will still have just as much fun, but I would enjoy getting in to a suite one of these days. Just not in the budget to book a suite right now.

[05mak05]

zero upgrades and D plus

Same here … zero upgrades. What irks me is first time cruisers getting the nod while frequent cruisers do not. We almost always take children and grandchildren and book anywhere from 2 to 4 balcony staterooms so suites are usually not within our budget. I keep track of what's available through the websites that show all unsold cabins. I'm an optimist and will keep hoping that one of these days we'll get lucky.

[Paulette3028]

Same here … zero upgrades. What irks me is first time cruisers getting the nod while frequent cruisers do not. We almost always take children and grandchildren and book anywhere from 2 to 4 balcony staterooms so suites are usually not within our budget. I keep track of what's available through the websites that show all unsold cabins. I'm an optimist and will keep hoping that one of these days we'll get lucky.

 

I can understand how it could irk someone that new cruisers, may get an upgrade over frequent cruisers/loyalists. From a business POV, RCCL may be trying to 'hook' them on a better cabin for future business from them when they cruise again (just an idea).

 

I would think that a party like yours that books 2-4 balcony cabins for your group, might make it difficult for RCCL to upgrade you -- they perhaps could not offer you the ability to upgrade all of the cabins you have booked; perhaps their 'unwritten policy' is not to break up cabins that are 'linked together'.

[05mak05]

When we were on the Oasis in May, we had 4 - D4 staterooms on Deck 8. We were scattered all over the place. I had checked "automatic upgrade" and asked C&A if we had a better chance if we were not linked. I was assured that this wasn't a factor. There was an open Grand Suite and a number of JS's not to mention the D1s. There's more to this story. I do hope that RCI will make more of an effort to actually reward loyalty when staterooms are available.

[lacruiser]

D+ here and have were upgraded for the first time last August on OAS. We had a connecting D1 and were upgraded to a JS. It was wonderful; I got a phone call about a month out.

 

We usually book a year in advance and try to book an aft, JS if possible, or D1 if not. The OAS sailing was kind of impromptu, so we were really happy to get the upgrade. If I had an aft booked, it would greatly depend on what we were upgraded to as to whether or not I'd want to take it.

[PINEVIEW01]

Diamond and never a upgrade on Royal. I have on another cruise line.

[teddie]

When we were on the Oasis in May, we had 4 - D4 staterooms on Deck 8. We were scattered all over the place. I had checked "automatic upgrade" and asked C&A if we had a better chance if we were not linked. I was assured that this wasn't a factor. There was an open Grand Suite and a number of JS's not to mention the D1s. There's more to this story. I do hope that RCI will make more of an effort to actually reward loyalty when staterooms are available.

 

As only a second-time RCI cruiser, we were upgraded, for whatever reason. More than 10 years later, I try not to think about getting another upgrade after booking, for fear that I may "jinx" myself. I guess this means that the chances of it happening again, (or at all for some) are completely unpredictable, and confound logical thinking :)

 

Teddie

[scomar]

After reading all the different ranks (for lack of a better word) from low rank to high rank receiving upgrades, maybe it is possible they do not look at what rank you are but is a simple numbers game. As in cabin numbers. Could it be a computer program looks at and selects at random the cabins it decides to upgrade according to some kind of algorithm or maybe just pure random? Just a thought and makes the most sense to me anyway.

 

Happy cruising and upgrading :D

Edited November 25, 2013 by scomar