Carnival called with an upgrade offer.....disappointing :(

[blondietink]

We got a call on Tuesday for our cruise on Saturday. Upsell was for a balcony instead of our oceanview for a mere $630.00. Passed on this. If it had been $300 or so I might have taken it.

[Vitamin_Sea]

We got a call on Tuesday for our cruise on Saturday. Upsell was for a balcony instead of our oceanview for a mere $630.00. Passed on this. If it had been $300 or so I might have taken it.

 

Good grief..$630 is way to high.

[Georgiagolfer]

Doesnt happen all that often. In 25 or so Carnival cruises we have only gotten three calls.

 

Two we passed on and one we took an aft wrap.

 

Many other long term Carnival customers say they have never gotten a call.

 

DW and I are in that long term Carnival customers group that have never gotten an upgrade or upsell call.:(

[ajaufre]

Got a call from the upgrade fairy three days ago. And was offered an upgrade from an extended aft balcony on the sunshine to an ocean suite for $350. I took it baby!!

[Hawkwynd]

We have been on two Carnival and going on our third... the first (Alaska) we booked a suite and didn't get a call/e-mail. The second we did get a call and took the deal (upgrade from a balcony to O.S. for $100 each or $300 total).

 

The cruise coming up, I got an e-mail for an upgrade to a Jr. Suite for $200 each ($600 total), needless to say, I didn't respond.

 

If they call for an upgrade for a suite for $300 or less, I will take it, any more than that, I will stick with the balcony.

 

Hawk

[spotte]

Got a call from the upgrade fairy three days ago. And was offered an upgrade from an extended aft balcony on the sunshine to an ocean suite for $350. I took it baby!!

 

Can I ask what your original rate was?

[vjmatty]

Doesnt happen all that often. In 25 or so Carnival cruises we have only gotten three calls.

 

Two we passed on and one we took an aft wrap.

 

Many other long term Carnival customers say they have never gotten a call.

 

What is a wrap... is that the same as an aft corner?

[gemsm]

Supposedly princess does not charge for the upgrades like Carnival does

 

There is an upgrade - luck of the draw they are trying to book the lower cost cabins to get the cruise sold out so they move passengers up to free up the lower cost cabins

 

Upsell - Happens prior to upgrades to get people to pay to move up to free up the lower cost cabins.

 

Depending on the amount of passengers booked for a cruise will determine which method they use to free up lower cost cabins. I have had both an upgrade and an upsell - once each -- and I truly think they have a random number generator programmed on a computer to pick out who they offer either to.

[BILNAN]

I am just wondering. Those of you that say you have never gotten the call. Do you book thru a travel agent or do you book thru Carnival direct. I have been on 10 Carnival cruises and have gotten the call 5 times. 3 of the 5 where great deals to go into a suite the other 2 where not, so I said no. The first couple of cruises where thru a travel agent then I just started booking direct. Thats when I started getting the calls. So Wonder if that has anything to do with it.

[squakittymaus]

I've been on 13(?) Carnival cruises (can't keep track anymore) all direct booking through Carnival, 5 of which were directly through my PVP, and I've never gotten an upgrade or upsell call. The only time my family ever got upgraded was when we were on the Paradise and the category of room we were sold by Carnival reps physically didn't exist on this particular ship. It was a mistake on their part, so we ended up getting upgraded to a Junior Suite for free. That'll never happen again I'm sure but that was probably the best cruise I ever went on. Great room, great itinerary, and it was back when Paradise was still smoke-free!

[Georgiagolfer]

I am just wondering. Those of you that say you have never gotten the call. Do you book thru a travel agent or do you book thru Carnival direct. I have been on 10 Carnival cruises and have gotten the call 5 times. 3 of the 5 where great deals to go into a suite the other 2 where not, so I said no. The first couple of cruises where thru a travel agent then I just started booking direct. Thats when I started getting the calls. So Wonder if that has anything to do with it.

 

DW and I book through a Carnival PVP, and as I mentioned, never received an upgrade or upsell call. If booking with Carnival rather than a TA causes the calls, then something is missing here.

Edited January 19, 2014 by Georgiagolfer
spelling

[jiggs]

I am just wondering. Those of you that say you have never gotten the call. Do you book thru a travel agent or do you book thru Carnival direct. I have been on 10 Carnival cruises and have gotten the call 5 times. 3 of the 5 where great deals to go into a suite the other 2 where not, so I said no. The first couple of cruises where thru a travel agent then I just started booking direct. Thats when I started getting the calls. So Wonder if that has anything to do with it.

 

I had a long conversation with the guy who uphold me last year. He has responsibility for a ship or two, emails and calls.

 

Revenue control sets the prices and he makes the offers. He said he had a list and he worked it. He mentioned many people are on the list and never get called because the first people take the deal. He mentioned it was a combination of status and other demographics that make up the list. He agreed that it was a somewhat random looking list, but I imagine they run a bunch of data based on their previous success to determine who to call. (If you're into 'Big Data' this would be an interesting case study)

 

They start with email only if they have a bunch of upsell inventory, otherwise they just call. Once they fill all the suites, they re-run inventory and start to offer balcony and wraps.

[PAPERBKWRITER]

Don't like the offer? Turn it down.

[Cindy]

In 18 cruises on 4 different lines, I've only gotten an upsell call once. It was for an Ecstasy cruise right before Christmas. We were in a GS, and we were offered the Owner's Suite for an additional $1,000 per day (total of $5,000).:eek: I decided to be happy with what I had!:D

[JMAE]

1/26/14 will be our ninth Carnival cruise, all but the first one was through a PVP. Of my 9 cruises this was the first time I received a call.

[crazyboutdisney]

We are traveling with two other couples. (One of which booked directly with carnival as I did and the other booked thru Hilton to get points) Only one of the other couples received a call also. The couple that didnt receive a call....called the number I had received and she told him he wasnt eligible for the offer because he didnt book with Carnival directly.

When I called and spoke to the lady I didnt know they had also called our friends so I asked her if they could take advantage of the upgrade if we decided to(we didnt want to be seperated all over the ship) and she said yes, as long as rooms were available all they had to do was call her extension.

[Bases5]

Doesnt happen all that often. In 25 or so Carnival cruises we have only gotten three calls.

 

Two we passed on and one we took an aft wrap.

 

Many other long term Carnival customers say they have never gotten a call.

 

We are 0 for 14 calls to cruises.

Edited January 19, 2014 by Bases5

[AmberTeka]

Supposedly princess does not charge for the upgrades like Carnival does

 

They don't call. You look on your Cabin confirmation one day and BINGO..you are now in a mini suite.

Only happened once. but then I usually don't book Guarantee. You can also book a cabin on Princess but still be willing to take an upgrade.

 

I have gone from Inside to oceanview on HAL on a guarantee Not that good a room..but it had a nice window. I was happy. No charge. Also booked lowest category of Balcony and got moved to top rate. Loved that.

 

Princess...only booked a guarantee once. On Princess....I like to pick my cabin. We have one booked for November. it is on the same deck as the International Plaza. So I can get up, get dressed..walkedown a few cabins..and Voila! The Coffee Bar. The International Café with bagels and doughnuts and fruit salads and breakfast sandwiches all free. Coffee Bar is not.

Same Area.......Computer area. Library. Vines Bar. Plaza Area. door to Promenade.

the Dining Room we will be assigned too.....is steps from the Coffee Bar. they would have to drag me , kicking and screaming, out of that cabin. They don't come cheap either, but I booked early..and on a sale.

[olderfle]

They do call- They called and left a message on my home phone and contacted me in the Denver airport the day before when we were flying down.

[Doug910]

...In the early years, we did receive a couple of (no cost) upgrades. They were inside Riviera Deck to oceanview Riviera Deck. Both times they were just across the hall. Nice.

 

...Our only other call was our last cruise on the Breeze. Had an Oceanview Forward on the Riviera Deck. Booked it ES, so I know we had the best price. Got a call 9am the morning of the cruise. "Would we like to upgrade to a Cove Balcony for an additional total of $240?" Didn't even let her finish her sentence... didn't even turn to the wife... TOOK IT! Best $240 I ever spent. Definitely will book a Cove again in the future!

[stevenr597]

Although there are exceptions, in most cases the upgrades or upsells are not all that great. In many instances they will give you the least desirable room in the upgrade class. It stands to reason that if you have already booked in a decent location (which they may be able to sell if the room become occupied) and they have a higher class room that for any number of reasons is undesirable, that is the room that they may upgrade you to.

 

In most caes thoroughly check what they want to upgrade you to and for what price. Buyers Beware!!!

[L&J]

We got the call today to upgrade from our Balcony to a Suite for $500 total. We turned it down.

[imdawn]

We sail on Sunday on Carnival Legend in Balcony Room. Was offered Suite for $500 total-turned it down...sure would love the jacuzzi tub, but for that price I can nearly buy my own for the house :p

[ibeejd]

I have gotten calls/emails in the past for my other cruises but nothing on Splendor. Its cool, maybe they are near full. Would likely be a crappy offer!

 

Plus the price has gone up since I booked. Im happy where we are :)

Got the call today for the 28th sailing on Splendor. For a mere $760 I could upgrade my aft balcony on deck 7 to an ocean suite.....thats just crazy! And when I didnt bite on that they offered me a spa suite for ONLY $460 more.....I think Im happy right where I am.

[jiggs]

Although there are exceptions, in most cases the upgrades or upsells are not all that great. In many instances they will give you the least desirable room in the upgrade class. It stands to reason that if you have already booked in a decent location (which they may be able to sell if the room become occupied) and they have a higher class room that for any number of reasons is undesirable, that is the room that they may upgrade you to.

 

In most caes thoroughly check what they want to upgrade you to and for what price. Buyers Beware!!!

 

Are there crappy locations for the Grand suites? I took an upgrade on a 6 day western and it was dead mid-ship. It wasn't cheap, but it was worth ever cent...and for what its worth we left a very well located balcony to get it. Therefore, someone on a guarantee or an up sell got a great location