Saver fares - when an upgrade is not an upgrade

[clivep]

On our Adonia cruise last October we booked a HC grade cabin on a Getaway deal. As I had anticipated, we were upgraded to a GC grade as there are only 6 HC grade cabins on the ship so the vast majority of Getaway bookings had to be upgraded.

 

In order to placate those booking the exhorbitant Select fares this year they have stated that there will be no upgrades for Saver fare bookings. I wondered how this would work in practice. I've just looked at an Adonia sailing and find that for Select bookings there are grade HC, GC and GA grades of balcony cabins available. All these 3 grades say that guarantee cabins are also available. On the sailing I looked at there was only one HC cabin available. For a Saver booking they are not offering a choice of cabin grades this year and it simply says cabin type:balcony. This allows them to provide any GC or GA grade cabin for the Saver booking without it actually being an upgrade from a HC grade. It may well be that someone having paid the Select fare for a HC cabin and not getting an upgrade will find Saver fare passengers with GA cabins that have not been "upgraded" according to the rules.

[daiB]

On our Adonia cruise last October we booked a HC grade cabin on a Getaway deal. As I had anticipated, we were upgraded to a GC grade as there are only 6 HC grade cabins on the ship so the vast majority of Getaway bookings had to be upgraded.

 

In order to placate those booking the exhorbitant Select fares this year they have stated that there will be no upgrades for Saver fare bookings. I wondered how this would work in practice. I've just looked at an Adonia sailing and find that for Select bookings there are grade HC, GC and GA grades of balcony cabins available. All these 3 grades say that guarantee cabins are also available. On the sailing I looked at there was only one HC cabin available. For a Saver booking they are not offering a choice of cabin grades this year and it simply says cabin type:balcony. This allows them to provide any GC or GA grade cabin for the Saver booking without it actually being an upgrade from a HC grade. It may well be that someone having paid the Select fare for a HC cabin and not getting an upgrade will find Saver fare passengers with GA cabins that have not been "upgraded" according to the rules.

 

 

It is still my contention that cruisers like your good self never had upgrades as the company simply slotted you into the ship somewhere above the the base grade you booked. It is the most efficient way for the company to fill the ships.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[clivep]

It is still my contention that cruisers like your good self never had upgrades as the company simply slotted you into the ship somewhere above the the base grade you booked. It is the most efficient way for the company to fill the ships.

 

I quite agree with it being the best way for them to fill the ship but booking a HC grade on a Getaway deal and being given a GC or GA one is definitely an upgrade and to make those paying the Select or Early Saver fares happy this year they have said that upgrades will not be given to those booking Saver fares.

 

I've just looked at Ventura bookings and it would appear to be the rule that with Saver pricing you do not have the option of choosing the cabin grade being only given the choice of Suite, Balcony, Outside or Inside. Consequently for "Eligible for upgrades" it states "Upgrades not applicable" for Saver fares rather than "not available" as they can give any grade of cabin within the cabin type without it being called an upgrade.

[davecttr]

I quite agree with it being the best way for them to fill the ship but booking a HC grade on a Getaway deal and being given a GC or GA one is definitely an upgrade and to make those paying the Select or Early Saver fares happy this year they have said that upgrades will not be given to those booking Saver fares.

 

I've just looked at Ventura bookings and it would appear to be the rule that with Saver pricing you do not have the option of choosing the cabin grade being only given the choice of Suite, Balcony, Outside or Inside. Consequently for "Eligible for upgrades" it states "Upgrades not applicable" for Saver fares rather than "not available" as they can give any grade of cabin within the cabin type without it being called an upgrade.

 

In other words yet another 'smart' marketing decision that allows them to continue to irritate early bookers in the same way as the Vantage fare fiasco.

 

Some early bookers don't want to upgrade. Others, like me, would only want to upgrade if it was to a better cabin in a better location. For example from an inside to an outside, or from an outside to a balcony.

How the heck can you get P&O to understand this? Plus can you do it for cruises you have already booked?