When does the upgrade fairy visit?

[Life is Good Cruising]

We just got upgraded on our cruise that leaves Friday!! My sister and husband are on the same cruise and were upgraded as well and we are still next door to each other!!

 

Do you still get double points if you are upgraded?

 

Only if your original stateroom before the upgrade was a JS and above, yes you will still get double points.

[DreaAST]

Yes, it's possible to get an ungrade when booked with a TA. We've had two upgrades, both TA bookings.

 

Good to hear! Thank you!

[jules815]

Only if your original stateroom before the upgrade was a JS and above, yes you will still get double points.

 

So if I get upgraded from my D2 balcony to a JS, I won't receive the double points? :confused:

[jackinav]

We've been upgraded twice with non-guarantee cabins. A few years ago, it was from inside to outside on Grandeur and earlier this year, from outside to a balcony on Legend. In both cases, it happened about a month before the sail date and we weren't notified by phone. After dancing around the room, we called to make sure there hadn't been a mistake. If I ever meet the upgrade fairy, I'm buying him/her/it a drink!:D

[phoenix_dream]

So based on people's experiences who have been upgraded - why do you think you got the upgrade? Was the ship sailing very full (or conversely, much less full than normal)? Are you Diamond Plus? Were you new to RCI? Did you book last minute so perhaps paid a higher fare upfront than many others? I cannot believe these are random choices (although perhaps I am wrong) so wondering what you think. I have only sailed RCI twice before our upcoming cruise, but have sailed over 25 times on Celebrity and certainly no upgrade fairy ever visited me there, even though my loyalty level is the equivalent of Diamond Plus. Wondering how RCI works. (and I'm sure I'll be very happy with the room I picked but a nice surprise is always fun:))

[Clarea]

Our two upgrades were a day or two before the cruise, so because of how close they were to sailing, I'm assuming those were due to C&A D+ level.

[PuterMonkey]

The day before leaving on our last cruise. We had booked an interior promenade, and I had been logging in frequently to compare prices and see if a paid upgrade was worthwhile. The day before the cruise, I logged in to double-check our booking information was correct and noticed that our stateroom suddenly was listing a balcony! It was too late to print out new docs so when we got to the port I had to explain the change to every porter and ticket agent...I kept expecting one of them to tell me I was wrong :p

 

The only interiors available at the end were guarantees, so I guess someone must have booked one last-minute and we were randomly selected as the room to vacate.

[robandana]

The day before leaving on our last cruise. We had booked an interior promenade, and I had been logging in frequently to compare prices and see if a paid upgrade was worthwhile. The day before the cruise, I logged in to double-check our booking information was correct and noticed that our stateroom suddenly was listing a balcony! It was too late to print out new docs so when we got to the port I had to explain the change to every porter and ticket agent...I kept expecting one of them to tell me I was wrong :p

 

The only interiors available at the end were guarantees, so I guess someone must have booked one last-minute and we were randomly selected as the room to vacate.

 

Nice upgrade...normally its interior to outside...

[ckfred]

We found out, when checking in at the pier. This was the Rhapsody in July of 2011. The agent couldn't find our sea passes in the box for Deck 7. He said, the fact that he was having trouble pulling our reservation on his computer terminal should have been his clue that something had changed. He then found the cabin number on the computer was different from the cabin number on our paperwork.

 

We got upgraded from a balcony to a junior suite.

 

But, getting an upgrade at the pier can cause issues.

 

1. Our bags were delivered to our original cabin, despite the agent's assurance that they would catch the cabin change while putting the bags on the ship and taking them up. I had to track down the bags and take them to our cabin.

 

2. The shore excursion envelope and beverage packages in our cabin were for the people who had origianally booked the cabin. Our soda cups and excursion tickets didn't show up until 8pm.

 

3. Since we were C&A gold, our son was supposed to have an activities booklet. That didn't show up until the next morning.

 

4. Our cabin steward stopped by to introduce herself around 1:30. She wasn't aware of our upgrade. She still had the names of the people who had booked the cabin on her list of passengers.

 

5. The people who had booked the cabin weren't told about their upgrade on the pier. They learned, when they couldn't get their sea passes to open the cabin door. I had taken our son to the pool, and my wife called my cell phone to tell me that they were mad!!!

 

I'm sure they let the people at Guest Relations have it and probably had some choice comments on the survey.

[cruzinlady1947]

20 something cruises and haven't had an upgrade yet. We have been D+ for a while now too.

 

Made a final payment on our Nov. cruise the other night. After it was finalized, the young man ask me if there was anything else he could do for me. I said "Why sure, how about a free upgrade?" He just laughed. I don't know why, I was serious. Can't blame a girl for trying. :p:rolleyes:

 

 

Gwen :)

Edited August 15, 2014 by cruzinlady1947

[dancinman66]

Generally two weeks up to two days before if your lucky

 

 

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[Priusprof]

The last time I saw the upgrade fairy, she was being hauled off to the ER for a transfusion of fairy dust! In more than 30 cruises with RCI I am batting zip, zero, nada, the big bagel..... My profile says I will accept an upgrade. Can't even attribute the lack of upgrades because of choosing the low rent, low deck cabins since we normally stay in balcony and above:confused:.

I second this in spades!:mad: We have 26 RCCL cruises taken and never a twinkle from the Upgrade Fairy. We are on Enchantment in the very near future and there are currently 50 D balconies and JS unsold 9 days before sailing. It has been 8 days since the pricing got really down there in the cellar and only a couple of cabins have disappeared from the inventory. Someone who booked an OV guarantee two days ago said that they were sprinkled with fairy dust but I don't know what they were assigned.

RCCL has their stated policy about upgrades for D+ and Pinnacle but the last time there were cabins available like this[in my personal experience] they were selling upgrades on the pier and not assigning them to C&A loyalty people. :confused:

[Priusprof]

This past November we sailed on Allure over Thanksgiving. I had talked to the Diamond Plus desk a few weeks prior to our sailing to inquire about the possibility of getting an upgrade from our D8 balcony cabin and they said that upgrades a lot of times happen on Tuesdays. I guess that is when they check the inventory. So 12 days prior to our cruise (on a Tuesday) I checked our reservation and sure enough it showed that we were booked in a Junior Suite! It was great but it ruined us because now we do not want to go back to a regular balcony!!!

Last time we were on Allure we were in a D7 and even with lots of availability; nada!

See previous post.

[reedl]

There is no upgrade fairy at all. She does not exist!

 

At least I have never been visited by whoever she is.

 

I have been upgraded many times in hotel rooms, cars, and other travel providers, but RCCL has never upgraded me at all.

[reedl]

Last time we were on Allure we were in a D7 and even with lots of availability; nada!

See previous post.

 

An upgrade from a D7 to any other D (except a D1) is really not an upgrade because every D room is the same. The only differences between the rooms are the number of beds, and if they are connecting cabins.

 

D1's have a larger balcony, but other than that there is no difference.

 

So I doubt an upgrade from a D7 to a D<insert higher number here> is really not an upgrade.

[SteelMagnolia9]

Count me among those who have never received an upgrade. I book the cabin I want for that particular cruise and I've never spent any time obsessing about whether or not the cruise line is going to give me an upgrade or an upsell.

[Topo Gigio]

I have received a couple of upgrades from RC. The best was from an inside gty to a midship balcony on deck 8.

[livelovelaugh84]

I've just received a phonecall from the upgrade fairy! I'm only doing the 2 night sample cruise which leaves 1 week from today but I'm thrilled to get to experience a JS for the price of a balcony! I'm just hoping I'll be able to 'go back' to a regular balcony after this experience ;)!!

 

 

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[travelgoddess1]

At RCL, you normally get an upgrade one of two ways: from the Revenue department, which can happen at any time, or from Crown & Anchor, which only gets the available cabins when Revenue hands them over, which sometimes, is not at all.

 

It is not how many cruises you have with RCL that is important to the upgrade fairy, at least from the C&A view. It is your relative position with other D+ and Pinnacle members on the cruise in question, along with the cabin category you have booked.

 

With some cruiselines, 30 cruises is a lot. With Royal, it is not a lot, relatively speaking to how many others have more than that.

 

On the rare occasions we have been visited by the U/G fairy, it has been anywhere from a month ahead of the sail date, to after we boarded the ship. Most of the time, it is within the last two weeks prior to sailing.

 

And of course, there are always exceptions. :rolleyes:

Edited August 22, 2014 by travelgoddess1

[celly]

There is no upgrade fairy at all. She does not exist!

 

At least I have never been visited by whoever she is.

 

I have been upgraded many times in hotel rooms, cars, and other travel providers, but RCCL has never upgraded me at all.

 

I second this!

We have never been upgraded on Royal Caribbean on 40+ cruises in balcony or above and have completely given up hope. Not even by the upsell fairy, who would have been very welcome too. Maybe they never call us because we are from Europe? For some 40+ cruises might not mean a lot, but for us it is a big investment as we always have to fly to the cruiseport, add hotel stays, no last minutes because of the airline tickets etc, limiting us to one or two cruisemoments a year.

(But we have had nice upgrades in hotels.)

Happy to hear that some people do get upgrades, enjoy!

[denamo]

 

On the rare occasions we have been visited by the U/G fairy, it has been anywhere from a month ahead of the sail date, to after we boarded the ship. Most of the time, it is within the last two weeks prior to sailing.

 

I think this may be an appropriate name for the upgrade fairy...the "UG(h) Fairy" since we are among those here who have never been upgraded. :)...Ugh....;)

Edited August 22, 2014 by denamo

[cruizers]

The last time I saw the upgrade fairy, she was being hauled off to the ER for a transfusion of fairy dust! In more than 30 cruises with RCI I am batting zip, zero, nada, the big bagel..... My profile says I will accept an upgrade. Can't even attribute the lack of upgrades because of choosing the low rent, low deck cabins since we normally stay in balcony and above:confused:.

 

Our experience is exactly the same as yours!

[Florida Doug]

I'm a Diamond member and never heard about upgrades. Checked my profile and couldn't find where to check that I would accept upgrades. Please help

[Cam6959]

On our last cruise the Oasis we had a JS booked and two days before the cruise we got a call asking if we would pay $200pp to go from a JS to a Crown Loft Suite.....I told her...ummmm.... let me think about it.....okay! I think it was an upsell and not an upgrade but to me it was basically a free suite! And it was fantastic! So I am calling it an upgrade!:eek::cool::D

[Clarea]

I'm a Diamond member and never heard about upgrades. Checked my profile and couldn't find where to check that I would accept upgrades. Please help

It's under Profile, Upgrade Preferences on the left side of the page.