Let's Talk Meaningful Free Upgrades

[donh1]

This will our fifth cruise and I beleive we have had great luck with upgrades.

 

First cruise January2000 NCL Wind. There was no upgrade. Booked a package deal thru a travel agent. Inside room.

 

Second cruise January2002 NCL Sky. Booked directly with the cruiseline. Lowest Guarantee catagory and upgraded to balcony cabin top deck mid-ship. :)

 

Third Cruise March2003 NCL Norway. Online booking lowest gaurantee and upgraded to an outside porthole. The Norway has been my favourite ship by far. It's a shame she is gone.

 

Forth Cruise November2004. Dawn Princess. Internet booking . Booked a Guarantee Fully obstructed and upgraded to unobstructed.

 

Now we are booked in January on the Zuiderdam "G" cabin Guarantee unobstructed. We are hoping for the best.

 

Please....I am very interested in hearing other tales of good fortune.......

[lougee1043]

on our alaskan cruise we booked what was then a mini suite and was upgraded at checkin to a full suite---------------------the people who were booked in the suite were upgraded to the penthouse---all upgrades were at no charge to us------------------kept in touch with the folks who had our orig suite and we sailed with them this past march on a 12 niter on celebrty galaxy out of galveston to the pan canal----------------also on this sailing was a couple we met on the oosterdam in march 04

[jhannah]

I have gotten several upgrades with Princess. Only one with HAL. It was due to our A category cabin being taken out of service for major repair work. They put us in an SS. Have never gone back to an A. (They know what they're doing!) ;)

[Esme]

From reading various posts it seem that the other lines freely give out upgrades, but I doubt you will find this on HAL. In all our years of sailing HAL, only once have we been given an upgrade - from a B Aft to an A mid-ships......exactly the same cabin, just different location.

 

Don't count on a free upgrade if that is what you are hoping for.

[kryos]

From reading various posts it seem that the other lines freely give out upgrades, but I doubt you will find this on HAL. In all our years of sailing HAL, only once have we been given an upgrade - from a B Aft to an A mid-ships......exactly the same cabin, just different location.

 

Don't count on a free upgrade if that is what you are hoping for.

I've gotten a couple of upgrades, but they were in the same cabin category ... inside to a better inside.

 

For my upcoming cruise ... and I don't know how he did this ... but my TA got me a free upgrade from the lowest class inside to the class required to book a guaranteed share. In other words, I paid for a "K," I believe ... and got the larger "M" or "MM," that is used for the guaranteed share program.

 

I think this occurred because I was going back and forth with my TA regarding price. I simply couldn't afford what was being asked for this 30-day cruise. I was pretty much ready to say forget it when my TA suggested guaranteed share. While it was not the ideal solution, he said at least it would allow me to go and maybe I would even get lucky and not get assigned a roommate. When he quoted me the share price, it was within my budget and I gave him the okay to book it. That's when he came back after talking to HAL and told me that it would be a bit more than he had quoted me. I would have to book a more expensive cabin. Now I was over budget again ... to the tune of close to a grand. Again, I told him to forget it. That's when he talked to someone ... I guess at HAL ... and somehow got me the upgrade to the guaranteed share class of cabin.

 

Of course, I assume that if I am not matched with a roommate, I will probably go right back to the lower cabin category, and that's fine.

 

But, no ... I never got any sort of free upgrade that was substantial, and I hear that HAL is very stingy with them.

 

On the second half of my Zuiderdam b2b last summer ... when the ship was pretty much empty because of the hurricane ... HAL had a sign at the purser's desk informing passengers of a "no free upgrade" policy put in place to be fair to all passengers. All these empty cabins and no one onboard got a free upgrade. I had friends onboard the first half of the b2b ... in an outside veranda cabin. They were willing to stay onboard for the second half of the b2b ... a shortened five-day sailing ... if the discount price HAL quoted per passenger would be applied as a 2-for-1 for them. They were turned down flat. HAL would rather sail with a ship that was over half empty. I think they only had something like 800 passengers onboard that shortened week ... when the ship holds over 2,000. To me, that was nuts.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[jhannah]

I can understand the no free upgrade in this situation. They couldn't do it for everyone, and once word got around that some had windfalls in cabin assignments those who didn't get them would surely strongly vent their ire to the staff. It's best to just let things be in this case.

[sail7seas]

I've gotten a couple of upgrades, but they were in the same cabin category ... inside to a better inside.

 

For my upcoming cruise ... and I don't know how he did this ... but my TA got me a free upgrade from the lowest class inside to the class required to book a guaranteed share. In other words, I paid for a "K," I believe ... and got the larger "M" or "MM," that is used for the guaranteed share program.

 

I think this occurred because I was going back and forth with my TA regarding price. I simply couldn't afford what was being asked for this 30-day cruise. I was pretty much ready to say forget it when my TA suggested guaranteed share. While it was not the ideal solution, he said at least it would allow me to go and maybe I would even get lucky and not get assigned a roommate. When he quoted me the share price, it was within my budget and I gave him the okay to book it. That's when he came back after talking to HAL and told me that it would be a bit more than he had quoted me. I would have to book a more expensive cabin. Now I was over budget again ... to the tune of close to a grand. Again, I told him to forget it. That's when he talked to someone ... I guess at HAL ... and somehow got me the upgrade to the guaranteed share class of cabin.

 

Of course, I assume that if I am not matched with a roommate, I will probably go right back to the lower cabin category, and that's fine.

 

But, no ... I never got any sort of free upgrade that was substantial, and I hear that HAL is very stingy with them.

 

On the second half of my Zuiderdam b2b last summer ... when the ship was pretty much empty because of the hurricane ... HAL had a sign at the purser's desk informing passengers of a "no free upgrade" policy put in place to be fair to all passengers. All these empty cabins and no one onboard got a free upgrade. I had friends onboard the first half of the b2b ... in an outside veranda cabin. They were willing to stay onboard for the second half of the b2b ... a shortened five-day sailing ... if the discount price HAL quoted per passenger would be applied as a 2-for-1 for them. They were turned down flat. HAL would rather sail with a ship that was over half empty. I think they only had something like 800 passengers onboard that shortened week ... when the ship holds over 2,000. To me, that was nuts.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

 

 

 

It would seem HAL was thinking of those pax who had paid for the higher priced cabins. People who had paid the 'going rate' would not very much like if many others were given those same cabins for no additional price from their lower category cabin. No one wants to pay for what others get for free.

 

[jmalstrom]

We booked a VD guarantee on the 8/27 Zuiderdam sailing, and were recently assigned a VA cabin on Navigation Deck. We're very happy!

[JoyAnn]

I just noticed today my Circle Hawaii cruise has been removed from the HAL site and travelocity, so it must be sold out. We booked an outside cabin on A deck, midships, but said we would take an upgrade if one was available. I wonder what a sold out cruise means when one has a cabin like this. Does it make it more or less possible?

[kryos]

I can understand the no free upgrade in this situation. They couldn't do it for everyone, and once word got around that some had windfalls in cabin assignments those who didn't get them would surely strongly vent their ire to the staff. It's best to just let things be in this case.

I guess I am inclined to agree with you in this case, but what I find nuts is that HAL even sailed that week. I don't know what their breakeven point is on a sailing, but my lord ... the Z was a ghostship that week. Great for the passengers, but it had to be a financial bloodbath for HAL. The ship was so empty that they went to only one dinner seating (from four), and one show. Everyone could easily be accommodated in that manner. I felt bad for the staff, though. We talked with one cabin steward who said he normally has something like 14 cabins assigned to him on a typical cruise. This week he had only four. They couldn't have made much money. I only hope the cruise line compensated them in some way for the tips they lost. The cruise line probably in some measure recouped ... since we only had a couple of ports, and bad weather in most of them, maybe people spent more money onboard. But the staff had no way to recoup, and that was a shame.

 

Believe me, I full well understand why HAL is pulling out of the Caribbean in the summertime as of next year. With the active hurricane seasons of the past few years, they probably have no choice. That or go insolvent. :(

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[RevNeal]

I have been upgraded twice ... both times from an inside cabin to an excellently placed (midships) outside cabin. In both cases the upgrades were at no charge. Once I was asked if I wanted to upgrade from an inside to an outside for a minimal sum. I said no. I was alone, and could care less; had they given it to me, I would have said yes ... but I wasn't willing to pay for such an upgrade.

 

My parents have been upgraded several times ... once from an outside Guarantee cabin (which was all that was available when they booked the cruise) to a full Suite when they got to the pier.

[JoyAnn]

The only upgrade I've had so far is the one I did myself when the price of our Alaska cruise went down a few months before we were to sail and I rebooked from two outside cabins to two mini-suite adjoining cabins, with a $600 per cabin savings.

 

I have been upgraded twice ... both times from an inside cabin to an excellently placed (midships) outside cabin. In both cases the upgrades were at no charge. Once I was asked if I wanted to upgrade from an inside to an outside for a minimal sum. I said no. I was alone, and could care less; had they given it to me, I would have said yes ... but I wasn't willing to pay for such an upgrade.

 

My parents have been upgraded several times ... once from an outside Guarantee cabin (which was all that was available when they booked the cruise) to a full Suite when they got to the pier.

[KSCnCA]

On the Carnival Spirit 2003 I booked our group of 6 cabins in cheapest inside cabins for a 3-day cruise to Mexico. We booked 15 months out and were upgraded to Obstructed View Verandah cabins. I think several factors came into play:

We booked directly through Carnival

We booked really early

The ship has a large percentage of balcony cabins

Last December we cruised the Zuiderdam and when the prices dropped we cancelled our BB to rebook in an A, which came with $100 cabin credit. Our friends in a guarantee B were upgraded to an A. I think this happened because their reservation was linked to ours and HAL put them near us on the Aft. Good deal for all of us!

[donh1]

I believe my upgrade windfall on NCL Sky was more to do with the slump in cruise travel after 911. Booking a guarantee and hoping for the best is part of the fun. It's like buying a lottery ticket so to speak. It makes far more sense to fill the ship with paying (and spending) customers then to travel with a half empty ship. Selling as many cabins as possible at the lowest rate when the higher priced cabins are not moving makes business sense to me. It's kind of like flying.... If everyone stood up and stated exactly what they paid for their seat on the plane you would realize things are not fair but the bottom line is the airline is attempting to operate at a profit and being fair is not part of the equation. These ships should travel full no matter what it takes....

[TAXLADYOKC]

We have booked a inside guarantee cabin. No outside or better are available.

 

My question is HAL policy. We are a NN but a K guar is only $100 more. Would a higher cat guar get moved up and then the NN.

 

Any ideas or opionions are appreciated.

 

Karin

[sail7seas]

NO ONE knows for sure how the 'upgrade fairy' works.

There are all sorts of reasoned theories, but when you come right down to it.......who knows???!!

[JoyAnn]

I guess it's one of those little things that makes life interesting. ;-P

 

 

 

NO ONE knows for sure how the 'upgrade fairy' works.

There are all sorts of reasoned theories, but when you come right down to it.......who knows???!!

[BBWShowGirl]

We booked a VD guarantee in September 2004 for our June 30,2005 Baltic on the Westerdam and when we got to the dock we were upgraded to a VA aft balcony cabin. I loved the balcony there although there is not much shade and that week there was NO rain it was all sun in the Baltic. It hooKed me on Aft balconies.

 

Monica

[Cruiseoften]

I don't believe in the 'Upgrade Fairy'

 

We've spent over a year of our lives in HAL beds and never had an upgrade!

 

Could it be that we book early, select the category (always an outside) and cabin at time of booking? We know how much we can afford, we allowfor on board spending, excursions etc....we pay our deposit and by balance payment time have money in the bank.

 

We've never asked for an upgrade; we've had the price lowered and frequently had $100.00 or so on board credit; we've always been well satisfied. Are we too complacent? :)

[Artemis]

We were on the July 14 sailing of the Rotterdam in the Baltics. 1st time HAL cruisers. We booked cat HH oceanview guarantees during a sale roughly 45 days out. We were assigned cat C oceanviews (highest category oceanview on that ship).

[ekerr19]

No one wants to pay for what others get for free.

 

 

 

 

I couldn't agree more. The cost of a Verandah Suite is not insignificant - when we splurge and pay for it, I am bothered to hear of those receiving it for free. In my opinion, that is just not right. If they (HAL) plan on giving them away, I wonder if they would consider reimbursing me the difference I paid for my cabin... I think not. :)

[trubey]

When I asked customer service about this subject, I was told that if a certain (low priced) category was sold out and there were still cabins available elsewhere on the ship, they would continue to sell the cheaper cabins on a 'guar' basis and sort it all out when they were done.

 

Makes perfect sense from a business standpoint, as a outside or balcony cabin costs precisely the same as an inside, and they're simply maximizing their return on investment.

 

I think that rather than being upset that somebody paid less for their cabin than I, I might be satisfied that the law of diminishing returns was alive and well.

 

Lane

[ekerr19]

I think that rather than being upset that somebody paid less for their cabin than I, I might be satisfied that the law of diminishing returns was alive and well.

 

Lane

 

Well, when it amounts to several thousand dollars, one can't help but feel a little "ripped off" so to speak - especially for those pax who book 4-5 cruises per year with HAL... "where's the love", LOL?

 

HAL doesn't seem to provide much in the way of incentives for its Mariner's compared to say Princess, but then gives away free upgrades for cabins many folks pay $3K - $4K per person for on a 10-day cruise. It doesn't seem very "fair" to me at all, but I guess from a business standpoint, if they can get away with it - they obviously will. :)

[JoyAnn]

It seems only those who take "guaranteed" bookings get upgrades?

 

Or am I reading this wrong?

[Marina222]

My best upgrade was from a four day cruise to a seven day!!!!! The cruiseline called our TA about two weeks before sailing and said they overbooked the cruise. Would we be interested in going on a seven day in an outside cabin rather than the four day we had originally booked in an inside cabin for the same price? I suspect it was because we didn't need air and used a large Miami based TA.