Upgrade and not tell you?

[Colfireman]

Hi there,new to princess and in fact I booked a pacific coastal on the Grand Princess this past Tuesday. We were given a balcony deck 12 forward and I went into my booking and it now says we are on Deck 11 mid. That would make it a BF to BA, would or does princess do this without notifying a customer or could this just be an error?

 

Greg

[shredie]

Hi there,new to princess and in fact I booked a pacific coastal on the Grand Princess this past Tuesday. We were given a balcony deck 12 forward and I went into my booking and it now says we are on Deck 11 mid. That would make it a BF to BA, would or does princess do this without notifying a customer or could this just be an error?

 

Greg

 

They do it all the time. This is a technical upgrade, so you might like it. They are supposed to give you 48 hours to refuse the upgrade, but they are inconsistent about that, too.

[sweet carol]

We saw our upgrade on the website before we received an email from Princess. We did get an email from Princess a few hours later. Enjoy your upgrade.

[Colfireman]

It sounds like a good trade as I wanted to get mid ship but wasn't prepared to pay for the price increase. Would you make the move if this was your case?

[Colfireman]

We saw our upgrade on the website before we received an email from Princess. We did get an email from Princess a few hours later. Enjoy your upgrade.

 

Thanks,I will be looking for the email. Have a great time on your upcoming cruise.

[Pam in CA]

All bookings are automatically marked "Will accept an upgrade" by default. This gives Princess the right to move you to another cabin as long as it's the same category or better, with or without notice. Your TA should have explained this. :( In the future, if you like your cabin and location, have your TA mark your booking "Do not upgrade."

 

Upgrades are not always better as they're based on general perceptions. For instance, you could be moved to an upper deck beneath open public deck and hear people walking/running day and night, power washing at 4am, etc. I was automatically upgraded a month ago to an upper deck mid-ship. My TA got my cabin back, fortunately, since I don't like mid-ship and prefer Emerald deck when possible.

[caribill]

Thanks,I will be looking for the email. Have a great time on your upcoming cruise.

 

If you booked directly with Princess, then you should receive notification of the upgrade from Princess.

 

If your booking is with a Travel Agent, then Princess will notify the TA and then the TA is supposed to let you know about it.

[ontheweb]

If you booked directly with Princess, then you should receive notification of the upgrade from Princess.

 

If your booking is with a Travel Agent, then Princess will notify the TA and then the TA is supposed to let you know about it.

 

On our last just completed cruise, I only learned of a supposed upgrade by noticing it in my personalizer. I checked with our TA, and we would have been directly above a noisy bar, so we refused it.

 

Our TA said he never received the e-mail notification; he later said they claimed they had sent it. I did post about this after it happened, and there were a few replies that this type of miscommunication was not infrequent

[geoherb]

I think people have always complained about lack of notification, especially when the "upgrade" isn't one in their minds. I usually notice any upgrades in the Cruise Personalizer before my travel agent has the chance to email me. In our case, it's when we've booked a guarantee. We have not received an upgrade after booking specific cabins. I marked two of last year's cruises "no upgrade" and the one we took this month was marked for "meta upgrades" only.

[dorisis]

Hi there,new to princess and in fact I booked a pacific coastal on the Grand Princess this past Tuesday. We were given a balcony deck 12 forward and I went into my booking and it now says we are on Deck 11 mid. That would make it a BF to BA, would or does princess do this without notifying a customer or could this just be an error?

 

Greg

 

Once we found out we had been upgraded from an OV to a Balcony when we got to the pier. So, it CAN happen any time.

[winecountry]

I think people have always complained about lack of notification, especially when the "upgrade" isn't one in their minds. I usually notice any upgrades in the Cruise Personalizer before my travel agent has the chance to email me. In our case, it's when we've booked a guarantee. We have not received an upgrade after booking specific cabins. I marked two of last year's cruises "no upgrade" and the one we took this month was marked for "meta upgrades" only.

 

What is a "Meta" upgrade?

[Pam in CA]

What is a "Meta" upgrade?

Cabin "type" upgrade: inside to oceanview, oceanview to balcony, balcony to mini-suite, etc. Most so-called upgrades are the exact same cabin but in a different location.

[winecountry]

Cabin "type" upgrade: inside to oceanview, oceanview to balcony, balcony to mini-suite, etc. Most so-called upgrades are the exact same cabin but in a different location.

 

Pam...Thanks for the info, was not aware there were two types of upgrades.

[Homosassa]

Princess upgraded us from a midship inside cabin on Caribe deck to a aft balcony on Baja deck. No warning, we found out at check in.

 

We tried to refuse it as we prefer inside cabins. It wasn't possible and we were stuck in a cabin which lost inside space to a useless balcony (our opinion, YMMV).

[Thrak]

Princess upgraded us from a midship inside cabin on Caribe deck to a aft balcony on Baja deck. No warning, we found out at check in.

 

We tried to refuse it as we prefer inside cabins. It wasn't possible and we were stuck in a cabin which lost inside space to a useless balcony (our opinion, YMMV).

 

I'm booked in an inside Caribe for Panama Canal. I would kill for the upgrade you didn't want. :)

 

I check my bookings once or twice a day hoping for an upgrade or price reduction but I don't count on it happening.

Edited August 23, 2014 by Thrak

[AtlantaCruiser72]

Princess upgraded us from a midship inside cabin on Caribe deck to a aft balcony on Baja deck. No warning, we found out at check in.

 

We tried to refuse it as we prefer inside cabins. It wasn't possible and we were stuck in a cabin which lost inside space to a useless balcony (our opinion, YMMV).

 

While I understand your preference for an inside cabin, I have always found the balcony rooms on Princess to be more spacious and better laid out than their inside cabins. You are also one of the few people I've ever encountered that was upset to be upgraded to a balcony room :eek: most of us would welcome it gladly.

 

I'd suggest that the next cruise you book, whether it be with Princess or another cruise line, that you specifically state that you DO NOT wish to be upgraded. All cruise lines have an upgrade process for revenue management purposes and if cabin type and location are crucial it is important to let them know. That way the rest of us can have a shot at the upgrade you don't want :D lol

[AtlantaCruiser72]

Yesterday I took advantage of lower pricing on my upcoming Caribbean Princess cruise to move from an inside category IC gty to a caribe deck category BE balcony for $51 over my original booking price (traveling solo). The general reservationist wasn't able to do it but I asked for a res supervisor. I explained that while I knew the new lower rate was only for "new bookings" I had booked the cruise less than 7 days ago and was willing to give them additional revenue. She gladly made the change. During the course of our conversation she informed me that revenue management had already coded my IC inside gty to be berthed into an OW obstructed oceanview, though a specific room assignment hadn't been made yet. My cruise personalizer still showed my original booking category with no room assignment. Goes to show that there's more to the upgrade process going on behind the scenes than we often times realize! In the end I would have gotten more than what I originally paid for with a complimentary upgrade from inside to obstructed oceanview, but less than the paid upgrade I took advantage of.

Edited August 23, 2014 by scottamiller

[caribill]

 

We tried to refuse it as we prefer inside cabins. It wasn't possible and we were stuck in a cabin which lost inside space to a useless balcony (our opinion, YMMV).

 

There can be many valid reasons you would have preferred the inside cabin, but the inside space is the same or more in a balcony cabin when compared to an inside cabin. The balcony is in addition to, not instead of any inside space.

[caribill]

During the course of our conversation she informed me that revenue management had already coded my IC inside gty to be berthed into an OW obstructed oceanview, though a specific room assignment hadn't been made yet. My cruise personalizer still showed my original booking category with no room assignment.

 

Now that is very interesting to learn.

[geoherb]

I marked our reservation for "meta upgrade" only because we were in a Cat. BE on the Caribe Deck. I did not want to be upgraded to a higher level balcony on another deck and lose our extra balcony space. On the other hand, I would not have minded the smaller balcony if we had been upgraded to a mini suite (or suite).

[AtlantaCruiser72]

I marked our reservation for "meta upgrade" only because we were in a Cat. BE on the Caribe Deck. I did not want to be upgraded to a higher level balcony on another deck and lose our extra balcony space. On the other hand, I would not have minded the smaller balcony if we had been upgraded to a mini suite (or suite).

 

I would have done the same but all the mini suites are sold out and the only full suites left are the Window Suites. I'd rather the nice big balcony over the window suite :D

[caribill]

I would have done the same but all the mini suites are sold out and the only full suites left are the Window Suites. I'd rather the nice big balcony over the window suite :D

 

There have been no posts about anyone in a balcony cabin getting an upgrade to a window suite, so that should not be a concern.

[iceleven]

Would an upgrade for a mini suite be to a full suite or to another mini in a possibly better location?

 

Would you accept an upgrade from E729, the extended(and covered) mini suite on the Star? If so, why?

Edited August 24, 2014 by iceleven

[caribill]

Would an upgrade for a mini suite be to a full suite or to another mini in a possibly better location?

 

 

Unless marked "meta upgrade only", an upgrade could be to a higher category mini-suite or a full suite.

[baseballmom2]

I am booking a cruise right now and I would not like to be upgraded. If I am booking online is there a way it can mark it for no upgrade or do I have to call? Thanks for any help & sorry to hijack :D