Cabin assignment for guarantee

[LHT28]

I also believe that Oceania should take into consideration the loyalty of their customers when deciding who receives an upgrade. If everything else is "apples to apples" than returning clients should be upgraded first.

 

 

 

Sometimes they upgrade 1st time clients then they might become returning clients

The upgrade fairy is a fickle creature ;)

Edited January 23, 2017 by LHT28

[FlaMilkman]

Sometimes they upgrade 1st time clients then they might become returning clients

The upgrade fairy is a fickle creature ;)

 

No doubt that it would make a great first impression, especially if you are upgrading from an outside cabin to a balcony, a balcony to a concierge balcony, or into a suite.

 

Having said that, I doubt that an upgrade alone would determine whether someone returns for a future Oceania cruise. I think people would be more heavily swayed to return by the excellent service, fantastic food, comfort of the cabin, etc. than by a cabin upgrade.

 

Hopefully someday an insider from the Revenue Management Department of a major cruise line (the so-called upgrade fairy) would write an article outlining the criteria used to determine who receives up-grade or up-sell offers as I can't believe that it is done completely randomly.

[LHT28]

No doubt that it would make a great first impression, especially if you are upgrading from an outside cabin to a balcony, a balcony to a concierge balcony, or into a suite.

.

 

I am sure people decide by other factors but having a great upgrade also helps ;)

 

Our 1st cruise on O many years ago we had a D cabin & were upgraded to an A ...

We did try other lines after that cruise but they did not make our list again

 

Everyone has their personal requirements & should choose a line on what works for them

[roothy123]

I'm probably wrong, but I understood that on Oceania guarantees are only available after the rooms are booked. Then waitlist. Then closed.

 

When we first started cruising in 2005, there were no guarantees on O. At least none that I was aware of.

 

I think we've only booked one guarantee and that's because it was that or nothing in the category we wanted. In that instance we got a room assigned within a few days. Less than a week for sure.

 

If this is the way it works you can't really book to game the system unless you only ever book a cruise that's selling guarantees, with little or no concern for the itinerary.

 

The other thing that happened in the old days was that as the cruise filled, the price rose from 50% off to 40% to 30 to 25 to zip. At least that's the progression I remember.

 

Feel free to tell me I'm wrong, LOL.

 

Mo

Your experience is about the same as mine, at least for a good while after we cruised, which was a few years after Oceania started. The price of the cruise never went down.

 

We almost always wanted inside cabins due to their better value, but those and a few of the most expensive suites were usually the first categories to fill up, which meant we had to select a cruise we wanted pretty early to get an inside cabin. I don't remember too many guarantees showing up back then, but once I discovered our current travel agent could sometimes book a guarantee even if the word "guarantee" wasn't showing up on Oceania's website, things got better for us. I still don't know exactly how that works, but I assume that some TAs have special booking privileges which allow them to book certain cabins with a guarantee despite how full the ship is at the time. If anyone knows how that works, and can tell me without violating Cruise Critic rules, I'd love to know. I didn't feel it was my business to ask the TA.

 

Someone else mentioned above that he/she thought the upsell calls were made not just to people with guarantee status but all cruisers. That's definitely true.

 

I'm guessing that Oceania doesn't have a complicated scheme for figuring out who gets an upgrade or upsell offer before others. However they do or don't do it is OK with me. If someone who has only cruised once versus our 15 trips gets more, that's OK. We still get what we pay for and that's good enough for us.

[Jayne E]

I also believe that Oceania should take into consideration the loyalty of their customers when deciding who receives an upgrade. If everything else is "apples to apples" than returning clients should be upgraded first.

 

This will be my first Oceania cruise. I certainly couldn't argue if someone who has cruised numerous times on Oceania receives an upgrade before I do; assuming that we paid relatively the same amount of money for the same category cabin.

 

This will be our 9th O cruise and 1st Carib and 1st Gty. All other cruises were 14-22 days. I also thought some upgrade consideration would go to a repeat customer but like I said....B4 Gty and B4 assigned last September for 2/2017 cruise that is still wide open. Don't really care but don't understand why cabin assigned so far out. Probably will never do again.

[LHT28]

This will be our 9th O cruise and 1st Carib and 1st Gty. All other cruises were 14-22 days. I also thought some upgrade consideration would go to a repeat customer but like I said....B4 Gty and B4 assigned last September for 2/2017 cruise that is still wide open. Don't really care but don't understand why cabin assigned so far out. Probably will never do again.

 

Were there actually cabins available when you booked?

Was it just GTY status available for B4's ?

[Jayne E]

Were there actually cabins available when you booked?

Was it just GTY status available for B4's ?

 

There were over 250 cabins available last September. There are still over 100 cabins available.

The terms of my gty was B4 or higher. Had I gotten a B4 within "45 days" from sailing I would be fine with it.

When I asked why they locked me in to a B4 five months before sailing, the answer was that I had gotten the Labor Day weekend sale price......and obviously they wanted to punish me for taking advantage of their sale.

I have found that there have been small petty changes since Norwegian bought Oceania. The former excellent customer service is no longer. And the old adage that you get the "best possible price" by booking early is no more. It's become a price game and booking early more expensive. Just my opinion. However, the ships, restaurants and on board personnel are still excellent!!!

[Paulchili]

There were over 250 cabins available last September. There are still over 100 cabins available.

The terms of my gty was B4 or higher. Had I gotten a B4 within "45 days" from sailing I would be fine with it.

When I asked why they locked me in to a B4 five months before sailing, the answer was that I had gotten the Labor Day weekend sale price......and obviously they wanted to punish me for taking advantage of their sale.

I have found that there have been small petty changes since Norwegian bought Oceania. The former excellent customer service is no longer. And the old adage that you get the "best possible price" by booking early is no more. It's become a price game and booking early more expensive. Just my opinion. However, the ships, restaurants and on board personnel are still excellent!!!

 

Just a thought.

One of the greatest advantages of booking onboard is the "best price guarantee till sailing". That means that you would be eligible to take advantage of any price reduction up to sailing date (even after final payment) - in addition to other benefits of onboard booking. Hence booking early would not be a disadvantage. I am not sure how that works with GTY bookings.

Just an FYI as a future option.

Edited January 24, 2017 by Paulchili

[pinotlover]

I just plain do not understand Jane E's post! She got the exact category that she asked for. She got her cabin assignment early, so she knew 5 months in advance where she would be. She apparently got a very good sales price when she booked it! She should be as happy as can be! Why does her post come across as so snarly and degrading to O, when they fulfilled her every request? Or, did she actually not want the category she booked, and was upset because she got exactly what she asked for? :rolleyes:

[roothy123]

Jayne, I'm just curious how you can tell there were 250 or 100 cabins available at any point in time. At one point there was rumored to be a European travel site that provided this information, but I never looked at it and don't know if anything like that exists. I was just curious if your travel agent was able to get that information for you or you got it some other way.

 

In 15 cruises, we've never seen the price of a cruise we've booked go down after booking early. That's not to say it never happens, but I DO periodically check the price of each cruise I've booked, and I haven't seen in yet. On our last cruise they once offered more amenities than what I got, but the cruise price was higher, and we didn't feel it was worthwhile to rebook.

 

I agree that the "best price guarantee" is worth keeping in mind. However, I think you have to find a lower price for an available cabin category. This probably works for people in veranda cabins, since there are so many of them. However, if you're in one of the inside, oceanview, or highest suite cabins, those cabins sell out fast, so the guarantee is nice but perhaps not very useful.

[FlaMilkman]

Jayne E - You are implying in your last post that the price of a B4 category cabin has gone down since you booked and locked in your Labor Day discount. Is this the case?

 

If it is the case that the price has gone down, and there still is availability of higher level cabins (which you state that there still are), then I wouldn't hesitate to contact Oceania to see if there is anything they can do for you.

 

If the price hasn't gone down, then I am in agreement with the others that you really don't have a basis to complain. When you agreed to a B4 level cabin for the discounted price, than Oceania has fulfilled their obligation to you - regardless of when they assigned your cabin.

 

My travel agent, a local agency that it part of a larger consortium, has a computer tracking tool that monitors the fare that I have paid for a cruise. If the fare goes down prior to final payment I receive the discount. After final payment my TA negotiates with the cruise line to try and obtain either an upgrade or OBC. Of course you need an honest TA as their commission drops with any price discounting.

Edited January 24, 2017 by FlaMilkman

[LHT28]

There were over 250 cabins available last September. There are still over 100 cabins available.

The terms of my gty was B4 or higher. Had I gotten a B4 within "45 days" from sailing I would be fine with it.

 

So you booked a B4 & they gave you a B4 cabin ..not sure what the gripe is or were you thinking they let others book the specific cabin numbers & then close to sailing you get an upgrade :confused:

 

my understanding with O is if you book a GTY but cabins are available in that cat they will assign you one only when they are booked up then you take the GTY status you are guaranteed to be on the ship

I could be wrong

[Jayne E]

So you booked a B4 & they gave you a B4 cabin ..not sure what the gripe is or were you thinking they let others book the specific cabin numbers & then close to sailing you get an upgrade :confused:

 

my understanding with O is if you book a GTY but cabins are available in that cat they will assign you one only when they are booked up then you take the GTY status you are guaranteed to be on the ship

I could be wrong

 

According to O you are wrong...they can do whatever they please. Do not have to be booked up....cruise is wide open in all categories. BTW, I have no gripe at all....sale was well worth going down to B4!! Just think their process makes no sense.

And of course I always book on board....price reduction protection is eliminated when switching to a subsequent sale price and loyalty discount also, but that 3 day sale was amazing and not offered again.

Just my own feeling.....liked it better when first price best but competition has resulted in most cruises not filling up quickly and therefore price adjustments.

[LHT28]

According to O you are wrong...they can do whatever they please. Do not have to be booked up....cruise is wide open in all categories.

 

Guess I am missing something here

:confused:

[iticlaudia]

Interesting reading.

 

Just booked a GTY yesterday for a cruise in 3 weeks. I don't mind the excitement of waiting for a cabin assignment.

 

How can one tell if the ship is full or not?

[iticlaudia]

Thanks!

 

If I'm counting correctly there are about 90 open cabins on the ship.

 

Not too full, not too empty. :)

 

Is that pretty normal for Oceania?

[LHT28]

Thanks!

 

If I'm counting correctly there are about 90 open cabins on the ship.

 

Not too full, not too empty. :)

 

Is that pretty normal for Oceania?

 

You still have 3 wks so they will fill the ship or at least get closer to capacity

[FlaMilkman]

Also keep in mind that this is the prime time for the "upsell fairy" to be working his / her magic trying to get people to pay for a higher category cabin at a discounted price. Just because certainly cabin categories appear to be open at the moment doesn't mean that it will remain that way at any point into the future.

 

At around the two week mark the cruise lines pretty much have an idea of the number of people who will be on that particular sailing as this is when airfare tends to skyrocket.

[smj]

What happens in the last 2-3 weeks when the ship is not full? Are the cabins discounted more or do the lower cat agonies opened up because passengers have accepted upsells?

[JimandStan]

What happens in the last 2-3 weeks when the ship is not full? Are the cabins discounted more or do the lower cat agonies opened up because passengers have accepted upsells?

 

They continue the upsell process, it maximizes revenue, right up until the passengers are settled in their cabins on sailing day.

 

It seems counter intuitive, but upsells do not necessarily empty the lowest cabin categories, for the simple reason that Oceanview cabins will usually buy up into Veranda cabins, veranda cabins will buy up into Penthouses, and so on.

 

Multi category upsells do happen, and I'm sure that a number of anecdotal examples will soon be listed in this thread, but they are not the norm.

[iticlaudia]

3 weeks out and I'm getting excited about our cruise. We now have two PH3 cabins with GTY status. I checked today and the PH3's are now waitlist. Does that mean they are all booked? Since we don't have cabin assignments I'm assuming that they might have to give us PH2's. Is that correct?

[LHT28]

3 weeks out and I'm getting excited about our cruise. We now have two PH3 cabins with GTY status. I checked today and the PH3's are now waitlist. Does that mean they are all booked? Since we don't have cabin assignments I'm assuming that they might have to give us PH2's. Is that correct?

or they may offer those booked in a PH 3 an upsell downsell or upgrade

the revenue dept works in mysterious ways ;)

[iticlaudia]

Downsell? How does that work?

[Paulchili]

Downsell? How does that work?

 

They offer you a downgrade in category (say - veranda to oceanview or oceanview to inside) and usually a fair amount of refund in fare reduction :D.

If you like the offer, you take it, if not, ignore it.

Edited January 28, 2017 by Paulchili

[iticlaudia]

Wow! That's interesting.

 

How do they contact people to do upsells, downsells, etc?

 

I just keep checking our booking to see if there is a cabin assignment.