Upsell Question

[kenzie]

Hello,

I have searched for information on this and note that there are many people who say they have been lucky enough to get upsell offers, I have booked a cruise this coming Monday and been allocated an obstructed balacony cabin, that category which I booked but I would like to see if I could obtain an upsell, I emailed my USA TA who told me the only way to upgrade (4 Cabins Left) would be to pay the full difference of approx $2300 and upsells are very rare. Can anyone provide a telephone number I can ring for the upsell department to see if I can see if any are available.

Thank you if you can help.

[VibeGuy]

Your TA is correct. The only way you're getting a better cabin is to pay the fare difference.

 

Upsells are rare out of Obstructed Oceanview because it's rare they guess wrong about how many Inside and OO guarantees to sell. Nobody at yield management is dying for OOs to accommodate guarantee passengers and there aren't so many available balconies that they need to monetize them.

 

Further, Princess won't touch bookings owned by a travel agent when contacted by passengers.

 

Hope this helps.

[kenzie]

Hello Vibeguy,

Thank you for your reply, this was my first Guarantee cabin, we have cruised 20 ish other times but always chosen a cabin as we sailed with family, this time on our own and having read loads of people raving over their upgrades, thought we would take a chance with a G'tee obstructed, we have been allocated exactly what we booked and I cannot complain but I am a little disappointed so thought I would see what upsell was available, this is obviously not available so I guess we will just have to accept and enjoy what we have - which we will.

Again thank you for your help.

[CruiserBruce]

This is a common thing. If you call them, full rack rate is likely. If they call you, then a deal might be coming.

[skynight]

If you are boarding one week from today and you already have a cabin assignment that is probably the cabin you will get. If you request a higher category cabin, and if available, you will pay the difference between your fare and the full published fare for the cabin you request. In some cases you could be upgraded if it is to the benefit of the cruise line, for example from obstructed view balcony to non-obstructed view balcony. If Princess wishes to offer upsells they will contact you, not the reverse.

[cruzsnooze]

Since you used a TA everything must go through them, they own the booking not you. Upsells are usually done 30 - 45 days prior to sailing and seldom on lower priced cabins. All upsells if there were any for your sailing have already been accomplished.

[BumperII]

Upsells are indeed rare, and there isn't really a place to go get one. But.......

Guarentees were really great while learning how well cruising fit us. Very favorable results until we got upgraded to a broom closet with a porthole.

So we started booking our staterooms with a option to be upgraded. That meant we booked the most economic class we could be comfortable with and left open the option to get some kind of upgrade.

We learned that the cruise lines do send out upsell offers to TAs. Again rare, but you need to have a savvy TA, make sure your TA knows you are open to an upsell, and watch your email closely around the final payment due date. That is the last chance other passengers have to cancel a booking without a penalty and the cruise lines are a little anxions to get those cancellations rebooked.

Then you must be decisive. When the upsell offer comes, jump on it. You snooze, you lose and it is pot luck.

We know that we are in a stronger position to get a price break if the cruise line is offering than when we are asking. We were on about 35 cruises before we were able to take advantage of an upsell offer, then lucked out three cruises in a row! And we got spoiled. We now have very nice mini suites booked on four upcoming cruses, and the S6 suites just aren't that much nicer, so, we probably won't ever buy another upsell. Good Luck, and Bon Voyage.

[Colo Cruiser]

If you want a particular cabin cat then book it right away rather than a GTY. ;)

[cynbar]

It doesn't make much sense that there would be a number cruisers could call for an upsell -- the phones would be ringing off the hook, everyone wants a deal. We did get an upsell offer for our cruise last year, and we took it, but they called us. Actually it came via email, asked me to call them back and it stressed that it was first come, first served. So keep a close eye on your email, just in case.

[VibeGuy]

To give you a sense of numbers:

 

Since 2008, I've sailed Princess roughly 40 times. 35ish of those have been booked GTY, usually Obstructed.

 

We've never been offered an upgrade out of meta-category (for example, OO to OV, Balcony to Mini, etc). We've had one upsell offer to Mini from Balcony at what was effectively the current fare difference.

[kenzie]

I really appreciate all your responses, I will use your information wisely when booking in the future.

Many Thanks All

[Mo_Cruising]

We used to receive free upgrades, but now often receive upsell offers. We usually book the highest category under where we would really want to be. Very shortly after the final payment date, we get an email that has to be responded to within a day or so, or the offer is gone. On the cruise we are leaving for today, we originally booked the highest mini-suite (not club class). We were upsold to a full owners suite at one of the back corners of the ship with a wrap-around balcony. The price we are paying is about half of the published owners suite price. Our first full suite!

 

 

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[caribill]

We used to receive free upgrades, but now often receive upsell offers.

 

If people would not accept the upsell offers, then most likely the free upgrades would continue.

 

But as long as people are willing to pay extra for what used to be free, there is no need to sent out free upgrade notices.