Upgrade!

[wolverineinOH]

Just got an email from Windstar. We have been upgraded from cabin 109 to 309 on the Legend for our Alaska cruise this summer!  Seems strange that they would upgrade so early though doesn’t it?  Anyone else ever get an upgrade this early?

[Briansbrain]

Yeah, happened  to us a couple months ago for our January st martins cruise. Easier to sell the lower cost cabins

[thatbloominplace]

we just received a similar upgrade for our february cruise. not as early as yours, but still almost three months before departure. we got a great price when we booked; only saw that price the day i noticed it drop, and the room is now back to $600 higher so they aren't going to lose on my upgrade. i assume they were really heavy on balconies.

[MRGACRUZR]

We were recently upgraded on a Star Collector voyage from an "S" to a Balcony 1. The upgrade was noticed about 2 months before sailing. Thanks Windstar. 

[Redtravel]

In 2017 we got a nice upgrade on Star Legend from S to S3.  Cabin was same size up 2 decks. Upgrade cabin had no tub.  It had a walk-in shower. We loved it. Booked a similar cabin for our next booked cruises. 

[Grayboots]

We got upgraded around 3-4 months out too!  Actually, it happened twice!  We booked our cabin, and  Windstar upgraded us to a balcony within a week of our booking.   The price went down substantially, so we downgraded and took the credit.  Then they upgraded us again a few weeks later!!!  Thank You Windstar!!!!

[ErwinSchrodinger]

We got upgraded from BX to A about 2 months ago for our 7/19 Tahiti cruise.

What a pleasant surprise

[jmbklj]

I'm curious if passengers who book directly with Windstar receive more upgrades than people who book via a travel agent.  For those who have received a Windstar cabin upgrade, did you book directly with the cruise line?  Or via a travel agent?

Edited May 19, 2019 by jmbklj

[ridethetide]

25 minutes ago, jmbklj said:

I'm curious if passengers who book directly with Windstar receive more upgrades than people who book via a travel agent.  For those who have received a Windstar cabin upgrade, did you book directly with the cruise line?  Or via a travel agent?

We always use a travel agent.  We received an upgrade last July.

[wolverineinOH]

We had booked directly thru Windstar. We ended up canceling though so we won’t be enjoying the upgrade 😓

[minidonuts85]

Got an upgrade and booked through WS direct.

[Ski Mom 2]

Our upgrade on our back2back2back in September 2018 was booked directly through the Windstar phone lines.

[jmbklj]

Right now I've got an Iceland Windstar cruise on hold until tomorrow, and am debating whether to finalize the booking directly or to use a travel agent.  That's why I posed the question about upgrades via an agent or booking  directly. Wolverine, sorry to hear about your cancellation - best of luck to you.

[Misty Morning]

We book directly and have had upgrades in our last 3 cruises

[r&rd]

We booked with a travel agent and received an upgrade 3 months out - but we also have a lot of Windstar sailings so I don't know whether that is also a factor. We have also gotten upgrades at embarkation.

[fishin' musician]

We once accepted an upgrade on the Legend to one of the balcony rooms... only thing was every evening at about 5pm we'd here thump thump thump thump thump.  It would go on for a half hour or so.  Sometimes it occured at other times.  We finally figured out that the room was directly above the gym and we were hearing people on the treadmills.  Next time I'll check the deck plans!

[ridethetide]

1 hour ago, fishin' musician said:

We once accepted an upgrade on the Legend to one of the balcony rooms... only thing was every evening at about 5pm we'd here thump thump thump thump thump.  It would go on for a half hour or so.  Sometimes it occured at other times.  We finally figured out that the room was directly above the gym and we were hearing people on the treadmills.  Next time I'll check the deck plans!

We had a room directly below the fitness center last July on the Legend and never heard a peep from the gym.  There are no rooms above the fitness center, just below.

[jmbklj]

Well, I pulled the trigger and booked the Star Breeze 8/6 'Around Iceland' cruise; I ended up booking with a travel agent, while all my past Windstar cruises were booked directly with Windstar.

[Mudhen]

18 hours ago, jmbklj said:

Well, I pulled the trigger and booked the Star Breeze 8/6 'Around Iceland' cruise; I ended up booking with a travel agent, while all my past Windstar cruises were booked directly with Windstar.

My daughter and I are in the process of booking the same cruise. Working on ironing out a couple of tweeks.  We're using an agent. I'll keep you posted!

[milepig]

Our upgrade for August just came through. We’d needed to book a back to back in two segments due to pricing issues. We were on a balcony suite for leg 1 and a classic suite for leg two on the breeze. I thought it might, but the stars aligned and now we’re in the same classic suite for both legs. All that space and no need to change cabins halfway through. 

 

I just did a little happy dance. 

[Ski Mom 2]

15 minutes ago, milepig said:

Our upgrade for August just came through. We’d needed to book a back to back in two segments due to pricing issues. We were on a balcony suite for leg 1 and a classic suite for leg two on the breeze. I thought it might, but the stars aligned and now we’re in the same classic suite for both legs. All that space and no need to change cabins halfway through. 

 

I just did a little happy dance. 

Fantastic and congratulations!! I've got my fingers crossed for our January Wind Surf cruise 🙂

[Mudhen]

On 5/22/2019 at 8:11 AM, Mudhen said:

My daughter and I are in the process of booking the same cruise. Working on ironing out a couple of tweeks.  We're using an agent. I'll keep you posted!

We did it!  Looking forward to a great trip!

[jmbklj]

26 minutes ago, Mudhen said:

We did it!  Looking forward to a great trip!

Awesome Mudhen, look forward to meeting you onboard. Won't be long now. 😎 We booked via a travel agent; so far no upgrade for us.   

[Mudhen]

We did as well....since this cruise appears to be pretty much sold out, I'm not expecting any upgrade. A little OBC credit would've been nice since this cruise price was reduced after we booked, but that was not to be. We were under the dread 90 day booking circumstance.

See you on board!

[milepig]

2 hours ago, Mudhen said:

We did as well....since this cruise appears to be pretty much sold out, I'm not expecting any upgrade. A little OBC credit would've been nice since this cruise price was reduced after we booked, but that was not to be. We were under the dread 90 day booking circumstance.

See you on board!

 

I think of upgrades as those random events that are great, but never count on them. I don't think that booking through a TA makes an difference, but I suppose it could. They have access to a special group of WS agents, and our current one came through shortly after another question would have caused WS to open my reservation(s). They have have taken the time to look things over and decide to push the button on the uprade. there's no way to know.

 

The pattern I've seen is that WS tends to book up the sort of second level cabins first - not rock bottom necessarily. Then, when those fill fill and the more expensive cabins are underselling they upgrade people to open up more of the sold out cabins. I guess doing this rather than reducing the price on the more expensive cabins accomplishes two things - they're rewarding repeat customers and they're selling more cabins that people are willing to purchase.

 

It is almost certainly a place where being a repeat customer matters. I don't think we had an upgrade during our first 10 bookings, and now they're fairly common. Sometimes they're minor - something like a better cabin but on the same level, etc.

 

Our recent upgrade to a Classic Suite is massive for us, and in this case I'm sure the agent notices that we already had it booked on the next leg and it was empty on the first, so they just did us a favor by combining the two - saving us the move and them from coordinating it. They now have a balcony suite to sell to someone else.