Free cabin upgrades on low capacity cruises?

[Lou33]

Since many cruises are sailing at greatly reduced capacity, I wonder if that increases the chance of getting a free cabin upgrade?  If they are sailing at 50% capacity, it seems that the cruise lines wouldn't have anything to lose by providing free upgrades.  Why would they keep people in an inside cabin, if there are plenty of vacant cabins in a higher categories

Edited August 16, 2021 by Lou33

[grandgeezer]

If you booked a lower category cabin you got what you paid for. What would they have to gain by doing so? It’s all about $$$$.

They might upsell you to a higher category but your chance of getting a free move up your chance are slim or none and slim just left town.

[Ashland]

OP...that's like asking why when there's empty seats in first class you're not asked if you would like to sit there. You get what you pay for 

[3kidsncats]

What do they have to lose?  Fees generated by Royal Up.  

[Lou33]

2 hours ago, grandgeezer said:

If you booked a lower category cabin you got what you paid for. What would they have to gain by doing so? It’s all about $$$$.

They might upsell you to a higher category but your chance of getting a free move up your chance are slim or none and slim just left town.

.

29 minutes ago, Ashland said:

OP...that's like asking why when there's empty seats in first class you're not asked if you would like to sit there. You get what you pay for 

I've received free upgrades to first class a few times.

 

Yes, the cruise lines would rather that passengers pay to upgrade, but that doesn't always happen.  Especially when the ship is at very low capacity.  We have been cruising for a long time, and I remember that 10+ years ago, it wasn't uncommon to receive unexpected and unsolicited upgrades.  Even if you booked a specific cabin number. Here on cruise critic that was known as the "upgrade fairy" coming to visit.  

 

Times have changed, and so has the willingness for cruise lines to give free upgrades.  But times have changed again where ships are sailing at 50% capacity and lucky to be sailing at all.  If it was my cruise ship and I didn't get passengers to guarantee their upgrade by paying for it, then yes I would give some passengers a free upgrade.  If they are in an inside cabin, and an outside or a balcony is sitting vacant, then there would be no loss.

 

There is also the question of people who booked a category guarantee.  If they booked an inside guarantee and there are plenty of outside and balcony cabins available, you would think that there would be plenty of upgrades for them.  

 

I'm just wondering if there are more upgrades happening now because of this unprecedented situation.  

[firefly333]

1 hour ago, Lou33 said:

.

I've received free upgrades to first class a few times.

 

Yes, the cruise lines would rather that passengers pay to upgrade, but that doesn't always happen.  Especially when the ship is at very low capacity.  We have been cruising for a long time, and I remember that 10+ years ago, it wasn't uncommon to receive unexpected and unsolicited upgrades.  Even if you booked a specific cabin number. Here on cruise critic that was known as the "upgrade fairy" coming to visit.  

 

Times have changed, and so has the willingness for cruise lines to give free upgrades.  But times have changed again where ships are sailing at 50% capacity and lucky to be sailing at all.  If it was my cruise ship and I didn't get passengers to guarantee their upgrade by paying for it, then yes I would give some passengers a free upgrade.  If they are in an inside cabin, and an outside or a balcony is sitting vacant, then there would be no loss.

 

There is also the question of people who booked a category guarantee.  If they booked an inside guarantee and there are plenty of outside and balcony cabins available, you would think that there would be plenty of upgrades for them.  

 

I'm just wondering if there are more upgrades happening now because of this unprecedented situation.  

I wouldnt give away free upgrades. If that got out then people would book a inside and have some hope they would get upgraded later for free and not want to pay the balcony price.  It would be all over cc and other social media people paying for insides and getting free upgrades. 

 

 

[billslowsky]

2 hours ago, firefly333 said:

I wouldnt give away free upgrades. If that got out then people would book a inside and have some hope they would get upgraded later for free and not want to pay the balcony price.  It would be all over cc and other social media people paying for insides and getting free upgrades. 

 

 

Add to that the people who didn't get free upgrades coming on social media and complaining about being mistreated.  There are already threads on this site about such "heinous" treatment.

 

The cruise lines can simply manipulate their prices as they currently do when capacity is low or tight.

Edited August 16, 2021 by billslowsky

[JessyCruises]

I have not heard of any free upgrades, but I have been hearing lots of reports of successful Royal Up Bids

[Jasukkie]

Gone are the days. Royal Up is smart business. People think they are winning something, which is the right to pay more money. Does it get better than that for a company? 

 

I've done it and "won" without regrets. The program appears to be highly successful but it put a stake in the heart of the upgrade fairy, poor dear.

[ticketsunlimited]

1 hour ago, Jasukkie said:

Gone are the days. Royal Up is smart business. People think they are winning something, which is the right to pay more money. Does it get better than that for a company? 

 

I've done it and "won" without regrets. The program appears to be highly successful but it put a stake in the heart of the upgrade fairy, poor dear.

When you Royal up, its usually pay at 50% or better less than what you would have paid booking that category outright.  This makes it worth while if you win the bid.  They can shift 6 reservations in one swift move making money for the cruise line.

There is always one person behind your category bidding for your room.....inside to balcony, balcony to suite, suite to grand suite... 

As for upgrades at the terminal I don't believe we will ever see it again.  By the time a lot of people are at the terminal your room keys are already on your door.  Its just not feasible to have room attendants running around swapping keys.

Royal Up right now is going to be a huge way for them to recoup some of these funds especially at reduced capacity.

[footzz]

9 hours ago, Lou33 said:

Since many cruises are sailing at greatly reduced capacity, I wonder if that increases the chance of getting a free cabin upgrade?  If they are sailing at 50% capacity, it seems that the cruise lines wouldn't have anything to lose by providing free upgrades.  Why would they keep people in an inside cabin, if there are plenty of vacant cabins in a higher categories

You can always try asking at the guest services desk. The reduced passenger loads would test the veracity of the ever present " No upgrades, ship is at full capacity" signs.

[Biker19]

5 minutes ago, ticketsunlimited said:

Its just not feasible to have room attendants running around swapping keys.

If it makes more money to RCI (and some folks may pay more for an upgrade on the ship than Royal Up), RCI will make it happen. In the COVID era, there's lost of spare cabins on the ship.

[orville99]

The freebie fairy died from covid, and was buried at sea (although she was on life support for a few years prior). It is all about RoyalUP $$$ now. We are sailing on Allure in six days, and we just received a RoyalUP email encouraging us to place our $$$ bid on an upgraded cabin.😱🛳️😂

[orville99]

6 minutes ago, footzz said:

You can always try asking at the guest services desk. The reduced passenger loads would test the veracity of the ever present " No upgrades, ship is at full capacity" signs.

We were on Harmony (B2B) during Dorian, and when we boarded the second leg there were only about 2,000 passengers on board with us. I went to GS and asked about upgrading our cabin from a balcony to a JS and was told sorry, we are at capacity and there are no rooms available - even though our steward had just shown us three empty JS cabins just down the hall from ours. Ain't gonna happen any more.

[ryano]

24 minutes ago, orville99 said:

We were on Harmony (B2B) during Dorian, and when we boarded the second leg there were only about 2,000 passengers on board with us. 

 

Was this the cruise that got reduced to three nights?   I was suppose to be on that one and took the FCC instead of traveling to FL for a 3 night cruise.  I think a lot of us wound up doing that leaving the ship at below 50%.   Im still to this day trying to take a cruise to use that FCC.

[footzz]

24 minutes ago, orville99 said:

We were on Harmony (B2B) during Dorian, and when we boarded the second leg there were only about 2,000 passengers on board with us. I went to GS and asked about upgrading our cabin from a balcony to a JS and was told sorry, we are at capacity and there are no rooms available - even though our steward had just shown us three empty JS cabins just down the hall from ours. Ain't gonna happen any more.

Kind of makes one wonder if one of the requirements of a CSR is having to fail a lie detecdtor test.

[orville99]

Just now, ryano said:

 

Was this the cruise that got reduced to three nights?  

Yes, that was the one. We would have had a lot fewer on board, but they moved about 800 passengers from Mariner over to Harmony because Mariner wasn't going to sail for just 1-2 nights. After all the dust cleared, we got 11 C&A points for the first leg, and another 7 for the second (3-night) leg.

[rjrpar]

10 hours ago, Lou33 said:

Since many cruises are sailing at greatly reduced capacity, I wonder if that increases the chance of getting a free cabin upgrade?  If they are sailing at 50% capacity, it seems that the cruise lines wouldn't have anything to lose by providing free upgrades.  Why would they keep people in an inside cabin, if there are plenty of vacant cabins in a higher categories

Why don’t you just purchase the cabin type that you want.  So many people want free “stuff”

[orville99]

23 minutes ago, rjrpar said:

Why don’t you just purchase the cabin type that you want.  So many people want free “stuff”

Probably because until recently it was one of the better perks of being part of RCL's C&A loyalty program. We always purchase the cabin type that we want - but if they decided because of our loyalty standing to upgrade us to a better category at no cost to us, we would be seriously insane to turn it down.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

I don't know about post-covid, but pre-covid both Princess and RCI bumped us from inside to a balcony for free (a couple of times for Princess, and once for RCI).

[BecciBoo]

10 hours ago, grandgeezer said:

If you booked a lower category cabin you got what you paid for. What would they have to gain by doing so? It’s all about $$$$.

They might upsell you to a higher category but your chance of getting a free move up your chance are slim or none and slim just left town.

Maybe you are forgetting about the old Upgrade Fairy visits.  We haven't had those in years, but now would be a good time for her return.  They were free.  Lots of CC posters reported getting those through the years.  So goodwill is the gain factor.  Yes, now with Royal Up it's probably a thing of the past, but ya never know.  On our upcoming, I plan on asking for sure, whether upcharged or not if we can move up when we get to pier.

[BecciBoo]

51 minutes ago, rjrpar said:

Why don’t you just purchase the cabin type that you want.  So many people want free “stuff”

There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting free stuff.  I'm sure even you would not turn down something you desire if it is offered free.  People don't get free stuff because they never ask for it.  It never hurts to ask, you just might be surprised, and the worst they can do is say NO.  Nothing lost nothing gained.

[BecciBoo]

1 hour ago, footzz said:

You can always try asking at the guest services desk. The reduced passenger loads would test the veracity of the ever present " No upgrades, ship is at full capacity" signs.

Back in the day, I was always told to ask the Pier Manager about that.  I always got the same answer though, we're full up

[BecciBoo]

3 hours ago, JessyCruises said:

I have not heard of any free upgrades, but I have been hearing lots of reports of successful Royal Up Bids

For the minimum too.  I know they always keep a number of cabins on each cruise open for various "emergencies"  we were switched on a Liberty cruise to one of the newly added balcony rooms up front when we complained about the noise above our deck 3 cabin. Right under the ladies public restroom which they cleaned at 3:00am every morning...always woke us up.  We asked very nicely if we could move elsewhere.  They said yes and when we got the room card, it was the upgrade.  We were shocked, we never expected more than another interior.  That's my story and I'm stickin to it.

[grandgeezer]

16 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

Maybe you are forgetting about the old Upgrade Fairy visits.  We haven't had those in years, but now would be a good time for her return.  They were free.  Lots of CC posters reported getting those through the years.  So goodwill is the gain factor.  Yes, now with Royal Up it's probably a thing of the past, but ya never know.  On our upcoming, I plan on asking for sure, whether upcharged or not if we can move up when we get to pier.

The goodwill factor doesn't come in to play. People cruising during these times are hooked so there is nothing for RCL to gain. Upgrade fairy is not the same as begging at the pier or once on the ship. Like someone else mentioned, if you want a better cabin, try the Royal Up or whatever it's called.