Price drop, upgrade question

[Warm-Water Diver]

First off let me say I'm Platinum on NCL and have close to 30 cruises with them.

 

I usually book way in advance and when there have been price drops after final payment, NCL has always accommodated us by providing upgrades, OBC or both depending on the situation and how much the cabin prices have dropped.

So we are booked on the Jan 3rd sailing for 5 days aboard the Escape (will be 4th time on this ship).  I checked this morning and our inside cabin (IF) has dropped almost $260. 

 

Same time the BA balcony is $58.26 less than what we paid for the inside (IF).

 

I called my PCC to upgrade to the BA and was told that NCL is no longer doing complementary upgrades when there are price drops and instead initiated a new policy where the new cabin has to be more money than you originally paid for your cabin at final payment. FYI, I can't book the BA because it's less than the inside and the next cheapest balcony will cost me about $200 more.

 

My PCC denied providing any OBC or letting us obtain the BA balcony for the same price.  I asked to speak with the supervisor but was denied again with the policy change (stated above) reiterated.

 

With the recent "mask mandate," the closing of the outdoor sports complex and this new policy, it's leaving a very bad taste in my mouth from a loyal NCL customer. I mean I'm not happy about these changes but I'm rolling with them but I don't understand why they wouldn't just take care of us and give us higher cabin (obviously lots of availability throughout the ship) while freeing up another inside cabin?

 

Has anyone had any luck in getting an upgrade in a similar situation without spending more money?

[ChiefMateJRK]

Just pay for the next cheapest balcony and enjoy your cruise.

[BermudaBound2014]

Yikes, seems like a bad business policy. Upgrading you to a balcony would cost them zero. What this likely goes to show is how deep they expect last minute discounts will get.

[Warm-Water Diver]

I totally agree. This is a bad policy decision. I'm already paying about 30% more for the same cancelled cruise from last year. I definitely didn't want to spend another $200 + for an upgrade that will likely cost them nothing.

 

Also agree if you can wait, you will get far better deal than booking early in IMHO..

[MsTabbyKats]

This really is not fair.  The general rule is "as long as you give them more $$$, you can upgrade."  Perhaps when onboard they'll accomodate.

[MeHeartCruising]

47 minutes ago, MsTabbyKats said:

This really is not fair.  The general rule is "as long as you give them more $$$, you can upgrade."  Perhaps when onboard they'll accomodate.

The way I read the OP’s posting, they want a free upgrade.  They aren’t offering to pay more.
 

I’m not at all surprised by this situation.  NCL now uses a proven method of selling upgrades in a bidding process. Why would they give them away when they need every dime they can get to weather this mess we are in (Covid).  
 

I get the “reward your best customers” thinking by loyal customers.   But the reality is that there seem to be plenty of cruisers out there.  They don’t really need to reward many people at this time.  

Edited December 22, 2021 by MeHeartCruising

[julig22]

Policy seems to have changed in August (there have been several earlier posts). To further complicate, your perks pretty much have to match.  Not a problem unless you took the promo airfare - you can't upgrade because the airfare option falls off at 90days (before final payment for some cruises).  It was nice while it lasted....

[xfer]

They told me they won't do anything if they are less than 15 days out to the cruise (but that doesn't mean it's true for all sailings). Also, they said that the upgrade has to be at least $1 more. Alternatively, if there was at least $200 difference, they would give me 25% as FCC. 

[MsTabbyKats]

13 hours ago, MeHeartCruising said:

The way I read the OP’s posting, they want a free upgrade.  They aren’t offering to pay more.
 

I’m not at all surprised by this situation.  NCL now uses a proven method of selling upgrades in a bidding process. Why would they give them away when they need every dime they can get to weather this mess we are in (Covid).  
 

I get the “reward your best customers” thinking by loyal customers.   But the reality is that there seem to be plenty of cruisers out there.  They don’t really need to reward many people at this time.  

OP would settle for OBC.'

 

As a long time customer I'd consider it a slap in the face if I booked an inside, BA is now going for less.....with cabins available, and they didn't accomodate me.  Maybe even an upgrade to OV!

 

OP lives in FL....he has plenty of options for future sailings.

[sungirl10]

I unfortunately had the same issue for the Jan 8th sailing. I am solo in my cabin so I am stuck with the high single supplement to begin with. And the NCL Joy does not even offer the solo cabins so I had to pay a difference to begin with from  my FCC. And now the cruise is about $500 less then what I paid. I also called for some concession of any type and was rejected. And of course they tried to get me to pay for an upgrade. So annoying as I know before they have always accommodated. I get the cruise lines are struggling for revenue but something for loyalty would be nice. 

[Krazy Kat]

6 hours ago, xfer said:

They told me they won't do anything if they are less than 15 days out to the cruise (but that doesn't mean it's true for all sailings). Also, they said that the upgrade has to be at least $1 more. Alternatively, if there was at least $200 difference, they would give me 25% as FCC. 

 

This is exactly what I was told and how it was handled.  I paid $5.04 for an upgrade for one category.

[mlgb]

I did get an upgrade from inside Sail away aka Guarantee , to balcony and got a small refund. This was for a Jan 16 Bliss cruise, but before final payment.  I had to call twice, was put on hold the second time and they came back with OK. The first call was some kind of B'S that was incomprehensible to me, telling me a Guarantee and Sail Away are different categories . First person eventually allowed an upgrade to a Club Balcony for a small upcharge. (I'm assuming under a policy that you can only get an upgrade if you pay more). I specifically said I didn't need that. Wonder if they listened to the phone call made only a few hours prior. Ironically I had put in a minimum bid for a balcony but cancelled it while on the first call. This was direct with NCL with no PCC, Silver status.

 

Good info on the 15 day cutoff. I will check again before that.

Edited December 23, 2021 by mlgb

[vacation44]

7 minutes ago, mlgb said:

Good info on the 15 day cutoff. I will check again before that.

Yes, good information on the 15 day cutoff.  I am confident my February cruise will come down in price further so this is very helpful to me.

[julig22]

4 hours ago, mlgb said:

I did get an upgrade from inside Sail away aka Guarantee , to balcony and got a small refund. This was for a Jan 16 Bliss cruise, but before final payment.  I had to call twice, was put on hold the second time and they came back with OK. The first call was some kind of B'S that was incomprehensible to me, telling me a Guarantee and Sail Away are different categories . First person eventually allowed an upgrade to a Club Balcony for a small upcharge. (I'm assuming under a policy that you can only get an upgrade if you pay more). I specifically said I didn't need that. Wonder if they listened to the phone call made only a few hours prior. Ironically I had put in a minimum bid for a balcony but cancelled it while on the first call. This was direct with NCL with no PCC, Silver status.

 

Good info on the 15 day cutoff. I will check again before that.

Guarantee and sail away are different.  You can pay full price with promos and be assigned GTY status, usually as the ship is filling up.  I'm assuming at that point they are looking at area capacity and need to distribute passengers.  Sailaway excludes "free at sea" plus no cabin selection.

[mlgb]

My original booking was Sail Away but she insisted it was Guarantee.

 

When I called back I got the same benefits No Free at Sea, no cabin selection, just the $50 shorex credit. 

 

I'm still not sure why it was so difficult but the NCL website uses both terms on the same booking page. So perhaps an attempt to confuse everyone. LOL.