"Do not upgrade" question

[avic77]

How likely are they to upgrade you. I have an aft corner balcony from May 2023 Alaska. This seems to be a very much preferred room. I have not asked for the do not upgrade yet. What is considered an upgrade and is it done without warning or do they call and ask you to accept or refuse the upgrade in the event they even offer one.

[Rick&Jeannie]

Most posts that you see reported here on CC is that they just discovered (after logging in to their Personalizer) that they have a new cabin.

[atexsix]

I don't remember clicking do not upgrade on the website, do I need to call them now?

[Level six]

8 minutes ago, atexsix said:

I don't remember clicking do not upgrade on the website, do I need to call them now?

Not on website, need to call or chat

[atexsix]

2 minutes ago, Level six said:

Not on website, need to call or chat

Thanks.  I'm on hold as we speak, didn't want to chance it either way, I'm also booked in a sought after location.

[XBGuy]

OP, Princess will consider any cabin that has a higher fare to be an upgrade.  Look at the cabin category that you have booked.  Any category that has a higher fare can be considered an upgrade.  

 

It's hard to say what the procedure is these days, but there have been a few occasions when I have received and e-mail notification that we had been upgraded.  On those occasons we'd booked a balcony cabin as far forward as possible on Deck A.  (Mrs.XBGuy loves the motion of the ocean.)  In each case the new cabin to which we were assigned was another balcony cabin more amidship.  Again, this is something that may have changed, but in those days, you had 24 hours after the e-mail had been sent to contact Princess to decline the upgrade and have your original cabin restored,  We were not pleased with the new cabin locations, and, so, we called Princess to have our original cabin selection restored.  Interestingly, on one occasion the telephone agent told me that our original cabin had already been assigned to another party.  We were, in fact, restored to our original cabin, and I assume that the other party was moved over to the cabin that we declined.

 

Now, in these post-pandemic cruises, Princess has been reserving whole sections of cabins to isolate passengers who test positive for COVID.  Any passengers who had booked cabins in the designated isolation area will be moved. This happened to my brother last fall.  In this case, obviously, you cannot decline the change.

[atexsix]

5 minutes ago, XBGuy said:

OP, Princess will consider any cabin that has a higher fare to be an upgrade.  Look at the cabin category that you have booked.  Any category that has a higher fare can be considered an upgrade.  

 

It's hard to say what the procedure is these days, but there have been a few occasions when I have received and e-mail notification that we had been upgraded.  On those occasons we'd booked a balcony cabin as far forward as possible on Deck A.  (Mrs.XBGuy loves the motion of the ocean.)  In each case the new cabin to which we were assigned was another balcony cabin more amidship.  Again, this is something that may have changed, but in those days, you had 24 hours after the e-mail had been sent to contact Princess to decline the upgrade and have your original cabin restored,  We were not pleased with the new cabin locations, and, so, we called Princess to have our original cabin selection restored.  Interestingly, on one occasion the telephone agent told me that our original cabin had already been assigned to another party.  We were, in fact, restored to our original cabin, and I assume that the other party was moved over to the cabin that we declined.

 

Now, in these post-pandemic cruises, Princess has been reserving whole sections of cabins to isolate passengers who test positive for COVID.  Any passengers who had booked cabins in the designated isolation area will be moved. This happened to my brother last fall.  In this case, obviously, you cannot decline the change.

Unfortunately, what Princess considers to be an upgrade and what you and I consider are two different things.  There are 4 more categories between my current booking and a mini-suite, so I'm not going to place any bets on that one.  As to Covid, I've never heard of any isolation in the aft balconies, on HAL they always seem to be forward.  

 

By the by, when I spoke with CS today they said they have brand new software they are using and that I was the first request she had today that actually went through, but still, gave me the shivers.

[nini]

ALWAYS ASK FOR "NO UPGRADE"! 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and they can "upgrade" you to what they interpret as an improvement- like aft to midship or lower than higher.

And even with asking for no upgrade, they can move you anyway because they are allowed to do so.

 

@atexsix Actually, many people were moved from their aft cabins due to side rear cabins being used for quarantine. Not cool.

[JF - retired RRT]

If you ask for "do not upgrade", Princess considers it a request. If they want your cabin for some reason, they will/can move you.

 

@atexsix Our preferred cabin location is aft. We had a cruise on Aloha aft & got moved for Covid isolation. This is for a cruise that doesn't sail until November! We decided to book a B2B and ALL of the aft cabins were unavailable (port & starboard).

[LACruiser88]

We are always open for an upgrade and have never been unable to have our original cabin restored if we did not like the upgrade.

[sttopmh]

We ask for Do Not Upgrade unless it's a Super Upgrade. Meaning Balcony upgraded to Mini Suite, for example.

[atexsix]

7 minutes ago, sttopmh said:

We ask for Do Not Upgrade unless it's a Super Upgrade. Meaning Balcony upgraded to Mini Suite, for example.

Well I'd take that, 😁 

This type of upgrade only happened once on HAL about 15 years ago, I went from an outside to a deluxe balcony.

[atexsix]

55 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

If you ask for "do not upgrade", Princess considers it a request. If they want your cabin for some reason, they will/can move you.

 

@atexsix Our preferred cabin location is aft. We had a cruise on Aloha aft & got moved for Covid isolation. This is for a cruise that doesn't sail until November! We decided to book a B2B and ALL of the aft cabins were unavailable (port & starboard).

If it's for covid isolation, well, I'd be disappointed but I'd understand.  

 

However, if a better category isn't offered I'm entitled to a credit of some kind (shipboard is fine).  There are only 4 better categories than a Premier Deluxe Balcony without going into the suite options.

 

With all that being said, if this is Princess' paradigm, to move people as they see fit for some frivolous reason, regardless of covid issues, then it'll be my first and last cruise with them.  

[justafem]

Our last cruise, they kept 'upgrading' us, even after I specifically told them NO UPGRADES.  We had booked a forward carbe balcony.  And it's what we wanted.  After the 3rd upgrade to a midship Rivera, I finally stomped my feet and told them, we wanted absolutely NO upgrade.  To us, the new location wasn't better.

 

Now on my cruise in 5 days, they upgraded me from a forward inside to a mid-aft balcony.  No complaints there.   But this time, they called me instead of just upgrading.  Maybe there's a note in my file about how upset I was about the supposed upgrade last time, or maybe after getting so many complaints, they're actually realizing that not everything THEY consider to be an upgrade is an upgrade to the pax.

 

Who really knows.

[Mike07]

1 hour ago, sttopmh said:

We ask for Do Not Upgrade unless it's a Super Upgrade. Meaning Balcony upgraded to Mini Suite, for example.

 

 

I heard that is called a meta upgrade... granted I also read a few days ago that there are mini-suites below the pool deck.

[Lady Arwen]

We always choose the cabin we want and ask for no upgrades, unless a suite.  We’ve never been moved out of our chosen cabin and never been upgraded to a suite.  We usually book mini suites, so always hoped for that one upgrade, but no.

[OccasionalSanta]

1 hour ago, atexsix said:

 

 

With all that being said, if this is Princess' paradigm, to move people as they see fit for some frivolous reason, regardless of covid issues, then it'll be my first and last cruise with them.  

I suspect the "frivolous" reason is that they believe that there is a better possibility of re-booking your existing cabin than booking the slightly higher priced cabin you are being upgraded to.

 

Better to re-book a cheaper cabin than sail with an empty one.

 

In their mind, it is always an upgrade, but personal tastes vary.

[avic77]

Ok I will call tomorrow and ask for a Do Not Upgrade to be posted on my booking.

I'm excited about the cabin I picked and booked

[Lady Arwen]

8 minutes ago, avic77 said:

Ok I will call tomorrow and ask for a Do Not Upgrade to be posted on my booking.

I'm excited about the cabin I picked and booked

 Good decision.  I would do the same.

[JimmyVWine]

We always book an “MA” Mini-suite. The only place to go up from there is a Club Class M1 or a full suite and we would gladly take either. Of course, that has never happened though we did get an upsell offer to move to Club Class one time for $10 per person per day. Took it. 

[nini]

9 hours ago, atexsix said:

If it's for covid isolation, well, I'd be disappointed but I'd understand.  

 

However, if a better category isn't offered I'm entitled to a credit of some kind (shipboard is fine).  There are only 4 better categories than a Premier Deluxe Balcony without going into the suite options.

 

With all that being said, if this is Princess' paradigm, to move people as they see fit for some frivolous reason, regardless of covid issues, then it'll be my first and last cruise with them.  

Please be aware that not just Princess can do this.

[atexsix]

11 hours ago, nini said:

Please be aware that not just Princess can do this.

Yes I'm aware of that.  I've been cruising for decades.  

[dog]

18 hours ago, avic77 said:

Ok I will call tomorrow and ask for a Do Not Upgrade to be posted on my booking.

I'm excited about the cabin I picked and booked

Good luck.

I have not had much success with this in past few years.

Even my selected suite has been changed to guarantee.  The agents who answer the phones and, sorry to say in customer service do not seem to care, once they get your money.
trying my best to be positive, but…

Edited April 6, 2022 by dog

[JF - retired RRT]

15 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

 Of course, that has never happened though we did get an upsell offer to move to Club Class one time for $10 per person per day. Took it. 

That's a good price.

[leck57]

On 4/6/2022 at 8:26 AM, Mike07 said:

 

 

I heard that is called a meta upgrade... granted I also read a few days ago that there are mini-suites below the pool deck.

 

I have heard them called Meta Upgrades as well, however if your booking is marked "no Upgrade" does that rule out all upgrades? I would never want an upgrade across the same cabin type but would obviously take an upgrade from balcony to mini suite. However can your booking state you only would consider a meta upgrades only? I didn't think you could.

My upcoming cruise we have a balcony cabin booked and there are not many left but heaps of mini suites.