Asking for upgrade once onboard?

[choochella]

So, just curious. It used to be you could ask for an upgrade, or for a nominal fee, once onboard. With the new move up program, I wonder if that is still feasible? Has anyone tried lately?

[Jim_Iain]

Usually upgrades are awarded via the moveup program and occasionally on a gratis basis.  Most of the Gratis Upgrades  have gone away with near to capacity bookings.

 

Not sure about nominal fee.    They do often offer upgrades to those who have been put on a waiting list.   Usually they are not awarded until the second day. 

 

I recently asked about an empty RS that I had not won a fairly strong move up bid on.    I was told that I could upgrade for $2,800 pp which put it higher than if I had purchased it on the open market.   I declined and the ship sailed with the room empty.   The call us up to the Revenue Manager and this one was being greedy.

 

[crusinthrough]

This was possible after restart when ships were not sailing near or at capacity.  As capacity has increased, I have not heard of any onboard upgrades.  

[MR_T]

We did this last September and although the ship was only at around 20% capacity we got the last sky suite available for what they said was a fixed price upgrade of $800pp for the cruise. Standard varanda - S1 suite on Apex! 

[Chanbre]

In September 2021 we got an upgrade from Sunset Veranda to Aqua soon after boarding the Silhouette in Southhampton. The ship was nowhere near full.

 

We boarded and dropped our bags in our booked cabin. Then we had a conversation with Guest Services and arranged the upgrade. There was a charge for the upgrage, I forget how much but we thought it reasonable. I think they had more than one Aqua cabin available so were happy to let us choose another, but we liked the first one they offered.

[wineoclock]

I would imagine it would depend how fill the ship was & the price of upgrade! 

[drakes2]

1 minute ago, wineoclock said:

I would imagine it would depend how fill the ship was & the price of upgrade! 

I was recently on an 11 night cruise on the Eclipse to Hawaii a and booked an inside cabin. Shortly after I got to my cabin my attendant came in to say I was being moved but did not know why.  Apparently guest relations moved me to a balcony great unobstructed view on deck 10 at no additional charge.  First time its happened to me. 

[Caroldoll]

I am praying for an upgrade and personally do not care how much it costs.  I will be hurrying down to Guest Services when I board if that is how it is done.  I have used the Move Up program and have called and my agent has called.  They are telling me the Revenue Manager will look at it two days before the ship sails.  However, there may be a no-show.  Hoping!

[phoenix_dream]

1 hour ago, drakes2 said:

I was recently on an 11 night cruise on the Eclipse to Hawaii a and booked an inside cabin. Shortly after I got to my cabin my attendant came in to say I was being moved but did not know why.  Apparently guest relations moved me to a balcony great unobstructed view on deck 10 at no additional charge.  First time its happened to me. 

It is likely that they moved you to use your original room as a quarantine cabin.

[phoenix_dream]

To the OP's original question - it is not likely you can secure an upgrade onboard, and the higher the cabin category the lower the odds.  Many ships are sailing full or close to it recently.  This makes the move up onboard possibility much, much different than it was maybe 6-9 months ago.  First choice will go to people who made MoveUp offers.  Until a week or so ago, testing pre-cruise probably caused a certain number of last minute cancels which may have freed up cabins.  Since for most cruises testing has ended that number will fall.  There may still be some last minute cancels for people who got sick at the last minute but certainly a lesser number.  

 

So is it likely?  Probably not, especially the higher level the cabin.  But does it hurt to ask?  Depends on how disappointed you will be if you get turned down.

[drakes2]

26 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

It is likely that they moved you to use your original room as a quarantine cabin.

 

26 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

It is likely that they moved you to use your original room as a quarantine cabin.

I always thought quarantine cabins were not inside cabins and close to the medical centre. My original inside was deck 10. Whatever the reason for the upgrade it was very unexpected. 

[capecodmercury]

1 hour ago, phoenix_dream said:

To the OP's original question - it is not likely you can secure an upgrade onboard, and the higher the cabin category the lower the odds.  Many ships are sailing full or close to it recently.  This makes the move up onboard possibility much, much different than it was maybe 6-9 months ago.  First choice will go to people who made MoveUp offers.  Until a week or so ago, testing pre-cruise probably caused a certain number of last minute cancels which may have freed up cabins.  Since for most cruises testing has ended that number will fall.  There may still be some last minute cancels for people who got sick at the last minute but certainly a lesser number.  

 

So is it likely?  Probably not, especially the higher level the cabin.  But does it hurt to ask?  Depends on how disappointed you will be if you get turned down.

On a related issue, does Celebrity accept  Move Up offers until the embarkation date? According to the program description,  the Move Up program ends two days before sailing.  But I am not sure how that worked with people canceling due to positive tests.

 

I am on a cruise on Summit in October that will be stopping in Bermuda, so it is a cruise that still requires a monitored pre cruise test.  All balcony, CC, Aqua, and Suites are sold out and have been sold out for months. I'm in CC, but have bids in on Aqua and various suites.  I bid assuming that the only way to win a Move Up would be if there was a last minute cancelation.  But not sure how Celebrity handles cancelations due to positive tests opening up cabins.

[Guindalf]

Be aware that due to limitations of the software, changing rooms on an E class ship will result in the app no longer controlling the room tv, temp, curtains, etc.

 

We moved rooms on Apex in January and found this out. 
 

 

[NutsAboutGolf]

25 minutes ago, Guindalf said:

Be aware that due to limitations of the software, changing rooms on an E class ship will result in the app no longer controlling the room tv, temp, curtains, etc.

 

We moved rooms on Apex in January and found this out. 
 

 

 

Did you talk to guest relations and ask if it could be fixed?  Many have reported that using the app as a key randomly stops working until they go to guest relations to get it fixed.

Edited September 12, 2022 by NutsAboutGolf

[GonzoWCS]

Thanks for the information here.

 

Cheers

[phoenix_dream]

2 hours ago, drakes2 said:

 

I always thought quarantine cabins were not inside cabins and close to the medical centre. My original inside was deck 10. Whatever the reason for the upgrade it was very unexpected. 

On some ships they were using inside cabins unfortunately.  But you're right I doubt a deck 10 cabin would be changed for that reason.  Maybe you just got lucky!  Maybe there was an issue with that cabin. Maybe someone wanted to book a balcony cabin with an inside cabin across the hall for their kids.

[drakes2]

23 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

On some ships they were using inside cabins unfortunately.  But you're right I doubt a deck 10 cabin would be changed for that reason.  Maybe you just got lucky!  Maybe there was an issue with that cabin. Maybe someone wanted to book a balcony cabin with an inside cabin across the hall for their kids.

Who knows I didn't ask a lot of questions just happy to have the balcony especially on an 11 night Hawaii cruise. 

[drakes2]

1 hour ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

Did you talk to guest relations and ask if it could be fixed?  Many have reported that using the app as a key randomly stops working until they go to guest relations to get it fixed.

I had issues opening cabin door with my phone so gave up and used my key. Not worth wasting time at guest relations. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

4 minutes ago, drakes2 said:

I had issues opening cabin door with my phone so gave up and used my key. Not worth wasting time at guest relations. 

 

Was told the CC concierge can fix it but I've never tried.  There are plenty of times in the sailing when you can go to guest relations when there's no line

[drakes2]

49 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

Was told the CC concierge can fix it but I've never tried.  There are plenty of times in the sailing when you can go to guest relations when there's no line

Don't mind using my key card to open cabin door. I think I only had the need for guest relations once in the cruise. 

[gold1953]

8 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

On some ships they were using inside cabins unfortunately.  But you're right I doubt a deck 10 cabin would be changed for that reason.  Maybe you just got lucky!  Maybe there was an issue with that cabin. Maybe someone wanted to book a balcony cabin with an inside cabin across the hall for their kids.

She was on deck 3 so no balconies across from insides.  On some ships deck 3 cabins are being used for new crew to isolate and for crew with covid

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, gold1953 said:

new crew to isolate

Is this still a thing? I highly doubt it.

[canderson]

21 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Is this still a thing? I highly doubt it.

Crew quarters are tight and not solo.  If a crewmember were to test positive, they'd still need to be isolated.

[manmachine]

Can you imagine what would happen if this was a viable strategy?

 

[Denny01]

15 hours ago, Caroldoll said:

I am praying for an upgrade and personally do not care how much it costs.  I will be hurrying down to Guest Services when I board if that is how it is done.  I have used the Move Up program and have called and my agent has called.  They are telling me the Revenue Manager will look at it two days before the ship sails.  However, there may be a no-show.  Hoping!

If you dont care how much it costs to upgrade, why not just do it now?

 

den