Problems with casino reservation

[Treasure Hunter]

Got an email that we got a free balcony cabin plus $400 free play. Usually cruise club class mini or suite. Tried to upgrade but they would only do a regular mini. Figured we go ahead. Booked Emerald for fall. Love the Emerald. Tried to book excursions. No go. Kept coming up error with name. Called three times. Princess number transferred me to casino. They can’t figure it out. Now I’m waiting for someone higher up the food chain to figure it out. Can’t cancel as they’ll keep my deposit. Does anyone know if you can upgrade a casino cabin? If I’m stuck on the ship I’d like a suite! 

[roxievegas]

2 hours ago, Treasure Hunter said:

Got an email that we got a free balcony cabin plus $400 free play. Usually cruise club class mini or suite. Tried to upgrade but they would only do a regular mini. Figured we go ahead. Booked Emerald for fall. Love the Emerald. Tried to book excursions. No go. Kept coming up error with name. Called three times. Princess number transferred me to casino. They can’t figure it out. Now I’m waiting for someone higher up the food chain to figure it out. Can’t cancel as they’ll keep my deposit. Does anyone know if you can upgrade a casino cabin? If I’m stuck on the ship I’d like a suite! 

Yes you can upgrade, but you have to pay.  My experience has been

if the balcony on the website is showing $1299 and the suite is $2599 - they would charge you $1300 per person to move up.

You could wait for the bidding process, but all the suites may be gone and you may only be able to bid for the mini, but you can also bud for the club.

We had a balcony, bid on a mini got it for a total of $300 

[Treasure Hunter]

I was willing to upgrade to a suite when I initially made the reservation but the casino wouldn’t let me. The most they let me upgrade to was a mini ( not even club class. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to do it later. But you are right that the suites will probably be gone by then.

[DallasGuy75219]

When I've asked about upgrading when booking a casino offer before, they would do it but required me to pay the full balance at that time, not at final payment.  This was during the shutdown when no one knew whether the cruises they were booking would happen, and if they didn't happen whether the cruise lines would be around to give them their money back. So you can imagine what I told them they could do with their upgrade. 

[Treasure Hunter]

Ha! Yes I had to pay in full at booking but was willing to do it. They would not let me go higher than a regular mini

[memoak]

16 hours ago, Treasure Hunter said:

Ha! Yes I had to pay in full at booking but was willing to do it. They would not let me go higher than a regular mini

We have always been able to upgrade to a full suite as long as there was one available. And yes you must pay the whole amount right then and there. There is no final payment date

[Treasure Hunter]

Yes but I asked twice on two different phone calls so I don’t know if they changed or what

[EDDY0827]

Call again and you will get a 3rd different answer!

[WAvoyager]

We’ve never been able to upgrade to a suite.  We’ve been told that the casino has certain upgrades available, and if the category isn’t available, then they can’t apply the promotional value to the upgraded booking.  We’ve upgraded from inside to balcony, and several upgrades from balcony to mini suite.  We’ve been told club class mini, and suite weren’t available on the sailings we’ve done.

[roxievegas]

13 hours ago, WAvoyager said:

We’ve never been able to upgrade to a suite.  We’ve been told that the casino has certain upgrades available, and if the category isn’t available, then they can’t apply the promotional value to the upgraded booking.  We’ve upgraded from inside to balcony, and several upgrades from balcony to mini suite.  We’ve been told club class mini, and suite weren’t available on the sailings we’ve done.

the club class mini was available for us to bid on with our "free balcony" cabin -  we did not bid for the club class - the mini is fine for us

[Treasure Hunter]

Does anyone know if we can upgrade once the bidding process starts. Or are we denied that chance too?

[suekel]

5 minutes ago, Treasure Hunter said:

Does anyone know if we can upgrade once the bidding process starts. Or are we denied that chance too?

Yes.  I've done 2 fully comped casino cruises since October and have one in 2 weeks.  I upgraded all of them. 

[Treasure Hunter]

That's great. I've been sorry since I booked this cruise through the casino. My husband keeps saying ( so annoying) you get what you pay for. If I cancel, I lose the deposit. 

[cruzin4us]

I had the opposite experience.   I had a mini suite offer, but wanted to downgrade to an aft facing balcony.   It was about $1000/pp cheaper.    No go......they wouldn't let me do it with my casino offer.   It was mini suite only.    Made/makes no sense to me......it's no wonder why Princess is in the red.    

 

I "get" that the aft facing balconies are prime cabins, but we had a corner mini suite booked (the one on the aft with the super large balconies).     I'm still shaking my head on this one.