Upgrade fairy still alive!

[californiagirl]

I just received notice of a (free) upgrade from deluxe balcony to mini-suite!  Our booking was listed as no upgrade.  We wanted to be on a high floor, port side so when we received the cabin bidding email we looked at it but didn’t bite,  The upgrade is to the Marina deck, slightly forward, port side!!  Doing the happy dance! 👏

[Lady Arwen]

Congratulations on your free upgrade!  We love the mini suites.  You’ll like the extra space and nicer bathroom.  Lovely full size sofa.  Have a wonderful time!

[PacnGoNow]

20 minutes ago, californiagirl said:

I just received notice of a (free) upgrade from deluxe balcony to mini-suite!  Our booking was listed as no upgrade.  We wanted to be on a high floor, port side so when we received the cabin bidding email we looked at it but didn’t bite,  The upgrade is to the Marina deck, slightly forward, port side!!  Doing the happy dance! 👏

Awesome! 🎉

[voljeep]

congrats - hope you enjoy the shower/tub combo...

[MustangGT]

1 hour ago, californiagirl said:

I just received notice of a (free) upgrade from deluxe balcony to mini-suite!  Our booking was listed as no upgrade.  We wanted to be on a high floor, port side so when we received the cabin bidding email we looked at it but didn’t bite,  The upgrade is to the Marina deck, slightly forward, port side!!  Doing the happy dance! 👏

Yahoo for you!

Thanks for letting us know the Upgrade Fairy is alive and well!

Enjoy your mini suite!

[Bobbiegentry]

😃😃😃

[CruzeQueen2]

Lucky you! Might be hard to go back to a balcony cabin after this one. It happens.

Enjoy the space. When do you sail? @californiagirl

[Jeter02]

Congratulations!!!! Enjoy your mini suite ❤️

[Torfamm]

Good for you! Enjoy every minute!

[Rick&Jeannie]

We booked with a TA for the first time ever for an upcoming cruise.  A couple days ago I made an inquiry about what the cost would be to upgrade from our current mini-suite to Club Class mini-suite...just curious, mainly.  Well, she came back and said she was able to get us into a CC mini AND for a lesser total fare than what I was already on the hook for with the plain mini.  About a $500 savings!

 

I realize this is not the same thing as being upgraded directly by Princess...but the upgrade fairy comes in many forms!

[Coral]

There is a Princess option to only upgrade to the next category (inside to outside, balcony to minisuite, minisuite to suite). Just FYI.

 

@californiagirl - Congrats on your upgrade!

[reedprincess]

Yes, the upgrade fairy is alive and well, for sure.

We received an upgrade from an inside to a Mini-suite on our recent Regal cruise.

Yes, upgrade, not upsell, bid, etc. 

It was lovely and completely unexpected - found out maybe 48 hours or so before when we went to print luggage tags. No email 9r anything.  

Upgrades do happen! 

[Yehootu]

5 hours ago, californiagirl said:

I just received notice of a (free) upgrade from deluxe balcony to mini-suite!  Our booking was listed as no upgrade.  We wanted to be on a high floor, port side so when we received the cabin bidding email we looked at it but didn’t bite,  The upgrade is to the Marina deck, slightly forward, port side!!  Doing the happy dance! 👏

You stated your reservation was "listed as no upgrade". There is the choice of "Meta(sp) Upgrade, an upgrade to a higher category as you got. Did you get the opportunity to accept or decline? I book the cabin that I want and on occasion will only have the meta upgrade option. I check my cabin assignment daily as I don't want a surprise. Glad it worked out for you.

Edited February 16, 2023 by Yehootu

[Buckeye10640]

5 hours ago, californiagirl said:

I just received notice of a (free) upgrade from deluxe balcony to mini-suite!  Our booking was listed as no upgrade.  We wanted to be on a high floor, port side so when we received the cabin bidding email we looked at it but didn’t bite,  The upgrade is to the Marina deck, slightly forward, port side!!  Doing the happy dance! 👏

Sounds great. But curious why you got notified of a free upgrade when you were marked as no upgrade......

Edited February 16, 2023 by Buckeye10640

[californiagirl]

Buckeye I wondered the same thing.  When we booked I discussed with the princess rep whether or not we wanted a meta upgrade.  We have done that before.  I decided against it since I really wanted the port side and a high deck.  She confirmed the booking was listed as no upgrade.  With a meta upgrade I couldn’t have controlled the location on the ship of a mini-suite upgrade.  I know that if a mini-suite was available in an area I liked I could have switched cabins after receiving the upgrade.  
 

Prior to cruising on Royal class ships the mini-suite was our default cabin of choice.  Especially E730 or E731 on Grand class ships. However the deluxe balcony cabins on Royal class ships have worked well for us.  The mini-suites have been generally so much more money.  Mainly my husband likes a sofa.  It will be nice to have a tub.

[Yehootu]

8 hours ago, californiagirl said:

Prior to cruising on Royal class ships the mini-suite was our default cabin of choice.  Especially E730 or E731 on Grand class ships. However the deluxe balcony cabins on Royal class ships have worked well for us

This is exactly what we do. We have either E730 or E731 on the next 2 out of 3 long cruises. We've cruised in those cabins on several past cruises. On the other we have a deluxe balcony. When we have either on a Grand Class, there's no other cabin we'd  want. On a Royal Class we have our T/A mark as meta upgrade, as we'd accept a mini suite upgrade.That's why I inquired if you got a choice to turn the "upgrade" down. I check our reservation every morning. Only 28 more days of checking before the next sailing.😀

  Mahalo

[Cajuntraveler]

15 hours ago, Yehootu said:

You stated your reservation was "listed as no upgrade". There is the choice of "Meta(sp) Upgrade, an upgrade to a higher category as you got. Did you get the opportunity to accept or decline? I book the cabin that I want and on occasion will only have the meta upgrade option. I check my cabin assignment daily as I don't want a surprise. Glad it worked out for you.

Where can you see what upgrade option is on your reservation?  I recently booked an cc mini suite for an April cruise on line and I don't remember seeing any upgrade option.  I usually use a TA, but I got a better price booking online myself. 

[Steelers36]

14 minutes ago, Cajuntraveler said:

Where can you see what upgrade option is on your reservation?  I recently booked an cc mini suite for an April cruise on line and I don't remember seeing any upgrade option.  I usually use a TA, but I got a better price booking online myself. 

Nope - it is a hidden field to guests.  TA's or Princess reps can see it and update it in POLAR reservation system.  (Not sure how anyone can beat a TA price - perhaps that one only sells at Princess list price).

[TN-Mountains]

14 minutes ago, Cajuntraveler said:

Where can you see what upgrade option is on your reservation?  I recently booked an cc mini suite for an April cruise on line and I don't remember seeing any upgrade option.  I usually use a TA, but I got a better price booking online myself. 

I'm curious about this too.  I booked directly online w/ Princess and didn't see an option to decline an upgrade.  I called the 800 # and asked them to mark it as no upgrade.  The lady said she did, but I still haven't found anywhere online or in the app to confirm it is actually marked that way.

[SargassoPirate]

25 minutes ago, TN-Mountains said:

I'm curious about this too.  I booked directly online w/ Princess and didn't see an option to decline an upgrade.  I called the 800 # and asked them to mark it as no upgrade.  The lady said she did, but I still haven't found anywhere online or in the app to confirm it is actually marked that way.

I usually select my category and perfect cabin with Princess online and then transfer my booking to the big box.  After sufficient time has elapsed, I call big box and the agent marks my booking 'No Upgrade" and fine tunes any other details.  In the past, the big box agents have shared that the default setting for Princess bookings is "accept all upgrades".

 

Once big box sends me the booking email, it shows No Upgrade in the booking details.

 

And with all of this, I still check my bookings with Princess every day.

[californiagirl]

Yehootu we did have the opportunity to turn it down.  The email said we had 48 hours.  To keep the upgrade the email informed us to do nothing further.  I hope this helps. 😊

[TN-Mountains]

2 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Nope - it is a hidden field to guests.  TA's or Princess reps can see it and update it in POLAR reservation system.  (Not sure how anyone can beat a TA price - perhaps that one only sells at Princess list price).

I wonder if this has to do with all the website issues Princess has been having over the last several months.  I've booked and/or canceled rebooked 3 times over the last 4 months.  Two were cheaper directly through the Princess website.  Of those, one was cheaper than booking w/ a CVP.  The second was cheaper than what was advertised on the big box TA website.  I think they were having issues because the next day the big box prices were the same (cheaper w/ gift card taken into account) as what I got direct through Princess.  

[Steelers36]

14 minutes ago, TN-Mountains said:

I wonder if this has to do with all the website issues Princess has been having over the last several months.  I've booked and/or canceled rebooked 3 times over the last 4 months.  Two were cheaper directly through the Princess website.  Of those, one was cheaper than booking w/ a CVP.  The second was cheaper than what was advertised on the big box TA website.  I think they were having issues because the next day the big box prices were the same (cheaper w/ gift card taken into account) as what I got direct through Princess.  

Yes, there may be timing issues between Princess site and 3rd party vendors not syncing up.  And could be Princess issues too.

 

Here's an example.  I was looking at a cruise and Princess site offers all three Fare Classes, but my TA booking pages were only showing Plus option.  Clearly a disconnect, but IDK where the problem is. 

 

I will say this... there is no way a self-booking can be cheaper than what a CVP can see and sell.  Either something really weird going on or CVP not looking hard enough.

 

Any guest or agent should always,be seeing exact same pricing.  Only variance ia if an agency offers a discount or other cash-back incentives.  If this is not true, then either someone doesn't know what they are looking at or guest info not logged in to show all eligible fares.

[Yehootu]

3 hours ago, californiagirl said:

Yehootu we did have the opportunity to turn it down.  The email said we had 48 hours.  To keep the upgrade the email informed us to do nothing further.  I hope this helps. 😊

Mahalo, That gives me a better feeling. Still will check everyday as Princess IT dept isn't the greatest.

[Yehootu]

3 hours ago, californiagirl said:

Yehootu we did have the opportunity to turn it down.  The email said we had 48 hours.  To keep the upgrade the email informed us to do nothing further.  I hope this helps. 😊

Mahalo, That gives me a better feeling. Still will check everyday as Princess IT dept isn't the greatest.