When does HAL send upgrade offers

[skidroe]

How soon before a cruise does HAL start to send pay to upgrade offers when the ship is  not full?

[dawnvip]

Following - I'd also like to know!

[vjblk]

I received an upgrade offer on June 5 for my July  1 cruise. 

[BermudaBound2014]

2 minutes ago, vjblk said:

I received an upgrade offer on June 5 for my July  1 cruise. 

 

Just making sure...

 

You booked directly with HAL and your offer came via email? 

[WriterOnDeck]

Varies greatly depending on how bookings are going. On the world cruise we got them a month or two in advance, through our travel agent. On this cruise the next segment is fully booked so I doubt any offers will go out. That's why it's good to book a cabin you are pleased with, as it most likely will be the cabin you get.

Edited June 6, 2023 by WriterOnDeck

[CruiserBruce]

There is no one time for upsells (first, before upgrades) and as mentioned, it ALWAYS depends on how the cruise is selling.

[vjblk]

53 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Just making sure...

 

You booked directly with HAL and your offer came via email? 

Yes I booked directly with HAL and the offer came via email. It was an offer to go from a verandah to a Vista. I didn't look into it. I'm happy with the cabin I have.

[BermudaBound2014]

15 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

There is no one time for upsells (first, before upgrades) and as mentioned, it ALWAYS depends on how the cruise is selling.

 

Sorry, I didn't follow this.

 

What do you mean by 'no one time' and "first before upgrades".

 

 

[bj24]

I received an offer on 6/2 for my 6/18 cruise. 

[Hlitner]

28 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Sorry, I didn't follow this.

 

What do you mean by 'no one time' and "first before upgrades".

 

 

I think CruiserBruce was trying to say that upsell offers can come almost any time...although it will generally be after the final payment period.  We have had quite a few HAL upsell offers and they are forwarded (via e-mail) by our various cruise/travel agencies (we never book direct with any cruise line).  Over the years (we are 5* Mariners) we have only accepted one upsell (it was to a SS on the Prinsendam).   When we book a cruise, we choose the cabin category that we want and intend to use. My favorite upsell offer (again on the Prinsendam) was an offer to upgrade to a Neptune Suite for more than we had paid for the entire cruise 🙂  We have also had other upsells that were more costly than simply booking the offered category.  Go figure.

 

Many lines have moved to a "bidding upsell process" which is an interesting concept.  The offer is actually an invitation to bid on certain categories and there are usually minimum bids.  MSC is one line that routinely uses this method and it is popular.   Celebrity also uses a bidding process.

 

Hank

[SilvertoGold]

Our experience since the ships have been back at sea:  book with TA always. Assignments on GUARs have come around 15 - 10 days out.  Upsell offers around 9 - 6 days out.  Always emailed from HAL to me and to TA at the same time.

[BermudaBound2014]

15 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Many lines have moved to a "bidding upsell process" which is an interesting concept.  The offer is actually an invitation to bid on certain categories and there are usually minimum bids.  MSC is one line that routinely uses this method and it is popular.   Celebrity also uses a bidding process.

 

Hank

 

Thank you. That make sense. 

 

I've found the bidding process terrific. I always book a cabin I am comfortable in, and then bid to upgrade. I've moved from an ocean view to a verandah on NCL for $50 pp several times.  I have a NCL cruise booked that I will bid on once it opens up.   

 

I have been successful with very inexpensive bids on both NCL and Celebrity when my cruise is at non-peak travel times. Obviously, we all know that these upgrade offers or bids are capacity controlled. 

 

Edited to add: Any idea what "first before upgrades" means?

Edited June 6, 2023 by BermudaBound2014

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Sorry, I didn't follow this.

 

What do you mean by 'no one time' and "first before upgrades".

 

 

There is no magic time for when upsells, which are done before upgrades, occur.

[FlaMariner]

4 hours ago, skidroe said:

How soon before a cruise does HAL start to send pay to upgrade offers when the ship is  not full?

 

Our March 2023 experience......Oosterdam. 

 

around 3 weeks before departure got upgrade offer #1. (declined, too high, balcony to SS)

6 or 7 days before departure got upgrade offer #2.  (accepted, same offer, lower price, moved to SS)

4 days before departure got upgrade offer #3.  (SS to Neptune, sold out before we called to accept)

 

We use a big internet TA.

 

[CruiserBruce]

1 minute ago, FlaMariner said:

 

Our March 2023 experience......Oosterdam. 

 

around 3 weeks before departure got upgrade offer #1. (declined, too high, balcony to SS)

6 or 7 days before departure got upgrade offer #2.  (accepted, same offer, lower price, moved to SS)

4 days before departure got upgrade offer #3.  (SS to Neptune, sold out before we called to accept)

 

We use a big internet TA.

 

Those are upsell offers.

[BermudaBound2014]

8 minutes ago, FlaMariner said:

We use a big internet TA.

 

Did the offer come directly to you or did it route through the TA?

[Florida_gal_50]

2 hours ago, WriterOnDeck said:

That's why it's good to book a cabin you are pleased with, as it most likely will be the cabin you get.

Just because someone has ordered doesn't mean you can't look at the menu.  I wish I had a dollar for every time I've hear this.

 

To answer the OP's question I received my last one 5 days before.

[Florida_gal_50]

17 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Those are upsell offers.

You should let HAL know because the email comes in with the words upgrade, not upsell even though that's clearly what they are.

[57redbird]

I think we got our upsell offer about 3 weeks prior to sailing.

[Mary229]

For true upsells I don’t wait. I call one week after final payment, then again a month out, then 10 days out and finally before I head to the airport.  I usually get something when I ask, some offers better than others. 

[RClark6369@aol.com]

I sail on June 24 and received an upgrade offer on June 2nd.   The unique thing here is that the ship shows "sold out" in all categories and has for several weeks now, yet I was able to pick from 8  available Neptune suite cabins.   I had the mid-ship Neptune last year, so I thought I would choose the aft corner Neptune this year to see how they compare.

[CruiserBruce]

31 minutes ago, RClark6369@aol.com said:

I sail on June 24 and received an upgrade offer on June 2nd.   The unique thing here is that the ship shows "sold out" in all categories and has for several weeks now, yet I was able to pick from 8  available Neptune suite cabins.   I had the mid-ship Neptune last year, so I thought I would choose the aft corner Neptune this year to see how they compare.

That means they probably have a lot of guarantee bookings, which severely clouds the ability of the average person from figuring out the status of filling the ship. But people try very hard to figure it out.

[MisterMatthew]

For sailing, EURODAM

May 20, 2023 to Alaska..

I rec'd email with offers to upgrade on May 3.

 

----Matthew

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

For true upsells I don’t wait. I call one week after final payment, then again a month out, then 10 days out and finally before I head to the airport.  I usually get something when I ask, some offers better than others. 

I called about every 5 or 6 days on my last cruise and was told no upsells.  I almost always have a balcony but because I wasn’t sure I’d want to sail after a few not great hal cruises I booked a cruise at 7 weeks out after exhausting other cruises on other lines.  The balconies were 3 times the price as an oceanview so I decided oceanview it is.  I phoned a lot to hear no upsells.  Near the end the guy told me there was only one balcony left so don’t get your hopes up.  Fast forward to 5 days before and I got the upsell to a balcony.  I phoned within a minute of getting the upsell.  When I called he said I had an upsell for a Neptune or a balcony. I never saw the paperwork for the Neptune prior to calling.  I asked how much was the Neptune.  He told me and it was somewhat less than the balcony would have been if I had purchased right out of the gate.  I later heard others were offered other upsells but I never was offered anything even after calling.  I was a slightly shorter cruise segment of a longer one so maybe that accounted for it.

[Mary229]

1 minute ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I called about every 5 or 6 days on my last cruise and was told no upsells.  I almost always have a balcony but because I wasn’t sure I’d want to sail after a few not great hal cruises I booked a cruise at 7 weeks out after exhausting other cruises on other lines.  The balconies were 3 times the price as an oceanview so I decided oceanview it is.  I phoned a lot to hear no upsells.  Near the end the guy told me there was only one balcony left so don’t get your hopes up.  Fast forward to 5 days before and I got the upsell to a balcony.  I phoned within a minute of getting the upsell.  When I called he said I had an upsell for a Neptune or a balcony. I never saw the paperwork for the Neptune prior to calling.  I asked how much was the Neptune.  He told me and it was somewhat less than the balcony would have been if I had purchased right out of the gate.  I later heard others were offered other upsells but I never was offered anything even after calling.  I was a slightly shorter cruise segment of a longer one so maybe that accounted for it.

There are likely many factors but yes, on long cruises people are prone to cancel at the last minute.  Postponing action on a diagnosis is not possible for a 30+ days segment so people who could sail 7 to 14 days do cancel. I suspect also that a higher percentage of people on longer cruises carry cancel for any reason insurance.  And the obvious , long voyages do not always sail full.  
 

there are only select situations I try for an upsell, most of my cruises I buy the exact cabin I want.  My agent will call with offers on those but rarely do I budge.  It has to be quite good to move, like the one you described.