Upgrade question

[HMSDingy]

Are upgrades only given when a ship is not full? Or are their other circumstances?

[Wishing on a star]

I believe that gratuitous/free upgrades are very very far and few between.

Especially now that Princess has the Bidding for Upgrade system fully operating.

 

I wouldn't count on an upgrade.

And, if one is picky about location  (mid-ship/aft - no noise from nearby venue - etc.)  then it is best to just go ahead and choose a cabin you will be happy with and possibly have Princess mark it 'No Upgrade'.  

 

An upgrade can be a very small incremental upgrade, and is not necessarily a higher cabin category.  For example a mid-ship location, the same main category (Inside, OV, Balcony...)  is usually a slight 'upgrade', but not a different type of cabin.  

 

On our last cruise it was only like 60% booked, but the upgrade we would have wanted if we could upgrade upon boarding, for an increase in fare  (from standard balcony to deluxe balcony) none of the cabins we would have wanted to upgrade to were available.  All had been filled, assuming these were filled with passengers who had bid to upgrade.

 

 

Edited June 16, 2023 by Wishing on a star

[skynight]

1 hour ago, HMSDingy said:

Are upgrades only given when a ship is not full? Or are their other circumstances?

There are many reasons for upgrades. I have encountered passengers that have been upgraded because they are new Princess customers, some that were moved to an upgraded cabin because Princess needed their original cabin for some reason. I'm sure there are many additional reasons.  

[Shippy]

I agree with Wishing...I think the bidding system has done away with automatic upgrades.

[Steelers36]

8 hours ago, HMSDingy said:

Are upgrades only given when a ship is not full? Or are their other circumstances?

Another thing to know about upgrades.  IMO, a true upgrade occurs when the guest has booked a specific cabin and receives an upgrade to a higher category.  Another type of upgrade is when a guest books a GTY cabin and when they get the assignment, it is in a higher category than they paid for.  The latter is much more common as most folks booking a GTY, elect the lowest category of the cabin type they are interested in.  Few of these exist on the ships, so a good chance to end up with something at least a bit better (but never a guarantee of it happening).

[cjpj]

Free upgrades do still exist. I just received one for our Dec SA cruise. Upgraded from a BE balcony on the Sapphire forward Caribe deck to  B2 on the same deck midship. Not a huge upgrade, but nice to see they still happen.

[chubbypiggy]

I just received an email for "bid to upgrade" for my upcoming Sept. Diamond Princess 7-day Japan cruise.  The starting bid is $200pp to upgrade to mini suite from my mid-ship balcony stateroom  (catg BA).  I am thinking of bidding it with the lowest bid of $200pp.  I just checked on the Princess website, at the current price, the difference between BA and ME (lowest category of Mini suite) is only $250pp; but between BA and MB or MD is $600pp.   I am thinking of trying my luck and bid for $200 and hopefully get MB or MD.

 

I have a few questions: 

On my current booking, both of us, each will get $100 OBC from Princess promotion when we booked.  But currently, it is not showing any OBC if book today.  So, If we bid successfully, will we get to keep our current $100pp OBC, or it will be removed as if we are doing a new booking?

 

If we were assigned a cabin that we don't like (for example, last room aft), but there are still available cabins in that same category, but not as aft, can we ask to change to that cabin?  Or what they assigned is final?

 

Can we pay for the bid with Princess gift cards?

 

Thank you for any inputs! 

[Steelers36]

A bid upgrade doesn't change your booking benefits such as OBC.

 

You should be able to change to an available cabin in same category.

 

We can pay cruise fare cost with GC's and the upgrade bid is just more cruise fare, so should not be a problem.  I cannot say if you have to phone in or can do it online.  Don't recall from the older extensive thread on bid upgrade process.  Have you looked at some of that info?

[chubbypiggy]

17 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

A bid upgrade doesn't change your booking benefits such as OBC.

 

You should be able to change to an available cabin in same category.

 

We can pay cruise fare cost with GC's and the upgrade bid is just more cruise fare, so should not be a problem.  I cannot say if you have to phone in or can do it online.  Don't recall from the older extensive thread on bid upgrade process.  Have you looked at some of that info?

Thank you for your information.

 

I will try to find the old thread and see what I can find.  From the email, it seems like when you click to bid, you might need to give credit card information.  

[memoak]

On 6/16/2023 at 10:28 AM, HMSDingy said:

Are upgrades only given when a ship is not full? Or are their other circumstances?

If a ship is full there would be no cabins to upgrade you to

[chubbypiggy]

After I submit the bid, usually how long will it take for Princess to let me know if my bid was successful?  And will I be given the cabin number upon notification of my successful bid?  Or it is similar to guarantee cabin in which it can be up to the time of embarkation before knowing the cabin number?  

[sunviking90]

7 minutes ago, chubbypiggy said:

After I submit the bid, usually how long will it take for Princess to let me know if my bid was successful?  And will I be given the cabin number upon notification of my successful bid?  Or it is similar to guarantee cabin in which it can be up to the time of embarkation before knowing the cabin number?  

You could hear anytime. If the cruise is selling well, it will be closer to the sailing date if at all. You will receive a specific stateroom when you bid is accepted.

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, chubbypiggy said:

Thank you for your information.

 

I will try to find the old thread and see what I can find.  From the email, it seems like when you click to bid, you might need to give credit card information.  

True.  Good catch on me.  However, I have read that they were not originally charging that card and were asking for payment after a successful bid.  I imagine a phone call is required, but someone else who has done this will hopefully chime in.  The process may have changed now to auto-billing as well.

[echoshipmate]

We successfully upgraded on 2 of 3 legs of our b2b2b with no news of #3. When bidding, you must supply credit card info and believe me the moment Princess accepts your bid, your cc is charged, even before they notify you. The notification arrives very quickly and there is no turning back as you have already paid. For us, it was an ok upgrade from inside to obstructed deluxe balcony. Even better, we were upgraded to the same cabin for both voyages!

Doug

[trbarton]

1 hour ago, echoshipmate said:

We successfully upgraded on 2 of 3 legs of our b2b2b with no news of #3. When bidding, you must supply credit card info and believe me the moment Princess accepts your bid, your cc is charged, even before they notify you. The notification arrives very quickly and there is no turning back as you have already paid. For us, it was an ok upgrade from inside to obstructed deluxe balcony. Even better, we were upgraded to the same cabin for both voyages!

Doug

You are correct about your credit card being charged. A credit card is required if you want to make a bid. If your bid is excepted your card is charged. I have had an upgrade bid excepted only bidding the minimum & that’s exactly how it happened. 
 

I have a guarantee cruise for next year & after final payment I may look 👀 at the bidding costs. Of course there’s always a chance I could get an upgrade from Princess, especially if they don’t have any staterooms in my category.  
 

Tom😀

Edited June 17, 2023 by trbarton

[chubbypiggy]

Thank you for all information.

 

The email says "Or if you booked through a travel advisor, contact them directly for help with the upgrade. ". 

I wonder if I call my Princess CVP, and ask him to do my bid upgrade, will I be able to give him gift cards for the bid payment?

 

[Luv2cruz1000]

13 hours ago, echoshipmate said:

We successfully upgraded on 2 of 3 legs of our b2b2b with no news of #3. When bidding, you must supply credit card info and believe me the moment Princess accepts your bid, your cc is charged, even before they notify you. The notification arrives very quickly and there is no turning back as you have already paid. For us, it was an ok upgrade from inside to obstructed deluxe balcony. Even better, we were upgraded to the same cabin for both voyages!

Doug

Can I ask, how much was your bid? I imagine that it helped you were on a b2b, but dreaming of the same upgrade!

[echoshipmate]

12 hours ago, chubbypiggy said:

Thank you for all information.

 

The email says "Or if you booked through a travel advisor, contact them directly for help with the upgrade. ". 

I wonder if I call my Princess CVP, and ask him to do my bid upgrade, will I be able to give him gift cards for the bid payment?

 

I don't think you can use gift cards as the bid process is handled through a 3rd party vendor. I imagine they require immediate cc payment information but you can ask your CVP.

Doug

[echoshipmate]

1 hour ago, Luv2cruz1000 said:

Can I ask, how much was your bid? I imagine that it helped you were on a b2b, but dreaming of the same upgrade!

Barely above the minimum, not sure b2b had any impact on the amount, but was very pleased that somehow the system knew we were also booked for the next week to give us the same cabin at the same bid amount. We shall see about week 3!

Doug

[Steelers36]

13 hours ago, chubbypiggy said:

Thank you for all information.

 

The email says "Or if you booked through a travel advisor, contact them directly for help with the upgrade. ". 

I wonder if I call my Princess CVP, and ask him to do my bid upgrade, will I be able to give him gift cards for the bid payment?

 

See what they say, but I now think it seems doubtful.

[chubbypiggy]

2 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

See what they say, but I now think it seems doubtful.

@Steelers36 I need to call my CVP on Monday to pay final payment on one of my cruises, I will ask at that time.

@echoshipmate  Thank you.  I will ask my CVP on Monday.

[chubbypiggy]

On 6/18/2023 at 6:57 AM, Steelers36 said:

See what they say, but I now think it seems doubtful.

Talked to my CVP today.  He said we can only use credit card for the bid upgrade payment.

[echoshipmate]

1 hour ago, chubbypiggy said:

Talked to my CVP today.  He said we can only use credit card for the bid upgrade payment.

That's what I thought, but good to get confirmation.

Doug