Cabin change due to operational reasons

[Fozzie100]

For information….strange thing happened.. We received a call from our agent advising that due to ‘operational reasons’ our select fare cabin we booked (standard balcony) was not available and we could select one of three (all standard balcony) higher grade cabins as a complementary upgrade.  We advised that we specifically booked the cabin we choose and selected a "Upgrade to Next Stateroom Type", (which means you can only move up to a higher grade. For example, you have an Inside cabin and can only be Auto Upgraded to an Outside cabin, not another Inside.).  In our cases it would be a standard balcony cabin to a superior deluxe.  The agent went away to talk to P&O and came back to us a few hours later and advised that we could stay in the cabin we had previously booked!,,,…. Confused 🫤.  

[molecrochip]

Sounds like the agent messed up, you were offered an upgrade to a different standard balcony cabin and they were trying to blame it on P&O.

 

If a cabin is taken out of service on operational grounds, then it won’t be restored just cause you don’t want to move.

 

Also an operational change allocated a new cabin of same grade, it doesn’t generally give you a choice.

[terrierjohn]

6 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

Sounds like the agent messed up, you were offered an upgrade to a different standard balcony cabin and they were trying to blame it on P&O.

 

If a cabin is taken out of service on operational grounds, then it won’t be restored just cause you don’t want to move.

 

Also an operational change allocated a new cabin of same grade, it doesn’t generally give you a choice.

You may well be right Moley, but these type of experiences do happen, and unless every TA  is a born liar, it does lead people of a suspicious and cynical nature to surmise that someone in the P&O sales organisation could be trying to pull a fast one and secure a specific cabin for a customer.

[stallenge]

Well, we are on a cruise on Azura at the end of October and had a similar phone call from P&O customer services, direct.  Apologies, but due to operational reasons, the stateroom you selected is no longer available - don't worry we are going to give you an upgrade. I pointed out that moving me to a balcony mid ships was not going to cut the mustard because we had booked select fare, nearly two years ahead, had ticked no upgrade, to get one of the very few aft facing balcony cabins. When the lady realised I meant it was literally an aft balcony, not just aft section, she went very quiet and then said...oh, I see what you mean, I need to speak to my supervisor.  She phoned back the next day to say we could stay where we were and she had put notes on my booking to say we had specifically chosen that cabin and did not wish to move!  I agree...very strange...it was not the phone call I was expecting. I am just a bit worried that I haven't heard the end of this!!

[Fozzie100]

Funny our cabin was aft balcony also it has the larger balcony on the corner!!!

[stallenge]

4 minutes ago, Fozzie100 said:

Funny our cabin was aft balcony also it has the larger balcony on the corner!!!

Snap... I hope we are now not all sharing! 🤣

[molecrochip]

6 minutes ago, stallenge said:

Well, we are on a cruise on Azura at the end of October and had a similar phone call from P&O customer services, direct.  Apologies, but due to operational reasons, the stateroom you selected is no longer available - don't worry we are going to give you an upgrade. I pointed out that moving me to a balcony mid ships was not going to cut the mustard because we had booked select fare, nearly two years ahead, had ticked no upgrade, to get one of the very few aft facing balcony cabins. When the lady realised I meant it was literally an aft balcony, not just aft section, she went very quiet and then said...oh, I see what you mean, I need to speak to my supervisor.  She phoned back the next day to say we could stay where we were and she had put notes on my booking to say we had specifically chosen that cabin and did not wish to move!  I agree...very strange...it was not the phone call I was expecting. I am just a bit worried that I haven't heard the end of this!!

There are operational changes such as work needing to be done, a specific area of deck/ship needing to be closed - or even too many people booked in one part of the ship. Once the cabin is operational removed, its no going back.

 

Given multiple accounts of similar issues, what I suspect is that a staff member at the cruise line is doing operational (free, within category) upgrades but using a poor choice of words. The reasons for these can be many. but can include spreading passengers out across the ship on quieter cruises. Those on select fares have first priority for these upgrades. If you're already in an HA or HB grade, unlikely you'll get much better - but if you've booked HD or HE (which an aft cabin may be), it can be easier to find options to move.

 

As regular readers know - there are two upgrade boxes available to TAs/P&O, in-category, and category-to-category. The first offers moves from say HE Balcony to HA Balcony. The later only offers Balcony to Super-Deluxe type upgrades. If you book via the website you either chose both or neither.

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, molecrochip said:

There are operational changes such as work needing to be done, a specific area of deck/ship needing to be closed - or even too many people booked in one part of the ship. Once the cabin is operational removed, its no going back.

 

Given multiple accounts of similar issues, what I suspect is that a staff member at the cruise line is doing operational (free, within category) upgrades but using a poor choice of words. The reasons for these can be many. but can include spreading passengers out across the ship on quieter cruises. Those on select fares have first priority for these upgrades. If you're already in an HA or HB grade, unlikely you'll get much better - but if you've booked HD or HE (which an aft cabin may be), it can be easier to find options to move.

 

As regular readers know - there are two upgrade boxes available to TAs/P&O, in-category, and category-to-category. The first offers moves from say HE Balcony to HA Balcony. The later only offers Balcony to Super-Deluxe type upgrades. If you book via the website you either chose both or neither.

Moley if I were you I would stop digging, the hole you're in is just getting deeper.😉

[sandancer]

12 hours ago, Fozzie100 said:

Funny our cabin was aft balcony also it has the larger balcony on the corner!!!

We have that for the repo in October on Azura. You may have heard the saying “hell hath no fury”, well that also applies to this situation. We ticked the NO UPGRADE box because we don’t want to move anywhere else on the ship. 

Edited June 27, 2023 by sandancer