Cunard upgrades -- will you always be notified?

[3rdGenCunarder]

On 3/28/2024 at 7:30 PM, bluemarble said:

If your booking does not specify "Do Not Upgrade", then Cunard may give you a complimentary upgrade without notifying you and without offering you the chance to decline the upgrade. Since they have started a bidding process (called "Cunard Upgrade") where guests can bid for a paid upgrade, I suspect the number of complimentary upgrades has decreased. But the complimentary upgrade process does still exist. Quoting from the FAQ:

 

"(Q) What is the difference between the Cunard Upgrade program and the complimentary upgrade I opted into at the time of booking?

 

(A) The Cunard Upgrade program gives you the opportunity to upgrade to a higher-grade stateroom at a price you are willing to pay. Once all upgrade offers have been considered and assigned, complimentary upgrades will be reviewed and guests who have booked a Cunard Fare will be given first priority for these."

 

If you want to make sure you won't receive a complimentary upgrade (which you can't decline), call Cunard Customer Service (or contact your travel agent if you used one) and have them make sure your booking is marked "Do Not Upgrade". There is no online way to verify your current setting or make that change yourself using "My Cunard".

 

I wonder if people paying Cunard Fare get first priority for acceptance of bids over Saver or Sailing Soon. Or is it simply how much you bid? And if I booked a cruise for $5000 during a sale and someone else booked the same Britannia cabin grade for $7000 either before or after the sale, would our starting prices be the same to bid up to Club, or would mine be more to compensate for the lower original price I paid? 

[Pushpit]

38 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

I wonder if people paying Cunard Fare get first priority for acceptance of bids over Saver or Sailing Soon. Or is it simply how much you bid? And if I booked a cruise for $5000 during a sale and someone else booked the same Britannia cabin grade for $7000 either before or after the sale, would our starting prices be the same to bid up to Club, or would mine be more to compensate for the lower original price I paid? 

Because it's handled by Plusgrade, a separate company, my guess would be that it's just the money. Based on how Plusgrade works for the airline industry, they aren't too interested in the back-story, they have inventory and want to shift it. So for your second question the price range would be the same for both booking, and whoever bids the higher amount will win - that is, if there's only one stateroom available. However Plusgrade won't make money on failed bids, so ideally they would want both travellers to make successful bids.

 

Where the differential will make a difference is if you call up Cunard and try to upgrade directly with them - then your spend on the booking to date will be taken into account.