Upgrade Offer - Six Months Before Sailing!

[startedwithamouse]

This is a first..

 

We're booked over Christmas/New Years. Received emails from Princess offering to upgrade staterooms for $X amount per day, per guest, for a GTY staterooms. This seems to be the exact same thing as an upgrade bid, but months earlier. 

 

Is the bid to upgrade program not being utilized as much as Princess needs it to be? 

 

 

Offer is campaign-only and recipient-only and available Friday, June 14, 2024 at 9am ET to Monday, June 17, 2024 at 6pm ET while supplies last.

Inventory: This offer is capacity controlled and based on availability; inventory will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Room choice: Customers will be upgraded to a Guarantee room and forfeit their ability to choose a specific stateroom for their voyage.

Eligible purchased voyage: Only select voyages are eligible for upgrade promo

Eligible purchased categories: All Interior categories, all Oceanview, all Balcony categories.

Combinability: Current promo is not combinable with F**, Y** promos, Z** promos, net promos, E1*, E2*, E4*.

Upgrade costs: Upgrade cost is in addition to the fare already paid and is per person and based on double occupancy (single occupancy pays 200%) and excludes taxes, fees and port expenses. Future Cruise Deposit program Onboard Credit (OBC) does not increase as a result of acceptance of this offer. Estimated savings are calculated based on double occupancy.

[FLAlaska]

I read on the other site yesterday a post from a Travel Agent that Princess had reached out and were testing some kind of new upgrade program. Emails were going out today. Maybe this is it?

Edited June 14 by FLAlaska

[roxievegas]

could you tell us if it is a good price.   what is the upgrade price, what are you upgrading to, ie, inside to Ov, or balcony etc.  Would you really be saving money ?

 

thank you

[dog]

Not for me!

[Torfamm]

I got an email today offering an upgrade from balcony to mini-suite for $49 per day on a 12 night cruise out of Southampton in the fall. The offer says it is good for 72 hours 

Edited June 14 by Torfamm

[FLAlaska]

From what this TA said, its supposed to run today through the 17th and 21st to the 24th.  But she had no other details except that its a limited stateroom upgrade test for a limited number of booked guests

[startedwithamouse]

17 minutes ago, roxievegas said:

could you tell us if it is a good price.   what is the upgrade price, what are you upgrading to, ie, inside to Ov, or balcony etc.  Would you really be saving money ?

 

thank you

$49 pp per day balcony to mini-suite. 

 

It's a no brainer to us to spend $11 more and have Plus.

 

We have side by side balconies that connect, and no upgrade marked on our reservations.

[startedwithamouse]

Just increasing their June revenue on existing bookings?

[memoak]

I can’t see doing any guarantee because you can’t pick location. The price however is good as long as you don’t care where you are in the ship

[startedwithamouse]

3 minutes ago, memoak said:

I can’t see doing any guarantee because you can’t pick location. The price however is good as long as you don’t care where you are in the ship

Our original bookings were free upgrade location, so we're mid-ship already. 

Edited June 14 by startedwithamouse

[kiwimum]

Also received the email.  $29pp per day for our 32 day cruise, Balcony to Minisuite.  Upgrade is guarantee only with no option to switch.

Passed quickly.

[startedwithamouse]

2 minutes ago, kiwimum said:

Also received the email.  $29pp per day for our 32 day cruise, Balcony to Minisuite.  Upgrade is guarantee only with no option to switch.

Passed quickly.

South Pacific Sapphire?

Edited June 14 by startedwithamouse

[kiwimum]

2 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

South Pacific Sapphire?

Nope, Coral repo.

[startedwithamouse]

2 minutes ago, kiwimum said:

Nope, Coral repo.

Sapphire mid-ship the elevators were loud!

[memoak]

8 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Our original bookings were free upgrade location, so we're mid-ship already. 

Personally we much prefer aft to mid ship. Each to their own

[startedwithamouse]

3 minutes ago, memoak said:

Personally we much prefer aft to mid ship. Each to their own

Not a fan of the aft vibration or fishtail motion. 

[startedwithamouse]

39 minutes ago, FLAlaska said:

From what this TA said, its supposed to run today through the 17th and 21st to the 24th.  But she had no other details except that its a limited stateroom upgrade test for a limited number of booked guests

Another version of the 3 day sale?

[memoak]

24 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Not a fan of the aft vibration or fishtail motion. 

We love the rolling motion in the aft area. Helps us sleep and reminds us we are on a ship

[SCX22]

It an pricing/advertising strategy.  This is another way for Princess to try and convince the passenger to pay for an upgrade and have the cost justified.  Some look at the cost of a lump sum upgrade and deny it upon first glance saying that it's too expensive.  If you break down the cost to per person per day, then for some it's an easier pill to swallow.  The cost to upgrade on longer cruises has an aspect of sticker shock; if Princess breaks it down as a daily per person cost, somehow the passenger thinks that it's justified.  No different than when a car dealer begins negotiations with the question of "how much can you afford monthly?"  In the end the total cost of the car will be the same, but by breaking down the cost monthly, it lessens the blow and can convince a person that they can actually afford it.  

 

The question is if participating in something like this, when will Princess grant the upgrade and will this affect your ability to refare, if accepted before final payment and the fare decreases?  

[paddingtonbear]

1 hour ago, SCX22 said:

It an pricing/advertising strategy.  This is another way for Princess to try and convince the passenger to pay for an upgrade and have the cost justified.  Some look at the cost of a lump sum upgrade and deny it upon first glance saying that it's too expensive.  If you break down the cost to per person per day, then for some it's an easier pill to swallow.  The cost to upgrade on longer cruises has an aspect of sticker shock; if Princess breaks it down as a daily per person cost, somehow the passenger thinks that it's justified.  No different than when a car dealer begins negotiations with the question of "how much can you afford monthly?"  In the end the total cost of the car will be the same, but by breaking down the cost monthly, it lessens the blow and can convince a person that they can actually afford it.  

 

The question is if participating in something like this, when will Princess grant the upgrade and will this affect your ability to refare, if accepted before final payment and the fare decreases?  

Yes, I agree. 
Also you somehow have to work out the extras: “and excludes taxes, fees and port expenses.”

 

[Thrak]

We book the cabin type we want in the location we want. No upgrades needed. We got "upgraded" to a "better location" 3 times on one cruise and I had to keep getting the original cabin back. We did upgrade once when an aft facing OV came open on Coral Princess. We were booked in a sideways inside and our TA called and said there was an upgrade possibility. We took the upgrade and loved the cabin. The next time we sailed Coral Princess we booked the same cabin and, if we ever sail on Coral Princess again, I will definitely be hoping to book the same cabin again. If we were booked in that OV cabin and were offered a cheap, cheap, cheap upgrade to a balcony I doubt very much that we would take the offer.

[hpeabody]

7 minutes ago, Thrak said:

We book the cabin type we want in the location we want. No upgrades needed. We got "upgraded" to a "better location" 3 times on one cruise and I had to keep getting the original cabin back. We did upgrade once when an aft facing OV came open on Coral Princess. We were booked in a sideways inside and our TA called and said there was an upgrade possibility. We took the upgrade and loved the cabin. The next time we sailed Coral Princess we booked the same cabin and, if we ever sail on Coral Princess again, I will definitely be hoping to book the same cabin again. If we were booked in that OV cabin and were offered a cheap, cheap, cheap upgrade to a balcony I doubt very much that we would take the offer.

Michael, Do you mind sharing what that cabin number on the Coral is?

[Thrak]

15 minutes ago, hpeabody said:

Michael, Do you mind sharing what that cabin number on the Coral is?

 

B731. The window is the first one just past the door. Love that "balcony" in the evenings. Usually nobody else there and even during the day the area is mostly unused as you have to go all the way down to the end of the Baja cabins to get to that door. Our cabin door is maybe 8 - 10 steps from the door and it's sort of like having a huge balcony. Drinks in the evening watching dolphins play in the wake while while getting ready for dinner. Love it.

 

I tried to see into the cabin from the deck during the day but, with just the sheer drapes closed, I couldn't see in. At night we pull the heavy drapes.

 

 

[hpeabody]

@Thrak.  Thank you.  I get why you liked it.   I looked at it for a cruise I have booked on Coral and it is not available.  I am booked down the way on Baja currently.

[Senga]

A couple we recently did Norway/Iceland on Caribbean Princess with accepted an upgrade from a balcony to a mini-suite.  Unfortunately you don’t know where your new location is and they ended up right at the bow of the ship and were unable to sleep for 3 nights due to rough seas motion and noise.  Lesson learned.