How Does Free Room Upgrade work?

[Tedferg]

I see Princess announcing a Free Room Upgrade this weekend and have seen this before but never understood how it works. Is it just location within a category?

[skynight]

In the past it meant that if you booked the lowest sub-category in the full category you could select a higher category. Example balcony cabins. Pay the fare for a BE cabin, reserve a BA cabin. The upgrades were inside to inside, balcony to balcony and so on. 

[Tedferg]

Thanks, we are looking at 4-day cruise so room/location not too important and we are looking at OV.

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, skynight said:

In the past it meant that if you booked the lowest sub-category in the full category you could select a higher category. Example balcony cabins. Pay the fare for a BE cabin, reserve a BA cabin. The upgrades were inside to inside, balcony to balcony and so on. 

But usually the free upgrade is from BE to a BD .. sometimes, it can be a huge savings, though.  

[JimmyVWine]

6 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

sometimes, it can be a huge savings

I have gotten mid-ship Mini-Suites for the price of a far-forward Mini-Suite.  That was a significant savings.  

[Wishing on a star]

You might see that the pricing is the same for all cabins of the same type, on the deck, whether forward, aft, midship...

This is a 'location upgrade',  not a real 'category upgrade'.

You would not get a Balcony if booking an OV.

Will have to wait for this go online to see how much of a sale it is.

[startedwithamouse]

You may see the same fare in all locations for a particular category. 

[skynight]

1 hour ago, Cruise Raider said:

But usually the free upgrade is from BE to a BD .. sometimes, it can be a huge savings, though.  

Now I am speaking about the past. In the past I have paid the BF fare and was able to book BB or BA. All balcony cat cabins, BF to BA were fared the same. The B1, 2 & 4 were not included in the promos I remember. Today? It could be anything. You just have to read all the fine print.

[Cruise Raider]

33 minutes ago, skynight said:

Now I am speaking about the past. In the past I have paid the BF fare and was able to book BB or BA. All balcony cat cabins, BF to BA were fared the same. The B1, 2 & 4 were not included in the promos I remember. Today? It could be anything. You just have to read all the fine print.

I just checked online and you are correct .. just no midship cabins but the aft, mid aft, forward and mis forward all seem to be the same price.  

[Tedferg]

1 hour ago, Wishing on a star said:

You might see that the pricing is the same for all cabins of the same type, on the deck, whether forward, aft, midship...

This is a 'location upgrade',  not a real 'category upgrade'.

You would not get a Balcony if booking an OV.

Will have to wait for this go online to see how much of a sale it is.

Thanks, that is precisely why I asked. I did notice all balconies were the same price except for Midship - perhaps those cabins are a different category.

[Wishing on a star]

No, they are 'Balcony' cabins, the category starts with 'B'...

Princess just does things the way they want to.  And, they have decided that, at least on the sailing you are looking at, some/all Mid-Ship balconies are excluded.

 

As you see, might not be too much of a sale.

 

[PR-Texas]

Can't speak to now but I booked in January with a CVP and got a free upgrade from a BF to a BB midship.  I don't remember what the pricing was then so can't say whether I actually saved any money.