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Memories of the Upgrade Fairy

Sparky74
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arxcards "Live from...." Rare

arxcards

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That is a sweet upgrade.

The fairy has never scattered upgrade glitter on any of my bookings. Not even a move to an identical cabin in a different location. It got to the stage that friends would go well out of their way to message me about their recent visit from the upgrade fairy. It used to erk me a bit, but I made my piece with it 10 or so years back. Just as well, as I think the wand has run out of glitter, and the fairy has retired with a voluntary redundancy package.

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Cbtours "Live from...." Rare

Cbtours

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4 minutes ago, arxcards said:

That is a sweet upgrade.

The fairy has never scattered upgrade glitter on any of my bookings. Not even a move to an identical cabin in a different location. It got to the stage that friends would go well out of their way to message me about their recent visit from the upgrade fairy. It used to erk me a bit, but I made my piece with it 10 or so years back. Just as well, as I think the wand has run out of glitter, and the fairy has retired with a voluntary redundancy package.

I never tick the box giving permission to offer me one lol. I’ve carefully picked my cabin and don’t want to be disappointed. That being said if they offered me balcony and above for an inside I’d be happy 😊 

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Sparky74 "Live from...." Rare

Sparky74

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As I recall they’d stuffed me around with the booking for this cruise. I can’t remember the details but I remember getting really cranky when someone assured me they'd ring me back with a solution to my issue and then failed to do so. 
I did wonder at the time if the upgrade was a sort of apology, or sweetener, or bribe… It was a bit of a strange cabin, an aft balcony with a pillar in the middle of in. That was on Brillance OTS.

We also received a complimentary upgrade on our first ever cruise, 4 nights on Legend OTS out of Hong Kong. Three of us: DW, a friend, and myself shared a cabin and were upgraded from an inferior to an oceanview. The ship was sailing at about ¾ capacity. We were so green! LOL. We learnt a lot about cruising on that trip and have learnt a lot more since.

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Chiliburn

Chiliburn

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Upgrades were a rush when you got them.

They are still getting around via club Royal  . I’m not a gambler but people I know get them and free cruises.
A lady I know that lives in Sydney got 4 free cruises offered to her last season from Club Royal. It seems if you have any desire to gamble the benefits are pretty good.

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arxcards "Live from...." Rare

arxcards

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12 hours ago, Cbtours said:

I never tick the box giving permission to offer me one lol. I’ve carefully picked my cabin and don’t want to be disappointed. That being said if they offered me balcony and above for an inside I’d be happy 😊 

I have had a few marked as no upgrade and a couple in the #1 cabin. But the one thing Barb has said is to never book a guarantee again, as it pretty much guarantees we will be in the worst cabin on the ship. 

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Chiliburn

Chiliburn

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1 hour ago, arxcards said:

I have had a few marked as no upgrade and a couple in the #1 cabin. But the one thing Barb has said is to never book a guarantee again, as it pretty much guarantees we will be in the worst cabin on the ship. 

Yep ,no guarantees.

I booked one once online , my agent called and asked if I made a mistake. 

I went ahead with it and we couldn’t sleep as there was a sewage main next to the cabin. It used to vibrate the whole cabin.

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ddvgww

ddvgww

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The best free upgrade we ever got was on a 13 night NZ cruise on Ovation of the Seas in 2018.  Booked a guaranteed balcony cabin and got upgraded to a suite.  Might have been a mistake as they allocated us the room number about 3 months prior to sail date and there were still heaps of cabins still for sale.  Ah, the good old days!  

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Mycruiseobsession "Live from...." Rare

Mycruiseobsession

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There's still a tiny bit of upgrade dust. 🧚‍♀️ On last P&O cruise we were on, my sister got a deck level upgrade. Room was originally on level 5 then 2 weeks before departure it was changed to level 10. They didn't  tell her. We just saw the change when printing  some extra tags.

 

Personally I have never received an upgrade pre bidding and I have never bothered to bid.

 

Would be nice I suppose, however I have read complaints  that the upgrades were more like downgrades in terms of positions, views, noise etc That's the gamble!

 

 

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fairywren

fairywren

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Back in March I got an upgrade from a Grand suite to an Owners suite. It turned out to be the room next door.

Unfortunately we never got to use it as we cancelled due to the Brilliance fiasco.

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CDaze71

CDaze71

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Last week I booked an INTERIOR cabin on DECK 5 for a Comedy Cruise on Pacific Encounter and can you believe that I ticked the box "no to upgrade". Knowing my luck I'd get "upgraded" to one of those cabins that they've stuck those awful bunk beds in. When it was Star Princess they were Twin Cabins, but when P&O took ownership they stuck in bunk beds to some cabins. So I'd prefer a Deck 5 Inside cabin than one of those. Eewwwww. 

Edited by CDaze71
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ceeceeDee Holiday Sharing Rare

ceeceeDee

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Our booking is a Byron mini suite forward so if they moved us to somewhere else on the deck I wouldn't be at a disadvantage but I'm thinking if we did get an upgrade it would be a suite and I certainly wouldn't complain about that. But as I said, it's unlikely.

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Cbtours "Live from...." Rare

Cbtours

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2 hours ago, CDaze71 said:

Last week I booked an INTERIOR cabin on DECK 5 for a Comedy Cruise on Pacific Encounter and can you believe that I ticked the box "no to upgrade". Knowing my luck I'd get "upgraded" to one of those cabins that they've stuck those awful bunk beds in. When it was Star Princess they were Twin Cabins, but when P&O took ownership they stuck in bunk beds to some cabins. So I'd prefer a Deck 5 Inside cabin than one of those. Eewwwww. 

Good to see you still managing to fit cruises in Cilla 🥰

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cruiser3775 Holiday Sharing Rare

cruiser3775

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I got a totally unexpected and unasked for upgrade with Holland America on a South America cruise.  It was welcome, in the end, but handled very badly. 

Only when I went to check in at the dock, I got told my cabin had been changed. No mention that it was an upgrade to a suite.  I was annoyed, because I had picked the cabin very carefully, and so I argued about it. Escalated the argument by insisting on talking to someone with more authority. Eventually someone said the magic word "upgraded", but it left a sour taste at the start of the cruise.

In general I don't want upgrades, I'd rather choose the best location in the category I can afford and stick to that.

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Sparky74 "Live from...." Rare

Sparky74

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10 hours ago, CDaze71 said:

I'm so desperate I booked my first ever 3 nighter. Never done anything less than 7 nights before. 

When?

We’re doing 3 nights on Pacific Encounter from next Saturday. It’s Auntie's 80th birthday on Monday so everyone is flying to Airlie Beach to celebrate. DW & I decided we’d need a short cruise to recover. 🤷‍♂️
No visit from the upgrade fairy for this cruise yet. 

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Cbtours "Live from...." Rare

Cbtours

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7 hours ago, Sparky74 said:

When?

We’re doing 3 nights on Pacific Encounter from next Saturday. It’s Auntie's 80th birthday on Monday so everyone is flying to Airlie Beach to celebrate. DW & I decided we’d need a short cruise to recover. 🤷‍♂️
No visit from the upgrade fairy for this cruise yet. 

Weren’t you celebrating aunties cruise the first cruise we met you on 🤣🤣🤣

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CDaze71

CDaze71

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8 hours ago, Sparky74 said:

When?

We’re doing 3 nights on Pacific Encounter from next Saturday. It’s Auntie's 80th birthday on Monday so everyone is flying to Airlie Beach to celebrate. DW & I decided we’d need a short cruise to recover. 🤷‍♂️
No visit from the upgrade fairy for this cruise yet. 

Nah 26th Oct. I have to wait ages just for a 3 nighter. 

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arxcards "Live from...." Rare

arxcards

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8 hours ago, Sparky74 said:

When?

We’re doing 3 nights on Pacific Encounter from next Saturday. It’s Auntie's 80th birthday on Monday so everyone is flying to Airlie Beach to celebrate. DW & I decided we’d need a short cruise to recover. 🤷‍♂️
No visit from the upgrade fairy for this cruise yet. 

I will wave if you pass us off Tangalooma.

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