Memories of the Upgrade Fairy

[rkmw]

Carnival still offer free upgrades, I got one on my April cruise and a few fellow passengers got some too 

[Cbtours]

7 minutes ago, rkmw said:

Carnival still offer free upgrades, I got one on my April cruise and a few fellow passengers got some too 

Did you request?

[rkmw]

12 minutes ago, Cbtours said:

Did you request?

No just received an email about the free upgrade from an oceanview to balcony 

[Cbtours]

4 minutes ago, rkmw said:

No just received an email about the free upgrade from an oceanview to balcony 

That’s great. I just never select it

[rkmw]

14 minutes ago, rkmw said:

Made an error delete 

Edited Friday at 01:26 AM by rkmw

[Mycruiseobsession]

5 hours ago, rkmw said:

No just received an email about the free upgrade from an oceanview to balcony 

 

How lovely!

 

I have almost a tick yes to a possible upgrade but never been given one however I refuse to pay/ bid for one.

 

[Sparky74]

10 hours ago, Cbtours said:

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

Yes, one of today’s antisocial media "memories" was that two years ago we were at Airlie Beach on that cruise.

Today, we are again at Airlie Beach with Auntie. 
It’s her 80th birthday on Monday. 

[MicCanberra]

Occasionally you will hear of a free upgrade even while bid offers are in the m8x, just a lot rarer now than ever before.

[arxcards]

Until recently, there was a couple of stray cabins above our grade for Spendor next week. They have now been sold or allocated to someone else, so it looks like our prefect record remains intact.

[Jean C]

14 hours ago, arxcards said:

Until recently, there was a couple of stray cabins above our grade for Spendor next week. They have now been sold or allocated to someone else, so it looks like our prefect record remains intact.

A couple of cruises ago we were on Coral, it was 2 days late docking and either for that reason or goodness knows what other, the ship was only about half full when it sailed off. We selected our cabin with our own criteria and checked no upgrade. The corridors where we were weren't straight, with twists and turns all along. We'd booked a balcony right next to a group of mini suites. We were the only occupants in our block of 8 balcony cabins, and only about half of the mini suites further along were occupied. For convenience you would think they would have upgraded us to one of the mini suites where at least it didn't feel like we were on a ghost ship, but sadly no luck 😪 So it looks like we're with you (although by choice)!

 

We should soon be able to bid for an upgrade on our next cruise. We're happy where we are but for a change and the fun of it will bid for the only category we'd be happy to try pot luck with - the Penthouse Suites. You'll definitely hear from me if Tinkerbell sprinkles us with fairy dust 🧚‍♀️ 🎊

Edited Saturday at 10:15 PM by Jean C

[Cbtours]

2 minutes ago, Jean C said:

A couple of cruises ago we were on Coral, it was 2 days late docking and either for that reason or goodness knows what other, the ship was only about half full when it sailed off. We selected our cabin with our own criteria and checked no upgrade. The corridors where we were weren't straight, with twists and turns all along. We'd booked a balcony right next to a group of mini suites. We were the only occupants in our block of 8 balcony cabins, and only about half of the mini suites further along were occupied. For convenience you would think they would have upgraded us to one of the mini suites where at least it didn't feel like we were on a ghost ship, but sadly no luck 😪 So it looks like we're with you (although by choice)!

 

We should soon be able to bid for an upgrade on our next cruise. We're happy where we are but for a change and the fun of it will bid for the only category we'd be happy to try pot luck with - the Penthouse Suites. You'll definitely hear from me if the Tinkerbell sprinkles us with her fairy dust 🧚‍♀️ 🎊

Yes I would bid on an upgrade to that too 😁😁

[buchhalm]

For me, in the context of travelling, an "upgrade" means a FREE move upwards to a better cabin/seat/car.

"Bidding" and paying for a so-called upgrade isn't one.

I'm pretty sure that most of us book certain specific cabins/seats for a reason. We want that cabin location or that's what we can afford/are willing to spend.

Being invited to bid for an upgrade is (from what I have seen so far) just a trap. Upgrades seem to be very ambiguously worded, just mentioning "categories ", rather than giving you a (choice if) specific cabins, which might give you an opportunity to make informed decisions. From what I have seen, "savings" are minimal to f-all. The amounts of extra money "suggested" or asked for to "win" an upgrade are too high to be interesting or sensible and are hardly a saving compared to the original/published cost of the "better" cabin.

 

Similar applies to airline seats. 

Gone are the days where airline staff could make use of their industry perks of buying cheap STANDBY or even confirmed space ID50 tickets.

The chances of securing a standby (or discounted) seat in First/Business class are becoming very, very slim.

Now that everyone can "bid" for upgrades from Economy for (comparably) lower costs, and even with loyalty points, it is becoming difficult to make use of industry perks.

[ceeceeDee]

16 hours ago, arxcards said:

Until recently, there was a couple of stray cabins above our grade for Spendor next week. They have now been sold or allocated to someone else, so it looks like our prefect record remains intact.

Spendor is sooo accurate!😂

[arxcards]

3 hours ago, Jean C said:

A couple of cruises ago we were on Coral, it was 2 days late docking and either for that reason or goodness knows what other, the ship was only about half full when it sailed off. We selected our cabin with our own criteria and checked no upgrade. The corridors where we were weren't straight, with twists and turns all along. We'd booked a balcony right next to a group of mini suites. We were the only occupants in our block of 8 balcony cabins, and only about half of the mini suites further along were occupied. For convenience you would think they would have upgraded us to one of the mini suites where at least it didn't feel like we were on a ghost ship, but sadly no luck 😪 So it looks like we're with you (although by choice)!

 

We should soon be able to bid for an upgrade on our next cruise. We're happy where we are but for a change and the fun of it will bid for the only category we'd be happy to try pot luck with - the Penthouse Suites. You'll definitely hear from me if Tinkerbell sprinkles us with fairy dust 🧚‍♀️ 🎊

You checked ✔️ the no upgrade option, so they respected your choice. 

 

The upgrade bids are, at best, a partly discounted upgrade. The only time I consider bidding is when we wanted one of those cabins, but they were already sold out at the time we booked.

[arxcards]

53 minutes ago, ceeceeDee said:

Spendor is sooo accurate!😂

Hey big $pendor 🤣

A Freudian slip, perhaps. We have some OBC, so it won't be too bad. Yes, we would prefer if they had a $65 plus package, but will moderate our spending to suit.

[Jean C]

42 minutes ago, arxcards said:

You checked ✔️ the no upgrade option, so they respected your choice. 

 

The upgrade bids are, at best, a partly discounted upgrade. The only time I consider bidding is when we wanted one of those cabins, but they were already sold out at the time we booked.

Understood, however people have reported on here that they checked the no upgrade box but we're nevertheless upgraded. It may have been that their chosen cabin became unusable hence the upgrade. It's all speculation though.

[SinbadThePorter]

There was/is also a downgrade fairy.

 

Early on the morning of departure of Ruby Princess I was once offered all my fare returned, plus substantial OBC, plus a free cruise on that same voyage in an inside cabin if I gave up a balcony cabin. Unfortunately, as I was on a B2B I was already onboard the ship with my phone in airplane mode, so I got the message way too late to do anything about it.

 

The only free upgrade I ever scored was on Sea Princess from a window to a balcony. The only problem, as we found out the first night, was that the cabin was directly underneath the illuminated "Sea Princess" sign on the side of the ship. Night was turned into day. Not a deal breaker, but not something I would have chosen.

[Cbtours]

6 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

There was/is also a downgrade fairy.

 

Early on the morning of departure of Ruby Princess I was once offered all my fare returned, plus substantial OBC, plus a free cruise on that same voyage in an inside cabin if I gave up a balcony cabin. Unfortunately, as I was on a B2B I was already onboard the ship with my phone in airplane mode, so I got the message way too late to do anything about it.

 

The only free upgrade I ever scored was on Sea Princess from a window to a balcony. The only problem, as we found out the first night, was that the cabin was directly underneath the illuminated "Sea Princess" sign on the side of the ship. Night was turned into day. Not a deal breaker, but not something I would have chosen.

Now I would have accepted that downgrade in a flash 😁

[SinbadThePorter]

17 minutes ago, Cbtours said:

Now I would have accepted that downgrade in a flash 😁

 

So would I.  🤩

 

It was a Nov 2019 14 day cruise from Sydney to Fiji.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, Jean C said:

Understood, however people have reported on here that they checked the no upgrade box but we're nevertheless upgraded. It may have been that their chosen cabin became unusable hence the upgrade. It's all speculation though.

Yes, it happens. More likely a symptom of overbooked cruises.

[MicCanberra]

We have had some move over offers but depending on the cruise, it can be a downgrade ( the ones we rejected) or an upgrade the one we accepted.