What is the biggest FREE upgrade you've ever had?

[cunninghamjr]

We were upgraded from JS to OS on our Feb 2006 cruise. When we checked in they told us. What a great suprise on a well need cruise.

[Brandis]

For me, I would say the biggest free upgrade was from "No cruise planned" to "Superior Outside" on Freedom of the Seas for the pre-inaugral cruise from Hamburg to Oslo. :-)

[PhinsAndGills]

Remember that cruising has become a hot honeymoon trip. There are often literally hundreds of honeymooning couples onboard. No way they could do anything like a free upgrade for all of them. (But congratulations anyway.)

 

To answer the question about why people are upgraded. The fact is that most of the time, we have no idea. (I say "we" here as a general we encompassing all CC members, not meaning that DH and I or any of our family have EVER been upgraded because we haven't.:() We speculate, but most of the time, we don't know.

 

beachchick

Yeah, we didn't figure we'd get one at all, but never hurts to smile and ask real nice. Hasn't worked yet, but maybe someday...

[Shannon_525]

We are sailing Aug. 2006 from NJ to Berumda, we received an upgrade from a balcony to a JS but we booked 48 people and we are getting married on the cruise ship while in port about 100 total in attendance at the wedding (52 will be disembarking and 48 sailing) so I think we received the upgrade because we brought them in alot money b/w the group and the wedding on board

Shannon

[sgttami]

Best I ever got....

 

Old boyfriend paid for my cruise on one...

 

Another was a freebie (charter)...

 

Ten years plus since both....no upgrades or freebies since......

[jess98ac]

Booked balcony guarantee on the Carnival Pride and ended up in a Cat 12 Penthouse Suite! We were sailing with friends and it was their first cruise...talk about being spoiled now! The funny thing was, we were all in our mid-late 20s...we got more than a few looks coming out of those rooms...people probably thought we were traveling on our parents' dime!

[wrp96]

Let's see, biggest upgrade was from an inside on deck 2 to an inside on deck 3 - whoo-hoo! In other words, no upgrades that I haven't paid for.

[iluvcruzin]

Many years ago they had a ship called the Viking Sernade that did the Baja route. I can't remember the exact year - mid 90's sometime. Back then they didn't have guarantee classes - ie.. inside/outside. It was guarantee - lowest cheapest rate and lower than the lowest inside. Anyway, before Norvirus stuff was on the rampage, there was an incident that the food was bad and the whole ship became contaminated 3 weeks before our sailing so they cancelled the couple cruises before us to clean up. Many people cancelled their cruise (you could do that like up to a week before back then). As a result, they upgraded us to one of their superior outside rooms. The cruise was the pits as far as ports (never again that route), but it was great to get such an upgrade.

[pjinaz]

8 cruises, 2 upgrades. One was a long time ago on Princess from outside stateroom to balcony stateroom, but we were told at time of booking that they would upgrade us, so don't know if that counts. Second upgrade was last cruise, booked a category 12 (cheapest) guarantee for four people (room only fits 3) on Disney Magic, so kind of figured we would be upgraded to something. We were upgraded to a category 10 still inside cabin, but about 40 square feet bigger than the 12 and with the 2 bathroom configuration Disney has. Love Royal Caribbean but have never gotten an upgrade from them.

[beachchick]

Yeah, we didn't figure we'd get one at all, but never hurts to smile and ask real nice. Hasn't worked yet, but maybe someday...

 

Oh yes, I completely agree. A little "honey" never hurts the cause. I'm a big fan of the "nice smile, pretty please, and bat the old eyelashes" school to get what I want. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't; but always I find that it makes for a better experience for everyone.

 

I'm also not above bribing (men in particular) with homemade cookies and such. I often used to have co-workers and subordinates ask me how I was able to get the service guys to do what I wanted right away (even over my own boss). I'd tell them it was easy: Just respect that their jobs aren't any less important and aren't "beneath" mine, and bring bribes from time to time. Guess that probably wouldn't work for cruising, oh well...:p

 

beachchick

[campngrl]

This is our first cruise ever and we are going on Radiance with Royal Caribbean June 11th to Alaska and there will four of us. We booked a superior cabin with balcony and we got a call from our TA that RCCL wants to upgrade us to Jr suite plus they are giving all four of us $100 ship board credit to use. This is great because the balcony is 25 ft more room and we have almost 90 square feet more in the JR Suite. I dont think we can beat that unless we get on board and our key opens up to a grand suite...I know just dreaming....

[piercetc4]

we have not been upgraded yet - have tried to buy one at the pier and no luck there either cause all the rooms were booked- we will keep on dreaming about the illusive upgrade fairy til she finally points her magic wand at us!!:)

[Cruising50's]

We booked a Princess cruise six months in advance of sailing....paid in full....never received documents. When I called our TA, she checked on it for us. Found out that " the computer somehow deleted us " ?????

Anyway, she called later to relay the "good news & bad news". Bad news was that Princess was completely booked, good news was that Royal Caribbean had a cruise on the same day, same itinerary, and that we would be upgraded to a suite. Upon arrival, we not only got the suite, but shipboard credit, flowers, champagne, fruit platter, robes, and a beautiful picnic basket filled with great things !! Just getting the upgrade would have been enough, but hey !! Enjoyed the heck out of that cruise.....stuck with Royal Caribbean ever since. We have had around 5 upgrades in the last eight years of cruising. None were expected..........none were asked for..... all greatly appreciated.

Our son-in-law's first cruise with us went from an inside cabin to an aft with an enormous balcony ! He thought all cabins were like that. I told him not to expect upgrades like that to happen each time. He was very impressed.

[bubbles30]

Just about to go on first cruise. Booked inside (low budget) checked prices, and saw window rooms were reduced, waited another day, and low and behold balconys now reduced! :D Ended up with balcony D2 for £120 sterling LESS!! This was after we had paid in full.

 

Not upgrade fairies, but shows you need to constantly check your prices.