New to NCL - what are upsells?

[ds521]

We've taken many cruises but this is our first time on NCL, and see references about "upsells" but we're not familiar with the term. Is this similar to an upgrade?

[salty dingo]

It's when you get a call from NCL (or your TA gets the call) and they offer you a nicer cabin for a discounted price.

 

It's luck of the draw if you get such a call, and it depends on how well the ship is selling. Usually happens closer to sailing.

[GophersMN]

From what I know, that's what they are. Sometimes they'll offer you a better/nicer cabin, maybe a balcony as opposed to a oceanview. Of course, they will charge a little to do that but probably not as much as it would normally cost. They then sell your room to someone further down the line....It's basically a last minute revenue stream. In my case, they offered my TA the opportunity to have their client(s), me, upgraded for free. I guess my TA does alot of bookings with NCL, hence, some last minute perks......hope this helps.....

[Cosmopolitan]

We've taken many cruises but this is our first time on NCL, and see references about "upsells" but we're not familiar with the term. Is this similar to an upgrade?

 

Upgrades are free. Normally, you would be upgraded to a better cabin within the category that you booked into.

 

Upsells are offers the you receive, usually close to sailing time, wherein you receive an offer to pay additional $$ for a cabin/suite higher than the category that you booked into but at a discount from the original price of that cabin/suite.

 

Good Luck and enjoy your cruise:)

[Lisa&Neb]

upsells are a magical even that happens randomly when you book on an NCL ship. This little person talks to you over this thing in my house that rings... and she says " can can move you from you cabin to a *** level cabin for ***$." If you agree they list the available cabins and you get to pick which one you want!!

 

Example... we had a C cabin on the Sun for March (1250/for 2 people everything in). We got a call from this magical place and were offered a BA (but we asked for a BB, better location, for $75/pp more. So we ar getting BB's for $1400 total.

 

see why we say it is a magical thing!!!!

[DJ Dale]

Is it totally random? I have been cruising for years and never get a call. I keep waiting impatiently...lol. All the aft suites are available around my BA. I was hoping since the 4 suites next to my cabin were available for next months cruise...and I am the closest to them, that they would call me. Not yet.....

[paulsurf]

Have cruised 18 times..... only 2 with NCL and am booked on Prided of America in hawaii in May for my 3th.

Last crusie with NCL was 4 years ago and at that time I called the upsell desk and told them I would be willing to pay for a Sutie based upon availability and price. They said did you buy direct with NCL and told them no...they seemed dumb founded but then proceeded to offer me a very good deal right there on the phone and I did it right away.

Seems that those days have gone and people have to wait to see if the magical call comes their way. Well ,on the other hand if I were to call they could just say get lost,,,,,,,,,,no harm trying

[paulsurf]

Have cruised 18 times..... only 2 with NCL and am booked on Pride of America in hawaii in May for my 3th.

Last cruise with NCL was 4 years ago and at that time I called the upsell desk and told them I would be willing to pay for a Suite based upon availability and price. They said "did you buy direct with NCL" and told them no...they seemed dumb founded but then proceeded to offer me a very good deal right there on the phone and I took it right away.

Seems that those days have gone and people have to wait to see if the magical call comes their way. Well ,on the other hand if I were to call they could just say get lost,,,,,,,,,,no harm trying

[DJ Dale]

I did call a couple days ago. I figured what did I have to lose. I was told that they would note my account that I would like an upsell. I doubt it really matters but I hope it does....

[beachchick]

Have cruised 18 times..... only 2 with NCL and am booked on Pride of America in hawaii in May for my 3th.

Last cruise with NCL was 4 years ago and at that time I called the upsell desk and told them I would be willing to pay for a Suite based upon availability and price. They said "did you buy direct with NCL" and told them no...they seemed dumb founded but then proceeded to offer me a very good deal right there on the phone and I took it right away.

Seems that those days have gone and people have to wait to see if the magical call comes their way. Well ,on the other hand if I were to call they could just say get lost,,,,,,,,,,no harm trying

 

The Upsell Dept no longer accepts incoming calls from pax or TA because they were absolutely overwhelmed with people calling in daily and even more often and starting months before their cruise date. The policy of "Don't call us, we might call you, and if you call and pester us repeatedly you might get on the 'do not call' list" went into effect in the fall of 2006. There have been several very long, detailed threads with explanations about it, but the bottom line is that is can hurt your chances if you call the way you did in the past. (Part of the problem that caused the change in policy was our very own savvy members inundating the teeny, tiny department with calls. One of our members kept trying to warn everyone that we were going to "kill the goose that laid the golden egg"--and it seems some of us did contribute to that. The policy went into affect 4 months before our first NCL cruise, so I never did get to call and ask "pretty please" for an upsell.)

 

In any case, being pro-active in that way is no longer helpful

 

beachchick

[paulsurf]

Chick

 

Thnx...........booked the POAM last August for a Balcony at $ 3200 for 2 ...price dropped and then I got it for $ 2600 with $ 75 on board credti.

Now that the POA has been yanked out of Hawaii,,,,, I see balcony's going for $3500-$3600... So I got a deal.

 

Perhaps they NCLA will see a revenue enhancer and call me with an offer for a suite and get more for my balcony.

Gotta love capitalism

[beachchick]

paulsurf: Excellent! You definitely got a good deal. Who knows, the upsell fairy may call with an offer in the weeks before your cruise. (I don't want to be a wet blanket and do hope you get an offer, but remember that pax who were booked on PoAl for dates after she leaves the islands are being moved over to the PoAm. That's going to affect availability for the rest of the year.)

 

I'm sure you'll enjoy your balcony, no matter what, and you never know when that elusive fairy will strike!

 

beachchick

[burny]

Is NCL also make upsell-calls in Europe?.I have never heard about it from any European cruiser.

Reading on this forum i found out that ,at least the TA's in the Netherlands ,are completely different from the TA's in the US.They will never keep an eye on the prices if they are going down and than call the client.After making the reservations you will hear nothing anymore from theme till you get your documents.Only when you call them and ask theme for something ,they are looking for you .Last week i asked my TA if i could change my inside cabin on the Jade for a Balcony with paying extra(the prices went down a lot) and they did tell me, No ,NCL will not honor that. And i really had the feeling that they didn't even asked NCL.

(last year with Celebrity i could change without any problems)

Any European on the forum who also had to deal with that?

burny:(

[LegalCat]

We booked about 3 months ago for PoAm on May 31, 2008 sailing... we just got a call yesterday (2/19) from our amazing travel agent saying that NCL had emailed her offering us an upsell to the OWNERS SUITE!!!!!!!!! At $800/p/p... the total extra cost was i believe $1,730... a big chunk but significantly cheaper than what it would have cost us to actually book the owners suite lol.. which we would never have done!!

 

I dont know if anyone said this already but isnt it basically that they can sell the cheaper rooms easier, so if you are already booked they try to upsell you into a more expensive room so they can try to sell the cheaper rooms? Not that the room we were in was cheap, but it was definately cheaper than an owners suite lol