Just Received a Mythical Upsell on Nautica

[LHT28]

We are doing a 12 day Meditteranean on the Regatta shortly.

 

We previously upgraded from F to C1 for a total of $400.

 

We are now being offered upgrade from C1 to A for another $600.

 

Thoughts on whether or not we should we do it?

 

Do you want a balcony? Is it worth the extra $$ to you?

 

Too late... it is probably gone:D

[Friscorays]

Not really sure. I generally find butlers to be intrusive and probably would not spend much time on the balcony on a very port intensive trip.

 

It probably is gone although the price for my first upgrade went down after a week from an initial quote of $500 (I called quickly and was told the deal was done) to $400 a week later (which I was successful in getting).

[tropicalkerry2002]

Denise Friscorays:

butlers are in PH, not A.

room is no bigger in A than C, except you have the balcony.

We enjoyed having the sliding door open for fresh air, and hearing the water sounds, and stepping out onto it to watch docking. Honestly, didn't actually SIT on it too much. But if an opportunity you think you might not have ever again...

[Bruin Steve]

We are doing a 12 day Meditteranean on the Regatta shortly.

 

We previously upgraded from F to C1 for a total of $400.

 

We are now being offered upgrade from C1 to A for another $600.

 

Thoughts on whether or not we should we do it?

 

You know, when I read your post, all I could think was "Why don't they offer this sort of deal to ME?"

 

Seriously...

When I book a cruise, I really only consider two types of cabins: Balcony or Inside...

I don't think a window cabin really adds that much--and I especially don't want one of those 143 square foot windows with the lifeboat hanging in front of it...

 

Obvioulsly, I'd prefer a balcony cabin, but the question that comes up is "How much am I willing to spend as a premium for that balcony?"

...and, for every cruise, we make that value judgement...

For example, for my January RCCL Mariner of the Seas cruise, the difference worked out to less than $300--and that, to me, is a no-brainer...

 

But, for our Nautica cruise in June, the difference came out to a staggering $3,000...Our choice was to save the money and use it for something else...the inside cabin is still nice, we get the same cruise, we don't spend all that much time in our cabin and we'll just use the pool deck as our balcony...For three grand, we could easily rationalize that...

 

But, what you're really looking at here is the same value judgement we all make when initially booking...except, rather than a $3000 differential, it's a much more reasonable $1000 differential from an inside cabin to a balcony...The real question is "What's YOUR number?"...

 

For me, for a 2 week Med cruise, $1000 is pretty much my number...any more and I think "I can live without it"...a little less and I would not think twice...$1000 on the nose and I'm thinking "what am I paying overall for this cruise?"...In my case, the cruise only portion comes to just over $7,000...Overall, with shore excursions, airfare, tips, bar bill, pre-and post-cruise hotels, taxis, etc, we're really looking at $14-15,000...tacking on a mere $1000 to that won't break me--but it would upscale the experience enough to justify it...

 

So, Oceania...write me...I'm waiting...

[CintiPam]

For a total of $1,000 from inside to concierge, I definitely would do it, yet probably my spouse would have no interest whatsoever. To each his own!:)

[StanandJim]

So, Oceania...write me...I'm waiting...

 

Steve-

 

It is generally a telephone call, not a letter or email, that you get when an upgrade is offered. As has been stated before, you'd need to make a snap decision, or lose the deal.

 

The vagaries of the Oceania upgrade are numerous, but they mostly depend on the popularity of the itinerary (especially late in the game).

 

We once booked a Vista Suite which we were determined to stay in, yet Oceania continuously offered us an unoccupied owners suite. They offered so long and often that once we were onboard, we just had to check to see if it was still empty. It turns out that a European had booked it basically ON sailing day (and if what he told me that he paid was true, he did not get any bargain).

 

If you're really wanting an upgrade, make an effort to find a TA who does a good business with Oceania yet isn't swamped by volume. Tell the TA that you'd be open to an upgrade (remember they offer you the new room, you dont HAVE to accept anything you don't want). Give the Agent a good telephone # for both day AND evening, and ........say your prayers :rolleyes:

[Friscorays]

Thanks for the input.

 

We went ahead and did the deal. In short, we went from an F to an A3 for $500 each.

 

As Steve said, Oceania put it in our sweet spot. A few hundred less and we would not have thought twice. A few hundred more and we might have let it slide. If the price differential had been $1000 when we initially booked, I think we would have viewed the balcony as the obvious choice.

 

I am seriously glad to hear the butler is not included with A catagory, they make us feel a little awkward. The extra guaranteed specialty restaurant reservations will be nice even though I understand from the boards that it is usually not a problem getting additional seatings. Now that we have the balcony, we will surely find plenty of opportunities to use it.

 

Thanks again to all for the quick input on a question that I am sure has come up more than once on the board.

 

P.S.: We booked directly with Oceania via their web site and were alerted to the upgrade opportunity all three times by e-mail.

[meow!]

Balcony or no balcony. The trouble with windowed cabins is that ship windows are not openable. You won't get any fresh air, hear the soothing sounds of the waves, nor be able to take clear pictures (windows are often not clean or they have that reflection) in a windowed cabin. As the ship leaves port, with a balcony, you can stand outside to wave goodbye to the port you have just been, and use your camcorder to record the last of its views, often rather poetic, isn't it?

 

Though we meow with fellow passengers occasionally, as cats, by nature we don't seek crowds. We are rather solitary, and other than in ports, eating our meals or roaming around the ship, we like the privacy (and therefore comfort and ease) of our cabin, and a balcony is rather helpful for that. The only ship we sailed so far without a private balcony was the Silver Shadow, but then the balcony costs 2x$1,000+ more .. meow!