Upsell question

[rmmm]

I booked a category VF on the Zuiderdam on June 27th. I noticed on the website that with the exception of the penthouse and the least expensive inside cabins everything is still wide open. I already got my cruise documents and I was wondering if they always call people to see if they want to upgrade their cabin? I was wondering what the price might be to upgrade to a suite? Right now, the SY suite is about $1000 more than I paid for a VF. can anyone tell me if the price they offer when they call with an upsell offer will be less than what is available on the web? Thanks. Rose

[garydm]

We have 100 days with HAL and have never been offered an upsell. Good luck.

 

Gary

[yogi2929]

We were offered (and accepted) an upsell to a SA. A fax came to our TA about a month before the cruise.

It all depends on what hasn't been sold on your cruise. There were at least 16 SAs available on ours at the time.

 

You can always call and ask.

[jtl513]

I'm sure they offer upsells to some of the people on every cruise. We have 75 days, and only once were we contacted with an upsell offer ... the one time that we had specified "Do Not Upgrade" on our booking!!

 

OP: upsells can run the gamut from nearly list price differential (ours) to very good bargains. It all depends on how well the cruise is selling. :)

[DebbieS732]

Our cruise is June 12th. Since I booked it directly on the HAL website, I decided to take the initiative last week and sent them an email stating that I would be interested in an upsell if one was available.

 

I got an immediate reply with an offer to go from a VC to a SY at a $500 per person off the regular price. I didn't take it because it was still $1,200 per person more than I paid for the VC. I only paid $1,500 per person for the VC, so the upsell would have almost doubled our price.

 

I wasn't expecting an immediate reply. I just wanted to let them know we would be interested when they started offering upsells.

 

I'm hoping they will think of me when they do get around to offering better deals. I may send them another email closer to cruise time. I figure it doesn't hurt to let them know you're interested.

[Sundagger]

I'm sure they offer upsells to some of the people on every cruise. We have 75 days, and only once were we contacted with an upsell offer ... the one time that we had specified "Do Not Upgrade" on our booking!!

 

OP: upsells can run the gamut from nearly list price differential (ours) to very good bargains. It all depends on how well the cruise is selling. :)

 

I received an upsell offer on my upcoming Alaska cruise. I also had specified "Do not upgrade", since I didn't want to be below the Lower Promenade deck. Our cruise had been listed as sold out for a couple of weeks before I got the offer:confused:.

 

I had booked with the HAL site online, so the offer came in an email to me. They gave the price and a specific number to call. The price for going from an HH to an A was excellent, so I took it. There were only two choices available, and one seemed to be well-located, so I took it. I am very, very pleased.:):D:p

 

I didn't expect it to happen, and I don't expect it to happen in the future.

[Ship's Wake]

You need to be proactive in order to get an upsell. Have your TA contact HAL's upsell supervisor and ask what upsell offers are available. We just did this and arranged an upsell to a VA verandah from an inside guarantee for $149pp.

 

Even if your TA gets notified about an upsell offer, they rarely will contact you because the commission they make versus the time it takes to contact their customers and explain the upgrade process makes the whole process not a good use of their time.

 

However, if you take the initiative, you can get some nice upgrade deals. The cruise line would rather sell the upgrade then give it away.

 

Joe

[Jewel99]

You need to be proactive in order to get an upsell. Have your TA contact HAL's upsell supervisor and ask what upsell offers are available. We just did this and arranged an upsell to a VA verandah from an inside guarantee for $149pp.

 

Even if your TA gets notified about an upsell offer, they rarely will contact you because the commission they make versus the time it takes to contact their customers and explain the upgrade process makes the whole process not a good use of their time.

 

However, if you take the initiative, you can get some nice upgrade deals. The cruise line would rather sell the upgrade then give it away.

 

Joe

 

Is it possible to contact the "upsell supervisor" yourself, even if you have to make changes through your TA? Also, is this something you can really only do close to the date of your cruise? We're still pretty far out from our sail date, so not sure if we would need to wait to try to do this.

[Ship's Wake]

Is it possible to contact the "upsell supervisor" yourself, even if you have to make changes through your TA? Also, is this something you can really only do close to the date of your cruise? We're still pretty far out from our sail date, so not sure if we would need to wait to try to do this.

 

I tried to handle this on my own and was told by HAL that they could not talk to me about my booking and that my TA had to contact them. Fortunately I have a good relationship with my TA and he took the time to see what was available.

 

If you book directly with HAL then I would assume their reservationists would do this for you. Another poster mentioned that when you book with HAL direct they will contact you via email with any upsell offers they make available for your sailing.

 

Based on what I can tell, HAL begins the upgrade process once the sailing is close to selling out or the sail date is very close. In the case of our Noordam cruise we sail in 18 days. They probably are not interested in doing paid upgrades further out, as they think they still have time to sell the higher categories.

 

If I were you I would circle the date in your calendar 21 days out and have your TA contact them for possible upsell opportunities. Also let your TA know that you want to be informed of any possible upsell opportunities as well.

 

Also, the lower the category you initially book, the greater the chances of being able to find an upsell opportunity. With us booking an inside cabin initially, they had more available that we could move up to.

 

Good luck! All it takes is a phone call to your TA and for you to "manage" the process.

 

Joe

[musicgirl5995]

You need to be proactive in order to get an upsell. Have your TA contact HAL's upsell supervisor and ask what upsell offers are available. We just did this and arranged an upsell to a VA verandah from an inside guarantee for $149pp.

 

Even if your TA gets notified about an upsell offer, they rarely will contact you because the commission they make versus the time it takes to contact their customers and explain the upgrade process makes the whole process not a good use of their time.

 

However, if you take the initiative, you can get some nice upgrade deals. The cruise line would rather sell the upgrade then give it away.

 

Joe

I feel very fortunate I have had an AMAZING t/a based on what I read here. She has rebooked us twice saving us nearly $700.00 on this cruise plus given us extras like pinnacle grill/coupon books/credit to our onboard account plus she called us with an upgrade from a DA cabin to the A or B Verandah that HAL sent her for $159 a person which we decided to take advantage of. She has been very patient with us first time cruisers and a dream to work with, my Uncle has done numerous cruises and highly recommended this office to us and I know why:D

[AZjohn]

Even if your TA gets notified about an upsell offer, they rarely will contact you because the commission they make versus the time it takes to contact their customers and explain the upgrade process makes the whole process not a good use of their time.

Joe

 

Boy, if I had a TA like that Joe, I would drop them in a heart beat. I guess I have one of the good ones because she is always proactive in checking prices/discounts and the upgrades/upsells. A good TA knows this is the way to have continued business IMHO.

John

[cantw8togo]

Do they upsell quad cabins very often? I had read that they don't, but have others experienced otherwise? We are booked in an outside "E" cabin, but would love to be in a veranda. When I checked availability a couple of days ago, the only cabins that were showing availability were quad veranda and suites. We sail in less than four weeks.

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

N.

[rubytue]

We just took and upsell from G to AA for next week. Our reservation was also marked "do not upgrade" as we had the best G and only a balcony would make me happier. Well, we didn't get the upgrade, but we did take the upsell. This happened today and our cruise leave next Friday. $149/pp FWIW, we now have a 7-day cruise on HAL for $65 more than we paid for the 5-day NCL cruise (also with balcony). Wow! I'm happy!

 

FYI, we have 10 days on HAL. My parents also got (and took) the upsell from F to AA - they have a big, fat 0 days on any cruise line (their first cruise!).

[RuthC]

Do they upsell quad cabins very often? I had read that they don't, but have others experienced otherwise? We are booked in an outside "E" cabin, but would love to be in a veranda. When I checked availability a couple of days ago, the only cabins that were showing availability were quad veranda and suites. We sail in less than four weeks.

Why not initiate the question? If it's close to your sailing date (maybe about a month out), and a quad cabin in your preferred category is available, have your TA call HAL to inquire. Maybe even make an offer.

If nothing else, it will at least make you visible to HAL, and they may do something for you. Nothing ventured---nothing gained.

[Activated95b]

I booked a category VF on the Zuiderdam on June 27th. I noticed on the website that with the exception of the penthouse and the least expensive inside cabins everything is still wide open. I already got my cruise documents and I was wondering if they always call people to see if they want to upgrade their cabin? I was wondering what the price might be to upgrade to a suite? Right now, the SY suite is about $1000 more than I paid for a VF. can anyone tell me if the price they offer when they call with an upsell offer will be less than what is available on the web? Thanks. Rose

 

I'm sailing on the zuiderdam on the 23rd (8 days!!!!)and when I asked about an upsell I was told that the ship is completely booked.

 

Does anybody know if I can ask at the front desk if any rooms are availible due to no-shows?

[KAKcruiser]

You can ask but usually they are sold out. Even if there are available rooms, they generally have no bargains.