Is there a trick to upgrading?

[diann744]

I have heard that if a cruise line has too many people booking a certain category of room, they will upgrade some guests. That makes sense to me as I can't see them turning away a booking if they still have (better) rooms available and then hoping someone comes along with deeper pockets. Does anyone know, (a) if that's true and (b) how the cut is made? Is it in booking order; does the TA have input, etc.?

I think I'll be happy with the room I've booked but, of course, would be thrilled to receive an upgrade.

[sail7seas]

We all tease there is an "upgrade fairy" who sprinkles her lucky dust.....while we all speculate on who and how upgrades are given, none of us know for sure.


You will read about lots of folks saying they got upgraded 10 categories or from an Inside Cabin to a full Suite. While it may happen sometimes, it does not happen as often as one would think reading some of those posts.

Do not always accept as absolutely true everything you read on the Internet....but I am sure you know that.

[diann744]

If I believed everything posted on the internet I would know that no intelligent person ever eats junk food or watches the WB but we know that's not true. :-)

Still, I want to believe in the "upgrade fairy": "I do believe, I do, I do, I do!"

[stillfrantic]

I was upgraded to an SS from a B. The only thing I did was give them my credit card number and voila....instant SS upgrade:D ;) .

[Roz]

Diann,

I've been upgraded twice...once on Carnival and once on HAL. On Carnival I went from an outside porthole to an outside window. On HAL I went from an inside guarantee to an obstructed view outside. I think the upgrades I got are typical. I've never personally met anyone that went from an inside to a balcony, veranda, or suite.

Roz

[FLDIXIE]

I was upgraded at the last week prior to my 7/17/ Maasdam cruise. The TA called and said they overbooked my category and needed my room and offered me a credit and a move up one floor to an obstructed outside that was just fine with me, probably better than my original room. I booked a specific room, not a guarantee and was upgraded.

[Thoth]

The upgrade fairy is alive and well! Last week on the Oosterdam, I had booked a cat M inside and found myself in a cat A Verandah. Don't ask me how!

[ekerr19]

We all tease there is an "upgrade fairy" who sprinkles her lucky dust.....while we all speculate on who and how upgrades are given, none of us know for sure.


You will read about lots of folks saying they got upgraded 10 categories or from an Inside Cabin to a full Suite. While it may happen sometimes, it does not happen as often as one would think reading some of those posts.

Do not always accept as absolutely true everything you read on the Internet....but I am sure you know that.

I am going to have to agree with Sail here. We've been mariners since 1984 - we get great deals from our full service TA in Seattle. We've been upgraded a few times - nothing major.

Personally, I've never known anyone who received a 10-category upgrade - we were upgraded on our Zui sailing to a Suite - our TA offered promotional pricing for our sailing - we got four peeps in a Suite for less than $2500 - but since sailing with HAL from 1984, this is one of the best promos we've ever received. The best deals for us come from our TA in the form of shipboard credit - we've yet to receive anything less than $250 per cabin.

I've read other posts where cruisers received huge upgrades, but I will have to say (also from my parents position) they don't happen as often as anyone would like.

[RevNeal]

Upgrade Tricks:


Hand Stands while dressed for informal night.
Balance a ball on your nose while wearing a tux.
Dance an Irish jig in the middle of the Piano Bar while the pianist plays "The Piano Man."
Jump through a burning hoop from the starboard sports deck into the lido deck pool.
Play "blind person's bluff" on the Sky Deck at midnight without tripping over a nekking couple.
Light your flatulence on the Sky Deck at midnight and take not of all the shocked faces you see.

The points you are awarded for each trick will determine the total number of categories you qualify for in upgrades on any given cruise.

[Ziggy7]

If the upgrade fairy visits we will be happy but what I'm really hoping for is one of those great offers Hal gives you while on the cruise to stay for the next cruise for the next 7 days for as low as 400.00pp inside cabin! We would get to do both western then eastern at the same time then! Oh to dreams huh ??? LOL

[sheephugs]

When I was cruise shopping last year I stopped in at a travel agency, really just to pick up a brochure. As I was ushered into the TA's office the receptionist appeared at the door in a frantic state. Apparently one of the clients was calling ship-to-shore ($$!) so the TA agreed to take it. He was confused because his luggage was not in his assigned room but in the (gasp!) penthouse suite! She explained that he had been upgraded from outside/verandah & just sit back & enjoy it. To this day I don't know if maybe it was staged for my benefit.;)

[Orcrone]

I was upgraded to an SS from a B. The only thing I did was give them my credit card number and voila....instant SS upgrade:D ;) .That sounds so simple. Can I borrow your credit card number?:D

[Thoth]

Upgrade Tricks:


Hand Stands while dressed for informal night.
Balance a ball on your nose while wearing a tux.
Dance an Irish jig in the middle of the Piano Bar while the pianist plays "The Piano Man."
Jump through a burning hoop from the starboard sports deck into the lido deck pool.
Play "blind person's bluff" on the Sky Deck at midnight without tripping over a nekking couple.
Light your flatulence on the Sky Deck at midnight and take not of all the shocked faces you see.

The points you are awarded for each trick will determine the total number of categories you qualify for in upgrades on any given cruise.

Why are you telling everybody how it's done? That supposed to be a secret isn't it?? I was upgraded to a Verandah even though they didn't count "blind man's bluff" becouse of the cold windy air in Alaska ran off the nekking couples. The ball fell off my nose but suprisingly they counted that anyway. Go figure! Black bean soup was also a big benefit on that last criterion.

[RevNeal]

Why are you telling everybody how it's done? That supposed to be a secret isn't it??

Oh my goodness gracious! I'm soooo sorry! I forgot I was supposed to keep this under my hat!!! :D

[jhannah]

You guys are so silly! You know that to appease the upgrade fairy you must find a holstein cow and kiss her behind once a day for six days while mooing the "Hallelujah Chorus", then seven times on the seventh day. Then you get your upgrade.

[Randyk47]

No wonder I've never gotten an upgrade......obviously whining and sniveling don't work! :rolleyes: Now......where's the closest holstein????

[dmyles1]

We have a guaranteed BA, and would love an upgrade. Each evening at dusk, I take my "fairy dust" outside and do a special dance while casting the "fairy dust" into the night air. I believe this is what the upgrade Fairy wants me to do. If I am correct will be have that long awaited upgrade.
By the way, I sell "fairy dust" for $100.00 and ounce. May all your upgrades be granted...........

[divinggirl]

Got the BA cabin I reserved for my sailing, at least according to my newly arrived docs (yay:) ...) but we're triple occ so keeping my fingers crossed for a later upgrade. Seems the BA will be fine for our purposes, though...dmyles1, I think your fairy dust prices are a bit on the high side...but in the other hand, my dust is obviously useless, so maybe I'll have better luck with yours :) :D ;)

[stillfrantic]

By the way, I sell "fairy dust" for $100.00 and ounce. May all your upgrades be granted...........
It didn't cost me much more than that to upgrade at a fee! Unless you're going to kiss the cow for me too, I think your dust is too much.:D

[RevNeal]

You know that to appease the upgrade fairy you must find a holstein cow and kiss her behind once a day for six days while mooing the "Hallelujah Chorus", then seven times on the seventh day.

Moo
Moo moo moo

Moo
Moo moo moo

Moo moo moo moo
Moo moo moo moo

Moo moo moo moo Moooooooo

MOOOOOOOOO
MOOO MOOO
MOOO moo MOOOOOO

MOO MOO MOOOOOO
moo MOOOOOOOOOOO

:)

[jhannah]

... and the walls come a-tumblin' down!"

Very good, Greg. Excellent performance. Now, what about the cow? Did you have to drive out toward Plano to find one?

[Randyk47]

Incredible. The Hallelujah Choris translated to cow ......I've seen it all now. :eek: Rev - Where's your church....I think I need to start attending. :)

[RevNeal]

Very good, Greg. Excellent performance. Now, what about the cow? Did you have to drive out toward Plano to find one?

Plano! :eek: The only cows you find there are chopped up cows in the restaurants along North Central Express Way!!!!!!! ;) I live in Seagoville -- the south-east corner of Dallas County. Drive a half mile east of the city on 175 -- toward Kaufman -- and you'll see lots of cows grazing out in the Trinity River bottoms!

You won't see me sneaking out into the field to kiss one ON the bottom, however. Now ... TIPPING cows is another matter. There is NO auto-tip feature for cow-tipping. :D I'll never forget the mental image I got when I first saw a post entitled: "Should I tip the Head Waiter."

[RevNeal]

Rev - Where's your church....I think I need to start attending.

Thank you very much. My church is in Seagoville ... that's a growing suburb on the South-east corner of Dallas County. Once known at the "Red Neck" Capital of the Metroplex, Seagoville has been going through a major transformation as its population has finally begun to boom from all the new housing developments.

Here's a link to some photos of my church buildings:

Photos of First UMC Seagoville (http://www.revneal.org/fumcseagoville.html)

And here's a link to a page with a a couple of group-photos of my congregation.

The Congregation at First UMC Seagoville (http://homepage.mac.com/revneal/PhotoAlbum8.html)

[jhannah]

Cow tipping. What next? :D