Offers of upsell/upgrade to UK residents

I have been following the thread on "What cabin did you end up with....."

To cut to the chase...

Anyone in UK getting emails from Oceania offering upgrades/up sells? Maybe I am missing mention of this as so many posts now!

But wondering if maybe where you live affects your chances! Hope you are going to tell me it does not!

Thanks.

sorry to disappoint but I think it does. On a number of cruises offers of upselling have been made to uS cruisers on our roll call and zip to the UK contingent.

Not only O also on HAL at Christmas we had booked way ahead as our US friends wanted to ensure it was all set. By 2 months ahead a balcony was going cheaper than our GTY inside, so we called and asked if at least we could get a balcony as we had paid more than the current asking price. UK answer "we can do nothing wait until you are on board all assignments are done from the US" . In the meantime our friends got offered almost daily upgrades, paid and unpaid!

The offers in the U.K. are different than the U.S. -- not necessarily better or worse, just different. For instance there have been offers that include the prestige alcohol package in the U.K. while this offer has not been seen in the U.S. (that I am aware of).

We're in the UK and our online travel agent twice passed on upsell offers from Oceania after final payment had been made. It seemed to me that they had an email from O which they promptly passed on to us.

We didn't choose either of the upsells but I was tickled pink to be offered one having read about them on this board.

Thank you for replies.

Guess there are not many contributors on here from UK so maybe that explains only 3 replies and lack of anecdotal evidence of offers from O.

Not very encouraging tho for anyone hoping for an offer and living in UK.

Thank you for replies.

 

Guess there are not many contributors on here from UK so maybe that explains only 3 replies and lack of anecdotal evidence of offers from O.

 

Not very encouraging tho for anyone hoping for an offer and living in UK.

We book through Oceania UK and have just been offered a higher grade cabin than the one we booked months earlier but it was full price. I assume this is the difference between an upsell offer and a Wait List offer. Like you, I am envious of the bargains offered to our friends across the sea!

We live in the Netherlands and (unfortunately) have never been offered an upsell/upgrade. Still we love to sail Oceania and will be on the Riviera in January.

I am from the Uk and have never been offered a upsell or down sell but I think the offers we get in the UK make up for it like free gratuities, free drinks package and free wifi. Not sure if the people from the USA get offered these free.

We live in the Netherlands and (unfortunately) have never been offered an upsell/upgrade. Still we love to sail Oceania and will be on the Riviera in January.

So are we, from 4th - 24th - counting the days!

I phoned my TA today and they contacted Oceania. We were offered an upsell from a B1 to a guarantee penthouse for £1,200 each ($2000). Interestingly a US resident on our cruise was contacted and offered an upsell to an Oceania Suite for $2500 each from a B3. A better deal but still too much for either of us !

I am from UK and have never been offered any upgrades prior to travelling from cruise company or agent, I agree their are different packages offered from UK to those in US. However it would be nice to be informed of offer of

upgrades the same as guests in US, to have that equal opportunity and decide.

I am aware that in US B3 have upgraded to PH1 AND PH2 FOR

$500 and $400 PER PERSON ,

Yes we do have offers of drinks packages, gratuities etc, In comparison US its on board credit, free internet, so its works out a fair deal on both sides of the globe.

Having enjoyed a PH1 last year, I have booked a B1 which Im pleased with,

but the same offer in a PH3 Is still £1300 pp more and yes I would jump at the chance of a reasonably priced offer of upgrade. 10 days to go and with no up:grade in sight I will enjoy my cruise just the same !!

I was happy with what we paid for, an inside cabin which was roughly half price of a veranda. Means we can have another cruise with the savings!

What slightly annoyed me was that I asked what would be the cost to upgrade to veranda with only two weeks to go and was offered an upgrade (or upsell!) at full cost it was when we booked months before. Declined!

We then met a couple onboard who booked a last minute inside and got a veranda at check in! Makes me wonder why Oceania UK didn't offer us a more attractive deal.

I was happy with what we paid for, an inside cabin which was roughly half price of a veranda. Means we can have another cruise with the savings!

 

What slightly annoyed me was that I asked what would be the cost to upgrade to veranda with only two weeks to go and was offered an upgrade (or upsell!) at full cost it was when we booked months before. Declined!

 

We then met a couple onboard who booked a last minute inside and got a veranda at check in! Makes me wonder why Oceania UK didn't offer us a more attractive deal.

My experience in booking an inside is that any upgrades or upsells occur with less than a week to go before the cruise. I don't blame O for waiting until the last minute. Some people book cruises a year in advance but others a week in advance. Why not wait to see what you can sell before giving away something?

I wouldn't be annoyed by not being able to upgrade for free two weeks pre cruise. As far as I can tell it's just not done - for residents of the US or UK. Our travel agent said it would be worthless to call O and try to make a deal. He also said the revenue folks are the ones to make offers. The reservation folks make reservations. I am extremely happy when I get an upgrade or upsell or both but fine if I don't. Yes Oceania will do it "our world our way" up to a point but they still have to make money while doing it our way!

If I ran Oceania I certainly wouldn't change what they do.

But that's exactly my point!

They gave away a veranda for the price of an inside! At same time as we would have paid a bit extra for it! They lost out on that money.

Guess they work in mysterious ways!

But that's exactly my point!

 

They gave away a veranda for the price of an inside! At same time as we would have paid a bit extra for it! They lost out on that money.

 

Guess they work in mysterious ways!

With respect, what you are doing to yourself is exactly the same thing as asking the person who sits next to you on an airplane what they paid, and then trying to debate why you were not offered the same deal.

In both situations, there are dozens and dozens of tiny variables which shade the two situations before business decision #1 is made.

Add into that equation the fact that, unlike most businesses, in travel, a cabin that is selling for ten thousand dollars per person on sailing day has an inventory value of zero, five seconds after the gangway is raised.

All that said, loooong experience has taught me that there is no surer path to insanity than believing fellow passengers when they discuss how much they paid. :p

Sorry, but I thought that learning from the experiences of fellow cruisers was what Cruise Critic was all about.

I have never, nor ever would, ASK anyone what they paid or even what type of staterooms they have. This information was volunteered in conversation. And it just led me to ask my original question in this thread.

I have found the replies that relate to that question to have been informative regarding offers to UK and non UK residents. Thanks again to those who responded.

Thank you for replies.

 

Guess there are not many contributors on here from UK so maybe that explains only 3 replies and lack of anecdotal evidence of offers from O.

 

Not very encouraging tho for anyone hoping for an offer and living in UK.

If you look at the post immediately above where you wrote this you'll see that we had two offers of upsells on our last cruise on Riviera. I'd call that anecdotal evidence.

Both offers were to upgrade from a B3 to a concierge cabin and the cost had gone down a lot by the second offer but I wasn't willing to give up our extended balcony. The PHs were sold out on our cruise.

So, yes, people in the UK do get upsell offers.

May I also suggest that have not been offered an up sell to the Aussie market. Never been offered nor heard of any Aussies being offered up sells. Do they exist for our relatively small demographic of market share! Any one in Oz been offered an upsell?

No upsell ever offered to us and sister in law is a travel agent!!!!!

Think they definitely cater to the U.S. market.

If you look at the post immediately above where you wrote this you'll see that we had two offers of upsells on our last cruise on Riviera. I'd call that anecdotal evidence.

 

Both offers were to upgrade from a B3 to a concierge cabin and the cost had gone down a lot by the second offer but I wasn't willing to give up our extended balcony. The PHs were sold out on our cruise.

 

So, yes, people in the UK do get upsell offers.

Sorry.

Didn't mean there was no evidence. Just seems to be less in comparison.

Was also suggesting that the reason there is very little evidence from non US residents may be to do with fact that there are not many of them on Cruise Critic in comparison to those posting from US.

No upsell offers to me either. Never mind, I always book the cabin I'm happy with.

I wonder if the answer is as simple as the fact that the department that deals with cabin allocation is in the US. They have a limited time to get the best revenue possible for unsold cabins so they go to TAs they know sell a lot on Oceania AND are in the same timezone, or go direct to passengers who are, again, in the same time zone?

No upsell offers to me either. Never mind, I always book the cabin I'm happy with.

Finally a smart response.

Book the cabin you want in the first place!

Finally a smart response.

Book the cabin you want in the first place!

But it may not have been available at the time of booking!

From various posts I gather that US cruisers can actually see which cabins are available by making a trial booking. That facility is not available on Oceania's UK site and I have tried and failed to get onto the US site.

But it may not have been available at the time of booking!

 

From various posts I gather that US cruisers can actually see which cabins are available by making a trial booking. That facility is not available on Oceania's UK site and I have tried and failed to get onto the US site.

Doesn't your TA supply you with this information?