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Have many people recieved an upgrade on a select fare?


Claire yorkshire
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Dai. We have some cruises booked on Aurora in an accessible balcony cabin (wife uses a wheelchair). Am I correct in thinking that the two grades between us and a Suite (Deluxe Balcony and Mini-Suite) are configured with a shower above a bath (which is no good for us) and that the only option for an upgrade with a free-standing shower cubicle would be to a full Suite? Can't imagine we'd ever be offered an upgrade of that magnitude, other than the fact we have booked Suites 3 times on Britannia!! Keen to understand what our options are though, as nothing on B deck (where all grades above ours are located) shows as accessible? Thanks in anticipation.

 

Selbourne ,different ship I know , but if you ever go on Arcadia..mini suite S2 on the sun deck ,has a huge massive walk in shower, and no bath.

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UPDATE

 

Just spoke to my cruise consultant about another matter so asked about this third option. It is not an "automatic" upgrade as such but there is an option to have your booking marked that you would accept an upgrade to another "type" of cabin if any are availabe.

 

Hope this clears up the confusion.

 

Sue

I've also just asked for the third option with my TA and it was no sooner said than done and the phone call only took three minutes.

 

Peter

 

Sent from my SM-G925F using Forums mobile app

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But the fact that you declined the Suite 'upgrade' does rather imply that it was at a not inconsiderate cost

 

 

I spoke to a neighbour today regarding a suite as I remembered she had been phoned in the past. She said they had been offered one twice on both occasions they wanted £200 pp so they declined. Hope that helps.

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I spoke to a neighbour today regarding a suite as I remembered she had been phoned in the past. She said they had been offered one twice on both occasions they wanted £200 pp so they declined. Hope that helps.

 

Thanks. That's interesting. I know of people being asked for £100 for a Suite, so it clearly varies (perhaps based on cruise length?). I would be happy to accept an upgrade to a Suite for £200 each. Still a bargain! Sadly, always had to pay top dollar for one :mad:

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am always worried that an up-grade would not be to a cabin I would like, for example under the buffet or pool deck but in a better position within the ship. We have just booked an obstructed view on Britianna but would rather have that than get a cabin which was noisy so have ticked the no upgrade box.

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I'm booked on the Ventura, Spain Portugal and Morocco cruise which departs March 7th, and have received an upgrade from HC grade balcony cabin to HA grade balcony cabin.

It will be our third PO cruise, we went on our first summer 2015.

So that's it upgrade wise for us for the next twenty years!

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  • 4 months later...

I have my first ever cruise coming in July on Britannia - but I took P&O Cruises on and won!

 

Booked in March 2016, ticked the upgrade box as it said it was an offer. Cabin was on D Deck aft which I had picked out based on gut instinct only. All going well so far.

A few weeks ago I was notified that I'd be given an upgrade! Woohoo! However, when I investigated further I couldn't see what was better. I was now on Deck F, but midships. Pullman beds as well - as a single traveller they were really helpful. Rang P&O to confirm the upgrade and make sure I was right - it wasn't an upgrade really, but a relocation. I told them there and then I didn't want it and to return me to the original cabin. Can't do that they said. Someone already in there (what, 7 hours after the upgrade notice came out?). As we tried to reconcile the issue they offered me a cabin on Deck E at the back. Asked for compensation to be told there was nothing doing. Told them Id be formally complaining.

Which I did and not overly surprisingly a reply saying the same things came back. Its an automatic upgrade, its irreversible, its in the terms and conditions and booking, you should have known, can't move the people now (presumably because they already know its in a worst place) in our view its better because of the midships location, price of the new cabin is greater etc etc.

Some might have given up. I didn't.

I replied noting that the word upgrade isn't mentioned in the booking terms and conditions. The word 'offer' means to accept or reject. Details on Automatic Upgrades aren't on the website unless you look really, really hard. You can't opt out on the Cruise Personaliser which would have been the easiest place. I booked with them direct so don't tell me that I should have been warned by the travel agent, and finally, the kicker. In a years time the same ship goes out to the same place on the same weekend with the same itinerary. All of the cabins they offered were cheaper than that which I had originally purchased. I also had pictures from the internet showing that my balcony view was now impeded by the lifeboats (grateful that they are there of course) but again, it wasn't making it into an upgrade.

On Friday I had a curt email back from them saying that they had returned me back to the cabin I originally booked. I'm sorry to the people who had been in that cabin for a fortnight, of course, but legally, P&O didn't have a leg to stand on IMHO. You can't offer an upgrade to someone that is cheaper than the product they already have!

So, if this has happened to you, go through it with a fine tooth comb. Two good letters, backed up with facts, saw me winning the argument.

 

Now, next area of complain is the ridiculously idea that of the £45 on-board spending money I was 'given' at the time of booking, £42 has already been given to the staff on tips! Can you get a beer for £3 on Britannia?

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A quick look suggests you can get a bottle of carling for under 3 pounds (330 ml) and a number of beers for between 3 and 4 based on the current menus they have on their website.

 

The autogratuity itself can be removed. As to whether it is ridiculous or not, and for arguments on whether you should or should not remove it, there are multiple long threads on this, a couple quite recently, that might provide insight into other peoples thoughts, although a breif summation might be that the general thought is the staff rely on tips to get up to a reasonable wage so many people consider tipping part of the cost of cruising. Quite a few people argue that it would, however, be better to add these to the upfront cost of the cruise.

 

I'm not a lawyer so can't comment on legalities, but it doesn't surprise me at all that your prevoius cabin had already been assigned. They would be sorting upgrades when they (probably a computer programme rather than a person) are assigning cabins and they are less likely to upgrade people without some poeple ready to be assigned to your prevoius cabin. As people have said in this, and other threads, clicking the upgrade option seems to be considered acceptance of any free upgrade by PnO and they consider cabin location as well as type for this, with midship generally being considered to be better than aft.

 

All of that said, I'm glad that you got back the cabin you preferred and hope you enjoy your cruise. We're going on our second cruise in about a month, and someone we're cruising with has already been 'upgraded' to a cabin more midship. We also clicked the upgrade option but would much prefer if it were an option to only be upgraded to a higher type of cabin, as some have mentioned does exist, as we picked our cabin quite carefully on both the cruises we've been on.

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Happy to be the exception to the rule, Chris :) I generally book early and I always book with P&O - so I don't get TA discounts, remember. I normally book Select but on the occasions I have booked an Early Saver or a Guaranteed cabin ( but paying Select price) I have always been allocated a higher grade of cabin than what I paid for originally.

We have also been upgraded on all but one of our cruises (4 cruises). I book well in advance and also directly with P&O. The one we didn't get an upgrade for was a last minute booking on a cruise that sold out shortly afterwards so I wasn't expecting anything for this.

On our most recent cruise on Britannia a couple of weeks ago, we were offered a suite upgrade for £200 from our original superior deluxe booking. This is the first time we have had to pay, and it sounds like it was more than other people have paid for a reduced fare upgrade, but it was well worth every penny!

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I have been upgraded many times both travelling alone and with others. Usually I book a forward or aft balcony and end up with a midships one. Best upgrades have been from A or B deck to C deck balcony on Azura or Ventura (larger balcony) and last Aurora cruise from aft balcony to mid aft deluxe balcony, as a solo.

Best one of all was with my daughter on Oriana: aft balcony to mini suite; that was wonderful!

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Thanks Dai. I really appreciate you going to that trouble to find out for me - much appreciated. I wish that I had kept some old brochures as the current versions are absolutely useless. Looking on the bright side, as we have booked accessible balcony cabins for several future cruises on Aurora and Suites for future cruises on Britannia and Ventura, I won't trouble myself any more over this whole debacle regarding upgrades. Unless we were upgraded to a Suite on Aurora (less than 1% chance I should think), we already have the best that we can get and will not benefit from being moved.

An interesting thought occurs to me, if we are already in the highest grade accessible balcony cabin, if we ticked the upgrade box would we only be given a de luxe/mini suite or above accessible cabin?

If so maybe I will reconsider although I am not sure I would really prefer a D deck de luxe cabin with an open topped balcony to a C deck one.

Of course knowing how efficient P&O are there is always the possibilty that we might lose the accessible cabin altogether!

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An interesting thought occurs to me, if we are already in the highest grade accessible balcony cabin, if we ticked the upgrade box would we only be given a de luxe/mini suite or above accessible cabin?

If so maybe I will reconsider although I am not sure I would really prefer a D deck de luxe cabin with an open topped balcony to a C deck one.

Of course knowing how efficient P&O are there is always the possibilty that we might lose the accessible cabin altogether!

 

I know what you mean John. Accessible cabins are so damned hard to get, especially now that scooter users have to book one, even if they don't need the wet room etc. Once you secure one, you don't really want to risk losing it. Again, it boils down to what you consider to be an upgrade. The majority of 'upgrades' are nothing of the sort. They are relocations to the same type of cabin in a location that P&O deems to be more desireable and commands a small price premium. That's not an upgrade, that's a relocation. I have recently learned (through this forum) that you can opt to accept an upgrade ONLY if it is to a different TYPE of cabin. So, if you are in a Superior Deluxe (for example), you could only then be upgraded to a Suite, as long as you have stipulated this option. I guess it then boils down to whether the wheelchair user has enough mobility to manage a standard shower with a shower stool. Our worry would be an upgrade to something with a shower above a bath as that wouldn't be an option for us due to my wife's disability.

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