Upgrade or Upsell. Best time to do it.

[nanak915]

When is the best time to see if there is an upgrade or upsell available to purchase? Do they usually offer better deals after final payment has been made or should I do it now? I've booked a balcony room on deck 9 on the Star for the August 2010 Alaska cruise. I've seen some pictures of the balcony cabin and think I might want to upgrade to an AD or above. Do you think this is a good idea or should I save the cost of an upgrade for another cruise?

[gottacruisemore]

If you switch cabins now you will be paying whatever the full price is. Upsells are done closer to the actual cruise, think July 2010 in your case.

[nanak915]

Thank you. I want to see if I can get an upgrade/upsell for about half of what it would cost me now. I will let my TA know I am interested and wait to see what happens.

[rickechambers1@aol.com]

My personal opinion is to book what will make you happy. For some, booking an inside is completely fine as they may not spend very much time in their cabin; for others only a suite will do. For us, we've found that it is worth the investment for us to secure what we know will make our vacation that much better. I've had fabulous vacations in everything from inside to Garden Villa...so from the smallest space at sea to the largest space at sea and depending on where I was in life each was equally luxurious. Just depends on what your needs/wants are for that particular time in your life. We tend to take control of our own destiny to have what satifies us so that we avoid disappointment. My advice, have what you want, not what you need. :) ...that's just me though. Vacation time is precious and the memories of the past vacation can keep you going until the next vacation. The Garden Villa experience (and it IS an experience) left us with memories to last a lifetime.

[odblnt]

The really good upsells that you read about are normally done 2-3 weeks before sailing, when they want to sell off the inventory.

 

Before that time, they will let you buy up to a higher class room at the published price.

[figgifumi]

We got an upsale 6 weeks out. If you took the cost of the new cabin minus what we paid for the original cabin we paid 1/4 of that. Thought it was a great deal. We moved from and Ba to and Ad.... first time in a suite- we leave in Dec! :)

[nanak915]

Figgifumi.........How did you learn of the chance for an upsell. Did NCL contact you or through your TA if you had one. I am really interested in the opportunity to do an upsell and want to do what is best to have the chance for one. Any advice will be appreciated. We will be celebrating our 51st wedding anniversary on the cruise. Thanks!

 

Nanak915

[mbisson]

Just a couple of things:

Alaska cruises seem to sell better than many others and NCL is reducing their fleet sailing Alaska next season from 3 ships to 2. While it's always possible to get an upsell, IMO if you really want the AD, you should probably book it now and not count on an upsell

[woodley]

I have had two upsell both were from balconys to suites. One was the AA and the other an AD. On the most recent upsell I called 4 weeks before sailing and was told to call back in two weeks. I kept watching the web site and one day saw there were no suites available for my upcoming cruise so I called one week earlier than asked to do so and she offered me an AB which was too expensive. I told her the maximum I could go to which we had decide before I called and she then offered me the AD which was a bargain compared to the list price I had originally seen.

 

When we booked the BA was all we could afford at the time and I was very happy with that, but as the time got closer we realised that we had a little extra money although not enough to book a suite at the regular price so we were really happy when the suites were not sold out and we were able to get an upsell.

 

Do not listen to the posters here that say do not call, when I have called the lady on the phone is very pleasant and is not suprised that I have the number. She checks out what is available and she will tell you if nothing has been released for Upsell yet and when to call back. A couple of times I have called I got an answer machine and left a message but I never received a reply to my calls.

 

Good Luck

[nanak915]

Where did you find the number to call? Thank you so much for the great advice. Even if the Alaska cruises are booked and I stay in my balcony room that will be fine. But if I can upsell.........great. I am just happy to be going on the cruise.

[mbisson]

PERFECT! I hope it all works out for you :D

 

Even if the Alaska cruises are booked and I stay in my balcony room that will be fine. But if I can upsell.........great. I am just happy to be going on the cruise.

[woodley]

I called the general # and asked for the reassignment desk. I was put through to her and she gave me her direct # to call in the later in the month.

[nanak915]

Thanks Woodley. I'll do that when I have made my final payment.

[Venichana]

Thank you. I want to see if I can get an upgrade/upsell for about half of what it would cost me now. I will let my TA know I am interested and wait to see what happens.

 

I just recently did an upsell on the Dawn from an AA Owner's Suite to the A1 Garden Villa... the GV is very costly but worked for us since we had 3 couple going... we all stretched a little and made it work. It was the vacation of a lifetime, but that's a different story!

 

I was on the phone with the reassignment desk about 4 weeks before and was told 1) they couldn't talk to me directly because we had booked through a TA (Cruises-n-More Club - AmEx Agency that was AWESOME) and that 2) to have my TA call back the following Monday as the upsells would be available 3 weeks prior to sailing. From others posts I've read, I am thinking how far out it is available for upsell will depend on how full the ship is.

 

When I talked to my TA, they were pretty sure we couldn't get a deal on the GV... but not true... they learned something too!

 

Anyway, the cost was approximately 50% of the upgrade price... I'm guessing we could have done better if we waited another week but didn't want to take the chance of losing it. If your TA resists, push them!

[tjaker11]

My personal opinion is to book what will make you happy. For some, booking an inside is completely fine as they may not spend very much time in their cabin; for others only a suite will do. For us, we've found that it is worth the investment for us to secure what we know will make our vacation that much better. I've had fabulous vacations in everything from inside to Garden Villa...so from the smallest space at sea to the largest space at sea and depending on where I was in life each was equally luxurious. Just depends on what your needs/wants are for that particular time in your life. We tend to take control of our own destiny to have what satifies us so that we avoid disappointment. My advice, have what you want, not what you need. :) ...that's just me though. Vacation time is precious and the memories of the past vacation can keep you going until the next vacation. The Garden Villa experience (and it IS an experience) left us with memories to last a lifetime.

 

 

I agree with this post, book what you will be happy with and great if you get an upgrade / upsell

[WinnieinWA]

Something to keep in mind:

 

I'm not 100% sure about this BUT my DD lives in Vancouver, Canada and she told me that Holland and Princess will be pulling their ships from there for the Alaska cruises. That means that all the people who normally would sail out of Vancouver to Alaska will be going to Seattle to cruise from. Vancouver is only a 3 hour drive from Seattle. This makes me think that there will be way fewer cabins available for the Alaska cruises so NCL may fill up their ships very early in the game.

[mbisson]

Something to keep in mind:

 

I'm not 100% sure about this BUT my DD lives in Vancouver, Canada and she told me that Holland and Princess will be pulling their ships from there for the Alaska cruises. That means that all the people who normally would sail out of Vancouver to Alaska will be going to Seattle to cruise from. Vancouver is only a 3 hour drive from Seattle. This makes me think that there will be way fewer cabins available for the Alaska cruises so NCL may fill up their ships very early in the game.

 

Current schedules seem to show plenty of Vancouver sailings (Princess one way & HAL both RT & one way) but I don't know if they have as many ships there as in the past. But like I mentioned above NCL is taking the Sun out of Vancouver

 

What surprised me though (not that it has an impact next Alaska season) but I'm seeing the Disney Wonder doing RT Vancouver sailings in 2011 on some sites

[LJH1]

LOL 2010 and your looking for an unpsell now! Do you know something that we don't know because your just under a year away.

[mbisson]

LOL 2010 and your looking for an unpsell now! Do you know something that we don't know because your just under a year away.

 

LOL-Extreme Early Bird gets the Worm ;)

[figgifumi]

We just called and asked- and they were very nice about it. Got the number by google "NCL upsale number"

[moolman]

Hi Linda,

If possible could you email me at ackang at gmail.com the name of the TA who you spoke to at Cruises-n-more. I also used them for my cruise so if they already did the upsell for you, they should be familiar with the process, so no need for me to explain the whole thing to them again. Cruises-n-more is so big, they have so many TA's I don't think they would all tell each other what is happening.

 

Thanks

 

Alex

 

I just recently did an upsell on the Dawn from an AA Owner's Suite to the A1 Garden Villa... the GV is very costly but worked for us since we had 3 couple going... we all stretched a little and made it work. It was the vacation of a lifetime, but that's a different story!

 

I was on the phone with the reassignment desk about 4 weeks before and was told 1) they couldn't talk to me directly because we had booked through a TA (Cruises-n-More Club - AmEx Agency that was AWESOME) and that 2) to have my TA call back the following Monday as the upsells would be available 3 weeks prior to sailing. From others posts I've read, I am thinking how far out it is available for upsell will depend on how full the ship is.

 

When I talked to my TA, they were pretty sure we couldn't get a deal on the GV... but not true... they learned something too!

 

Anyway, the cost was approximately 50% of the upgrade price... I'm guessing we could have done better if we waited another week but didn't want to take the chance of losing it. If your TA resists, push them!

[Snowkhat]

I just called NCL upsell and finally got through...too expensive. We leave in 16 days. Their offer wasn't even close to 50% off. So sad...:( It took me close to 12 calls to get through and they wanted nearly 80% of original, only a 20% discount. :(

[OnlyMe]

I just called NCL upsell and finally got through...too expensive. We leave in 16 days. Their offer wasn't even close to 50% off. So sad...:( It took me close to 12 calls to get through and they wanted nearly 80% of original, only a 20% discount. :(

 

Aw, thats a bit of a bummer!

I'm hoping to try for an upsell for our cruise in 5 weeks time ... do you mind me asking what category you were upgrading and what category you were offered please ... just trying to gauge/compare prices / availability for your cruise versus our one and the likelihood of the same thing happening on ours.

[d man]

When is the best time to see if there is an upgrade or upsell available to purchase? Do they usually offer better deals after final payment has been made or should I do it now? I've booked a balcony room on deck 9 on the Star for the August 2010 Alaska cruise. I've seen some pictures of the balcony cabin and think I might want to upgrade to an AD or above. Do you think this is a good idea or should I save the cost of an upgrade for another cruise?

Upsells and upgrades are few and far between. If you want a certain cabin, then just book it and pay the rate.

 

Enjoy

[Snowkhat]

Only Me...they offered from BB to AC. AC is nice but a smaller suite would've been fine since the only difference between AC and AD or AE is the balcony size. I was really expecting a better deal since I got an incredible deal this summer for an owner's suite from a balcony.

 

I disagree with the other poster, there is nothing wrong with trying to get a good deal.