How Holland American decides who gets upgraded

[Sophiebaby]

I'm a 4-Star Mariner and have been upgraded once, out of the blue. I don't expect an upgrade. I do expect to get what I've paid for. Now that I'm free to cruise on longer itineraries, I prefer to be housed in a particular section of the ship and book accordingly. Moving to a slightly more expensive cabin via an upgrade may not be an advantage to me.

[readytogo2]

I only come to CC when I have a cruise booked, and I am glad this thread was reborn, it made good reading and I was not on here when it was originally posted. To me, it's like that old song..'Everything old is new again' :) Anyway, I hope we get one of those random upgrades, like we did on our other HAL cruise...we sure were happy cruisers :D

[kazu]

:confused: Then why did it die out? :confused:

 

not everyone is on cruise critic all the time:) and there are a lot of new posters:D so why not? we ask people to search and they do it - I didn't see the thread either as I was cruising at the time - and it's kind of interesting.:)

 

It's certainly a question asked a lot so..............why not?

[itzmered]

I might agree with you but why don't they just start a new thread, now there's a thought........

 

and then everyone can say oh another new thread about the same old things :rolleyes:

 

Not everyone frequents the boards as much as others do or are new to a forum. I see no problem with resurrecting and old thread. If people dont like it then dont read it or comment on it ;)

[Pettifogger]

Over the course of a long life, I think I have gotten appreciably more than i paid for about as many times as I have fingers and toes. I have gotten appreciably less than I paid for about as many times as I have hairs on my head. (I don't have as many hairs as I used to, but still have enough to frighten anyone who sees me before I comb it.) So, like Sophiebaby above, I'm content when I get what I paid for.

 

In more than 150 days afloat on Holland America ships, I have never gotten an upgrade. (I consider a change from an ocean view to a verandah or a veranda to a suite an upgrade; a change from an ocean view H to a D, I consider a favorable assignment.) But I have never gotten a cabin that wasn't at least satisfactory and sometimes cabins that were much more than satisfactory. I am a very happy camper without any upgrades.

 

If, on my my next cruise, I get a cabin in which the pipes bang all night, I shall have to revise this statement.

[Kim Fontaine]

We have been sailing for a number of years: NCL has been our only upgrade:We usually sail 10-12 days now: This year we chose 7 day Westerdam (over Christmas break) as daughter and grandaughter will be with us as 1st time cruisers: Our TA put us down as (will accept up grade): The following day she called us saying we could be on the list but not our daughter or granddaughter as they( are/will be) 1st time cruisers with Hal.

We simply told her to remove our name from the upgrade list: Our reasoning being we chose this down grade to make things affordable for them; Having not cruised prior , they won't miss something they have not experienced. We have sailed Westerdam before and know it will be an enjoyable time for all four of us....Watching their delight in this new experience is a plus for ( Grandma and Grandpa):

( And if I may brag a bit, granddaughter going into her senior year of college, has a 3.77 GPA. No we can't afford to pay for their cruise but def. will make several of the extras part of her memories:

[LAFFNVEGAS]

We have been sailing for a number of years: NCL has been our only upgrade:We usually sail 10-12 days now: This year we chose 7 day Westerdam (over Christmas break) as daughter and grandaughter will be with us as 1st time cruisers: Our TA put us down as (will accept up grade): The following day she called us saying we could be on the list but not our daughter or granddaughter as they( are/will be) 1st time cruisers with Hal.

We simply told her to remove our name from the upgrade list: Our reasoning being we chose this down grade to make things affordable for them; Having not cruised prior , they won't miss something they have not experienced. We have sailed Westerdam before and know it will be an enjoyable time for all four of us....Watching their delight in this new experience is a plus for ( Grandma and Grandpa):

( And if I may brag a bit, granddaughter going into her senior year of college, has a 3.77 GPA. No we can't afford to pay for their cruise but def. will make several of the extras part of her memories:

All I can say is it is unfortunate when Travel Agents make comments like this :o First off there is no specific list :rolleyes: Also it makes no difference one has sailed with HAL or not. I am just shocked when I hear stories like this and actually quite sad. This information is way off.

Do you have a quad cabin or two doubles? IF you have two doubles and the two cabins are linked and you have a common twid number then if there are any upgrade offers neither of you will be made the offer until round two of offers for upsells if you both have the same cabin category. Automatically when ever cabins are linked and are most likely next door to each other they will not just move you. But you can still be offered an Upsell offer to a higher category and if the TA knows HAL she would know the department to call at the right time to see if there will be any upsell offers.

There is so much wrong with what this TA told you, but the number one thing is there is NO List.

[SwissMyst]

...... These upgrades are established through an automated system, which takes into account a variety of factors.

 

Unfortunately, it is not possible to offer a complimentary upgrade to each of our cruising guests and they are being extended randomly, based on category need and for sales purposes and are not based on loyalty days with the company......

 

Translation the way I see it: HAL through various means assesses if it likely the complimentary upgraded passenger will pay more on a later cruise, once they get a taste of an upgraded cabin?

 

Let's say you have paid for a suite in the past, you then might be more likely to get an upgrade because you have future sales potential.

 

And there seems to be a testing of new passengers as well - offering higher level cabins to see it they might also be enticed into regularly paying for a higher level on their own later.

[Kim Fontaine]

I am not doubting what you said.. Just surprised that our TA would tell us this; that the information came from Hal. This is the same TA we have dealt with going on 20 years: We always find the cruise we want plus check flight information pricing.. then go tell her what we want: Years ago twice when we missed the ship, she was so helpful finding us motels before our catch up flights and again in St. Thomas and again in Acapulco: Of course we had bought ins. through her office : Perhaps I will have hubby do a direct call to Hal and inquire: We are all booked. Flights paid for ; Even have our boarding passes; Just waiting on booking pre hotel in FtLD because the cruise isn't until 16th of Dec. I just don't know what to say? Thank you for your import:

[Kim Fontaine]

That should have read (even have our seat assignments ) Not boarding passes: on my previous entry:

[tangerinebunny]

In late May sapete posted about his ship's tour and talked about upgrades. And what he said made a lot of sense:

 

About upgrades—he [the hotel manager] said there is a formula they use for upgrades. It varies cruise to cruise but items considered are number of past cruises and on-board spending, current cabin booking and current availability; all set to maximize revenue. He said the best way to get an upgrade offer is to book the highest highest category in cabin type because the ship is filled top down.

 

Two of the more important phrases may well be - maximize revenue and it varies from cruise to cruise.

[KAKcruiser]

I agree that there is no upgrade list. You merely indicate whether you want to be eligible for an upgrade or not. This is for everyone who makes a reservation. There is no requirement that you must be a past passenger. I don't know why your TA would say this.

[PathfinderEss]

At times there may be information previously provided in the original thread that is still relevant to the current question. In it's guidelines, CC suggests we not to start a thread if it's been previously posted or was my understanding way back when.

 

I just would hesitate to criticize any cruiser for poising a new question on an old thread. Unless of course, it's a smoking thread and they are trying to 'ignite that old butt' again! (joking pretty much ;) )

I understand your point and don't disagree but now we have the situation of CC members complaining why are they bring up all these old threads/versa if they start a new thread why are we going there again. Point well taken, thanks localady.

[GeorgesGal]

Here is anoher related question: we have booked a collectors voyage in the med for this August - 24 days - in the VF category (gty) on suggestion of HAL PCC, and also with our on-line TA. Will HAL assign cabin numbers on the Collectors Voyages earlier than the single cruise (12 day) gtys? By the way, we never booked a gty before, have always chosen our own staterooms in the V, SS and S categories and were very happy doing so. This gty is a new experience for us.

 

Hope someone has some insight here.....

 

Thanks, Donna

[SilvertoGold]

Here is anoher related question: we have booked a collectors voyage in the med for this August - 24 days - in the VF category (gty) on suggestion of HAL PCC' date=' and also with our on-line TA. Will HAL assign cabin numbers on the Collectors Voyages earlier than the single cruise (12 day) gtys? By the way, we never booked a gty before, have always chosen our own staterooms in the V, SS and S categories and were very happy doing so. This gty is a new experience for us.

 

Hope someone has some insight here.....

 

Thanks, Donna[/quote']

 

In our experience a Collectors has 3 sets of cabins: first cruise, second cruise and whole cruise. They seems to assign all more or less on the same schedule, over a period of time. Guaremtees are fun: hope you do well and enjoy the surprise!

[Viesczy]

"...These upgrades are established through an automated system, which takes into account a variety of factors. Unfortunately, it is not possible to offer a complimentary upgrade to each of our cruising guests and they are being extended randomly, based on category need and for sales purposes and are not based on loyalty days with the company..."

 

 

That says it all w/o actually saying it.

 

With the amount of data that they have mined out on us and actuarial tables based on that data (age, gender, location, nationality, buying patterns that have been purchased, politicial & social affliations), I'd bet my hands that the upgrades go to the folks who they feel (based on their program worked out) will be the most free with money first. Corporate decisions are built around driving the greatest profit.

 

Personally we pick our cabin because that is the ONE we want based on location/proximity to everything and our budget. Unless the upgrade was a higher deck in the same general area with just cabins above us, we'd pass on the upgrade.

 

Derek

[SwissMyst]

In our experience a Collectors has 3 sets of cabins: first cruise, second cruise and whole cruise. They seems to assign all more or less on the same schedule, over a period of time. Guaremtees are fun: hope you do well and enjoy the surprise!

 

The Collectors Cruises do make the cabin allocations more of a challenge for whomever makes the final assignments. I noticed HAL assigned our cabin very, very early on our upcoming Oosterdam Collectors Cruise - probably get those out of the way first and then they can assign the segments with what is left over. We usually don't get our cabin assignment until a week or so, this time it was months ahead and we had not even made our final payment.

 

We also did a segment on a Maasdam Collectors back to Back TA cruise and noticed our original assigned cabin was switched at the very last minute, which actually turned out to be a bit of a "downgrade" rather than an upgrade, because it was a cabin that had more late night chair-scraping sounds above it (crew parties in aft bar area?) than any other cabin we had had in the past.

 

My guess (but I don't know) was a Collectors Cruise passenger had been in this noisier cabin asked to be changed halfway through the cruise, and they probably got the cabin originally assigned to them. We got the short straw being only on a single segment of this B2B cruise. It wasn't bad, just not perfect like all our other HAL cabin experiences.

 

So the Upgrade Fairy can also be a party popper as well as Lady Bountiful, and has one heck of job even in the best of circumstances. If she smiles, smile back but realize everyone at any given time is at her mercy good, bad or indifferent. And with enough cruises it all does average out -- she has been exceptionally good to us in the past. We forgive her foibles as much as we appreciate her generosity. She moves in mysterious ways.

[cruz chic]

The Collectors Cruises do make the cabin allocations more of a challenge for whomever makes the final assignments. I noticed HAL assigned our cabin very, very early on our upcoming Oosterdam Collectors Cruise - probably get those out of the way first and then they can assign the segments with what is left over. We usually don't get our cabin assignment until a week or so, this time it was months ahead and we had not even made our final payment.

 

I had the same experience on my Ryndam cruise in Oct 2010. I wonder what will happen with my Nov cruise. Time will tell.

[GeorgesGal]

SwissMyst, do you mean you have already been assigned a cabin for your Oct, 2012 cruise? Or were you not booking a GTY fare? My question is for GTY's, since I know I can pick my own cabin on booking if not using gty.

[cruisinjudy]

They do assign Collector's Cruise cabins earlier so they can offer the same cabin for both cruises.

[GeorgesGal]

Thanks, Judy. I figured they probably would, but guess it's still too early to be assigned - two months out!

[SwissMyst]

SwissMyst' date=' do you mean you have already been assigned a cabin for your Oct, 2012 cruise? Or were you not booking a GTY fare? My question is for GTY's, since I know I can pick my own cabin on booking if not using gty.[/quote']

 

Yes. We were actually assigned a cabin number on our online HAL reservations for this upcoming Collectors Cruise in October. It surprised me too when I saw it so early. But I realize HAL needs to provide for those going on several individual segments first, before they can start sorting out the remaining cabins for the sole segment travelers.

 

On our own, we decided to bump up to one of the SZ/Y Oosterdam suites so now we don't yet have a new cabin number.

[Cruzin Terri]

If you have received what you paid for, you should be happy. If you received more than you paid for, you should be ecstatic. If you received less than you paid for, then you have a right to complain.

Terri

[SilvertoGold]

We have done 3 Collector's in the past year and all were assigned about the same time as the "segments". I know this from the talk on the Roll Calls. They were all assigned between 17 and 12 days out.

[Greysandy]

We paid the final payment on our cruise and noticed that the prices had continued to drop, making the superior suites only $300 more pp for 20 days than the Veranda guarantee we had booked. We told our travel agent to call HAL and tell them we wanted to pay the extra 600 to get into a suite and the next day she called back saying that they had upgraded us at no charge! Woohoo we are excited!! We did two cruises last year and have 2 booked this year, currently 2 star mariners but will probably be 3 stars soon.

 

Sandy