Paying extra to upgrade to a higher category after final payment

[D4]

We've taken 10 cruises on other cruise lines, but are booked on our first Princess cruise.

 

We booked a inside (category I) about 6 months ago for a cruise and I paid it off when the final payment was due. I see there are balconies (category BC and BD) and outsides still available and of course the price has dropped from what they cost when we first bought our cruise. Now the balcony only costs about $400 more for the whole cabin than what we paid for the whole inside cabin. I called my TA and asked if we could pay the difference to upgrade to a balcony. She called Princess and they said no, we'd have to pay almost $800 which is about how much extra it cost back when we booked the inside.

 

Does her response sound correct? I'm really surprised at this. Since the cruise is getting close and there are balconies still available, I thought Princess would be glad to take our money rather than end up upgrading for free other people that bought a guarantee for a lesser category cabin. Any thoughts?

[Coral]

This doesn't surprise me. The new rates for the balcony cabins are for "new bookings only".

 

I understand your frustration because I have been there also. I would have your TA put pressure on a supervisor - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Have your TA say that you cruise a lot, you are new to Princess and this is not a good first impression. Sometimes a supervisor is nice and will do something about it, othertimes, they don't.

[spongerob]

Go ahead and ask since it never hurts to do so, but don't be surprised if you stay where you are. There are some good business reasons for the refusal, not that they would make you happy. I won't go into the reasons unless you're really, really interested to hear them.

[tomcarson]

I also would ask for a supervisor but as SpongeRob said, don't expect a yes. Cruise lines have to stay financially profitable and this is their way of doing so.

[Toto2Kansas]

You will be able to upgrade, but with the new booking rates, I wouldn't count on it. With Princess, they are for 'new bookings only' most of the time. It never hurts to check, but as said, don't count on it unless you want to pay a higher price then what you are seeing offered for the new bookings.

[cruisnfool]

I too wish they did upgrades like RCI.....I bet they make a ton of money on sailing day with all the cabin changes.

[Coral]

I too wish they did upgrades like RCI.....I bet they make a ton of money on sailing day with all the cabin changes.

 

I actually prefer how Princess does it. I have benefited by being upgraded to some very nice suites, complimentary, on Princess.

[Tak8]

I agree with Coral. I like the Princess way. I received a complimentary move up from an AD to a VS.

I also could see how Princess might have a lot of people trying to move up and that can be time consuming. It's like seeing an item you bought on sale a month or two later. You may be a little upset that it's now cheaper, but that's part of the consumer world.

[Murphey]

We have been in this situation ourselves a couple of times. It makes it hard to know when to book. You want to nail down a cruise, however, the pricing can change after final payment when they start to do their "flash promos". I just made final payment on a cruise and if the prices start to drop, (as they did this spring with our Alaska cruise), I'll be unhappy. You are kind of penalized for booking early sometimes. BTW, we haven't seen the upgrade fairy in years :p !!

[spongerob]

And in contrast to Murphey, we've watched the price of our upcoming cruise go up and up and up since we booked. Even the promos for late cancellations were more than what we paid, and for lower category cabins.

 

Allowing people to buy upgrades at the reduced price lowers the value of higher-yield cabins. Kind of like RCI, where people book the lower cabins and try to upgrade at the pier on the cheap - those high-end cabins might not yield as well as they could if the pricing policy were different. There are pros and cons to the Princess policy, but it makes good business sense.

[MizzouMary]

We've taken 10 cruises on other cruise lines, but are booked on our first Princess cruise.

 

We booked a inside (category I) about 6 months ago for a cruise and I paid it off when the final payment was due. I see there are balconies (category BC and BD) and outsides still available and of course the price has dropped from what they cost when we first bought our cruise. Now the balcony only costs about $400 more for the whole cabin than what we paid for the whole inside cabin. I called my TA and asked if we could pay the difference to upgrade to a balcony. She called Princess and they said no, we'd have to pay almost $800 which is about how much extra it cost back when we booked the inside.

 

Does her response sound correct? I'm really surprised at this. Since the cruise is getting close and there are balconies still available, I thought Princess would be glad to take our money rather than end up upgrading for free other people that bought a guarantee for a lesser category cabin. Any thoughts?

 

I had the same experience today. We booked an inside cabin with a internet agency (who I have booked the last three cruises through) and paid for it in full at the time of booking since it was within 70 days of sailing.

 

When I contacted the travel agency today and asked if I could purchase an upgrade to a balcony at the price listed on their website (which would have been $368 total for both of us), I was told sure and the agent called Princess. She called me back and stated they could not give me that price since it is a flash promotion for new customers only. I could not cancel and rebook since I would have to pay a 75% cancellation fee plus the agency fee.

 

The price listed on the internet agency's website has been holding steady at the same price for weeks. The price she quoted me was an additional $311 from the price listed on the internet. She said Princess would not give me the lower price, not them. There is nothing listed on their website stating the prices listed are a "flash promotion". This seems like false advertising to me. I have upgraded before using the same agency, so I guess this is a Princess policy?? This is our first cruise with Princess. Carnival allowed us to upgrade at the current price in the past.

[CruisenChic]

Is the Princess policy the same if you upgrade when you get to the pier? In the past we have waited until we were boarding to see if there were any higher catagory cabins availiable on cruise day and have gotten some great deals. This was on Celebrity and Carnival.

[spongerob]

Princess does NOT do upgrades at the pier or at the guest services desk, for the same reasons that they do not normally allow people to take advantage of promotions after final payments have been sent in.

[2bcrewzn]

I just upgraded after final payment. My final payment was made ( I booked with online TA) on July 15th and I wanted to upgrade to a mini suite from a cat AA balcony, so I called the online TA and they called princess, at first i was quoted a much higher price than the online TA web price was showing so I told Princess no way, but I called back the online TA and spoke to my personal TA and she gave me the upgrade with the lower price that was listed on the website and Princess okayed it, I do not understand why they won't let you upgrade your room at the current low price. We have upgraded our staterooms so many times after final payment and never had a problem with getting the lower price. This was the only time (yesterday Princess giving us a much higher price on my 1st phone call to the TA) I had to call back and then there was not any problem. So I would try calling back again, did book with TA or Princess?

[Coral]

I just upgraded after final payment. My final payment was made ( I booked with online TA) on July 15th and I wanted to upgrade to a mini suite from a cat AA balcony, so I called the online TA and they called princess, at first i was quoted a much higher price than the online TA web price was showing so I told Princess no way, but I called back the online TA and spoke to my personal TA and she gave me the upgrade with the lower price that was listed on the website and Princess okayed it, I do not understand why they won't let you upgrade your room at the current low price. We have upgraded our staterooms so many times after final payment and never had a problem with getting the lower price. This was the only time (yesterday Princess giving us a much higher price on my 1st phone call to the TA) I had to call back and then there was not any problem. So I would try calling back again, did book with TA or Princess?

 

There are a lot of different fares - it is possible that the first person was trying to get a paid upgrade to a "Flash Fare" which is available for new bookings only and you were trying to upgrade to just a reduced fare that wasn't labeled as a "flash fare". There are a lot of variables here.

[Coral]

Is the Princess policy the same if you upgrade when you get to the pier? In the past we have waited until we were boarding to see if there were any higher catagory cabins availiable on cruise day and have gotten some great deals. This was on Celebrity and Carnival.

 

Princess doesn't do this.

[MizzouMary]

I just upgraded after final payment. My final payment was made ( I booked with online TA) on July 15th and I wanted to upgrade to a mini suite from a cat AA balcony, so I called the online TA and they called princess, at first i was quoted a much higher price than the online TA web price was showing so I told Princess no way, but I called back the online TA and spoke to my personal TA and she gave me the upgrade with the lower price that was listed on the website and Princess okayed it, I do not understand why they won't let you upgrade your room at the current low price. We have upgraded our staterooms so many times after final payment and never had a problem with getting the lower price. This was the only time (yesterday Princess giving us a much higher price on my 1st phone call to the TA) I had to call back and then there was not any problem. So I would try calling back again, did book with TA or Princess?

 

I booked with an on-line agency. I am curious which agency you used. Would you please e-mail me the name at: mfinn@kc.rr.com?

 

Maybe I should change who I book through.

 

Thanks!

[MizzouMary]

2bcrewzn,I received your e-mail. Thanks!

 

How funny, I actually have booked my last four cruises through the same internet agency. The first two were on-line and the last two were with an agent there. I agree, their prices usually can't be beat and they offer additional incentives to book with them. I was always very happy with them up until this last booking with Princess.

When I booked the cruise, their website stated we would get $100 shipboard credit for the 9/3 booking. I actually made a print screen copy of the offer so I would have proof. After I booked, the agent told me that this date is not eligible because the rate is a "flash promotion". The same rate was available with the on-board credit for several weeks and if it was not eligible, you would have thought they would have removed it. She then told me that their website needed to be updated. The next day, the offer was no longer there. That really made us mad. To me, that seems like a bait and switch tactic.

Then, when I gave the agent my debit card information to pay the balance on the cruise, she gave Princess the wrong exp. date and they charged the full amount and when it was declined because of the wrong date, they then charged different amounts thinking that was the problem until she decided to look up our past booking and realized the month she was giving them was different. Our bank ended up holding an extra $300 for two weeks because of her mistake and we got several overdrafts and charges as a result.

We then wanted to upgrade on the Princess cruise last week to a balcony cabin from an inside because the price on their website was very low and had not changed for several weeks. When I called to upgrade, she told me she could do it and then called Princess and was told no, she couldn't unless we wanted to pay $300 over the price listed on their website. I know this is not her fault, but on top of everything else we have experienced, it really disappointed us.

The other thing I do not like about this agency is that you cannot cancel without paying a cancellation fee. With another on-line agency for instance, they have no cancellation fees. We actually booked two Cruise Critic group cruises through them and had to cancel and they didn't charge anything. They were very nice. They only pass on the cruiseline fees which are only incurred after the final balance is paid. So, if you decide after booking the cruise that you can't go, they don't charge a thing and refund your deposit within days. This is a huge selling point since sometimes we book 8-12 months or longer in advance in order to take advantage of lower prices. They will match any price as well. So, we may be going over to them for our next cruise.

I don't mean to bash this on-line agency, I am just explaining what happened to us on our last booking. When I booked on-line for the first two cruises, I didn't have any trouble at all and told everyone how great they are. I dealt with one of their the internet agents several times over the phone and through e-mail and she is excellent!

Thanks again for sharing your agent info. with us. I really appreciate it!