Unwanted upgrade vent and question

[Lynda S]

Hmmm, a few hours after I was reading this post at lunch yesterday, my agent called and told me we had been upgraded from E721 (very carefully picked out by us) on the Grand on our Sept 2014 cruise to D703 - the exact same type of suite but with the uncovered balcony.

 

I immediately said no as we chose that cabin on purpose & for a reason. He said he would try, but could not guarantee as per the notice at the bottom:

'please notify us within 48 hours if you choose to decline this complimentary upgrade so that we can attempt to return you to your original cabin.'

 

Attempt to return? I never asked for this and after 12 cruises (3 with Princess) I had NO IDEA you had to mark a hand-picked cabin booked 8 months in advance as 'do not upgrade'. I always thought the nice way to play this game was the early bird got the worm. I guess not. I spent a few weeks researching our cabin for this cruise and now all that time has been wasted. I am really disappointed.

 

As I am the 3rd poster on this thread that this has been switched from the Emerald deck suites (covered balconies) to the Dolphin deck suites (uncovered balconies) it looks as though this has become a trend.

 

This happened on the day after our final payment by the way. A coincidence?

[shredie]

It has a kind of bait-and-switch flavor to it, IMO. The cabin I booked is an aft balcony, not always east to get. They wanted to move me to Caribe balcony midship, which is technically an upgrade. While all of this was going on, I kept checking my aft balcony and it was available for sale. The "new" one was listed as sold. I wonder how many times they sold that aft balcony before someone complained? They sent me the email about the upgrade late on Friday so I could do nothing about it. I emailed them three times after that, and I talked to a Princess representative about it on the phone on Saturday. Her response was "closed, sorry, but I'll leave a note." Monday I called and this representative put me on hold forever before returning to tell me (in a flat monotone) "They said they would do it today or tomorrow." When it didn't happen, I called again on Tuesday. This representative asked me "When did they fill out the form?" I told her I had no idea what form she was talking about. So she put me on hold, and then came back to say the original cabin had been restored. Then she gave me the lecture about how I should ask for no upgrade, etc. She says she marked this one no upgrade. So is it now Princess practice to offer attractive cabins and then do a technical upgrade so they can sell the attractive cabin multiple times? I am so disgusted with them right now. BTW, I haven't made the final payment yet.

Edited July 1, 2014 by shredie

[TracieABD]

With all due respect, I think "attractive" is in the eye of the beholder. My husband is not a fan of aft or bow cabins. My mother does not like aft cabins, but likes bow cabins. Me? I don't really care. I just want to be on the ship! (Though, with all honesty, watching the wake is not really my thing).

 

When we were offered our recent upgrade from midship MA to a suite, my TA actually chose an aft Vista for us. I asked for a midship PH, as I knew that is what my husband would like (and seeing as I don't really care...).

 

Position on the ship is really a matter of personal preference.

 

I guess the moral of the story is- If you like the cabin you booked, mark it "no upgrade"!

[Bookworm1971]

It has a kind of bait-and-switch flavor to it, IMO. The cabin I booked is an aft balcony, not always east to get. They wanted to move me to Caribe balcony midship, which is technically an upgrade. While all of this was going on, I kept checking my aft balcony and it was available for sale. The "new" one was listed as sold. I wonder how many times they sold that aft balcony before someone complained? They sent me the email about the upgrade late on Friday so I could do nothing about it. I emailed them three times after that, and I talked to a Princess representative about it on the phone on Saturday. Her response was "closed, sorry, but I'll leave a note." Monday I called and this representative put me on hold forever before returning to tell me (in a flat monotone) "They said they would do it today or tomorrow." When it didn't happen, I called again on Tuesday. This representative asked me "When did they fill out the form?" I told her I had no idea what form she was talking about. So she put me on hold, and then came back to say the original cabin had been restored. Then she gave me the lecture about how I should ask for no upgrade, etc. She says she marked this one no upgrade. So is it now Princess practice to offer attractive cabins and then do a technical upgrade so they can sell the attractive cabin multiple times? I am so disgusted with them right now. BTW, I haven't made the final payment yet.

 

The lecture about marking it no upgrade would irritate me to no end. We picked out the cabin we wanted in September 2013 for a March 2015 cruise. If I had let them chose the cabin when I made the original booking then fine, upgrade away and I wouldn't have a problem with it but we did a lot of research into what we wanted and booked accordingly.

 

I still haven't heard if they've moved us back to our original cabin. The "upgrade" is still showing on the cruise personalizer and our original cabin is showing available when you do a new booking. I'm debating calling again this afternoon since the agent told me I should see the change today.

[shredie]

With all due respect, I think "attractive" is in the eye of the beholder.

Of course it is, but if you do a poll here on CC, you'll find there are many (and more) fans of the aft balcony. This isn't some turkey they have to try to unload on people.

I guess the moral of the story is- If you like the cabin you booked, mark it "no upgrade"!

 

It is the moral of the story but it shouldn't have to be. Nowhere in the selection process do they tell you to mark you want no upgrade or else the cabin you chose is not necessarily yours. It's a lousy way to do business.

 

Bookworm: call again. The change just showed up in my personalizer, but it took three calls to get it there.

Edited July 1, 2014 by shredie

[cdngrl]

its not something they should have to 'work on' or something that should take a few days. I have switched cabins and it shows up immediately in my personalizer when its done.

 

the eye of this beholder would love a Caribe mid-ship over an aft wake any day. I do agree that there should be somewhere visible for us to make the decision to mark it updrade or no.

[Cruise Junky]

The lecture about marking it no upgrade would irritate me to no end. We picked out the cabin we wanted in September 2013 for a March 2015 cruise. If I had let them chose the cabin when I made the original booking then fine, upgrade away and I wouldn't have a problem with it but we did a lot of research into what we wanted and booked accordingly.

 

I still haven't heard if they've moved us back to our original cabin. The "upgrade" is still showing on the cruise personalizer and our original cabin is showing available when you do a new booking. I'm debating calling again this afternoon since the agent told me I should see the change today.

 

 

Waves at Lisa :). Good luck, I hope you get your cabin back.

[Bill B]

Marking a booking 'No Upgrade' is no guarantee you won't be upgraded - they do it all the time.

[Dreamer333]

I also get really peeved with people who park in the handicapped spaces. It's a total bummer to NEED a HC parking space and find that some jerk has parked there "for just a few minutes" or whatever because they are too damn lazy to walk a little bit farther. I actually met a guy in the VA hospital who would just park behind the vehicle, call the cops, and then refuse to move his van until the person was issued a ticket.

 

Good for him!!!! I DESPISE people who park in handicap spaces (who don't need it). I feel those of us who are fortunate enough to NOT need a handicap space should be grateful we can walk across the entire parking lot!

[Dreamer333]

Marking a booking 'No Upgrade' is no guarantee you won't be upgraded - they do it all the time.

 

In my past experience, I've never been moved when I've been marked "no upgrades"... I've received OFFERS, but never moved.

 

On one cruise during the check in process, they told me they had upgraded us, which I was happy about (we had NOT marked no upgrade), and it turned out our upgrade was a handicap accessible room. I was surprised that nobody else needed it, but apparently they didn't since it was literally a last minute change. I did enjoy the extra space.

[shredie]

This is all pretty ironic when you think about all the people who are always asking if it's possible to get an upgrade and we tell them they call it the upgrade fairy for a reason, don't hold your breath, etc. It looks like maybe the secret to it all is to find a cabin you really really want and then fail to mark no upgrade. :p

 

In defense of my beloved aft balcony :), on most ships there are fewer than 10 of them that aren't suites. On the Golden, there are six or seven. The remainder of the aft balconies are suites. The law of supply and demand makes an aft balcony attractive to someone who wants one. If those aft balconies are not attractive, why are so many of them suites? (And, as Thrak just reminded me, the price is "premium balcony.")

Edited July 1, 2014 by shredie

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

Hmmm, a few hours after I was reading this post at lunch yesterday, my agent called and told me we had been upgraded from E721 (very carefully picked out by us) on the Grand on our Sept 2014 cruise to D703 - the exact same type of suite but with the uncovered balcony.

 

I immediately said no as we chose that cabin on purpose & for a reason. He said he would try, but could not guarantee as per the notice at the bottom:

'please notify us within 48 hours if you choose to decline this complimentary upgrade so that we can attempt to return you to your original cabin.'

 

Attempt to return? I never asked for this and after 12 cruises (3 with Princess) I had NO IDEA you had to mark a hand-picked cabin booked 8 months in advance as 'do not upgrade'. I always thought the nice way to play this game was the early bird got the worm. I guess not. I spent a few weeks researching our cabin for this cruise and now all that time has been wasted. I am really disappointed.

 

As I am the 3rd poster on this thread that this has been switched from the Emerald deck suites (covered balconies) to the Dolphin deck suites (uncovered balconies) it looks as though this has become a trend.

 

This happened on the day after our final payment by the way. A coincidence?

 

We always book the minis on the Emerald Deck of the grand class ships and always mark them as do not upgrade for this very reason. Princess has these as the lowest category minis and that makes them a prime cabin for upgrade. We think they are the best minis due to the covered balcony.

[Bookworm1971]

OP here again. I called Princess back and the very helpful agent wound up putting us back into our original cabin under a current promotion which includes OBC and saved us $200. Yay.

 

At the beginning of the call I told the agent that I had spoken to someone yesterday to decline the upgrade but hadn't heard anything. She confirmed the request had been sent. I told her I was concerned that as our original cabin was showing available for booking on the website it might get booked before we were switched back. When I mentioned that she put me on hold and spoke to another department. That's when she came back with rebooking under the current promotion solution.

 

And yes, I made sure to mention adding no upgrade to our booking. :)

 

All in all I'm happy with how it was handled. The agent today far exceeded my expectations.

[cdngrl]

bookworm1971, I love a happy ending and a happy customer. I'm glad for you!

[TracieABD]

OP here again. I called Princess back and the very helpful agent wound up putting us back into our original cabin under a current promotion which includes OBC and saved us $200. Yay.

 

At the beginning of the call I told the agent that I had spoken to someone yesterday to decline the upgrade but hadn't heard anything. She confirmed the request had been sent. I told her I was concerned that as our original cabin was showing available for booking on the website it might get booked before we were switched back. When I mentioned that she put me on hold and spoke to another department. That's when she came back with rebooking under the current promotion solution.

 

And yes, I made sure to mention adding no upgrade to our booking. :)

 

All in all I'm happy with how it was handled. The agent today far exceeded my expectations.

 

I am glad that you were able to get your original cabin back. It is always nice to hear a good customer service story. Thank you for keeping us posted.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

...I talked to a Princess representative about it on the phone on Saturday. Her response was "closed, sorry, but I'll leave a note." Monday I called and this representative put me on hold forever before returning to tell me (in a flat monotone) "They said they would do it today or tomorrow." When it didn't happen, I called again on Tuesday. This representative asked me "When did they fill out the form?" I told her I had no idea what form she was talking about....

 

What I was told, when I called Princess about an unwanted upgrade recently, was that the phone reps can only move you to another cabin in the same category and deck as the upgrade. She said she could not get me my old cabin back herself.

 

The phone rep said that to get my old cabin back, she had to fill out a form for a dispatcher who would notify me within 72(!) hours if it could be done. I was also told that dispatchers do not speak directly with the public, and they do the moving around of cabins. I then asked who calls with upsell offers? She said that is done by Sales, a different department.

 

To get the cabin back I wanted, without running the risk of it being sold to someone else in the meantime, I cancelled my original booking with the phone rep and rebooked online. Fortunately I was before final payment, and fares were unchanged since I originally booked. I then called back and asked the rep to mark the new booking "no upgrade". She had no idea what a "meta" upgrade was, so I left it at that.

 

Not a user friendly system, to say the least...

Edited July 2, 2014 by Ryndam2002

[shredie]

 

Not a user friendly system, to say the least...

 

Amen. Bookworm, yay for you!

[caribill]

It is the moral of the story but it shouldn't have to be. Nowhere in the selection process do they tell you to mark you want no upgrade or else the cabin you chose is not necessarily yours. It's a lousy way to do business.

 

 

Every time I have booked either directly with Princess or with a TA I have been asked if I would accept an upgrade during the booking process.

[shredie]

Every time I have booked either directly with Princess or with a TA I have been asked if I would accept an upgrade during the booking process.

 

There is no box to tick when booking online. It requires a phone call to a representative. Which I now know from everyone here--not from the Princess web site. There is room for improvement there.

[cdngrl]

There is no box to tick when booking online. It requires a phone call to a representative. Which I now know from everyone here--not from the Princess web site. There is room for improvement there.

 

I agree. I'd also like to be able to order onboard credits and gifts and book pre- and post-cruise transfers on line and not have to call in.

[Lynda S]

I just wanted to let everyone know that Princess was able to get our cabin back for us - we are really pleased that they did!

[SoCal Cruiser78]

I just wanted to let everyone know that Princess was able to get our cabin back for us - we are really pleased that they did!

 

Glad it worked out!

[BEAV]

About a month ago I booked us on two cruises, one in October, the other in November. No, we're not taking them both, but when I booked I wasn't sure which one we could take based on a variety of reasons. So I booked/deposited them both!

 

On both voyages, we booked ME mini-suites on Emerald deck for the very reason so many others do (covered balconies) vs. non-covered minis on Dolphin deck.

 

Today, we decided to stick with the November voyage and cancel the one in October. As I was preparing to email the TA with instructions which one to cancel, which one to keep, etc, I looked up both booking on line on Princess website. To my surprise, our October sailing had been "upgraded" (downgraded IMO!) from ME on Emerald to MB on Dolphin. Thankfully, this is the voyage we are cancelling and our ME Emerald mini in November has remained untouched (so far). So in that email to the TA I told her to have Princess mark the November sailing as "do not upgrade" to keep my coveted ME on Emerald.

 

Lesson learned........

Edited July 9, 2014 by BEAV

[BEAV]

Forgot to state I never received any notification of cabin change, so I have no idea if it happened 10 hours or 10 days ago. And I was in E729, the aft-most mini with the larger balcony. I just checked that sailing, and although E729 isn't available, there are still 5 available minis on Emerald, yet they "upgraded" us to Dolphin (MB). Glad we decided not to follow through with this voyage, because I really would have been ticked had we not been able to get E729 back again.

Edited July 9, 2014 by BEAV

[Bucky3]

Perhaps this suggestion will help some of those who receive "upgrades" that are unwanted. Before begging for your original cabin back, If you are offered an upgrade in a category that you would like but do not like the location, check the website to see if there are other cabins available in your upgraded category that are in a satisfactory location and ask for one of those.

 

Example: Our daughter and family - three people - booked a midship mini and had it marked "no upgrade." When she went to fill in the personalizer, she noticed their cabin had been changed to an aft (looking over the wake) suite. She checked the website, noticed there were midship suites available (same category as the aft). She called and was able to change to the midship suite! Now they are really spoiled with all those sweet suite perks!!

 

I really believe that Princess tries hard to satisfy, so working with them to solve problems sometimes turns out for the best.

Edited July 9, 2014 by Bucky3