Cabin Bait and Switch by Princess - Watch out for this!

[peggy10]

My husband and I are booked on the Ruby Princess for an Alaskan cruise. At the time of booking we very specifically choose cabin L227 because we like the location, but we said would be open to an upgrade if available. We made final payment and we still had cabin L227.

 

Shortly after final payment, we went to Europe and, while there, our travel agent received an attachment for an "Upsale" offer from Princess to upgrade to a mini-suite for $129.00 per person. Unfortunately our agent was on vacation at the time and another agent forwarded the document to us, unaware that Princess had moved us to an undesirable cabin which is right under the Lido deck. Anyone who cruises and has been stuck on the deck right below the Lido deck, knows it is very noisy. We very specifically avoid this deck. I was unable to open the attachment, so e-mailed the agent and was told it is for an "Upsale". We declined the offer.

 

After returning from our Europe, while printing our boarding passes for this cruise, I discover that we are no longer in the cabin we originally choose (L227) and have been moved to R605. I immediately call our agent as we did not see anything from Princess offering the switch in cabins. The new cabin just appeared in small letters on the "Upsale" document. We believe they made the cabin change to force us to take the "Upsale". After several discussions with Princess, we are now stuck because they consider the room change to be an upgrade. They have offered to move us to a different room for and additional $300!!

 

Bottom line people, if you are offered an "Upsale", check to see if they have moved you to a very undesirable location and then try to squeeze more money from you by offering an upgrade.

 

We have 84 days cruising with Princess and we are extremely unhappy.

[Working 2 Cruise]

No. 1, it was not an upsell. An upsell offer requires you to pay additional money towards an upgrade.

 

You were hoping for an upgrade and, as such, marked your booking accordingly, which allows the cruise line to upgrade you to a cabin of their choosing for no additional costs to you.

 

You have learned the lesson that if you want a specific cabin, mark your cabin "no upgrade."

 

You have 84 days on Princess, you should have known the basics of booking by now.

[Maraprince]

When "asking" for an upgrade, you take your chances. We know from experience that what we consider an upgrade is not necessarily what Princess or any other cruise line considers an upgrade -- based solely on category and not cabin location.

 

If you want to keep your cabin assigned, make sure your TA marks "no upgrade" on your reservation. Or, if you don't care about cabin location, book a "guarantee" and you may even get a "free" upgrade.

 

MARAPRINCE

Edited July 3, 2015 by Maraprince

[paul929207]

When you mark you reservation to accept an upgrade, Princess can do it and they did. You may not think the new cabin is an upgrade, but it is in a higher category than the original, so it is an upgrade. Sorry, you gambled and lost.

[Potstech]

Do not see any bait and switch at all. zyou said you would take an upgrade if available. Princess by their terms of agreement upgraded you to a higher catagory of cabin. Nowhere does it say they need your wpproval after YOU indicated your desires. Another first time poster wanting to complain when they get what they asked for.

 

If you want a particular cabin then reserve it and not look for freebies. We always get a cabin we want and mark it NO UPGRADES.

[skynight]

Don't quite understand your reasoning, but do understand your frustration. This is not a bait & switch as you seem to think. Princess always has the right to move a passenger to a stateroom of equal or higher category. It's in the passage contract. You were moved from a cat. BF balcony, L227, to a cat. BC balcony, R605, a 3 cat. upgrade. Did you get charged $129pp for this move? If you did then your T.A. did not understand your directions, or accepted an upsell on your behalf. If you did not get charged then Princess is within its right as well as within its normal practice to upgrade you. If you do not wish to have an upgrade then you have to have your T.A. mark your booking 'no upgrade.' If not marked the default is that you wish to have an upgrade. I noticed you have 95 days on Princess so you should know the ins and outs of booking.

 

I personally believe that cabin R605 is in a nice location and being under a seating area of the Horizon Ct. should not be an issue. You should have no problem enjoying your cruise.

Edited July 3, 2015 by sknight

[Kamloops50]

What you got was a complimentary upgrade not an upsell. With an upsell you have to call Princess . They will give you a choice of cabins avaiable for the upsell. Your contract allows Princess to move you to better cabin (?) at their discretion. You should have your TA mark "No Complimentary Upgrade".

Riviera deck doesn't have mini-suites on it . Mini suites are only located on Dolphin deck which is sandwiched between to decks of cabins.

Edited July 3, 2015 by Kamloops50

[CI66774]

OP - I'm bewildered by your post. You wanted an upgrade (not an upsell - that's when you pay) and you got it. There's no "bait and switch" here. Quite frankly, it's your fault. Next time mark your reservation "no upgrade." You have no one to blame but yourself, I'm afraid. Enjoy your cruise.

[MCC retired]

Op marked their booking as available for a free upgrade , which is what they received .

Princess did just what they wished .

 

Bad Post title :mad:!

[partybarbie]

This is basic booking 101. You either mark your cabin "no upgrade" or take whatever they give you.

[Yensidlove]

This is basic booking 101. You either mark your cabin "no upgrade" or take whatever they give you.

 

Hello, perhaps off OP's topic, but I've searched and don't seem to find where in the Personalizer that I can mark our cabin for "NO upgrade". If this is where we mark it, please let me know how you've done this, or should we place a call Princess?? (yes, we booked direct with Princess online) Thank you.

[Kamloops50]

Hello, perhaps off OP's topic, but I've searched and don't seem to find where in the Personalizer that I can mark our cabin for "NO upgrade". If this is where we mark it, please let me know how you've done this, or should we place a call Princess?? (yes, we booked direct with Princess online) Thank you.

 

You'll have to call Princess direct for that . I have a Princess PVP that I use all the time. He knows to always mark "No Upgrade " unless I ask him allow upgrades.

[Yensidlove]

You'll have to call Princess direct for that . I have a Princess PVP that I use all the time. He knows to always mark "No Upgrade " unless I ask him allow upgrades.

 

Ok, will do. Thank you!

[Loonbeam]

As always, its important to note that No Upgrade markings are a request, not a guarantee. Marking yourself no upgrade means you are last to be considered if the yield management software needs to make changes.

 

It happens rarely, but there is always the chance you will be moved anyway.

[peggy10]

My husband and I are booked on the Ruby Princess for an Alaskan cruise. At the time of booking we very specifically choose cabin L227 because we like the location, but we said would be open to an upgrade if available. We made final payment and we still had cabin L227.

 

Shortly after final payment, we went to Europe and, while there, our travel agent received an attachment for an "Upsale" offer from Princess to upgrade to a mini-suite for $129.00 per person. Unfortunately our agent was on vacation at the time and another agent forwarded the document to us, unaware that Princess had moved us to an undesirable cabin which is right under the Lido deck. Anyone who cruises and has been stuck on the deck right below the Lido deck, knows it is very noisy. We very specifically avoid this deck.

 

I was unable to open the attachment, so e-mailed the agent and was told it is for an "Upsale". We declined the offer.

 

After returning from our Europe, while printing our boarding passes for this cruise, I discover that we are no longer in the cabin we originally choose (L227) and have been moved to R605. I immediately call our agent as we did not see anything from Princess offering the switch in cabins. The new cabin just appeared in small letters on the "Upsale" document. We believe they made the cabin change to force us to take the "Upsale". After several discussions with Princess, we are now stuck because they consider the room change to be an upgrade. They have offered to move us to a different room for and additional $300!!

 

Bottom line people, if you are offered an "Upsale", check to see if they have moved you to a very undesirable location and then try to squeeze more money from you by offering an upgrade.

 

We have 84 days cruising with Princess and we are extremely unhappy.

[RDC1]

I suspect that Princess would consider that to have been an upgrade from your original BF category to a BC category.

 

Once you left your reservation marked open to upgrade you opened the door for such changes. At that point it is up to you or your TA to stay on top of things to prevent an unacceptable upgrade.

 

Princess will send notification to passengers or to the TA when such a change is made. Did your TA get such a notification? You have a period of time (48 hours I believe) to stop the change and get your room back. If your TA had notified Princess during that time they could have blocked the change.

 

Basically the responsibility lies with you or your TA since you said you were open to an upgrade.

Edited July 3, 2015 by RDC1

[Toddy709]

If you agree to an "upgrade" then this is what can happen on any cruise line. If you are very particular about your cabin choice, you need to have your booking marked "no upgrade".

 

I hope you can put this incident behind you before your cruise begins and that you have a wonderful time.

[donaldsc]

This is the definition of bait-and-switch -

 

"DEFINITION of 'Bait And Switch' A dishonest marketing tactic in which a marketer advertises a very attractive price/rate/term that is really a teaser rate meant to attract customers."

 

I do not see where your problem falls in this category.

 

BTW - did you mark your reservation as "do not move"?

 

DON

[ggprincess2004]

You need to have your booking marked "no upgrade", or if you are just trying to avoid Riviera deck and would be happy with a mini-suite or higher, have the booking marked "Meta-upgrade" only. Your travel agent should have told you this when you booked if you picked the cabin specifically since you did not wish a higher category of balcony anywhere else.

[ggprincess2004]

See my answer to you on the other thread you started with an identical post. It was not a bait and switch, it was a free upgrade.....damn that upgrade fairy.

[Colo Cruiser]

Your TA plays a big part in this.

If you liked your cabin and location you should have marked it accordingly.

 

Princess has sure been doing a lot of Bait and Switch lately. :rolleyes:

Edited July 3, 2015 by Colo Cruiser

[Colo Cruiser]

Huh! Same answer the second time.....

 

Your TA plays a big part in this.

If you liked your cabin and location you should have marked it accordingly.

 

Princess has sure been doing a lot of Bait and Switch lately.

[AKman2495]

Your TA plays a big part in this.

If you liked your cabin and location you should have marked it accordingly.

 

Princess has sure been doing a lot of Bait and Switch lately. :rolleyes:

The OP said they were open to upgrades. It is not "bait and switch" to get an upgrade in category.

 

They fact they were not pleased is not Princess' fault. With asking for upgrades the rule is be careful what you ask for.....

[RDC1]

As always, its important to note that No Upgrade markings are a request, not a guarantee. Marking yourself no upgrade means you are last to be considered if the yield management software needs to make changes.

 

It happens rarely, but there is always the chance you will be moved anyway.

 

According to Princess, even when that happens you can you room back if you contact them within 48 hours. There are a couple of exceptions (two people is a 4 person room, non-handicapped in a handicapped cabin, cabin taken out of service for maintenance or other operational reasons).

[Iamcruzin]

This would be the time when a TA goes to bat for you as many here have claimed ,one the the reasons to book through a TA and not direct. To me an upgrade is different than an up sale. A true upgrade would not cost you anything. Had this been the case you wouldn't have a leg to stand on. So while others here condemn you for not marking your booking no upgrade in reality you were up sold not upgraded. To me there is a difference. Perhaps there should be a way to mark your booking no up sale. Let's see if your TA can fix this. I hope you received a decent discount or OBC from your TA that will make this problem worth it.

Edited July 3, 2015 by Iamcruzin