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

[AE_Collector]

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

 

Once again here on CC, had the OP put the words Bait and Switch in the search box rather than in a (two actually) new topic title, at least one other recent similar aqusation on here would have quickly been located without the need to do this all again.

 

Maybe Princess will settle out of court for the slander by upgrading again this time to an Inside cabin.

 

Terry

[Colo Cruiser]

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.....

 

 

 

I was making light of the bait and switch comment.

[Colo Cruiser]

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).

 

 

That would be nice but most that have posted here have never been able to get their room back.

[RDC1]

That would be nice but most that have posted here have never been able to get their room back.

 

Most have not tried within the 48 hour window.

 

I called within 12 hours on the change and that is when they told me that I would get my room back because it was within the 48 hours.

 

Another time I called and was told the same thing, only did not get it back because it was removed from inventory. End up with a balcony instead of my original inside. That one was marked do not upgrade.

[Loonbeam]

That's the likely outcome, but no guarantees. All depends on why the switch was made.

 

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).

[Colo Cruiser]

Most have not tried within the 48 hour window.

 

I called within 12 hours on the change and that is when they told me that I would get my room back because it was within the 48 hours.

 

Another time I called and was told the same thing, only did not get it back because it was removed from inventory. End up with a balcony instead of my original inside. That one was marked do not upgrade.

 

 

Most don't even get the message until long after the 48 hours. ;)

Ball being dropped by the TA.

Edited July 3, 2015 by Colo Cruiser

[AKman2495]

The OP obviously doesn't understand what "Bait & Switch" really is.

 

In B&S, Princess would offer you a suite for say 70% off and when you were at the dock checking in you would find they put you into an inside room.

 

See...that's bait (suite) and switch (inside).

 

The OP booked room and s said "open to upgrade". They gave the OP and upgrade that they didn't like. They did not move fast enough to reject the offer and are now stuck with it.

 

No bait & switch there....

[Colo Cruiser]

Once again here on CC, had the OP put the words Bait and Switch in the search box rather than in a (two actually) new topic title, at least one other recent similar aqusation on here would have quickly been located without the need to do this all again.

 

Maybe Princess will settle out of court for the slander by upgrading again this time to an Inside cabin.

 

Terry

 

 

Yes! An out of court settlement would be best for everyone involved.

[shredie]

Sounds like a TA issue to me...

[bananavan]

I almost had a similar experience on Cunard last month. I booked a wonderful oveanview cabin and INSISTED that I did not want to be upgraded. I told this to the Cunard agent when I booked and also to the TA to whom I transferred it.

I received an email telling me that my "waitlist" request had been granted and now I was in a balcony cabin which has a lifeboat DIRECTLY in front of it.

It took about an hour to fix. I was not too happy as I believed that once you mark a reservation, NO UPGRADE, DO NOT MOVE, you were going to stay in the original cabin. I have no idea where the "waitlist" request originated.

I realize that none of that is the case here though.

[Colo Cruiser]

I almost had a similar experience on Cunard last month. I booked a wonderful oveanview cabin and INSISTED that I did not want to be upgraded. I told this to the Cunard agent when I booked and also to the TA to whom I transferred it.

I received an email telling me that my "waitlist" request had been granted and now I was in a balcony cabin which has a lifeboat DIRECTLY in front of it.

It took about an hour to fix. I was not too happy as I believed that once you mark a reservation, NO UPGRADE, DO NOT MOVE, you were going to stay in the original cabin. I have no idea where the "waitlist" request originated.

I realize that none of that is the case here though.

 

 

What Cunard and Princess do is they put "META" upgrade only on the booking, which would be from one cat to another (oceanview-balcony).

Not saying its right but thats probably what happened.

 

Not heard the waitlist part.

Edited July 3, 2015 by Colo Cruiser

[RDC1]

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.

 

No, there were two items in their posting. While they clouded the issue with the upsell notice they received. A upsell that they declined by the way. Their real issue was getting upgraded from L227 to R605. That was an upgrade, not an upsell.

[Astro Flyer]

No, there were two items in their posting. While they clouded the issue with the upsell notice they received. A upsell that they declined by the way. Their real issue was getting upgraded from L227 to R605. That was an upgrade, not an upsell.

And for her to say "We believe they made the cabin change to force us to take the "Upsale" is baseless. ;)

 

The computer's algorithm made the upgrade and I doubt if it's programmed to be so devious as to give an upgrade to force anyone into accepting an upsell. :eek:

[Iamcruzin]

No, there were two items in their posting. While they clouded the issue with the upsell notice they received. A upsell that they declined by the way. Their real issue was getting upgraded from L227 to R605. That was an upgrade, not an upsell.

 

 

Thanks I missed that completely.

[Pam in CA]

The minute your booking is marked "Will accept an upgrade" (which is the default for all bookings), you gave Princess permission to move you to any cabin anywhere on the ship as long as it's at least one category "better." This isn't "bait & switch." This was your choice.

 

If you didn't want to be moved, you could have had your TA mark your booking "Do not upgrade" but even then, Princess still has the option of moving you.

 

I don't know why you're blaming Princess for this as you gave them permission to do so, even if you weren't notified.

[Thrak]

Princess has moved me to a different cabin twice without notice. Both times I was extremely happy with the change.

 

The first time (on Star Princess) we were bumped from one balcony cabin to another and it was great. Even though it was directly below the Lido Deck pool area we had NO NOISE at all from above. No noise issue with MUTS. No chair scraping at all. It was 15 days of enjoying our balcony.

 

The second time (on Crown Princess) we were bumped from an interior cabin to a Lido Deck handicapped accessible balcony. VERY nice upgrade.

 

If you don't mark your cabin as "NO UPGRADE" you certainly do run the risk of ending up somewhere other than the cabin you originally booked. In our case it has worked out really well. :)

[caribill]

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.

 

 

I don't know why you're blaming Princess for this as you gave them permission to do so, even if you weren't notified.

 

And Princess did exactly what you said they could do.

[srpilo]

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.

 

2 Identical posts in the same day (?) .. See all the posts above for some great advice on correctly naming all your future new threads on this subject

 

Btw.. Welcome to Cruise Critic

Srpilo

[caribill]

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.

 

If you book directly with Princess, Princess will e-mail you notice of any upgrade they give you. (And since you said you were open to an upgrade, Princess does not ask you in advance of the reassignment.)

 

If, as you did, you book with a TA, then Princess notifies the TA of the upgrade and it is up to the TA to pass that information along to you.

[dcdisney]

We selected no upgrade for our cabins because we are traveling with teen kids and have cabins right next door to each other. If we did get moved would they notify the TA immediately and what are the odds of this? I thought we were safe with no upgrade selected :(

[Colo Cruiser]

We selected no upgrade for our cabins because we are traveling with teen kids and have cabins right next door to each other. If we did get moved would they notify the TA immediately and what are the odds of this? I thought we were safe with no upgrade selected :(

 

 

Yes, they should notify the TA right away. Its usually the TA that does not act in a timely manor notifying the passenger. :(

[DrivesLikeMario]

peggy10 - Are you still there? :confused: Do you see where you went wrong when you booked your cabin? I hope the information has helped you so that next time, you'll make sure your cabin is marked "no upgrade" and you won't have this problem. I hope you still have a fantastic time on your cruise! :)

[shredie]

Maybe the cabin will turn out to be a good one and there will be no more tears shed.

[GUT2407]

How this could possibly be called a bait and switch.

[pris993]

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.

 

This why always say no to any upgrade. We book what we like and don't want to be moved.