Unwanted Upgrade

[Host Hattie]

My fault, I just assumed it was QM2 as the lifeboats on the other 2 ships are set further into the ship's structure so I don't really think of them as blocking the view.

I have booked those Deck 4 balconies for the extra size and always marked my booking do not upgrade.

[3rdGenCunarder]

13 hours ago, BlueRiband said:

Depends on what you wanted in the first place.  I booked a P2 on the starboard side of an EB TA - and a P2 on the port side for a WB TA - for the Southern exposure.  Had I not asked for "do not upgrade" I could have been moved to P1s on the opposite sides of the ship.  Technically that's an upgrade but being moved would have diminished by enjoyment of the sailings.

 

I like the sunny side of the ship, too. A friend prefers the shady side. So we each have our own set of preferences. Unfortunately, as Hattie said, the upgrade is based on the way Cunard categorizes the cabins.

 

When QM2 was new, they kept changing the order of the sheltered balconies and the obstructed balconies. That's when I started having my TA mark my reservations "do not upgrade." I like the sheltered balconies, and an obstructed balcony is NOT my idea of an upgrade. For me, there's no point in having a glass-fronted balcony when all you can see from it is a big ORANGE lifeboat?!?

 

[CabinC]

1 hour ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

I like the sunny side of the ship, too. A friend prefers the shady side. So we each have our own set of preferences. Unfortunately, as Hattie said, the upgrade is based on the way Cunard categorizes the cabins.

 

When QM2 was new, they kept changing the order of the sheltered balconies and the obstructed balconies. That's when I started having my TA mark my reservations "do not upgrade." I like the sheltered balconies, and an obstructed balcony is NOT my idea of an upgrade. For me, there's no point in having a glass-fronted balcony when all you can see from it is a big ORANGE lifeboat?!?

 

 

In my mind on the QM2 the Sheltered Balconies are the BEST rooms if you enjoy the Ocean. The Glass Fronted on the higher decks are set back behind the deck and so if you look down you'll be looking down at decks. The sheltered balconies give you straight views of the ocean below. Id' be highly annoyed if I was moved from a Sheltered to a Glass Front on the QM2 unless it was a Grill upgrade. I don't even think I'd particularly want a Club room upgrade. We all have our preferences I suppose. 

Edited January 13, 2020 by CabinC
spelling

[Underwatr]

I recently booked obstructed QM2 stateroom 8013 for an upcoming cruise. You can bet I opted for no upgrade since a midships obstructed stateroom would be considered an upgrade.  The view from 8013 is similar to this (8014):

 

[JT1101]

I got upgraded from Deck 5 midships to deck 11 forward - and loved it. I was made aware when booking of the options and took the second (Upgrade to Next Stateroom Type).

[Victoria2]

We learnt very early on in our Cunard life, only tick the upgrade box if you are prepared to take any other higher grade cabin on the ship.

We book a Q2 or Q3 on QV/QE, do not want a stern Q1 and definitely don't want to be on deck 8. If we want an upgraded cabin [Q2], we'll book it and so we specifically say ''no upgrade''.

[ovccruiser]

Couldn't you ask Cunard to upgrade the passengers in you original cabin to your upgraded cabin and you revert to your cabin of choice? 

[CabinC]

6 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

definitely don't want to be on deck 8. 

 

May I ask why you don't want to be on Deck 8? I was just moved to a cabin on Deck 8 in the aft block of balconies near the Queens Grill suites.

[Underwatr]

3 hours ago, ovccruiser said:

Couldn't you ask Cunard to upgrade the passengers in you original cabin to your upgraded cabin and you revert to your cabin of choice? 

Not if the others have requested no upgrade!

[Victoria2]

1 hour ago, CabinC said:

 

May I ask why you don't want to be on Deck 8? I was just moved to a cabin on Deck 8 in the aft block of balconies near the Queens Grill suites.

Cabins above or below open decks or possible food prep/clearing areas are a no go for us because of potential noise issues. Just a preference of ours.

[MarkBearSF]

3 hours ago, CabinC said:

 

May I ask why you don't want to be on Deck 8? I was just moved to a cabin on Deck 8 in the aft block of balconies near the Queens Grill suites.

I believe as far as Queen's Grill Suites go (which was the OPs grade) the person wishes to be on all-QG deck 9, perhaps near the Concierge. 

Deck 8 is fabulous. No noise that we've experienced from Deck 7 below on three trips. (If you're obstructed view, hopefully you're in one with a not-very-obstructed view.) You're right near Elevator  Bank C, which takes you right to the Britannia Restaurant, the Chart Room, and the Golden Lion Pub. (And the D elevators to the Queen's Room.) Also near the Deck 8 Pool and Hot Tubs. We try to book one of the cabins near the rescue craft (8043-8050) and stairway B and we've also stayed all the way forward on 8001.

[Host Hattie]

3 minutes ago, MarkBearSF said:

I believe as far as Queen's Grill Suites go (which was the OPs grade) the person wishes to be on all-QG deck 9, perhaps near the Concierge. 

Deck 8 is fabulous. No noise that we've experienced from Deck 7 below on three trips. (If you're obstructed view, hopefully you're in one with a not-very-obstructed view.) You're right near Elevator  Bank C, which takes you right to the Britannia Restaurant, the Chart Room, and the Golden Lion Pub. (And the D elevators to the Queen's Room.) Also near the Deck 8 Pool and Hot Tubs. We try to book one of the cabins near the rescue craft (8043-8050) and stairway B and we've also stayed all the way forward on 8001.

The OP is on Queen Elizabeth, not QM2.

[ovccruiser]

On 1/14/2020 at 3:00 PM, Underwatr said:

Not if the others have requested no upgrade!

IF, what a word, until you ask no one knows. That is all I suggested, ask and you may be told yes IF they don't mind the upgrade 😄

[Windsurfboy]

Unless the next grade up takes you over a significant threshold i.e. Britannia to club , club to princess,  princess to queens , then always tick no upgrade,  which you can do on Cunard website. Upgrades are bound to be to one of the more unpopular cabins in a higher grade.

 

If you want to take the gamble of an upgrade, might as well buy a saver fare and save money as well as gamble on cabin position.

[IB2]

1 hour ago, Windsurfboy said:

 Upgrades are bound to be to one of the more unpopular cabins in a higher grade.

 

If you want to take the gamble of an upgrade, might as well buy a saver fare and save money as well as gamble on cabin position.

 

Not necessarily.  On my first ever QM2 TA I got upgraded from Britannia inside to an accessible window cabin at the other end of the same deck, just a couple of days before sailing.  Presumably because they had held the accessible cabin until the last minute in case someone who needed it made a booking.

[scamper]

We had something similar happen to us a couple of years ago. There were six of us booked into the Queen Mary suite (Q2) and the adjoining Royal Suite (Q4). We had specified no upgrade because the aft Q1s have absolutely no privacy on their verandahs.  Since the Q4s don't have a verandah we were all going to use the Q2's. Everything was confirmed but four months prior to departure, those of us in the Q2 were reassigned to a Q1 and the rest were left in the Q4. Because we could prove we had requested no upgrade, each suite got an extra $2,000 OBC. That was all well and good but we still had half of us with no verandah and half with a verandah we weren't completely comfortable using.

[bluemarble]

5 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

... tick no upgrade,  which you can do on Cunard website. ...

 

Interesting to hear you have found a place to "tick no upgrade" on the Cunard website (I assume the Cunard UK website). Is this during the booking process after you have submitted payment for the deposit amount? Or is it somewhere in the UK version of the Voyage Personaliser/My Cunard? Or somewhere else?

 

I've never seen that functionality on the Cunard US website (although it's certainly possible I've managed to miss it). There's only so much I can look at on the Cunard UK website without actually making a UK booking.

[Beagle5]

21 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

 

Interesting to hear you have found a place to "tick no upgrade" on the Cunard website (I assume the Cunard UK website). Is this during the booking process after you have submitted payment for the deposit amount?

 

I booked a cruise yesterday on the Australian Cunard site. The upgrade/no upgrade question was the last before you hit confirm. The default was no upgrade, so you need to actively select the upgrade option.

 

Now if only I could get into voyage personaliser to enter my details.....

 

 

EDIT: Actually, now that I think about it, the question came up immediately after I had hit confirm and the payment was processed.

Edited January 17, 2020 by Beagle5

[bluemarble]

6 minutes ago, Beagle5 said:

I booked a cruise yesterday on the Australian Cunard site. The upgrade/no upgrade question was the last before you hit confirm. The default was no upgrade, so you need to actively select the upgrade option.

 

Now if only I could get into voyage personaliser to enter my details.....

 

 

EDIT: Actually, now that I think about it, the question came up immediately after I had hit confirm and the payment was processed.

 

Thanks for that. I know the one time I actually booked a voyage on the new Cunard US website, I was surprised that I was presented with the options to select my dining preferences (seating and table size) after I had completed submitting payment of the deposit amount. I don't recall seeing the option for specifying an upgrade preference at that point although I may have forgotten about it, or perhaps they have added that functionality in the year or so since I made that booking.