Move-up or upgrade when boarding?

[phoenix_dream]

I understand in recent times people have often had success getting onboard and upgrading their cabins, sometimes without extra cost and sometimes with.  For those who have had success in moving up to a Sky Suite, paying extra or not, have you received the perks that come with the Retreat experience or is it handled like a move-up offer, where you get access to the Retreat Lounge and deck if available, but don't get the other perks like stream internet, premium beverage, and OBC?

[wrk2cruise]

Any onboard upgrade would be like MoveUp with room amenities only, no booking perks or CC points.  I would expect any difference in tips to either be included in the upgrade price or be added to your seapass card.

 

That said I think onboard upgrades are few and far between.  Frankly it's just too much trouble for the GR staff to deal with.   Just think if 100's of people are trying to upgrade.

 

The only free upgrades I've heard of are when people are being moved for Celebrity's benefit like a closed deck for isolation rooms.

[phoenix_dream]

4 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

Any onboard upgrade would be like MoveUp with room amenities only, no booking perks or CC points.  I would expect any difference in tips to either be included in the upgrade price or be added to your seapass card.

 

That said I think onboard upgrades are few and far between.  Frankly it's just too much trouble for the GR staff to deal with.   Just think if 100's of people are trying to upgrade.

 

The only free upgrades I've heard of are when people are being moved for Celebrity's benefit like a closed deck for isolation rooms.

I've actually heard a number of people talking about upgrades on various Celebrity related FB posts.  I think as ships fill up it will happen less often of course, but wondering from those who have actually done it, what kind of perks were included.  I can speculate myself, but I am looking for real life experiences in recent months.

[wrk2cruise]

My post was not speculation if you get my drift.

[Jim_Iain]

I had tried to bid on an upgrade for a RS with a pretty hefty bid and it was rejected.   Once aboard I asked about upgrading and the Revenue Manager gave me  a price higher than if I had booked it online prior to the cruise.   I rejected the offer and he allowed the ship to sail with the RS empty.   I would think that a fair offer would have been preferable to loosing revenue and ability to use my CS for an upgrade. 

 

Who knows their reasons. 

[Chrissit]

I asked about an upgrade on the Equinox in Nov. I was offered a Sky Suite for less than what the Move Up cost would have been but we opted not to take it as it was still a bit rich for our blood. We did speak with another couple that accepted and went for a veranda to a Sky Suite in that same cruise. 

[phoenix_dream]

1 hour ago, Chrissit said:

I asked about an upgrade on the Equinox in Nov. I was offered a Sky Suite for less than what the Move Up cost would have been but we opted not to take it as it was still a bit rich for our blood. We did speak with another couple that accepted and went for a veranda to a Sky Suite in that same cruise. 

Did the offer include all the perks with the cabin, or just the Retreat deck and lounge?

[canderson]

4 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Who knows their reasons. 

Certainly no one I've ever talked to!  As in your case, they sometimes just leave money on the table for no apparent reason at all.  Would think that maximizing revenue would be the 'prime directive', especially when pax try to make it easy for them to do so.

[Cruise a holic]

We upgraded on the Edge as soon as we boarded, however we paid for the upgrade.  It really was very reasonable!  We raced to the Guest services line immediately after boarding.  It was so worthwhile.

[techwatcher]

6 hours ago, canderson said:

Certainly no one I've ever talked to!  As in your case, they sometimes just leave money on the table for no apparent reason at all.  Would think that maximizing revenue would be the 'prime directive', especially when pax try to make it easy for them to do so.

Profit rather than revenue may have been the 'prime directive' in this case. 

[mfs2k]

11 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Who knows their reasons. 

I can guess the reason is they don’t want to diminish the value of the RS so you will pay next time if you really want it. 
High priced Luxury goods have a mystique and it’s gone when they lower the price too low. 
Just my opinion 

[Miaminice]

17 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

I understand in recent times people have often had success getting onboard and upgrading their cabins, sometimes without extra cost and sometimes with.  For those who have had success in moving up to a Sky Suite, paying extra or not, have you received the perks that come with the Retreat experience or is it handled like a move-up offer, where you get access to the Retreat Lounge and deck if available, but don't get the other perks like stream internet, premium beverage, and OBC?

 

The updates are handled just like pre-cruise updates. You get the amenities like Luminae, Retreat or Blu for Aqua. However, you do not get the perks like Premium package, extra OBC or the points of the higher class.

 

[chemmo]

9 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

I can guess the reason is they don’t want to diminish the value of the RS so you will pay next time if you really want it. 
High priced Luxury goods have a mystique and it’s gone when they lower the price too low. 
Just my opinion 

I can understand that but wouldn’t it be nice if they reintroduced the upgrade fairy on these sort of occasions and gave the empty suite to a honeymoon couple or a golden wedding couple? 
 

One thing we reliably find with RS and PH on S class is the best price seems to be as the cruise comes out….

[mfs2k]

8 minutes ago, chemmo said:

wouldn’t it be nice if they reintroduced the upgrade fairy on these sort of occasions and gave the empty suite to a honeymoon couple or a golden wedding couple? 

That would be a great thing to do. 

[wrk2cruise]

On a recent sailing a RS was offered as a prize in Deal or No Deal like they used to do at Bingo.   But the PH next to us on each leg of a B2B was left empty.

Edited February 22, 2022 by wrk2cruise

[TeeRick]

12 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

I had tried to bid on an upgrade for a RS with a pretty hefty bid and it was rejected.   Once aboard I asked about upgrading and the Revenue Manager gave me  a price higher than if I had booked it online prior to the cruise.   I rejected the offer and he allowed the ship to sail with the RS empty.   I would think that a fair offer would have been preferable to loosing revenue and ability to use my CS for an upgrade. 

 

Who knows their reasons. 

Given your number of cruises with Celebrity and loyalty level, this should have been an absolute no-brainer for them.  Why let the RS sail empty?  Especially since you bid for it?  They never fail to surprise sometimes in their lack of customer understanding.

[D C]

17 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

Any onboard upgrade would be like MoveUp with room amenities only, no booking perks or CC points.  I would expect any difference in tips to either be included in the upgrade price or be added to your seapass card.

 

That said I think onboard upgrades are few and far between.  Frankly it's just too much trouble for the GR staff to deal with.   Just think if 100's of people are trying to upgrade.

 

The only free upgrades I've heard of are when people are being moved for Celebrity's benefit like a closed deck for isolation rooms.

We were upgraded pre-covid on the Edge from an interior to a Concierge, due to a room issue.  We received Captains Club points for the Concierge room.  The few-dollars difference in gratuities was indeed added to our account. 

 

Back in October, our kids were upgraded onboard the Equinox to a Concierge from a normal veranda.  They were on their honeymoon and an X employee in the terminal told them to ask at the Concierge desk for an upgrade.  I'll check on points received by them.

 

We plan to ask onboard when we're on the Edge.  We're in an IV and wouldn't pay anything to move to a Concierge or Aqua that's still IV, but we'll ask since we're celebrating a milestone anniversary.

[papaflamingo]

19 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

I understand in recent times people have often had success getting onboard and upgrading their cabins, sometimes without extra cost and sometimes with.  For those who have had success in moving up to a Sky Suite, paying extra or not, have you received the perks that come with the Retreat experience or is it handled like a move-up offer, where you get access to the Retreat Lounge and deck if available, but don't get the other perks like stream internet, premium beverage, and OBC?

We moved from an Aqua Class to a Sky Suite on board Reflection in Dec.  We kept the perks that we had when we booked the Aqua Class and were given all the Suite Amenities, Luminae, Micheals Club, etc.  But we didn't get the High Speed internet, Premium Drink Package, or OBC that was a booking perk of the Sky Suite.  In other words, you keep the booking perks that you have but get the on board amenities of the Suite.  Our cost to upgrade was WELL below any pre-cruise move up offer.  We went to Guest Services, asked if a Sky Suite was available, it was, they quoted a price, we actually countered, they accepted it and moved.  

Edited February 22, 2022 by papaflamingo

[paulh84]

It all comes down to price integrity. If you can get a better upgrade deal onboard, why book the expensive cabin in the first place? Once that becomes normal behavior your original pricing is diminished. You have to sell the value of the higher priced cabin to maintain the price. Once discounting those prices is normal the higher pricing doesn't hold because the perceived value is gone. 

[DCPIV]

1 hour ago, mfs2k said:

I can guess the reason is they don’t want to diminish the value of the RS so you will pay next time if you really want it. 
High priced Luxury goods have a mystique and it’s gone when they lower the price too low. 
Just my opinion 

 

You pretty much hit the nail on the head.  Just like the customer judges whether an upgrade is worth the price, so does the cruise line.  When deciding whether to accept a lowball offer on an upgrade, the cruise line has to weigh the pros and cons.  The increase in revenue is nominal to the ship's bottom line and even more so to the company as a whole.

 

1 hour ago, chemmo said:

wouldn’t it be nice if they reintroduced the upgrade fairy on these sort of occasions and gave the empty suite to a honeymoon couple or a golden wedding couple?

 

I don't know that they aren't doing that. 

 

They also have other tactics.  One of the Signature Suites was open when we sailed recently on Reflection.  They gave it away for the last two nights as some sort of prize.  I don't know all the details, but it was something the casino was doing.

[canderson]

4 hours ago, paulh84 said:

It all comes down to price integrity. If you can get a better upgrade deal onboard, why book the expensive cabin in the first place?

In Jim's case, once aboard, they made him  an offer at more $ than if the cabin had been booked shoreside before boarding.  That's silly either way you cut it.  Had he actually been willing to take it at the shoreside price, they definitely would have been out the additional revenue at no loss of 'price integrity'.  Strange approach to 'revenue enhancement'.

[sfaaa]

No one likes tire kickers including X.

Edited February 22, 2022 by sfaaa

[phoenix_dream]

6 hours ago, paulh84 said:

It all comes down to price integrity. If you can get a better upgrade deal onboard, why book the expensive cabin in the first place? Once that becomes normal behavior your original pricing is diminished. You have to sell the value of the higher priced cabin to maintain the price. Once discounting those prices is normal the higher pricing doesn't hold because the perceived value is gone. 

I guess you could use that argument against the whole move-up bidding situation, although at least there people can clearly see what the minimum bids would be.  In fact, I think sometimes people are very naive and actually pay more for a move-up bid than if they had booked the higher category in the first place! 

 

That said, in these uncertain times according to reports Celebrity can and does move up people to higher level cabins sometimes for free and sometimes for less than the move-up minimum. The freebies tend to be situations to free up quarantine space, but not always.  Truthfully, it peeves me a bit to see people getting for free or bargain rates the same cabins I paid the full load for, but since it is happening I plan to take the chance that I can do it also.  I'm not looking for free, but I am interested to know if I were to pay to advance to a suite onboard, what perks do I get?  As this thread has veered off into should they or shouldn't they, I haven't gotten too much in the way of actual answers to my question (but thanks to those who have 🙂).

[wrk2cruise]

The actual answer is it's the same as a MoveUp.  You get the amenities which come with the stateroom and keep whatever perks/OBC/CC points that you had from your original booking.  I think I answered that in post #2.

[paulh84]

4 hours ago, canderson said:

In Jim's case, once aboard, they made him  an offer at more $ than if the cabin had been booked shoreside before boarding.  That's silly either way you cut it.  Had he actually been willing to take it at the shoreside price, they definitely would have been out the additional revenue at no loss of 'price integrity'.  Strange approach to 'revenue enhancement'.

 

It's not really silly for them. You have buyers remorse on your cheaper cabin? You sure can upgrade but it's going to cost you. It's precedence setting. If he wanted it at the shoreside price, the solution is to book it shoreside. It's the same with their sales and promotions people here get upset about because they are "fake sales". They aren't selling at discount. There are some interesting case studies on  retail stores like Kohls and Bath and Body Works about this very approach.