Cabin upgrades

[tomat]

Does Princess have a cabin upgrade program like some of the other cruise lines offer? Auction? Fixed price upgrade etc?

[Steelers36]

There are different ways to receive an upgrade:

 

(1) Perhaps the most common is guest books a Guarantee (GTY) cabin in a particular category - often a lower one in the class of cabin - and gets assigned something higher. 

 

(2) Book your cabin and leave the upgrade flag set for Will Accept.  You get lucky (many call it the Upgrade Fairy) and are notified of an upgrade.  Not withstanding the large number of voyages that ran since start-up with low passenger loads, this is more rare. 

 

(3) You may be notified of an UPSELL offer to and "better" cabin by Princess (or via your TA from Princess).  These will be at a flat cost per day or for the voyage and it is up to you to decide if it is worth the up-charge to move. 

 

(4) You might try and ask Princess if there are any Upsell offers for your voyage.  There is a particular dept for this and someone will post the email address, no doubt.  Or ask the right PCL agent. 

 

(5) Exception Case:  Since the Return to Sea, many posters here on CC have reported inquiring about an upgrade at Passenger Services right after boarding and being accommodated.  This is on ships that were going half-full.  You won't have much luck going this route in normal times as voyages are pretty much sold out by the time they sail.

 

 

ETA:  For greater certainty, PCL does not have a "Bid Upgrade" program.

Edited May 11, 2022 by Steelers36

[brisalta]

7 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

...

(4) You might try and ask Princess if there are any Upsell offers for your voyage.  There is a particular dept for this and someone will post the email address, no doubt.  Or ask the right PCL agent. 

...

 

 

The email address that the 'Princess Cruises Upsell Department' uses is:

UpgradeOffer@princesscruises.com

[HughMann]

Thanks for the info. How many days prior to sail is the best time to reach out to the upsell department?

[brisalta]

31 minutes ago, HughMann said:

Thanks for the info. How many days prior to sail is the best time to reach out to the upsell department?

 

Have your booking marked as 'meta upgrade only'. Upsell department might contact you then.

[caribill]

5 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

 

(2) Book your cabin and leave the upgrade flag set for Will Accept. 

 

The default is will accept an upgrade.  This flag is not accessible to the customer, so if you want to have it changed you must contact Princess (only if your booking is made with Princess) or your TA.

 

3 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

Have your booking marked as 'meta upgrade only'. Upsell department might contact you then.

 

To have it marked like this, you must contact who has the booking, your TA or Princess.

[wowzz]

3 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

Have your booking marked as 'meta upgrade only'. Upsell department might contact you then.

For the benefit of any Brits reading, this option is not available in the UK.

[roxievegas]

We were on a B2B in Dec on Majestic out of LA - got on board and immediately went to Guest Services and paid $30 per night (not pp) (total cost $330) for the 11 night cruise to go from Balcony to Mini Suite.  Ship was 50% capacity.

 

In March 7 night cruise again on Majestic out of LA - went to Guest Services and paid $40 per night to get Mini Suite.  (total cost $280)  ship was probably 60 - 70% 

 

In April 7 night cruise on Discovery out of LA - Guest Services said they would put us on a waiting list - we said no - did not want to wait around to unpack.  Ship was considered full, even though they announced 2802 guests, ship holds i think 3600 - 

 

I think our days are over in upgrading once on board the ship

 

[Mom&MeCruiseAL]

We have 4 cabins in our group all booked as interior back in August 2021 for July 2022 Alaskan cruise.  Three out of the 4 cabins were upgraded to Obstructed balcony about a month ago.  After a week, the 4th cabin called to ask Princess about an upgrade.  They were told that the No Upgrade button was checked.  Got that removed and they were upgraded with the rest of us.  My husband was thrilled since he didn't understand why we weren't booking a balcony.  He got spoiled on our last cruise and thinks that you can't go without a balcony.   I checked out the room views and moved us to the mid-ship larger balcony with no obstruction.  The others shouldn't have too much in their view if the online pictures are accurate. 

[scooter6139]

On our Discovery Alaskan Sampler, got my folks upgraded on ship from their CC to an S4 Penthouse for less than I paid upgrading pre-cruise from an S6 Vista Suite to the same S4 Penthouse.  By the next day, only the Sky Suites were not taken, as you can't upgrade to them on ship.  

[CU64]

It is always interesting to me how many people beat the system this way.

It did pay to take the time to stand at CS and ask for an upgrade for many when ship less full. Somehow, we were/are not interested in doing this scrabble. Prefer to secure cabin precruise and pay for it.

[roxievegas]

I agree that going to Guest Services and switching rooms is a hassle,  "but" wanting to try out a mini suite for an additional $280 for the week is way better than paying the published price at the time of booking.  We would love to try out a full suite, but not at the prices listed.  This is not beating the system.

We only tried the upgrade on board because of the people on this board telling us about their success.  Now that ships are filling up, moving to other cabins will be harder.

 

A lot of people seem to have a certain cabins/ area that they want to be in on every cruise.  We have tried all over the ship - left, right, high, low, middle, front, back - we don't care.  Don't like inside cabins, want the balcony so we can go out.

 

[4x4bob]

We are scheduled to go out on the Discovery Princess on the 22nd.  Two days ago we received a E-Mail from Princess offering a Upsell from our Balcony to a Mini Suite.  Their E-Mail said respond to this E-Mail and provide a Credit Card Number, no Phone Number to talk to a Princess Rep. Which kinda indicated that someone at Princess would pick a cabin for us. Which means we could go from a Balcony on deck 10 mid ship to steerage or someplace not appealing. 

 

We also had immediate questions such as: If we upsell will that give us a new Confirmation/Reservation number?  Will our current list of Perks, OBC, Tours, free peanut butter sandwich, Airline flight,  etc also transfer over to the new Reservation Number or will we loose them?

 

So, we bit the bullet and made a call to Princess with the plan we would take turns listening to the Elevator music.  Surprise, Surprise we went straight through.  However, our regular Rep was out of the office so we talked to a new person.  She could only find two open cabins??? We were looking at the ship plans showing multiple cabins on different decks.  She said one cabin in the bow and one back in what she called the Purplish area.  We thanked her and hung up. 

 

We both agreed that taking a chance and then inheriting a serious problem this close to sailing and then having to wait through 5 hours of elevator music with the hopes of getting problem corrected was not worth it. 

Bob

[rbtan]

On 5/10/2022 at 9:43 PM, tomat said:

Does Princess have a cabin upgrade program like some of the other cruise lines offer? Auction? Fixed price upgrade etc?

For our recent Oceania trip, we had an ocean view & upgraded to a Concierge(like club class on Princess) Price was $550 total. A deal for us. I'm sure as ships will get more full as time goes by, the best thing to do is inquire the moment you get on board. They may not be able to accommodate you right off as others will have the same idea. Just compare the "upgrade" price to a cabin that would normally be in the level you want. See if it's worth it.

[Steelers36]

On 5/13/2022 at 12:03 PM, 4x4bob said:

We are scheduled to go out on the Discovery Princess on the 22nd.  Two days ago we received a E-Mail from Princess offering a Upsell from our Balcony to a Mini Suite.  Their E-Mail said respond to this E-Mail and provide a Credit Card Number, no Phone Number to talk to a Princess Rep. Which kinda indicated that someone at Princess would pick a cabin for us. Which means we could go from a Balcony on deck 10 mid ship to steerage or someplace not appealing. 

 

We also had immediate questions such as: If we upsell will that give us a new Confirmation/Reservation number?  Will our current list of Perks, OBC, Tours, free peanut butter sandwich, Airline flight,  etc also transfer over to the new Reservation Number or will we loose them?

 

So, we bit the bullet and made a call to Princess with the plan we would take turns listening to the Elevator music.  Surprise, Surprise we went straight through.  However, our regular Rep was out of the office so we talked to a new person.  She could only find two open cabins??? We were looking at the ship plans showing multiple cabins on different decks.  She said one cabin in the bow and one back in what she called the Purplish area.  We thanked her and hung up. 

 

We both agreed that taking a chance and then inheriting a serious problem this close to sailing and then having to wait through 5 hours of elevator music with the hopes of getting problem corrected was not worth it. 

Bob

Most mini-suites are in decent/good locations as they are a higher level of cabin (next below actual suites). 

 

When you are offered an upgrade, they don't re-book you.  The just change your cabin category and replace the cabin assignment. 

 

Did you ask any questions or engage the rep?  You say she only offered you a choice of two cabins and yet you saw many more online.  Did you ask her "What about this one - XXX?".  It also could be that your upgrade was to the lowest category of mini-suites and hence you did not have access to the full inventory.  In that case, careful reading of the upgrade or asking the right questions should help.  You could always have tried for another one and see if they could give you that one or indicate how much more for the upsell? 

 

At least you didn't have to wait long on the phone.

[Jlhutch6]

What is the box to check that you’re available to upgrade? First time cruiser. My daughter and I are in ib interior room with twin beds. We wanted mid forward on a quiet floor, Baja. But if they upgraded us to window or obstructed balcony without paying for it, that would be great. Is that what you’re referring to? I just didn’t want to say best available room bc I wanted a quiet deck but maybe I should? 

[wowzz]

42 minutes ago, Jlhutch6 said:

What is the box to check that you’re available to upgrade? First time cruiser. My daughter and I are in ib interior room with twin beds. We wanted mid forward on a quiet floor, Baja. But if they upgraded us to window or obstructed balcony without paying for it, that would be great. Is that what you’re referring to? I just didn’t want to say best available room bc I wanted a quiet deck but maybe I should? 

There is no box to tick to upgrade. It is assumed that you will accept an upgrade. 

You only tick the box, metaphorically speaking, if you wish to opt out of the upgrade process.

[JF - retired RRT]

2 hours ago, Jlhutch6 said:

What is the box to check that you’re available to upgrade? First time cruiser. My daughter and I are in ib interior room with twin beds. We wanted mid forward on a quiet floor, Baja. But if they upgraded us to window or obstructed balcony without paying for it, that would be great. Is that what you’re referring to? I just didn’t want to say best available room bc I wanted a quiet deck but maybe I should? 

As @wowzz stated, there is not box to check. If you wanted to opt out of upgrade or go to "meta" upgrade (next category up), you would have to call Princess or your TA. If you do nothing, you can be  upgraded. This means you could be moved from the cabin you chose to one that's in the same category (i.e. inside to inside, balcony to balcony) but in an area that Princess thinks is better and you do not.

[Sea Hag]

On 5/13/2022 at 9:03 AM, 4x4bob said:

We are scheduled to go out on the Discovery Princess on the 22nd.  Two days ago we received a E-Mail from Princess offering a Upsell from our Balcony to a Mini Suite.  Their E-Mail said respond to this E-Mail and provide a Credit Card Number, no Phone Number to talk to a Princess Rep. 

 

Am I understanding this correctly - the email wanted you to send them back a credit card number through email? That's a giant nope for me.

[4x4bob]

13 hours ago, Sea Hag said:

Am I understanding this correctly - the email wanted you to send them back a credit card number through email? That's a giant nope for me.

No that entry was an error on my part. They posted that they would use the card number on file.

The rest was a report on we experienced. 

BobR

[brisalta]

On 5/13/2022 at 9:03 AM, 4x4bob said:

We are scheduled to go out on the Discovery Princess on the 22nd.  Two days ago we received a E-Mail from Princess offering a Upsell from our Balcony to a Mini Suite.  Their E-Mail said respond to this E-Mail and provide a Credit Card Number, no Phone Number to talk to a Princess Rep. Which kinda indicated that someone at Princess would pick a cabin for us. Which means we could go from a Balcony on deck 10 mid ship to steerage or someplace not appealing. 

 

We also had immediate questions such as: If we upsell will that give us a new Confirmation/Reservation number?  Will our current list of Perks, OBC, Tours, free peanut butter sandwich, Airline flight,  etc also transfer over to the new Reservation Number or will we loose them?

 

So, we bit the bullet and made a call to Princess with the plan we would take turns listening to the Elevator music.  Surprise, Surprise we went straight through.  However, our regular Rep was out of the office so we talked to a new person.  She could only find two open cabins??? We were looking at the ship plans showing multiple cabins on different decks.  She said one cabin in the bow and one back in what she called the Purplish area.  We thanked her and hung up. 

 

We both agreed that taking a chance and then inheriting a serious problem this close to sailing and then having to wait through 5 hours of elevator music with the hopes of getting problem corrected was not worth it. 

Bob

 

The questions you had could have been asked in an email in response to the original email.  The upsell department responds quickly to emails.

[Sea Hag]

11 hours ago, 4x4bob said:

No that entry was an error on my part. They posted that they would use the card number on file.

The rest was a report on we experienced. 

BobR

Ah, that's fine then. 😃