Regal Princess Upgrade?

[broadwaycam]

Has anyone received an email from Princess saying they got a cabin upgrade. We are going on Regal January 22nd if next year (2023). We were booked in a forward inside cabin on deck 16. We got an email saying we got upgraded to a mid ship inside cabin on deck 12. I wonder why the upgrade? Curious if this has ever happened to anyone.

Edited June 9, 2022 by broadwaycam

[somoremoney]

I got the same email this morning for an upgrade for our Sky January 14th cruise. We were on the Lido deck 15 forward and got moved to Deck 9 midship. Doesn't seem like an upgrade to me as we really were looking forward to a cabin in the Lido deck.

[mvaldes140]

6 minutes ago, somoremoney said:

I got the same email this morning for an upgrade for our Sky January 14th cruise. We were on the Lido deck 15 forward and got moved to Deck 9 midship. Doesn't seem like an upgrade to me as we really were looking forward to a cabin in the Lido deck.

If you still want to be on the lido deck, you can contact princess and say you want to change your cabin. If you mention that you got an upgrade and you want to go back they'll check off automatic upgrades, so if you don't want to get upgraded again you can mention it, but if you still want the option in the future, I wouldn't mention it and just try doing it over chat

[dweidensaul]

I believe we spoke on FB earlier, but for others that may be following....same email to me for same ship / deck / room type (diff date).  I chatted with Princess online and was able to get "downgraded" to original room.  🙂

Edited June 9, 2022 by dweidensaul

[broadwaycam]

2 hours ago, somoremoney said:

I got the same email this morning for an upgrade for our Sky January 14th cruise. We were on the Lido deck 15 forward and got moved to Deck 9 midship. Doesn't seem like an upgrade to me as we really were looking forward to a cabin in the Lido deck.

Interesting that it is mostly people in Lido deck cabins getting moved.

[Daniel A]

24 minutes ago, broadwaycam said:

Interesting that it is mostly people in Lido deck cabins getting moved.

I was under the impression that Princess considers middle decks at midship to be more of a prime location and cost more.  Cabins on the top deck and forward or aft are subject to more movement than the midship/middle decks.  Sometimes as the less costly cabins fill up and the higher category cabins aren't filling, they will move people (upgrade) existing bookings to the higher category cabins so they can open up the more economical cabins to potential bookings.

Edited June 9, 2022 by Daniel A

[LibrarianMonroe]

We got an upgrade from a Lido inside to an Aloha inside.  I submitted a request through chat to have it changed back.

[JimmyVWine]

23 hours ago, Daniel A said:

Sometimes as the less costly cabins fill up and the higher category cabins aren't filling, they will move people (upgrade) existing bookings to the higher category cabins so they can open up the more economical cabins to potential bookings.

I suspect that this has something to do with it, but there is a better solution.  If more expensive cabins are not selling, just drop the price so that they are equal to, or just a hair more than the cheapest ones.  If you have sold one cabin at $700 and have another priced at $900 that isn't selling, you could move the person from the $700 cabin to the $900 cabin and then resell the $700 cabin.  The gross sale is $1,400. This seems to be what they are doing.  But you achieve the same thing by offering the $900 cabin for $700.  The booked passenger may take it, or a new booker will book it.  Either way the gross sale is $1,400.  That way, people who already booked the cheapest cabin can contact Princess and request a move to a different location at no extra cost, or at perhaps a modest increase.  This allows people who would consider the mid-ship location to be an improvement to self-upgrade and avoid the game of musical cabins of moving and then unmoving people against their will.  

[FlamePoint]

We got “upgraded” as well for our March 2023 cruise on the Sky. We were on the Sun deck (one up from the Lido) and got moved to deck 9, midship. We specifically chose our location because we like being up by the pool and the buffet. Called my TA and they are working on getting us moved back. 

[Ace_Caliente]

I got an upgrade notice via email a few weeks ago. Moved us from our inside cabin to an obstructed balcony on Emerald deck. I took the upgrade after doing some web research on the new room.

[Daniel A]

29 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

I suspect that this has something to do with it, but there is a better solution.  If more expensive cabins are not selling, just drop the price so that they are equal to, or just a hair more than the cheapest ones.  If you have sold one cabin at $700 and have another priced at $900 that isn't selling, you could move the person from the $700 cabin to the $900 cabin and then resell the $700 cabin.  The gross sale is $1,400. This seems to be what they are doing.  But you achieve the same thing by offering the $900 cabin for $700.  The booked passenger may take it, or a new booker will book it.  Either way the gross sale is $1,400.  That way, people who already booked the cheapest cabin can contact Princess and request a move to a different location at no extra cost, or at perhaps a modest increase.  This allows people who would consider the mid-ship location to be an improvement to self-upgrade and avoid the game of musical cabins of moving and then unmoving people against their will.  

You're correct in what you write, however your solution prevents Princess from selling the $900 cabins to anyone looking to book them and pay the $900.

[JimmyVWine]

6 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

You're correct in what you write, however your solution prevents Princess from selling the $900 cabins to anyone looking to book them and pay the $900.

So does moving someone from a $700 cabin into the $900 cabin.  Each and every time it does that, it loses its opportunity for higher revenue, and yet Princess seems to be doing that with regularity.

[Daniel A]

13 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

So does moving someone from a $700 cabin into the $900 cabin.  Each and every time it does that, it loses its opportunity for higher revenue, and yet Princess seems to be doing that with regularity.

I'm not sure I made my point clearly.  If Princess were to reduce the price of all $900 cabins, then they would be losing the potential of selling any more $900 cabins at the original price.  In my scenario, they are limiting and controlling how many $900 cabins they are losing.  Either way, I think we are on the same page as to why this is happening, we're just looking at two different ways to get to the same answer.  Enjoy your day.  🙂 

[dreaminofcruisin]

Sometihng about that Lido deck....

The ONLY time we have ever had a 'downgrade' (at the time the Lido deck was more expensive), we were in a Lido deck balcony cabin. This was about 10 years ago. Princess called me about a week before embarkation and asked if we would move to another cabin and they would PAY US $600 (Refundable) OBC to do it. One of the options (they had about 4), was a Caribe deck balcony (Grand Class--so bigger balcony). Let me think (for like 2 seconds)--yes please Princess...and thank you!!  😁

All I could think at the time was there was a group that wanted a bunch of Lido balconies together and were willing to pay the price...

[JimmyVWine]

35 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

If Princess were to reduce the price of all $900 cabins, then they would be losing the potential of selling any more $900 cabins at the original price.

I see now.  And you are absolutely correct.  I was assuming that they are doing the switcheroo when there aren't many cabins left in a particular category.  The only time I have been offered an upsell to a better location or to Club Class, (never a free upgrade), it has been after final payment and within weeks of sailing.  I always assumed that they were doing so to try to re-sell the cheaper cabins a second time.

[JF - retired RRT]

1 hour ago, JimmyVWine said:

If you have sold one cabin at $700 and have another priced at $900 that isn't selling, you could move the person from the $700 cabin to the $900 cabin and then resell the $700 cabin.  The gross sale is $1,400. This seems to be what they are doing.  But you achieve the same thing by offering the $900 cabin for $700.  The booked passenger may take it, or a new booker will book it.  Either way the gross sale is $1,400.  

I can see a problem with that scenario...Everyone who's booked in the $900 cabin and notices a price drop to $700 will be calling to get the price drop.🤑

[Daniel A]

10 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

The only time I have been offered an upsell to a better location or to Club Class, (never a free upgrade), it has been after final payment and within weeks of sailing. 

I had NCL call me and offer me a great upsell while I was waiting for the limo to take me to the airport.  They offered me a move from a standard balcony cabin to a 2 BR suite in the Haven.  We jumped on it and paid the upsell price.  The night before embarkation (after a 3-day pre-cruise in Barcelona) I checked my e-mail and found that I had been moved from the 2BR suite to a Haven 1 room penthouse with an enclosed forward facing balcony.  Needless to say I was as mad as a hornet and mentioned my displeasure to the Haven Concierge.  He explained that a pipe broke in the 2BR and the entire suite had been flooded the day before and the suite was unusable.  He reassigned us to the penthouse as it was the last open cabin in the Haven, but our upsell money had already been returned to our credit card, so we ended up getting a free upgrade to the Haven.  I felt better!  😄

 

Sometimes these 'upgrades' turn out very well...

 

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, Daniel A said:

I had NCL call me and offer me a great upsell while I was waiting for the limo to take me to the airport.  They offered me a move from a standard balcony cabin to a 2 BR suite in the Haven.  We jumped on it and paid the upsell price.  The night before embarkation (after a 3-day pre-cruise in Barcelona) I checked my e-mail and found that I had been moved from the 2BR suite to a Haven 1 room penthouse with an enclosed forward facing balcony.  Needless to say I was as mad as a hornet and mentioned my displeasure to the Haven Concierge.  He explained that a pipe broke in the 2BR and the entire suite had been flooded the day before and the suite was unusable.  He reassigned us to the penthouse as it was the last open cabin in the Haven, but our upsell money had already been returned to our credit card, so we ended up getting a free upgrade to the Haven.  I felt better!  😄

 

Sometimes these 'upgrades' turn out very well...

 

Reminds me of an experience I had with Hertz.  I rented a Full Size car in Denver.  I get to the counter and they ask me if I would like an SUV and that they could give me a deal on a Hummer3 (I think is what it was called...the baby Hummer) for $20 extra dollars a day.  I said no thanks.  5 seconds later he looks up from his computer and says that they don't have any Full Size cars on the lot and that they were going to move me up a class at no extra cost.  He then hands me the keys to the Hummer!