Free cabin casino offers and getting upsells?

[DaveOKC]

Post Covid we have been getting some nice free cabin offers from HAL's casino department. Since we are low rollers, they are generally for Oceanview or sometimes Verandahs (guarantees).  Since I was concerned about getting assigned a cabin in a poor location, on all three cruises I have paid more at booking to get a Neptune, figuring that the worst location in them still would not be too bad.  The one cruise we have finished we were assigned a great location - right near the Neptune Lounge.  

 

Now, given the low occupancy of many sailings (especially those we tend to book) I am thinking I should have just taken the free cabin and waited for an upsell offer (2-4 weeks out).  This would save me money PLUS allow me to select the location (from what available at the time).  Another advantage is not having as much cash committed on these non-refundable cruises.

 

What has been others experience with this -- upsells while being on a free cabin offer (recent history)?

[rodndonna]

We just came off a Casino free Oceanview on a low occupancy cruise (Alaska) and was not offered and upsell at any point.

 

We have a casino cruise in Sept (Norway Fjords) with an obstructed balcony that we would like to upgrade, so curious to others experience as well.

[Crazy For Cats]

We took a private sale offer on Eurodam in March.  I was offered an upsell and took it.

Our current sailings, B2B. On Zaandam and I called in for an upsell and was offered a reasonable price for the two cruises. 

[chefchick]

5 minutes ago, rodndonna said:

We just came off a Casino free Oceanview on a low occupancy cruise (Alaska) and was not offered and upsell at any point.

I am just about to book my first casino offer rate.  The balconies are “sold out” and I apparently have the last OV available.  I realize these offers are capacity controlled, but how likely am I to get stuck with a not so great location?  I also understand that getting a great rate doesn’t warrant a great cabin location but am I going to regret it?  Also, the $200 deposit that becomes OBC….can this be used for anything onboard (gratuities, specialty dining, etc) or does it need to be used at the casino (in addition to the casino free play $).?  
 

A free cruise to a low roller seems like a too good to be true offer so I’d love to hear how your last experience was?

[albingirl]

Free cruise and looking for good upsells.  Wow. If it happens to you, you betcha I'm jealous.  Crazy.

[rodndonna]

43 minutes ago, chefchick said:

I am just about to book my first casino offer rate.  The balconies are “sold out” and I apparently have the last OV available.  I realize these offers are capacity controlled, but how likely am I to get stuck with a not so great location?  I also understand that getting a great rate doesn’t warrant a great cabin location but am I going to regret it?  Also, the $200 deposit that becomes OBC….can this be used for anything onboard (gratuities, specialty dining, etc) or does it need to be used at the casino (in addition to the casino free play $).?  
 

A free cruise to a low roller seems like a too good to be true offer so I’d love to hear how your last experience was?

 

WELL... our last cruise was OV, and we got a Family OV and thought - great - as it was a little larger and had a second bath - woohoo. Long story short - it was pretty bad as we were beside a room with kids who whooped it up until midnight most nights (parents seemed to stay down the hall, there seemed to be 2 families with a bucket load of kids,  multiple rooms and that room was seperate from them, and became a 'play' room or something)

 

I think in the end we were just very unlucky ... but we looking to upgrade for our next  cruise  in September, although we have a cabin defined now and it looks like a much better location, we just want a better view for Norway.

[idiebabe]

1 hour ago, DaveOKC said:

Post Covid we have been getting some nice free cabin offers from HAL's casino department. Since we are low rollers, they are generally for Oceanview or sometimes Verandahs (guarantees).  Since I was concerned about getting assigned a cabin in a poor location, on all three cruises I have paid more at booking to get a Neptune, figuring that the worst location in them still would not be too bad.  The one cruise we have finished we were assigned a great location - right near the Neptune Lounge.  

 

Now, given the low occupancy of many sailings (especially those we tend to book) I am thinking I should have just taken the free cabin and waited for an upsell offer (2-4 weeks out).  This would save me money PLUS allow me to select the location (from what available at the time).  Another advantage is not having as much cash committed on these non-refundable cruises.

 

What has been others experience with this -- upsells while being on a free cabin offer (recent history)?

In December I had a Verandah Casino Offer and received an Upsell Offer a couple of weeks out to go to a Vista Suite or Neptune.  We had already received our Cabin Assignment which was on Deck 5 in a good location but we ended up taking the Upsell for the Neptune.  Hard to resist!    That was the only time.  
 

I never called  to get an Upsell close to Sailing on a Casino Offer and also interested in hearing others experience.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[curmudgeon98]

We got offers for "free" oceanviews this year, and have booked a couple.  Too far out for any upsell offers, but for the longer cruise, I did pay for "Club Orange".  $480 for the 16-day cruise (since there is no dedicated Orange dining room on this ship).  I wouldn't pay that for the perks normally (kind of a grab bag of priority lines and other tidbits), but it let us move from one of the "behind the lifeboat" cabins to one of the upper front OVs that are quite large - we'll see if the motion makes us regret that...

 

Supposedly the $200pp prepaid OBC can be used for pretty much anything other than port fees/taxes (which are prepaid at booking).

[Andi Land]

On my Alaska sailing, I had a free OV. At 3 weeks out I called to see what offers were available. It was $349 obstructed balcony, $449 Vista Suite, $999 Neptune. 

[Smeecanada]

On our recent free oceanview Alaska cruise.  Guarantee cabin - no upsell offered.

[chefchick]

Next question….once booked on one of these great casino offers (guarantee cabin, so no additional perks) can one purchase the “have it all” package or would one have to purchase a full price beverage pkg, dining pkg, wifi pkg, etc ?

 

sorry, this may be a silly question but I’ve never received a “free” anything before 😜 

[rwmiller]

13 minutes ago, chefchick said:

Next question….once booked on one of these great casino offers (guarantee cabin, so no additional perks) can one purchase the “have it all” package or would one have to purchase a full price beverage pkg, dining pkg, wifi pkg, etc ?

Yes you can. We just did for an upcoming cruise on NS with a casino veranda cabin. 
 

Bob

[chefchick]

7 minutes ago, rwmiller said:

Yes you can. We just did for an upcoming cruise on NS with a casino veranda cabin. 
 

Bob

Thanks for the speedy reply…May I ask what you paid for the have it all package?

[kit125]

5 hours ago, chefchick said:

Thanks for the speedy reply…May I ask what you paid for the have it all package?

I did the same. For a B2B, it was $45pppd. Others have stated $50pppd. 

[rodndonna]

10 hours ago, Andi Land said:

On my Alaska sailing, I had a free OV. At 3 weeks out I called to see what offers were available. It was $349 obstructed balcony, $449 Vista Suite, $999 Neptune. 

 

Who did you call - your PCC? Just the generic HAL booking number or Casino booking number?

[DaveOKC]

10 hours ago, Andi Land said:

On my Alaska sailing, I had a free OV. At 3 weeks out I called to see what offers were available. It was $349 obstructed balcony, $449 Vista Suite, $999 Neptune. 

Were you able to pick your cabin with this upsell?  

[aardvark2300]

The last couple of casino cruises we went on (Panama Canal & Caribbean) we were sent offers via email about 2 weeks prior to sailing to upgrade our cabin (OV & Inside) to balconies for very reasonable fees. We were able to choose our cabin from a few that were offered to us. In both cases, we were happy with the results. 
We have been booking through HAL direct as we don’t have a relationship with a with a travel agent - not sure if we’d do better using one as we have been exclusively using casino offers lately.

As an additional note, I did call about upgrades prior to receiving the offers and they were substantially more expensive.
 

Edited June 30, 2022 by aardvark2300
Additional info added

[Andi Land]

7 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

Were you able to pick your cabin with this upsell?  

I was. I just called the normal ships inventory department and asked what upsells were available. And once I knew the prices for the categories, I asked for a specific room and got it. Super easy. 

[Andi Land]

7 hours ago, rodndonna said:

 

Who did you call - your PCC? Just the generic HAL booking number or Casino booking number?

It was the ships inventory department 1 888 628 8107. They were very helpful and friendly. 

[Euby]

On 6/30/2022 at 2:42 PM, Andi Land said:

I was. I just called the normal ships inventory department and asked what upsells were available. And once I knew the prices for the categories, I asked for a specific room and got it. Super easy. 

I'm curious as to the mechanics of this.  Do they just say Oceanview is $X, Verandah is $Y, and suites are $Z?  What's the best way to know if that is a good price?  Just compare the price difference between the categories based on the HAL website?
I currently have a casino offer with an interior cabin booked for a trip in 16 days.  Wouldn't mind getting a larger cabin if it's reasonable.  Especially since it appears that the ship is only 1/2 full.

[Euby]

@DaveOKC- I tried to send you an PM, but it wouldn't go.  Can you answer this for me?

Do they just say Oceanview is $X, Verandah is $Y, and suites are $Z?  What's the best way to know if that is a good price?  Just compare the price difference between the categories based on the HAL website?

[oakridger]

Private Messaging is not enabled on Cruise Critic.

[DaveOKC]

On 8/25/2022 at 2:08 AM, Euby said:

I'm curious as to the mechanics of this.  Do they just say Oceanview is $X, Verandah is $Y, and suites are $Z?  What's the best way to know if that is a good price?  Just compare the price difference between the categories based on the HAL website?
I currently have a casino offer with an interior cabin booked for a trip in 16 days.  Wouldn't mind getting a larger cabin if it's reasonable.  Especially since it appears that the ship is only 1/2 full.

Thats the way it works - different prices per category upsell.  Usually you get to pick from any open cabin in the specific category (but you do need to ask or they will just assign you).

To know what is a good price is tougher.  On a normal booking I look at the current category prices (my current one and the one I want) and try to only pay 1/3rd of the difference.  This depends on how full the ship is of course. 

On a casino offer its a bit more confusing, since the casino is discounting the prices to start with, so the pricing formula does not work as well IMO.  I would look at how much the difference was in the original offer you received ( you need to get this online by doing a test booking) and going from there.

 

[kazu]

Stupid question maybe - but if you take the category you want in a casino offer (and pay the cost) could you add Club Orange after and then have the category you really want in that class of cabin and choose your stateroom?

[curmudgeon98]

4 hours ago, kazu said:

Stupid question maybe - but if you take the category you want in a casino offer (and pay the cost) could you add Club Orange after and then have the category you really want in that class of cabin and choose your stateroom?

We did just that.  I don't care much about Club Orange for itself, but it was a low cost way to move from an obstructed OV to one of the big forward OV cabins on the upper deck.  Of course it depends on availability.