Strange and unacceptable upgrade

[Tdrott]

Hello all. I’m about to take a cruise on Iona to the Fjiords. I booked a saver fare as it was a last minute thing and paid for a deluxe balcony cabin as I wished to see the sun rising and setting. When I got allocated my cabin I realised that they’d given me an upgrade to a family suite that has no balcony and I’m most annoyed. Has anyone had the same happen to them ?. I know that going with the saver fare means you can’t select your cabin but surely if you pay for a balcony cabin you should get one !

[kalos]

Welcome to C C forum  board .🙂

 

Did you tick the Do Not Upgrade BOX ?

 

If Yes ,I would give who you booked with a ring .

[FangedRose]

That's why you untick the upgrade box.

[Tdrott]

Booking under the Saver fare it’s not an option to refuse an upgrade. If I knew they could change a balcony cabin to an outside cabin, albeit a suite, I’d certainly would have had a rethink

[FangedRose]

1 minute ago, Tdrott said:

Booking under the Saver fare it’s not an option to refuse an upgrade. If I knew they could change a balcony cabin to an outside cabin, albeit a suite, I’d certainly would have had a rethink

A suite is an upgrade on a cabin (even a balcony cabin) so was always a possibility. That is why a lot of us pay the extra to guarantee the cabin we want (and make sure we untick the upgrade box). Most of us have been caught out before we learnt that particular lesson.

[AndyMichelle]

26 minutes ago, Tdrott said:

Booking under the Saver fare it’s not an option to refuse an upgrade. If I knew they could change a balcony cabin to an outside cabin, albeit a suite, I’d certainly would have had a rethink

Call P&O... 

They may not help, but they did help us once when we queried the upgrade and put us back into the grade we had paid for. (saver). 

We now try to book select and choose. 

Andy

[Megabear2]

If you don't like it nothing to be lost in asking.  You don't say how many of you travelling, they may have thought if you were a family you would like it.

 

I once had the same happen on an MSC cruise on the Divina.  As I was travelling alone I would have rattled around like a lone coffee bean in a tin.  I asked at reception if they could swap me with someone else in a balcony and on sailing got the call to say a family would love the swap.

[Britboys]

Sadly, it really seems that P&O use the complimentary upgrades to their own ends, rather than as a great boost for the passenger. With so many cabin grades now, it does seem quite easy to effectively have what you might consider a downgrade but because of the gradings, it is considered by the company to be an upgrade...

[Windsurfboy]

This is a clear lesson.

 

If you have what you think is a nice cabin.

 

Always opt out of upgrades

 

Don't think about bid to upgrade.

 

Otherwise will get what others don't want

[Thejuggler]

2 hours ago, Britboys said:

Sadly, it really seems that P&O use the complimentary upgrades to their own ends, rather than as a great boost for the passenger. With so many cabin grades now, it does seem quite easy to effectively have what you might consider a downgrade but because of the gradings, it is considered by the company to be an upgrade...

That has always been the case and why there are so many cabin grades.

 

With dynamic pricing on popular cruises they can try and resell already allocated cabins at higher prices and 'upgrade' the original passengers to higher grade cabins which may not be popular.

 

A seaview suite right at the front may be such a cabin.  If I'd booked a balcony, a seaview cabin of any type is a downgrade.

[Britboys]

32 minutes ago, Thejuggler said:

That has always been the case and why there are so many cabin grades.

 

With dynamic pricing on popular cruises they can try and resell already allocated cabins at higher prices and 'upgrade' the original passengers to higher grade cabins which may not be popular.

 

A seaview suite right at the front may be such a cabin.  If I'd booked a balcony, a seaview cabin of any type is a downgrade.

Unless my memory is failing me (which is quite possible 🤪) there are a lot more cabin grades now than when I started cruising with P&O 23 years ago. Partly I think down to the accountants maximising revenue and partly due to the size of the newer ships....

[terrierjohn]

3 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Unless my memory is failing me (which is quite possible 🤪) there are a lot more cabin grades now than when I started cruising with P&O 23 years ago. Partly I think down to the accountants maximising revenue and partly due to the size of the newer ships....

As far back as I remember there have always been 6 categories in each cabin grade, and each grade represents a different cabin type, there are possibly more types of cabin now on the bigger ships, where they added Conservatory mini suites, but most ships have all the other grades.

[Tdrott]

To my mind the upgrade offered is an increase therefore upgrade in the space ( rather pointless as it’s only the two of us) but a decrease and downgrade in facilities.

Thanks to you all for your input, I shall ask for it to be changed when I board and keep you informed

[Adawn47]

20 hours ago, kalos said:

Welcome to C C forum  board .🙂

 

Did you tick the Do Not Upgrade BOX ?

 

If Yes ,I would give who you booked with a ring .

I didn't think you could tick the no upgrade box on saver fare, only select fare🤔

Avril

[kalos]

4 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

I didn't think you could tick the no upgrade box on saver fare, only select fare🤔

Avril

The op kindly put us right in post #4    .

 

I have only done select and wrongly thought there was an upgrade box on saver as well  .

[Tdrott]

Just an update as promised.

When I eventually got on board I went straight to reception and aired my complaint. The staff didn’t really believe that I’d paid for a balcony and “upgraded” to one without. They asked me for proof of purchase so I got someone to go to my house and send me the invoice via email. Once they saw that they were quite happy to sort me a bald cabin out, a conservatory mini suite.

As a side not we hadn’t been cruising for 6 years and hadn’t realised some changes like we now had a boarding time. Normally we’d rock up and they let you on the ship. So we waited outside the checking in area for 3 hours before they’d let us in. When on board by the time we’d sorted the cabin out and downloaded the booking app ALL the restaurants were fully booked for the whole week and now have to join a queue every night for the restaurants so just a heads up to anyone who isn’t aware of these changes.

Once again thank you all for your input

[CarlaMarie]

38 minutes ago, Tdrott said:

Just an update as promised.

When I eventually got on board I went straight to reception and aired my complaint. The staff didn’t really believe that I’d paid for a balcony and “upgraded” to one without. They asked me for proof of purchase so I got someone to go to my house and send me the invoice via email. Once they saw that they were quite happy to sort me a bald cabin out, a conservatory mini suite.

As a side not we hadn’t been cruising for 6 years and hadn’t realised some changes like we now had a boarding time. Normally we’d rock up and they let you on the ship. So we waited outside the checking in area for 3 hours before they’d let us in. When on board by the time we’d sorted the cabin out and downloaded the booking app ALL the restaurants were fully booked for the whole week and now have to join a queue every night for the restaurants so just a heads up to anyone who isn’t aware of these changes.

Once again thank you all for your input

 

Thank you for your update. I'm really pleased that they sorted your cabin for you. Unfortunately there have been many changes, including the introduction of the app. May I ask, how long were you having to wait in the queue for the restaurants?

[kalos]

@Tdrott Hope your cruise goes well for you .thanks for the update. Have a great time!

[Tdrott]

11 minutes ago, CarlaMarie said:

 

Thank you for your update. I'm really pleased that they sorted your cabin for you. Unfortunately there have been many changes, including the introduction of the app. May I ask, how long were you having to wait in the queue for the restaurants?

Not long actually. About 30 mins with about 50+ ahead of you in queue but you have no idea how long you’ll be waiting. I had to check the app to see if table was ready as no alert given although that may be me not using the app correctly 

[Megabear2]

8 hours ago, Tdrott said:

Not long actually. About 30 mins with about 50+ ahead of you in queue but you have no idea how long you’ll be waiting. I had to check the app to see if table was ready as no alert given although that may be me not using the app correctly 

You have a fellow CC member on Board Interestedcruisefan.  ICF is running a blog in another thread. Would be great if you could post in there so we can see your two differing experiences - he's fully app booked and not queuing etc so would be great to hear how you're doing too.

 

Glad you got the cabin sorted. I assume you aren't sailing full.

Edited May 22, 2023 by Megabear2

[CarlaMarie]

9 hours ago, Tdrott said:

Not long actually. About 30 mins with about 50+ ahead of you in queue but you have no idea how long you’ll be waiting. I had to check the app to see if table was ready as no alert given although that may be me not using the app correctly 

 

Yes from what I know you have to constantly refresh the app to check for the notification that your table is ready. Pleased the wait isn't too long on this cruise. 

[The Mariners]

Hi all. We got off Iona Sat 20th May after a week in Norway. I regularly read CC but don’t post a lot and I must say we had very positive thoughts on Iona. We regularly joined the virtual queue for dinner at peak times just as we were leaving cabin or headliners show and I think the most we saw was 27/28 in front of us (Coral or Pearl ) Never actually got to a bar to order a drink before notification that our table was ready so we found things worked great.

[Splice the mainbrace]

That’s not good having to wait for 3 hours before boarding. We rocked up last October on Arcadia and went straight on ahead of time. We stay in the Southampton area the night before cruises and I don’t fancy hanging around between vacating the hotel room and killing some hours. 
We depart on a Cunard cruise this week on Queen Victoria it will be interesting if they are as strict with a smaller ship.

Edited May 22, 2023 by Splice the mainbrace

[CarlaMarie]

3 hours ago, The Mariners said:

Hi all. We got off Iona Sat 20th May after a week in Norway. I regularly read CC but don’t post a lot and I must say we had very positive thoughts on Iona. We regularly joined the virtual queue for dinner at peak times just as we were leaving cabin or headliners show and I think the most we saw was 27/28 in front of us (Coral or Pearl ) Never actually got to a bar to order a drink before notification that our table was ready so we found things worked great.

 

Pleased you enjoyed your cruise and thankyou for your feedback. Your feedback supports that of others regarding less queue time for the MDR's on Iona. Clearly having the 4 main dining rooms works and is needed.