Help With Upgrade Offer

[Tedferg]

We are sailing on Royal, Hawaii to Sydney Oct2 2023. Just received a list of upgrade offers from Princess, even though we did not subscribe to 'Updates'

 

 We are in E415 on Royal and feel that is primo location for an 'obstructed', we have been in these Emerald locations previously and are very happy with them.

So, the only upgrade we would be interested in would be De Luxe obstructed with the Loveseat. This is available for $350 total, however I am afraid we could find the 'obstruction' to be a lifeboat etc. E415 has no obstruction. If I could be sure the upgrade would be in a similar location it might be worth it. 

 

Would we know the location and be able to choose whether to accept or not?

 

As I type this it occurs to me that those De Luxe Emerald locations are unlikely to be available.

 

[echoshipmate]

21 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

We are sailing on Royal, Hawaii to Sydney Oct2 2023. Just received a list of upgrade offers from Princess, even though we did not subscribe to 'Updates'

 

 We are in E415 on Royal and feel that is primo location for an 'obstructed', we have been in these Emerald locations previously and are very happy with them.

So, the only upgrade we would be interested in would be De Luxe obstructed with the Loveseat. This is available for $350 total, however I am afraid we could find the 'obstruction' to be a lifeboat etc. E415 has no obstruction. If I could be sure the upgrade would be in a similar location it might be worth it. 

 

Would we know the location and be able to choose whether to accept or not?

 

As I type this it occurs to me that those De Luxe Emerald locations are unlikely to be available.

 

Unfortunately no, you cannot be able to choose whether to accept or not. I bid on an upgrade and it was accepted, we had no choice, in fact, you have to provide a credit card when you submit your bid and the card is charged before you are even notified. You have no recourse after you are assigned a new cabin. We went from an inside to an obstructed deluxe balcony, so for us it worked out. We only found out by email after Princess had charged our card. Good luck with your decision.

Doug

[Cruise Raider]

24 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

We are sailing on Royal, Hawaii to Sydney Oct2 2023. Just received a list of upgrade offers from Princess, even though we did not subscribe to 'Updates'

 

 We are in E415 on Royal and feel that is primo location for an 'obstructed', we have been in these Emerald locations previously and are very happy with them.

So, the only upgrade we would be interested in would be De Luxe obstructed with the Loveseat. This is available for $350 total, however I am afraid we could find the 'obstruction' to be a lifeboat etc. E415 has no obstruction. If I could be sure the upgrade would be in a similar location it might be worth it. 

 

Would we know the location and be able to choose whether to accept or not?

 

As I type this it occurs to me that those De Luxe Emerald locations are unlikely to be available.

 

The deluxe balconies (obstructed or not) can be in different locations throughout the ship.  And no,  they won’t necessarily put you mid ship.  And you also can’t choose whether or not to accept it.  Once you bid, you will be charged and your original cabin may be gone.  If you’re happy with the location you’re in, you probably shouldn’t bid on an upgrade.  Only bid if you’d be happy with any of the cabins in the category you’re bidding on.  
I believe your best best is to stick with your current cabin and if the ship isn’t full, ask to pay for an upgrade once onboard.  At least then they could tell you which cabins are open and you have that option to say yes or no to what’s available.  
 

[PacnGoNow]

7 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

The deluxe balconies (obstructed or not) can be in different locations throughout the ship.  And no,  they won’t necessarily put you mid ship.  And you also can’t choose whether or not to accept it.  Once you bid, you will be charged and your original cabin may be gone.  If you’re happy with the location you’re in, you probably shouldn’t bid on an upgrade.  Only bid if you’d be happy with any of the cabins in the category you’re bidding on.  
I believe your best best is to stick with your current cabin and if the ship isn’t full, ask to pay for an upgrade once onboard.  At least then they could tell you which cabins are open and you have that option to say yes or no to what’s available.  
 

Great answer!  

[Tedferg]

Thanks Cruise Raider great answer. We are very happy with current location. We were in E407 on Regal in June, similar location but De Luxe - only two sea days so loveseat was not a big deal. We will stay with E415.

[Rick&Jeannie]

I honestly don't think I would *ever* do an upgrade bid.  We tend to pick cabins that we feel we are happy with up front.  Bidding (and winning) just seems too much like "buying a pig in a poke"!

[Tedferg]

58 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I honestly don't think I would *ever* do an upgrade bid.  We tend to pick cabins that we feel we are happy with up front.  Bidding (and winning) just seems too much like "buying a pig in a poke"!

Agreed, we are doing Honolulu to Sydney, two sets of five sea days and so I thought we might have a bit more cabin time and so loveseat would be useful. We do not spend much time in cabin.

[Rick&Jeannie]

4 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

Agreed, we are doing Honolulu to Sydney, two sets of five sea days and so I thought we might have a bit more cabin time and so loveseat would be useful. We do not spend much time in cabin.

If I were in your situation...and I *knew* my upgrade location was a sure thing...then yes, I might bid.  But then...it's NOT a sure thing, is it?

[echoshipmate]

A final thought on bidding. We are doing 3b2b' on Royal starting this Saturday. We booked a very inexpensive inside with the plan to upgrade somehow. Well, it worked, we bid barely over minimum for all 3 cruises. The first 2 we got an obstructed deluxe balcony, and most surprising, we got the same cabin for cruise 1 and 2, so no move! The 3rd cruise we got a deluxe balcony without obstruction. I was amazed  the algorithm somehow figured out we were on for more than 1 cruise and gave us the same cabin for cruise 1 and 2.  My point is, sometimes it might make sense to bid for an upgrade. We are tired of the summer heat, Alaska for 3 weeks be a welcome relief!

Doug

[Cruise Raider]

On 7/10/2023 at 10:53 AM, Rick&Jeannie said:

I honestly don't think I would *ever* do an upgrade bid.  We tend to pick cabins that we feel we are happy with up front.  Bidding (and winning) just seems too much like "buying a pig in a poke"!

The only times I’ve bid for an upgrade was when I bid on a premium balcony and once on a full suite.  We love aft facing and midship cabins.  On the Grand class, that’s a given that we’d get a cabin in a preferred location if they accepted our bid.  And, the suites are pretty much separated out by location as well.  
We’ve never had a bid accepted but did notice once that when there was a price drop for a premium balcony, we removed the bid and paid for the upgrade instead.  It was actually cheaper that way.  

[Tedferg]

Agree with above comments and as I said, I realize that if the location I wanted was available it would have been an option when I booked. Maybe booking an inside and gambling that any upgrade would be acceptable is a reasonable ploy.

[Wishing on a star]

I would only bid if I knew that there was a good chance that I would get a cabin that I liked better.

For me, in the exact same situation, we decided NOT to bid on an obstructed deluxe, because, as mentioned, there are a LOT of them that are very obstructed.  NO guarantee.

 

I would, of course, prefer the Deluxe Balcony,  but having that cabin, similar to the one that you have booked, was great.  We didn't miss the slightly larger cabin to awfully much!

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, Tedferg said:

Agree with above comments and as I said, I realize that if the location I wanted was available it would have been an option when I booked. Maybe booking an inside and gambling that any upgrade would be acceptable is a reasonable ploy.

 

1 hour ago, Wishing on a star said:

I would only bid if I knew that there was a good chance that I would get a cabin that I liked better.

For me, in the exact same situation, we decided NOT to bid on an obstructed deluxe, because, as mentioned, there are a LOT of them that are very obstructed.  NO guarantee.

 

I would, of course, prefer the Deluxe Balcony,  but having that cabin, similar to the one that you have booked, was great.  We didn't miss the slightly larger cabin to awfully much!

It is too bad that PCL doesn't designate the better Obstructed ones as DV, to distinguish from DW (they used to have DV's).  In that way, your strategy could work.  I am thinking once a bid is won, those DW's that aren't really obstructed will all be gone since they are in same Category as the rest of them and folks will have nabbed them first in booking.

[Abercrombie2019]

28 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

 

It is too bad that PCL doesn't designate the better Obstructed ones as DV, to distinguish from DW (they used to have DV's).  In that way, your strategy could work.  I am thinking once a bid is won, those DW's that aren't really obstructed will all be gone since they are in same Category as the rest of them and folks will have nabbed them first in booking.

The only problem with giving them a separate designation is that Princess will charge more for the "less" obstructed ones.  DV will be more expensive than DW.

 

The last few cruises that we've booked have had one price for all of the Deluxe Obstructed Balcony cabins, and one price for all of the Obstructed Balcony cabins regardless of location or actual obstruction.

[Steelers36]

34 minutes ago, Abercrombie2019 said:

The only problem with giving them a separate designation is that Princess will charge more for the "less" obstructed ones.  DV will be more expensive than DW.

 

The last few cruises that we've booked have had one price for all of the Deluxe Obstructed Balcony cabins, and one price for all of the Obstructed Balcony cabins regardless of location or actual obstruction.

That used to be the case.  I am not sure when the change was made whether the pricing averaged out between the former DW and DW or whether it remained as DW or changed in some other way.  

 

I would certainly consider the partial obstructed to be worth more money than the fully obstructed.

[Abercrombie2019]

10 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I would certainly consider the partial obstructed to be worth more money than the fully obstructed.

 

Yes, I would too.  If you are lucky enough to be able to select one of the less obstructed rooms, it feels like you are getting a deal.  The only problem now is that most of these rooms are showing as "Guaranteed Staterooms" .

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

If your most important issue is location, then you shouldn’t upgrade. For my DW and me, we would never sail in a Princess regular balcony cabin as they have no seating and location is less of a concern for us. Everyone has to decide which are their must haves then book and/or upgrade accordingly.