FREE Upgrade

[lenquixote66]

Are we the only ones to have received a free upgrade without requesting a cabin change ?In 2008 we booked an OV on an HAL ship.

We were upgraded to a balcony without requesting a cabin change.This never happed before or after .

[Charles4515]

1 minute ago, lenquixote66 said:

Are we the only ones to have received a free upgrade without requesting a cabin change ?In 2008 we booked an OV on an HAL ship.

We were upgraded to a balcony without requesting a cabin change.This never happed before or after .

I received 7 or 8 free upgrades but that stopped happening years ago when I started cruising. On HAL for example about instead of free upgrades we got discounted move up offers. Some we did take as they  were often good deals. Now the cruise lines have hired a company that does move up bids. I am not really into that but I have tried a few but never had any luck. 

[ldubs]

We have had few free upgrades within the same cabin category, but not from one cabin type to another.  We have received inexpensive upgrade offers to balcony cabins.  Not free but still attractive offers that we usually take.   

[BklynBoy8]

We received about 5 upgrades from one grade to another.

 

No regrets. 

[mammajamma2013]

We received an upgrade from a balcony to a mini-suite on Princess for an October 2020 cruise. When we were finally able to take the cruise, we were back in the balcony with no mention of the previous upgrade.

[BklynBoy8]

We recently upgraded from Britannia Club to Princess Grill 

 

Hoping next time a Britannia Club to Princess Grill or some low level Queen Grill Suite would be a gift.

[Woody14]

3 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

Are we the only ones to have received a free upgrade without requesting a cabin change ?In 2008 we booked an OV on an HAL ship.

We were upgraded to a balcony without requesting a cabin change.This never happed before or after .

Back then (2008) an upgrade fairy visit was not an uncommon thing but in the past 7-10 years it went from rare to doesn't happen anymore.   Now it is all about the upsell fairy.   Sure you can get some good upgrades but they make you pay for them.    Or you can get the really lucky book a GTY of some sort and come out a big winner (recently I took an ocean view GTY and ended up with a balcony) but that seems to be the rarity.      My favourite is book now and receive a free x category upgrade, really they are just selling the slightly higher catagory for the same price as the lower but it sounds good for marketing.

[aungrl]

Good friends of our were on a Viking Ocean transatlantic (in the Wake of the Vikings) in late September, 2019, and received an upgrade from a Penthouse Veranda to an Explorer Suite, completely gratis and without them asking or even thinking about a cabin upgrade.  (On VO, this is a two category upgrade.)  

[leaveitallbehind]

As others have mentioned "free" upgrades are quite more rare these days than years ago as most have gone the way of the upsell programs.  And there are many cruisers who would prefer to not be upgraded as the stateroom they originally selected may be a preferred location, or near friend's or family, etc.  In a case like that you can request to not be upgraded.

[Charles4515]

6 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

And there are many cruisers who would prefer to not be upgraded as the stateroom they originally selected may be a preferred location

Princess was the worst for that. Seemed like they y upgraded almost everyone and a lot of the upgrades were problematic because they had a lot of categories and the upgrades were mainly location. We had to put ourself on a no upgrade list b

[Elaine5715]

Many unexpected free upgrades are due to the originally booked stateroom being taken out of service, either planned to due to damage/smells/bed bugs, etc.

[Honolulu Blue]

18 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

Are we the only ones to have received a free upgrade without requesting a cabin change ?In 2008 we booked an OV on an HAL ship.

We were upgraded to a balcony without requesting a cabin change.This never happed before or after .

I've done three Princess cruises since the restart.  All three times they've upgraded me for free without me requesting them - one from an OV to a balcony, once from a balcony to a mini-suite, and once from an interior to an obstructed OV.

 

I've never gotten an upgrade on any other cruise on any other cruise line.

[leaveitallbehind]

2 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

I've never gotten an upgrade on any other cruise on any other cruise line.

In earlier years we have gotten them occasionally on RCCL.  Nothing from them or Celebrity since the restart.

[Joebucks]

In 2008 my hotels had executive lounges and huge upgrades. The times have changed.

[Chocolatemom2]

We booked gty balcony, originally assigned an obstructed cabin, upgraded to “regular “ balcony , 8th deck midship. No charge. Celebrity cruise line, our first time. I’m not complaining 😁

[hunnypot1]

I haven't cruised in years. Booked a GTY with RCCL in hopes of getting upgraded. Sad to hear they really aren't doing that anymore.

[BruceMuzz]

On 10/18/2023 at 5:59 PM, lenquixote66 said:

Are we the only ones to have received a free upgrade without requesting a cabin change ?In 2008 we booked an OV on an HAL ship.

We were upgraded to a balcony without requesting a cabin change.This never happed before or after .

To understand free cabin upgrades, you need to understand how cruise lines market and sell cabins.

First, in the Mass Market category - like HAL and Princess - every cabin on every cruise is sold an average of 8 times before the cruise actually happens. The average Mass Market cruiser is rather fickle. They change their minds a lot, move categories, change dates, change ships, cancel cruises, have family emergencies, find better deals.

The mass market cruise lines all have sophisticated computer applications designed to get maximum yield on every voyage. These computer programs track sales trends. When one particular cabin category is selling well, the computer automatically upgrades passengers in that category to the next higher one, leaving the more popular category with more open cabins to sell. On a typical HAL cruise today, anywhere from 10% to 30% of the passengers onboard have been upgraded without their knowledge, to open up more popular cabin categories.

These upgrades are real, but quite often they are not a great advantage. A one of two category upgrade often means only that you are a few extra feet away from a staircase, and elevator, or the gymnasium. 

And many times, an upgrade can result in a less desirable cabin.

Every cruise ship has “problem cabins” that are located above the show lounge, under the Gym, next to the Disco or Casino, above the engine room, or near the anchors or tender boats. Well connected Travel agents know which cabins these are and book only the better cabins for their clients. This leaves the problem cabins for unsuspecting independent travelers - or for the computer to upgrade people to them.

Naive cruisers who just received a free upgrade are reluctant to complain about it, but the reality is often that their original cabin was a better deal.

[ldubs]

6 hours ago, BruceMuzz said:

To understand free cabin upgrades, you need to understand how cruise lines market and sell cabins.

First, in the Mass Market category - like HAL and Princess - every cabin on every cruise is sold an average of 8 times before the cruise actually happens. The average Mass Market cruiser is rather fickle. They change their minds a lot, move categories, change dates, change ships, cancel cruises, have family emergencies, find better deals.

 

Eight times on average -- that is incredible.  But is it happening because the customer is fickle or because the cruise lines allow it to happen?  The same would likely happen with flight bookings except, it is not easy or free to do.  

 

6 hours ago, BruceMuzz said:

The mass market cruise lines all have sophisticated computer applications designed to get maximum yield on every voyage. These computer programs track sales trends. When one particular cabin category is selling well, the computer automatically upgrades passengers in that category to the next higher one, leaving the more popular category with more open cabins to sell.

 

I was not aware of this.  It makes a lot of sense.  

 

We have never done a guaranty cabin booking.  Still, we have turned down upgrade offers because we preferred our original cabin. 

[leaveitallbehind]

7 hours ago, BruceMuzz said:

First, in the Mass Market category - like HAL and Princess - every cabin on every cruise is sold an average of 8 times before the cruise actually happens.

This is historically very accurate, and applies as well to RCCL / Celebrity, and others.  This constant flux is in large part responsible for (using RCCL as example) the lower and more attractive non-refundable deposit (NRD) fares now having a 100% change and cancelation penalty and suite bookings requiring a NRD to reserve as a method to try to stabilize this.  Refundable fares are typically at a significant premium over NRD as well to encourage more NRD fare bookings in this effort. 

 

In other words, the mass market cruise lines don't like this constant stateroom dance and look to find ways to stabilize it.

Edited October 22, 2023 by leaveitallbehind

[lenquixote66]

2 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

Eight times on average -- that is incredible.  But is it happening because the customer is fickle or because the cruise lines allow it to happen?  The same would likely happen with flight bookings except, it is not easy or free to do.  

 

 

I was not aware of this.  It makes a lot of sense.  

 

We have never done a guaranty cabin booking.  Still, we have turned down upgrade offers because we preferred our original cabin. 

We also have never done a guaranty cabin booking.When we got the upgrade from the OV to the balcony we took the chance because it was my wife’s Retirement Cruise .The balcony was a great cabin ,no obstruction.

[shipgeeks]

I, too, find it mind-boggling to think that people change cabins/bookings like this.  So, to balance us, who in 50 cruises have never changed any element of our bookings, there are people who change, and change, and.......

But I have never returned/exchanged anything I bought at a store or online, either.  If I'm satisfied initially, I remain satisfied.

Re upgrades, we have been upgraded twice. Due to budget, we booked an inside cabin for our Alaska cruise many years ago. Circumstances led to us being moved to a balcony, with no price increase.  More recently, we requested an OV cabin for a Carib cruise, but our TA noted that balconies were cheaper, so we took that.  In both cases, we learned something important for us: We Do Not Like Balconies. We much prefer a window that is not obstructed by all that metal, and we don't have any interest in being out there. It's really nice to fine-tune one's likes and dislikes.

 

[lenquixote66]

15 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

I, too, find it mind-boggling to think that people change cabins/bookings like this.  So, to balance us, who in 50 cruises have never changed any element of our bookings, there are people who change, and change, and.......

But I have never returned/exchanged anything I bought at a store or online, either.  If I'm satisfied initially, I remain satisfied.

Re upgrades, we have been upgraded twice. Due to budget, we booked an inside cabin for our Alaska cruise many years ago. Circumstances led to us being moved to a balcony, with no price increase.  More recently, we requested an OV cabin for a Carib cruise, but our TA noted that balconies were cheaper, so we took that.  In both cases, we learned something important for us: We Do Not Like Balconies. We much prefer a window that is not obstructed by all that metal, and we don't have any interest in being out there. It's really nice to fine-tune one's likes and dislikes.

 

You are the first person I have ever heard of who does not return an article of clothing to a store.Does this mean that if you get a gift of a shirt or other clothing item that is two sizes bigger or smaller than what you wear you do not exchange it ?

 

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, shipgeeks said:

 

But I have never returned/exchanged anything I bought at a store or online, either.  If I'm satisfied initially, I remain satisfied.

I find that very strange. Usually I don’t return items from a store that I picked that were not a gift  but there are many reasons too. For example when I buy running/walking sneakers for example the store has a 60 day return policy. It takes a week or two to verify fit in practice. They expect returns and I have had to return several times. Ordering online I have done a lot of returns because what you see online often does not meet size expectations or the actual item does not look the same in actuality as online. 

Edited October 23, 2023 by Charles4515

[ldubs]

1 hour ago, shipgeeks said:

I, too, find it mind-boggling to think that people change cabins/bookings like this.  So, to balance us, who in 50 cruises have never changed any element of our bookings, there are people who change, and change, and.......

But I have never returned/exchanged anything I bought at a store or online, either.  If I'm satisfied initially, I remain satisfied.

Re upgrades, we have been upgraded twice. Due to budget, we booked an inside cabin for our Alaska cruise many years ago. Circumstances led to us being moved to a balcony, with no price increase.  More recently, we requested an OV cabin for a Carib cruise, but our TA noted that balconies were cheaper, so we took that.  In both cases, we learned something important for us: We Do Not Like Balconies. We much prefer a window that is not obstructed by all that metal, and we don't have any interest in being out there. It's really nice to fine-tune one's likes and dislikes.

 

 

If you accepted the upgrades to the balcony cabins, then you have changed an element of your booking. 

 

We have been on 40+ cruises and have changed bookings.  Sometimes it was to grab a price reduction.  Sometimes it was because we were offered a desirable free upgrade.   Sometimes it was because we were offered a desirable upgrade at a great price.  Additionally, during COVID, we cancelled a couple of cruises prior to final payment. Those cruises were ultimately cancelled by the cruise line.  

 

I think some of the booking changes happen because current cruise line rules allow them to happen.  It isn't just changing cabins.  Many book multiple cruises a long way out in order to grab their preferred cabin choices.  Then they cancel all but the one they finally decide to actually use.  More power to those folks, but it does tie up options for those of us who book cruises we actually intend to take.   

 

Also the cabin churning isn't all passenger driven.  Many of these reassignments are driven by the cruise lines by offering guarantee cabins

 

 

[leaveitallbehind]

8 minutes ago, ldubs said:

   Also the cabin churning isn't all passenger driven.  Many of these reassignments are driven by the cruise lines by offering guarantee cabins.

Just for my own clarification, are you suggesting that once a stateroom is selected that the cruise line might change it to open it up for a GTY?  If so, that would sound unusual as once you select a stateroom that should be locked on your behalf.  I know, as example, with RCCL / Celebrity that GTY staterooms are typically blocked in advance with that offer (sometimes as the less desirable locations), or assigned to unreserved staterooms when issued.

 

Just curious.