Plus To Premier Upgrade Procedure

[lx200gps]

I'm in the process of trying to upgrade the "package" for our next trip from Plus to our usual Premier. Yes, I well know that we can very easily upgrade upon boarding, as we usually do, however I want to do the upgrade now rather than waiting until we board, as we have very little OBC for that specific trip to use for the on board upgrade.

 

Up until recently, when I went to the Personalizer and signed in to the specific trip, I was presented with a loud blue banner which had an "Upgrade Now" button, which opened a window showing all three packages, the one we already had booked (Plus) and a button against Premier which would allow us to upgrade on the spot and pay the delta. Now, when I click the Upgrade Now button a window flashes past too quickly to read then another window opens up saying "You’ve purchased Princess Plus, great choice", listing the perqs that come with Plus, but with absolutely no apparent way to buy the upgrade.

 

Beyond messaging our TA and asking her to do the upgrade, is there any way for me to buy the upgrade now? Calling Princess is a non-starter, won't happen, and I'd rather not try to do this on a cell phone with the App. Thanks in advance.

[Thrak]

When is your cruise? If it's very close to sailing I "think" the web site won't let you change. You say you don't even want to try doing it with the app but it "might" work that way. I know you can "normally" do it via the app. Alternately you could always try Live Chat.

Edited March 12 by Thrak

[startedwithamouse]

You *may* have to wait until boarding. 

 

We've tried doing this for an upcoming voyage, going from Plus to Premier, and it won't let us on the app or cruise personalizer. 

 

Booked this voyage onboard Princess.

[Ellipooh]

I just tried to upgrade and had the same results as OP. 

I sail in 24 days.

[lx200gps]

Thanks for feedback every one. This sailing is July 14 on the Emerald out of Boston, final payment is next month.  I suspect we will simply wait and do it after boarding as usual, there's obviously no shortage of staff waiting by the gangway to help with the upgrade ;o).  You would think that Princess would want to offer a pre-cruise upgrade path as a way to take our money ahead of time, but they don't make it easy.

[Rick&Jeannie]

I am a dinosaur...I freely admit it! 😄 I simply refuse to do almost *any* kind of financial transaction via my phone.  (Don't get me wrong...I retired from the IT world...I fully embrace the convenience of a smartphone, but almost exclusively for reference only.)

 

When it comes to my cruise bookings, I will *only* do so on a desktop PC where I can easily *print* screenshots and/or create screen grabs.  Perhaps not being able to upgrade your package level via the cruise personalizer is something new, as per @startedwithamouse.  IDK.  I have been able to do so for the 2 times I upgraded to Premier.  One thing we all know to be true...Princess is consistently in consistent!

[lx200gps]

20 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I am a dinosaur...I freely admit it! 😄 I simply refuse to do almost *any* kind of financial transaction via my phone.  (Don't get me wrong...I retired from the IT world...I fully embrace the convenience of a smartphone, but almost exclusively for reference only.)

 

When it comes to my cruise bookings, I will *only* do so on a desktop PC where I can easily *print* screenshots and/or create screen grabs.  Perhaps not being able to upgrade your package level via the cruise personalizer is something new, as per @startedwithamouse.  IDK.  I have been able to do so for the 2 times I upgraded to Premier.  One thing we all know to be true...Princess is consistently in consistent!

Same here, I detest using a smart phone as a PC. In this case, even the web version of the "app" did not allow the upgrade either. And yes, I'm pretty sure it's a new thing, up until pretty recently, when I clicked on the "Upgrade Now" button, it did open up a table that showed what I currently had (Plus), the upgrade price, and a way to select the upgrade immediately. This change, where this was eliminated, seems to have happened very recently. Given the world-class skill of Princess's IT consultants/web site managers, I can only assume this is a conscious change and not an error ;o)

[Torfamm]

If you can’t do it online, you can always phone and asked them to add the upgrade.

[Rick&Jeannie]

6 minutes ago, Torfamm said:

If you can’t do it online, you can always phone and asked them to add the upgrade.

Yes...but why in the world would they knowingly choose to *add* more work to the severely under-trained call center reps?

[Torfamm]

Just now, Rick&Jeannie said:

Yes...but why in the world would they knowingly choose to *add* more work to the severely under-trained call center reps?

To get what they want done. That transaction is pretty simple. I haven’t had any trouble getting it taken care of. I always have to do it by phone since paying with gift cards isn’t an option on the website.

[Rick&Jeannie]

15 minutes ago, Torfamm said:

To get what they want done. That transaction is pretty simple. I haven’t had any trouble getting it taken care of. I always have to do it by phone since paying with gift cards isn’t an option on the website.

Given your situation of using gift cards, then yes, that makes sense.  But it makes *no* sense to *remove* a simple, self-service function from a website when it has been working just fine and shift it over to call center reps, requiring time and effort (even if it is minimal) from a human operator.

[lx200gps]

24 minutes ago, Torfamm said:

To get what they want done. That transaction is pretty simple. I haven’t had any trouble getting it taken care of. I always have to do it by phone since paying with gift cards isn’t an option on the website.

I'm sure it can be done over the phone, even though we always work through our TA. The first, last, and only time I ever called Princess I was on hold for 45 minutes. When I finally connected, I was talking to what I assume was a home-based rep who answered the phone with me while yelling at her kids in the background. Before she even acknowledged me, I was disconnected. Obviously your experiences have been fine, but I'm disinclined to call Princess. Next time I'm talking to our TA I'll ask her if this is something she would normally handle, but realistically I'd rather not bother her with it and we'll just wait until we board.  Especially if she has to call Princess to do it.

[Robkat]

Whenever we've tried to do the upgrade ourselves online (and this has always been pre-final balance payment), we get a message telling us to contact our travel agent.  The first time, we also tried calling and speaking to a CSR, and they said that if you are working with a TA, the transaction must be done through them.  We did that and the cost was added onto our balance payment.

 

We're wondering if it would be different if we tried doing it after final payment had been made.  But that hasn't suited our timing so far, so we're left to wonder.

 

But it was easy doing it through the TA.

[Thrak]

If you have the Princess Insurance it will cost more if you book Plus or Premier in advance. If you do it onboard there is no extra fee on the insurance.

[trbarton]

3 hours ago, lx200gps said:

I'm sure it can be done over the phone, even though we always work through our TA. The first, last, and only time I ever called Princess I was on hold for 45 minutes. When I finally connected, I was talking to what I assume was a home-based rep who answered the phone with me while yelling at her kids in the background. Before she even acknowledged me, I was disconnected. Obviously your experiences have been fine, but I'm disinclined to call Princess. Next time I'm talking to our TA I'll ask her if this is something she would normally handle, but realistically I'd rather not bother her with it and we'll just wait until we board.  Especially if she has to call Princess to do it.

FYI…I called Princess today & was hold for 1 minute. I would try again. 
 

Tom😁

[trbarton]

59 minutes ago, Thrak said:

If you have the Princess Insurance it will cost more if you book Plus or Premier in advance. If you do it onboard there is no extra fee on the insurance.

Good information to know. I have enough OBC & will buy once onboard. 
 

Tom😁

[NavyVeteran]

I checked two cruises for which I am booked with Plus - one in September this year and one in March 2026. In both cases, when I clicked "Upgrade Now", it said "You've purchased Princess Plus, great choice" with a list of Plus benefits and no option to upgrade to Premier. When I click "Upgrade Now" on cruises with Premier booked, it correctly shows the Premier benefits. I remember fairly recently (I'm not sure exactly when), it allowed me the option to upgrade from Plus to Premier online.

The more complete description of what I have in Plus or Premier is an improvement. However, I can't see any reason for Princess to remove the option to upgrade from Plus to Premier online.

[bosswench]

Is there any advantage to calling to upgrade? My TA just got us a large amount of new OBC for our cruise leaving in three weeks, and we already have Plus. I was planning to just upgrade to Premier when we are onboard. 

[wallyj]

6 hours ago, bosswench said:

Is there any advantage to calling to upgrade? My TA just got us a large amount of new OBC for our cruise leaving in three weeks, and we already have Plus. I was planning to just upgrade to Premier when we are onboard. 

You can use your OBC towards upgrading to Premier on board, if you call to upgrade before sailing, you can not use your OBC towards paying for upgrade and if you have Princess vacation protection, your insurance will increase if you upgrade before sailing.