Getting a call directly from Cunard - Upgrade offer

[NE John]

I mentioned this in a separate thread but the other day I was called directly from Cunard with a very amazing offer to move from a PG to Q6 guaranteed suite on upcoming QE voyage. The only caveat is it may be an accessible suite if no one needs it and we’ll will get a higher grade room if needed for that purpose. I, of course, accepted. Not concerned with no tub in room. 
This is the first time I’ve booked directly from Cunard (TA’s beforehand)— is this a common practice of them calling us to pitch upgrades? I have been receiving upgrade emails but a phone call…?

Has anyone had similar experience? I trust staying in an accessible suite is no biggie. First time in QG too!

Edited April 28 by NE John

[techteach]

How exciting @NE John! We only have 2 cruises under our belts with Cunard and have booked QG from the beginning so I can’t comment on this being the norm. I’ve certainly never read of anyone receiving a phone call on CC. Is this upgrade for Alaska?

[NE John]

23 minutes ago, techteach said:

How exciting @NE John! We only have 2 cruises under our belts with Cunard and have booked QG from the beginning so I can’t comment on this being the norm. I’ve certainly never read of anyone receiving a phone call on CC. Is this upgrade for Alaska?

Thanks. Yes. Q420. The price has come down and down and upgrades increased. I’ve never seen anything like this. 

[Tduenas]

Do you mind saying what the offer was? I'm in a princess grill as well and considering calling in to request an upgrade

[NE John]

5 hours ago, Tduenas said:

Do you mind saying what the offer was? I'm in a princess grill as well and considering calling in to request an upgrade

It was a fraction of the upgrade offer seen online. Too good to be true. Maybe Cunard figures at this point the accessible room wasn’t selling. Good luck. 

[Judyrem]

18 hours ago, Tduenas said:

Do you mind saying what the offer was? I'm in a princess grill as well and considering calling in to request an upgrade

Me too.

[Tduenas]

Called in, it's at random. I'm in a great p2 room. Don't want a P1 as the location for those is not as good. Only way to get random call is for your booking to allow upgrades. Since i risk losing my specific p2 and possibly be "upgraded" to P1 and not Q6+, I'll be staying put. 

 

I'll ask on day of embarkation

[NE John]

18 minutes ago, Tduenas said:

Only way to get random call is for your booking to allow upgrades.

Funny, I too wanted to keep my PG cabin and checked off not allow upgrades and still got an upgrade call for the Q6. 

[Tduenas]

Very interesting. I called, they told me without your last name, they couldn't see what offer you got. I said it's my buddy. First name "NE" last name "John". No luck lol

[buchanan101]

8 hours ago, NE John said:

Funny, I too wanted to keep my PG cabin and checked off not allow upgrades and still got an upgrade call for the Q6. 

If you tick the upgrade option you don't get a choice if they want to upgrade you (and those auto-upgrades would be free); you had a choice with the upgrade they offered so i guess it's a different class.

 

On QA PG1 in 54 days - an auto-upgrade would be fine, but given the ship is full and they are accepting bids I doubt it would happen (especially given my lowly status). slightly tempted by bidding on Q5/Q6 at £640+ a head

 

Accessible suite may be bigger too? I wouldn't miss a bath*

 

(*note I do shower... )

[NE John]

3 hours ago, buchanan101 said:

If you tick the upgrade option you don't get a choice if they want to upgrade you (and those auto-upgrades would be free); you had a choice with the upgrade they offered so i guess it's a different class.

 

On QA PG1 in 54 days - an auto-upgrade would be fine, but given the ship is full and they are accepting bids I doubt it would happen (especially given my lowly status). slightly tempted by bidding on Q5/Q6 at £640+ a head

 

Accessible suite may be bigger too? I wouldn't miss a bath*

 

(*note I do shower... )

The suite is the same size (484sf) but the bathroom looks bigger without a tub. The very “needed” shower is more open. There is also a ramp going to the balcony with still plenty of room for two loungers. I’m still on a “guaranteed” status but could be in the accessible suite. 
I just never heard of Cunard making upgrade calls, that’s my initial thought. Maybe those who book direct only get these calls?

[buchanan101]

24 minutes ago, NE John said:

The suite is the same size (484sf) but the bathroom looks bigger without a tub. The very “needed” shower is more open. There is also a ramp going to the balcony with still plenty of room for two loungers. I’m still on a “guaranteed” status but could be in the accessible suite. 
I just never heard of Cunard making upgrade calls, that’s my initial thought. Maybe those who book direct only get these calls?

If there are rooms available that no one has bid on why give the upgrade for free when they can hawk round to see if anyone wants them. Maybe direct customers get rung first at least - or it's easier to sell to a direct customer?

 

If someone offered me a PG>QG for £200pp rather than the £640pp the bids started at I'd take it and Cunard are £400 better off than giving a free upgrade to someone

 

[BigMac1953]

13 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

 

 

If someone offered me a PG>QG for £200pp rather than the £640pp the bids started at I'd take it and Cunard are £400 better off than giving a free upgrade to someone

 

 

...providing they manage to sell your original cabin for at least what you paid.

[buchanan101]

2 minutes ago, BigMac1953 said:

 

...providing they manage to sell your original cabin for at least what you paid.

No because I’ve already paid for it. They are making £400 more out of me and not losing anything to anybody. 
 

And if there’s a chain whereby someone pays for the cabin I’ve vacated etc etc Cunard gain more. They only lose if the could have sold the cabin I move in to fresh to someone not travelling for more than the chain of £s for  upgrades down the line. Or the auction upgrade chain gives them more. But they could be offering @NE Johnthe upgrade because they can fill the lower rooms to new passengers or auction upgrade passengers if he moves. 

[NE John]

The PG suite I walked away from was 5002, a larger and more square shaped cabin in the front of the ship. I was actually looking forward to checking that space out but this offer puts us in QG for the first time at a price I couldn’t refuse. 
Maybe Cunard wants us to spoil us with QG so we stay at that level going forward. 

[buchanan101]

Just now, NE John said:

The PG suite I walked away from was 5002, a larger and more square shaped cabin in the front of the ship. I was actually looking forward to checking that space out but this offer puts us in QG for the first time at a price I couldn’t refuse. 
Maybe Cunard wants us to spoil us with QG so we stay at that level going forward. 

There’s a YouTube video of a review of one of those two. 
 

Indeed if you are a well travelled PGer they are hoping you will. The cabin change on QE/QV/QA is a fair bit more significant than on QM2 where PG is 75% of QG size. 

[NE John]

 Correct. I loved PG on QM2. Great space. 

[buchanan101]

Just now, NE John said:

 Correct. I loved PG on QM2. Great space. 

We went QG TA, but PG would've have been more than enough. Have booked PG for our next QM2 to save £2k. PG on QA won't be as good, but it's 4 shore days and in June (54 days to go, not that I'm counting) so cabin will be used a lot less

[ExArkie]

24 minutes ago, NE John said:

The PG suite I walked away from was 5002, a larger and more square shaped cabin in the front of the ship. I was actually looking forward to checking that space out but this offer puts us in QG for the first time at a price I couldn’t refuse. 
Maybe Cunard wants us to spoil us with QG so we stay at that level going forward. 

I have long desired that cabin, but never seriously looked at a sailing where it (or its companion on the other side) is actually available. Impressed that you were able to get it in the first place.

[NE John]

As mentioned, this is the first direct booking I’ve done with Cunard and it forced me to do lots of geeky research into booking options etc. I actually enjoyed the process.  Maybe I’ll become a travel advisor when I retire…? Nah, just the travel part. 

[D&N]

6 hours ago, buchanan101 said:

Accessible suite may be bigger too? I wouldn't miss a bath*

 

(*note I do shower... )

We don't have a bath; just a huge walk in shower.

 

Generally accessible showers have more space. The only downside I see from videos of that one is the seat looks as if it's a permanent feature. Ideally you'd want to fold it up to give more space to move around.

[Isr45]

2 hours ago, buchanan101 said:

If there are rooms available that no one has bid on why give the upgrade for free when they can hawk round to see if anyone wants them. Maybe direct customers get rung first at least - or it's easier to sell to a direct customer?

 

If someone offered me a PG>QG for £200pp rather than the £640pp the bids started at I'd take it and Cunard are £400 better off than giving a free upgrade to someone

 

Not yet sailed on Cunard but know Seabourn/ Silversea / Crystal very well. They don’t reduce the top suites upgrade price or give free upgrades to top suites if upsell offers are not taken and would rather see the top suites unoccupied. The reason being they recognise it is actually more profitable to retain the business of myself and many others who always book the top suites at full price than giving cheap upsell offers  😀

[buchanan101]

4 minutes ago, Isr45 said:

Not yet sailed on Cunard but know Seabourn/ Silversea / Crystal very well. They don’t reduce the top suites upgrade price or give free upgrades to top suites if upsell offers are not taken and would rather see the top suites unoccupied. The reason being they recognise it is actually more profitable to retain the business of myself and many others who always book the top suites at full price than giving cheap upsell offers  😀

Cunard are asking for bids on the QGs on the cruise I am on (at prices that start a bit less than the original differential - eg £1280 v £2k). The cabins all show sold out, but things change. If one came free and they had no bids would they offer a free upgrade - probably if there’s a chain of upgrade bids that could then be fulfilled lower down. 

[rmsEtruria]

2 hours ago, Isr45 said:

Not yet sailed on Cunard but know Seabourn/ Silversea / Crystal very well. They don’t reduce the top suites upgrade price or give free upgrades to top suites if upsell offers are not taken and would rather see the top suites unoccupied. The reason being they recognise it is actually more profitable to retain the business of myself and many others who always book the top suites at full price than giving cheap upsell offers  😀

Hmm . . . knowing that lowly riff-raff has been allowed to occupy one of the top suites without paying full price would cause you to withdraw your business from that cruise line?

[Isr45]

34 minutes ago, rmsEtruria said:

Hmm . . . knowing that lowly riff-raff has been allowed to occupy one of the top suites without paying full price would cause you to withdraw your business from that cruise line?

That is not what I said. I said I and many others would not book in advance and pay full price if they were going to sell off cheap upgrades further down the line - why waste money on a cruise line that does that 😀