A speculative question about guarantees

[Schplinky]

I understand that guarantees are a force of nature and nobody really seems to be able to predict them with certainty but here's what I'm wondering: We have a VA gauarantee on Westerdam. In the end, if there are rooms available at the VA level AND the suite level, would we be assigned VA rooms or suite rooms? In other words, do they try to fill your guarantee with the least or the most posh room they can.

 

This is likely all moot, since they seem to have sold out our cruise and so now it will just depend if they sold more VA guarantees than suites.

[lougee1043]

heres the way i personally look at it --- if there is a suite available they would move you up and then try to sell your va guarantee-- my logic is that a less expensive cabin would be easier to sell then a more expensive one ---- if they move you up they have one to sell --- if they dont move you then the suite could go unsold -----------thats what im hoping for as i am in a guarantee cabin for my jan 07 cruise

[Randyk47]

Lou - I think your logic is sound but I wonder if HAL is always logical? Seems to me, and I don't have the time or energy to do the research, that folks have reported that HAL offered them paid upgrades at the terminal for suites, as an example. As I recall some were offered discounted rates but others were told the upgrade would be the difference between the published rates and yet others, as you personally experienced, were upgraded at no charge. My business management side tells me that HAL ought to have some kind of business model that triggers flash sales, discounted upgrade offers, and eventually free upgrades but the hit or miss paid or free upgrade behavior of HAL seems to argue against a standardized corporate model or process.

[lougee1043]

Lou - I think your logic is sound but I wonder if HAL is always logical? Seems to me, and I don't have the time or energy to do the research, that folks have reported that HAL offered them paid upgrades at the terminal for suites, as an example. As I recall some were offered discounted rates but others were told the upgrade would be the difference between the published rates and yet others, as you personally experienced, were upgraded at no charge. My business management side tells me that HAL ought to have some kind of business model that triggers flash sales, discounted upgrade offers, and eventually free upgrades but the hit or miss paid or free upgrade behavior of HAL seems to argue against a standardized corporate model or process.

 

sometimes i argue/discuss things with my doctor but not this time --btw im all out of happy pills lol

[SnorkelBear]

We had an SY Guar and ended up in an SS. An upgrade but to the real suite level (SA,SB,SC). There were S suites available because we were offered an upsell to an SA or SB for a very reasonable cost. We took the SB corner aft. We are very pleased. So, to answer your question, no. You may not get bumped up to a higher catagory even if suites are available.

[Randyk47]

Lou - Always with the happy pills....what happened to all the blue pills??? :D

[Kiwifruit]

While the area of "yeild control" is an imprecise science, most airlines and cruiselines alike operate complex computer modelling software which governs pricing, upsells, upgrades etc and is designed to maximise the income generated by each cruise. The exact criteria used by each cruiseline is a carefully guarded commercial secret.

 

Some cruiselines such as Oceania will only upgrade you if they absolutely have to ie. if they have overbooked your particular cabin category. However most large cruiselines such as HAL are more generous with their upgrades using the rationale that it is easier to sell cheaper cabins at the last minute than the more expensive cabins and therefore upgrading passengers to open up cheaper cabin categories makes commercial sense. They could of course sell the higher category cabins off cheaply but that risks alienating passengers who have paid the higher price if these are discounted too heavily.

 

With regard to your specific question, my understanding is that HAL generally does try and flow passengers forward to higher cabin categories if there are cabins available as it does not cost them anything and promotes customer loyalty, but upgrades between classes ie. from Verandah to Minisuite (as opposed to upgrades within a class ie. VF to VA) will only occur after they have exhausted efforts to upsell existing passengers by offering them paid upgrades. For this reason such free upgrades usually only occur close to the time of sailing and I'm sure they probably keep a couple of higher category cabins available even at the pier just in case someone asks to buy an upgrade. The bottome line is that they will try and extract as much money as possible from each cabin.

 

Good luck!!!