My experience "watching" the upsell fairy

[riggins]

Hi everyone-

I spent some time today "watching" the upsell fairy and thought I'd share my experience for those who are interested.

 

We are sailing on the Sun in Alaska this Sunday. I've been tracking the number of suites and prices being offerend for several weeks, hoping the price of the AC (or even the AA) would come down low enough to make me give up my aft AE mini-suite. Yesterday, there were no insides or oceanviews, and balconies were only available via guarantee. However, there were still a lot of suites/minis: 1 AA, 2 AB, 3 AC, 7 AD, 7 AE.

 

I noticed another CC poster this morning got an upsell call to an AA, from an aft mini-suite. So, I went to check the NCL website, and I could see that the AA was no longer available, but an aft-mini had opened up that hadn't been available the day before. So, about every 15-20 minutes, I checked the availability on NCL.com to watch what was changing and I could see suites disappearing and minis/balconies opening up. So now, there are no AAs, ABs, or ACs. There are 2 ADs and 6 AEs. There are also now 5 BBs that have opened up.

 

Fortunately, I wasn't counting on a call from the upsell fairy or it would have been a somewhat tragic thing to watch, since I didn't get a call. However, a family member traveling with us was booked in a BB and got a call - $500 to move to an AB or AD, $350 to move to an AE -- the upsell fairy wouldn't negotiate on either price.

 

So, I think I've concluded what everyone says - its really random. We were in an AE and were not called; however, our traveling partners in a BB were offered a suite. Based on what I saw online, it seems that a mix of people in balconies and mini-suites were offered the suites, but they certainly didn't offer them to all the mini-suite passengers before the balcony passengers. I suspect tomorrrow we'll start to see OV/inside cabins opening up as she upsells the balcony cabins vacated by today's calls.

 

Like I said, we're happy with our original cabin booking/price and I'm thrilled that our family members were able to get a great deal on a suite. Just thought I'd share this with all of you who like to try to figure out what the upsell fairy is doing.

[wrestlemom]

Where were you able to go in and see exactly what was still avail? We are leaving on 6/21/09 and when I go into look to see what is avail it only tells me a guarantee is avail for that catagory.

Have a great time on your cruise.

[riggins]

Yes, I could see what cabins were available and which ones opened up. Yesterday, all the balconies were guarantee, which I assume meant that there weren't any specific cabins available, but they were counting on opening some up, so they would book them via guarantee. Then today, as the suites were selling, balcony cabin numbers were displaying . . . including the one that had belonged to my family member. About 5 minutes after she hung up with the upsell fairy, I could see her new suite was gone and her old balcony number was available for booking.

[LOWTYD]

Wow, I wold have gone mad trying to watch that for so long but it was definitely interesting to see how it all plays out. Sorry you didn't the call. Maybe next time. Have a great time on your cruise:)

[garycarla]

Where were you able to go in and see exactly what was still avail? We are leaving on 6/21/09 and when I go into look to see what is avail it only tells me a guarantee is avail for that catagory.

Have a great time on your cruise.

 

Probably you only saw gty as that is all they had, or very close to that. Other poster had more cabins open. Each week it varies.