When Is An Upgrade Not An Upgrade?

One of the mandatory questions for me when booking my clients on some of our major cruise operators, namely; P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises and Cunard Line, is,

‘Would you like to accept a complimentary upgrade from the cruise line?’

Now you would assume that 99% of people would say yes to this, but immediately after asking this question, I must routinely advise the following statement,

‘Bear in mind that we (the agent) have no control over where the cabin may be placed if the cruise line upgrade you’

This statement can cause a little confusion initially because most people would automatically associate the word ‘upgrade’ with something better than what they have already, however this quite often will not be the case.

So for example, lets say, you decide to book an interior cabin, mid-ship, high deck. You’ve booked it because the position is good and being an interior cabin has probably been an attractive price considering the location you managed to get. All going well so far…….

Then you decide to accept the free upgrade option, on the understanding that we can’t tell you where it is, you do your Cruise Personaliser online and think no more about it.

Then you board the ship and start your holiday only to find that your cabin number is not where you thought, so you ask the check-in advisor,

‘Excuse me this cabin is not the right number, I’ve booked cabin 8100 and my room key card says 4001?’

and the check-in agent says….

‘Oh yes sir/madam, but you booked an interior cabin, we have upgraded you to an oceanview for free’

Great you might think?

Sometimes yes, but 9 times out of 10 the position that you have ended up with is far worse than what you bought! Granted you might have a window, but you are now down on the bottom deck and right at the front or back!

So then you say,

‘Well I don’t want that cabin, I was not informed of the change prior to departure’

Ooooops, shouldn’t have accepted the free upgrade then should you!

Why would the cruise lines do this I hear you ask?

Well that nice mid-ship, high deck, interior cabin you had has now got someone else in it! Worse so they probably paid less than you did for it!

So now you have a worse cabin, and you’re out of pocket too!

What a start to your holiday eh?!

So you see, you must be exceptionally careful when you see or hear the words, ‘Free’ and ‘Upgrade’ because you might end up getting a raw deal.

My advice? Make sure you ask about the price of the cabins on the higher grades, you never know, you might have ideas of booking a nice cheap interior cabin for a week, when in reality you could pay a bit more an get a balcony. Also when it comes to free upgrades, always make sure you are fully aware of every scenario if you are “lucky” enough to be upgraded!

Just a little bit of info from your favourite Cruise Specialist! All questions and opinions invited!

Thanks for reading and as always, until next time…………………