If I don’t like the cabin when upgraded, can I move back to my original one?

There continues to be a great misunderstanding as to what it means when someone is offered a complimentary upgrade to replace the accommodation that they first booked.

This clearly needs still more clarification.

An obvious scenario following on from this is then…    when is a FREE cabin upgrade a COSTLY cabin downgrade? A strange question you might think.

Many cruise lines reach a point where they have cabins unsold and they want their ships to operate with as few empty cabins as possible. That’s simply good common sense, so cruise lines often, at the time of booking have some mechanism in place to upgrade early bookers to higher grades of accommodation than they actually booked at the outset.

So, you might be inclined to believe that accepting a complimentary cabin upgrade is a no brainer and anyone who declines one must be mad. I have had many situations over the years where people, especially when booking P&O Cruises, completely have the wrong understanding as to what they are getting when accepting an upgrade.

It is really quite alarming the number of times that I talk to clients about cabin upgrades and their clear misunderstanding about the conditions. Book the cabin that you will be happy to cruise in. That’s the best advice always.

I can think of many reasons why great caution needs to be exercised when considering if it’s a good idea to request an upgrade. Cruiselines generally don’t give things away for free. Oh…    yes, of course they tell you it’s free but, trust me, it rarely is.

Actually, there are very good reasons to decline a complimentary cabin upgrade and you need to know this at the time of booking because often, once upgraded, there is no going back and it could be a very costly mistake.

I will use P&O as an example as this will illustrate what actually happened to one of my own clients some time ago.

This is the official line used by P&O explaining the terms behind the auto upgrade:

Overview: P&O Cruises offers complimentary automatic upgrades. Occasionally, a cruise is set for automatic upgrade, and bookings are selected to be upgraded to higher categories at no additional cost to the passengers. These upgrades are automatic and based on availability. Since we are not able to upgrade every booking, you should book your passengers in a category in which they will be happy to sail.

If an upgrade occurs, it will be automatically added to the booking some time prior to sailing, and a confirmation will be sent to the agency.

We do not guarantee the following:

• That cross-referenced bookings will all be upgraded, or that they will be upgraded to staterooms near each other.
• That an upgrade will occur.

Once the complimentary upgrade has been assigned the passenger will be unable to move back to the original stateroom they booked.

Automatic upgrade decline box: We recommend declining the automatic upgrade if the passengers are cross-referenced and would like their staterooms near each other or if the passengers have very specific requests regarding their stateroom (side of the ship, near the elevators, etc.) In order to decline the upgrade, click the “AUTOMATIC UPGRADE DECLINE” box.

So, that in a nutshell explains clearly why you may need to think twice and decline an upgrade. If you have booked a wheelchair accessible cabin specifically, decline an upgrade. If you are a family with interconnecting or adjacent cabins or cabins opposite each other, decline an upgrade. If you are travelling with friends, and have chosen cabins close to each other, decline an upgrade. Remember also, that accepting an auto upgrade could result in you dining in a restaurant you didn’t want so again, decline an upgrade. If you chose a specific cabin when you booked and want that one only, decline an upgrade.

With P&O very specifically, often an auto cabin upgrade might take you from a low deck midships position to a high deck far forward or far aft. In P&O’s upgrade terms, that’s an upgrade. In my eyes, it’s definitely not. Think carefully at the time you make your booking. This is far more of an issue than it might first appear.

It’s important to understand that cruise lines interpretation of an upgrade may simply be using their own grading so, a move from one “grade” upwards to a “higher grade” will, in their terms, be an upgrade. It might have no bearing as to the position of the cabin as with P&O. Again a move from a midships inside low deck cabin to a forward outside cabin with obstructed view high deck would mean you have been upgraded but the reality is, you would probably have been much happier in the original cabin.

Much of what I have discussed here is about cabin upgrades with P&O but they are by no means the only cruise line that has customers confused.

Most cruise lines offer cabin upgrades.

Some lines like Seabourn regularly offer cabin upgrades but beware as many of the Seabourn offers are not complimentary and are asking for more money. Clients might not obviously spot this when they are apporoached.

Fred Olsen offer upgrades too. Their offers are usually pretty good and amongst the better ones that I have seen.

The golden rule really is, always only ever book a cabin that you would be happy to be in, and that applies equally to deciding whether or not to accept an auto upgrade.

I would love to hear your comments on this. I can be reached on [email protected]