Upgrades

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Brian B

Guest
We just booked our 4th Princess cruise (6th in total), this one being the Mexican Riviera in late Feb. 2009. We booked category E outside on the Sapphire. Our agent tells us that we will likely be upgraded. What does an upgrade mean, i.e. still an outside cabin or something better, e.g. balcony?
 
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Beryl

Guest
Hi Brian. Princess upgrades are generally to the same type of cabin...just a different (and what Princess deems to be, a better) location. Although it sometimes happens, it is unlikely that you would be upgraded to an outside cabin from an inside or to a balcony cabin from a standard outside.

I would strongly recommend that you have a very close look at the deck plans for the Sapphire Princess and make sure that you would be happy with every single cabin in the category you booked and every single cabin that is in the higher categories. Of course if it only matters that you are on the ship and you don't care whether you are located in a cabin where the beds cannot be made into a double, or if the lounge chairs are dragged over your ceiling every morning and evening, whether you are far forward or aft or near an elevator lobby, or have a "promenade" in front of your window (Category DD) then you will be fine. If these things do matter, choose the cabin you really want and have the travel agent mark the reservation "NO UPGRADE".
 
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Conniemc

Guest
Like she said....:daisy
Beryl's patience is infinitely better than mine....:)P)
 
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mdrees44

Guest
Wow, thanks for the info -- we have the cabin that we want, and don't want an upgrade, so we had our TA mark ours "no upgrade" as you suggested. Is Princess the only cruiseline that do these kind of upgrades, with or without your consent?
 
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Beryl

Guest
Wish I could answer that question but I really can't....I think no matter what line I was planning to cruise I would mark my booking NO UPGRADE. Then, at least, they would call and ask you if you would be interested in accepting an upgrade and you would have the choice.
 
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Conniemc

Guest
I can assure you that all Carnival owned lines (sadly - pretty much all of them - but princess), HAL, RCCL and Celebrity DO NOT engage in this practice. Whatever cabin you book, that's the cabin you get.
 
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Mbandy

Guest
If your booking is flagged as no upgrade then you will not be upgraded and you will keep the cabin you have been assigned. If Princess needs the cabin you are assigned to for some reason, they will call your T/A and offer an upgrade but you have the right to refuse it. The upgrade fairy does wave her wand once in a while.

I once had a family of four booked in two regular balcony cabins. Princess obviously needed those two cabins pretty badly because they called me three days before the sailing and offered to upgrade them to a family suite at no extra charge. Having said that, I can tell you that is an incredibly rare occurance.

When I cruised on Grand Princess I was booked in an inside guarantee because that's all that was available when I booked. We were upgraded to a partially obstructed ocean view cabin which was wheelchair accessable. It was HUGE (bigger than our friend's balcony cabin) and the obstruction was minimal. Again, not very common to be upgraded from inside to ocean view. It might have had to do with my Elite status with Captain's Circle.
 
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Conniemc

Guest
Okay, with all due respect to TA's...FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH, a supervisor at Princess...here's the truth.

There is no such thing as a mini-suite without a balcony ON RUBY. Therefore, any upgrade from the top class balcony would only be to a mini-suite WITH A BALCONY.

In addition you or your travel agent ARE ALWAYS NOTIFIED min. 48 hours before any cabin change occurs, and you may decline such change.

Also, regarding smoking - ALL AREAS OF THE SHIP (except of course, the dining areas and showroom) WILL HAVE SMOKING AND NON-SMOKING SECTIONS PROVIDED. That's ALL lounges, casino, etc. There will NOT be any non-smoking nights, etc.

Hope that clears up any misconceptions. I really didn't care about the upgrade, but was geniunely curious, since I'd never heard of such a thing. And I also wanted to ensure I could smoke at the wine/champagne bar, as opposed to the Wheelhouse. I can smoke wherever I want, as all rooms will have designated sections, like the good old days.
:thumb
 
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mdrees44

Guest
Thanks for that info, Connie. I was thinking if Princess was the only one to do cabin changes without consent of the customer, it would really put them at a disadvantage when competing with other cruise lines. What a relief!
 
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Cruise cutie

Guest
JMHO.. an addendum for the UPGRADE Fairy offers..
we have sailed Princess 9 times.. with 4 more sailings booked in the next 9 months..
we have been upgraded ONCE.. and that was back in 1994...

we book 20 -22 months ahead!!, and we get THE Cabin stateroom we want..hand -picked.. and out TA knows us very well and flags it NO changes ..
we have had TWO offers in the last 4 years on a heck of an upgrade... IF!!.. we MOVED our sailing date.. COMPLETELY .. as in the ship is oversold and 2 weeks before sailing they want to offer us OUT of our cabin totally.. and it would be a WHALE of an upgrade to a mini-suite or suite..no extra cost..and it's always four weeks hence backed up into March when in fact they can easily move you..
NOPE we choose the weeks in February for a reason, and it's not even worth it ..the airfare and all the rest of the nuttiness makes it a NO GO!!... this DOES in fact happen as an offer to folks who are Platinum or Elite Captain's Circle members.. ALL the time in the PRIME Winter months on Princess..our fellow Princess buddies who sail have the offers too..

because we have so many work obligations; and haul in for our sailings from Vermont and get our airfare cheap-cheap 331 days out.... it's a polite NO Thank you.. :grin..
That is about the only upgrades that happen in the last few years.. the ships are sailing full.. and folks book their "special rooms" locked in if they are frequent Princess folks like us.so as Mbandy says pick the room you want.. and hold or pick a guarantee.. and have it be a crap shoot..Like Beryl says.. make sure if you do NOT lock up your room you'd be happy at the room selection gifted to you.. no matter where it's on ship!!.. we hand pick..we lock up..=shrug .. Happy Sailing!!...:)..Joanne
 
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Conniemc

Guest
" IF!!.. we MOVED our sailing date.. COMPLETELY"
ROFL.:lol..yeah, RIGHT!! They'd have to offer me 6 free cruises to change the date. My air is non refundable as well. And of course, all the scheduling conflicts you take a year to get right. Cie la vie...sure I'll love R710. Just can't wait to check out all the new stuff on board. Sounds like fun! And after so many years of Celeb, something DIFFERENT will be a nice thing....:daisy
 
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Beryl

Guest
Connie....great new avatar!

Do you think it wise to give out your cabin number, your sailing date and the fact that you are a singel woman traveling alone?? ,,,maybe it's just me but.....
 
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Conniemc

Guest
[quote Beryl]Connie....great new avatar!

Do you think it wise to give out your cabin number, your sailing date and the fact that you are a singel woman traveling alone?? ,,,maybe it's just me but.....[/quote]

Oh, was it that obvious?
:)D
:)D:)D:)D:)D
:)D:)D:)D

And yeah, I have this weird ritual...I like to take pictures of myself in the cabin....this avatar was Infinity last October. I had just boarded and was on my way to run to the upper deck and see a Celebrity musician I had met earlier that year and spent a week in Victoria with....as I recall, I was pretty happy when I took this...

How come my laughing faces don't jump like yours do? Teach me Oh Great Queens!
 
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Beryl

Guest
Think you used a different laughing face :grin I use = lolgang (no space between the equal sign and the lolgang)


The Princess rep told you what she knew you wanted to hear! (and probably what is supposed to happen but often doesn't) :) If you have marked your booking NO UPGRADE and they want to change or upgrade you they are supposed to notify you or your TA. It does not always happen that way. If you haven't marked your booking they will change it and not notify you. Sometimes, as happened to our Cruise Addict friend, they will change it even if you have marked it NO UPGRADE !!

Think you got bad info re the smoking too...on my last cruises there have been non smoking nights in the Casino and smoking areas were more difficult than ever to find! For your sake hope this isn't so on the Ruby.

Re the mini suite cabins on the Ruby your info is absolutely correct...all the mini suites on the Ruby have balconies...you are safe there! The mini suites with no balconies are on the Island and Coral Princess...they are category AF oceanview mini suites!
 
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Conniemc

Guest
Woo Hoooo!!!!!!! LOL.....I don't have that option on my "pull down" menu of smilies....would never have gotten it otherwise!!
=lolgang

And the supervisor was very clear the information she was giving me "may not pertain to other Princess ships" but for Ruby, she read me word for word the policy....again, as we both know, sometimes the lines have....eh hem...communication issues.....with the crew....but it's all good. No
matter what happens, it won't be anything I haven't seen before. Won't it be nice if I actually got correct information from the line? Time will tell! :D
 
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Beryl

Guest
And this is why I can hardly wait until you cruise on the Ruby...oh how I wish I were booked on her! I know you have cruised so often and I am really excited to find out all about this ship. I'll be looking for your review. Do you think there is any chance of you doing a "Live From" or do you avoid the internet while on vacation???
 
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Conniemc

Guest
:lol Absolutely! It's a date.

I'll broadcast a Live From Ruby every day for you. Usually so much happens, you forget a lot, so this way you'll miss NOTHING.

I usually e-mail in the daylight hours, when I'm sober and can type....:D

The pictures and videos (I have this really excellent Sanyo that fits in an evening bag and takes video, pics, etc. formatted for e-mails in high quality) will have to wait until I return home. You guys can send me your e-mails on PM and I'll forward the best of the best to you.
:)
 
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