We have traveled 3 times with Princess, this will be our 4th. We selected and paid for our cruise early, about 3 months ago. At the time, there was not a large selection of balconies. We were told that we would probably get upgraded to a mini suite.
Has anyone ever gotten that kind of upgrade? We rarely get upgrades! If we do, I can not tell that we were really upgraded, just "moved" to a different cabin with no obvious benefits over what we had.
Just recently, we saw the mini suites at a great discount. We called AAA and the agent said that she could not do anything for us as far as upgrades. I am VERY dissapointed with AAA. We have always used a different agent. This time, I let someone else who we are traveling with set things up.
We made a "down" payment, and did not have to pay off the balance for a few months. I just found out that the agent did not offer travel insurance to the person making the arangements. Now we are stuck with less than what we normally get for insurance.
We are going on the Golden on October 30th. What is the area like since all the storms have come through? I feel so bad for the people of that area!! Is there any way to bring along some aid that would get directly to the people of need?
What are the "must see" things on this cruise? It's the Southern by the way.
We have traveled 3 times with Princess, this will be our 4th. We selected and paid for our cruise early, about 3 months ago. At the time, there was not a large selection of balconies. We were told that we would probably get upgraded to a mini suite.
Has anyone ever gotten that kind of upgrade? We rarely get upgrades! If we do, I can not tell that we were really upgraded, just "moved" to a different cabin with no obvious benefits over what we had.
Just recently, we saw the mini suites at a great discount. We called AAA and the agent said that she could not do anything for us as far as upgrades. I am VERY dissapointed with AAA. We have always used a different agent. This time, I let someone else who we are traveling with set things up.
We made a "down" payment, and did not have to pay off the balance for a few months. I just found out that the agent did not offer travel insurance to the person making the arangements. Now we are stuck with less than what we normally get for insurance.
We are going on the Golden on October 30th. What is the area like since all the storms have come through? I feel so bad for the people of that area!! Is there any way to bring along some aid that would get directly to the people of need?
What are the "must see" things on this cruise? It's the Southern by the way.
My wife works for AAA. We booked a few cruises thru them and got no advantages. The membership is good for roadservice but nothing else. We also paid for travel insurance and then found out that our membership already covered it. The TA said it was a oversight and we could not get reimbursed. We told the TA that we travel 4 times a year and if there is anything that is special give us a call. Never did. 2 years after our last booking thru them the TA called and asked why we have not used their services and we told them that we get better service from someone else. The last trip we booked thru AAA was on the Dawn. Balcony guaranteed, 6 months in advance. She said we could get upgraded to a mini suite. WRONG. We got a cabin with 4 berths. The beds folded up into the wall. WHOOPI!!!!. A good way to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary.
The TA we use now gets us the best room based on value, and a few gifts in our room which is a nice touch. AAA NOTHING.
We have sailed on the Golden. A beautiful ship. You will not be dissapointed with a regular balcony room. I would have been more than satisfied if some of the hotels and motels that we have stayed in were as nice.
I read your link and your article appears to be 100% correct. We recently booked a AD category guaranteed on Princess. At the time of booking I copied every room that was still available and then checked every day and marked them off as they were "sold". Sometimes a new room would appear and sometimes a room that was checked off reappeared. The room we ended up with is a Category AA. Basically the same room but in a different location then the AD. The room we got was not on the list that I made at the time of booking. All of the higher rooms, being suites and better were still available when we recieved our assignment. According to this I think that many rooms were reserved for the guaranteed reservations.
Try keeping track of the rooms that are being sold on your next trip. It may help enlighten the process. It is also amazing how the price of a suite will be $1199 and an interior room will be $2999. I think if you keep track of your cruise like this you will also see how the cruise lines fill up their rooms for the price they really want and make the customers feel as if they are getting a deal.
quote:Originally posted by Raoul Fiebig:
Hi Papa,
welcome to CC.
I would suggest not to expect an upgrade. You might get one, or might not get one. You just cannot predict it.
The following is an excellent article on the subject:
We have been totally disgusted with AAA! They have misled us every step of the way. I have learned my lesson, "If it aint broke, don’t fix it!". We had a TA that had zero personality but was informative and HONEST! Nest time I will have to tell whoever travels with us that I am using my TA and if they don’t want to that is fine. At least on the last couple of cruises our TA kept us away from the rooms where you can smell all the cigarette smoke and hear the loud music from the lounge.
We are in A231 on the October 30th trip to S.Caribbean. I hope that is a decent room?
We are getting excited about going!! Just a few short weeks!!
quote:Originally posted by RIDGID:
My wife works for AAA. We booked a few cruises thru them and got no advantages. The membership is good for roadservice but nothing else. We also paid for travel insurance and then found out that our membership already covered it. The TA said it was a oversight and we could not get reimbursed. We told the TA that we travel 4 times a year and if there is anything that is special give us a call. Never did. 2 years after our last booking thru them the TA called and asked why we have not used their services and we told them that we get better service from someone else. The last trip we booked thru AAA was on the Dawn. Balcony guaranteed, 6 months in advance. She said we could get upgraded to a mini suite. WRONG. We got a cabin with 4 berths. The beds folded up into the wall. WHOOPI!!!!. A good way to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary.
The TA we use now gets us the best room based on value, and a few gifts in our room which is a nice touch. AAA NOTHING.
We have sailed on the Golden. A beautiful ship. You will not be dissapointed with a regular balcony room. I would have been more than satisfied if some of the hotels and motels that we have stayed in were as nice.
We have had rooms where the people around us smoked. They would sit on their balcony and the smoke would make its way onto our balcony. The TA really does not have any control of this. If you go to Princess's web site you can locate where your room is and check out what is above and below.
One of my complaints are the passengers that leave the balcony light on all night. I don't know if they don't realize that it is on or if they are using it for a night light but it lights up the the side of the ship and the all of the balconies around it. This makes it hard to enjoy a nice dark, secluded, peaceful night or star gazing. I wish the crusie ships would turn them all off after midnight.
we are going on the same cruise I assume....S carribbean out of San Juan? We've been on the Golden before and have stayed on aloha at that end of the ship....Though I'm not familiar with the exact room you are in.... I'm sure you'll be very happy. We'll be at the back of the ship this time.... hope we'll be just as happy!
we've been on Pricess three times and booked early also. First time we went from a standard balconey to a wheelchair accessable (lots of room). second time we got a mini for the price of a standard balcony. the third time we had our choice of a mini upgrade or $200 off the balcony. So far, Pricess has treated us right.
Linear Mode
