What are the chances of an upgrade on Crystal?

If I book an E category cabin with a guaranteed rate on the Crystal
Symphony, what are the chances that I will get a free upgrade? I'm
betting that Crystal will not want to assign all of the E category cabins
so that they can advertise "fares starting at $xxxx." When it comes time
to actually assign cabins, there will be more people who booked E
category cabins that actual E cabins and I will have a good chance at an
upgrade. This can only happen with E cabins as there is no incentive for
Crystal to oversell D cabins.

Does anybody have any experience with this? If I am wrong, I will end up
with a view of the side of a lifeboat for 10 days.

Crystal seems to have something close to a no upgrade policy. I was on their
cruise L.A. to Japan last autumn..with the Iraqi invasion set to begin and
other factors, the ship was close to empty (no exaggeration -- fewer than
200 passengers). Crystal did not upgrade anyone despite requests.

Just one experience.

Paul


"Odysseus" wrote in message
news:regtb.202074$Fm2.192599@attbi_s04...
If I book an E category cabin with a guaranteed rate on the Crystal
Symphony, what are the chances that I will get a free upgrade? I'm
betting that Crystal will not want to assign all of the E category cabins
so that they can advertise "fares starting at $xxxx." When it comes time
to actually assign cabins, there will be more people who booked E
category cabins that actual E cabins and I will have a good chance at an
upgrade. This can only happen with E cabins as there is no incentive for
Crystal to oversell D cabins.

Does anybody have any experience with this? If I am wrong, I will end up
with a view of the side of a lifeboat for 10 days.

The more expensive cruise lines tend to top fill first - at least based
on what several TA's have told me in the past. People sailing on lines
like Crystal are generally more affluent and book the better cabins
first. You may find that only the obstructed view cabins will be
available once most of the ship fills up.

I would take the cabin that I would be comfortable in for the whole
cruise. I wouldn't count on any free upgrade. It might happen... but
what if it didn't???

--Tom

Odysseus wrote:

If I book an E category cabin with a guaranteed rate on the Crystal
Symphony, what are the chances that I will get a free upgrade? I'm
betting that Crystal will not want to assign all of the E category cabins
so that they can advertise "fares starting at $xxxx." When it comes time
to actually assign cabins, there will be more people who booked E
category cabins that actual E cabins and I will have a good chance at an
upgrade. This can only happen with E cabins as there is no incentive for
Crystal to oversell D cabins.

Does anybody have any experience with this? If I am wrong, I will end up
with a view of the side of a lifeboat for 10 days.

It sounds like Crystal will only upgrade a passenger if it is to the line's
advantage. I have heard other people say that about Crystal. In the
situation you described, it seems that it would be to their advantage to
upgrade passengers so that they consolidated the decks. They could have some
decks which were completely unoccupied and could be closed off.


Crystal seems to have something close to a no upgrade policy. I was on their
cruise L.A. to Japan last autumn..with the Iraqi invasion set to begin and
other factors, the ship was close to empty (no exaggeration -- fewer than
200 passengers). Crystal did not upgrade anyone despite requests.

Just one experience.

Paul


"Odysseus" wrote in message
news:regtb.202074$Fm2.192599@attbi_s04...
If I book an E category cabin with a guaranteed rate on the Crystal
Symphony, what are the chances that I will get a free upgrade? I'm
betting that Crystal will not want to assign all of the E category cabins
so that they can advertise "fares starting at $xxxx." When it comes time
to actually assign cabins, there will be more people who booked E
category cabins that actual E cabins and I will have a good chance at an
upgrade. This can only happen with E cabins as there is no incentive for
Crystal to oversell D cabins.

Does anybody have any experience with this? If I am wrong, I will end up
with a view of the side of a lifeboat for 10 days.

Subject: What are the chances of an upgrade on Crystal?

Does anybody have any experience with this? If I am wrong, I will end up
with a view of the side of a lifeboat for 10 days.

I hope you like lifeboats.

Their upgrade policy stinks... even for longtime loyal cruisers.

Babette

Tom and Linda,
On a mass market line, your statement is right on. Who would want to be
stuck near the engine room in an 81 sf upper/lower on their honeymoon? But
really, is there ANY cabin on a Crystal Symphony cruise that a person with
*normal* expectations wouldn't "feel comfortable" in ? Even their lowest
category rooms are exceptionally comfortable. There is no such thing as an
inside cabin on the Symphony. Each room is like a mini suite on a mass
market. It has a full sized tub. It is 202 square feet and has a nice
sitting area. The only difference between the E and the C or D is the view.
The experience on a Crystal Cruise in a cabin with a side view of a lifeboat
on Crystal is better than 95% of the experiences you'll have on a mass
market. Unless of course you are more interested in belly flop contests
than you are good food and wine. To each their own.

What the poster was asking about was the lines' policy toward upgrades. It
makes sense that if more E Gty's were sold than there are E cabins that
Crystal would move at least some Gty passengers up. Otherwise, what is the
sense of having a Gty?

Now if the ship leaves the port of embarkation and there are empty Es AND
Ds, there is no obligation to move any Es up to Ds on the part of the line.
You got what you paid for. But it sounds completely reasonable that they
would upgrade the Gty's up to a D first rather than leave the passengers at
the pier.

I wouldn't burst this person's bubble quite yet. My guess is they will have
a fine cruise on the Crystal Symphony in any cabin. But it is still entirely
possible they could be bumped up, isn't it?

MrT


"Tom & Linda" wrote in message
...
The more expensive cruise lines tend to top fill first - at least based
on what several TA's have told me in the past. People sailing on lines
like Crystal are generally more affluent and book the better cabins
first. You may find that only the obstructed view cabins will be
available once most of the ship fills up.

I would take the cabin that I would be comfortable in for the whole
cruise. I wouldn't count on any free upgrade. It might happen... but
what if it didn't???

--Tom

Odysseus wrote:

If I book an E category cabin with a guaranteed rate on the Crystal
Symphony, what are the chances that I will get a free upgrade? I'm
betting that Crystal will not want to assign all of the E category
cabins
so that they can advertise "fares starting at $xxxx." When it comes
time
to actually assign cabins, there will be more people who booked E
category cabins that actual E cabins and I will have a good chance at an
upgrade. This can only happen with E cabins as there is no incentive
for
Crystal to oversell D cabins.

Does anybody have any experience with this? If I am wrong, I will end
up
with a view of the side of a lifeboat for 10 days.

In article , mrtractor
wrote:

I wouldn't burst this person's bubble quite yet. My guess is they will have
a fine cruise on the Crystal Symphony in any cabin. But it is still entirely
possible they could be bumped up, isn't it?

I think with any guarantee booking it is not a bad idea to burst the
bubble. If you go with the expectation that a guarantee is going to be
upgraded, and it is not, that may have a negative effect on your
cruise. Don't book a guarantee unless you would be happy with the
catagory you booked.

--
Charles

In article regtb.202074$Fm2.192599@attbi_s04, Odysseus wrote:

Does anybody have any experience with this? If I am wrong, I will end up
with a view of the side of a lifeboat for 10 days.

No experience on Crystal but I think obstructed cabins tend to go last
so you will probably end up in one of those. When I booked guarantees
on other cruise lines if I am upgraded from an inside to an outside the
odds are the outside will be an obstructed view cabin. I was lucky with
the obstructed view cabins. Never had the whole side of a lifeboat,
only a bit of it.

--
Charles

We have cruised on the Symphony 13 times. We've always booked Catagory
E and never have been upgraded. But there are a number of cabins on
deck 7 whose views are only very slightly obstructed.

I think that I might be inclined to decline an upgrade to Cat D if I had
one of those Category E cabins. Cat D is on a lower deck and that is
the deck where the reception desk, some of the ship's offices, the
dining room and Crystal Cove bar are located, thus much more traffic.

Odysseus wrote in message news:regtb.202074$Fm2.192599@attbi_s04...
If I book an E category cabin with a guaranteed rate on the Crystal
Symphony, what are the chances that I will get a free upgrade? I'm
betting that Crystal will not want to assign all of the E category cabins
so that they can advertise "fares starting at $xxxx." When it comes time
to actually assign cabins, there will be more people who booked E
category cabins that actual E cabins and I will have a good chance at an
upgrade. This can only happen with E cabins as there is no incentive for
Crystal to oversell D cabins.

Does anybody have any experience with this? If I am wrong, I will end up
with a view of the side of a lifeboat for 10 days.

This is not Carneval! I think you are betting on a very slim chance,
and IMHO you will end up in a cat. E.

However, you might want to try to get your travel agent to get you an
assigned upgrade from his/her Crystal sales manager. At this time, TAs
who do a lot of business with them, seem to be able to get these
upgrades. In recent weeks we got upgrades for all of our clients,
except the ones on holiday sailings.

Wolfgang Petrusch
www.deluxevoyages.com