Repricing casino cruise upgrade?

[FLTraveler]

Hi everyone,

I have a number of upcoming comp casino cruises booked and am trying to reach the point where I fully understand how they calculate room upgrade prices. It seems to be that the current cost of the comp room (interior) is subtracted from the current cost of the upgraded room (let's say ocean view balcony) and that is the cost of the upgrade, with a handful of caveats. For example, the "choose your own room" option is not available for casino cruises. However, "Ocean View Balcony Guarantee" is.

Does that jive with everyone else's understanding?

So now my question is, if I paid for an upgrade previously and the difference between the published ocean view balcony price and interior room price has decreased, do I have an option to reprice and get some of that upgrade money back?

[WAAAYTOOO]

Good luck with figuring out how they calculate upgrades.  I have been doing casino comp upgrades since the program started and I still have absolutely no idea how they calculate the upgrade costs.  I highly suspect that it has to do with your [top secret] rating with the casino.  Some prices are based on your last casino session (most recent cruise) and some are based on your overall rating.  I honestly don't think it has much at all to do with the cost of the baseline room that you are being offered.

As far as price drops after you have paid in full, I have never been able to get a reprice.  I don't know if they have changed the way they handle upgrade repricing (doubtful) but as a general rule, it is far more difficult to get a price drop (on any kind of booking) if you have paid in full and since all casino comp upgrades must be paid in full at the time of booking them, you will always be PIF when you have a casino comp upgrade.

That is NOT to say that you cannot take advantage of repricing on some casino special pricing bookings.  I have a booking using a casino discount for 12-22-22 for which I have already taken advantage of 13 price reductions....so there is a big difference between a casino comp upgrade and a casino promo discount.  But the 12-22-22 OA cruise has NOT been PIF yet.  I think that is the real discriminator.

I'm sure some will answer that they have been able to get a reprice after a PIF casino comp upgrade....there are always exceptions but I think the vast majority of the time you will not be able to get that repricing.  Hopefully you will be one of the exceptions !!

[FLTraveler]

Thank you for the insight, @WAAAYTOOO! I thought I had some understanding of the process, but clearly that's erroneous. I suppose the mystery is part of the fun for us gamblers.

[WAAAYTOOO]

13 minutes ago, FLTraveler said:

 I thought I had some understanding of the process, but clearly that's erroneous.

I wouldn't be so sure !  You may have it right.  

[FLTraveler]

Update: I called Casino Royale. They checked the current upgrade price and it was less than what I'd paid (though their number did not match the number I'd calculated, so my methodology is off for sure). No muss, no fuss, they are refunding me the $28 difference in the upgrade price. So I guess it's worth checking if you think there's a chance the upgrade price has decreased!

[WAAAYTOOO]

19 minutes ago, FLTraveler said:

Update: I called Casino Royale. They checked the current upgrade price and it was less than what I'd paid (though their number did not match the number I'd calculated, so my methodology is off for sure). No muss, no fuss, they are refunding me the $28 difference in the upgrade price. So I guess it's worth checking if you think there's a chance the upgrade price has decreased!

YIPPEE !!!!

[CrznTxn]

Upgrades are one thing, having Royal come out with another offer for the same dates for an existing booking, same room category but with Free Play added and they will not modify the existing booking. Frustrating to say the least. This has happen three times in the past six months and their only reply is they cannot change the booking after the final payment date but could give no clarification as to what that date is. Is it the expiration date of the first offer, second offer, 90 days from sail date, etc.? This even happened two weeks ago, the day after we booked on onboard with Next Cruise, where a new offer came out the next day! Nope, cannot modify the booking, you can try to cancel and rebook but run the risk of no available rooms (there were only three rooms available when we booked) or a room location that is not as good as the previous one.

[FLTraveler]

27 minutes ago, CrznTxn said:

Upgrades are one thing, having Royal come out with another offer for the same dates for an existing booking, same room category but with Free Play added and they will not modify the existing booking. Frustrating to say the least. This has happen three times in the past six months and their only reply is they cannot change the booking after the final payment date but could give no clarification as to what that date is. Is it the expiration date of the first offer, second offer, 90 days from sail date, etc.? This even happened two weeks ago, the day after we booked on onboard with Next Cruise, where a new offer came out the next day! Nope, cannot modify the booking, you can try to cancel and rebook but run the risk of no available rooms (there were only three rooms available when we booked) or a room location that is not as good as the previous one.

That is very frustrating! I wonder where they draw the line. I booked a cruise with a casino discount on a Friday. Final payment date was Sunday. On Monday I got an offer for the same cruise, complimentary. When I called Casino Royale, the first person gave me a hard time. Hung up and called back and was told it was no problem to change the offer applied to a booking, so they switched me to the complimentary one, reactivated the discount I'd used, and refunded the difference. Maybe the rule is different if the already applied offer is complimentary.