Princess Cruises to enable passengers to bid on cabin upgrades

Princess Cruises passengers can now bid on stateroom upgrades as part of the cruise line’s newly introduced Princess Upgrade program.

The new Upgrade System allows guests to bid on a range of stateroom categories and has initially been rolled out aboard five of the line’s North America-based ships.

The Upgrade System will be rolled out fleetwide in the coming weeks, with plans for final roll out by the end of October, according to Princess.

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The new Princess Upgrade system will be introduced on September 6th. It is a bid-based system that allows guests the opportunity to secure an upgrade to oceanview, balcony, deluxe balcony, mini-suite and even a full suite.

“Upgrading is a popular request from our guests and we’re pleased to deliver a process that lets them improve their stateroom category by making an offer that fits their budget and lifestyle,” said Princess President John Padgett.

The Princess Upgrade process is simple—once the sailing is within the Final Payment period and full payment has been received, guests will receive an invitation to take part in the program and submit a bid – they can bid on any stateroom category that is above the one they are currently booked in.

Guests can change or cancel their bid any time before it is accepted. Upgrades will be available initially on five North America-based ships (Caribbean Princess, Discovery Princess, Enchanted Princess, Regal Princess and Ruby Princess), with plans to roll out fleetwide by the end of October.

If for any reason Princess guests miss the Princess Upgrade invitation e-mail, there will be a link on the princess.com website so they can initiate the process without going through the e-mail.

The system is available only to US-based passengers at this time, according to Princess Cruises.

Princess Cruises joins several other major lines in introducing this new cabin upgrade bidding program.

Royal Caribbean has the Royal Up program, Norwegian Cruise Line has the Upgrade Advantage Program, and Celebrity Cruises has Celebrity MoveUp.

These programs are all slightly different, but they all have the same basic premise — the chance to get a better cabin category after booking for less money than you would have spent booking it outright.