Thread: Tips on Getting a Free Upgrade to a Better Cabin

How to Get an Upgrade on a Cruise Ship Cabin
Tips on Getting a Free Upgrade to a Better Cabin on a Cruise Ship


By Linda Garrison, About.com Guide

Choosing a cabin on a cruise ship can be a complicated task. Some ships have 20 or more categories, all with different prices and locations on the ship. When discussing cabin options, one frequent question travelers often ask of their travel agent or cruise representative is, "how do I get a free upgrade on a cabin?"

It's important to remember that there's no magic, secret, or guaranteed way to get an upgraded cabin. Like with hotels and airlines, it's often luck or being at the right place at the right time. However, there are a few things you can try to improve your chances of getting an upgrade.

Book the Cruise Early
Booking a cruise early will sometimes result in an upgrade. Cruise ships usually sell out the most expensive and the cheapest cabins first. If you are one of the first to book a cheap cabin, you might get upgraded as the cruise date gets closer if demand is high for your cabin category.

Be a Frequent Cruiser
Like with airlines and hotels, cabin upgrades often go to members of the cruise line's frequent cruiser programs. If you are a frequent cruiser, you might also get free Internet access, free laundry, or other perks, depending on the number of days you have sailed with the cruise line.

Unfortunately, sometimes being a frequent cruiser can be a disadvantage. A cruise line might not upgrade someone who already loves sailing with them. See the next tip.

Be a First-Time Cruiser
Sometimes, a cruise line will upgrade either new experienced cruisers or first-time cruisers in order to get them "hooked" on cruising with their cruise line. There are two scenarios. Let's say you have always sailed with Cruise Line A, but decide to try Cruise Line B. The new cruise line might give you an upgraded cabin in order to encourage you to sail with them again. The second scenario applies to first-time cruisers. A cruise line might upgrade someone who has never sailed on any cruise ship in order to improve their overall cruise experience.

Ask Your Travel Agent
Check with your travel agent at the time of booking and again throughout the time before your cruise. Some travel agencies purchase blocks of cabins, and your agent might upgrade you if a higher level cabin is left unsold. The travel agent might also know from past experience which cruise lines, cruise ships, and cruise itineraries are more likely to upgrade. It never hurts to ask!

Book a Guarantee Cabin
Booking a "guarantee" cabin means you are only reserving a particular category, not a specific cabin. The "guarantee" from the cruise line is that you will get the category you have reserved or a higher one. The disadvantage of a guarantee cabin is that you might not get the specific area of the ship you prefer (or even the specific deck). The advantage is that you will be more likely to get an upgrade than someone who has booked a specific cabin since the cruise line will not have to ask you before the upgrade.

Monitor Price on Cabin Before and After You Book
Just because you've booked your cruise does not mean you should quit checking the advertised prices as the time gets closer to your sailing date. Many cruise lines and travel agencies offer "low price guarantees" to encourage cruise travelers to book early. With a low price guarantee, you will get a refund or a shipboard credit if the price falls below what you paid. These extra funds could be used to upgrade if a higher level was available.

For example, our family of four travelers once booked a 12-day cruise over a year in advance of sailing. When the price dropped $700 per person, I inquired of the travel agency and got a credit. That $2800 paid for all our shore excursions and onboard expenses. What a pleasant surprise!

Inform Cruise Ship of Problems Early
Most cruises go smoothly and the passengers have a wonderful cruise vacation. However, sometimes stuff happens. If you have a problem with your cabin, inform the customer service staff on the ship immediately. If the problem can't be resolved immediately, you might get an upgrade or a credit on a future cruise.

Sail in Off-Season or to Less Popular Destinations
You are more likely to get an upgrade on a ship that is not full. Common sense, isn't it? If you plan your cruise vacation in the off-season or to a less popular destination, you will either get a great deal on the price and/or an upgrade to a higher cabin category. Savvy cruise travelers who love the onboard experience have long recognized the bargains in repositioning cruises because they feature more sea days and less ports.

Look for Cruise Ship with Relatively Few Inside Cabins
Since the cheapest cabins sell out the quickest, booking an inside cabin on a ship with only a few such cabins might result in an upgrade. Cruise ships like to sail full, and if demand is high for the lower grade cabins, passengers holding reservations for those cabins might get an upgrade. One caveat -- don't count on this happening. Be prepared to sail in that small inside cabin. The upgrade might not happen.

Book a Sold-Out Cabin Category
This tip is the opposite of booking early. If you book a cabin in a sold-out category, you might be the one upgraded rather than the passenger who booked early. Sometimes, it's just a matter of luck.

Link To Original Article

This article has some interesting info...

However, I sure would like to know how to book a sold out cabin category!

Travel agents, how about some feedback from your experiences.

You're right, Char, this article is full of great information. During the many posts by agents on this site, we've covered everyone of these points.

The only question not clearly mentioned in the article, but it is alluded to; are your chances of getting an upgrade greater if you book it with an agent or directly with the cruise line? If you book it with the cruise line or with an online site, you're pretty much fending for yourself as they are only interested in taking care of themself. If you book it with an agent, at least you have another person working on your side because they are interested in you. Plus, as was mentioned in the article, often agents, especially those who pre-book alot of cabins, will have more buying power so they can sometimes accomplish things smaller agencies can't. For example; Cruise Planners pre-books over 35,000 every year, so this often has an impact on what we can do for our clients, especially in situations where problems arise.

The only thing I have to offer about upgrades is a word of caution; I've seen this on many occasions and cruisers need to be aware of it. It has to do with agents calling their clients and letting them know they got them a free upgrade, when in fact, the price went down. Instead of notifying the client that the price went down, they want to protect their commission, so they inform the client that they got them a free upgrade. This is not a choice to be made by the agent, but rather an option that should be given to the client. So how can you avoid this from happening to you? As was mentioned in the article, the one thing you can do is to monitor the prices. If you see a price reduction, notify your agent immediately to see if you qualify or what the special involves. And if your agent does notify you that they got you an upgrade, you should verify the pricing to satisfy yourself that it is indeed an upgrade and not a price reduction.

I love nothing more than finding a special for a client and notifying them that the price went down - I get excited about it and love the reaction I get from the client. But I've been doing this for quite a while and in the several thousands of bookings I've made, I've only seen a true 'free upgrade' on a few occasions. When someone buys a 'guarantee' cabin and gets a better cabin, I really don't consider this to be a free upgrade. The cruise line just puts them in an available cabin, but it could be anywhere on the ship and in any category, you could end up in a very bad location. So this is more of a crap shoot where you take your chances than it is getting a complimentary upgrade - sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

I do disagree with the comment made about first-time cruisers getting an upgrade in order to 'hook' them into cruising. Past guests and frequent cruisers have a better chance than first-time cruisers - not saying it doesn't happen, but there's a very slim chance of getting an upgrade, so don't hold your breath.

When you consider the thousands of people on a ship and how many people actually get a "free" upgrade, your chances aren't really all that great to start with, but if you follow the advice in the article, it will definitely increase your chances of getting an upgrade

Pete

I just booked an inside 1A gty and as soon as I made payment, I got an upgrade to a 4B. Good thing as I now have a queen bed instead of a twin bed.

I did a get an upgrade on my first cruise (hubby's second), but we found ourselves under one of the dining rooms. We could hear vacuuming late at night. Not a good upgrade for us.

On another cruise (I think it was our daughter's first one or her second one), we were upgraded from an inside to an OV. That was neat for her as she enjoyed climbing up on the ledge (one of us would be with her) and look out. Good upgrade.

At some point, we decided just to pick a cabin and mark our booking "no upgrade." Not to worry about being moved to an undesirable cabin.

I guess if someone wants to take a chance, do you get automatically changed or do you get a certain amount of time for the TA to get the offer and then ask their client whether they want the upgrade or not?

Originally Posted by cruisin' chick

I did a get an upgrade on my first cruise (hubby's second), but we found ourselves under one of the dining rooms. We could hear vacuuming late at night. Not a good upgrade for us.

On another cruise (I think it was our daughter's first one or her second one), we were upgraded from an inside to an OV. That was neat for her as she enjoyed climbing up on the ledge (one of us would be with her) and look out. Good upgrade.

At some point, we decided just to pick a cabin and mark our booking "no upgrade." Not to worry about being moved to an undesirable cabin.

I guess if someone wants to take a chance, do you get automatically changed or do you get a certain amount of time for the TA to get the offer and then ask their client whether they want the upgrade or not?

If you purchase a guarantee cabin, you will get charged and you will not know your cabin until after final payment has been paid, so you can't get a refund if you don't like your cabin. However, sometimes, and this will depend on your agent and the cruise line, we're able to get you moved if it's really a bad cabin, but don't count on this.

If you purchase a cabin assignment and they offer you an upgrade, you normally have a certain amount of time to accept or decline the upgrade. Again, this depends on the cruise line.

Sometimes, the price difference between a guarantee cabin and a cabin assignment is relatively small and not worth the chance, while other times the price difference can be substantial and may be very tempting to you.

I've been in some pretty bad cabins (as far as noise goes) and it has really distracted from the cruise, but I knew ahead of time the chance I was taking and I chose dollars over certainty. A few times I got lucky and ended up in a lovely cabin, but you take the bad with the good.

Pete

Originally Posted by Char

This article has some interesting info...

However, I sure would like to know how to book a sold out cabin category!

Travel agents, how about some feedback from your experiences.

I actually did that
Booked an AC gty, when there were no AC or higher cabins available. This happened on the NCL Sun sailing in October of this year. The bad thing about it was that the cruise has been cancelled. I was told that if it wasn't that I would have been down graded. That would have been something.

Originally Posted by EASYTRAVEL777

I actually did that
Booked an AC gty, when there were no AC or higher cabins available. This happened on the NCL Sun sailing in October of this year. The bad thing about it was that the cruise has been cancelled. I was told that if it wasn't that I would have been down graded. That would have been something.

My goodness! There must have been a gllitch in their res system to allow booking a cabin/category that wasn't available. I guess you were lucky the cruise was canceled. So---did they say why the cruise was canceled? Charter? Dry dock?

Originally Posted by Char

This article has some interesting info...

However, I sure would like to know how to book a sold out cabin category!

Travel agents, how about some feedback from your experiences.

Actually, there's no such thing as booking into a category that is already 'sold out'. If it's sold out, they will not sell you any cabins in that category. They mis-stated the way it works. What they're referring to is if you've already booked and the category in which you're booked is sold out or oversold, you might get lucky and be upgrade. I've had this happen to a couple of clients. I actually got one of my clients who was booked in a sold-out category in an inside cabin upgraded to a balcony because they were oversold.

Most cruise lines won't do this intentionally, but NCL is an exception. I've heard on numerous occasions where they'll sell guarantee cabins and then not have any available at that level or higher. While the provide a good product, I hate deal with their corporate structure for this reason as well as some other problems I've had with them.

Pete