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How to get a FREE upgrade on a cruise!

Cruise Blog
Cruise Blog
🏅Authority
👁️ 8K views📅 3 years ago⏱️ 8:59
What This Creator Said
Creator RecommendsTips & Advice🏅Authority Creator
AlaskaVeteran Cruiser

Source: Our analysis of the creator's lived experience, based on what they said in this video.

Creator's Key Takeaways

complimentary upgrades are kind of a thing of the past and they're not very common in the cruise industry right now

a guaranty cabin is a cruise ship gamble that you'll be upgraded to a better room than you booked

we booked an outside guarantee and we were given a free upgrade to a balcony

you can bid for a minimum but a lot of people will do a little bit higher than the minimum to hopefully differentiate bids from one another

Creator's Tips & Advice

✓Book during a free upgrade promotion instead of waiting for a surprise upgrade
✓Book a guarantee cabin if you're willing to gamble on room location for a potential upgrade
✓Use a travel agent who may have access to offers you don't
✓Join cruise line loyalty programs to receive complimentary or reduced rate upgrades
✓Bid on upgrades through cruise line auction programs to get a higher category for less
✓Watch for targeted upgrade offers from revenue managers (the 'upgrade fairy')

🆕New to Cruising? This Creator Addresses:

Free upgrades don't happen often — Don't rely on surprise upgrades; actively seek out promotions and strategies instead
Not knowing if upgrade strategies work — Multiple methods exist (guarantee cabins, bidding, loyalty programs, asking onboard) with varying success rates
Losing money on a worse cabin — Only use guarantee cabins if you're fine with any room in the category, and wait until after first port to ask for upgrades

Questions This Creator Answers

QHow to get a free cabin upgrade on a cruise
QIs it possible to get a surprise free upgrade
QWhat are the best strategies for getting upgraded cabins

Topics Covered

Cabin Balcony4 Happy BaconBooking Process2 Happy BaconLoyalty Program3 Happy BaconCabin Interior1 Sad Bacon

Port Highlights

Alaska4 Happy Bacon
How to read the Trip Bacon Score
Happy Bacon — creators loved this aspect
Sad Bacon — creators took issue with this
Meh — no strong opinion either way

Scale: 0–5 strips in half-step increments. 0 = “meh”, 5 = “bacon bliss”. Aggregated from creator-review sentiment, weighted by channel expertise.

About our Bacon Score methodology
YouTube Video Description↓

Wondering how to get a free cabin upgrade on a cruise? Here's how! Read more: https://cruise.blog/