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What is the best and easiest way to get a cruise cabin upgrade on your next and future cruises? I discuss the 8 things that I do that have helped to me getting a cruise cabin upgrade on my cruises, and things that I have seen work for others using these cruise cabin tips to get an upgrade. So, why not discover how you too can get a cruise cabin upgrade in a proven and easy way?
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Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 77 cruises at time of making this video.
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
I'm gay Bembridge are now about to share
0:02
with you eight proven and tested ways
0:04
that you can get a upgrade on your next
0:08
cruise these are all things that I have
0:10
done myself and have consistently worked
0:12
for me so let's start by taking a look
0:14
at the very first tip persistence
0:17
persistence persistence there are three
0:20
key times when you can angle get
0:22
yourself an upgrade and every single
0:24
time you're gonna cruise make sure that
0:26
you're working it at each of these three
0:27
times first of all when you book
0:30
secondly after you've booked and thirdly
0:33
once you're onboard and I'll share with
0:35
you specific things to do at each of
0:36
those times it's also really important
0:38
to understand that no matter whether you
0:41
sell at the quiet time of the year or a
0:43
busy time of the year
0:44
many of these tips will work and I'll
0:46
point out which ones work better
0:48
depending on the time of year that
0:49
you're cruising so persistence is the
0:52
absolute key keep working it at each of
0:56
these three times the second way of
0:57
getting an upgrade and probably the
0:59
easiest way of all of the tips of
1:01
getting upgrade is to only book when
1:04
there are upgrade promotions your family
1:06
Cruise Lines run promotions where
1:07
they're offering you an upgrade to the
1:09
next level these happen a couple of
1:11
times during the year one of the big
1:13
times that they happen is when cruises
1:15
are launched for the very first time
1:17
whose companies normally launched twelve
1:19
to eighteen months or sometimes even
1:20
longer new voyages and they'll often do
1:23
promotions because they obviously want
1:24
to get as many bookings in as possible
1:26
so did incentivize people and
1:28
centralized agents they'll offer upgrade
1:30
promotions very often so keep a look out
1:32
for when item is launched in a key way
1:34
of doing that is sign up for email
1:35
newsletters with all of the Glines
1:38
attorneys just in all mater that your
1:40
agent lets you know second key time of
1:42
the year is what's known as the wave
1:43
period many countries have a wave period
1:46
this normally happens at the beginning
1:47
of the year when cruise lines look to
1:49
sell a lot of the imagery for the coming
1:51
year because they know at the beginning
1:52
of the years when most people start to
1:54
plan vacations so a wave period is a
1:56
very competitive time and so the cruise
1:58
lines will often offer upgrade
2:00
promotions the third really good time to
2:03
get upgrade promotions is 60 to 90 days
2:07
before a cruise go so if you're booking
2:08
last-minute you have a really good
2:11
chance of finding one of these
2:12
promotions what
2:13
happens is most cruise lines require
2:15
people to pay 90 to 60 days before a
2:17
cruise they know how busy the ship is
2:19
full and or not full and they want to
2:22
fill the ship as much as they can
2:23
they'll often offer promotions which
2:25
involve upgrades to get people to book
2:28
the third great way of getting up late
2:30
and this is something that has worked
2:31
for me many many times is once you've
2:33
booked keep a track of the price of that
2:35
cruise and if the cruise price starts to
2:38
come down or certainly the great above
2:40
you comes down much closer to what you
2:41
paid for the cruise this is a great time
2:44
to ask for an upgrade and you will
2:46
normally be able to get one so how do
2:48
you actually track prices there's
2:50
obviously the you can just keep looking
2:52
yourself and that's quite time-consuming
2:54
you can ask your agent to keep an eye on
2:56
it or what I actually do is I use a site
2:58
called cruise watch calm or sometimes I
3:01
also use cruise critic what you do is
3:03
you put in your specific cruise you set
3:05
up an alert and it will tell you when
3:07
prices are going down as I mentioned
3:09
there have been a number of times when I
3:11
have seen prices go down contacted the
3:13
cruise line and got some fantastic
3:15
upgrades the good news about this is you
3:17
often also get to choose your very
3:19
specific cabin when you go for an
3:20
upgrade this is a very important thing
3:23
and many people don't do this track
3:25
prices and when prices come down chase
3:27
and demand and ask for an upgrade
3:30
another simple way which doesn't require
3:32
a lot of effort of getting an upgrade is
3:34
make sure you select the auto upgrade
3:37
option when you book many many cruise
3:39
lines offer the auto upgrade when you
3:41
book so normally is just a box you need
3:42
to take call you just need to tell your
3:43
travel agent and the cruise line make
3:45
contact you very close to the cruise you
3:47
normally only find out plus the cruise
3:49
and let you know that you've got an
3:50
upgrade if you are looking to go the
3:52
auto upgrade option there's a couple of
3:54
tips or things that you need to think
3:56
about if you want to go this route as a
3:58
way of getting an upgrade because again
3:59
it doesn't involve much work from you
4:01
first of all what you'll generally find
4:03
is the lower grade of cabin you've got
4:05
for more chance you have of getting an
4:07
upgrade simply because there are
4:08
obviously more cabins above you so if
4:10
you books an ocean view or an inside
4:12
you're more likely to get an auto
4:14
upgrade the reason for that is very
4:15
simple partly as I mentioned because
4:17
there are more cabins often available
4:18
there that higher grade really balcony
4:21
cabins but also importantly if the ship
4:23
isn't full the easiest cabins for the
4:26
crew
4:26
to discount and sell our inside and
4:29
oceanview cabins there are a lower
4:30
pricepoint and they're just simply easy
4:32
to sell also if they discount those
4:34
cabins they're not going to have the
4:36
problem that I mentioned earlier lots of
4:37
people then asking for upgrades because
4:39
they've seen the prices come down so
4:40
normally what they'll do is they'll move
4:42
people up to be able to sell the cheaper
4:44
cabins so that's definitely one thing to
4:46
think about if you're going for the auto
4:47
grade option another thing that I've
4:50
also seen happen quite a lot is if
4:52
you've booked a guaranteed fare level so
4:54
guaranteed fare is one where you buy a
4:56
category not a specific cabin so you
4:58
don't choose your cabin the cruise line
5:00
allocates the cabin what you'll find is
5:02
if a particular grade is really busy so
5:04
say for example you've booked a
5:06
guaranteed cabin in an ocean view but
5:08
lots of people come in and they have
5:10
booked the option where they choose
5:12
their cabin as they sell out more and
5:14
more of those they have a whole bunch of
5:15
guaranteed cabin people that they'll
5:17
need to do something with so often what
5:19
they'll do is they'll offer them the
5:21
upgrade so that's something important to
5:23
know about so definitely lower the grade
5:25
and saunas guaranteed cabin fares were
5:28
to advantage with the auto upgrade big
5:30
watch out with Auto upgrade is you
5:31
normally do not get to choose your cabin
5:34
so even if you get Auto upgraded you're
5:36
probably going to be allocated cabin so
5:37
it might not be a fantastic cabin but
5:39
just bear that in mind as a potential
5:42
watch out the fifth and really basic way
5:45
of getting out grade is pay now you
5:47
don't really have to pay a huge amount
5:48
but paying is an option to keep people
5:51
to ask here first of all if you're
5:53
working with an agent make it clear to
5:55
your agent that if any deals and offers
5:57
come up offering upgrades for a small
6:00
fee that you're very interested this
6:02
really works to your advantage if the
6:04
ship is not selling full and the cruise
6:07
line has a bunch of cabins at a
6:09
particular grade that they want to get
6:10
rid of but they don't want to go out and
6:12
advertise those because again as I
6:13
mentioned people are tracking prices and
6:15
they put a lot of pressure on pricing or
6:17
people demanding upgrades so what they
6:18
often do is they'll offer those cabins
6:21
those upgrades at special prices to
6:24
agents so they don't advertise them more
6:26
broadly so if you've got a good
6:27
relationship with your agent and they
6:29
know that you're happy to pay a small
6:30
fee to upgrade they could be a great
6:33
source of upgrades without him to pay a
6:34
huge amount of money the second time to
6:36
ask well you may have an opportunity to
6:38
pay to upgrade is at the ship
6:40
there's two very important points here
6:42
first of all when you check-in ask are
6:44
there any upgrade deals available and if
6:48
the ship isn't selling full and they
6:49
haven't sold them there's a very strong
6:50
possibility that they are available but
6:52
a tip that I like to use and has worked
6:54
quite well is on the morning of the
6:57
second day of the cruise so and you've
6:58
had your first overnight you've set sail
7:00
go to reception
7:02
we'll get services in the morning and
7:04
ask them if there's any upgrades
7:05
available because it has been no any
7:07
no-shows for example there may actually
7:09
be cabins available to do upgrades and
7:11
I've actually managed to get upgrades by
7:13
going in the morning of that very first
7:15
next day of the cruise so that's a
7:17
really good little tip to watch out for
7:19
my sixth tip is one that also can work
7:22
pretty well but as involved paying and
7:24
that's bidding some of the cruise lines
7:26
have introduced a system where you can
7:28
bid for an upgrade so for example or the
7:30
recent cruises I had booked with
7:31
Norwegian Cruise Line you had an
7:33
opportunity where you could bid an
7:34
amount to upgrade and they give us
7:37
suggested range they're obviously trying
7:39
to encourage people to bid higher but if
7:42
your cruise line offers bidding and you
7:44
do have a bit of money you're happy to
7:45
do even if you bid low there's a good
7:47
chance you may get it depending on how
7:49
many people bid so bidding is something
7:50
to watch out for I think we started to
7:52
see more and more cruise lines starting
7:54
to look at that as we've seen with
7:55
Airlines as well so bidding is something
7:57
to keep an art as a way of getting an
7:59
upgrade without having to pay a huge
8:00
amount of money another way of getting
8:02
upgrade and this is one that has worked
8:04
for me really really successfully is if
8:06
you have a special event so if you're
8:08
getting married you perhaps going on
8:09
your honeymoon or you've got a big 50th
8:12
or 60th wedding anniversary or it's a
8:14
big significant birthday or 50th 60th 40
8:17
is the 80th whatever it is make sure the
8:19
cruise line knows you can either do that
8:20
fire your agent or just when you're on
8:22
board let it get known we once had a
8:25
phenomenal upgrade on Queen Mary 2
8:27
crossing just after I got married it was
8:30
so like a honeymoon trip and our agent a
8:32
good relationship with Cunard let them
8:34
know and we were upgraded into a
8:36
phenomenal penthouse suite it really was
8:38
quite magnificent and they laid on all
8:40
sorts of champagne and all sorts of
8:41
things as well so there is definitely
8:44
opportunity to get upgrade and
8:45
particularly cruises on from sailing
8:47
massively full this is a good time to
8:49
let them know one area does seem to work
8:51
particularly well is if you're going on
8:53
a honeymoon
8:54
so that tends to look better than
8:55
special anniversary and a special
8:57
birthday because often a lot of people
8:58
are cruising for that reason my next tip
9:00
is the one that is actually of all of
9:02
these tips being the most successful for
9:05
me for getting upgrades and it is around
9:07
complaining but complaining in a very
9:09
measured and specific way but this has
9:11
worked for me
9:12
phenomenally successful on a wide range
9:15
of cruising its by letting the cruise
9:17
company know that there is an issue with
9:19
your cabin obviously there needs to be
9:21
an issue with it and there's a couple of
9:22
key times you should do this in a couple
9:24
of very important ways that you should
9:26
manage this process to get the greatest
9:28
chance of success when going through the
9:31
whole complaining process it's very
9:33
important to work with your cabin
9:35
steward or if you're in a suite with
9:36
your Butler to let them know about the
9:38
problem and what I've discovered is if
9:40
you involve them in the problem and
9:41
explain what the problem is the issue is
9:43
often they know it's an ongoing issue
9:45
because that cabin may have an ongoing
9:47
issue they can escalate it to their
9:49
supervisor who can often escalate it in
9:51
to the front desk or the hotel manager
9:53
and that's very important whenever I've
9:55
made complaints I've done it that way so
9:58
first of all when you get onboard a ship
9:59
and you go to your cabin check it out
10:01
really carefully so often it's very you
10:03
get very excited head in and you dump
10:05
your stuff and head out but what I do
10:06
when I go into cabbage is check
10:07
everything's working is it all okay are
10:09
there any issues if there's an issue get
10:11
your cabin steward they'll come and see
10:13
you when you check in let them know
10:14
about the issue is it a noise issue is
10:16
it some problem with the cabin so let
10:18
them know there's an issue or when you
10:20
set sail and you see problems arising
10:23
let them know so for example I've had
10:26
cabins which have had some noise
10:27
problems or something hasn't really
10:28
worked particularly well there's been a
10:30
problem with the shower or whatever and
10:32
I have been upgraded into better cabins
10:34
probably the most successful of all of
10:37
the complaining opportunities to get an
10:39
upgrade is on cruise lines where they do
10:41
an interim survey so I've been for
10:43
example on silver sea and I've been on
10:46
some other cruise lines acosta where
10:48
they were doing a survey which came from
10:50
the hotel manager or hotel director
10:53
which asks you how the cruise is going
10:55
and I've laid down in very careful
10:57
detail some issues I had with the cabin
10:59
which were often noise related and both
11:02
of those times I got upgraded to a
11:04
fantastic cabin within hours the hotel
11:06
director because they're real
11:07
things contacted me understood the issue
11:10
guests checked in with the chemistry and
11:12
I have been moved to better cabins so
11:14
definitely it's about complaining in a
11:15
considered careful way and involving the
11:18
key crew in that getting a cabin upgrade
11:21
can look quite complex but these are
11:23
things that have proven to work for me
11:25
and I've been able to get upgrades
11:27
through those so hopefully this will
11:29
help you on your next cruise to get a
11:31
great cabin upgrade I have loads more
11:33
videos
11:34
packed with advice and tips about
11:35
cruising so why don't you watch another
11:37
one of those right now
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