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10 Tips For Getting A Cabin Upgrade On Your Cruise
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Jan 29, 2025
Discover the 10 ways that you can get a cabin upgrade on your cruise. You will discover the things that have worked for me and others to move up a cabin grade. Support Tips For Travellers and book your next cruise through CruiseDirect using this link: http://www.tipsfortravellers.com/cruisedirect . You will get the best and lowest price around. I get a small commission but you pay nothing extra. I would love you to give the video a "thumbs up" and if you subscribed to the channel now: http://bit.ly/TFT_YouTube2 Every week Tips For Travellers shares videos to help you make the most of your precious travel time and money on both land and at sea. First-hand travel inspiration, advice and tips based on the over 20 years I have been travelling every month. Follow me on all social media platforms. Search there for "TipsForTravellers" or "Gary Bembridge"
View Video Transcript
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in this video you're gonna learn how to
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get an a cabin upgrade on your next
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cruise
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I'm Gary beverage off tips of travelers
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I'm gonna share with you 10 tips and 10
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ways that you can get a cabin upgrade on
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your next cruise well the first thing is
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you need to choose a slow time of the
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year if you've got a cruise that's
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completely full you're never going to
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get an upgrade so what you need to do is
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to choose our ten reason times of the
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year where these the greatest chance
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that the ship will not be full so things
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like repositioning cruises at the
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beginning and the end of the Caribbean
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season beginning in the end of the
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Mediterranean season and you should also
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therefore focus on ports that are very
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busy so for example Miami Fort
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Lauderdale where there's lots of ships
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sailing all the time off to the
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Caribbean so there's lots of capacity
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because if the ship is 100 percent full
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there's going to be no chance of an
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upgrade so you need to focus on ships
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that are not likely to be full because
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that's going to increase your chance of
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getting an upgrade the second thing to
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do is to look out for upgrade promotions
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so many cruise lines will offer
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different promotions particularly again
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on those slower cruises and slower times
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of the year will you'll pay for a
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certain cabin and you'll get the next
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cabin above so you might buy an
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oceanview cabin and you'll get a balcony
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cabin you might buy a balcony cabin and
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get a suite now the way to really know
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what's happening with those is either
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talk to your cruise agent or travel
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agent and find out when those promotions
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all get internet you know when they are
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or also if you sign up for the different
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cruise lines email newsletters because
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you'll find they will push out those
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various promotions there as well because
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that is going to maximize and guarantee
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your chance of getting an upgrade while
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still playing a lower price for a lower
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grade of cabin now the third thing to do
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and this is the one that works the best
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for me is once you've booked your cruise
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track the price so keep checking in and
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seeing for the particular type of cabin
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you've booked what the current pricing
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is if the prices go down the cruise line
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is unlikely to tell you but all you do
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is you get hold of the cruise line or if
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you book through a travel agent get hold
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of your travel agent point out that you
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notice that a higher-grade is now
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selling at the same price you paid for
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the lower grade and ask to be upgraded
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to that new cabin so I've had some great
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upgrades
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I booked because I like to generally
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book very early I like to choose my
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cabin
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great and I then monitor the price and
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then when the prices go down or if the
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prices go down I've got hold of the
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cruise line and I have been upgraded to
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a better cabin keep watching the price
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that you paid particularly if you one of
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those people that booked early if you
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booked late you're less likely to find
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that happen the fourth thing which is
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very similar to that is most cruise
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lines will give you an opportunity of
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accepting an auto upgrade so if you've
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ticked that box when you've booked all
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you've told your travel agent so the
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cruise line knows if space has become
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available there is a chance that you'll
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be upgraded now these particularly
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happen if you're in a grade that is very
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popular and at the lower ends of example
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you've got an inside cabin where you've
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got an oceanview cabin or sometimes even
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you've got a balcony cabin those are the
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ones that tend to sell fast so if the
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cruise line is finding that they're
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managed to sell those very easily but
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they have some sweets or they have
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balconies or whatever the crate above
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you is free there is a chance that if
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you accept an auto upgrade that you'll
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be one of the people they move to the
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higher level because they can then sell
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your cabin again to somebody else the
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next thing to do is to consider booking
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a guaranteed cabin basically what a
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guaranteed cabin sometimes called a to
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be assigned cabin if you choose a
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particular grades you say I want to be
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inside ocean view balcony suite whatever
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but you don't choose a particular cabin
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now the great thing is if they start to
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sell a lot of cabins at your particular
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grade so people come on and they say I
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want to book a balcony cabin and I want
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this very specific cabin the great thing
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about accepting a guaranteed cabin is if
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they sell out all of the cabins to
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people who want to nominate a specific
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cabin there is a chance that the
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guaranteed cabin people will be moved up
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a level and it's very important
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therefore that if you do that if you
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book early because they're also likely
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to look at who booked those guaranteed
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cabins early on and move those up first
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so bogie guaranteed cabin particularly
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if it's a popular price level so inside
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ocean view particularly you have a
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chance of being upgraded of course
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another way of getting an upgrade is to
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pay for an upgrade so you're sometimes
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find very close to the cruise you might
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talk to your travel agent and say are
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there any offers going for a relatively
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low price to upgrade tically if you're
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going to a little higher grade cabinets
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they can often sell as cheaper cabins
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much easier than they can sell sweets or
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balcony cabins
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bigger cabins and also when you check in
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for your cruise also ask them are there
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any upgrade offers available because
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there is a chance that you will be able
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to pay a small amount much less than you
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would normally pay and get an upgrade
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the next thing to do is book through a
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travel agent let the travel agent know
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that you're very interested in upgrades
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whether it's free upgrades or even if
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there are offers going that you'll
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consider looking at the price those
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agents that have strong relationship
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with Cruise Lines might hear about deals
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offers or actually just they're looking
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to upgrade people because they want to
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sell cheaper cabins also it's important
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as some travel agents actually guarantee
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their selves certain amount of Suites
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balconies ocean view inside cabins so
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they may also within the inventory that
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they've sold have the ability to move
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people up a grade because they know they
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can sell again some of the cheaper
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cabins rather than the more expensive
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cabins so work with your travel agent
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let them know you're open to upgrades
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and they may be able to do something for
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you
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my eighth tip is if you have a special
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event so it's a 50th wedding anniversary
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you're on your honeymoon or even a
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significant birthday let it be known
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either through your travel agent when
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you're checking in or even on board let
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them know that you're going for a very
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specific event because there is a chance
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that if the Cruise Line knows that they
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will upgrade you when I was actually on
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my honeymoon
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we had booked the cruise as part of our
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honeymoon our travel agent knew it and
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we got a fantastic upgrade my ninth tip
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is once you're on board if you there's
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be no opportunities for upgrades wait to
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the second day of the cruise early in
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the morning on the second day go and ask
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about upgrades because at that point
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even if the ship is full there may have
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been a chance that some people didn't
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board the ship for whatever reason that
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you know no-shows and there may be a
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couple of cabins in a higher grade going
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now you may have to pave to upgrade but
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at that point of time they may be more
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than willing to accept a relatively
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small amount to upgrade people to the
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next level try now to speak to someone
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senior behind the desk or even to the
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hotel manager now of course if there's a
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sign on the desk saying that the ship is
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100 percent full then there's probably
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no point even trying now my 10th check
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be loyal so if you sail on the same
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cruise line regularly and you build up
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royalty status you have a greater chance
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of being upgraded the same it's on
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Airlines you know if your gold card or
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platinum card holder you're more like to
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be upgrades if upgrades are available so
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if they're looking for example because
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the cabins at a certain grade have been
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sold out and they're looking to then
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upgrade people who've taken a guaranteed
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level one of these I might look at is
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people who booked early but they're also
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likely to look at loyal cruisers so they
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are that's 10 tips on how you can get an
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upgrade if you have any other tips I'd
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love to hear them hope you found that
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helpful if you did I'd love it if you
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liked the video but very importantly
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subscribe to tips travelers and you'll
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