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9 Simple & PROVEN Ways To Get Cruise Cabin Upgrades
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Jan 28, 2025
There are 9 ways to get upgraded on a cruise. I talk about how I don’t use the ways most cruise passengers try to get upgraded on a cruise, and the techniques I have found are more successful at being upgraded on a cruise as fewer are trying them ABOUT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS: If you want to get cruising right, Tips For Travellers makes it easy to plan and have the incredible cruise experiences you dream of every time. All my Tips For Travellers advice, tips and tricks tips draw on everything that I have learnt on the 92 cruises I have done to date. Links mentioned in the video: * Cruise Fare Tracking: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/cruise-fare-tracking/ BUY MY CRUISE-THEMED T-SHIRTs ————————————————- * Check out my T-Shirt range: http://bit.ly/TFTStore SUPPORT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS ————————————————————— * Become a Channel Member and get perks: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/Join * Become a Patron on Patreon and get perks: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * Make a donation: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=V9STJGYSEMGLJ * Buy my book “Cruise Traveler’s Handbook: USA Amazon https://amzn.to/2YVFmG4 and https://amzn.to/3tzIxBn UK Amazon https://amzn.to/3oXbzYc and https://amzn.to/3qawqIQ
View Video Transcript
0:00
I get upgraded more than most Cruise
0:02
passengers because I don't use the most
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common ways other Cruisers use to chased
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upgrades I do something different
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welcome aboard I'm Gary benridge and
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here's what I found Works to get
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upgraded to a better cabin than I've
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paid for the first thing most do and the
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one I hear more horror stories about
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than any other is by accepting an auto
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upgrade including my own in early
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cruising days I had huge excitement of
0:31
being upgraded From A Balcony cabin that
0:33
we' carefully chosen on Pio Aurora into
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a higher grade cabin and it put a
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dampener on our cruise as I'll explain
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now when booking a cruise we all have
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the option of accepting an auto upgrade
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if the line has empty cabins they often
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move People Like Us who've said that
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they will accept Auto upgrades up one or
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two cabin grades for example as we were
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now this freeze up for the cruise line
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lower grade cabins which are actually
1:01
easier to sell and fill than higher
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grade cabins there are three really big
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watch outs with auto upgrades as I
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discovered first of all the default
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setting when booking a cruise is usually
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accepting an auto upgrade you must opt
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out if you don't want one we didn't
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second we found you have no say in the
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cabin the cruise line moves you to in
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our case it was above a noisy late night
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club but it could have been below a pool
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deck with scraping chairs have a strange
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layout or an interconnecting door to the
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next cabin where we could hear our
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neighbors and so on thirdly even though
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we didn't like the new cabin we couldn't
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have the original one back because it
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had been resold or perhaps someone had
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been upgraded into it since then I have
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always opted out of Auto upgrades the
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next usual way passengers get upgrades
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is simply by paying I watch people go to
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Guest Services as soon as they board to
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see if the ship has any empty cabins and
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are offering passengers upgrades on at
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least four of my last five Cruisers I've
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seen numerous passengers upgrade this
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way often for what sounds like pretty
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small amounts per day now at Advantage
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with this approach over the previous one
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is you usually get to view and choose
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your cabin before accepting the upgrade
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now my tip is actually to go on the
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second day because by then the ship
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knows the numbers of no shows and cabins
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that are vacated by those who've
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upgraded they're now free and upgrades
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tend to be cheaper the third popular
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approach is bidding several Cruise Lines
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give the option to bid for an upgrade
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usually between 60 and 90 days before
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departure they send out emails asking
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for submissions I've had them from
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Norwegian Cruise Line Azamara Royal
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Caribbean and celebrity I have never
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done any of these bids because first of
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all I could not choose a specific cabin
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I get so again it may not be in a great
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location and second I could not accept
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or reject any cabin and they would
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charge my credit card as soon as they
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accept my bid now I've heard people
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getting carried away as well and bidding
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more than if they'd simply gone and
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changed their booking to a better cabin
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directly so check the current price for
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that higher cabin before bidding and
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actually I recommend bid low because
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there may actually just be very few bids
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the other really common way passengers
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use to get upgrades is by booking a
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guaranteed Fair a guaranteed fair means
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booking a cabin grade inside Ocean View
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balcony or suite and not a specific
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cabin the cruise line allocates you a
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cabin close to sailing now on most lines
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it is a cheaper option than choosing
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your own cabin you could find you get a
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better grade cabin this way for example
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on Holland America new Staten Dam I've
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been on recently there are five grades
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of balcony cabins and you might be
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allocated the very best grade of all if
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many on your sailing book a very
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specific cabin and they've opt out of
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Auto upgrades the best grades may be the
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only ones that the line can actually put
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you in now I've seen passengers
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allocated cabins way above the
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guaranteed grade that they've booked so
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a balcony instead of an ocean view or a
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suite instead of a balcony many of the
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downsides though of the other approaches
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apply to this way of getting upgrades
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now if you book a guaranteed inside or
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Ocean View this actually though could
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work to your advantage because these
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again are the easiest cabins for Lions
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to sell as their least expensive if a
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cruise is not full they may upgrade you
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to a balcony cabin as they know they can
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much more easily resell inside an Ocean
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View Cabins so those are the ways most
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passengers use to get an upgrade I don't
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use them what exactly do I do the first
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one is simple but takes planning I
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simply book when there are upgrade
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promotions this is when the line is
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offering you pay for a lower grade and
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get a better cabin so for example I
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recently booked a regent 7c Caribbean
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cruise where I got a cabin two grades up
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from what I paid for based on the usual
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price a good time to find these
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promotions are when itineries are
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launched so if there's a cruise you
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really want to do and it's maybe 1880
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months 2 years plus as soon as those
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itri come on sale look for these kinds
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of promotions secondly I found about 90
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to 60 days before a cruise this is when
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final payment is due for most Cruisers
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and if the ship is not full
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promotions like this one is a tool that
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they like to use to encourage bookings
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thirdly a really good time is during
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wave season usually at the start of the
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year or Black Friday towards the end
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these are big sale periods with lots of
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competition by all the lines for our
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bookings and this is one of the really
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popular promotions I found at these
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times the way I found out by the way
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about these promotions is usually
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through the cruise line email
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newsletters so sign up for those now
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while this technique has been very
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successful at snagging me upgrades the
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next one is the one that has got me more
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upgrades than any other technique this
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is fair tracking when I book a cruise I
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set up a price tracker which I've spoken
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of before on a site called cruw
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watch.com or cruisecritic.com I have a
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blog post by the way where I explain how
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to do that which is linked in the notes
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of this video those trackers alert me if
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fairs on the cruise have fallen and if
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they have I either asked the line for
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the lower fair or or for an upgrade I've
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had huge success with this especially in
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getting upgrades through this I've
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recently been upgraded on kod Queen's
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Grill from an entry Suite to a penthouse
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and on Viking From A Balcony into a
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suite and there's many other examples
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the watch out though is it does take
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some work and negotiation too because
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some lines are more willing than others
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the next one has also led to upgrades
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but it's not necessarily a good thing
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this is through
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complaining not from being difficult and
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chancing my arm but when I have an issue
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with the cabin that I feel is affecting
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my cruise and needs to be addressed this
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works I believe this works especially
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because I believe there are cabins the
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line seems quick to move passengers from
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when you raise an issue I've had a
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series of better cabins and upgrades
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through complaints for example I was on
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a silver SE Expedition Cruise in
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Antarctica where I had some problems
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with a noise from some Machinery
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underneath me I was moved after
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discussing it from an Ocean View cabin
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into a balcony cabin I had an issue on
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my pant Lael Cruise there was rattling
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air conditioning it Disturbed me
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constantly during the night they
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couldn't fix it and again I was moved to
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a better grade of cabin on a recent
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Azamara cruise I had dragging and
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scraping above me in the early hours now
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when I went to Guest Services the
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manager knew of the top of his head that
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my cabin was below a work area when he
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made a note it was onto a page listing
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of other cabins where people had already
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also come to complain they moved me to a
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better cabin without noise within the
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hour I genuinely believe that the line
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knows which cabins have issues and if
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you're in one of those and raise the
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issue they know it's genuine and they
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move you to a better cabin if the ship
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is not full another technique which has
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worked for me is special events when I
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got married we booked a Queen Mary to
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transatlantic Crossing for our honeymoon
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our travel agent let the line know that
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we were going on our honeymoon and we
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were upgraded to a fabulous penthouse
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suite the agent has good relationships
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with the cruise line makes many bookings
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for them and so was able to get us on an
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upgrade list because she has influence
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so if you have a big event coming up
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especially a wedding let the line know
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it's not going to work for birthdays and
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I've not heard it working for
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anniversary much but give it a go as
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worst case they will upgrade the
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experience on board perhaps with
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champagne cakes decorations and maybe
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some other added perks like especially
9:09
dining remember that as with Airlines
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the lines will tend to give upgrade
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priority to frequent Travelers if you
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really like a line and plan to sell with
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them often and do sell with them more
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often you're going to have leverage
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check if the law to program for that
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line offers Fair discounts as you
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progress up the tiers now many of them
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tend to offer booking discounts or even
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free nights as you move up tiers which
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you can then use to effectively upgrade
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by paying the same Fair as you would
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have but actually you're going to get a
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better cabin so for example we are
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diamond on kod and we get discounts now
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when booking which helps us nudge up
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grades every single time if you found
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this interesting why not watch this
9:51
video about how to get the best and
9:53
avoid the worst cabins on a ship
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starting with the one simple thing I do
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that pretty much guarantees the best
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cabins without paying anything more see
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you over there
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