Don’t let it confuse you. If you’re happy with your location, keep it. You’re under no obligation to change. True,if you have an entry-level cabin, there really is no place but up but if you’re happy there, forget about it and start packing.
We often book aft balcony category cabins and like that location. An upgrade from there would take us more toward the “desirable” center of the ship. We don’t want to go there so we refuse upgrades.
The upgrade fairy is actually a business model that is not nearly as fascinating or magical.
Upgrades happen for a variety of reasons. The most common is “forced availability” of cabins where they try to get you to “upgrade” to another, less populated category on that sailing, opening up space to give a nice variety to shoppers looking to sail that are just entering the booking arena.
When Connie Cruiser decides she wants to sail on your ship they want to give her a nice selection of categories and cabins. Nobody wants to get a cabin in the only category left. The figure they’re getting the table scraps. The leftovers. The cabins nobody wants. That might very well be the case close to sailing but odds are you won’t find that in most cases far from sailing because the cruise line is constantly modeling their inventory, offering upgrades, tightening the belt on acceptable deposit levels, etc, in order to fill the ship, make everybody happy and fill the ship
The ship has GOT to sail full. 85% full is break even for them. They’ve got to do better than that to make money. Really. In the days of old you might find a lot of “last minute deals” just to fill the ships. I remember saying to dw not long ago, that we should just go ahead and plan our time off from our jobs 6 months or a year in advance, maybe even by our air to, say,a busy cruiseport city like Miami, but wait till the last minute to buy at severly discounted rates.
That’s not happening today.
The cruise lines have gotten really good at filling the ships without discounting. They’ve sold the sizzle and not the steak. There are a few last minute deals but you’ll probably have to be in a Florida shopping mall a couple days before sailing to find any Wow-worthy numbers.
Other factors that come into play include
- When you booked your cruise- the farther in advance the better for upgrades
- What you paid. Still a factor but quickly fading away as pricing gets tighter and tigher with less discounting allowed. But if yhou did pay more you might have a leg up at upgrade time
- Loyalty- Repeat guests DO get consideration in the upgrade process. And rightfully so, they’re supporting the ongoing operations of the cruise line and they deserve it
- From here on any other reasons are incidental and probably not worth listing. The cruise line really does not scrutinize every little upgrade move they make as much as we might want to believe they do
Best advice for getting a cabin upgrade? Book as far in advance as possible and book a “guarantee” rather than an assigned cabin.
