Which Cruise Lines Have Cabin Upgrade Programmes? Here’s the Full List!
You’ve booked your cruise, and you’ve opted to avoid paying the premium for the higher grade of cabin or stateroom. Did you know - after you’ve booked your cruise, lots of cruise lines give you the opportunity to submit a bid to upgrade to a better cabin or stateroom?
These upgrade programmes are pretty common across the cruise industry, and they offer you the chance to secure a great cabin or stateroom at a fraction of the price that you might have been charged to initially book that room in the first place.
In this post, I’m going to tell you how these programmes work (don’t worry - it’s really straight forward!), and also offer you the full list of upgrade programmes that I’ve found broken down by cruise line. If you find this post useful, please support my content by sharing it with anyone that you think might enjoy it. Also, come and subscribe to my YouTube channel - search ‘Fraser at Sea’ to find me on YouTube, or click here to go straight there!
Want to upgrade the cabin you’ve booked for your future cruise to a better one? Well, let me tell you how…!
How does an cabin upgrade programme work?
Ok, let’s start with the big question - how do these programmes actually work? You’ll usually be notified via email if your booking is eligible to be part of the upgrade programme, but this isn’t always the case. To be sure, later in this post, click the link for your cruise line and check against your booking information if they ask you to log in - you might just be surprised!
I’ve actually just gone through the process for the cruise I’m about to embark, so I’ll show you the online system from that cruise line: P&O Cruises. They’re all pretty much the same - the main difference is just what room types are available to bid on - the systems don’t change very much at all.
When you log in to the upgrade site for your cruise line, you should see the details of your cruise ship, and the type of cabin you’ve currently got booked. In the example below, my cruise was on P&O Azura, and I had a Sea view cabin booked.
Step 1: What cruise are you looking to upgrade, and what’s your current cabin?
Next, you’ll be presented with all of the cabins and suites that are open for bidding. Depending on which cabin you’ve currently got booked, you’ll be able to see more (or less) options on this screen. For example, if I’d initially booked a balcony cabin, obviously everything ‘below’ that wouldn’t be visible for me - I can only bid for cabins of a higher grade.
Beside each of the available cabin types, there’s a sliding bar. You will use this bar to indicate your bid level - in other words, to indicate how much you’re willing to bid for your cabin. As you slide the bar in the middle section, the ticker to the right will rise or fall, and tell you how strong the offer that you’re about to submit is.
Step 2: Confirm your bid amounts!
At this stage, you’re able to submit bids for multiple different cabin grades. In my case, I submitted low offers for both a balcony cabin and also a Suite cabin. At the point of writing this post, I’m 72 hours away from boarding the ship and I haven’t heard either way - I’ve still got everything crossed!
Step 3: Is your offer poor, or is it a strong offer? Check the section on the right!
After that, you just need to submit your offers! At this stage, you’ll usually be asked to input your payment details. If your bids are successful, this payment method will be charged, so double check that you’ve got the funds readily available for the cruise line to charge.
A point on timescales - most cruise lines will aim to notify passengers by the ‘7 days prior to the cruise’ point, but this isn’t always the case. The cruise line that I’ve detailed above, P&O Cruises, actually explain that they can notify right up to the ‘24 hours before the cruise’ point, which means that I’ve still got hopes that I might get a nudge up in room category - time will tell!
Wish you’d booked a balcony stateroom for your upcoming cruise? It might not be too late - check if your cruise line has an upgrade programme to participate in!
What cruise lines have Upgrade Programmes to take part in?
Below, you’ll find a list of all of the mainstream cruise lines that I’ve included in my research. Beside each one, I’ll state the name of the upgrade programme, and also provide a link for you to click to go to the programme’s website. Let’s get started!
Ambassador Cruise Line - ‘Ambassador Upgrade’ - Click here!
Azamara Cruises - ‘Azamara Upgrades’ - Click here!
Carnival Cruise Line - ‘Upgrade your Stateroom’ - Click here!
Celebrity Cruises - ‘Celebrity MoveUp’ - Click here!
Celestyal Cruises - No upgrade programme found.
Costa Cruises - No upgrade programme found.
Crystal Cruises - No upgrade programme found.
Cunard Line - ‘Cunard Upgrade’ - Click here!
Disney Cruise Line - No upgrade programme found.
Explora Journeys - ‘Suites Upgrade’ - Click here!
Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines - No upgrade programme found - guests are encouraged to call the Reservations team for details.
Hapag-Lloyd Cruises - No upgrade programme found.
Holland America Line - No upgrade programme found.
Hurtigruten - No upgrade programme found.
Marella Cruises - No upgrade programme found - guests are encouraged to call TUI for details of how to upgrade.
Margaritaville at Sea - No upgrade bidding programme found - instead, guests can view upgrade options via their online account if available.
MSC Cruises - ‘MSC Upgrade Programme’ - Click here!
Norwegian Cruise Line - ‘Upgrade Advantage’ - Click here!
Oceania Cruises - ‘Your World Upgrade Advantage’ - Click here!
P&O Cruises - ‘P&O Cruises Upgrade’ - Click here!
Princess Cruises - ‘Princess Upgrade’ - Click here!
Regent Seven Seas Cruises - ‘Regent Upgrade Advantage’ - Click here!
Royal Caribbean International - ‘RoyalUp’ - Click here!
Saga Cruises - No upgrade programme found.
Seabourn Cruise Line - No upgrade programme found.
SeaDream Yacht Club - No upgrade programme found.
Silversea Cruises - ‘Silversea Upgrade’ - Click here!
Star Clippers - No upgrade programme found.
Viking Ocean Cruises - No upgrade programme found.
Virgin Voyages - ‘Level Upgrade’ - Click here!
Windstar Cruises - No upgrade programme found.
Personally, I love an interior (or inside) cabin or stateroom, but I totally understand the urge and desire to upgrade!
Have I missed any cruise lines or programmes in my list above? If you think that I have, please drop me a note to hello@fraseratsea.com to let me know - I’d love to hear from you!
If you’ve found this post useful, then please do check out more on this website. I’m constantly working to evolve it, to hopefully make it a really useful source of information for your future cruises.
On the subject of cabins, why not come and check out one of my YouTube videos below? In this one, I reveal some of the cabin locations that you’ll want to avoid on your future cruises… See you there - drop a ‘hello’ in the comments!