Location of Cabin

You picked your cabin for a reason, think back to what that reason was. Was it because it was low down and mid ship because you suffer with seasickness, or you wanted to be by a particular venue, or had requested an aft cabin because of the wake views?

If there were specific reasons why you picked that particular cabin that would be affected by a cabin change, then getting a free upgrade will not be a good choice for you. By being allocated an upgrade you could end up right at the front of the ship or on a higher deck where you will feel the movement more!

If you like a really quiet cabin and have picked your cabin because of this then accepting a free upgrade again may not be for you. Moving cabins you may be put in a cabin with an interconnecting door which can be troublesome with noisy neighbours, it may be near access to passenger gangways so there could be a lot of foot traffic or next to crew access doors which crew can use at any time.

Cabin Category

Within categories of cabins there are different categories, stay with us as we explain! For example, if you booked a deluxe balcony cabin then the next category up would be a suite. A suite comes normally with more floor space, larger balcony and sometimes extras such as bath tub, high end toiletries and even a butler.

However, as with any cabin the best suites will normally be all booked up and you will be allocate one of the suites that hasn’t been booked. Again you will not have any control over where this cabin is so you need to decide is the upgrade worth the chance of being in a less desirable location against the perks that you could potentially get.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Now there are times when ticking that box to accept an upgrade works in your favour, we have done it and have been very pleasantly surprised!

Guaranteed Cabins

A guaranteed cabin is when you book a cabin on the ship but your cabin is not allocated to you until a few weeks before you cruise. They are also the cheapest cabins available to book on a ship and you can pick up some bargains. Booking a guaranteed cabin means that you choose your cabin category but not your exact cabin number, so your cabin could be allocated anywhere on the ship.

If this is what you have booked then accepting an upgrade could be a bonus and we would definitely recommend it.

We have done this and have been upgraded from an inside to an obstructed ocean view twice and both times we were very happy with the cabin. The first time was on the CMV Marco Polo where the obstruction was a pile of sun beds outside the window, but we had very easy access to the promenade deck which was great. The second was on the Fred Olsen Braemar cruise ship, when we again booked an inside guaranteed cabin and were upgraded to an obstructed oceanview cabin which you can see from the photo above was partially obstructed by a lifeboat. We were very happy with this cabin too.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

We hope this post gives you some food for thought, so you can make the right decision for you. Just because something is free doesn’t always mean it is the best thing to do!

Whatever you decide, the most important thing is to do your research, and if you would like to ask us any other questions then do get in touch via the links below.

Further Reading and Tips –

Check out our other Cruising Advice and Tips and Cruise Videos and Vlogs here. You can also get more information about individual cruise lines here too –

Fred Olsen Cruises

Marella Cruises

MSC Cruises

P&O Cruises

Princess Cruises

Saga Cruises

Royal Caribbean Cruises

Silversea Cruises

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});