Guarantee cabins and upgrades

A lot of people don’t understand what a guarantee cabin is, or why it can be worth booking them. It’s very simple - you're guaranteed a certain category of cabin but not a specific room and if that means all the cabins in that category get booked by other people before the cruise, you get an automatic upgrade! There are pluses and minuses to this approach: • Plus – if you book a popular cabin category you’re almost certain of an upgrade and if that doesn’t happen, you’re still guaranteed a cabin at your original level. • Minus – you can end up with a cabin that nobody else wants, like one above the disco (pounding beats until three in the morning) or balcony suites that face onto a lifeboat so you can’t actually see the sea. One way to double your chances of an upgrade is to book through an agent who sells a lot of space on the cruise line you’ve chosen. Another way is to join the loyalty programme of your cruise line if you can cruise lines reward their loyal passengers by giving them the first choice of upgrades.