How do you get a Free room upgrade with Norwegian Cruise Line?

I have cruised NCL many times and have talked to many people about this "upgrade". Many have been disappointed by not being upgraded when they thought they could be.

NCL, just like every other cruise line, is out to make money. There is no way they are going to upgrade you to a better room AS LONG AS THEY THINK THEY CAN GET SOMEONE TO PAY FOR IT.

Now, that said, they do offer a "guarantee" which simply means that if you book a certain cabin level (has to be one that actually says "guarantee" on it) and there are any in that category available come cruise time, that they will upgrade you.

However, NCL rarely offers them for balcony staterooms because those are their most popular and they know those sell quickly.

Bite the bullet and get a balcony room. That way you don't have to worry about not being able to get to the railing for sail away or if you are whale watching you don't have to worry about people walking in front of you. The balcony is also a great place to have early morning coffee, an afternoon drink or even just a great place to hang out.

But please, don't base your experience on whether or not to wait for an upgrade. Chances are, you won't get one.

NCL has promo's every now and then that will offer free upgrades. However, if you book a room with them and the same category that you chose now offer free upgrades, then you can usually call them (by the final payment due date) and ask for the same current advertised deal (this also includes price changes) Cruise Lines, however, are very picky with dates sometimes and I found that it is best to contact the person you booked through. The bad part is that most bookings are through a large vacation website and they will most likely not try and call the cruise line to get you the upgrade. And most cruise lines will tell you to call your booking agent. My advice is find yourself a travel agent that you can trust to find you the best promos offered and who is not afraid to call and ask.

Just a note - Usually 3 months(about) from the cruise date you will most likely see the price of rooms drop. This is the "Last Minute" bookings. Most cruise lines will not adjust your rate to these because they are basically "Re-sold" rooms from a group that did not sell all of their rooms.

There is no guarantee that this will happen on every sailing, and in most cases it is considered a perk (though risky) for waiting till the last minute and filling the ships empty space for them.

It's not true that booking early will get you a free upgrade. Nor will frequent cruises with NCL. I have cruised about 8 times with NCL and never got an upgrade. About the only way is to book a cruise when they are offering free upgrades for certain sailing. They are offering some now; check out this NCL web page: http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/cruiser/cmsPages.html?pa...

The web page has a list of cruises when the free upgrades are offered.

You can book a "guarantee" and take your chances that you will get put in the "best" room in that category [inside, outside, etc.]. Of course, your idea of "best" and the cruise line's may differ and you may get put in a cabin that you would choose for yourself. You won't get "upgraded" from an inside to a balcony - upgrades are almost always within a category. Unless you've got a long history with a cruise line, you won't get a category different than the one you booked.

NCL is taking the freestyle concept to more than just food. In the newer ships they are starting to apply it to entertainment. You can go see a show or go to the comedy club or go to the blues club. It's nice to be able to wear what you want also. I don't go on vacation to be forced to wear a suit and tie or khaki pants and a semi-formal shirt... with NCL you never have to. The kids programs are amazing, they have so much fun. Nickelodeon does a great job on ships that have them. Specialty dining provides food that is way above the quality of RCL or Carnival. But, the food in the main dining room is very good also. Specialty dining is between $15 - $30 extra, which in my opinion is well worth it. Overall the staff is very nice. They love giving out cakes for special occasions.

I have read at http://www.cruises.co.uk/ that one passenger played Bingo on a Royal Caribbean cruise and won the top prize which was an upgrade from her inside cabin to the Royal Suite. So if all else fails and you think you have missed out, play Bingo - you may get lucky!

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/ayb1v

I have cruised about 8 times on Royal and on Norwegian. At one time NCL was my favorite cruise line, until I tried some others so I could compare. Now Royal is my favorite, with Celebrity and Princess being also right at the top of my list. NCL is no longer on it. There is not much difference that I have seen or experienced between NCL and Royal C except the ships are different and in my opinion the service is better on Royal Caribbean. I had some real service issues on my last NCL cruise. In addition, I do not like the "freestyle" cruising. Some people do but its just not for me. I went on 2 or 3 NCL cruises after they started the freestyle dinner thing. On one occasion we arrived at the main dining room and they gave us a buzzer to hold while we waited for a table. We (two of us) would go to the dining room and ask for a table for two and they would consistently try to seat us at a large table with people we did not know. In a traditional dining on other cruise ships you meet strangers at your table on the first day of the cruise and then become friends for the duration of your cruise. So after the first day you are not sitting with strangers. On another occasion we waited at the main dining room so long that we decided to go eat somewhere else. Now the freestyle dining is not so bad on days when you are in port and people are returning to the ship at all hours up to sailing time. But on at sea days we found it to be worse because so many people decided to go to dinner at or near 6:00 PM or opening time. So we don't want that open seating hassle on a cruise. We prefer to meet OUR wait staff and get to know them rather than have a different table and wait staff each day. We later found that we could reserve a time and table for dinner but could only do 2 days at a time; another hassle. In addition, NCL ships have a lots of "specialty restaurants" vs generally just 2 on Royal C ships. I just don't see the need for a specialty place where there is a fee each time per person vs just eating the great free food in the main dining room and the Windjammer buffet. NCL pushes specialty restaurants and Royal C does not. When NCL first started freestyle it was unique. But now several other cruise lines have the same optional dinner dining. Eat any time you want between about 6:00 and 9:30 PM. RC now calls their version "My Time" dining, Holland America calls it "As You Wish" dining, Princess calls it "Personal Choice" dining, and Carnival calls it "Your Time" dining. So my point to all this is you don't have to go on NCL just to be able to eat dinner whenever you want rather than the set times of usually @6:00 PM or @ 8:00 PM. I have never cruised on Carnival and from what I have heard about it being the budget cruise line with not so good food and amenities I probably never will. But I do know that just two years ago Royal C upgraded the beds on all of their ships to include a great very comfortable mattress that you cannot feel a big split on. Their beds are as comfortable as about any hotel bed. I believe they use a thick mattress cover to prevent feeling the split.

Ncl Last Minute