How Cruise Ships Fill Their Unsold Cabins and How to Take Advantage of It

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Higher Category Cabins Filled First

Cruise lines generally prefer to publicly sell out their lower-priced cabins then waste big money by reducing the price of balcony-level rooms or suites. To put it into perspective, a cruise line would rather lose $200 by discounting a $700 inside cabin to $400, than lose $500 when cutting the price of a luxury $2,200 worth suite (plus continue to offer its expensive all-inclusive perks).

To begin with, cruise lines prioritize to upsell already-booked passengers. For example, if you’ve paid for a balcony, you can expect to get a call offering to upgrade your choice to suite and pay just a few hundred dollars more (but less than you’d pay if you booked suite in the first place). It simply goes down from the top – those who booked ocean views are offered balconies and then balconies are upgraded to suites.