The Upgrade Project - Part 1

Fleet Captain James
17 hours ago
9 min read

Updated: 7 hours ago

From Superstition to Spreadsheets:

Inside the Dark Arts of Cruise Upgrades

How cruise upgrades really work - who wins, who doesn’t, and why.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/efb2a7_1042debb3773408d8cb935800fe12eb6/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

This project is broken into three sections; jump ahead to at any time

Theory - Under the hood:
History, mechanics and commercal realities
Practical - Bid smarter:
Tips, tricks, and practical hacks
Field Testing - Real World Results:
Historical data - View bids that win

If you want to game the system and hack your chances, you need to know the rules of the game—and who plays it best.

This is not a story that has been told before. Hence why this has been written in long form as I was genuinely surprised by what turned up in my research, and there’s plenty here that I suspect will surprise you too.

Not just the visible nuts and bolts of hitherto unknown platforms, but the algorithms quietly working underneath—the true beating heart of the whole thing.

Buried in this series are a few real nuggets—gold, not gnarly chicken bits—that can genuinely help you come out on top.

You’ll learn:

How they evolved and their historical DNA
How upgrades in the cruise industry differ substantially from aviation
Who really pulls the levers of these upgrade programs
How Upgrade Algorithms Decide Who Gets What
Where loyalty fits—and where it doesn’t
Why bidding is now the only realistic path to most upgrades
Tips, tricks, and practical hacks to help you come out on top

Who wants an upgrade?

It’s a ridiculous question, isn’t it—who doesn’t like puppy dogs and warm chocolate‑chip cookies?

There are few things that generate as much excitement, anticipation, and emotional engagement as the possibility of being upgraded. Of trading what you booked for something far better— It’s intoxicating if you win, and demoralising if you don’t.

If it feels like the allure of gambling, it’s not accidental, because the system is designed to trigger exactly the same emotions and the same psychology.

Much like a witch’s brew—or a sausage factory—the end result may not be quite as appealing if you knew what went into the pot.

All upgrade programs are not the same

Understand this: Cruise upgrades aren’t airline upgrades with a nautical accent—they’re structurally different systems.

Treat cruise upgrades like airline upgrades and you’re playing the wrong game.

For now, let’s unpack what the cruise lines have borrowed from the airlines—and which, much as they might like, they simply can’t copy and paste.

The Backstory — Context, Timing, and Rollout

Skip the history lesson: Jump ahead to Part 2 - Tips, tricks, and practical hacks

For a long time, the cruise industry simply didn’t see the point.

Airline‑style tech felt unnecessary. Cruise lines stuck with their own systems and chose shiny new ships over expensive, invisible IT.

The ships were full, demand was strong—and complacency followed.

Why fix what wasn’t broken?

Then something unexpected happened.
An airline started a cruise line.
And not just any airline—one obsessed with yield.

Love him or loathe him, Branson disrupts by design. Virgin Voyages skipped cruise‑industry lifers in favour of senior hires from Virgin Atlantic and hospitality

They didn’t need to learn the commercial logic of upgrades—they lived it. Dynamic pricing, ancillary revenue, yield optimisation: this was the Virgin DNA.

So bidding for upgrades was never optional. It was a finacial imperative—and a shot across the bow for a comfortable industry.

Virgin was the first cruise line to seriously embrace broad and universal upgrade bidding.

I was given a front row seat to this new sport, not long after their launch, hosting a 100‑passenger group sailing from Athens to Dubai.

What stood out immediately

I began receiving calls from confused but excited guests who had been emailed an invitation to bid for a cabin upgrade.
As an agent, I had no clear answers. This was new territory.
My advice was simple: you’ve got to be in it to win it.

The onboard results were nothing short of astronomical.

A surprising number of my group were upgraded—on a ship that was close to full.
Guests who had booked the cheapest inside cabins (some even as solos) secured balcony upgrades with low‑ball bids of just a few hundred dollars.
Those balcony cabins had rack rates far higher than what they ultimately paid.
One guest even landed a top‑tier suite. When I asked what they’d bid, I was hurried into a corner and told, “For God’s sake, don’t tell the wife.” It was several thousand—but still a bargain.

The pattern was clear:

Everyone who upgraded paid much less than they would have at the time of booking.
At first, I assumed this was a clever but proprietary technology unique to Virgin
Which although interesting, was unlikely to spread.
Then the dominoes fell.
After a year or two, mid‑range brands began experimenting with upgrade bidding.
Soon after, it became near‑universal.
Even ultra‑luxury lines—previously unthinkable—joined in.
Now it’s a game everyone is playing, with few, if any, left on the bench.

So what changed so quickly, after years of resistance?

They didn’t suddenly decide to spend fortunes rebuilding IT. Instead, a white knight appeared on the horizon, steaming towards them.

The pitch—roughly speaking—would have sounded like this:

We rolled this out for Virgin—we can do it for you too.
We can generate millions in additional revenue.
No upfront cost. No IT rebuild. No extra staff.
We run everything end‑to‑end.
You pay us a trailing commission. A juicy one.
Everyone else is already on board.
Do you want to play?

Unlike Hamilton, I wasn’t in the room where it happened, and I don’t know the exact commercial terms—but if I’d built something this powerful, that’s exactly how I’d have sold it.

Which brings us to lesson one—and the first piece of upgrade intel that actually matters.

The Big Myth: Cruise Lines Control Their Upgrades

Most people assume that cruise upgrades are handled inhouse by the cruise line—that if they call the loyalty department or speak to a helpful reservations agent, someone can “take a look”.

This is no longer the case.

Across the industry, cruise‑line upgrade programs have been outsourced to external, white‑label platforms that are designed to appear to be run by the cruise lines themselves.

That’s why, when you call to ask about an upgrade, you’re often told:

“We can’t assist—please follow the instructions in the email.”

They’re not being evasive. They truly don’t control it.

Instead, the process is almost entirely fully automated. External platforms run the entire show.

These systems operate with minimal human oversight—beyond cruise‑line‑set parameters—and have no memory, no sentiment, and no sense of obligation.

Understand that shift, and you gain a powerful insight into what actually improves your chances, what makes no difference at all, and what can quietly work against you.

The Nuts and Bolts

Meet your Upgrade Fairy

And so, dear reader—if you’ve made it this far—here’s the surprising reality I've discovered about cruise upgrades: across the entire industry, they’re almost exclusively powered by, (shock, horror), a single platform.

Enter Plusgrade

Like me, you’ve probably never heard the name.

I’ve long suspected there was a one central Wizard‑of‑Oz–type platform, off in some Emerald City, pulling the levers in the upgrade game for the cruise industry.

However I had absolutely no idea that one solitary platform had infiltrated so many other industries as well.

My guess is that you also have no idea that Plusgrade is the brains and brawn behind the world’s biggest airline frequent‑flyer upgrade programs: United, American, British Airways, Emirates, and even the most successful and profitable of them all—Qantas.

Plusgrade appears to be as ubiquitous as Uber for rideshares or Airbnb for rentals—except this is one disruptor that operates in the shadows and runs no PR campaigns.

There’s nothing particularly nefarious per se; it’s simply that the cruise and aviation industries have zero incentive to shout about it.

“Hey, those dreamy upgrades you love? Yeah… we’re pretty hands‑off. We don’t actually own or run the infrastructure, the tech and decision making has all been out sourced.”

Who and what is Plusgrade?

How They Conquered the World While You Were Sleeping

They describe themselves plainly—and they’re not shy about their focus:

“We are the global ancillary revenue powerhouse.”

Translation? Revenue first. Everything else is secondary.

They partner with an astonishing 250+ airlines, hotels, and cruise lines.

Yes, really. Who knew?

The cruise roster alone reads like a who’s who: AIDA, AmaWaterways, Celebrity, Explora Journeys, Costa, Azamara, Cunard, MSC, Oceania, P&O, Regent, Norwegian, Princess, Royal Caribbean, Silversea, Uniworld, and Virgin Voyages—all quietly letting Plusgrade handle the upgrade game.

Full list of all current cruise lines using Plusgrade

Interesting, huh? The more I dug, the more intrigued I became. Let’s go deeper still.

This is how Plusgrade sells what they do to the cruise industry:

Ensure your upper categories always sail full, and at the highest price possible.

Note the primary focus on revenue, not building or rewarding loyalty.

That’s still part of the mix, as I’ll explain shortly, but it sits further down line—not in the headline metrics of their sales spiel.

Some interesting stats, direct from the horse’s mouth…

Guests after upgrading through the Plusgrade platform, on their next trip:

18% booked the class they were upgraded to on their first trip
4% booked an even higher class
23% placed a higher bid

The statement below from Melissa Beckwith, Director of Revenue Management at Celebrity Cruises, crystallises the dynamic far better than I ever could.

It captures the symbiotic relationship between the cruise industry and Plusgrade: a marriage of convenience driven by an overwhelming financial imperative—the ultimate dowry:

"We were running a very manual upgrade process. The biggest differentiator, when introducing MoveUp [the upgrade platform], is we realized that guests are willing to pay way more than we would ever have asked for. So, higher bids, huge guest excitement, and strong ability to reach our guests directly and through our trade community. In just 3 months, the revenue is 10x what we would have done in our previous program.

Note the staggering 10× increase in revenue.

Money talks. Cruise lines listen. This is how the game is played.

Why Airline Upgrade Logic Doesn’t Translate to Cruising

Cruise upgrades didn’t evolve because cruise lines suddenly became more generous. They evolved because Plusgrade was able to prove to accountants money was being left on the table. And accountants run the cruise lines.

Why Airlines Got There First

Airlines have been perfecting upgrade economics for decades.

Unlike cruise‑line loyalty points, airline frequent‑flyer points have a real, monetised value. They are a real shadow currency.

Airlines sell them—at huge profit margins—to banks, retailers, and credit‑card companies at a fixed price per point.

When a frequent flyer redeems points for an upgrade, the airline isn’t giving anything away for free—it’s being reimbursed.

If frequent‑flyer points were traded as a commodity, they would be worth many billions of dollars.

Chew on this: the Qantas Frequent Flyer program alone, (not the airline itself), is valued at $10 billion. That is not a misprint.

Loyalty plays a much bigger role in aviation simply because—if I need to stress it again—money talks, and airline frequent‑flyer points have a quantifiable value. If you fly a lot, if you’re top‑tier, you have a lot more points to burn. The vast majority of upgrades in aviation are driven by points, or points plus cash.

The cruise industy, by comparison, is still playing catch‑up

Most cruise loyalty programs remain rudimentary: a free cruise after X nights, a cocktail party, maybe priority boarding. Valuable perks, but nothing like the financial engineering behind airline programs.

Cruise loyalty points, as yet, have no real or implied monetary value.

This is a truly critical distinction you need to understand between upgrades in aviation and in the cruise industry.

Frequent‑flyer programs are like astrophysics—you need a master’s degree just to begin to understand them, and there are zillions of people who have built entire careers doing exactly that. And who are making zillions from it, I might add.

This Upgrade Project instead focuses on my own personal expertise: the unique quirks and mechanics of upgrades within the cruise industry—an area that has, until now, been almost entirely ignored by many. Why? ,,,, Because there’s no money in explaining it.

Are you getting the gist yet?

Next up Part 2

Bid smarter: Tips, tricks, and practical hacks

End of Part 1 - Useful information follows for those who are new to

For those who are new here, I’m Fleet Captain James, and my business, 6 Star 4 Less, has a laser focus, more than any other agency, on ensuring we get you the lowest price on six‑star ships.

More than any other agency, we really can help you predict—with a high degree of accuracy—whether a cruise you want to book will go up or down in price.

This Upgrade Project is just one of the many guides we are continually rolling out, where we share insider secrets and region specific advice.

Our Preferred Brands - all you need to know

Click each brand to see our FAQs for brand comparisons and all included features.

Book - now or wait?

Prices - will they go up or down?

Upgrades - should you bid high or low?

Unsold cabins are the single best indicator of where prices—and upgrade odds—are headed.
Plenty of unsold cabins: prices tend to soften, and low‑ball upgrade bids can succeed.
Very few cabins left: prices usually rise, bids need to be stronger, or the ship may sell out altogether.

Unsold inventory can (should) inform how—and how much—you bid for an upgrade.

Only 6 Star 4 Less gives you access to this level of visibility.