rheathslc

I too thought that was pretty strange. And seems a little dishonest and sketchy to me. But I get that this whole system is in place so that Princess maximizes their revenue. Maybe they resort to psychological tricks like this to squeeze every last cent out of the system but in this case it didn't work so they just took what they could get. We also know almost nothing about what goes on behind the curtain. Maybe it was just a coincidence and another cabin became available so they accepted the bid in addition to the higher bid. Who really knows? 🤷‍♀️

Wonderful! Enjoy! From Reserve Cabana Mini-suite. Does that mean you're on the Sun? Those owners suites look incredible!

Yes but it's only a 3-day.

You're welcome! Based on my experience and what others have reported you can bid on up to four full categories above your current cabin category. For this one we were in a Standard Balcony and I could bid on Deluxe Balcony, Premium Deluxe Balcony, Mini-Suite, and Club Class (Reserve) Mini-Suite. Then I noticed that the cost to just book a Mini-Suite was less than the minimum bid for that category so I had our TA switch us. Then after two days I got a new "Bid to Upgrade" email and then I could bid on everything from Club Class Mini-Suite all the way up to the Sky Suite. And the max bid was $80pp but it would have cost $256pp to book a CC Mini at that point so I thought the $80pp was a good deal. Super glad we got it!

For Reference:

The bidding system still has the outdated name. So when I placed my bids they were called Class Class and my notification email said my new stateroom category is Club Class Mini-suite but that means Reserve.

I just got notified today that I got an upgrade for the 3-day on the Discovery on March 31st that's right before the Eclipse Cruise. I bid $80pp (max bid) to move from a Mini-Suite to Club Class Mini-Suite. The cruise has been showing sold out for several weeks so I was not hopeful. I was super excited when I got the notification email today. I have also won a bid on the two other cruises I placed bids for. They were B2B cruises on the Royal in May 2023. For the first leg - 3 days leaving on May 3rd - I bid $110pp for Balcony to Club Class Mini-Suite. I was notified I won the bid on April 24th. For the 2nd leg - 7 days leaving May 6th only inside cabins were available when I booked (which I only booked on April 28th) I bid $170pp for an Obstructed Balcony. I placed the bid April 29th and was notified on May 2nd, only 4 days before the cruise. Both of those were mid range bids.

I have successfully bid on two separate segments of a B2B and won both so I agree with @jagoffee. It has to be some other reason. Sorry you're experiencing that. What a bummer.

For the whole cruise. But it's only a 3-day cruise. 🙂 For comparison it would have cost $256 per person more to just book this cabin class outright when we booked. So it's a good deal especially because I really wanted Club Class.

We just got notified that we won our bid to upgrade from Mini-suite to Club Class Mini-suite for our cruise on the Discovery on March 31st - so 13 days out. I bid the highest amount of $80pp, but was not hopeful we would get anything because the cruise showed sold out. Sooooo excited! Club Class dining is a huge advantage imo. Plus we were on Emerald deck with a totally uncovered balcony and walls that jut into the room on both sides between the sleeping area and sitting room area. Now we're on Riviera with a totally covered and slightly larger balcony plus no pesky walls taking up space. Yay!!!

Not yet. I'm not very hopeful tbh. The ship now shows sold out. So unless someone cancels we likely won't get the upgrade. I do love the club class perks but $500 extra to buy the upgraded cabin for 3 days wasn't in our budget at the time. I did eventually add bids on a Vista Suite at $200pp and Premium Suite at $220pp because we got a bigger tax refund than we were expecting. Haha! But probably very unlikely we win any of the bids.

Sometimes even the minimum bid is more than the cost would have been to just buy the upgrade but sometimes it's not. I think the 3rd party that handles the bidding system probably has a complex set of criteria they use to determine what they set the bid range to. For example on our upcoming cruise on March 31st on the Discovery there were still cabins available in every category when bidding opened about 68 days out. I bid on a mini-suite (original cabin was standard balcony) but then noticed the cost to just buy the upgrade outright was less than the minimum bid so I just had our TA do that. After the dust settled on that I then bid for a club class mini-suite. I bid the max of $80 per person but it would have cost about $250 per person to buy that cabin upgrade. From our end it may seem to have no rhyme or reason but they know what will net the highest profit and design the system accordingly.

Bummer! I'm sorry. I understand being disappointed. I've read several similar accounts of the counter offer ending up this same way. Enjoy your cruise! If you're on the Discovery take care of her for us. We're on the next one! Still no news on our upgrade bids for that one.

Premier includes everything that Plus includes with the following "additions" • $20 drink limit vs. $15 with Plus •Two Specialty Dining meals per person per cruise (regardless of cruise length) •Unlimited "Casual Dining" meals vs. 2 per person per cruise with Plus. There was previously no charge or limit for Casual Dining • Unlimited Premium Desserts vs. 2 per person per day (how anyone can ever eat more than one per CRUISE is a mystery to me and I have a major sweet tooth) • Multi Device wifi (4 devices per person) vs. 1 device wifi with Plus Unlimited Fitness Classes vs. 2 per person per cruise with Plus • Reserved seating in the Theater (for production shows only) • Three 8×10 Prints per person plus digital copies of all photos • Enrollment in Princess Prizes ($10 per person per day without Premium) I THINK this covers the differences Oh! And you get a "Premium" medallion accessory which is just cheap plastic.

I think it really depends on what parts of the package you'll take advantage of. We wouldn't eat casual dining more than a few times. We don't really use the fitness classes. We definitely don't get those overwhelming looking premium desserts. So the extra $20 per person per day is not worth it for us on longer cruises. But if you are someone who would use those and especially if you would pay for them if you didn't have a package then it's a big savings. In fact it's probably a savings even if you only use the fitness classes. Those are pricey. We always book Plus at least since the advent of that package because we would pay for wifi, gratuity, and specialty coffee and drinks anyway. And of course now that it includes the one time OceanNow fee and medallion shipping those are factors as well. Those are things we would always pay for if there wasn't a package. The rest are unimportant to me. I calculate the savings based on what we would pay for if we didn't have a package at all or what extras we would pay for if we only got Plus - specifically the Specialty Dining. If we didn't book Premier we would certainly not pay for photos or sign up for Princess Prizes either. Although I enjoy both when we choose to spring for Premier. It really all comes down to each individual's cruising style and habits. 🙂