garycarla Posted November 8, 2017 #2301 Share Posted November 8, 2017 I had been checking balconies on the booking website. Minis too. Going into the final week there were 10-12 balconies of all kinds left. At 48 hours, 7. Then I left for NOLA. Did not keep track of it. Once onboard I asked guest services if there were any vacant balconies or above ? The reply was "all Oceanview and above have been booked" A few days later I saw the hotel director. One item discussed was ship occupancy. He allowed the same. Perusing the halls. Deck 8 and higher. I did not see any cabins that looked vacant. I even asked some of the stewards. I was referring to this statement: ...They didn't do any upgrades until the 48 hours period. I did not get one. Not sure how the above information confirms they only did them at the 48 hour mark. Only a rough guess. Just like wandering the hall somehow can answer if there are any vacant cabins. I have no doubt it was full but there is no way you can tell by walking the halls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasreb Posted November 8, 2017 #2302 Share Posted November 8, 2017 Texasreb, I was on that cruise. I had an aft and paid a lot for it. I currently have an aft on the Bliss next year for a lot less than this one was. Like $1,000 cheaper!! Go figure. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Forums mobile app Oh yes. These fares from NOLA were higher than years past. Also the Pearl had several FULL CHARTERS booked. Not to mention the "guest groups" specials. Then the 9 day sailings thrown in. Kind of made cruising from there, limited. An NCL manager told me the higher ups really messed up at NOLA this season. The mistakes would not be repeated during 2018-2019 season. We shall see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sand and Seas Posted November 8, 2017 #2303 Share Posted November 8, 2017 Oh yes. These fares from NOLA were higher than years past. Also the Pearl had several FULL CHARTERS booked. Not to mention the "guest groups" specials. Then the 9 day sailings thrown in. Kind of made cruising from there, limited. An NCL manager told me the higher ups really messed up at NOLA this season. The mistakes would not be repeated during 2018-2019 season. We shall see. It was very hard for us to find a 7 day NOLA cruise this year. Moving a larger ship like the Breakaway there next year is a good decision IMO. Now lets hope the scheduling is better. We love to cruise from NOLA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlacruising Posted November 8, 2017 #2304 Share Posted November 8, 2017 Oh yes. These fares from NOLA were higher than years past. Also the Pearl had several FULL CHARTERS booked. Not to mention the "guest groups" specials. Then the 9 day sailings thrown in. Kind of made cruising from there, limited. An NCL manager told me the higher ups really messed up at NOLA this season. The mistakes would not be repeated during 2018-2019 season. We shall see. The "guest groups" made me stay in my cabin a lot. Good thing it was an aft...lol. Never again! Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fstuff1 Posted November 8, 2017 #2305 Share Posted November 8, 2017 This isn't an upgrade exactly. Booked balcony on Pearl for Dec. 5-14. It was a guarantee, which I never had before but that was what was left. I was thinking bad location,etc. Well, they upgraded me to a midship balcony. Checked price on other sailing and it was a pretty good deal. I also had my 2 perks. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Forums mobile app wha? free upgrade from GTY to like you booked a regular balcony with all the perks?! :o 1st i've heard of that since the bidding program went into effect Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlacruising Posted November 8, 2017 #2306 Share Posted November 8, 2017 Oh yes. These fares from NOLA were higher than years past. Also the Pearl had several FULL CHARTERS booked. Not to mention the "guest groups" specials. Then the 9 day sailings thrown in. Kind of made cruising from there, limited. An NCL manager told me the higher ups really messed up at NOLA this season. The mistakes would not be repeated during 2018-2019 season. We shall see. The cruise after ours was a cruise booked for a FULL CHARTER for a band, but I forgot the name they said. They also had an ADULTS ONLY cruise out of California before the ship got to N. O. I talked to some of the staff about it. OMG!!! I'm never doing that one either!!! BTW, the group on our cruise had 500 cruisers on board. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeBTN Posted November 8, 2017 #2307 Share Posted November 8, 2017 I had been checking balconies on the booking website. Minis too. Going into the final week there were 10-12 balconies of all kinds left. At 48 hours, 7. Then I left for NOLA. Did not keep track of it. Once onboard I asked guest services if there were any vacant balconies or above ? The reply was "all Oceanview and above have been booked" A few days later I saw the hotel director. One item discussed was ship occupancy. He allowed the same. Perusing the halls. Deck 8 and higher. I did not see any cabins that looked vacant. I even asked some of the stewards. Just remember that there may have been a fair amount of guarantee balcony bookings that they hadn't assigned yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rch3232 Posted November 8, 2017 #2308 Share Posted November 8, 2017 How do they decide who gets to bid for an upgrade? It's my first NCL cruise and I haven't received a chance to bid on an upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlacruising Posted November 8, 2017 #2309 Share Posted November 8, 2017 wha? free upgrade from GTY to like you booked a regular balcony with all the perks?! :o 1st i've heard of that since the bidding program went into effect I wasn't bidding for anything. They didn't have any balconies listed with cabin numbers when I booked a couple of days ago, so I had to get the guarantee. I had the perks with that one. Sorry if I wrote it wrong. When I got my paper from them it said I was upgraded to a mid ship balcony. I don't know why, but I'm not complaining.☺ Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlacruising Posted November 8, 2017 #2310 Share Posted November 8, 2017 How do they decide who gets to bid for an upgrade? It's my first NCL cruise and I haven't received a chance to bid on an upgrade.When is your cruise? It doesn't start til after final payment. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlacruising Posted November 8, 2017 #2311 Share Posted November 8, 2017 I also got a $200 comp when I booked. Not sure why. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeBTN Posted November 8, 2017 #2312 Share Posted November 8, 2017 How do they decide who gets to bid for an upgrade? It's my first NCL cruise and I haven't received a chance to bid on an upgrade. Offers to bid for an upgrade don't go out until 80 days from your sailing date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rch3232 Posted November 8, 2017 #2313 Share Posted November 8, 2017 When is your cruise? It doesn't start til after final payment. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Forums mobile app My cruise is on December 16, 2017 (38 days out) and I don't have an offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlacruising Posted November 8, 2017 #2314 Share Posted November 8, 2017 My cruise is on December 16, 2017 (38 days out) and I don't have an offer.Someone tell him where to check. I never tried it, but I know there are places to check. Thanks!! Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeBTN Posted November 8, 2017 #2315 Share Posted November 8, 2017 My cruise is on December 16, 2017 (38 days out) and I don't have an offer. If you log in to your MyNCL account and view your reservation (I believe its the "Vacation Summary"), it should say "Let's Get You Upgraded" in the middle of the screen - this works on both computer and a mobile device. If you do not see the offer to upgrade, that's the luck of the draw. It doesn't go out to everyone. Also some travel agencies have opted out of the program, so if you happen to book through one of them you will not get the offer. There isn't a comprehensive list of travel agencies that have opted out, but the largest group is under the World Travel Holdings umbrella (cruises dot com, cruisesonly, cheapcruises, dream vacations, to name a few under that umbrella). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaisyGoldberg Posted November 8, 2017 #2316 Share Posted November 8, 2017 Got my upgrade today for December 3... the banner disappeared 4 days ago. 3 days ago I went back to the link in my original email acknowledging receipt of my bids and that took me to a new page I hadn't seen before where I saw that two of my three bids were "expired" and the third said "Processing." According to others that meant I'd gotten it, but still no word from NCL and my cabin number remained unchanged. This morning I checked my documents again, cabin unchanged, no emails. Mid-day got an email with a new confirmation document which had the new cabin assignment. Nowhere in that cover note did it indicate that there had been an upgrade (just the fine print difference in cabin number on the attached document). I still have not received anything saying "Congratulations, you got your upgrade!" so if I hadn't been advised where to look for the information I would probably have no clue. So I advise those looking to watch for the banner to disappear, then re-visit the links in the "we have received your bid to upgrade" email occasionally. I bid one tick into "fair" territory for an H5 suite on Breakaway. I started out from a balcony guarantee, so my initial investment was low. I'm pretty happy -- looking at a direct purchase on line today they're asking nearly triple what I'm paying for the same room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garycarla Posted November 8, 2017 #2317 Share Posted November 8, 2017 My cruise is on December 16, 2017 (38 days out) and I don't have an offer. If you scroll back through this thread for a bit, you will see there are reasons not everyone gets the offer. Maybe they do not expect to have any rooms in your category - or so few, they only sent out a smaller number of offers. Maybe you did not get the email as mentioned above due to TA or method. Maybe they ship is sold out. Maybe.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexandNessa Posted November 8, 2017 #2318 Share Posted November 8, 2017 We've changed our bids a zillion times, and have never received a confirmation, despite the correct email provided when making the bid. This happen to anyone else? Checked the spam folder too. I'm wondering if NCL is spamming my TA instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nola26 Posted November 8, 2017 #2319 Share Posted November 8, 2017 Alright I finally took the plunge: I bid on an upgrade to Balcony from Mid Ship Inside for the 11/19 Dawn I did not offer a bid on the Ocean View I'm sailing solo and chose to bid the minimum. :o Whoa got an email that my minimum bid was accepted. Moved to BA Mid Ship balcony cabin. Excited to experience the cabin on the Dawn! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlacruising Posted November 8, 2017 #2320 Share Posted November 8, 2017 :o Whoa got an email that my minimum bid was accepted. Moved to BA Mid Ship balcony cabin. Excited to experience the cabin on the Dawn!Happy for you!!! Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rch3232 Posted November 8, 2017 #2321 Share Posted November 8, 2017 Oh well, no option for me to place a bid even though there’s a lot of availability on my sailing. I’m happy with my studio cabin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeBTN Posted November 8, 2017 #2322 Share Posted November 8, 2017 Oh well, no option for me to place a bid even though there’s a lot of availability on my sailing. I’m happy with my studio cabin. That explains it. Studio cabins are not part of the upgrade bidding process. Only Inside and above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeBTN Posted November 8, 2017 #2323 Share Posted November 8, 2017 We've changed our bids a zillion times, and have never received a confirmation, despite the correct email provided when making the bid. This happen to anyone else? Checked the spam folder too. I'm wondering if NCL is spamming my TA instead. I'm booked with a TA (myself, actually :-) ) and I get the confirmation emails to my personal email address. I do not get any emails through my TA account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLcruisergrl Posted November 8, 2017 #2324 Share Posted November 8, 2017 We've changed our bids a zillion times, and have never received a confirmation, despite the correct email provided when making the bid. This happen to anyone else? Checked the spam folder too. I'm wondering if NCL is spamming my TA instead. I never got any sort of confirmation email, but my room number changed and my credit card got charged! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BonnieH Posted November 9, 2017 #2325 Share Posted November 9, 2017 decided to throw my hat in the ring...bid $420/person on an upgrade from a mini-suite to a Haven spa room for our Jan 2018 Escape cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts