priceline experts please

[SandyR5]

Hi - I'm trying for the first time. Bidding for travel is down right now, so here's my question...How many times, after 72 hours, can you rebid? Our cruise isn't 'till February. Also, is there another area besides downtown Ft. Lauderdale where I'd want to be for a cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale? Would "beach" be OK also? Thanks.

 

Sandy/Long Island NY

[superjerryw]

The beach area is fine. I bid on the "beach" and got the Doubletree for $45.

 

 

Donuts, is there anything they can't do....

[nmtraveler]

If you can't get any satisfaction at priceline, try www.hotwire.com . At least you might get some idea of what a reasonable bid might be. I finally gaveup on priceline for our Vancouver stay in September. I got a 4-star for $58 plus tax which turned out to be the Marriott at the airport which was right where we wanted to be.

 

George and Susan

Song of America May 1999

Galaxy Alaska May 2000

Zenith April 2001

Summit Hawaii May 2002

 

Infinity Hawaii May 2002

Mercury Alaska Coastal 9/2002

Splendour of the Seas March '03

Summit Alaska Coastal Sept '03

Infinity Canal 04/25/2004

Summit Alaska Coastal Sept '04

[StefanieMS]

Sandy, you can rebid every 72 hours. But don't do that , you will drive yourself nuts, get anxious and over bid. You have a lot of time, so be patient.

ALso good to know is that you may have free rebids in a specific area. Say you are bidding on a 4* in zone A. Your bid is regected, but there is no 4* available for zones B & C. Those areas would be considered free rebids (you can raise your bid knowing priceline can't downgrade you). You have to check each zone on priceline before bidding, because they do change.

 

Good luck

 

Stefanie

 

Cruise on the pride

 

[Nanatravel]

Sandy bidding on Priceline can be fun, an experience and exciting but as mentioned, don't drive yourself crazy by bidding every 3 days! For starters, read everything you can at biddingfortravel.com, biddingforfun.com, and check out the icons for hotels and star ratings on hotwire for the same exact perioed of time. This will give you a pretty good idea of what is available now. Also, on Hotwire, try to do a fake Package search; put in your home area airport, make your weekend dates to include the same date you need, and you will see the names of the hotels with icons and prices that are available. This helps recognize which hotels are going out to bid.

FLL downtown is first choice for a one night pre-cruise stay; Marriott, Embassy or Renaissance are 3star, Amerisuites is 2stard; FLL Beach is 4star - Hyatt, 3stars the 2 Sheratons and the 2 Doubletree hotels. All those properties are good for the right bid. Taxi fare may be more though accept for the Hyatt which is just over the 17th Street bridge from the Port. February is prime cruise season, so don't be disappointed if you don't get your first choice. The hotels at the airport are just too far away from anything accept a goods night rest. Some hotels will shuttle you to the pier but a taxi trip is not too expensive (-$10)

Bon Voyage

 

Celebrity Millennium 2/22/04

Carnival Conquest 10/26/2003

Carnival Legend 4/11/2003

Carnival Pride 2/23/2002

Celebrity Galaxy 11/2001

Grand Princess 3/2001

Celebrity Millennium 9/9/2000

Sea Princess 2/22/1999

Vison of the Seas 10/28/1998

Rhapsody of the Seas 3/1998

Celebrity Century 3/1997

Celebrity Zenith 11/1996

Legend of the Seas 6/1995

Celebrity Horizon 4/1994

 

 

[SandyR5]

How do you find out if there are any 4* in another area?

 

Sandy/Long Island NY

[zurmolly]

Sandy we are sailing in Feb and we got the Sheraton FLL, near the airport on priceline for 60.00...I hear it is very nice and has a great pool. We are doing 2 days precruise and on one day just going to grad a cab into FLL for the day to poke around. When are you sailing?

[StefanieMS]

Hi Sandy

 

When you go to priceline, put in your dates and Ft lauderdale. On the next page it will give you the different bidding areas. Click on each one seperatly (page back after each), and you can not the star levels for each.

 

I just checked the first few. If you wanted to stay downtown in a 4*, coral springs and the airport would be free rebids because they have no 4*.

 

Stefanie

 

Cruise on the pride

 

[SandyR5]

Thanks to all of you for the great information I knew I'd get!

 

Sandy/Long Island NY

[Lou33]

Sandy,

 

If your cruise is in February, it is probably way too early to get anything on Priceline. I recomend that you make a reservation, without paying anything, as a backup. Find a reasonable hotel at a reasonable price just in case things don't work out with priceline.

 

The hotels will probably post rooms to priceline about 3 months before your trip. If you bid too early, you probably won't get the best rate. This will give you plenty of time to read biddingfortravel before you bid

 

Splendour of the Seas, 11/17/00

Summit, 10/28/02

Mercury, 5/05/04

[zurmolly]

Our trip is Feb 19th and I booked with priceline two weeks ago.

[SandyR5]

Great for you! Which hotel did you get? I guess I'm just bidding too little.

 

Sandy/Long Island NY

[zurmolly]

I posted that info just above in this thread.

[SandyR5]

Zurmolly - All I see posted is 2/19, not the hotel.

 

Sandy/Long Island NY

[zurmolly]

Keep going up the thread...

[SandyR5]

Found it!

 

Sandy/Long Island NY