What was your upgrade offer and what did you bid

[dpavid]

 

 

 

2

13 hours ago, cruiser1955a said:

I can’t answer your question, but keep in mind that NCL considers your “total dollars spent”. People who pay top price for their original booking may not have to bid as much to win, and those who book sail-away or any discounted cabin might have to bid higher to win.

Other than that, your chances increase if there’s lots of vacancies in the category you’re upgrading to. You are getting close to your sail date. If there’s lots of vacancies, your chances are good with a medium bid. No guarantees.

Great advice. I did get a dumb low sail away price so I can't imagine they'd give it to me. Makes total sense. Is it too late to upgrade at check-in on any loss leader staterooms? Does the sandwich card trick work? LOL!

[All-ready2cruise]

Check in at port is usually a NO-GO and there will likely be a sign indicating no upgrades will be done at check in or on board at GS (guest services) 

Good luck

[dpavid]

 

9 hours ago, Marine Mom said:

All good.  I am not sure how or why NCL accepts/rejects bids I'm just saying from my experience, it would seem that Lattitude level does have something to do with it.  😊

I would assume they do too. Loyal customers should be spoiled more. Just like airlines do for the frequent flyer clubs. This is my 1st cruise with NCL, I don't expect them to roll out the red carpet for me, however, If my latitude number showed 50+ cruises with them, I would expect some perks.

[graphicguy]

1 minute ago, dpavid said:

 

I would assume they do too. Loyal customers should be spoiled more. Just like airlines do for the frequent flyer clubs. This is my 1st cruise with NCL, I don't expect them to roll out the red carpet for me, however, If my latitude number showed 50+ cruises with them, I would expect some perks.

Platinum Latitudes does have perks.....a couple of free Specialty dinners, priority em/disembarkation, free bag of laundry, “Behind the Scenes” tour....probably some other stuff I’ve forgotten.

 

Don’t think that includes getting priority bid consideration, though.

[dpavid]

17 minutes ago, All-ready2cruise said:

Check in at port is usually a NO-GO and there will likely be a sign indicating no upgrades will be done at check in or on board at GS (guest services) 

Good luck

Probably good practice and to avoid the staff giving out free upgrades using promo codes for cash tips! Happens in hotel industry all the time.

[All-ready2cruise]

right, enjoy your cruise dpavid!! 

 

😀🤞

[dpavid]

It would be nice if there was a separate website like http://www.biddingtraveler.com/ for cruise bids. Share your winning bids and give everyone a good idea of what you can expect to pay to win. I bid on Priceline all the time and use this as a gauge to determine whether I'll buy direct, take express deals, or bid.

 

So to end my post on this thread from yesterday, I decided to bid $100 to upgrade inside to balcony. We got 2 inside staterooms and a balcony for $200pp more. If we really wanted the balcony, I would have paid the extra $200pp instead. If we win at $100, bonus! If not, we're all good. I'm in the balcony room anyway. HAHA!

 

Also, I like the idea of auction countdowns like eBay. All bids for staterooms close 48 hours prior to departure. Show all the winning bids in real-time for your cruise and if you want in, bid higher! I think cruise lines might be able to make more coin. People will pay more for no reason other than they do not like to lose. It's all mental. I put in a max bid of $250pp, get an email that said I was outbid to $255, you know I'm not letting that bid slide on me! What's an extra $10 to take the lead? Thanks everyone for all your thoughts, tips, and advice.

[dpavid]

I will confirm if we win or not per my post above. Highly doubt it and low expectations.

[jethrojam]

1 hour ago, dpavid said:

 

 

Also, I like the idea of auction countdowns like eBay. All bids for staterooms close 48 hours prior to departure. Show all the winning bids in real-time for your cruise and if you want in, bid higher! I think cruise lines might be able to make more coin. People will pay more for no reason other than they do not like to lose. It's all mental. I put in a max bid of $250pp, get an email that said I was outbid to $255, you know I'm not letting that bid slide on me! What's an extra $10 to take the lead? Thanks everyone for all your thoughts, tips, and advice.

I like this idea a lot.  I put in an ultra low bid because I don't really need the upgrade...however if they told me for an additional 20 bucks you would win, I'd probably increase my bid the 20$.   

[Kauaijim]

This topic seems a mess . We had bid $430 to upgrade to a suite from a mini aft suite on the Sun . I noticed there were suites available for basically the same price we paid , I called and was switched at no cost and no loss of perks . We have zero clout with NCL as this is the first time using them . I’m glad I called . Sailing back to port Canaveral as I’m writing this 

[racephoto]

9 hours ago, Newleno said:

that is such a great cruise, I am semi retired I could not get anyone  to work for me may 23, 24, 25.  You got such a great deal, all those great ports and fjords.  Check your credit card sometimes that will be your indication.  Either way you should hearpretty soon, yes usually by 48 hour mark.  have a great time 

Thanks! Yeah, it helped that I am already in the Netherlands, having come off the HAL Rotterdam TA cruise which I also booked less than 2 weeks out. :-) I'm fully retired. :-) I woke up to the rejection emails from NCL this morning. I didn't bid much, $75pp for an outside and $150 for a balcony, because on such a port-centered itinerary it really doesn't matter. I guess I just assumed that the emails would go out right at the 48 hrs mark and was surprised when they didn't.

[debgreg]

On ‎5‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 2:49 PM, debgreg said:

Thanks, I did have 6 message in my inbox when I logged in but none relating to upgrade, but its only just 48hours since I booked so here's hoping :)  

Still nothing so it looks like I'm out of Luck. Been in several insides on Royal however Epic inside does look really small, is this the norm for NCL Ships ?

 

If your TA doesn't participate is there any way around this, we are in the UK ?

 

Edited May 10, 2019 by debgreg

[Marine Mom]

1 hour ago, debgreg said:

Still nothing so it looks like I'm out of Luck. Been in several insides on Royal however Epic inside does look really small, is this the norm for NCL Ships ?

 

If your TA doesn't participate is there any way around this, we are in the UK ?

 

Unfortunately, if your TA doesn't participate with the upgrade program you will not be invited to bid.  Have you asked the TA directly if they participate?  Also, you can always watch the prices for your sailing and if they come down, you can call your TA to upgrade yourself and pay the difference just be aware if you upgrade, you would lose any promotions you received with your original booking and get the new promotions they offer at that time.

[Son of a son of a ...]

1 minute ago, Marine Mom said:

Unfortunately, if your TA doesn't participate with the upgrade program you will not be invited to bid.  Have you asked the TA directly if they participate?  Also, you can always watch the prices for your sailing and if they come down, you can call your TA to upgrade yourself and pay the difference just be aware if you upgrade, you would lose any promotions you received with your original booking and get the new promotions they offer at that time.

 

I know Priceline and Expedia participate in the upgrade program.

 

Please note, I am not promoting any particular TA; I am just stating a fact.

[tallnthensome]

Latitudes level and original price paid has no effect on winning. I paid the lowest price ever offered on my 15 day Panama Canal cruise and it was only my 2nd NCL cruise and still won and I just bid $5 into the good range.  

[KrazyKs]

Haven’t received my official email that bids were not accepted, but at 2 days out I’m pretty confident they haven’t. 

 

We booked a large balcony mini suite. Original price $1719 pp all 5 perks including 3rd & 4th free. My bid on the Haven 2 bedroom H4 was $1600 pp which was an upper fair bid. On Tuesday the suites and mini suites changed to sold out. I upped bid to $1750 pp but I believe all upgrades for those cabin types were already made. I actually conversed through Facebook messenger with someone that won upgrade. They were notified on Tuesday. They had a midship mini-suite for 3 and won the 2 bedroom. She didn’t give me exact bid, but did say it was lower good area. I don’t think it was much more than ours. 

 

I also heard that that someone with an aft have suite won an upgrade to owners suite. The owner’s suites had been showing as “sold out” at least since January. So as many have said in the past, you can still win a bid on a “sold out” category. 

 

So not in the cards for us this time, but will try again. 😊 All 4 of us have spa passes so we will have to drown our sorrows there. 😂

 

Good luck to all bidders. Hopefully this info helps someone. 

[vacation44]

30 minutes ago, KrazyKs said:

Haven’t received my official email that bids were not accepted, but at 2 days out I’m pretty confident they haven’t. 

 

We booked a large balcony mini suite. Original price $1719 pp all 5 perks including 3rd & 4th free. My bid on the Haven 2 bedroom H4 was $1600 pp which was an upper fair bid. On Tuesday the suites and mini suites changed to sold out. I upped bid to $1750 pp but I believe all upgrades for those cabin types were already made. I actually conversed through Facebook messenger with someone that won upgrade. They were notified on Tuesday. They had a midship mini-suite for 3 and won the 2 bedroom. She didn’t give me exact bid, but did say it was lower good area. I don’t think it was much more than ours. 

 

I also heard that that someone with an aft have suite won an upgrade to owners suite. The owner’s suites had been showing as “sold out” at least since January. So as many have said in the past, you can still win a bid on a “sold out” category. 

 

So not in the cards for us this time, but will try again. 😊 All 4 of us have spa passes so we will have to drown our sorrows there. 😂

 

Good luck to all bidders. Hopefully this info helps someone. 

Which ship?  Thank you for sharing your information and have a great cruise.

[KrazyKs]

6 minutes ago, vacation44 said:

Which ship?  Thank you for sharing your information and have a great cruise.

 Escape

[ddlb]

I was assigned a b8 balcony on the Bliss when I upgraded to a bx guarantee from an ix inside originally booked as the price went down.  But later I wanted to downgrade when the price for a BF (which included 3 perks) was the same price.  Found out I couldn't do it - only thing I could do was ugrade to a b9 or spa balcony.  Lesson learned - sometimes it's not so great to get a good cabin assigned from a guarantee.  Regardless I bid $150 ea for a spa balcony and today 48 hours before sailing I got my sorry your bid was declined notice.  But I knew that would happen as 3 days ago 11 spa balconies were available for $2199 each and I knew no one would bid on them.   So when they disappeared 2 days ago and I didn't have a congratulations notice I knew I was doomed.  So I just paid the $249 for a spa pass for me as my roommate didn't want the spa to begin with.  

 

The funny thing is on an Epic cruise I booked an mx and was assigned a spa mini-suite.  Had no clue of my good fortune or what the spa involved until 2 days after sailing I mosied over there and was amazed.  So NCL got me hooked on the Thermal Spa!

[debgreg]

On 5/10/2019 at 1:53 PM, Marine Mom said:

Unfortunately, if your TA doesn't participate with the upgrade program you will not be invited to bid.  Have you asked the TA directly if they participate?  Also, you can always watch the prices for your sailing and if they come down, you can call your TA to upgrade yourself and pay the difference just be aware if you upgrade, you would lose any promotions you received with your original booking and get the new promotions they offer at that time.

We can’t do that in the UK unfortunately 🤨

[debgreg]

On 5/10/2019 at 1:57 PM, Son of a son of a ... said:

 

I know Priceline and Expedia participate in the upgrade program.

 

Please note, I am not promoting any particular TA; I am just stating a fact.

I booked with Cruise Nation ?

[K_e_short]

Cruising on the Jewel July 29th - August 5th.

 

Currently in an inside cabin.

 

Offered an ocean for up to $300 per person US and offered a Balcony for up to $500 per person.

 

Decided we did not want an ocean view so put in the lowest bid ($150 per person) for a balcony. Doubt we'll get it but it doesn't hurt to try.

 

[chapchap]

I'm not sure if it was already covered, but I'm going to ask anyway: price drops.  I'm just over 30 days out.  Our sailing still has PLENTY of cabins available (in some categories it is showing 15--telling me there could be more(?). Prices are still the same as they have been.   I've been monitoring this sailing since we were invited to bid on upgrades. Will NCL institute a price drop? And how does / will this affect bidding?  

Edited May 13, 2019 by chapchap

[JamieLogical]

47 minutes ago, chapchap said:

I'm not sure if it was already covered, but I'm going to ask anyway: price drops.  I'm just over 30 days out.  Our sailing still has PLENTY of cabins available (in some categories it is showing 15--telling me there could be more(?). Prices are still the same as they have been.   I've been monitoring this sailing since we were invited to bid on upgrades. Will NCL institute a price drop? And how does / will this affect bidding?  

 

Keep an eye on prices, because they may drop far enough for you to benefit from just paying for a direct upgrade, rather than going through the Upgrade Advantage Program. As far as price drops and bidding, the bid ranges generally don't change when prices drop. One thing I have observed is that sometimes a slew of bid acceptances will precede a price drop. I suspect this is because NCL wants to "lock in" those higher bids before people adjust their bids accordingly.

[chapchap]

2 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Keep an eye on prices, because they may drop far enough for you to benefit from just paying for a direct upgrade, rather than going through the Upgrade Advantage Program. As far as price drops and bidding, the bid ranges generally don't change when prices drop. One thing I have observed is that sometimes a slew of bid acceptances will precede a price drop. I suspect this is because NCL wants to "lock in" those higher bids before people adjust their bids accordingly.

Thank you! I knew you would know.  Funny thing is, I'm good with our cabin, but it would be awesome to get an upgrade (and a nice surprise for the family). Could we have booked the cabin we wanted from the get-go? Sure, but we just wanted to book the cruise at a good price. LOL  Thank you again, JamieLogical.