What was your upgrade offer and what did you bid

[Linda1111]

On 2/12/2020 at 1:54 PM, timf2001 said:

 

Once you win a bid, you are done with the bidding process.  You will never get another offer to upgrade from an upgrade.

 

 

Since you upgraded through a NCL agent and not the bidding process, you are still eligible to bid on upgrades.  Your upgrade offer will eventually update to show your new room, as well as give you the chance to bid on mini-suites in addition to balconies since you are now in a ocean view.

You are correct – I 1^st received an email saying that there was a change to my reservation so they canceled my original balcony upgrade bid, but I was still able to go back into the bidding page this morning and see my updated OV room with offers to bid on a balcony and mini-suite. So, I have placed new bids and now have to wait again. Very happy to have the chance to bid on the mini-suite in addition to the balcony. For those keeping track of all these different scenarios, I did notice that the maximum bid for the balcony is now $100 less than when I originally bid.

[JamieLogical]

44 minutes ago, JDIRWINCPA said:

Just got an email from NCL saying they sincerely apologize and that the $200 will be credit back to me within 7-10 days.

 

 

This is great news! Glad they were able to get it resolved and I hope you enjoyed your cruise!

[agnesd]

Just  booked MSC Yacht club Seaside 7 nite.  Less than half the price of the Haven.  They give a 10% military discount. Plus we have the Deluxe Suite. Their food may not be as good as the Haven but we enjoyed it last time. We found the appy food in the YC top sail lounge the best. Glad we are settled. 

Edited February 13, 2020 by agnesd

[Waves2land]

What information do you need to help make this page more helpful? 

We had a minimum bid (1500) for the h2 owners suite in for 02/29 sailing of the escape when there were still rooms available (if I could afford the room at the max, I would have booked it to begin with).  I'm not holding out too much hope since the ship seems to be filling up.  I'll gladly give up my room to someone with an inside cabin, if I can have a Haven room!  

 

Aren't the upgrades dependent on the rooms available when we get into bidding on the Haven area?

[Shamelesswf44]

Anyone on the Encore 2/23 sailing and had an accepted upgrade?

[Dizzy8888]

First time for NCL cruise. We are on back-to-back on Star, beginning Feb 29th in Buenos Aires. We were just notified today of our accepted bid for upgrade, yay! This is actually for the 2nd leg of our trip, out of Santiago. The first leg is still showing our bids, so maybe one will still come through. We were surprised at the order of this acceptance. If we are lucky, we will get the upgrade to same as second leg, and we could just stay in same cabin for both legs. Fingers crossed, what are the chances? For those keeping track or interested, we went from balcony to mini suite balcony, 27 days out. We are at 12 days out from first leg, currently in an ocean view, with bids in for either balcony or mini-suite balcony. 🤞

[fandangocruiser]

I've noticed a number of times that NCL combines a couple of categories for bidding purposes, and I know that if you bid on the category, you'd better be prepared to accept whatever they give you.

So, now I'm looking at a suite situation, where the asking price for the larger room is several hundred dollars more.  I'd be happy to get an upgrade to the suites, but would be willing to pay a couple hundred more for that larger room.  Does anyone (especially our Jamie expert) have any suggestions on how to handle the bidding, and/or why NCL wouldn't put the larger room in a separate bid category if its worth hundreds of dollars more?

[JamieLogical]

5 hours ago, fandangocruiser said:

I've noticed a number of times that NCL combines a couple of categories for bidding purposes, and I know that if you bid on the category, you'd better be prepared to accept whatever they give you.

So, now I'm looking at a suite situation, where the asking price for the larger room is several hundred dollars more.  I'd be happy to get an upgrade to the suites, but would be willing to pay a couple hundred more for that larger room.  Does anyone (especially our Jamie expert) have any suggestions on how to handle the bidding, and/or why NCL wouldn't put the larger room in a separate bid category if its worth hundreds of dollars more?

 

Can you give me details on the specific category you are talking about? Which ship?

[RedwingHockeyFan]

One other thing I noticed when tracking peoples comments from my last cruise and their upgrade bids was that if anyone, myself included, bid on more than one category it was the lowest category bid that was accepted.  and it may have mostly to do with the fact that they took care of the lower category upgrades first.

[fandangocruiser]

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Can you give me details on the specific category you are talking about? Which ship?

Jamie,

I'd love to have a detailed discussion in private, but all I want to say on public boards are I've seen it in the past with front and aft penthouses on GEM, and am now looking at JOY, with HA and HS combined, and CC combined with CB.  In both instances, I'd be willing to accept the upgrades, but if separated, would have been willing to bid more for my choice of category.

(As an old farmboy who attended many farm auctions, if there were numerous similar articles, top bidder got choice of any or all, and next highest bidder got his pick from remaining items.)

[Beachmomm]

Does the email to bid come from Norwegian? Thank you. 

[Nola26]

2 hours ago, Beachmomm said:

Does the email to bid come from Norwegian? Thank you. 

Norwegian's Upgrade Advantage

[Beachmomm]

Thank you! 

[Shayla402]

We booked an inside room. We put in a bid for both balcony and spa balcony. Got accepted for mid ship balcony for $90 per person ($180 total) for 3/08 sailing on encore. Minimum bid was $50, so it was in the poor range. 

Edited February 20, 2020 by Shayla402

[Willbrise123]

Hello all,

So, here are my details (mostly)...

 

Gem - Southern Caribbean out of New York on March 26

 

Originally booked an inside room in August.  Paid off in mid November, within 48 hours (I believe) I received an email about the upgrade for either an Ocean view or a Balcony.  I opted only to bid on the balcony. 

 

Now...over the past few months I kept wavering on whether or not I should have booked an ocean view or higher to take better advantage of the free at sea promos.  Unfortunately the price just didn't make it justified as I originally booked with the 20% off sale.  

 

BUT, prices have come down for my sailing recently, so I took the plunge to an Oceanview to receive one additional free at sea offer.  I immediately went to my upgrade page and I was unable to make any changes.  This morning I received an email stating my itinerary had changed and it asked me to now bid on a Balcony or Mini Suite.  I have now put in an offer for Balcony (slightly under the 'good' range and Mini suite (middle of fair).  

 

I will follow up once one of the bids has been accepted (positive thinking)!

[trish4bruce]

I am a Canadian Cruiser and previously all my bids have been in CDN dollars as that is the currency that my cruise rate is booked at.  I cancelled my bids today as I need to change my CC and when I went to resubmit my bid the amounts are now in US amounts.   Has any other CDN cruisers experienced this?

Edited February 21, 2020 by trish4bruce

[Aladora]

I am a Canadian Cruiser and previously all my bids have been in CDN dollars as that is the currency that my cruise rate is booked at.  I cancelled my bids today as I need to change my CC and when I went to resubmit my bid the amounts are now in US amounts.   Has any other CDN cruisers experienced this?

I’m also Canadian and my bids were always in US$.


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[trish4bruce]

12 minutes ago, Aladora said:

 

I’m also Canadian and my bids were always in US$.


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Here is a screen shot of my first bid in CDN and the new one in US.

[Aladora]

Here is a screen shot of my first bid in CDN and the new one in US.

I’m not sure why yours changed from CAD to USD but ours was always in USD.





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[gmbhardy]

36 minutes ago, Aladora said:

 

I’m not sure why yours changed from CAD to USD but ours was always in USD.


We’ve bid more than 10 times and it’s always in Canadian dollars. Everything you purchase online, excursions, DSC etc. Is in Canadian dollars including the cost of the cruise.


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[DLepard]

So, I booked Forward large balcony Penthouse (SE); a few days ago I got the bid to upgrade email... new to me. Cruise has been paid in full since November. (Pearl; 6/3 sailing to Nova Scotia out of NYC)

I put in 2 bids... both in the high good range... however after looking I don't think there are many cabins left... Definitely not in the Haven, so do I even have a chance?

 

I bid on the 2 bedroom suite (not haven) (SC) and an Haven (H5) - It appears to me that there is one SC available on our sailing, and no H5s.

How many people actually (obviously estimate) get invited to bid?
Why would they open bidding on low inventory?

What are the chances of good range bids being picked up? and should I go lower?? I am ok with what I bid, but hesitant to go higher, as I am already selling my right kidney for this trip (go big or go home... LOL - Last cruise we went on was Crystal - NCL does NOT compare, but it is my favorite line... however, I do enjoy NCL suites and have Haven Envy...)

We already have our Thermal spa passes (x3 - me, other half and adult son), so the courtyard for the Haven is not a HUGE draw... but as all three of us are introverts/empaths and I am crowd phobic, the allure of actually having a pool deck (albeit small) without mass populous is intriguing. 

Anyway, thanks for the input... now to read over 4000 posts... and whoever said retire this thread... THANK YOU cruise critic for NOT doing so!!

 

[JamieLogical]

7 hours ago, DLepard said:

So, I booked Forward large balcony Penthouse (SE); a few days ago I got the bid to upgrade email... new to me. Cruise has been paid in full since November. (Pearl; 6/3 sailing to Nova Scotia out of NYC)

I put in 2 bids... both in the high good range... however after looking I don't think there are many cabins left... Definitely not in the Haven, so do I even have a chance?

 

I bid on the 2 bedroom suite (not haven) (SC) and an Haven (H5) - It appears to me that there is one SC available on our sailing, and no H5s.

How many people actually (obviously estimate) get invited to bid?
Why would they open bidding on low inventory?

What are the chances of good range bids being picked up? and should I go lower?? I am ok with what I bid, but hesitant to go higher, as I am already selling my right kidney for this trip (go big or go home... LOL - Last cruise we went on was Crystal - NCL does NOT compare, but it is my favorite line... however, I do enjoy NCL suites and have Haven Envy...)

We already have our Thermal spa passes (x3 - me, other half and adult son), so the courtyard for the Haven is not a HUGE draw... but as all three of us are introverts/empaths and I am crowd phobic, the allure of actually having a pool deck (albeit small) without mass populous is intriguing. 

Anyway, thanks for the input... now to read over 4000 posts... and whoever said retire this thread... THANK YOU cruise critic for NOT doing so!!

 

 

As far as we can tell, the Upgrade Advantage Program email invites go out to nearly everyone who books directly through NCL and those who book through TAs that participate in the program. I have booked 8 sailings now directly through NCL and have never NOT gotten the invite. My parents are about to go on their 3rd sailing booked directly through NCL and have never not gotten the invite. And my brother is about to go on his second sailing and has also gotten the invite both times.

 

As for why they send out the invite even when inventory is low, why wouldn't they? There could always be last minute cancellations and the upgrade process itself could shift inventory, freeing up rooms. But, much more importantly, NCL and their third-party partner, PlusGrade, get valuable data about what passengers are willing to pay that they can use for all sorts of things, including setting pricing on future cruises and more accurately setting the bidding ranges. Data is the new oil in our current economy.

 

If inventory on your sailing is low, then your chances of winning a bid are also low. You should bid what you are comfortable spending. If inventory is sold out, even if you bid the max, you won't get an upgrade. But, if you do win a upgrade, you don't want to be full of regret! My philosophy is always to try to bid an amount where I will be happy if I win, but also happy if I lose and have that money to spend on board instead.

[spanishguy1970]

On 2/18/2020 at 9:27 AM, RedwingHockeyFan said:

One other thing I noticed when tracking peoples comments from my last cruise and their upgrade bids was that if anyone, myself included, bid on more than one category it was the lowest category bid that was accepted.  and it may have mostly to do with the fact that they took care of the lower category upgrades first.

i am currrently in an inside cabin and was bidding for an ocean view, Balcony and spa balcony. I canceled the Ocean view bid just in case this is true...:-)

Edited February 21, 2020 by spanishguy1970

[RedwingHockeyFan]

1 hour ago, spanishguy1970 said:

i am currrently in an inside cabin and was bidding for an ocean view, Balcony and spa balcony. I canceled the Ocean view bid just in case this is true...:-)

 

Well let me know if you are accepted, I'm interested in finding out.

[spanishguy1970]

9 minutes ago, RedwingHockeyFan said:

 

Well let me know if you are accepted, I'm interested in finding out.

I will try to let you know. We almost always bid either for a balcony of spa balcony, from fair to good range but grand majority in the poor range and we have never won the bid. I heard some people have won in the poor range and fair bids so who knows what the guidelines are. In most instances when the price goes down we have moved up for free or just pay the small difference :-)....