What was your upgrade offer and what did you bid

[Nola37]

I booked about 35 days out on December 1 sailing on the Bliss. Got an offer to upgrade immediately after booking. Ocean view $25, Balcony 50 and Spa Balcony $125. I’m not really a spa guy nor do I care about a window so I went for the balcony and keep my bid at $50 since I was satisfied with my inside cabin. Now I’m 22 days out and my bid was accepted. Super excited to experience a cruise with a balcony room. 

[heelfan94]

28 minutes ago, Nola37 said:

I booked about 35 days out on December 1 sailing on the Bliss. Got an offer to upgrade immediately after booking. Ocean view $25, Balcony 50 and Spa Balcony $125. I’m not really a spa guy nor do I care about a window so I went for the balcony and keep my bid at $50 since I was satisfied with my inside cabin. Now I’m 22 days out and my bid was accepted. Super excited to experience a cruise with a balcony room. 

Congrats and thank you for sharing details with everyone.

[fridaythe13th]

35 minutes ago, Nola37 said:

I booked about 35 days out on December 1 sailing on the Bliss. Got an offer to upgrade immediately after booking. Ocean view $25, Balcony 50 and Spa Balcony $125. I’m not really a spa guy nor do I care about a window so I went for the balcony and keep my bid at $50 since I was satisfied with my inside cabin. Now I’m 22 days out and my bid was accepted. Super excited to experience a cruise with a balcony room. 

Nice!!

[schildiams]

On 11/8/2018 at 12:49 PM, Humblebtuna said:

We sail 12/21 on the Escape, and I'm getting antsy about my upgrade bids... not sure I'm being aggressive enough. Newbie alert. I'm in the "poor" range for an upgrade to a spa balcony (50% still available) or spa mini suite (about 75% still available) from a mid-ship balcony. Wonder if I should bump it up or not. "Fair" would still put me under the $200 cost of a thermal spa pass. Cabin prices have increased a bit since I booked over a month ago.

I bid $250 for spa balcony and $95 for regular balcony and got the regular balcony, not the spa (I already had spa passes purchased).

[jkburns]

Hey Nola37:

 

I'm on that same sailing; put in two bids for upgrade and haven't heard yet. Not even an "expired". Did you get an email or simply notice a change to your reservation? This is the first time I've put in a bad for an upgrade, and I can't stand the suspense!

Edited November 10, 2018 by jkburns

[Stinger-pr]

So yesterday (11/9) afternoon I finally received an email with the final decision of my bid and just wanted to share some data points. I booked to sail on NCL Dawn on the Nov 18-25, 2018 sailing and booked about 50 days out. About two days later received the invitation to bid email. I was in an OK obstructed view cabin but the lifeboat in front of the window was not a fully covered one but the smaller, open-top type. If you look at a side photo of the Dawn, it's the first lifeboat towards the front. Anyway, I decided to bid close (but not quite) to the minimum for an upgrade to a balcony. Days passed and I religiously (or as my DW says "very OCD-ly) visited NCL website to check inventory and always saw a bunch on balcony cabins available. But as days passed I started loosing hope. Inventory was slowly diminishing until the last night (11/8) when I check and was surprised to see that most balcony cabins showed sold out all of a sudden. I checked and my original cabin number was showing on my reservation. About 15 hours later I received the "Congratulations" email with the new cabin assignment: a mid-ship (almost aft) balcony on deck 9 (up from deck 8 ) with rooms above and below us, Sweet!!! We were exactly 10 days out at this point.

[Nola37]

2 hours ago, jkburns said:

Hey Nola37:

 

I'm on that same sailing; put in two bids for upgrade and haven't heard yet. Not even an "expired". Did you get an email or simply notice a change to your reservation? This is the first time I've put in a bad for an upgrade, and I can't stand the suspense!

 

I got an email saying that I got my upgrade and a new reservation email also.

[Newleno]

On 11/8/2018 at 3:07 PM, StormiB said:

I go to the Costco website. They show all cabins available. I watch the pricing on there and NCL. 

are prices of cabins much different on ncl verses costco 

[COcruise]

Been following this forum religiously, just received my upgrade from mini suite to penthouse suite today for the Pearl on 11/25. The cruise rooms have been showing sold out then available off and on for two weeks and the posting disappeared a day or two ago. Bid $10 above the minimum. YAY! Got it for significantly less than what it would've been booking directly. 

Edited November 12, 2018 by COcruise

[JamieLogical]

3 hours ago, COcruise said:

Been following this forum religiously, just received my upgrade from mini suite to penthouse suite today for the Pearl on 11/25. The cruise rooms have been showing sold out then available off and on for two weeks and the posting disappeared a day or two ago. Bid $10 above the minimum. YAY! Got it for significantly less than what it would've been booking directly. 

 

Not bad to get it for $10 above minimum if rooms have been showing sold out off and on!

[PhillyTravelBug]

I wish I kept up with this thread, but wondering what the chances are of a bid on the Bliss in August from an inside to a balcony room. I figuring very little.

[boopsahoy]

3 hours ago, Joeghartman said:

I wish I kept up with this thread, but wondering what the chances are of a bid on the Bliss in August from an inside to a balcony room. I figuring very little.

It depends on how much you bid. 

[xcell]

I booked last night for a Dec 28th cruise-- is the bidding email random? Do you still get it booking so late in the game?

 

I didn't read all the pages but I think someone mentioned that they base the bids also on history of spending on cruises (which I don't) - so my question is: for those who have won their bids, do you spend a lot on board or gamble?

 

Thanks -- hoping to get the chance to bid!!! (I actually liked the call in process long time ago -- was able to get haven twice using that).

[3catnight]

37 minutes ago, xcell said:

I booked last night for a Dec 28th cruise-- is the bidding email random? Do you still get it booking so late in the game?

 

I didn't read all the pages but I think someone mentioned that they base the bids also on history of spending on cruises (which I don't) - so my question is: for those who have won their bids, do you spend a lot on board or gamble?

 

Thanks -- hoping to get the chance to bid!!! (I actually liked the call in process long time ago -- was able to get haven twice using that).

We don’t tend to spend a lot - we rarely book excursions, don’t use the spa or pay extra for specialty restaurants - but we’ve purchased cruise next rewards fairly often, always had a modest bar bill before they started giving UBP as a free perk and I gamble some (maybe an average of $30-50 per day). We’re not what you’d consider big spenders.  I’ve done bids on two cruises.  No luck the first time, but got upgraded from inside to balcony on Epic (12/5 sailing) with a bid of $225 pp.  I don’t know if you’ll get the opportunity to bid this close or not.  Never attempted that. Hope I’ve helped some!  Happy cruising!!

[Newleno]

14 minutes ago, 3catnight said:

We don’t tend to spend a lot - we rarely book excursions, don’t use the spa or pay extra for specialty restaurants - but we’ve purchased cruise next rewards fairly often, always had a modest bar bill before they started giving UBP as a free perk and I gamble some (maybe an average of $30-50 per day). We’re not what you’d consider big spenders.  I’ve done bids on two cruises.  No luck the first time, but got upgraded from inside to balcony on Epic (12/5 sailing) with a bid of $225 pp.  I don’t know if you’ll get the opportunity to bid this close or not.  Never attempted that. Hope I’ve helped some!  Happy cruising!!

very helpful informative post, thank you

[kayteecat]

1 hour ago, xcell said:

I booked last night for a Dec 28th cruise-- is the bidding email random? Do you still get it booking so late in the game?

 

I didn't read all the pages but I think someone mentioned that they base the bids also on history of spending on cruises (which I don't) - so my question is: for those who have won their bids, do you spend a lot on board or gamble?

 

Thanks -- hoping to get the chance to bid!!! (I actually liked the call in process long time ago -- was able to get haven twice using that).

Hi! I think you might be on my sailing (December 28th on the Escape?). I got upgraded from a balcony to a minisuite for $150pp last week, and I am considered a first-timer by Norwegian (I actually also did a Bermuda cruise on the Dawn back in 2009 but my parents footed that bill!). Therefore I have no history of spending with NCL. My thought is that if on-board spend is a factor, it's more of a tiebreaker if two people put in similarly advantageous (to NCL) bids as opposed to a primary consideration. That said, none of us really know how it works!

 

Not sure what cabin type you're in, but I know my bid was processed last week and that certain categories of cabins looked more booked up and prices were dropped $100 - 200 pp. We're still 45 days out from sailing (yay!) so I wouldn't rule anything out, but my guess is that as we get closer and the prices have dropped, more people will be taking advantage (such as yourself!) and they may have enough bids collected to cover any vacancies they have. That said, I don't hold all the stats (and if you're not on the 12/28 Escape sailing, my observations mean next to nothing!) so I'd say there's always a chance! Also note that some people have noted not receiving the email, but they do have the banner that says "Let's Get You Upgraded!" when they sign in to myNCL, so check there before deciding you don't have a bidding opportunity.

Edited November 13, 2018 by kayteecat
corrected bid amount

[xcell]

Well I hope I get the chance (cross fingers) because I booked with a different TA (Exp*** vs Cost**) so that I have the chance.

 

Kids/DW would love me just that much more if I get the room they want...and I will be sure let everyone know what I bid, and if I was successful.

 

 

Edited November 13, 2018 by xcell

[JamieLogical]

8 minutes ago, xcell said:

Well I hope I get the chance (cross fingers) because I booked with a different TA (Exp*** vs Cost**) so that I have the chance.

 

Kids/DW would love me just that much more if I get the room they want...and I will be sure let everyone know what I bid, and if I was successful.

 

 

 

 

Typically, if you book within the 80 day window, you should receive the offer to upgrade about 24 hours after booking.

[xcell]

Good to know -- it's been only 17 hours -- I have 7 more to hope for :)

[xcell]

No banner yet but I have some questions.

 

Since I booked in CDN, I guess my bid will also be in CDN but does $1000 USD bid = $1000 CDN bid?  I only ask because before the bidding system, when you called in for the upgrade, that was the case. My friend and I, both upgraded to Haven suites for $1000pp but since he paid in USD, his was $1000 USD and mine was $1000 CDN.

 

If I don't get the bid, buy I know my TA (expedi* canada) are not excluded -- can I call in to ask for the email??? Otherwise my TA is lied to me... 

 

 

[boopsahoy]

On 11/7/2018 at 6:00 PM, amygutman said:

Checked the NCL website for the Nov 15th Thanksgiving Gem cruise...ALL Havens are now shown sold out (there were 3 Haven penthouses a few days ago) - which makes me suspect that the upgrade fairy arrived for a few people this week.

 

Boopsahoy....did you hear any good news on the GV? 

 

Personally - my bags are nearly packed, and I am super-ready to get on that lovely boat and hit the Haven pool with our little man. 

Today I got my rejection email! I really thought I might get the OS 😪 Oh well. All packed except the l;ast minute carryon stuff. Getting excited. This will be my first cruise retired. I'm hoping that will make disembarking less painful. 😁

[xcell]

Yes -- woke up to the bidding banner!

 

So if someone could chime in as to what the min bid (my cruise is Dec 28th -- 9 days NCL Escape) in USD< it might answer my above question about if bids are equal in amount regardless the currency or do they factor in exchange rate.

 

For instance, min bid for H2 is $1985 CDN and for H4, it is $1325.

 

What is it in USD on the bidding website?

 

I guess other factors to look at are what is the original room (mine is a B2) and there are 4 in this room (if occupancy makes a difference) and it's a 9 day cruise.

 

Looking forward to the cruise regardless of the cabin....

 

[amygutman]

9 hours ago, boopsahoy said:

Today I got my rejection email! I really thought I might get the OS 😪 Oh well. All packed except the l;ast minute carryon stuff. Getting excited. This will be my first cruise retired. I'm hoping that will make disembarking less painful. 😁

Mazel on your retirement!

 

Every day in the Haven is a great day - and I am finishing up my shift today to come home and settle in to what is going to be a great vacation!

 

See you in 24 hours!

 

Amy

[spacedaisy]

15 minutes ago, xcell said:

Hi xcell! I am on the same cruise 🙂

 

The min bid for the H4 is $1000 pp US. The min bid for H2 and H3 is $1500 pp US. 

Hope this helps!

 

15 minutes ago, xcell said:

For instance, min bid for H2 is $1985 CDN and for H4, it is $1325.

 

What is it in USD on the bidding website?

 

I guess other factors to look at are what is the original room (mine is a B2) and there are 4 in this room (if occupancy makes a difference) and it's a 9 day cruise.

 

Looking forward to the cruise regardless of the cabin....

 

 

[xcell]

Thanks -- so I guess they take into consideration currency.