Upgrade bid experiences

[Grandma Cruising]

3 hours ago, uktog said:

1st December Onward 11 nights

Offered min £75 pp to move from a Verandah to Verandah plus and £370 pp to move to a Club Continental.

Loyalty level Platinum

 

Not planning to bid -  the added value for a Verandah Plus does not exist for us (we get the internet anyway) and the location of the new room could be worse.  Likewise, if you ignore a little more room space, I can buy speciality restaurants and be sure I have a room with a walk in shower.  Cannot risk getting a tub suite.

Thanks, added to spreadsheet.

[MamaFej]

9 hours ago, Cruiser Nonna said:

When looking at the information for bidding on Azamara - they state that Azamara Circle members do have priority based on their level tier.  They must not be using the same company that handles Celebrity and Royal Caribbean upgrades since they give nothing based on your level.

Have others found that this did help?  We are Discover Plus - would appreciate any thoughts - thank you and stay well and safe

Celebrity has recently added a multiplier, depending on Captain's Club level. I do not know about RC, but I wouldn't be surprised if they have it as well. 

[Cruiser Nonna]

Thank you for the update on Celebrity - have not done a bid on them - I did sail on Royal Caribbean end of September and did do a bid and received the miniumum category upgrade - Diamond Plus with Royal - when I did the upgrade with Royal I had called in and also emailed upgrade department and was told it is just done by "computer" and nothing else thus luck of the draw and it is done by an outside company. So was impressed to see Azamara acknowledging repeat guests and now per your posting above - Celebrity.  Would you be interested to know in regards to Azamara since that is our next cruise how level really helps - thank you again for responding - stay well and safe

[tmacktravels]

Received upgrade Email on Sunday for 15th January South Africa on Journey 

I am on an inside. Minimum bids £175pp Oceanview, £885pp Balcony & £975pp Balcony+

As a solo traveller, I would pay at least double the minimums. Unlikely to bid as I have a great inside location and upgrade to Oceanview could be in different location and/or obstructed so probably not worth it for me. However, may mull it over 😂 My last Azamara was in a CC suite so definitely spoiled but realistically didn’t spend a lot of time in it. 
Discoverer + level

 

[Grandma Cruising]

8 hours ago, tmacktravels said:

Received upgrade Email on Sunday for 15th January South Africa on Journey 

I am on an inside. Minimum bids £175pp Oceanview, £885pp Balcony & £975pp Balcony+

As a solo traveller, I would pay at least double the minimums. Unlikely to bid as I have a great inside location and upgrade to Oceanview could be in different location and/or obstructed so probably not worth it for me. However, may mull it over 😂 My last Azamara was in a CC suite so definitely spoiled but realistically didn’t spend a lot of time in it. 
Discoverer + level

 

Thanks, added to spreadsheet - don’t forget to tell us if you do decide to bid!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pEoojQ5-EPmD4cI3gw1dVcYfYTXfZePdDXxU09l0H3M/edit

[tonyl1956]

We've had the email for our departure (Quest 21st Jan 23 16 Nights Auckland to Sydney). We're booked in a Balcony V1 and the minimum bids are as follows (lowly Adventurers!):

Balcony Plus £90 pp

Club Continent £355 pp

Club Spa £2740 pp

Club Ocean £3450 pp

Club World Owner's £4070 pp

Unless anyone thinks we'd be mad not to bid, we're not going to bother. Balcony Plus doesn't offer much we can't buy as extras for less ££. Club Continent is the only one which tempts us and it would be nice but we can't take the chance of getting one with a bath. My wife would find that very difficult to manage. If one had the opportunity to reject their offer, I'd bid on that. The others are not of interest, as we'd prefer to book another cruise rather than spend that on an upgrade.

 

Tony

 

 

 

[uktog]

45 minutes ago, tonyl1956 said:

We've had the email for our departure (Quest 21st Jan 23 16 Nights Auckland to Sydney). We're booked in a Balcony V1 and the minimum bids are as follows (lowly Adventurers!):

Balcony Plus £90 pp

Club Continent £355 pp

Club Spa £2740 pp

Club Ocean £3450 pp

Club World Owner's £4070 pp

Unless anyone thinks we'd be mad not to bid, we're not going to bother. Balcony Plus doesn't offer much we can't buy as extras for less ££. Club Continent is the only one which tempts us and it would be nice but we can't take the chance of getting one with a bath. My wife would find that very difficult to manage. If one had the opportunity to reject their offer, I'd bid on that. The others are not of interest, as we'd prefer to book another cruise rather than spend that on an upgrade.

 

Tony

 

 

 

Absolutely right decision - if they would alternatively split the CC between shower and tub and you could bid on both or specify one that would solve so much for many of us.  Your thinking is identical to ours for exactly the same reasons. 

[Mrs Miggins]

I think for 16 nights it might be worth putting in a low bid for the CC.  We were successful in April and loved the extra benefits.  I think it was definitely worth it so much so that we have actually booked a CC for our next cruise.  We normally choose an Ocean View 05 but it was a lovely experience.  Of course I understand the issue with the bath but we were lucky enough to get a shower on both of our weeks and perhaps a swap onboard might be possible ?

[Billy Butlin]

Do the CC suites with a tub also have a shower inside the tub?

[tonyl1956]

Thanks for the replies. Food for thought! The CC cabins with shower do look great.

 

Tony

[uktog]

52 minutes ago, Billy Butlin said:

Do the CC suites with a tub also have a shower inside the tub?

Yes but it’s quite a climb in

[uktog]

1 hour ago, Mrs Miggins said:

I think for 16 nights it might be worth putting in a low bid for the CC.  We were successful in April and loved the extra benefits.  I think it was definitely worth it so much so that we have actually booked a CC for our next cruise.  We normally choose an Ocean View 05 but it was a lovely experience.  Of course I understand the issue with the bath but we were lucky enough to get a shower on both of our weeks and perhaps a swap onboard might be possible ?

It’s too risky to book and hope to change onboard. It would ruin a cruise if there wasn’t a shower suite available to swap to - you’d be having to go to the spa to shower 

[Laganlady02]

I think you would need a spa pass to use the showers now if you are not in a big suite. If you could access the showers you could also access the spa terrace. 

[tmacktravels]

59 minutes ago, Laganlady02 said:

I think you would need a spa pass to use the showers now if you are not in a big suite. If you could access the showers you could also access the spa terrace. 

I was on a B2B in July in two different CC suites, first with a bath & second with walk in shower. I used the spa showers on the first leg as I could access them when using the steam room 😘

[Laganlady02]

I think access is more controlled now than in the summer.

[uktog]

56 minutes ago, Laganlady02 said:

I think access is more controlled now than in the summer.

On which ship?  

The changing rooms where the showers are were accessible to all guests on Journey last week - some shower after gym sessions there anyway, its not just showers for the front deck.  On some of the ships the access beyond the rooms is controlled by a keycard door (not sure if they all have the keycard door fitted yet) and only certain rooms or passes can open that door.

[Stem to Stern]

I have not received an upgrade bid email for my December cruise.  I am booked in a verandah.  Is it possible that I do not qualify for upgrade bidding because I booked through the warehouse club?

[Laganlady02]

In order to access the spa terrace through the changing and shower area you are asked for your room number. You need a spa pass unless you are in a big suite. This was on Onward.

 

 

[uktog]

Just now, Laganlady02 said:

In order to access the spa terrace through the changing and shower area you are asked for your room number. You need a spa pass unless you are in a big suite. This was on Onward.

 

 

Thank you.
Oh dear Another reason Onward is going to really annoy me in December I fear. DH showers at the gym before coming back from exercise. We prefer it that way. 
Secondly the steam room was always accessible to all guests so another cut away 😔

 

Feels like Onward is a different company to the rest 

[Host Jazzbeau]

5 hours ago, Billy Butlin said:

Do the CC suites with a tub also have a shower inside the tub?

 

4 hours ago, uktog said:

Yes but it’s quite a climb in

And an even more dangerous climb out!

[Grandma Cruising]

22 hours ago, tonyl1956 said:

We've had the email for our departure (Quest 21st Jan 23 16 Nights Auckland to Sydney). We're booked in a Balcony V1 and the minimum bids are as follows (lowly Adventurers!):

Balcony Plus £90 pp

Club Continent £355 pp

Club Spa £2740 pp

Club Ocean £3450 pp

Club World Owner's £4070 pp

Unless anyone thinks we'd be mad not to bid, we're not going to bother. 

 

Tony

 

 

 

Thanks Tony, information added to the spreadsheet

[Bobal]

What is a Balcony Plus please? Is it potentially any Category of balcony with a few extras added, or is it a particular Category, so would be able to work out the rough location on a ship.

[uktog]

17 minutes ago, Bobal said:

What is a Balcony Plus please? Is it potentially any Category of balcony with a few extras added, or is it a particular Category, so would be able to work out the rough location on a ship.

It’s a number of specific rooms (aft and on Deck 8 if you look at the ship floor plan they are coloured orange and designated P1

The additional benefits are

1 complimentary speciality meal for every 7 days

120 minutes internet or $130 towards an unlimited package 

1 bag laundry per 7 nights

Spirits in the room (the same bottle selection and size that suites get 

 

The odds of getting an aft are slim. More likely to get a noisy deck 8 under the restaurant. 

 

Edited October 27, 2022 by uktog

[kml246]

We have made a bid on our upcoming cruise. Since this is our first bid experience, I was wondering if the amount of the bid for a particular type of cabin secures a better location. We are bidding on a CC Suite and would prefer an N1 rather an N2 location. There are quite a few cabins open in both N1 and N2. Does Azamara (or their system) award the better N1 locations to those with higher winning bids? For example, if there are ten N1 cabins open and ten open N2 cabins and twenty people bid for an upgrade, will the ten strongest bids go to N1 and the remaining to N2? Thank you for any insight.

 

Here is the info for your spreadsheet. I will post back with our offer amount after we learn if we are successful or not.

 

Sail Date: Dec 12, 2022

Cruise Length: 10 nights

Email Notice Received: Sep 24, 2022

Bid Made: Sep 24, 2022 - modified to a lower offer on Oct 11, 2022

Loyalty Level: Explorer now, but will be Discoverer after Nov 21

Cabin Type Booked: V1 Veranda

Cabin Type Bid For: CC Suite

Minimum Bid: Veranda Plus $200 per stateroom; CC Suite $800 per stateroom

Cruise Region: Caribbean

 

Thanks for your help and for the spreadsheet.

 

Kevin

[tgg]

1 hour ago, kml246 said:

I was wondering if the amount of the bid for a particular type of cabin secures a better location. We are bidding on a CC Suite and would prefer an N1 rather an N2 location. There are quite a few cabins open in both N1 and N2. Does Azamara (or their system) award the better N1 locations to those with higher winning bids? For example, if there are ten N1 cabins open and ten open N2 cabins and twenty people bid for an upgrade, will the ten strongest bids go to N1 and the remaining to N2? Thank you for any insight.

 

 

Azamara has made the process of selling upgrades opaque. They've been unwilling to discuss in any meaningful terms what influence your level in the loyalty program benefits you.