33 days out no up bid email, Help

[debgreg]

Hi,

we have booked 3 cabins sailing in 33 days on a ship with loads of capacity and yet we haven’t received the chance to bid for an upgrade.

 

I have called the TA who have confirmed they haven’t opted out ( got a bid July with them) called NCL UK who confirmed lots of capacity but didn’t know why, just said it’s dealt with out of Miami and they couldn’t check with them. I have emailed back on the last up bid email I got ( Epic July) giving my new booking number but I’m not sure it’s even monitored.

 

Does anyone have any idea what we could do ?

 

Thanks 

[Huntingdon1701]

Not everyone receives the chance to bid - at 33 days, I would say that you've not been selected to participate this time. 

 

If you want an upgrade, you'll need to look at the prices the cabins are currently seeling at, and see if it is worth doing a direct upgarde by calling them. If the ship has lots of unsold cabins, then that could well give you a better deal. 

[JillK]

If there is lots of availability I agree with the above poster that your best bet is to self upgrade. 

 

Contact your TA and find out how much it would cost you to upgrade to the category you are interested in. You will have to pay the difference between the fare you paid and the current asking price of your desired category. You will also want to verify that you retain any perks you received with your initial booking before proceeding. 

 

I booked oceanview for my upcoming cruise. When we got the upgrade email, we bid the minimum ($25 per person) for a balcony as we were very happy with our existing cabin. Last week I checked current prices of the balcony categories and since the price has been steadily dropping since final payment, I was able to buy the upgrade to balcony directly through NCL via my TA for only $9 per person. I was able to retain my booking perks (pick 2) but not able to get the current balcony promo of "take all." 

 

Since it appears unlikely at this point that you will be offered the opportunity to bid via the upgrade process, you may want to pursue this route if you are keen in moving from your current cabin. 

 

Good luck and regardless of which cabin you end up with, happy cruising!

[marktwothousand]

Sounds like a paid upgrade would be a decent deal compared to bidding at this point. If you're set on an upgrade, just go for it, you'll be happier. I just went through the same issue...3 weeks out, no upgrade offer, 12 day cruise.. About 250 UK pounds to upgrade for the entire sailing...well worth it.

 

I know bid upgrade offers are enticing because you might get a steal of a deal, but in the end, sometimes the cost for a paid upgrade is so close to what you would get on a bid, its worth it just to pay.

 

AND!!! if you pay-upgrade you might get a chance to pick your cabin. I did a bid upgrade on the Epic once and ended up with the worst balcony ever. No shelter from above and with a lifeboat in front.

Edited October 7, 2019 by marktwothousand

[debgreg]

15 hours ago, marktwothousand said:

Sounds like a paid upgrade would be a decent deal compared to bidding at this point. If you're set on an upgrade, just go for it, you'll be happier. I just went through the same issue...3 weeks out, no upgrade offer, 12 day cruise.. About 250 UK pounds to upgrade for the entire sailing...well worth it.

 

I know bid upgrade offers are enticing because you might get a steal of a deal, but in the end, sometimes the cost for a paid upgrade is so close to what you would get on a bid, its worth it just to pay.

 

AND!!! if you pay-upgrade you might get a chance to pick your cabin. I did a bid upgrade on the Epic once and ended up with the worst balcony ever. No shelter from above and with a lifeboat in front.

Thanks everyone, yes I heard back saying we hadn’t been selected for an upgrade , just our luck as I thought most people are 🙈 

Anyway spoke to our TA and because we are in the UK she told me we would have to pay the difference in price from the inside to a balcony at the time of booking and not the balcony price now as that’s how it works 😳 as it was about £500 pp more ( the reason we booked an inside) I guess we’re stuck. I’m ok as we don’t spend much time in the cabin anyhow, however our friends will be disappointed 😔 

 

Did you book direct with NCL or through a TA as it looks like you’re in the UK ?

Edited October 8, 2019 by debgreg

[marktwothousand]

I booked through a major big box retailer TA in Canada.

[debgreg]

14 hours ago, marktwothousand said:

I booked through a major big box retailer TA in Canada.

Oh ok well it looks like we’re out of luck then as we got an email yesterday saying sorry but not everyone gets the chance to bid 😔

[cliffd64]

Well, I guess there is a selection process...  I've only received it once, but then again I haven't cruised much since this was implemented... and one time I was in a DOS on the Sky from which there is no chance to upgrade.

[Meredithe]

As of recent, I have not been getting emails, however when logging in to my ncl.com account the upgrade message is in the inbox. 

[Nclgetawaymenhoney]

Suggest in future to not book thru ta, it seems your ta didn't do any extra work for you, certainly not worth any small obc or bottle of wine or whatever you got for booking with them, when you book direct you have control over you booking 

[debgreg]

4 hours ago, Nclgetawaymenhoney said:

Suggest in future to not book thru ta, it seems your ta didn't do any extra work for you, certainly not worth any small obc or bottle of wine or whatever you got for booking with them, when you book direct you have control over you booking 

It was a package with flights, hotel etc and it was a good deal....with Thomas Cook going bust recently we have to book packages to be covered if anything goes wrong 🙈 Our TA is part of the scheme as we got the offer in July, thought it was strange because this sailing has lots of availability 

[marktwothousand]

I got a gas or merchandise card for booking through my TA. Enough to pay for one tank of gas, so it’s better than nothing. 

[debgreg]

23 minutes ago, marktwothousand said:

I got a gas or merchandise card for booking through my TA. Enough to pay for one tank of gas, so it’s better than nothing. 

We got nothing 😳