Is Upgrade Advantage Program Running?

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, ziggyuk said:

From what I have seen in the past it's mostly very high bids that get accepted early on, probably so you don't change your mind.
I can't recall anyone reporting an average bid being accepted early doors but @JamieLogical would know better as she was running the upgrade mega threads.

 

Yes, in that trend, we tried to decipher when and what bids would get accepted. We never did really come up with the full "secret sauce", but we did identify some trends. Like bids on "exotic" sailings getting accepted early, high bids getting accepted early, and bids getting accepted right before price drops.

 

I think ALL of that is going to be out the window for a while when sailing starts back up. For one thing, it will be interesting to see how limited capacity plays out and impacts bidding. If, say, the rule is that ships can only sail at 50% capacity, do cruise lines continue to sell all room categories? Do they only sell the more expensive categories? Can everyone just book insides to get the ship to 50% and then use the Upgrade Advantage to upgrade to all the empty balconies and club suites?

[Two Wheels Only]

31 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

Do they only sell the more expensive categories? Can everyone just book insides to get the ship to 50% and then use the Upgrade Advantage to upgrade to all the empty balconies and club suites?

 

I'd expect the former instead of the latter. 

[Beach Life 1]

3 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Well that's true, but typically upgrades are only accepted 5-7 days before sailing. Unless it's a very last-minute cancelation, upgrades wouldn't be processed before the sailing was canceled. My March 15 sailing was canceled only days ahead of time, but I don't anticipate something like that happening again unless there is a situation where a ship is delayed/quarantined due to a large outbreak onboard.

 

What seems far more likely for my January 3 sailing is that cruising just won't have started back up again by then and the sailing will be canceled well in advance. As things stand right now, I don't intend to actually make final payment at 60 days if it's not looking like sailing will be restarting, so then the whole upgrade situation will be moot.

Our last two cruises, in 2018, and 2019,  Caribbean out of NYC in January and February, the  upgrades were sent out around 80 days before the  cruise, and were accepted within a couple of days.   We did not sail in 2020, so things may be different now.   My personal opinion, and it's just an opinion, I have no facts to back it up, but  I would think they would try and sell the most expensive cabins first, then upgrade as soon as possible.  Then, if the cruise is cancelled,  FCC credits will be given out,  so that's more money NCL has.  So, it's just a matter of how much money you're willing to have them hold.

Edited October 1, 2020 by jezabel80

[JandC_Cruising]

3 hours ago, jezabel80 said:

I think you may be wrong on this.   If you bid on upgrade, and say you pay $1000 for your upgrade, if it is accepted, you will be charged for that extra $1,000.   Then, if after that upgrade, the cruise is cancelled,  you indeed will be out that additional money.

You will not be out the extra money....Upgrade Advantage payments are included in the FCC if the cruise gets cancelled.  It's actually stated in the very first FAQ online.

That said, I agree with the point of "why give them more money at this point" when it is unclear when everything will startup again.  I'm not looking to add MORE money to the potential FCC.  However...if you want to go for it and it get's accepted, you will get that included in the FCC if the cruise doesn't go.  

[Beach Life 1]

4 minutes ago, JandC_Cruising said:

You will not be out the extra money....Upgrade Advantage payments are included in the FCC if the cruise gets cancelled.  It's actually stated in the very first FAQ online.

That said, I agree with the point of "why give them more money at this point" when it is unclear when everything will startup again.  I'm not looking to add MORE money to the potential FCC.  However...if you want to go for it and it get's accepted, you will get that included in the FCC if the cruise doesn't go.  

That's what I meant.  You will be out the extra money,  as it will go to FCC,  so in reality, you will be out that extra money, as NCL will have it.  So, you're taking a chance on being out more money.  I should have worded it better.

[JandC_Cruising]

4 minutes ago, jezabel80 said:

That's what I meant.  You will be out the extra money,  as it will go to FCC,  so in reality, you will be out that extra money, as NCL will have it.  So, you're taking a chance on being out more money.  I should have worded it better.

Gotcha!  And I absolutely agree btw that giving more money onto a cruise that can easily not go is silly at this point.

We have a December 20th cruise out of Miami and we would normally upgrade our drink package, book an excursion or two, and maybe even pre-pay the DSC....ABSOLUTELY NOT THIS TIME!  

 

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, JandC_Cruising said:

Gotcha!  And I absolutely agree btw that giving more money onto a cruise that can easily not go is silly at this point.

We have a December 20th cruise out of Miami and we would normally upgrade our drink package, book an excursion or two, and maybe even pre-pay the DSC....ABSOLUTELY NOT THIS TIME!  

 

 

Are you planning to make final payment at the 60-day mark? I am wavering on whether or not to do so, but have a little more time than you do to decide. I was very relieved they reduced the final payment window to 60-days when we were only about a week away from having to pay at the 120-day mark. If we had had to make final payment then (early September) we definitely would have just canceled. Hopefully we'll be armed with enough information to make a decent decision by the 60-day mark.

[EllieinNJ]

5 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Are you planning to make final payment at the 60-day mark? I am wavering on whether or not to do so, but have a little more time than you do to decide. I was very relieved they reduced the final payment window to 60-days when we were only about a week away from having to pay at the 120-day mark. If we had had to make final payment then (early September) we definitely would have just canceled. Hopefully we'll be armed with enough information to make a decent decision by the 60-day mark.

We were booked for the same cruise (Jan. 3rd, Getaway) since last October.  Decided to cancel on Aug. 24th, a day before they extended final payment to 60 days instead of 120.  We were afraid we might not get through to big online TA who wanted final payment by Aug. 30th.  Was upset at first because we had a really great balcony at a great rate, free air one way, all the perks, tons of OBC from NCL and TA.  But now I feel we would probably cancel because of all the restrictions from the ship and the ports.  Now looking at other cruises, they want more money for just seven day cruises than we were paying for an eleven day cruise, even with their 15% off.

[JamieLogical]

13 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

We were booked for the same cruise (Jan. 3rd, Getaway) since last October.  Decided to cancel on Aug. 24th, a day before they extended final payment to 60 days instead of 120.  We were afraid we might not get through to big online TA who wanted final payment by Aug. 30th.  Was upset at first because we had a really great balcony at a great rate, free air one way, all the perks, tons of OBC from NCL and TA.  But now I feel we would probably cancel because of all the restrictions from the ship and the ports.  Now looking at other cruises, they want more money for just seven day cruises than we were paying for an eleven day cruise, even with their 15% off.

 

Yeah, don't feel too bad about it. My best guess is that there is maybe a 20% chance the cruise will happen at all and I know many people wouldn't want to cruise under the proposed restrictions anyway. My current thought is to wait it out until the last possible minute and make a decision about final payment. Most of our final payment would be comprised of FCC from canceled cruises anyway, so our out-of-pocket wouldn't be too much. My main concern there is we had applied some FCC to one of our canceled cruises and have not received it back on our accounts. We have only received FCC from the cash we paid and our cruise next deposits. Currently we are still $690 short on the FCC we are owed. Committing a bunch of new FCC makes me worried we might lose more of it.

[BoundForSea]

My December 12th sailing email for upgrade came today. 

[ziggyuk]

There is no need to place a bid months out, it can be left until 2 weeks out when you should be better paced to know if it will happen.

[Beach Life 1]

Good Luck to everyone with cruises coming up.   I hope everything goes well, and this will all be behind us.  🙂

 

[JandC_Cruising]

4 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Are you planning to make final payment at the 60-day mark? I am wavering on whether or not to do so, but have a little more time than you do to decide. I was very relieved they reduced the final payment window to 60-days when we were only about a week away from having to pay at the 120-day mark. If we had had to make final payment then (early September) we definitely would have just canceled. Hopefully we'll be armed with enough information to make a decent decision by the 60-day mark.

This December cruise is where we spent our FCC from our cancelled March cruise. ☹️
 

[don't-use-real-name]

2 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

There is no need to place a bid months out, it can be left until 2 weeks out when you should be better paced to know if it will happen.

 

And then NCL may accept a bid that is within their parameters as early as 80 days.

I won a bid for the Garden Villa on the DAWN Quebec to Boston 4 weeks in advance of sailing.

Was a medium range bid vacating a 2BR suite on deck 11 (must have been a high demand category).

The cruise was not crowded or sold out late season last trip B2B. 

God that was an awesome win !

Now have had better luck with a phone in upgrades with less suspense.

Come close to the rack rate for a cabin and snatch that deal - time of slow sales make on offer.

The cabin you have to barter with may easily make the deal.

Nothing ventured nothing gained.

[ziggyuk]

6 hours ago, don't-use-real-name said:

 

And then NCL may accept a bid that is within their parameters as early as 80 days.

I won a bid for the Garden Villa on the DAWN Quebec to Boston 4 weeks in advance of sailing.

Was a medium range bid vacating a 2BR suite on deck 11 (must have been a high demand category).

The cruise was not crowded or sold out late season last trip B2B. 

God that was an awesome win !

Now have had better luck with a phone in upgrades with less suspense.

Come close to the rack rate for a cabin and snatch that deal - time of slow sales make on offer.

The cabin you have to barter with may easily make the deal.

Nothing ventured nothing gained.

 

I completely agree, if there is something special with limited availability and you are willing to take the risk bid early.

With the chat about the bid ending up as a FCC if the cruise was cancelled I just pointed out there is no need to bid until 2 weeks out, I take your point but if it's just a balcony you are bidding on there really is no point bidding early.

[Susandt]

Yes it is, got a email for 12/20 cruise

[MaryZ]

I can't see NY opening their port.  Florida is only pushing to be open because their governor has a unique viewpoint on how to run his state.
I was happy when they changed final payment to 60 days out.  There are so many cabins available on this ship, (1/3/21 Getaway)  that we will probably cancel rather than have NCL hold our money.  

Edited October 3, 2020 by MaryZ

[foodsvcmgr]

I don't have any experience with these bids.

 

Have three NCL cruises booked for 2022 and 2023 in standard balcony cabins, two 12 night, one 10 night.

 

What might a typical winning bid be to upgrade to a Club balcony or non-Haven suite?

[MoCruiseFan]

27 minutes ago, foodsvcmgr said:

I don't have any experience with these bids.

 

Have three NCL cruises booked for 2022 and 2023 in standard balcony cabins, two 12 night, one 10 night.

 

What might a typical winning bid be to upgrade to a Club balcony or non-Haven suite?

 

There is no such thing.  Too many factors go into the equation.  Bid whatever you are comfortable bidding and then sit back to see how it goes.

[JamieLogical]

11 hours ago, foodsvcmgr said:

I don't have any experience with these bids.

 

Have three NCL cruises booked for 2022 and 2023 in standard balcony cabins, two 12 night, one 10 night.

 

What might a typical winning bid be to upgrade to a Club balcony or non-Haven suite?

 

Even before COVID there was no such thing as a "typical winning bid". Who knows how bids will be handled post-COVID when ships will likely be at reduced capacity? Whether a bid would was primarily dependent on availability. Obviously, if the ship is at 100% capacity, few, if any bids will be accepted. The best advice anyone can give you is to bid what you are comfortable with. You want to place a bid where you will be happy if you win it and content to save that money or just spend the money onboard if you lose it. You don't want to be full of regret after ward thinking that you overpaid or that you bid too little.

[foodsvcmgr]

Got it, thanks.