Five different upgrade options for my August cruise - upgrade advantage rules has changed?

[TrumpyNor]

We have two different cruises booked for this summer, and I have received the "upgrade advantage e-mail" for both of them.

For our July cruise, I received the e-mail about a week ago, and had the possibility to leave offers for upgrade from our current oceanview to either balcony or club balcony (so similar to how the upgrade advantage offers have been working for some years now).

But for our August cruise, I received the e-mail today and have the possibility to leave offers for upgrade from our current INSIDE cabin to the following FIVE cabin categories (so not only 1 or 2 categories "up" as in the past): 

Oceanview, balcony, spa balcony, club balcony, spa club balcony. 

 

Below screenshot from my e-mail:

 

 

 

[Muckyduckway]

My experience is the opposite of yours, last year I was given many options from a balcony and this year only two options from an inside.

It may be more about the actual sailing, how many are already sold, or something like that rather than a change in the programme.

It's definitely not the ship as my examples are both for the same ship.

[TrumpyNor]

1 hour ago, Muckyduckway said:

My experience is the opposite of yours, last year I was given many options from a balcony and this year only two options from an inside.

It may be more about the actual sailing, how many are already sold, or something like that rather than a change in the programme.

It's definitely not the ship as my examples are both for the same ship.

It could be that the change came last year, this will be my first cruises since "pre-covid" as my last NCL cruise was back in 2019. In 2019 and before that it was definitely very limited categories to bid on, and only 1-2 above your original cabin category. 

Edited April 16, 2022 by TrumpyNor

[The Traveling Man]

I think it has more to do with how many cabins of each category are available on any given cruise.

[MoCruiseFan]

"upgrade advantage rules HAVE changed?"

There was no change.  You get to bid on cabins based on what is available for your specific cruise..

[mking8288]

@TrumpyNor  Sailing next month and we are offered a Promo sale to bid up higher into various Haven categories. DW looked and had a good chuckle 🤭

 

Joy is on vastly occupancies on this Bermuda cruise and plentiful inventories now. Why not make it more affordable 😁 Didn't get this last month on the Getaway 😉

 

 

[janice2348]

Do a mock booking before you bid.  You might be able to do a straight upgrade for less. NCL hopes no one realizes you can actually do this.  

[TrumpyNor]

On 4/16/2022 at 11:04 AM, Muckyduckway said:

My experience is the opposite of yours, last year I was given many options from a balcony and this year only two options from an inside.

It may be more about the actual sailing, how many are already sold, or something like that rather than a change in the programme.

It's definitely not the ship as my examples are both for the same ship.

 

23 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

I think it has more to do with how many cabins of each category are available on any given cruise.

 

19 hours ago, MoCruiseFan said:

"upgrade advantage rules HAVE changed?"

There was no change.  You get to bid on cabins based on what is available for your specific cruise..

 

Actually seems like there has indeed been some change to the bidding rules (to the better in my opinion), as the  T&C about the upgrade advantage program on ncl.com under point no. 4 clearly states the following "old rules":

Upon receipt of an Invitation, you may submit a Bid on up to two categories higher than your current class of service category for the original itinerary booked.

 

And that is what I thought I remembered being the case in the past, when I have been bidding on upgrades myself. And that is what caused me to start this thread in the first place - as I was not aware of the change and therefore it was a positive surprise that I when having an inside cabin could place a bid even on club balcony, spa balcony or spa club balcony (which has NOT been my experience in the past - but like I stated in a previous post, my last cruise with an upgrade bid was back in 2019).

 

https://www.ncl.com/fr/en/content/upgrade-advantage-terms

Edited April 17, 2022 by TrumpyNor

[The Traveling Man]

@TrumpyNorYou're probably right that the T&C have changed.  I hadn't noticed it, though, since we usually book a balcony and have received upgrade bid offers on dozens of NCL cruises over the years soliciting bids on mini-suites (now called Club Balcony Suites), suites, and several categories of Haven.  We haven't booked an Inside in recent years, so I wasn't aware that anything had changed.  We still received offers on our two upcoming cruises to bid for every imaginable category above our current Balcony staterooms.  Thanks for pointing out the changes.

[susiesan]

How does one get an invitation to bid on an upgrade? My cruise is in August on dawn, Baltic itinerary. I just made final payment 2 days ago. I am in an inside cabin and would like to move to at least a window. I suspect the ship is not very full.

[GALSews]

3 minutes ago, susiesan said:

How does one get an invitation to bid on an upgrade? My cruise is in August on dawn, Baltic itinerary. I just made final payment 2 days ago. I am in an inside cabin and would like to move to at least a window. I suspect the ship is not very full.

They seem to just come, or not.

 

Note that on my next cruise we used a week through our Time Share to pay towards the cruise. I asked the TA if there were a possibility of getting a bid.  She said that in our case since we used a trade, it couldn't happen. However, if we had booked through them without the trade, we might have received a bid. Ergo, It appears that there  are definitely conditions which preclude receiving bids. 

[phissy]

If you book through a TA or big box travel agency, they might opt to not receive upgrade bids for their bookings. I know the big box agency does specify they do not participate in upgrade bid options for bookings .

[YVRteacher]

22 hours ago, MoCruiseFan said:

"upgrade advantage rules HAVE changed?"

There was no change.  You get to bid on cabins based on what is available for your specific cruise..

One of the Cruise Critic rules is not to correct grammar.  

[MoCruiseFan]

47 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

One of the Cruise Critic rules is not to correct grammar.  

I didn't correct anything I posted a reply and my grammar was correct.

[TrumpyNor]

On 4/16/2022 at 10:49 PM, janice2348 said:

Do a mock booking before you bid.  You might be able to do a straight upgrade for less. NCL hopes no one realizes you can actually do this.  

I actually knew this and have done it several times in the past, and found out yesterday that there had been a significant pricedrop. So I cancelled my "upgrade bid" and instead purchased an upgrade from our regular inside cabin on deck 10 (Norwegian Escape) to a MA Club Balcony on deck 14 for a total of $333 for 2 persons on a 10 days cruise. Especially the large bathroom is worth the $33 per day I paid for the upgrade... 😊

[Mike A]

I am on the 5/29 Joy to Bermuda. I too have a large # of upgrade options on line for every Haven and Suite category as well as Club Balcony. I have two adjoining balcony cabins that I do not want to risk having one upgraded and not the other. I have tried doing mock bookings for Haven without signing in and right now it is not worth it .

I will keep trying.