How is the bidding system doing? Any comments?

[Therese S.]

So after accepting our bid, I got to wonder why would anyone ever book a balcony (unless of course they have a particular cabin in mind) if you can place bids in the future?

 

In our case, the new bid system really worked out, but feel for those that paid much more. 

 

We always try to cruise as cheap as possible and save our money for other things.  We also dont book the Princess Plus fares.  Ive already ordered our wi-fi, water, sodas and bottles of vodka and whiskey.  On board credit will be used to pay tips.  I love a good deal 🙂

[suzyed]

4 hours ago, CalTexCruiser said:

 

UPDATE: so about 80 minutes after receiving the 6 rejection emails indicating we did not win 6 upgrade bids, we got our 7th email saying we won our bid to the Window Suite.

 

We are booked in an MF mini-suite, and bid close to the minimum $605 pp for the Window suite.

 

Truthfully, I did not expect to win any our bids because I submitted close to minimum bids and our cruise showed unavailable in all the suites (Oct 8 Discovery Princess).

 

I've never stayed in a suite on Princess so not sure whether to jump for joy at getting the Window suite or wonder what the heck am I getting that someone else did not want.

 

 

 

Some people love Window suites.  Go on Youtube and see what it looks like!

 

[AZjohn]

42 minutes ago, CalTexCruiser said:

 

Interesting question...I did not think I had a choice to decline the upgrade once I won it.  I wonder what would have happened had I not paid the upgrade bid amount--it showed as a balance due on my account so I assumed that if I had not paid I would have lost my entire reservation. 

 

Seems like they could have just taken my credit card number at the time of bid, and charged it automatically when I won the bid (like Celebrity does) to make the process more seamless.

 

I also think that sending rejection emails to all bids except one is unnecessary--they could have just sent the one email notifying that we won.  I had initially just assumed I lost all my bids when I received the 6 rejection emails.

 

24 minutes ago, caligirlfashionista said:

You won your bid!!! At the very bottom of your conformation bid are letters and numbers ,those same numbers are on reject notices on the bottom of the notice   
 

if you match up the numbers you will know what you won and which were rejected. 
 

The more I think about it, if you did multiple bid I think it’s a good sign that you start getting rejection notifications. It’s likely a sign you won one the the multiple bids you made.

 

I mean why would they send out rejection emails with 8 days before embarkation? I think they wouldn’t do that if someone else’s bid falls through or the winning bid had to cancel for some reason last minute.

 

I think a rejection notice is what you want to see (if making several offers)

[PacnGoNow]

39 minutes ago, Therese S. said:

Bid Just Accepted!!! and we are so excited to sail in a balcony again!  We usually book inside cabins for the cost savings and haven't been in a balcony since our first Hawaii cruise on the Island Princess back in 2006.

 

Details:

We originally booked our obstructed ocean view cabin for our upcoming cruise to Hawaii on the Ruby  using a California Resident Only rate that came with great rates and awesome on board credit.

Here's the details:

Original cabin - Obstructed ocean view cabin E625  $1100 pp

Upgraded to Balcony cabin BD Aloha deck A734 additional cost $475 pp, plus additional cost of Princess Platinum insurance of $38 pp.   

 

Original email bid offer for a balcony was $450, so we bid $475 thinking we might have a better chance over those that bid the absolute lowest amount. 

 

So we went from an $1100 obstructed ocean view to a $1575 Balcony.  We are pleased at how it all turned out and I verified that all our on board credits are still there. 

 

Luggage tags have already been updated in Princess website. 

 

We received our medallions yesterday, hope they are also updated to reflect the new cabin number.

Medallions will follow you. You don’t have to do anything.
Congrats!!!🎉 

Edited September 23, 2022 by PacnGoNow

[CalTexCruiser]

27 minutes ago, suzyed said:

Some people love Window suites.  Go on Youtube and see what it looks like!

 

 

Actually looks great (aside from no balcony).  Nice and big--can't beat that.  $ 605 pp to upgrade from the lowest mini-suite to the Window suite seems like a great deal.

 

Also like how it's so close to the Retreat Pool.

[dreaminofcruisin]

1 hour ago, Therese S. said:

So after accepting our bid, I got to wonder why would anyone ever book a balcony (unless of course they have a particular cabin in mind) if you can place bids in the future?

 

 

I wouldn't cruise if I wasn't in a balcony....and I am picky about the location....so the bid process doesn't do much for me! Not to worry...there are plenty like me that will pay for the balconies.  😁

 

Congratulations on your bid win of a balcony!!!

[disneyochem]

We got an upgrade for our October 8 Enchanted Princess cruise!

 

We originally booked an inside cabin on this cruise over a year ago.  Refared a number of times as the price went down.  Paying $866 pp with Princess Plus—the old Princess Plus with specialty dining.  
 

Last month I noticed that the fares dropped again but it was after final payment.  Called Princess and asked for a refare.  They came back with a free upgrade to an obstructed balcony cabin.  We took it.

 

In the bidding email we were offered upgrades from a deluxe obstructed balcony to a mini suite ($235 pp).  We bid $20 pp to upgrade to an obstructed deluxe balcony.

 

Pretty happy that we’ll be sailing in an obstructed balcony with Princess Plus for $890 a person!

 

Now if only that Hurricane Gaston stays away!

[disneyochem]

Went to my Princess Personalizer to pay for the upgrade.  It looks like Princess deducted the cost of the upgrade from our OBC?

 

We have our new room assignment, new luggage tags, cruise fare has been adjusted to reflect the $20 more pp and we don’t own any money.  
 

is this want happened to others?

[PacnGoNow]

32 minutes ago, disneyochem said:

Went to my Princess Personalizer to pay for the upgrade.  It looks like Princess deducted the cost of the upgrade from our OBC?

 

We have our new room assignment, new luggage tags, cruise fare has been adjusted to reflect the $20 more pp and we don’t own any money.  
 

is this want happened to others?

Wow! I’m surprised. That’s great. I would love it If they would do that, IF I won a bid. 
Lots of IF’s.  😂

 

We will see.  It could be because it’s such a small amount?

 

You should buy a lottery ticket!

Edited September 24, 2022 by PacnGoNow

[CruzDayz]

2 hours ago, dreaminofcruisin said:

 

I wouldn't cruise if I wasn't in a balcony....and I am picky about the location....so the bid process doesn't do much for me! Not to worry...there are plenty like me that will pay for the balconies.  😁

 

Congratulations on your bid win of a balcony!!!

The same with me. I already had a good balcony, but I was hoping for a true aft Premium Deluxe. I canceled my bid to stay where I am and I'm happy.

I'm glad that Princes is doing this. As a shareholder we need all of the revenue that we can get into the company. It is successful on other lines. 🙂

[caligirlfashionista]

4 hours ago, AZjohn said:

I have not received any rejection messages yet on the two classes we bid on, just that message "received offer" and locked the bidding amount I could adjust (for Oct 1 cruise).

 

So.... Are you sayin I still have a chance (lol 🙂 ) 

 

Gut feel, they are sending out bid confirmations and waiting for upgrade payments from the passengers that are in the class I bid on.

 

Maybe once they purchase the bid they won and move up their cabin becomes available for our offer??

 

 

Did you get your “yay” email yet? It takes about 4-5 hours 

[matadams4u]

I bid on the Discovery Oct 8 on an ocean view, an obstructed balcony and obstructed deluxe balcony.  Received two notification of failed bids this morning and the success on the obstructed deluxe.  I bid in the low to medium range for all of them.  

[AZjohn]

2 minutes ago, caligirlfashionista said:

Did you get your “yay” email yet? It takes about 4-5 hours 

I haven’t got a yay or nay. Was just deducting from previous post from @CalTexCruiser experience.

Gut feel I have a 5% chance of an upgrade as all the higher end cabin classes were very limited or sold out. We did bid more than the minimum but far lower than the max.

 

It’s cool either way as we have a cabin we are good with. Everyone loves a great deal but, they don’t come around that often 🙂 

[CruzDayz]

9 minutes ago, AZjohn said:

I haven’t got a yay or nay. Was just deducting from previous post from @CalTexCruiser experience.

Gut feel I have a 5% chance of an upgrade as all the higher end cabin classes were very limited or sold out. We did bid more than the minimum but far lower than the max.

 

It’s cool either way as we have a cabin we are good with. Everyone loves a great deal but, they don’t come around that often 🙂 

Just check your CC, I think that they bill you as soon as you are accepted. That is what NCL does.

[dave_k58]

ARe they offering the bidding program for Trans Atlantic cruises in November?

[1cruiselvr]

7 hours ago, Therese S. said:

So after accepting our bid, I got to wonder why would anyone ever book a balcony (unless of course they have a particular cabin in mind) if you can place bids in the future?

 

In our case, the new bid system really worked out, but feel for those that paid much more. 

 

We always try to cruise as cheap as possible and save our money for other things.  We also dont book the Princess Plus fares.  Ive already ordered our wi-fi, water, sodas and bottles of vodka and whiskey.  On board credit will be used to pay tips.  I love a good deal 🙂

Just because you can place a bid, it doesn’t guarantee it will be accepted. Someone that wants to ensure they are sailing in a balcony cabin would want to book one. 

[caribill]

9 hours ago, Therese S. said:

We received our medallions yesterday, hope they are also updated to reflect the new cabin number.

 

The Medallion does not have any cabin number on/in it.

 

It has a reference number that the ship's computer looks at and then the ship's computer has all the info about you including the cabin number.

 

So hopefully the ship's computer will have the correct cabin number in it.

[PacnGoNow]

11 hours ago, dave_k58 said:

ARe they offering the bidding program for Trans Atlantic cruises in November?

Maybe. It’s rolling out on a lot of ships. 
Check your roll call to see if anyone has received an email.

[Wishing on a star]

It seems that they are accepting bids as early now as a couple weeks before sailing.  At least it isn't always very last minute! 

 

I still don't know if I would want to bid or not, because we like the mid-ship larger balconies on the bump out, and an upgrade would probably be to a better cabin, but a TiNY standard balcony on the Royal Class ships.   We also like to limit the price of the cruise, and not 'splurge' so these (non)obstructed mid-ship balconies on deck 8 are the cheapest way to book a balcony.

 

[Yehootu]

My friend had the Discovery booked for next week on a GYT cat BE cabin. He used the Interline Fare and booked with FCC. A few days ago he got an upsell email. $620pp to upgrade to club class mini or $40pp for Deluxe Balcony. He got a cabin yesterday D4 category. The Princess site showed all cabins sold out except the Inside Cat. Looks like a way to get more $$ than to involuntarily moving people around to assign GTY folks. We always book the cabin we want and mark NO Upgrade.

[suzyed]

13 hours ago, AZjohn said:

I haven’t got a yay or nay. Was just deducting from previous post from @CalTexCruiser experience.

Gut feel I have a 5% chance of an upgrade as all the higher end cabin classes were very limited or sold out. We did bid more than the minimum but far lower than the max.

 

It’s cool either way as we have a cabin we are good with. Everyone loves a great deal but, they don’t come around that often 🙂 

Same here and we don't sail for 3 1/2 weeks.  We can't view what's available so it's all a mystery right now.

[dave_k58]

2 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Maybe. It’s rolling out on a lot of ships. 
Check your roll call to see if anyone has received an email.

So far - nobody on the roll call  says they have received one

[dog]

14 hours ago, dave_k58 said:

ARe they offering the bidding program for Trans Atlantic cruises in November?

I received a free upgrade for the spring TA, but I am not taking it.

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, Yehootu said:

My friend had the Discovery booked for next week on a GYT cat BE cabin. He used the Interline Fare and booked with FCC. A few days ago he got an upsell email. $620pp to upgrade to club class mini or $40pp for Deluxe Balcony. He got a cabin yesterday D4 category. The Princess site showed all cabins sold out except the Inside Cat. Looks like a way to get more $$ than to involuntarily moving people around to assign GTY folks. We always book the cabin we want and mark NO Upgrade.

He got a deal then for a D4. Good for him!

[cruisequeen4ever]

It’s nice to see some results here! Thank you to all who are sharing.

 

All of this has made me think of a question. How does it work if you need an accessible stateroom? Does the system detect that you are in one and that you should only be offered one in a higher category if you bid? I hope that someone knows the answer to this or that it’s clear when you go to bid.  It would be awful if someone who is in an accessible stateroom were to bid assuming Princess knows they need one and end up in a non-accessible stateroom, losing their accessible one in the process.

 

To the person in the window suite, we had one one time and loved the suite perks of breakfast in Sabatini‘s or Crown Grill, whatever it is on your cruise, the free dinner at either of those the first night, and the extra space. Years ago, window suites were commonly talked about on here as being really enjoyed.