Haven Upgrade Question...when do they pull inventory to assign upgrades?

[MuffyTravels]

Hi! Appreciate anyone's expertise/experience with this. We are cruising on the Getaway April 5 and have bid on several Haven rooms. I've kept an eye on inventory to anticipate our chances of winning our bid. Well today, it shows NO Haven rooms available/sold out. If I know 100% we won't get into the Haven, I'm willing to pay extra for extra nights in specialty dining. But, if we end up in the Haven, we will just eat in the Haven dining room. Don't want to buy extra dining if unnecessary. 

 

Does anyone have insight on when they pull inventory to assign upgrade bids? Am I just being overly optimistic? OR...do I face the fact that the Haven really IS sold out?

 

Thanks for any input!

[cruiseny4life]

I've been on three NCL cruises in the last year. Two were well over 100%. The third was anomaly with only 35'ish% capacity. On roll calls I heard from folks between seven days and two days out from the cruise that their upgrade bid was accepted for Haven. I do know others have reported receiving a Haven room on the day of sailing. Likely someone had a last minute cancellation/wasn't able to board/etc. 

 

So, basically, you could hear all the way up until embarkation, or even after. I prefer to just book the room I want, rather than hope for an upgrade, but understand the allure! Good luck!

[MuffyTravels]

10 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

I've been on three NCL cruises in the last year. Two were well over 100%. The third was anomaly with only 35'ish% capacity. On roll calls I heard from folks between seven days and two days out from the cruise that their upgrade bid was accepted for Haven. I do know others have reported receiving a Haven room on the day of sailing. Likely someone had a last minute cancellation/wasn't able to board/etc. 

 

So, basically, you could hear all the way up until embarkation, or even after. I prefer to just book the room I want, rather than hope for an upgrade, but understand the allure! Good luck!

 

[MuffyTravels]

Thanks so much for the information! 

 

[styles27]

We cruise on April 7th on Pearl. When I do a mock booking for our sailing it is showing Club Balcony and Haven as being sold out however I’m still able to bid on Haven rooms. 
 

That doesn’t make any sense to me at all. 
 

Last year we were notified 3 days before our cruise that we won our bid. 
The ship was only 60-70% full last year though. 
 

[quillwercruisers]

1 minute ago, styles27 said:

We cruise on April 7th on Pearl. When I do a mock booking for our sailing it is showing Club Balcony and Haven as being sold out however I’m still able to bid on Haven rooms. 
 

That doesn’t make any sense to me at all. 
 

Last year we were notified 3 days before our cruise that we won our bid. 
The ship was only 60-70% full last year though. 
 

They will take bids on sold out categories in case of cancellations.

 

[Greenpea2]

I was booked in the Haven and bid on an OS. They let me know it was not accepted on the morning of the cruise. 

[styles27]

2 hours ago, quillwercruisers said:

They will take bids on sold out categories in case of cancellations.

 

Ahh makes sense thanks 

[MuffyTravels]

20 hours ago, Greenpea2 said:

I was booked in the Haven and bid on an OS. They let me know it was not accepted on the morning of the cruise. 

Thank you for taking time to respond!

[MuffyTravels]

19 hours ago, styles27 said:

Ahh makes sense thanks 

So I guess there's still a shot at the Haven even up to cruise date. I might have better luck in the casino! hahaha

[styles27]

17 minutes ago, MuffyTravels said:

So I guess there's still a shot at the Haven even up to cruise date. I might have better luck in the casino! hahaha

lol true! Fingers crossed for you on the bid and the casino! 🤞😉

[BostonGal35]

i would go ahead and book your specialties.  you can then buy the dining package onboard, if you dont get an upgrade.  if you do get the upgrade, you can then cancel.

[MuffyTravels]

On 3/8/2023 at 3:10 PM, BostonGal35 said:

i would go ahead and book your specialties.  you can then buy the dining package onboard, if you dont get an upgrade.  if you do get the upgrade, you can then cancel.

Thank you!

 

[Gigimfig]

Okay so… I’m booked on Prima the second week of September. I have been stalking my booking daily and also checking the three sailings prior mine (same itinerary) to gage price. There has been a minimum of 30ish rooms available in the Haven on all sailings. Today Haven is sold out on all four cruises. Now these rooms were starting at a minimum of 15k for the penthouse. And went up to 28k. I don’t believe that NCL managed to sell 120 of their most expensive rooms in one day. So I am desperate for an answer I read about a dozen postings like this going as far back as 2017. So many comments said NCL just wanted people bidding on sold out rooms as free market research to see what people would pay. And had I not been tracking everything I could see this as a possibility. Personally I see it as poor research as people spend differently in a chance to win situation. And for anyone who is thinking that I could have just upgraded… I called NCL in February and requested an upgrade quote. The rep told me the cruise wasn’t even half full and I should just wait and bid. I will continue to post my experience. I am booked in a suite so my pay off is at the 120 day mark. First week of May. Good luck OP sorry I couldn’t be more helpful!

[lovenorwegiancruiseline]

I cruise on the Escape April 30th. I bid on 3 Haven Suites. Waiting for NCL to upgrade me.

[BirdTravels]

On 3/7/2023 at 3:01 PM, MuffyTravels said:

Does anyone have insight on when they pull inventory to assign upgrade bids? Am I just being overly optimistic? OR...do I face the fact that the Haven really IS sold out?

 

I know that this post is a month old. Haven upgrades are normally done on the Monday/Tuesday prior to departure (for a weekend departure). We have got an upgrade as late as Wednesday for a Sunday departure in the past. Inventory is locked as the upgrade process begins. 

 

That being said, on the Getaway there are over 1300 staterooms which could place bids on Haven rooms. The probability of winning a Haven upgrade is very very very very small. 

 

If the Haven is showing sold out prior to opening of the upgrade window, you are hoping that someone cancels on the week of cruise to have one room available for the potentially 1300 bids. 

 

Prior to the pandemic, bidding would close about 2 days prior to departure when all reservation information is transferred to the ship's control. Since last year, they have left bidding open until departure due to a high number of last minute cancellation for COVID and such. People get all excited about that, but in reality, the ship is only interested in filling suites (i.e., you won't see an inside to ocean view upgrade on day of departure). And, after the initial upgrade process, 100% of the suites are booked, so the only day-of-departure upgrades will be for Haven no-shows. 

[BCOS]

Of the suites I currently have upgrade bids on, here's where things are sitting with 24 days to go:

• Of the 8 2-br Havens, a dummy booking shows 4 available
• Of the 10 2-br family suites, a dummy booking shows 4 available

 

We are currently in a Club Balcony. That category has been only showing as a Guarantee since we booked back in January, so I have no clue how full the ship is, really.

 

Any clue what our odds might look like given the number of available suites in the categories for which we have bids?

[golden6911]

Interesting.  I haven't sailed NCL since 2015, when I got an upgrade to a Haven suite.  I am sure it is different now, but I started getting emails about potential upgrades 10 days prior to sailing.  They didn't do bids at that time, they just posted open rooms with reduced pricing.  The suite I ended up getting went from a $2000 upcharge pp down to $500 upcharge three days before sailing, when I jumped on it.  I may bid on some rooms if they come up for my trip on the Prima in August, but not holding my breath. 

[Boschmann]

Sailed Epic in December,  Haven was only about 25% sold in all categories.   About four weeks before sailing the NCL website instantly flipped to all Haven cabins sold out.  The Haven sailed full with many, many upsells.  Verified this with the concierge.

[Sydneyberlin]

19 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

 

I know that this post is a month old. Haven upgrades are normally done on the Monday/Tuesday prior to departure (for a weekend departure). 

Are “normally done” seems to be a bit of an overstatement from all I can gather.

 

It was definitely not true for our sailing in one week’s time (which departs on a Sunday). Upgrade process started for the lower categories spot on at the 21 day mark (we noticed all the balcony/ club balcony rooms suddenly selling out). Exactly one day later (so T-20 Miami time), one of our upgrade offers for a Haven suite  suddenly turned to greyed out “Pending” status while all our bets were “Expired”. Some time overnight Australia time (mid day-ish Miami) this then turned to “Upgraded” and we received a confirmation email with the new stateroom assigned already. 

[Gigimfig]

From all the different feedback I think it’s safe to say that NCL is most likely testing different strategies. They probably had a more predictable behavior prior 2020 but it’s quite clear they are working towards newer business models. And it would make sense if they are making decisions based on the specific ship and/or itinerary. Sailing on the prima going out of Reykjavik versus bliss out of Long Beach will have very different decisions made by cruisers. Just some thoughts…

[Sydneyberlin]

30 minutes ago, Gigimfig said:

From all the different feedback I think it’s safe to say that NCL is most likely testing different strategies. 

Totally- I also think that it’s made hard to look through on purpose. And gathering data is definitely a huge bonus for them, aside from just the $$$.