Bidding on Haven

[dpepper64]

Has anyone won a Haven bid.  I was wondering what you had to bid to get those rooms.   Looking to bid on a couple of Haven rooms and would like to what the min and max bids needed.  I just want to surprise my wife but dont want to break the bank.  Thank you inadvance for the help

[kasimir]

I think a lot depends how many Haven cabins are still available by the time the cruise starts and how many other bidders there are. 
 

We have simply called NCL a couple days ago and asked what it would cost to do a straight upgrade from our balcony to a haven cabin. And they gave us a price that was much lower than the minimum bid, so we upgraded on the phone and had the advantage of choosing our own cabin. 
Give that a try and also do a fake booking of a Haven cabin, so you can get an idea how many Haven cabins are still left. 

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, dpepper64 said:

Has anyone won a Haven bid.  I was wondering what you had to bid to get those rooms.   Looking to bid on a couple of Haven rooms and would like to what the min and max bids needed.  I just want to surprise my wife but don't want to break the bank.  Thank you in advance for the help

On a big ship, there are over 1000 Balcony/Club Balcony/Suite/Haven rooms which could bid on a Haven rooms. In general, the probability of winning a bid are very very very very small. 

 

If you are booking through a Travel Agent, some of the big TAs do not participate in the upgrade program. 

 

Your Min/Max bids are totally dependent upon what you have originally booked, what cabin class you are bidding on, your ship, your itinerary. In general, it is called a random number generator. 

 

Examples.... 

 

On our upcoming 7-night cruise, minimum bid from a Club Balcony to an Owners Suite is $2200 per person (total bid $4400) with a maximum bid of $8000. 

 

The cheapest upgrade bid on this 7-night cruise from a Club Balcony is $1200 with max bid of $4000. 

 

 

On another upcoming 4-night cruise, minimum bid from a Haven Penthouse to an Owner's Suite is $4720 with a max bid of $14,150. 

 

On the same 4-night cruise, the minimum bid from a Haven Penthouse to a Aft-Facing Haven Penthouse is only $300 with max bid of $800

 

 

Edited August 20, 2023 by BirdTravels

[dpepper64]

Thanks everyone,  When does bidding usually start

[dexddd]

Currently on the second page here is a 136 page thread about it.

[graphicguy]

 

 

 

 

This is what the upgrade offer looks like.  But, I find if you just price out an upgrade on your own, there's a decent chance you can just cancel and rebook a Haven Suite cheaper than bidding on it.  For example, the upgrade from a Spa H9 to the 2BR Haven Suite would be a minimum of $1,000 ($500/pp as below).  And, that would not even guarantee you'll get the upgrade.

 

My TA checked and told me I could just pay $113 total to upgrade from the Spa Suite to the 2 BR Suite.  It was a no brainer.

 

Certainly would be worthwhile to check and see what the rebook price would be prior to bidding.

 

 

Dear XXXXXXXXXXX, We’re pleased to confirm your upcoming cruise on Norwegian Epic for reservation number xxxxxxxxxx and look forward to welcoming you onboard. There’s still time to participate in our Upgrade Advantage program, which gives you the opportunity to submit offers to upgrade your existing stateroom. This exclusive offer is only available on a limited number of staterooms on your cruise. As a guest of The Haven, this program allows you the opportunity to upgrade within The Haven to a more luxurious and spacious suite.  If you booked your cruise through a travel agent please be assured that your agent can guide you through the upgrade process. Here are your cruise details: Your Cruise Information Your Current Stateroom REQUEST UPGRADE Ship  Norwegian Epic Sail Date  Oct 02, 2023 Reservation #  xxxxxxxxxxx Stateroom  The Haven Spa Suite with Balcony (H9) Total Approx. Size  317 - 378 sq. ft.   Here are some upgrade options, priced per person for the entire duration of the cruise: The Haven Deluxe Owners Suite with Large Balcony (H2) From $950 pp The Haven 2-Bedroom Family Villa with Balcony (H6) From $500 pp (Note: Prices shown are in US Dollars.) Please see our Terms and Conditions and Frequently Asked Questions that apply to offers made under the Upgrade Advantage program. If you are experiencing any technical issues, simply reply to this email. Important Information NCL reserves the right to not accept any offer regardless of offer amount or stateroom availability. Availability of upgrades is limited and is made at the sole discretion of NCL. NCL reserves the right to accept any offer from the time it is submitted to the departure date and time.  Offers are based on double occupancy. Only the first and second passenger on the reservation will be charged. Once your bid is accepted, the upgrade amount paid is final and non-refundable. The upgrade does not include any additional promotions. Current promotions on the reservation will not be altered.  NCL cannot guarantee a specific cabin number assignment within the upgraded category. Your cabin number will depend on space availability and cannot be changed. NCL Address  7665 Corporate Center Dr, Miami, FL 33126 Contact Us If you have Norwegian's Travel Protection on your current booking, you will be automatically charged to cover the upgrade cost. For more information please click here. If you have travel protection via your travel professional, please contact them to add your upgrade to your coverage.

Edited August 20, 2023 by graphicguy

[AlexandNessa]

We are in an H3 on Getaway.  Min bid to H2 (both still available while H3s are both sold out) is $800 pp. We could've upgraded outright for $1800. Not sure it's worth the min bid we'd likely not get anyway. 

[dexddd]

6 hours ago, AlexandNessa said:

We are in an H3 on Getaway.  Min bid to H2 (both still available while H3s are both sold out) is $800 pp. We could've upgraded outright for $1800. Not sure it's worth the min bid we'd likely not get anyway. 

Let us know how it goes with noise with the movable wall between those two rooms.

[graphicguy]

8 hours ago, AlexandNessa said:

We are in an H3 on Getaway.  Min bid to H2 (both still available while H3s are both sold out) is $800 pp. We could've upgraded outright for $1800. Not sure it's worth the min bid we'd likely not get anyway. 

Not sure what the formula is with bidding prices for minimums and maximums.  I know the process is run by a 3rd party source (can’t recall the bid source’s name but it’s floating around here somewhere).

 

It used to be a tool for the cruise lines to at least appear to offer some sort of “deal” to upgrade.  Savy cruisers, like most here, shop fares.  As such, I’d say it’s 50-50 whether bidding nets a better upgrade fare vs just paying for the cabin upgrade outright by sidestepping the bid process.

 

Since the restart, I’ve found it way less expensive to just check fares and book when an upgraded cabin becomes a good deal.  I do believe whatever NCL’s fare formulas are, paying straight up for an upgrade is way less expensive than bidding for an upgrade on my recent NCL cruises.  

 

I had read there is some sort of bidding process where the 3rd party source lets you know if you’re being outbid, and to up your bid to be the top bidder.  I view that as merely a way to get people to up the bids for open cabins.  Apparently it works, because I’ve seen people here do some chest pumping over their “top bid” status.  Crafty way for the cruise lines to get more money from you, though.

 

I know sometimes the bid process offers up cabins to bid on that simply aren’t available.  

 

All-in-all, I find the bid process a bit sketchy!

 

 

[kasimir]

11 hours ago, AlexandNessa said:

We are in an H3 on Getaway.  Min bid to H2 (both still available while H3s are both sold out) is $800 pp. We could've upgraded outright for $1800. Not sure it's worth the min bid we'd likely not get anyway. 

If H2 is really important to you guys, then $1800 instead of the $1600 gamble seems a no-brainer to me. 

In the end it really depends how important it is to get that upgrade, because the amount of available Haven cabins are very limited and also you have no say which cabin you get with the bidding program. 

 

For our next cruise, we are currently booked on an HE cabin and put in a low bid of $225pp for an upgrade to HB. But if we don't win the bid, we really don't care, we are already happy with what we have 😉 

[AlexandNessa]

25 minutes ago, kasimir said:

If H2 is really important to you guys, then $1800 instead of the $1600 gamble seems a no-brainer to me. 

In the end it really depends how important it is to get that upgrade, because the amount of available Haven cabins are very limited and also you have no say which cabin you get with the bidding program. 

 

For our next cruise, we are currently booked on an HE cabin and put in a low bid of $225pp for an upgrade to HB. But if we don't win the bid, we really don't care, we are already happy with what we have 😉 

 

Like you, we're happy with what we have.  There's only 2 of us, so all the extra space isn't worth much of a premium to us. I just thought that the min bid was a bit high from H3 to H2. Don't think we'll even bother, unless the min bid somehow decreases.

 

Amazing too how many don't do research before bidding.  Had a friend already booked in a Courtyard Haven room on Escape. Bid $1200pp for the 2BR Haven suite and promptly won.  Didn't have the heart to tell her she could've upgraded outright and picked her own stateroom for $1k total.  

[kasimir]

2 minutes ago, AlexandNessa said:

Amazing too how many don't do research before bidding.  Had a friend already booked in a Courtyard Haven room on Escape. Bid $1200pp for the 2BR Haven suite and promptly won.  Didn't have the heart to tell her she could've upgraded outright and picked her own stateroom for $1k total.  

 

Fully agree! Except for our cruise in Oct 2021 where we bid from Inside to Balcony for $300 total and won, all the other upgrade offers we have seen so far even the minimum bids were ridiculous and we didn't even bother to submit a bid. 

With our next cruise we called NCL, and the total upgrade price they offered us on the phone for the Balcony to Haven upgrade was a third of the minimum bid on the upgrade bidding program. So that was a no-brainer for us. 

 

It seems to me that in the upgrade bidding program they are using default bidding ranges, which might be attractive for some of the more expensive/popular cruises, but on most of our cruises it seems like a worst deal to be honest. But like you said, there seem to be many people that do not check and in the end if NCL can make more money this way, good on them. 😉 

[ExArkie]

I have never bid on an upgrade; having booked a cabin we really want (aft penthouse on Jade, where the Haven isn’t much of an upgrade), I don’t plan to do so this time. However, I did look at the offers. Based on the format and description in post #3 above, all of the dollar values shown above the slider on our bidding page are $0. Does this mean the minimum bid is $0?
 

Plying with it, some dollar value has to be entered to get an assessment (poor, good, etc.), so I assume one has to bid something above $0. It is tempting to bid $3 to see what happens.

[graphicguy]

31 minutes ago, ExArkie said:

I have never bid on an upgrade; having booked a cabin we really want (aft penthouse on Jade, where the Haven isn’t much of an upgrade), I don’t plan to do so this time. However, I did look at the offers. Based on the format and description in post #3 above, all of the dollar values shown above the slider on our bidding page are $0. Does this mean the minimum bid is $0?
 

Plying with it, some dollar value has to be entered to get an assessment (poor, good, etc.), so I assume one has to bid something above $0. It is tempting to bid $3 to see what happens.

There are minimum bids.  If you leave the slider at “zero”, that’s not registered at any bid.  The least amount I’ve ever seen on the slider that would register as a bid is $50/pp and that was for a minimum upgrade (like inside to an ocean view).  

 

Haven upgrade minimum bids are well into the hundreds of dollars on the slider.

Edited August 22, 2023 by graphicguy

[All-ready2cruise]

Yeah,  I wouldn't be posting what you're  bidding, especially a low bid, very easily out bid, hardly worth the time to do it. But, good luck anyway, lol. 

[Liljo22]

19 minutes ago, All-ready2cruise said:

Yeah,  I wouldn't be posting what you're  bidding, especially a low bid, very easily out bid, hardly worth the time to do it. But, good luck anyway, lol. 

My understanding is that its not necessarily the highest bid that the algorithm takes.  It considers many factors.   

[All-ready2cruise]

And, your understanding could be correct but so could mine... really I'm just putting it out there not to post your bidding strategy. You really don't know what could happen with your bid. 

[AlexandNessa]

We've discussed this, but just a reminder to consistently check prices,  both for min upgrade bids and booking outright. My min upgrade bid from H3 to H2 has remained $800 pp, but the price of the H2 has gone down $300 pp when booking outright. We don't need the H2 by any means, but i do love playing the numbers game. 

[ExArkie]

23 hours ago, graphicguy said:

There are minimum bids.  If you leave the slider at “zero”, that’s not registered at any bid.  The least amount I’ve ever seen on the slider that would register as a bid is $50/pp and that was for a minimum upgrade (like inside to an ocean view).  

 

Haven upgrade minimum bids are well into the hundreds of dollars on the slider.

Thank you. I went back to try again and, when I moved the slider, there was definitely a minimum amount it would accept. Most were much more than I would consider appropriate for the cabin, but that’s probably a personal preference.