New Bidding Process

[tgloersen]

Has anyone else, who is bidding on upgrades noticed that NCL is now opening certain cabin type as a real auction.  I received multiple emails from NCL saying that i have been out bid and they are giving me the opportunity to raise my bid.  Att he same time it tells you how many are bidding on a certain cabin type and if you revised bid is outbid.

 

Has anyone been successful in raising their bid enough to be high bidder?

[rbxlady]

This happened to my brother on a European cruise in the summer of 2022. They opened up bidding on certain Haven suites with an auction format. He put in a bid, was outbid, and decided he didn't want to play their game.

 

It just seems like a way to maximize revenue on upgrade bidding in hopes that people will get caught up in the excitement of winning rather than think rationally about how much they want to spend.

[TheDawg79]

I have done this before, but only because my original offer was a low ball one and my travel party increased in size and some extra room would be worth it. My auction bid was accepted, but still about $5k cheaper than they off the rack price for a 2 bedroom Haven suite. However if you already put in a good bid and increasing it either makes you a little uneasy OR the bid now doesn’t make the cabin a good deal anymore….hard pass. Yes, this is absolutely a way for NCL to maximize revenues but you still can get a great deal if you are vigilant

[insidecabin]

Lack of transparency, they can just send out you need to bid more to everyone.

[spookylu]

36 minutes ago, rbxlady said:

This happened to my brother on a European cruise in the summer of 2022. They opened up bidding on certain Haven suites with an auction format. He put in a bid, was outbid, and decided he didn't want to play their game.

 

It just seems like a way to maximize revenue on upgrade bidding in hopes that people will get caught up in the excitement of winning rather than think rationally about how much they want to spend.

Yeah, I won't do this. I just book the lowest tier room I'd be satisfied in and I'll enter a modest bid on upgrades, just in case they don't get many other offers. If they don't like my first bid I'll stay with my original cabin. 🫠

[graphicguy]

I won't do the "bidding" either.  However, I was shocked regarding how many people I know get into the bidding process (and in turn, paid much more than they had to if they had just bought an upgrade).

[skeeter195]

We were booked in a haven courtyard penthouse.  I had put in a bid to a Haven courtyard 2 bedroom with a bid of $10p/p over the minimum.  I got the notice to live bid 10 days before the cruise as our bid was not high enough.  So I then bid another $10p/p($20p/p total now).  6 days before the cruise our bid was accepted.  While we were very happy about this I now think that this new live bidding is all just B/S.

  

1-How could a $10p/p actually make a difference?

2-Why was I awarded the room 6 days before the sail date?  Why not wait until the last possible minute to award a possible higher bid?

3-Here is the best part.  The day we were notified that our live bid was accepted we got our new luggage tags in the mail sent 1st class, not priority or express.  Those tags had to be sent out 3-7 days prior. 

 

Without proof I believe that our original bid was accepted and we were tricked into bidding an additional $10p/p.  Who cares about $20 but the idea just seemed "fishy".

[vacation44]

6 minutes ago, skeeter195 said:

 

3-Here is the best part.  The day we were notified that our live bid was accepted we got our new luggage tags in the mail sent 1st class, not priority or express.  Those tags had to be sent out 3-7 days prior. 

 

Without proof I believe that our original bid was accepted and we were tricked into bidding an additional $10p/p.  Who cares about $20 but the idea just seemed "fishy".

Wow.    I realize it cost you $20 more, but imagine if you upped your bid $100 a person?    Very fishy to me.

[skeeter195]

Wow.    I realize it cost you $20 more, but imagine if you upped your bid $100 a person?    Very fishy to me.

 

Exactly

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

Anything to get more money out of your pocket.

[tgloersen]

Yah that's what i figured.  When i bid, i bid the most im willing to pay so they are not going to get me to edge up.  As GraphicGuy says, the more you bid the less its worth it as you could easily upgrade for less in some cases.  I don't believe a Xmas cruise falls on this thinking as the Haven's were north of 10K for an H9 and the upwards of 20K+ for the 2 bedroom and the DOS.  SO i could bid more but there is just a line I draw and that line is defined when i put my original bid in.

 

The Havens are nice been in them a handful of times, but i'm not spending 10K to get one, i would rather cruise more often.  If i dont win my Club Balcony will serve us just fine.

[tjc78]

I have bids out there (both Haven) for our cruise leaving Xmas Eve. I fully expect not to get them, but I also won’t get into a bidding war.  
 

If I do happen to win one it will be a heck of a deal.  I only bid on them because they emailed me the offer and it was a lower opening bid than last time.  
 

[lgrover]

Let us know how you make out tjc78. Cruising on the NCLGetaway Jan 2, 2024. Upgraded few years ago on NCL Breakaway to 2 bed, 2 bath.Happy either way with many friends cruising in Club Balconies and balconies on Getaway!

 

[graphicguy]

12 hours ago, lgrover said:

Let us know how you make out tjc78. Cruising on the NCLGetaway Jan 2, 2024. Upgraded few years ago on NCL Breakaway to 2 bed, 2 bath.Happy either way with many friends cruising in Club Balconies and balconies on Getaway!

Just took an 11-nite Mediterannean cruise in October on the Epic as a solo.  Booked a Haven Balcony Suite for $4,400 all in.   For $113 I upgraded to a 2 BR Haven Suite.  I am a chronic cruise fare shopper on just about all cruise lines.  I did a double take on the upgrade cost.  It was legit.  I thought first about if I really needed 2BRs...NO!  But, don't know when I'll ever be able to book another.  I didn't wait.  I jumped on it.

 

It was the last 2BR Haven Suite available.  Even though the category was sold out, I looked at upgrades. Minimum bid was $700.  

 

I know the cruise lines use a 3rd party to administer this process.  Apparently there's not much in the way of communication between the cruise lines and the 3rd party administrators.

 

Moral of the story, if you believe the only way t get a good fare is via bidding, might want to rethink that and check all fares prior to bidding.

 

All the cruise lines want to give the impression that you're able to get a "deal" by bidding.  I'd say you're not likely to find a deal by adding. I think some have found deals, but it's not clear to me whether a deal via bidding is necessarily better than just booking the same fare outright.

Edited December 16, 2023 by graphicguy

[RocketMan275]

Many have posted that it is often cheaper to just pay for the upgrade instead of bidding.

[wolft927]

Bidding is only cheaper when there are a higher amount of inventory usually. We won a haven bid right around the restart after Covid for far less then what we could have upgraded for. Then the next cruise we simply paid the upgrade as the price dropped. This next cruise January 6th, we got the 2 bedroom haven suite for 4 people for a little over 8k. We are traveling with friends so we simply split the price, and whoever wanted the master bedroom paid a little more…

[SplashOfWater]

Definitely keep track of cabin prices.

 

Last year we were on the Dawn for a 14-day cruise. We had booked an Oceanview cabin and noticed about a month before sailing that the Family Suite (no balcony) cabins were about $1,000 more than what we had paid for an Oceanview. No brainer...we jumped on it and enjoyed all the suite beneifts: butler, concierge, escort on/off ship, breakfast/lunch in Moderno.

[Rick&Jeannie]

Ok, fairly new to NCL. (We've only done 2 prior cruises.) We currently have a third booked (and paid in full.) How do you get started in the bidding process? Do you have to wait for an email invitation or is there some website to go to?

[davencl]

7 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Ok, fairly new to NCL. (We've only done 2 prior cruises.) We currently have a third booked (and paid in full.) How do you get started in the bidding process? Do you have to wait for an email invitation or is there some website to go to?

Upgrade offers begin to occur around the 80 day mark plus or minus. There are three ways I have experienced.  You may receive an email.   The homepage when you login to your account will have a banner to click on to upgrade.  Finally you can enter you info into this site to check:https://upgrade.plusgrade.com/offer/NCL/   

[david_sobe]

We will never know but I am curious how many over pay the price of the suite compared to what other in the same class sold for months earlier directly.  I know in auto auctions people many times pay far more than the appraised value of the vehicle because people get excited at auctions.  I bet many times that happens here too.  So many people bidding leads to a high price.

[RocketMan275]

18 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

We will never know but I am curious how many over pay the price of the suite compared to what other in the same class sold for months earlier directly.  I know in auto auctions people many times pay far more than the appraised value of the vehicle because people get excited at auctions.  I bet many times that happens here too.  So many people bidding leads to a high price.

You're confounding two different things.

First, the price of the cruise may have gone up significantly.

Second, some will, no doubt, get excited at the bidding process.

Is your question, will I get a cheaper booking months in advance or in waiting for the bidding process?

For example, I booked a 2025 Haven cruise last june which has gone up over 20%.  Obviously, there has been no bidding yet.

[david_sobe]

1 hour ago, RocketMan275 said:

You're confounding two different things.

First, the price of the cruise may have gone up significantly.

Second, some will, no doubt, get excited at the bidding process.

Is your question, will I get a cheaper booking months in advance or in waiting for the bidding process?

For example, I booked a 2025 Haven cruise last june which has gone up over 20%.  Obviously, there has been no bidding yet.

Calm down.  I was simply stating the bidding process gets NCL top dollar.  

[RocketMan275]

2 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

Calm down.  I was simply stating the bidding process gets NCL top dollar.  

Not necessarily so.  

[tgloersen]

19 hours ago, david_sobe said:

Calm down.  I was simply stating the bidding process gets NCL top dollar.  

I agree Dave, i think this new process is all about NCL getting top dollar. I do think there are select cruiser out there were circumstances may have change or are willing to pay more than list to get a Haven.  I'm not one of them but i believe they exist.

 

I put in what i think its worth, if not good enough the CB is fine for me.

[prt328]

Going through this live bidding now.  I know for a fact that there is a LOT of open inventory on Club Balcony and Havens.  When you get the notice "you have been outbid" it means just that.  There may be 5 of the room you are bidding on available, and you MAY have the SECOND highest bid, but, technically, you have been outbid.  The crapshoot comes in when there are 35 other bidders on that room and you have no idea the range of those bids.  But knowing how many bidders helps...at least a little.