Robin1961 Posted April 14 #1 Share Posted April 14 (edited) Hello Gang, With Princess Cruises, if they have cabins left over, you get a chance to bid for an upgrade Looking for some input on bidding for an upgrade cabin Worth it? Thank you Robin & Angel "D" Edited April 14 by Robin1961 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treasure Hunter Posted April 14 #2 Share Posted April 14 Yes. It can be a big savings but remember once you get a bid accepted you can’t back out if you don’t like the cabin. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare PacnGoNow Posted April 14 #3 Share Posted April 14 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Robin1961 said: Hello Gang, Looking for some input on bidding for an upgrade cabin Worth it> That is a very subjective and open ended question. You would need to determine what’s best for you. Be prepared to get a location or cabin that you may not want. Look to see, where the category you are bidding on, could be located. Check the deck plans. This is the most comprehensive and helpful thread I have seen on the bidding process. Check out the most recent posts of the 87 pages.🥴 Best of luck, making a decision. Thread doesn’t want to paste, just search cruise critic how is the bidding system doing? You’ll get the thread. Edited April 14 by PacnGoNow Added 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Paula_MacFan Posted April 14 #4 Share Posted April 14 See this lengthy thread for more information 🙂 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin1961 Posted April 14 Author #5 Share Posted April 14 49 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said: That is a very subjective and open ended question. You would need to determine what’s best for you. Be prepared to get a location or cabin that you may not want. Look to see, where the category you are bidding on, could be located. Check the deck plans. This is the most comprehensive and helpful thread I have seen on the bidding process. Check out the most recent posts of the 87 pages.🥴 Best of luck, making a decision. Thread doesn’t want to paste, just search cruise critic how is the bidding system doing? You’ll get the thread. Thank you for an honest answer.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare OzKiwiJJ Posted April 15 #6 Share Posted April 15 There is some degree of risk as you may end up being in a location you don't like but if it means getting a much nicer cabin for your cruise you may decide the risk is worth it. It was for us. We're about to embark on the 110 night world cruise out of Australia on Coral Princess. We had originally booked a BA balcony cabin - we usually book this category on a class of ship we've never cruised on before - and on Coral this was on the midships bump so had a very small balcony so we weren't 100% happy with the location after doing some cruises on Coral in 2022 but it would have cost more to change it. Just after Christmas we got the offer to bid for an upgrade. Since it's a very long cruise we decided to try for a mini-suite upgrade for the extra space and comfort. The minimum bid was a bit higher than we'd hoped for though. We raised it as much as we could afford but it was still a low bid. Late last month we received the dreaded "You've been out-bid" email, offering us the chance to increase our bid. No thanks, our original bid is all we could afford. Four days later we received the "Yay - you got your stateroom upgrade!" email. We now have an almost perfect starboard mid-aft mini-suite with a large (but uncovered) balcony. We've very happy with that. 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iamcruzin Posted April 15 #7 Share Posted April 15 It also depends on what the price of the upgrade would have been at the time of your original booking. I don't have experience on Princess but on Royal Caribbean the starting bid would have cost me more than if I had booked that category to being with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare OzKiwiJJ Posted April 15 #8 Share Posted April 15 1 hour ago, Iamcruzin said: It also depends on what the price of the upgrade would have been at the time of your original booking. I don't have experience on Princess but on Royal Caribbean the starting bid would have cost me more than if I had booked that category to being with. True. Luckily I'd downloaded the release brochure for that cruise so I knew what the original base price for a mini-suite was. We got a very good deal. Plus at the time we booked a mini-suite was out of our price range but our circumstances changed so we were able to afford the bid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shone216 Posted April 15 #9 Share Posted April 15 We bid the minimum price on an owners suite on Sun Princess and got it. Our total cost is less than half than if we’ve booked it originally so we’re pleased. If you get a successful bid you can check out location etc before accepting to see if it’s suitable for you, if not stay with your original cabin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare OzKiwiJJ Posted April 15 #10 Share Posted April 15 57 minutes ago, Shone216 said: We bid the minimum price on an owners suite on Sun Princess and got it. Our total cost is less than half than if we’ve booked it originally so we’re pleased. If you get a successful bid you can check out location etc before accepting to see if it’s suitable for you, if not stay with your original cabin We did not get a chance to accept the successful bid, we were just advised of our new cabin. Luckily we love the location. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy42cruise Posted April 15 #11 Share Posted April 15 1 hour ago, Shone216 said: We bid the minimum price on an owners suite on Sun Princess and got it. Our total cost is less than half than if we’ve booked it originally so we’re pleased. If you get a successful bid you can check out location etc before accepting to see if it’s suitable for you, if not stay with your original cabin You no longer get to refuse the upgrade if you don't care for the assigned room. Your credit card is immediately charged & you are assigned a new cabin. You might possibly be able to move to a different cabin if there is one in the same category available BUT you do not get to refuse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shone216 Posted April 15 #12 Share Posted April 15 Not sure if it’s different for UK passengers but we were given 72hours to pay and could log in to Princess and see the cabin allocated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F355c5 Posted April 15 #13 Share Posted April 15 One thing to remember is that if your bid is accepted you cannot bid again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treasure Hunter Posted April 15 #14 Share Posted April 15 We were able to upgrade from a mini suite to a Reserve ( club class) mini and were thrilled as it had the club class dining. I heard that after September Princess will open one of the restaurants as a no reservation any time dining which devalues the Reserve class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I object 2 Posted April 15 #15 Share Posted April 15 8 hours ago, Shone216 said: We bid the minimum price on an owners suite on Sun Princess and got it. Our total cost is less than half than if we’ve booked it originally so we’re pleased. If you get a successful bid you can check out location etc before accepting to see if it’s suitable for you, if not stay with your original cabin Wow! That's amazing! We booked owners suite #16611 on Sun Princess in 2025. I contacted Princess "Live Chat" this morning to ask a few questions on this cabin. The rep said the shower was a "roll-in" shower which leads me to believe this is an accessible suite. The website indicates a separate tub/shower. May I ask what suite you were in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shone216 Posted April 15 #16 Share Posted April 15 We’re sailing in a couple of weeks will let you know how it goes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iamcruzin Posted April 15 #17 Share Posted April 15 15 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said: True. Luckily I'd downloaded the release brochure for that cruise so I knew what the original base price for a mini-suite was. We got a very good deal. Plus at the time we booked a mini-suite was out of our price range but our circumstances changed so we were able to afford the bid That's what I do too. It's the only way to know with the prices constantly changing especially if you book far in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I object 2 Posted April 15 #18 Share Posted April 15 6 hours ago, Shone216 said: We’re sailing in a couple of weeks will let you know how it goes Thanks! I'd appreciate that. Enjoy that new ship! Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare OzKiwiJJ Posted April 16 #19 Share Posted April 16 9 hours ago, Treasure Hunter said: We were able to upgrade from a mini suite to a Reserve ( club class) mini and were thrilled as it had the club class dining. I heard that after September Princess will open one of the restaurants as a no reservation any time dining which devalues the Reserve class. No, it doesn't. That's what the original Anytime dining was - no reservation, dine when you want but sometimes you had to wait for a table. Reserve Collection is a separate area, different tablecloths, better service and a couple of extra items on the dinner menu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treasure Hunter Posted April 16 #20 Share Posted April 16 Yes you are right, and service is better, greeted by name, no wait but the food is really the same as MDR . They usually add a shrimp dish and a crepe for dessert. It’s the no wait that I like. Looking forward to true suite dining on the Sun with a separate dining room. A reason for the prices to become closer to Retreat and Haven. Right now, suites on Princess are still much less than Celebrity or NCL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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