Auction for cruise for 2 in a Courtyard villa

[retiredonthesea]

When My Lee and I were on the Gem in March, we had the Amethyst Penthouse. Having that level of stateroom, we were invited to a courtyard cocktail party on 14. It was nice to see how the "other half" cruises, but then we spoke to Cruise Consultant Duncan and Port Shopping Consultant Brendan. They told us that the "Courtyard Villas" were exactly the same, square-foot for square-foot as the Penthouses two decks below, plus the access to the courtyard. Now, please don't get me wrong, the courtyard was a nice little respite from the hoards on the rest of the ship. The key word however is "little." There's a little--nay--TINY pool that's 3.5 feet deep and a little greenery around. The CV's are like two grand more just to have access to the courtyard. Unless you're talking about upgrading to the GARDEN Villa or even an Owner's Suite, the AB Penthouses on Deck 11 are the way to go!

 

And I thank you...

JWK: AB Penthouse Booster

 

Have to agree with you there, we love the AB's and have been up to the Courtyard-- it's not worth the extra money for us to stay in a courtyard villa, but I do love the Garden Villa!!!

 

Just ck'd and it's still at $3601.00! I might have to think about this for a bit--and watch what goes on--hummm!

[nyflush]

Have to agree with you there, we love the AB's and have been up to the Courtyard-- it's not worth the extra money for us to stay in a courtyard villa, but I do love the Garden Villa!!!

 

Just ck'd and it's still at $3601.00! I might have to think about this for a bit--and watch what goes on--hummm!

 

I hope you bid and win! I really want to know what the dates are.

 

This auction has limited information.

 

But a Courtyard villa for $3600 is a great deal anytime of year:)

[Planer's Edge]

It went for $4005.00

 

PE

[LadyShiva]

Annnnd it closed a bit over 4 grand.

[jame_g]

Well, I was sitting there watching the bidding, but didn't want to say anything before it was over. The bidding went over my limit given the unknowns.

[noreddye]

I wonder if some one from CC was the winner?

[nyflush]

I wonder if some one from CC was the winner?

 

I hope so:) Great deal I would love to know the choice of weeks.

[sjbdtz]

My ideas are your ideas!

 

 

SH:D

 

 

Do you share a brain? :rolleyes:

[Sea Hound]

Do you share a brain? :rolleyes:

 

We don't share a brain but "Muder and I think a lot alike sometimes!;)

 

SH:D

[cruiseat50]

I guess it’s time to confess we were the ones who won the auction. I’m sorry it has taken so long to get this out there as I know a lot of you wanted to know the details. I had various reasons as to why I didn’t want to let the cat out of the bag, which I will not go into here. For those that don’t want to hear my ramble go to **Details

 

I want to wholeheartedly thank ImADaneFan for posting the news of this auction as I would never had known about it. The funny thing is that I was on break browsing my favorite site which of course is CC. When I saw this and went to the link I realized I really needed to get more info. So I called home to DH who then called (as Noreddye appropriately named her) the very nice lady at The Blue School. She told DH that the dates would have to be worked out with the NCL rep. Okay so then I thought I would call and see if I could finagle any more info out of her.;) She really felt bad but she said she really didn’t know as all she had was a piece of paper stating basically what was on the website and that the winner would have to work it out with NCL.

 

Like most of you I was a little apprehensive about not knowing what dates would be available thought I really should pass but… then the gambler in me clubbed the sensible side and off I went to home to try to win it. As DH and I are by no means wealthy I thought that there was no way we would ever be able to afford this any other way and this was an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up.

 

Even though I can surf at work on my breaks of course I didn’t think it would be a good idea to actually bid on something at work. Luckily I only live about 15 min. from work (was definitely less due to less traffic and may have pushed the gas a little harder) lol. To our delight I won the bid :eek::D (DH calls me ebay queen) (but really I don’t ebay that much – just win when I do). So of course we did the happy dance for quite a while and then I said I have to calm down as I need to get back to work. DH said okay but I double dare you to get any work done today! I will admit it was very difficult and was even harder to wipe the ear to ear smile off my face! I couldn’t let on at work for a couple of reason and will not bore you with those details.

 

**DETAILS:

 

This is part of the response I got from the equally as nice and very helpful lady at NCL when I asked for a list of ships & dates:

 

I’d be happy to provide you with sailing date choices, however, can you please let me know what itinerary (or itineraries) you are most interested in and what timeframe (maybe two to three month timeframe) you are interested in traveling? We normally donate ocean view cabins to charities so this Courtyard Villa donation is an exception and we don’t have a standard list of available sailing dates like we do for our ocean view cabin winners. Since there are a limited number of Courtyard Villas on each ship, I just need to look at the availability on a sailing by sailing basis. Once I hear back from you, I’ll check on dates right away.

 

We had a lot of emails back and forth for the next couple of days. I was grateful that she responded back so quickly each time as I told her I was eager to get this booked. The main reason I wanted to book right away is so that I could get trip insurance within the time limit, so that there would be no problem with pre-existing conditions.

 

I was trying to decide if I wanted to go to the eastern Caribbean, Hawaii in January or to Alaska sometime this summer. I told her that I would prefer Jan-Mar for Caribbean or Hawaii or the summer for Alaska. She sent me back quite a list of options that I could take but unfortunately I don’t seem to have that email anymore. The more I thought about how much we enjoyed our 1st cruise last January when we had record amounts of snow here in Seattle I decided we definitely wanted that getaway again even though it will most likely be a much milder winter. I asked her what would be done about the POH not having a courtyard villa and she replied that she would get us I believe some sort of penthouse. I looked it up and thought that if I did want to go to Hawaii we would have to negotiate as that didn’t quite seem comparable. I really don’t think if it came down to it there would have been a problem as she was very accommodating.

 

Since we had cruised the year before in western Caribbean we decided on the eastern Caribbean and that would mean a homecoming for us on the fabulous Pearl! Truth be told I kind of wished that it would have been another ship as I wanted a new experience. But believe me that didn’t last long as I just love the Pearl as she is in my heart forever. She was actually able to get the exact sailing that I wanted – which means I will be celebrating my 51st birthday on board again. How sweet is that? But it gets even better! I told her that I would love to be able to bring my mom and sister but the auction was for an A4 which only holds 2. Being the sweetheart that she is she was able to get us upgraded to an A3. We of course had to pay extra as it is larger to accommodate 4 and the auction was for 2 but I will not go into how much. Believe me its worth it as this is something that I truly wanted to do for my dear mother. Also, this kind of makes up for telling my sister that we wanted to do the last cruise on our own as it was our first. (I had major guilt for quite a while). Really I knew right from the start it would be the Carribean and we were going to get both of them on with us one way or another… lol. Mom has always loved the looks of Miami. She doesn’t watch a lot of tv but she always watched Miami Vice and CSI Miami so she could see glimpses. So I really wanted to give her this so that she could scratch that off her bucket list. By the way this is one of the reasons I didn’t want to say anything as I wanted to surprise my mom with it on her birthday.

 

Sorry this is rambling on but this is another reason it took me so long to post as I don’t write much but when I do I just can’t stop…lol.:p Oh, and I know… the details got a bit fuzzy… oops.

 

One last reason I was considering not to post anything is truly a very selfish reason but in the end I am doing the right thing. That reason being that if I told everyone that the fears of the dates being so limited were unfounded well… then the next time one comes on the auction block everyone will want to bid on it. I doubt that there will be another like this very often but if there is I don’t think you would be disappointed. I also know that unless DH gets another job and comes out of retirement that we will have to pass on it anyway. But we do have high hopes even with this lousy economy that it will happen (just hope its sooner rather than later).

 

So… there ya’ go that’s the gist of it. Yes, someone from CC did win it thanks to a CC member for informing everyone. Hopefully, the old saying of “better late than never” applies here.

 

So if we weren't before we are definately on the NCL cheerleading squad now and can't wait to get on board our beloved Pearl.

 

Best wishes to all our CC friends (don't think we have any enemie):eek: if this opportunity comes up in the future. But if DH has a job watch out the ebay queen will be on guard!:D

[uneamie]

 

So… there ya’ go that’s the gist of it. Yes, someone from CC did win it thanks to a CC member for informing everyone. Hopefully, the old saying of “better late than never” applies here.

 

So if we weren't before we are definately on the NCL cheerleading squad now and can't wait to get on board our beloved Pearl.

 

Best wishes to all our CC friends (don't think we have any enemie):eek: if this opportunity comes up in the future. But if DH has a job watch out the ebay queen will be on guard!:D

 

Well I could not be happier for ya....way to go! :D

 

Did you ever mention what your bid was? If not, can you tell us? How often do they do these auctions?

[DC'sgirl]

Congratulations! Hope you have an awesome cruise and a very happy birthday while onboard!

[MrLee]

Well I could not be happier for ya....way to go! :D

 

Did you ever mention what your bid was? If not, can you tell us? How often do they do these auctions?

 

 

The winning bid was $4005.00.

[noreddye]

Cruiseat50,

 

I am so happy for you and I am glad to hear that someone from CC won the cruise. The person you were bidding against was my husband, he "borrowed" my normal username. He was going to surprise me but did not want to go over a certain dollar amount.

 

Have a wonderful cruise and a fabulous Birthday. Please come back and let us know how the trip went.

[rickechambers1@aol.com]

That's a fantastic story...thank you for sharing. You are going to love it...and sharing your Courtyard Villa with others just makes it that much better. Good for you!

[ImADaneFan]

Cruiseat50... I'm so glad that someone at CC won. I just happened to get an email from the Blue Man Group and thought I would pass the information along. If we didn't already have 5 weeks booked next year I would have bid on it. But then I would have had to thought twice about posting the link.;) Please come back and give us a review of your cruise. Have a wonderful birthday cruise.

Linda

[watchdiva]

Thanks for sharing your story! :)

[cruiseat50]

Well I could not be happier for ya....way to go! :D

 

Did you ever mention what your bid was? If you go to the 1st posting on this thread there is a link to the site with all the details. If not, can you tell us? How often do they do these auctions?

This is the 1st but hopefully not the last for a courtyard villa. They do donate ocean view occassionally.

[cruiseat50]

Cruiseat50,

 

I am so happy for you and I am glad to hear that someone from CC won the cruise. The person you were bidding against was my husband, he "borrowed" my normal username. He was going to surprise me but did not want to go over a certain dollar amount.

 

Have a wonderful cruise and a fabulous Birthday. Please come back and let us know how the trip went.

 

I thought it was strange that someone had the same name as you bidding on this. Tell DH sorry for ruining his surprise. I kinda feel bad...:( but then again.... :D LOL (that devilish side coming out again)

 

Thanks for the well wishes and will come back to report this time. Last cruise I kept saying I should and did actually write quite a bit of a review but never got around to finishing and posting.:o

[noreddye]

I thought it was strange that someone had the same name as you bidding on this. Tell DH sorry for ruining his surprise. I kinda feel bad...:( but then again.... :D LOL (that devilish side coming out again)

 

Thanks for the well wishes and will come back to report this time. Last cruise I kept saying I should and did actually write quite a bit of a review but never got around to finishing and posting.:o

 

Yes, it would have been a wonderful surprise. Things happen for a reason.... We have booked the courtyard villa (Pearl) for our Alaska cruise in May. I can't to read your review.