BCOS

We received an upgrade from a Club Balcony to a 2-br Deluxe Family Suite and were notified one week prior to sail date. The original lowest bid option was $650, and the original lowest bid amount for the Haven 2-br was - I believe - $660. Over the course of the last several weeks, the minimum for both dropped to around $500. Last Sunday, during the 'live' phase, we had a $650 bid in for the 2-br Deluxe Family and a $750 for the Haven 2-br. A mock reservation showed one of the Deluxe Family suites left and four of the Havens. Suddenly the 'update your bid' page looked different than it had the day before, and at the top it said I was in the lead on the Haven bid. It wouldn't allow me to make a change to the other one at that time. Within the hour, we were no longer leading for the 2-br Haven, and the Deluxe Family Suite also said we had been outbid. I bumped both bids up by $10, and neither showed us as being in the lead at those amounts. However, the next morning we received notice that our $660/pp for the 2-br Family Deluxe was a winner. There will be four of us in the suite, so ultimately the upgrade will have been $330/pp.

Thanks, all, for this insight. We'll be in Alaska, and the idea of a jacuzzi tub after a chilly excursion was nice. But, I'll survive without it.

Thanks! Sounds like the bathtub is a possibility, but not a certainty, huh? We were also bidding on the 2-br Havens, and were in the lead at one point yesterday, but like you mentioned, complawyer, I wasn't convinced those things would be worth the extra. They very well might have, but in the end, I knew we'd be happy with either so I didn't let myself get sucked into a mysterious bidding war. Are there any perks / amenities associated with the 2-br suites that we won't get since we didn't purchase our cabin the traditional way? ETA: Thanks for the video, jimsig!

We ended up with an upgrade via bid, from a club balcony to a 2-br Deluxe Family Suite. We're sailing on the Jewel. The description for our new cabin on the NLC website says, "In addition to the living area, dining area, private balcony and luxury bath with separate shower. Plus they can connect to other staterooms so you can spread out yet stay together. Includes butler and concierge service." The floorplan looks like both bathrooms have showers, and I don't see a bathtub. The "luxury bath with separate shower" gave me the impression that there was a tub. Was that a misinterpretation on my part? Also, are there any additional amenities to having this room that aren't self-evident? I do understand that the perks we had with our original booking (wifi package, excursion credit, and 1 bag of laundry) move up with us. And finally, are there 2-br family suites and deluxe family suites? Or are all of the 2-brs deluxe?

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?

We ultimately booked the 2:30 bus to Anchorage. We have reserved a car in Anchorage through Turo and have a cabin in the Wasilla area for a few nights. Getting excited! Are you looking at the Kenai boat through NCL?

For those of you with iPhones who use iMessaging onboard, do you receive messages from people not on the ship (e.g. back home)? Or just from those you're sailing with?

I'm not the OP, so I don't know if this is an issue, but we will be sailing with four of us in a Club Balcony suite, which has space for two chairs on the balcony. There are some suites that would accommodate all four of us out there together to watch the Alaskan scenery go by. And my understanding is that sometimes larger balconies might have a combination of a couple of chairs and a couple of loungers. If I had selected a cabin in part because of the ability of our traveling party to all make use of balcony space together, and got downgraded to something that would only accommodate two at a time, I'd be disappointed.

Just returning to report a new facet. I'm not using the true amounts that are showing for me in case there's some reason that's not kosher. I'm making the amounts up for the purpose of illustration. I can get to this page and interact with it, even though all evidence of my having the opportunity to bid has been removed from my Messages. Last week: 2-br family suite's minimum bid: $500 - I placed a bid of $550 2-br Haven's minimum bid: $800 - I didn't bid Two days ago: 2-br family suite's minimum bid: Still $500 - I left my bid 2-br Haven's minimum bid (Pricing above reflects a discount. Act fast!): $300 - I bid $575 Today: 2-br family suite has the red-font discount message, with a minimum bid of $200. Assuming I'm still free to bid, is it typical for the minimums to change? And should I consider adjusting bids based on the new minimums?

Since January, we have been booked in a Club Balcony Suite on an Alaskan cruise that sails in <40 days. A week or two ago I noticed in my Messages that I had the opportunity to bid for an upgrade. I did not receive an email. There were several options - penthouses, Havens, and a 2-br family suite. I put in a bid for the regular 2-br family suite. The Haven version had a minimum bid that was about $200 more pp. A couple of days ago I looked to see if the minimum bids for the other options were still at the same amount, and saw that the opening bids Haven 2-br family suites were lowered to about $150 less than the opening bid had been for the regular 2-br. In red text, it said, "Pricing above reflects a discount. Act fast!" I put in a bid for the Haven version that was just a little bit more than what I had done for the regular 2-br. Having read here that if you've already pre-paid your gratuities before getting a Haven upgrade that you don't have to pay an additional fee, I decided to go ahead and pre-pay our gratuities yesterday. The NCL website kept not letting me put those in my cart, so I used the Chat feature to inquire about whether the problem was me or the website, and the Chat agent took care of the transaction for me. Shortly thereafter, when I looked at my Messages, I saw two things: 1) I had a "You're booked!" message, as though I had just booked my cruise 2) The "Let's get you upgraded!" message was no longer in my inbox, leaving me without the trail I've followed to look at the status of my offers and the potential for making another one I did happen to still have tabs open in my browser for those pages specific to my offers, so I've saved those URLs and my two offers still show as pending. However, I'm concerned that somehow having pre-paid my gratuities bumped our bid-making capacity since the message has disappeared. Anyone have any experience with what is happening?

Is there a similar hack for ships that don't have Food Republic? We're sailing with four in our Jewel cabin and I declined the FAS dining option because 1) I think we'll feel like we have plenty of complimentary options and 2) I didn't want to either buy meals for two of us or leave two of us behind while 1&2 dined upscale.

We are 34 days from sailing. Of the 8 2-br Havens, a dummy booking shows 5 available Of the 10 2-br family suites, a dummy booking shows 4 available When I looked at the upgrade opportunities last week, I only bid on the 2-br family (non-Haven), and at an amount pretty close to the lowest possible. There are four of us and we're booked in a Club Balcony Suite, so we'd appreciate the additional bedroom and bathroom. The bigger one-room suites with one bathroom were considerably higher priced and I wasn't convinced we'd have enough extra value, and the various Havens were more than we wanted to pay. Today I looked at the upgrade opportunities again, and the 2-br Haven had an alert in red text saying there was a special lower price bidding opportunity, and the lowest possible amount was - I think - a little less than what the regular 2-br suite's minimum had been last week. So, I put in an offer for the 2-br Haven that's about $100 more than what we offered for the non-Haven version. Also, I did NOT get an email about upgrading, however, when I log in I do have a message saying we're eligible... for what that's worth. Realizing that there's no way to know what will happen until it happens, does anyone have experience with seeing that red-text announcement? Or with those ratios of availability (5 of 8 of the Havens; 4 of 10 of the regulars)?

On eBay, people can put in proxy bids that are the max they are willing to go, and when others bid under that amount, it immediately tells them that they have been outbid... until they go over the highest bidder's max. I suspect that with NCL, the bids of the other bidders were still just sitting there in the system, and when you were bidding, you were essentially replaying your waltz to the top against the same bids.

Sounds like at least the breakfast menu is complimentary 2x in the Club Balcony Suite.

It occurred to me (after I inquired here) that I could ask the NCL chat agent. They said we can order 2x during our 7-day cruise without incurring a fee. Mitchtech, I see that this is also listed in the amenities for regular balconies, for whatever that's worth. I've looked online for a menu but so far haven't discovered one. I realize it's not a huge perk, but I like the idea of having a [free] carafe of coffee delivered to the room at an early hour so our family's early risers can bundle up and drink coffee on the balcony while watching the scenery.

We will be aboard the Jewel in May, and are currently booked in a Club Balcony Suite. This page on the NCL site lists the continental breakfast menu as an Exclusive Club Balcony Suite Amenity of having a Club Balcony Suite. Is there an additional fee to make use of this benefit?

Thanks - I'd love to see it. I don't see a signature link, tho. 🤔

Thanks for the insight! We do well traveling together and aren't worried about / bothered by the Club Balcony Suite's tight quarters. Originally just my husband and I were going to go, but when we saw the price to add our single out-of-college kids was $0 + fees if they stayed in our room, we invited them on a whim and they said they'd love to go. In other words... they're just along because it was cheap to make that happen, and getting another room would defeat that purpose. 🙂 Our minimum to bid for the 2-br is $650 / pp ($1,300, total). It's the same for the forward penthouse, but I'm not as drawn to that just because the 2br gives us another bathroom and a living room (ie a separate room to go to when others are asleep). It looks like a great room, but between the two, I think I prefer the 2-br. I checked on Expedia and it looks like there are 3 of the 2br suites available.

Hello - We will be sailing on the Jewel in Alaska in May. I booked a Guarantee Club Balcony Suite for four of us (Dad, Mom, two single adult kids). The 3rd and 4th passengers paid taxes and fees and were otherwise free. Our cabin has been assigned and we're happy with the price we paid and the location of our cabin (deck 11, under the treatment rooms in the spa). We received a bid-for-upgrade offer, which includes Haven options, 2-Bedroom Deluxe Family Suite with Balcony, and Forward-Facing Deluxe Penthouse with Large Balcony. My understanding is that only the first two passengers would pay the bid amount, however, having read the FAQs, I have the following questions: 1) Will additional taxes and / or fees be assessed should a bid be accepted? 2) Would the the 3rd & 4th guests also be charged more in fees/taxes if the answer to my 1st question be yes? 3) Do they reveal what your total extra costs will (if accepted) be before you submit a bid? 4) Is there any rhyme or reason - such as the price we initially paid or the number of passengers in our cabin - that have any bearing on how likely a bid would be to be accepted? 5) How do I see how full the ship is? I've tried to do a dummy booking, but it doesn't let me choose a cabin so I'm not sure how to see how many cabins are available. Thanks for any insight!

Thanks for that insight, Kathscof! Still working out details, and this is helpful. 🙂

Thank you! Very helpful. I have ditched the idea of renting a vehicle in Seward. So at this point, assuming debarkation at 8:00 a.m., our options are: Spend about 6 hours in Seward, taking the Monday afternoon 2:30 Alaska Cruise Transfer bus Spend about 24 hours in Seward, taking the Tuesday morning 9:30 Seward Bus Lines bus Is 6 hours a sufficient amount of time to spend take in the sights of Seward itself if we don't plan to rent a car or take any paid excursions?

We will be porting in Skagway in early May and the excursion I'm considering offers two departure times: 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.. Given the time of year, is there apt to be a temperature advantage to the 2:00 slot?

Thanks for that insight. I booked a guarantee, so I don't have that information yet.

Thanks - I've seen people inquiring about having their standard chairs swapped for loungers, so I thought perhaps they had a stash of extra chairs available.

Also regarding guarantee cabins, we are booked in one on the Jewel, and we will have four in our club balcony suite. There is a little bit of a range in cabin size based on the info on the NCL site. Any chance our larger number of occupants will impact the cabin we're ultimately assigned?