bidding for upgrade

[kevinrobedm]

We are in Canada so the exchange played into it. We are doing a 16 day followed by a 9 day for a total of 25 days. All 25 days were in a "MB" mini suite and we chose UBP and Gratuities. A week ago we upgraded to a Haven Spa Minisuite (H9). For both of us for the 25 days it cost a total of $6000 CAD or $4500 USD. For that we lost the prepaid gratuities but we gained the dining, free wifi, $50 per port shore excursion plus since we booked with Costco travel we are getting a $1400 cash card from them. This may sound expensive but we feel we can't take the money with us when we die and we are at an age where we decided that splurging on ourselves is more important than a mortgage pay down or a new car. We have been in the Haven before and the experience is quite incredible. I had been watching from October 2016 when we first booked and the prices have not really moved all that much. The promotions have but the prices haven't. Since we did not have access to the Upgrade Advantage anyway we did the upgrade, we picked the room, we now can just relax until cruise time knowing we are set. We are glad we did not have to play the game with NCL about the bidding only to be potentially let down as someone else bid higher than us. Maybe we paid more, maybe we didn't but at the end of the day we are in the room we want to be in and not wondering if we are going to get that email 48 hours before we sail.

 

 

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[Host CJSKIDS]

We are in Canada so the exchange played into it. We are doing a 16 day followed by a 9 day for a total of 25 days. All 25 days were in a "MB" mini suite and we chose UBP and Gratuities. A week ago we upgraded to a Haven Spa Minisuite (H9). For both of us for the 25 days it cost a total of $6000 CAD or $4500 USD. For that we lost the prepaid gratuities but we gained the dining, free wifi, $50 per port shore excursion plus since we booked with Costco travel we are getting a $1400 cash card from them. This may sound expensive but we feel we can't take the money with us when we die and we are at an age where we decided that splurging on ourselves is more important than a mortgage pay down or a new car. We have been in the Haven before and the experience is quite incredible. I had been watching from October 2016 when we first booked and the prices have not really moved all that much. The promotions have but the prices haven't. Since we did not have access to the Upgrade Advantage anyway we did the upgrade, we picked the room, we now can just relax until cruise time knowing we are set. We are glad we did not have to play the game with NCL about the bidding only to be potentially let down as someone else bid higher than us. Maybe we paid more, maybe we didn't but at the end of the day we are in the room we want to be in and not wondering if we are going to get that email 48 hours before we sail.

 

 

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Very nice! Enjoy!!!

[sarah1819]

I have done the same thing, but I was booked through air canada vacations. I upgraded from a balcony to a H7 by paying the difference, however, I have noticed that the prices of the H3 cabins dropped since. Does anyone know if I can call and see that the price is and still upgrade to a H3 if I have already did it once?

Thanks in advance!

[kevinrobedm]

If you are doing a paid upgrade you can do this as many times as you want but you can never get a refund if the price has fallen. They will take your money as many times as you want but you will never get any back :)

 

 

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[sarah1819]

Thanks!

Since the price is still higher than the H7, I might call and see how much it is to move up to a H3 in a few days! They are still showing 15 left for my sailing in about 2 weeks

[sarah1819]

I meant to say H4, not H3...too early and need coffee. Lol

[kevinrobedm]

We are on the Getaway leaving April 30th from Miami, what cruise are you on ?

 

 

 

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[sarah1819]

The escape from Miami on 29th!

[E43509]

On 4/12/2017 at 9:11 PM, kevinrobedm said:

Costco Travel "opted out" of the Upgrade Advantage, we confirmed this with NCL. This means you will not get any emails for this. The only way you can upgrade is to call into Costco and have them call into NCL and ask about and upgrade. The good thing is that you get ALL of the current promotions when you do an upgrade which you don't get if you do the Upgrade Advantage. I am not sure if the bidding price would be any cheaper as you would have to put a value on the "perks" that you get if you do an upgrade vs the lack of those perks when you do Upgrade Advantage. With Upgrade advantage you keep the promotions you originally had so you really do need to do some research and calculations. That was our experience anyway. We did the upgrade a week ago for a cruise leaving at the end of April.

 

I had the same question as to why we were not part of the bidding while others were.  We bought thru Costco.   Thanks. 

 

While I can't confirm,  it appears that NCL and others use the third party https://www.plusgrade.com/ to handle the bidding (they are listed as one of the partners) and perhaps there are additional fees that costco doesn't want to pass onto customers to become part of that upgrade advantage program.  

[Heatherlh1129]

On 4/12/2017 at 8:10 PM, kevinrobedm said:

 

Costco Travel "opted out" of the Upgrade Advantage, we confirmed this with NCL. This means you will not get any emails for this. The only way you can upgrade is to call into Costco and have them call into NCL and ask about and upgrade. The good thing is that you get ALL of the current promotions when you do an upgrade which you don't get if you do the Upgrade Advantage. I am not sure if the bidding price would be any cheaper as you would have to put a value on the "perks" that you get if you do an upgrade vs the lack of those perks when you do Upgrade Advantage. With Upgrade advantage you keep the promotions you originally had so you really do need to do some research and calculations. That was our experience anyway. We did the upgrade a week ago for a cruise leaving at the end of April.

I don’t understand how u got a better upgrade by Costco calling by promotions.. I don’t see any promotions