What was your upgrade offer and what did you bid

[fridaythe13th]

I don't think there is a rhyme or reason you get picked. This would be our scenario for the Dawn to Bermuda in May. My friend had a mini-suite booked and I had a BD balcony booked. At the very end of the bidding there were three SJ suites available. I bid low at $370 pp and she bid higher at $550 pp. We both ended up winning our bids. We were notified on the Monday before sailing Friday. I believe we saved about $700 if we had upgraded on our own. It was fun to play the game!!

[QueenOfZoom]

From many posts and recent experience, bids appear to get processed two weeks prior to sailing and Haven bids the Tuesday before sailing. So if you have a Haven bid in, you will find out on the 24th.

 

Thanks for sharing! Won a Haven bid the Tuesday before sailing last year on Escape, now waiting on a balcony bid for Sky next month.

[JamieLogical]

I don't think there is a rhyme or reason you get picked. This would be our scenario for the Dawn to Bermuda in May. My friend had a mini-suite booked and I had a BD balcony booked. At the very end of the bidding there were three SJ suites available. I bid low at $370 pp and she bid higher at $550 pp. We both ended up winning our bids. We were notified on the Monday before sailing Friday. I believe we saved about $700 if we had upgraded on our own. It was fun to play the game!!

 

The rhyme and reason in every case is the maximum amount of money NCL can make. You and your friend both got upgrades for the amounts you bid because that was what allowed NCL to make the most money. It's likely your friend over-bid if you got upgraded for $370 and she paid $550, unless your BD cabin was worth more because they needed it for someone who bid up from and inside or ocean view room, but trust and believe that the power of the almighty dollar is what won you both your upgrades.

[RelaxingbytheSeas]

I would venture to say MOST people do not win the bids only a very small percentage of people playing this game win

 

:( Thanks! Although, your response was hard to hear, as well as it is a true analysis...it killed the dream of wishful thinking.

 

In ending is to bid, accept what you purchase and if anything pops up in a few weeks, great!

 

I also noticed that the highest range on the meter is over the actual booking price. If anyone bid for such is well over $400.00 (for a particular Haven Stateroom) then the price you could pay outright. My theory is for it to be a win on most people part, I would want to save between $500/pp to $1000.00. If I am not saving at least this much, why don't I go forward and book it outright?

[njkate]

:( Thanks! Although, your response was hard to hear, as well as it is a true analysis...it killed the dream of wishful thinking.

 

In ending is to bid, accept what you purchase and if anything pops up in a few weeks, great!

 

I also noticed that the highest range on the meter is over the actual booking price. If anyone bid for such is well over $400.00 (for a particular Haven Stateroom) then the price you could pay outright. My theory is for it to be a win on most people part, I would want to save between $500/pp to $1000.00. If I am not saving at least this much, why don't I go forward and book it outright?

Exactly, but wish you good luck on your bid.

For me only two bedroom havens are showing available, to outright book it would add another 10K to an already expensive cruise in the Baltics. I have no delusions on winning, it would be a welcome surprise if I do and if I don't the mini suite is fine.

[Laszlo]

I got an email to bid this morning. Strange.......We are in a Mini Suite and I can only bid on Haven's. They have every category listed to bid, all of them with the max bid higher than if I would have paid outright. However, every Haven cabin except for (2) are sold, so I don't really get the point. Their are 12 Spa Mini Suites available yet I can't bid on any of those Lol

[RelaxingbytheSeas]

I got me email to bid this morning. Strange.......We are in a Mini Suite and I can only bid on Haven's. They have every category listed to bid, all of them with the max bid higher than if I would have paid outright. However, every Haven cabin except for (2) are sold, so I don't really get the point. Their are 12 Spa Mini Suites available yet I can't bid on any of those Lol

 

Only way to know if you have a chance, is to try and bid only what you are willing to pay. If you win, yay! If not, it sounds like you have a great room anyhow. Good luck! Happy Bidding!

[MikeBTN]

The rhyme and reason in every case is the maximum amount of money NCL can make. You and your friend both got upgrades for the amounts you bid because that was what allowed NCL to make the most money. It's likely your friend over-bid if you got upgraded for $370 and she paid $550, unless your BD cabin was worth more because they needed it for someone who bid up from and inside or ocean view room, but trust and believe that the power of the almighty dollar is what won you both your upgrades.

 

Bingo. IMO the only thing they’re looking at is what’s best for NCL’s bottom line.

 

Let’s pretend someone in an inside bid $500 for a balcony, you bid $350 for the suite. Meanwhile someone in a balcony bid $200 for a minisuite and someone else in a minisuite bid $600 for a suite. It would make more sense for NCL to take your bid because they make $850 (your $350 plus the $500 from the inside to move to your room) vs $800 from the minisuite ($600 from the person in the minisuite and $200 from the person moving from balcony to the MS).

 

It is entirely possible there are other factors we don’t know about (Latitudes level, price paid for the room, etc) but I imagine those carry very small weight compared to $$$. They could also be used as tie breakers.

 

One other thing to remember, if you booked with a travel agent, they get paid commission on your upsell bid. Your bid needs to be roughly 20% higher than someone who didn’t book with a TA in order to make sense for NCL to accept yours.

[MikeBTN]

I got an email to bid this morning. Strange.......We are in a Mini Suite and I can only bid on Haven's. They have every category listed to bid, all of them with the max bid higher than if I would have paid outright. However, every Haven cabin except for (2) are sold, so I don't really get the point. Their are 12 Spa Mini Suites available yet I can't bid on any of those Lol

 

People DO cancel last minute. Also remember even though a category is sold out, someone may win their bid to move to a higher category room.

 

As for the Spa MS, yes, the only category you can bid on meta-categories are suites/Haven. I’m guessing it would be too much of a hassle to break down balcony, aft balcony/MS, family balcony/MS, spa balcony/MS, etc for bidding purposes. Also worth noting if you are already in The Haven, you can’t bid on a Haven Spa Suite either.

[Bunyan1967]

... Also worth noting if you are already in The Haven, you can’t bid on a Haven Spa Suite either.

 

Can you eloborate on this? Not sure i understand.

[RelaxingbytheSeas]

I don't think there is a rhyme or reason you get picked. This would be our scenario for the Dawn to Bermuda in May. My friend had a mini-suite booked and I had a BD balcony booked. At the very end of the bidding there were three SJ suites available. I bid low at $370 pp and she bid higher at $550 pp. We both ended up winning our bids. We were notified on the Monday before sailing Friday. I believe we saved about $700 if we had upgraded on our own. It was fun to play the game!!

 

Did you book with a TA or directly with NCL?

[Laszlo]

People DO cancel last minute. Also remember even though a category is sold out, someone may win their bid to move to a higher category room.

 

As for the Spa MS, yes, the only category you can bid on meta-categories are suites/Haven. I’m guessing it would be too much of a hassle to break down balcony, aft balcony/MS, family balcony/MS, spa balcony/MS, etc for bidding purposes. Also worth noting if you are already in The Haven, you can’t bid on a Haven Spa Suite either.

 

Makes sense

[erdoran]

In my case I'm in a CY PH and can bid on 2 BR PH or DOS. Nothing higher than DOS (Bliss). DOS is sold out. Go figger!

 

The 2 BR is about $2800 pp higher than we paid. There were intermittently spa suites available but they appear to be gone now, they are about $800 higher than we paid. Makes no sense that we couldn't bid on a spa suite, but we can on the sold out DOS.

[All-ready2cruise]

Can you eloborate on this? Not sure i understand.

 

Haven Spa suite is the lowest level of Haven... you can't bid on a Haven suite lower than what you already have; this is assuming you already have a Haven suite.

[JamieLogical]

I got an email to bid this morning. Strange.......We are in a Mini Suite and I can only bid on Haven's. They have every category listed to bid, all of them with the max bid higher than if I would have paid outright. However, every Haven cabin except for (2) are sold, so I don't really get the point. Their are 12 Spa Mini Suites available yet I can't bid on any of those Lol

 

It costs NCL nothing to allow you to bid. Meanwhile, it covers their bases in case of cancellations or staterooms being vacated due to other upgrades being processed and it gives them important data that they use for future pricing and predictive analytics. Even if all Havens sell out and no one wins an upgrade on a specific cruise, knowing what you were willing to bid is still valuable information for NCL.

[Bunyan1967]

Haven Spa suite is the lowest level of Haven... you can't bid on a Haven suite lower than what you already have; this is assuming you already have a Haven suite.

 

Ok. Thanks. I thought that's what you meant but wasn't sure.

[erdoran]

Funny that spa suite is lowest level of Haven but it costs more than CYPH or front facing PH

[JamieLogical]

Funny that spa suite is lowest level of Haven but it costs more than CYPH or front facing PH

 

Haven pricing seems to be very ship and sailing dependent. In theory H2 > H3 > H4 and so on, but in reality, pricing seems to change between ships and sailings. I have seen H9 cost more than H8 and H7. I have seen H8 cost more than H6 and H5... It's really all over the map.

[Boo57]

Has anyone won a bid for Epic on 8 July from Barcelona ?

[MikeBTN]

Can you eloborate on this? Not sure i understand.

 

You can only bid on cabins considered higher than yours. The Haven Spa Suite is considered the “lowest” category, as is the Haven Penthouse.

[MikeBTN]

Funny that spa suite is lowest level of Haven but it costs more than CYPH or front facing PH

 

I often see the Spa Suite as the lowest priced Haven Suite. Completely opposite of balcony & minisuite, where it’s usually cheaper to book the cabin and pay for the thermal spa pass separately vs booking the spa cabin.

[Bunyan1967]

You can only bid on cabins considered higher than yours. The Haven Spa Suite is considered the “lowest” category, as is the Haven Penthouse.

 

Thanks. I thought that was what you meant but wanted to confirm.

[RelaxingbytheSeas]

I have another question. If I want to be more consider for the Haven suites upgrade, would you say NOT to bid on the mini-suite at all or bid the lowest on the mini-suite? I am now hearing that people that put in for a bid on all that are available are getting for example...mini-suite over the Haven, or oceanview over a balcony. Thoughts?

 

Now granted, if I didn't get an upgrade for the Haven, I would love to upgrade to a mini-suite. However, I would like to be more consider for the Haven suites first.

Edited June 27, 2018 by RelaxingbytheSeas

[JamieLogical]

I have another question. If I want to be more consideration for the Haven suites upgrade, would you say NOT to bid on the mini-suite at all or bid the lowest on the mini-suite? I am now hearing that people that put in for a bid on all that are available are getting for example...mini-suite over the Haven, or oceanview over a balcony. Thoughts?

 

There is definitely a chance that bidding on the mini-suite could hurt you in your bid for the Haven. If you bid on both and someone else only bids on Haven, even if they bid less than you, then it could work out better for NCL to put you in the mini-suite and the other people in the Haven rather than put you in the Haven and leave that mini-suite empty. Remember, it's all a game of musical chairs. Moving you to a mini-suite and the other people to Haven frees up *two* Balconies versus just one, which means they can accept more bids from inside/oceanview to those newly vacated balconies. So it's not just YOUR bid that is a factor, but what other people have bid to upgrade to your current stateroom.

[RelaxingbytheSeas]

There is definitely a chance that bidding on the mini-suite could hurt you in your bid for the Haven. If you bid on both and someone else only bids on Haven, even if they bid less than you, then it could work out better for NCL to put you in the mini-suite and the other people in the Haven rather than put you in the Haven and leave that mini-suite empty. Remember, it's all a game of musical chairs. Moving you to a mini-suite and the other people to Haven frees up *two* Balconies versus just one, which means they can accept more bids from inside/oceanview to those newly vacated balconies. So it's not just YOUR bid that is a factor, but what other people have bid to upgrade to your current stateroom.

 

Good to know. Canceling my bid for the mini-suites. Again, if I get my upgrade in one of the Haven suites. Yay...if not, I will stay in my balcony and take the extra money to shop!