NCL Bidding Process - Bid Range & Success Discussion Only Please

[Starry Eyes]

I want to give a word of caution on "upgrades" because its happened to us. And this takes many forms on many different cruise lines. This trick (I hesitate to call it a scam) used to be a check box when you signed up for a cruise that said something like the "[ ] I will accept an automatic upgrade." Who wouldn't right? Well this meant they could move you from a great location in say a balcony room, to say the floor above in a balcony room (an upgrade) but in a terrible location. Happened to us at least twice.....Certainly NCL's bidding process is a form of this....which rooms they have which are hard to sell. I'm not saying it always works out badly, but just saying to enter into this with some caution. NCL is NOT upgrading you out of the kindness of their heart. They are doing it to maximize revenue, and also, fill rooms in locations that might be hard to fill otherwise.

I totally understand what you are saying, and I am quite familiar with the "[ ] I will accept an automatic upgrade."box and the questionable upgrade one can get. But I believe NCL’s play is a bit different. Yes, it is a quest for more profit...this is a profit driven business not a philanthropic one. But NCL does price some of its most desirable cabins much higher than others (for example while rci puts aft balconies in same category as regular balconies, NCL splits them out into a category with a premium price. And many of the cheapest NCL booking are sold as guarantee cabins, so NCL can get rid of hard to fill locations easily early on to those folks. And they don’t tend to let gty booking swap cabins within category so assigned locations are more likely to stick.

 

With the bidding, some good cabins may be left at the end, because nobody ponies up the premium price for the premium category, so they can be assigned to high bidders. Also last minute upgrades to top suites leave opening in lower tiers, some of which were hand selected “good” cabins. Sure, some bad cabins are in the mix, too,but a lower percent I think than you might fear based on you prior negative experience with the check for upgrade box. No doubt though, bidding for upgrades is a risk as one cannot see location is advance. DH and I are flexible about location. We are heavy sleepers and are not prone to sea sickness and can walk long distances to stairs as needed. Even for me, I’m declining to bid on a minisuite as I’d rather stick with a good balcony location rather than get stuck with a noisy and smoky minisuite location. We all have to decide if it is worth the gamble or not.

[v3cruiser]

I would think original price paid does have influence on whether or not your bid is accepted. Lets say you paid 1000/person for an oceanview, got the upgrade choice for balcony. its current rate is 2000. Your current oceanview room however, due to others being sold out is now selling at 1300. I would think your upgrade offer, lets say 150/person(300 total) plus the difference they will gain in selling your room at a higher price, for this example $600 total or more , than what you paid would increase their revenue as well as influence what bids getting excepted for upgrades or not. In the end NCl is getting your upgrade money plus the additional room rate difference from the room you are moving from. In this example ncl would gain 900. not so much if the oceanview paid for the person upgrading was bought at 1200, the upgrade bid and cost difference would only add up to 500. just theorizing here. cheers. . .

[sulala]

We have sailed on 7 and 11 day cruises and are soon booking a 5 day.  Does the bid minimum and range change for a 5 day?  We saw a difference in the 7-11 day so wondered if the various lengths make any difference in the bid ranges.

Thanks for any info!

[EllieinNJ]

Just came off the 14 day Sun from South America.  We originally booked a IA cabin with one perk for $1299pp back in Aug. 2018.  The balconies at that time were going for $3600pp.  Then in Sept. we saw the Inside Sailaway rate drop to $799pp so we switched.  This would be our first time as platinum so already had two specialty dinners to look forward to.  It took about a month but was assigned another IA just like we had before.

 

By the time we were offered to bid, all the balconies said sold out.  My DH really wanted a balcony so we bid the maximum, $450pp.  The funny thing is, the needle still said "poor".  A few days before we left for our trip a few balconies seemed to open up at $4200pp.  We figured we will never get it.

 

On the Wednesday before the cruise on Saturday, our bid was accepted for a BD midship.  So we now paid $1250pp with no perks except the platinum and one from our TA.  We thought it was well worth it but the waiting was very frustrating.

[Theresa522]

Question:  I keep receiving the email to bid. Well I finally did place a bid but when I went to look on the website, all the cabins i bid on were sold out. Why do they allow you to bid if cabins are not available?  We sail in 17 days.

[DCLCrazy]

10 minutes ago, Theresa522 said:

Question:  I keep receiving the email to bid. Well I finally did place a bid but when I went to look on the website, all the cabins i bid on were sold out. Why do they allow you to bid if cabins are not available?  We sail in 17 days.

Because the people in the cabins you are bidding on are bidding for a high cabin, themselves.  So once they win one, the cabin you bid on will be open.

[Gampy1967]

16 minutes ago, DCLCrazy said:

Because the people in the cabins you are bidding on are bidding for a high cabin, themselves.  So once they win one, the cabin you bid on will be open.

I thought the same except I received the same email(s).  I am in a Owners Suite w/ 2 balconies on the Dawn.  The only thing showed available to bid on were the two Garden Villas.  Both of which were sold out. The people in the Garden Villas are not upgrading anywhere.  I think sometimes they do it simply to gauge how much someone will spend on a room.

[Theresa522]

5 minutes ago, Gampy1967 said:

I thought the same except I received the same email(s).  I am in a Owners Suite w/ 2 balconies on the Dawn.  The only thing showed available to bid on were the two Garden Villas.  Both of which were sold out. The people in the Garden Villas are not upgrading anywhere.  I think sometimes they do it simply to gauge how much someone will spend on a room.

Now it makes sense..lol Thank you.  I am trying for a Haven on the Getaway. If I get it wonderful if not I'll be happy in my Balcony.  Thanks for your help.. 

[Brat81978]

42 minutes ago, Theresa522 said:

Question:  I keep receiving the email to bid. Well I finally did place a bid but when I went to look on the website, all the cabins i bid on were sold out. Why do they allow you to bid if cabins are not available?  We sail in 17 days.

They also do that on the off chance someone has to cancel last minute.  I’m sure it doesn’t happen often but occasionally it does so they probably want to have options to fill the cabins if it does.

[Greenpea2]

Just as an FYI, there is a more current thread for this: