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What was your upgrade offer and what did you bid


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Curious, I bid about 3 weeks  ago  for an earl March cruise. where would I find  that my  bid is pending.. I checked on line in MY NCL and the  reservation page --I see  no indication that the bid is pending--and I assume it is  too early for them tohave accepted  or turned down the bid 

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1 hour ago, ParrotheadG said:

We are sailing on the Getaway jan. 27, and we received 4 upgrades to bid on around the 80 day mark.  Interesting thing is that this will be the 8th time we have cruised with NCL, are Latitudes members, and this is the first time we've ever received an offer to bid!!  Sounds like for many of you this is a fairly regular occurrence.  We have used varied TA's, so unless none of them participated it doesn't seem it would be that.  We put bids in on all options, and we'll see what happens!  They are currently all showing as "pending"...we have 21 days before we sail.  

We are on this cruise and bid as well. Still pending on everything so I guess only time will tell! Good luck! 

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1 hour ago, markf said:

Curious, I bid about 3 weeks  ago  for an earl March cruise. where would I find  that my  bid is pending.. I checked on line in MY NCL and the  reservation page --I see  no indication that the bid is pending--and I assume it is  too early for them tohave accepted  or turned down the bid 

 

If you go back to the link in your email, message center, or the "Let's Get You Upgraded" banner, you should be taken to the page where you placed your bids. Once there, click on the "Review My Bid" link next to any of the categories you bid on and it should show "Pending" at the top right of that page.

Edited by JamieLogical
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2 hours ago, Jvlas13 said:

We are on this cruise and bid as well. Still pending on everything so I guess only time will tell! Good luck! 

You're from Boyton Beach?  We have friends that live there, and will be visiting them post cruise.  About how far is it from the port? 

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1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

 

If you go back to the link in your email, message center, or the "Let's Get You Upgraded" banner, you should be taken to the page where you placed your bids. Once there, click on the "Review My Bid" link next to any of the categories you bid on and it should show "Pending" at the top right of that page.

Ours didn't change to pending until just this past week, and we're sailing in 21 days.

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It will be an interesting case study based on what happens with our bids on 10 days.   We leave on the 17th and are currently the lowest cost room (inside).  We are able to bid on Oceanview, Balcony and Spa level on the website.  I put the lowest bid for all three to start with, and each day I will go into the system and up one of them by $5 just to provide some type of ability that I would like to be noticed for my bidding process.   All bids as of 20 days were in the poor range with one of them creeping up into the fair range.   I think if I at least show that I am interested maybe it will help.  Maybe not, given as someone else said, people who may end up getting these maybe connected through the casino, the NCL awards programs, the number of times you sailed, or if your last name ends in "S".   That is my hope given I don't think the other 4 things listed will work, but since my last name is Morris, I have a better chance.  

 

I have a math degree (30 years ago) back in the day when you actually took to statistically look through theories on paper on what would be a good bid and what would not.  I have at least two pieces of paper that I have created savings/probability/not used inventory/luck of the draw.   On the cruise that just sailed out tonight, the next time it comes into port, my wife and I will be on it.  We didn't get any of the freebies (so no drinking until the lights go out, eating lobster and steak in a french boutique, or getting $50 to run into the ocean on a segway!    We paid enough to just sit on the top deck, don't have to listen to phones, no many kids, turning on the TV and hearing what crap is coming out of the political situation, just wind, a $8 beer, my IPOD playing "Can't stop this feeling" from Journey and a big smile on my face.

 

Wish me luck on Friday of this week when I think it will be the last bid I put on the best of the three that I think might end up being selected, or as statistically like winning the lottery, I will get the "expired" letter that most of us get.   Thanks for playing the game.   John

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3 hours ago, ParrotheadG said:

You're from Boyton Beach?  We have friends that live there, and will be visiting them post cruise.  About how far is it from the port? 

That’s so cool!! Yeah we actually just moved about 5 miles south last weekend to Delray Beach .. it’ll be about an 1:15 up to Boynton from Miami without traffic however that’s never the case so plan for a bit more than that. 

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7 hours ago, oracer said:

It will be an interesting case study based on what happens with our bids on 10 days.   We leave on the 17th and are currently the lowest cost room (inside).  We are able to bid on Oceanview, Balcony and Spa level on the website.  I put the lowest bid for all three to start with, and each day I will go into the system and up one of them by $5 just to provide some type of ability that I would like to be noticed for my bidding process.   All bids as of 20 days were in the poor range with one of them creeping up into the fair range.   I think if I at least show that I am interested maybe it will help.  Maybe not, given as someone else said, people who may end up getting these maybe connected through the casino, the NCL awards programs, the number of times you sailed, or if your last name ends in "S".   That is my hope given I don't think the other 4 things listed will work, but since my last name is Morris, I have a better chance.  

 

I have a math degree (30 years ago) back in the day when you actually took to statistically look through theories on paper on what would be a good bid and what would not.  I have at least two pieces of paper that I have created savings/probability/not used inventory/luck of the draw.   On the cruise that just sailed out tonight, the next time it comes into port, my wife and I will be on it.  We didn't get any of the freebies (so no drinking until the lights go out, eating lobster and steak in a french boutique, or getting $50 to run into the ocean on a segway!    We paid enough to just sit on the top deck, don't have to listen to phones, no many kids, turning on the TV and hearing what crap is coming out of the political situation, just wind, a $8 beer, my IPOD playing "Can't stop this feeling" from Journey and a big smile on my face.

 

Wish me luck on Friday of this week when I think it will be the last bid I put on the best of the three that I think might end up being selected, or as statistically like winning the lottery, I will get the "expired" letter that most of us get.   Thanks for playing the game.   John

My wife and I are on this same cruise and anxiously awaiting to see if our bid was accepted. After seeing how tiny the regular balconies are i decided to book an angled balcony just so we could have a little bit more room out there, we spend a lot of time on our balcony. We did however place an upgrade bid on a Spa Mini Suite balcony. Now the balcony in the Spa Mini Suite is the same size as a normal balcony so it would be smaller than the angled balcony i originally booked, but there are other perks to the room such as the huge bathroom/shower and access to the Thermal Spa to make up for the smaller balcony. Those things would all be nice but they are not things we must have. I would never pay full price for one of these rooms because we are not huge spa people, but it could be nice to have for 10 days so i put in a "poor" bid of $125/pp, minimum bid was $100/pp. Waiting to see what happens these next few days, but i will be happy either way. I think chances may be good just by looking at how many Mini Suite Spa Balconies that are still open so close to sailing, but that also depends on how many people bid on upgrades for these rooms and what their bids are. The spa stuff would be nice since we have never done anything like that before but if it gets declined we still have our slightly bigger balcony to enjoy. Either way, we cant wait!!!

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12 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

I'm cruising in 26 days.  I no longer have the banner or upgrade message in the message box but it still says pending on the original email.  Should I be worried and call NCL?

 

Definitely no need to be worried. The banner disappears and reappears often. As long as your bids are still showing as "pending" when you go into the Upgrade Advantage site, they are still in and fine. Just make sure you hang onto your original emails so you have the link to go in and check/adjust your bids since the banner may not be there if/when you want to do so.

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FYI, Upgrades for the 1/17 Breakaway cruise are being processed.   We just upgraded from inside room to the SPA room, so stoked.   Our bid was less than what it is to just get a spa pass.   10 days prior was an added delight for a bad Monday that I was having at work, so now a big SMILE.

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I thought I would share my experience with the upgrading system since I have been stalking this page a couple times a day for months. This is our 2nd cruise with NCL first one in Feb was in OV and we bid on a balcony, wasn't accepted but it was Valentine's Day so probably not much availability. I don't remember how much we bid. Also it was booked through an offer from land based casino and we did pay to go from inside to OV (note, my husband did not spend much time in the casino while on the ship). This time we also booked through the land based casino but decided to just stay with inside and take our chances with bidding for upgrade. At 70 days we received offer to bid on OV, Balcony and Spa Balcony. I put a small bid on OV (didn't want to hurt my chances on balcony) and higher bid on the other 2. I kept going in and increasing my bids little by little. I think they were both in the strong range. I figured since we got the cruise at such a good price I was ok at going higher. BTW we are on the Breakaway 1/17. Today after seeing someone post they had received email, I checked and no email but when I went to myNCL it said 2 bids had expired and 1 was processing. A few minutes later the email was sent and then short time later a new invoice. We were upgraded to an aft facing balcony. Needless to say we are thrilled, I had no idea we would even have a chance at that cabin. 

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4 hours ago, oracer said:

FYI, Upgrades for the 1/17 Breakaway cruise are being processed.   We just upgraded from inside room to the SPA room, so stoked.   Our bid was less than what it is to just get a spa pass.   10 days prior was an added delight for a bad Monday that I was having at work, so now a big SMILE.

 

8 minutes ago, Stlcardsfan79 said:

I thought I would share my experience with the upgrading system since I have been stalking this page a couple times a day for months. This is our 2nd cruise with NCL first one in Feb was in OV and we bid on a balcony, wasn't accepted but it was Valentine's Day so probably not much availability. I don't remember how much we bid. Also it was booked through an offer from land based casino and we did pay to go from inside to OV (note, my husband did not spend much time in the casino while on the ship). This time we also booked through the land based casino but decided to just stay with inside and take our chances with bidding for upgrade. At 70 days we received offer to bid on OV, Balcony and Spa Balcony. I put a small bid on OV (didn't want to hurt my chances on balcony) and higher bid on the other 2. I kept going in and increasing my bids little by little. I think they were both in the strong range. I figured since we got the cruise at such a good price I was ok at going higher. BTW we are on the Breakaway 1/17. Today after seeing someone post they had received email, I checked and no email but when I went to myNCL it said 2 bids had expired and 1 was processing. A few minutes later the email was sent and then short time later a new invoice. We were upgraded to an aft facing balcony. Needless to say we are thrilled, I had no idea we would even have a chance at that cabin. 

 

Congrats! We're on the same cruise. We had a CAS certificate for an inside, paid the difference to get a BA. Have a few bids in for Haven but they all still show pending. 

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Just received upgrade from balcony to spa mini-suite for Jan 13th Getaway sailing.  I had already paid for the spa passes so I am going to have those refunded. I bid $205 per person. So $10 out of pocket more than I had already paid. Super excited! 

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Just got upgrade to SD family suite with balcony on the Dawn 1/17 10 day sailing. Thought this was pretty early, but I’m not complaining! Had booked a BA, bid 500pp which was poor range. 

 

I was tracking inventory/prices on all that I had bids on, which were S1, SB, SC, SD, SE, and SF, which is all the suites with a balcony. Poor range on all. Looks like they processed 12 suite upgrades this morning, still 9 days out! Maybe bc the previous cruise left yesterday?

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Question for all you experienced upgraders, this is the first time I have sailed that this was an option. We only booked about 2 1/2 months before sailing, on a 4 night starting January 21st. I almost immediately received the offer to upgrade. The lowest price was $25 to upgrade from Balcony sail-away to Mini-suite. I bid $30. If I up my offer, would I be more likely to get it?

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Robinsilver—I’d say “probably”!  It’s pretty much a crapshoot and nobody knows exactly how NCL  determines who gets the upgrades.  For our December 5, 2018 cruise, one our friends bid $25 and $75 more pp than we did to upgrade to a balcony from inside (on the Epic which has no ocean view cabins). They received their upgrade (aft facing balconies) in late October, about six weeks prior to departure. We placed our balcony bid at that point. Over the following week, we upped the bid a few times.  We got our upgrade notice within a week, at thirty days out - not aft facing, but a “family” balcony. These bids were mid “good” range.

 

From our experience and what I’ve seen here, high bids get the upgrade sooner than low bids, which sometimes get the upgrade, but not until much closer to the sailing date.  I’m sure NCL accepts high bids quicker and holds out as long as possible on low bids, only granting those upgrades at the last minute.   Are you a gambler?  You can stick with the low bid and try to be patient or you can bid higher and hope you hear quickly.

 

Right now we have a seven day March 17 sailing booked in an ocean view and have bids in the mid-poor range ($40 for balcony, $105 for mini suite with balcony). We’ll see what happens!

 

Good luck!

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15 hours ago, Robinsilver said:

Question for all you experienced upgraders, this is the first time I have sailed that this was an option. We only booked about 2 1/2 months before sailing, on a 4 night starting January 21st. I almost immediately received the offer to upgrade. The lowest price was $25 to upgrade from Balcony sail-away to Mini-suite. I bid $30. If I up my offer, would I be more likely to get it?

 

I have zero doubt that increasing your bid will increase your chances of receiving an upgrade. What we can't tell you is *how much* it will increase your chances. No matter what criteria NCL factors into their decision-making, you can bet the almighty dollar is the most significant factor. It may not be as clear cut as "person A bids $100" and "person B bids $105", so person B wins. Because the dollars are coming from more than just single bids. One upgrade sets off a chain of events because it frees up the bidder's cabin, which means someone else can upgrade into that, which frees up another cabin which someone else can upgrade into. Or, even if bidding from an inside cabin where no one is going to upgrade into it, they will at least have the opportunity to resell that cabin. And, if others are right that past on board spending history factors in, that still boils down to the almighty dollar. So, increasing your bid will definitely increase your changes. It's no guarantee that you will win the upgrade, though.

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I know that the Bliss has only sailed on two Panama Canal Transits to date.  I will be on the third one in March of 2019.  I just received my upgrade email. I am currently booked in a Mini-Suite with Large Balcony, so my upgrade options are all Haven. 

 

I am considering bidding on a H9 (Spa Haven Suite) or a H6 (Haven Aft Facing Balcony).  H9's are starting at $500 and H6's are starting at $750. Any luck with anyone obtaining success on the lower end of the scale?

 

I'm not sure how full the Panama Canal transit is currently.

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Sailing on March 1st out of Miami - currently in a mini suite ( which we love due to the bathtub) might be our last cruise for a while ( reasons mainly a financial reason we can't turn down) put in very healthy bids a while ago but all the categories above us are now showing sold out - should I just cancel them?

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