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What was your upgrade offer and what did you bid


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9 minutes ago, Bkhans said:

Success with 3-3-19 Escape bid.  We (shockingly) went from a Haven Spa Suite to a Deluxe Owners Suite.  Bid was $760/person and the edocs I just downloaded confirm the new cabin.  Two strange things about this: 

 

1.  The category was sold out when I booked the trip last December and still showed up as sold out when I placed my bid last week.

 

2.  The minimum bid dropped from an original $1,500 (back in December) to $750 (last week).  We weren't considering upgrading, but figured for a total of $1,520, we would love spending the week in the large cabin.  With the Deluxe Owners being sold out anyway, it felt like a trivial, time-waster exercise to even place a bid.  

 

One question: Will we loose our thermal suite access due to the switch?  I thought you kept all the benefits of your original booking, however,  we're no longer in a spa suite.  I assume access doesn't transition over to the upgraded, non-spa cabin. 

 

So happy for you! I am on the same sailing, so look forward to seeing you onboard!

 

I went from the Haven Courtyard Penthouse to Haven 2 bedroom Family Villa, still happy, although, I bid $1000 p/p for Deluxe Owners Suite even though it said sold out! I'm surprised a lower bid won!! 

 

This just goes to show how random it is! CONGRATULATIONS! VERY happy for you! Enjoy that stunning room, I LOVE it!  

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On 2/9/2019 at 2:19 PM, MaLady100 said:

I've found it very interesting to see the upgrade options for two bookings (mine and my parents). We are in an H7 and they are in a BB balcony. Here are the starting bids if it helps anyone:

Mine (H7)

H2 and H3 $750 minimum

H4 $500

H5 $200

H6 $400

We had an H6 last time on the Breakaway and while the room was fabulous the butler service was terrible compared to what my parents had in an H5 (we upgraded them on the phone with the old system for $500pp) in the Haven area itself so am hoping to get something closer for us (we could probably get a "free" upgrade to H5 since prices have fallen a little since we booked but with 3 in the room we really want a separate bedroom).

Parents (BB)

H2 and H3 $1500

H4 $1000

H5 $400

H6 $750

H7 $400

H9 $400

I bid on H2-H4 for us and bid on H9, H7, H6 and H5 for my parents. There is a ton of availability on the sailing at this point and we are 22 days out (March 3rd sailing) so I'm hopeful (not too worried about mine since I am haven already, but I hoping to get my parents in by paying for their upgrade since they can't afford full price). Will let you guys know if I get any winning bids!

So here is what happened....nothing! I put in a bid for my parents (BB category) for $650pp for the H5, $500pp each for the H& and H9. At one point the H9 was only $900pp more than what we paid for there BB so I thought $500 was good offer (evidently I was mistaken). I put in an offer for an H4 for $600pp, H3 for $750pp and H2 for $850pp. None were accepted and I was notified 48 hours prior. I liked the old upsell system better I must say, but it seems this one is more profitable for NCL. As someone who has only sailed on NCL twice (prefer Princess, HAL, Carnival and RCCL) and both times in the Haven at full price this system irks me!

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2 hours ago, romalley99 said:

This just goes to show how random it is! CONGRATULATIONS! VERY happy for you! Enjoy that stunning room, I LOVE it!  

 

Doubtful it was random. Likely someone had bid more to upgrade to this person's original Spa Suite than anyone bid to upgrade to your original Courtyard Suite. It's not just your bid against someone else's bid directly. It's the whole ripple effect down the chain. Now if you had both been in the same room category to start with and the lower bid won, there would likely be more at play, but it still probably wouldn't be random. NCL is going to do what they think they need to do to net the most money. We just don't know what all goes into that determination.

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On 2/24/2019 at 4:38 PM, sulala said:

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!

So I think I got my answer...bids starting a bit lower for the 4-day than for longer cruises; however, some of the starting bids are More than booking directly!  I’ve seen this noted on other posts here and there.  Other than the Free at Sea perks changing, it would benefit me to book it directly and get the suite/haven benefits and perks.

Here is a breakdown of the minimum bid amounts.  Last night they had a price drop for MS and below so MId MS is same as Balcony was.

4 day Bahama cruise to move from Original Balcony BB to each category

Cabin.              min bid listed Per person          

Mini suite.       $50.                       

Family ste.      $200.                     

Aft PH.             $300

PH Large Bal. $300

Fam ste w/bal $400

2BR w/bal.      $600

OS.w( 2 bal.   $1000

DOS.                  $750

GV.                  $2250

 

At these minimums, I will  not be submitting any bids and will just keep my balcony.  I don’t know if they would offer me a MS and it not affect my original perks, but I may call to see.

Edited by mrstmath
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3 minutes ago, Sharon1927 said:

Anyone ever bid on a Haven and have it excepted right away or is it always a few days before sailing.

 

 

Some people have definitely had their bids accepted within a day or two of bidding, but those are usually really high bids.

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Thanks Jamie's.  It's a little confusing because if you put the bid in the good range your paying pretty much the same price if you had just booked it the first place.  Do you know if anyone has ever called and upgraded but get a better price than what is online.

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1 hour ago, Sharon1927 said:

Thanks Jamie's.  It's a little confusing because if you put the bid in the good range your paying pretty much the same price if you had just booked it the first place.  Do you know if anyone has ever called and upgraded but get a better price than what is online.

 

They don't do that anymore. The closest I've seen recently is when prices have dropped and people have been able to upgrade to a higher category that is now around the price they paid for their original category. I have heard of people being upgraded for "free" in those cases or being able to just pay a minimal amount towards the difference.

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4 hours ago, Sharon1927 said:

Thanks Jamie's.  It's a little confusing because if you put the bid in the good range your paying pretty much the same price if you had just booked it the first place.  Do you know if anyone has ever called and upgraded but get a better price than what is online.

 

Not necessarily.  My bids have been in the good range and they were THOUSANDS below the current pricing for the Haven on both of the cruises where I got my upgrade from a balcony cabin to a Haven room (once a courtyard room and the other a spa room).  It totally depends on the sailing and date.  I have to travel during peak seasons (holiday sailings) due to my work schedule, and the Haven pricing for those dates is typically 1 1/2 to 2 times higher than non-holiday sailings.  But you do make a good point about checking the pricing when bidding to be sure it does't make sense to just pay outright rather than bid for the upgrade.  

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We are booked on the Breakaway 4/28. Got our upgrade banner right at 80 days. We had an ov O1 and an ov OC. Bid to a balcony $75 (minimum was $25) and hoped for the best.

 

Today someone on our roll call mentioned a price drop so I called. The O1 went down $47 and the OC $52. But all balconies (except aft) was a lot less than the O1.  A family balcony was $247 less. The OC was less than the balconies.  I just upgraded our cabins to family balconies anyway - one was a free upgrade and the other was $144 which was less than what we would've paid if we won the upgrade. Now we have connecting cabins which we also wanted.

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On 2/28/2019 at 11:19 AM, rockfsh said:

We got an offer to bid for an upgrade on the May 19th Bliss. Range for an H2

1K-2K PP

 

 

Nice. I was curious if any upgrades would be available on the Bliss. Traveling in August and we booked an inside room to save some money, but I really am hoping to have the opportunity to bid for a balcony.

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13 hours ago, HippoSail said:

Has anyone else received an upgrade email but have no banner or mention in their myNCL? is this normal? Does it matter? I replied to the email and placed my bids.

 

 

Sometimes the banner disappears. I am not sure I have heard of the message from the Message Center disappearing before though.

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29 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

 

Sometimes the banner disappears. I am not sure I have heard of the message from the Message Center disappearing before though.

Yikes! It never was in either location. I wonder what that means for my upgrade chances.

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I got the banner but not the external email. I got the banner @ 11Am EST on the 80th day pre cruise. After I bid I got the confirming bid email.

Two other cruisers on our roll call (of 30) said they also received the offer to bid for an upgrade.

Edited by rockfsh
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We just got upgraded from a mini-suite to a SC 2BR family suite on the Gem. We bid $1000 per person, at the low end of the Fair range (which started at $950/pp).

 

I bid there because the amount seemed fair, especially for a 10 day cruise, and we had a mini-suite, which I figured NCL would want to upgrade people into. We're paying less than half of what it would have cost us to upgrade outright, based on the cost of the SC before the sailing disappeared.

 

One interesting bit of info for future upgraders: this sailing disappeared completely from NCL's page / cruise search results a couple weeks ago, and someone else on my roll call had said they called NCL and was told the ship was sold out.

 

The individual SC cabin I got was one of two SCs that were displaying as available prior to the sailing disappearing, so it's likely they marked the ship as sold out while cabins were still available -- perhaps they were at lifeboat capacity?

 

So, for future reference: just because a ship is considered "sold out" does not mean you cannot get upgraded.

Edited by dcipjr
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32 minutes ago, dcipjr said:

We just got upgraded from a mini-suite to a SC 2BR family suite on the Gem. We bid $1000 per person, at the low end of the Fair range (which started at $950/pp).

 

I bid there because the amount seemed fair, especially for a 10 day cruise, and we had a mini-suite, which I figured NCL would want to upgrade people into. We're paying less than half of what it would have cost us to upgrade outright, based on the cost of the SC before the sailing disappeared.

 

One interesting bit of info for future upgraders: this sailing disappeared completely from NCL's page / cruise search results a couple weeks ago, and someone else on my roll call had said they called NCL and was told the ship was sold out.

 

The individual SC cabin I got was one of two SCs that were displaying as available prior to the sailing disappearing, so it's likely they marked the ship as sold out while cabins were still available -- perhaps they were at lifeboat capacity?

 

So, for future reference: just because a ship is considered "sold out" does not mean you cannot get upgraded.

SC? HAVEN 2 BR...U mean? Thanks

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No, just a standard 2BR suite. The Gem has both 2 BR Family Suite (category SC) and Haven 2 BR Family Suites (category H4). Ours doesn't have Haven access, but from my understanding, that's not as big of a deal on the Gem; standard suites still get the suite perks.

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21 hours ago, HippoSail said:

Has anyone else received an upgrade email but have no banner or mention in their myNCL? is this normal? Does it matter? I replied to the email and placed my bids.

 

This was the same for me (I'm in Germany)!  I received an upgrade mail but didn't have a banner nor a message in the message center.  I received the upgrade mail 50 days prior to sailing and placed my bids - no reply yet with 45 days to go 🙂

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Has anyone gotten an upgrade invitation when they booked well after the final payment deadline?  I just booked a cruise departing April 7.  Wondering whether I'm still eligible for the upgrade program and, if so, when to expect the email.

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1 hour ago, havenfan said:

Has anyone gotten an upgrade invitation when they booked well after the final payment deadline?  I just booked a cruise departing April 7.  Wondering whether I'm still eligible for the upgrade program and, if so, when to expect the email.

 

You should get the email about 24 hours after booking. If you don't receive the email, be sure to check My NCL for the banner ad on the main page or a message in your Message Center.

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