What was your upgrade offer and what did you bid

[huntersh2]

1 minute ago, AdoraBelle said:

 

4/7 out of NOLA, but I notice a lot of April and May sailings are having price drops.

I also noticed this. I did the same this round. But not that cheap. Good score. I had to pay like 1600 but wanted and bid was close so no chances. Have a great trip. 🙂

[fandangocruiser]

On 2/23/2019 at 3:28 PM, Tscruiser646 said:

My sailing is empty.  Anyone cruising out of NY in April Easter cruises should do well bidding.  I hope it sails. lol  

Booked on an April cruise from Boston.  It appears to be about half full.  I'm just trying to plan my bids.

[fandangocruiser]

OK.  I've lurked long enough.  Thank you to all for your input, especially Jamie.  We are booked on GEM BA for Bermuda in two weeks.  Trying to catch an upgrade to suit or haven status, but I'm having trouble making "logical" sense out of some of NCL's pricing policies.  I.E.  Asking $300 more for haven one bedroom penthouse (H5) than the two bedroom haven (H4).  Normally the opposite.  Front facing penthouse higher than aft on this cruise, but lower than aft on cruise two weeks out.  Over the past few weeks, I have seen several other similar pricings that do not seem logical, which makes bidding difficult.  Is there anybody that can explain?

[JamieLogical]

29 minutes ago, fandangocruiser said:

OK.  I've lurked long enough.  Thank you to all for your input, especially Jamie.  We are booked on GEM BA for Bermuda in two weeks.  Trying to catch an upgrade to suit or haven status, but I'm having trouble making "logical" sense out of some of NCL's pricing policies.  I.E.  Asking $300 more for haven one bedroom penthouse (H5) than the two bedroom haven (H4).  Normally the opposite.  Front facing penthouse higher than aft on this cruise, but lower than aft on cruise two weeks out.  Over the past few weeks, I have seen several other similar pricings that do not seem logical, which makes bidding difficult.  Is there anybody that can explain?

 

Pricing mostly seems to be driven by remaining inventory. If there are a lower percentage of rooms remaining of a certain category, the prices are likely to be higher. If there is a high percentage of rooms remaining in a given category, the prices will be lower. They don't seem to stick to pricing categories in relation to one another once the ship starts to fill up. On my Bliss sailign back in February, it got to the point where a BA was a few hundred more than a B1 (aft balcony), a B6 (large balcony) and even some of the mini-suites categories!

[fandangocruiser]

7 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Pricing mostly seems to be driven by remaining inventory. If there are a lower percentage of rooms remaining of a certain category, the prices are likely to be higher. If there is a high percentage of rooms remaining in a given category, the prices will be lower. They don't seem to stick to pricing categories in relation to one another once the ship starts to fill up. On my Bliss sailign back in February, it got to the point where a BA was a few hundred more than a B1 (aft balcony), a B6 (large balcony) and even some of the mini-suites categories!

Thanks.  It still doesn't seem logical to me as a potential customer, but the fact that you've noticed the same thing makes me feel a lot better.

[havenfan]

1 hour ago, fandangocruiser said:

OK.  I've lurked long enough.  Thank you to all for your input, especially Jamie.  We are booked on GEM BA for Bermuda in two weeks.  Trying to catch an upgrade to suit or haven status, but I'm having trouble making "logical" sense out of some of NCL's pricing policies.  I.E.  Asking $300 more for haven one bedroom penthouse (H5) than the two bedroom haven (H4).  Normally the opposite.  Front facing penthouse higher than aft on this cruise, but lower than aft on cruise two weeks out.  Over the past few weeks, I have seen several other similar pricings that do not seem logical, which makes bidding difficult.  Is there anybody that can explain?

One thing I've noticed is that prices for categories which are sold out do not drop while they are off the system, even if other categories are dropping.

 

There are only two H5's on a Jewel class ship and they start a little cheaper than the eight H4's so they tend to get sold out earlier.  Suite prices on this cruise started dropping in late December, not long after final payment.  In this case, it looks like the last H5 went off the system in early January, after a large price drop.  The H4's were not sold out so their prices kept dropping.  An H5 reappeared on the system in early February at its early January price which was above the price the H4's had fallen to by then.

 

At a guess, the people in that H5 either upgraded, or were upgraded, to an H3, which had fallen to just about what they'd paid for the H5 originally.

[cartman3132]

6 hours ago, fandangocruiser said:

Booked on an April cruise from Boston.  It appears to be about half full.  I'm just trying to plan my bids.

I'm on the 19th-26th Boston-Bermuda cruise too.  I keep toying with my bid to see if it triggers any of their computers to send me an upgrade now.  I read on one of these that the person kept upping their bid by $5 and one day they finally got the upgrade like 3 weeks out.

[Nachosupreme]

Sailing on the Getaway 4/20 out of NYC and got my acceptance today. Bid $75 pp to go from a regular balcony to a spa balcony, which was the minimum bid. I've never had spa access before, not sure how much we will use it, but for $150 total I am willing to take a gamble.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out this far in advance, I was prepared for the notification 2 days before we sail. 

 

I also put in a minimum bid of $100 pp for a spa mini suite that was not accepted. 

Edited March 28, 2019 by Nachosupreme

[fandangocruiser]

5 hours ago, cartman3132 said:

I'm on the 19th-26th Boston-Bermuda cruise too.  I keep toying with my bid to see if it triggers any of their computers to send me an upgrade now.  I read on one of these that the person kept upping their bid by $5 and one day they finally got the upgrade like 3 weeks out.

Good luck to you!  -- I can say that because we're not going the same week.  Otherwise, we'd be competing against each other for the few remaining suites 😉 

[slugg]

This thread is intractably large for human consumption and I can’t find a way to search just this thread. I’m trying to get a feel for how much to bid on. Haven coming from

a balcony stateroom, especially on the Breakaway or Epic. Has someone kept up with this and could offer me a rule of thumb ballpark?

[Waverunner1]

5 hours ago, slugg said:

This thread is intractably large for human consumption and I can’t find a way to search just this thread. I’m trying to get a feel for how much to bid on. Haven coming from

a balcony stateroom, especially on the Breakaway or Epic. Has someone kept up with this and could offer me a rule of thumb ballpark?

From all the reading I've done there is no rule of thumb other than how much you really want the upgrade. This time of year the cruise industry starts heating up so the ships are more likely to sell out leaving few if any upgrades to be had. As far as a ballpark bid...how much is the upgrade you want going for outright, minus what you've paid for your secured stateroom and obviously don't bid higher than that! I was upgraded to an aft penthouse on the Dawn last October after receiving my rejection emails. Seems somebody cancelled last minute and I received a phone call the day before the cruise asking if I was still interested. Thank goodness I answered the phone and was home that day because caller ID didn't identify the caller (I usually don't answer those but for some reason I did that day). 

[Kauaijim]

Fascinating thread. We are doing the 4 day Cuba trip in May from PC . FIrst time on NCL, mini suite aft .  We have only done Seabourne so bidding on upgrades was a new one to us. On SB they ,thru your TA make an offer and you basically have 24 hours to say yea or nea on a suite upgrade . That said I bid , mostly out curiosity. 

[JamieLogical]

8 hours ago, slugg said:

This thread is intractably large for human consumption and I can’t find a way to search just this thread. I’m trying to get a feel for how much to bid on. Haven coming from

a balcony stateroom, especially on the Breakaway or Epic. Has someone kept up with this and could offer me a rule of thumb ballpark?

 

There's really no "rule of thumb". The best advice I have for you is to track the inventory on your specific sailing. If a lot of inventory remains for your desired category(ies), you can get away with a lower bid. If inventory is tight, you will have to bid more. Going from a balcony to a Haven is likely to need to bid more than going from a mini-suite to a Haven, because your original room has lower "value" in the bidding ladder. Someone going from a mini-suite to Haven will have an advantage, because if they get upgraded, that frees up a mini-suite for someone to bid up from a balcony, then the balcony for someone to bid up from an OV, then the OV for someone to bid up from an inside. So it's an extra link in the chain of upgrades for NCL to profit from.

 

I would also advise keeping an eye on pricing for your sailing. If prices fall sufficiently, you may want to just pay for a direct upgrade and bypass the bidding process altogether. Finally, bid an amount where you will be happy win or lose. If you win, you will be happy with the upgrade for the price you are paying, and if you lose, you will be happy to have that extra money to spend on board!

[slugg]

Well before increasing my bid, I called my travel agent just to see how much the upgrade would cost outright. Just like when I upgraded from an interior to a balcony, it ended up costing not much more than what I was going to bid anyway to go ahead and do the upgrade outright. This is after a couple price drops, by the way. It was more money than I really wanted to spend overall, but what the heck - it's our honeymoon! I'm going for it. :)

 

And now I'm broke.

[gmbhardy]

24 minutes ago, slugg said:

Well before increasing my bid, I called my travel agent just to see how much the upgrade would cost outright. Just like when I upgraded from an interior to a balcony, it ended up costing not much more than what I was going to bid anyway to go ahead and do the upgrade outright. This is after a couple price drops, by the way. It was more money than I really wanted to spend overall, but what the heck - it's our honeymoon! I'm going for it. 🙂

 

And now I'm broke.

 

I like your attitude. You’ll love the balcony. Have a great cruise and don’t worry about the money because It’s worth every penny.

[slugg]

18 minutes ago, gmbhardy said:

 

I like your attitude. You’ll love the balcony. Have a great cruise and don’t worry about the money because It’s worth every penny.

I just re-read what I said and realized that I failed to actually articulate what happened.

 

A few weeks ago, I upgraded from an interior cabin to a balcony. Today, I upgraded from a balcony to a Haven spa suite. I am now broke and, if you've seen my other thread, I had literally no idea what to do with a butler. LOL!

[Greenpea2]

5 minutes ago, slugg said:

I just re-read what I said and realized that I failed to actually articulate what happened.

 

A few weeks ago, I upgraded from an interior cabin to a balcony. Today, I upgraded from a balcony to a Haven spa suite. I am now broke and, if you've seen my other thread, I had literally no idea what to do with a butler. LOL!

This is very exciting! I ended up booking haven for our honeymoon and it was SO WORTH it for the memories alone. Congrats and enjoy. Your butler will tell you what he/she can do for you--just ask. They are used to people not knowing. 🙂

[Bronx12]

So, there are a lot of pages to read through, I did try to find the answer to my question, so I am just going to ask my question. How much have people bid successfully or not, for a balcony on Jewel's Alaska cruises?

Thanks

🙂

Edited March 30, 2019 by Bronx12

[pfopma]

I bid $200 (fair) for an upgrade from inside to balcony. It was accepted 4 weeks before the cruise and we got midship balcony on deck 9 of the Spirit.

[Ella2]

3 hours ago, slugg said:

I just re-read what I said and realized that I failed to actually articulate what happened.

 

A few weeks ago, I upgraded from an interior cabin to a balcony. Today, I upgraded from a balcony to a Haven spa suite. I am now broke and, if you've seen my other thread, I had literally no idea what to do with a butler. LOL!

 

CONGRATULATIONS!  That is a PERFECT Haven room for a honeymoon!  I was in a Haven spa suite on the Getaway over New Year's (upgrade bid) and have been in a Haven courtyard on the Escape (also an upgrade bid).  

 

My #1 advice to you is TAKE ADVANTAGE of the room and the amenities (and the Spa thermal suite) and RELAX!  I don't know your itinerary, but don't feel bad about missing port activities just to stay and enjoy your room and amenities.   Especially after all the hustle and bustle of a wedding!

[deefer]

On 3/26/2019 at 8:09 AM, MandC2019 said:

Anybody hear of any successful bids on the Star for March 30th?

 

We were notified at the 48h mark that our bids were unsuccessful.  We are currently in an aft penthouse suite,  bid just above the minimum on the 2 different owners suites.

 

I would have been surprised if we were successful as the owners suite with the 2 balconies was already sold out 9 months ago when we booked!  But last minute cancellations do happen.....

 

I am curious too if anyone else got an upgrade. Over the last couple of weeks it looked like the only cabins open were insides.

 

Either way we sail today and plan on having an awesome time!

 

 

 

[bubblesnh]

On 3/18/2019 at 1:45 PM, Slack Alice said:

I’ve spent way too long looking through pages and pages of this thread trying to decide how much to bid!

I've looked at my cruise and done dummy bookings seeing at least 15 rooms available in almost all categories that I’m able to upgrade to so I’m assuming the cruise isn’t close to full yet. When is peak season considered to be?

I'm cruising on the breakaway western Caribbean out of Miami 14th April so wondering if spring break is over and the ship will be quieter then (from the UK so not sure on spring break dates!)

 

Thanks everyone for all the info lots to take in but very helpful!

My daughter was on spring break (college) from the Boston area last week, but Mass. school vacation week (highschool and below)

  is April 14 week and NH and Maine school vacation week is April 21 

[MandC2019]

2 hours ago, deefer said:

 

We were notified at the 48h mark that our bids were unsuccessful.  We are currently in an aft penthouse suite,  bid just above the minimum on the 2 different owners suites.

 

I would have been surprised if we were successful as the owners suite with the 2 balconies was already sold out 9 months ago when we booked!  But last minute cancellations do happen.....

 

I am curious too if anyone else got an upgrade. Over the last couple of weeks it looked like the only cabins open were insides.

 

Either way we sail today and plan on having an awesome time!

 

 

 

We were unsuccessful as well but like you plan on having an awesome time:)

[cartman3132]

15 hours ago, pfopma said:

I bid $200 (fair) for an upgrade from inside to balcony. It was accepted 4 weeks before the cruise and we got midship balcony on deck 9 of the Spirit.

Which cruise was it?

[bubblesnh]

On 3/28/2019 at 9:13 AM, fandangocruiser said:

Thank you to all for your input, especially Jamie. 

 

On my Bliss sailing Haven is only category that is sold out. We have a mini suite booked with 2 adults and a 15yo. We would really like to upgrade to a Haven room. All Haven rooms have available offer to upgrade except H3. I noticed that some (H2,H8,H7) only have 2 or 3 rooms available. We would love an H6. So do you think strongest bid should be on cabins with most availability?? We are not bidding on H5 because the only layout I see is with extra bed near balcony door and we want to get to balcony in the morning without waking up our 15yo. Does anyone know if this is only layout for H5?