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What was your upgrade offer and what did you bid


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When I booked my 15 day Panama Canal on the Bliss (on right now) way back in May of 2017 it was the lowest price it ever was for our family inside cabin for four. I still won an upgrade. Point being is that what you paid originally plays no bearing on winning otherwise I would never have won . My bid was $350 total to move from inside to spacious family ocean view for 15 days. 

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Hey all!  We (family of 4) are sailing on the Bliss April 14th-  Confirmed Mid BA cabin on the 13th deck, gonna be tight for us as we have 2 teenagers.  Hoping one of our 3 Haven bids will be accepted...placed bids on the Penthouse Aft, the 2 Bdrm and then the Owners Suite. There wasn't even an option to bid on the Haven Spa Suite category...so they must be legitimately sold out?   Put in a strong bid for the Aft Suite ($1500),   Fair bids on the other 2 ($1800).  I have been checking the site daily and All Havens have been showing as Sold Out for a couple of weeks now and they were showing that the day we got our invitation to bid on them. As of a few days ago all Balconies are showing as Sold Out except the Connecting Balcony rooms.   I had also put in a bid for the Forward facing Penthouse Haven one but cancelled that bid when i noticed it said it had an 'obstructed' view.  They offered for us to bid on a Mini Suite and a Spa Mini Suite as well, but after comparing sq footage there wasn't much difference, like 5 -15 sq  to justify bidding on those....if we are gonna put a bid in, might as well bid for something a lot more substantial!  If its meant to be it will be....if not, well it's ok.  We will be celebrating our 20th anniversary...have never sailed with NCL before, nor have we ever been out to the West Coast, just hoping for a nice, smooth, safe and relaxing trip!  

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13 minutes ago, Lara1008 said:

Hey all!  We (family of 4) are sailing on the Bliss April 14th-  Confirmed Mid BA cabin on the 13th deck, gonna be tight for us as we have 2 teenagers.  Hoping one of our 3 Haven bids will be accepted...placed bids on the Penthouse Aft, the 2 Bdrm and then the Owners Suite. There wasn't even an option to bid on the Haven Spa Suite category...so they must be legitimately sold out?   Put in a strong bid for the Aft Suite ($1500),   Fair bids on the other 2 ($1800).  I have been checking the site daily and All Havens have been showing as Sold Out for a couple of weeks now and they were showing that the day we got our invitation to bid on them. As of a few days ago all Balconies are showing as Sold Out except the Connecting Balcony rooms.   I had also put in a bid for the Forward facing Penthouse Haven one but cancelled that bid when i noticed it said it had an 'obstructed' view.  They offered for us to bid on a Mini Suite and a Spa Mini Suite as well, but after comparing sq footage there wasn't much difference, like 5 -15 sq  to justify bidding on those....if we are gonna put a bid in, might as well bid for something a lot more substantial!  If its meant to be it will be....if not, well it's ok.  We will be celebrating our 20th anniversary...have never sailed with NCL before, nor have we ever been out to the West Coast, just hoping for a nice, smooth, safe and relaxing trip!  

Haven spa suite won't accommodate four which is why it was never offered

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Has anyone received a response to their upgrade offer for the Norwegian escape sailing out of New York on April 21? I submitted upgrade offers for all Havens. I am currently in a mid-ship balcony stateroom. Thank you!

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17 minutes ago, Kicker43 said:

I comment yesterday and receive my upgrade just now. My bid was accepted going from a mid-ship balcony to Haven forward facing penthouse for April 21st Norwegian escape!!! so excited!!!

Congrats!! I’m hoping for the same luck on the breakaway in May. What did you bid if you don’t mind sharing? 

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Not at all the bids were as follows:

Haven courtyard & Haven Spa- 1,200$/person

Haven Forward Penthouse Suite- 1,400$/person

Haven Aft Penthouse suite-1,500$/person

Haven 2 br- 1,800$/person

 

 

Also, on this thread I read that someone had similar bids to mine and they found out roughly 13-14 days prior to sailing which is about the same timeframe from when I just found out. So when bidding I believe if you go out of the fair range and into the good range you will have some success. Additionally, the availability was pretty open. There was 

Haven spa- 10 rooms left

Haven courtyard- 14 rooms left

Haven forward penthouse-7 rooms left

Haven aft penthouse- 9 rooms left

Haven 2 br-7 rooms left

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I just got Off Getaway and I was one of a small few (talked up a storm with everyone in Haven Bar and Courtyard. The Getaway, Breakaway and Escape have tons of inventory and almost all. At least 95% of everyone spoke w and heard talking bid in, so keep this in mind. I would have never paid 1900 more for spa if I could do again from (full price paid) mid ship balcony. Never again.....people got in H4s for price I paid. Or 100 more. Crazy !! So if that much inventory..I'd study hard and bid accordingly. People winning spa for 1350 more. From balcony..and as it goes on should get less to bid once April vacas are done in USA. Late April/May's judge accordingly.. good luck all

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We have a bid for a spa balcony and spa mini suite on our upcoming cruise on the 27 however the ship is sold out ( Epic) and it does not even show up when you search for it, so we are doubtful we will get anything. We are very happy with out Balcony Stateroom and we know last minute cancellations can happen, so we will stay tuned :-)....

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On 4/5/2019 at 7:37 AM, linga said:

I'm On an April sailing of Breakaway.  We had an aft balcony room and bid on both a Haven Aft and the 2 bedroom Haven because we wanted to add a 3rd person and needed at least a one bedroom unit.  There were tons of empty rooms on this cruise, so I thought we had a good chance.  I kept upping our bid, at the end I had bid $1600 each.  Then last week, all of the Haven rooms we wanted started disappearing rather quickly.  The 2 bedrooms sold out in one day.  We bit the bullet and just upgraded because we really wanted the room.  By the time I upgraded, there were only 2 Haven Afts left.  There were 7 a week prior.

 

Not sure where all those Haven rooms went, but we weren't successful in getting a bid approved.  Still very excited to have the Haven Aft and that huge balcony!  Can't wait!!

 

 

 

 

I found out that the Royal Oasis ship cancelled their cruise, so a bunch of folks booked our ship within a few days.  No wonder the inventory disappeared so quickly.  

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On the Bliss, 4/21/19, 7-night Mexican Riviera.  Got upgraded today from a BF (balcony guarantee) to a spa balcony for basically the cost of the spa pass.  I'm happy with that.  It's also the EARLIEST I've gotten upgrades (my two previous Haven upgrades came 2-3 days prior to sailing).  Havens have been gone for a while, mini-suites disappeared within the past week (my other bids), so knew it was a spa balcony or nothing.  I'm happy with the result and looking forward to the thermal suite!

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Just wanted to share what happened to me in case anyone else can take advantage of this scenario:   Hubby and I were booked in a balcony cabin and daughter and boyfriend in a second balcony cabin.  Though we are past final payment, I have been watching prices every few days.  Our initial plan was to purchase the spa passes before we board to get the discount.  I put a bid in for a spa balcony for the cost of two spa passes ($400 total) to see if we would have any chance of getting the upgrade.  Turns out there was a pretty big drop in prices, bringing the cost of a spa balcony down to about $250 more than the cost of our regular balcony cabin. (Remember, the online cost of the spa pass is $199 - so that's only a little more than the cost of one pass, plus a an upgraded room.)  Did a mock booking and saw there were lots of spa balconies still available.  My TA called NCL.  First they offered a complimentary upgrade to a mini-suite, but I really wanted the balcony.  So asked if we could upgrade to 2 spa balconies and pay the difference in price.  They said YES!!!!   And because we booked before the price increase for the gratuities on the beverage package, the total cost to upgrade was only $200 per room!!!!  On top of that, we were able to get two rooms next to each other (there were several cabins between us when we booked the original balconies).  As soon as I got confirmation of the upgraded spa balconies, I went into the bidding page and cancelled the online bid for the upgrade.  Bottom line, you may be able to snag the upgrade sooner - and potentially for a lower price than you expected.  We actually saved $200 per room by not having to purchase the spa passes or paying for the upgrade through the bidding system.   Now we are really excited for our Bermuda cruise!  For anyone who tries this - don't forget the cancel the bid on the upgrade!

 

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So Last night on our FB Roll Call page, someone claimed that they got an upgrade to a balcony on the Epic 4/13.... I thought the ship was sold out, so I had lost all hope of getting our haven upgrade.... Now my hopes are up again! Really loved the Haven the last time we upgraded.  Anyone else on the 4/13 Epic cruise hear anything?

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I've been monitoring NCL's webpage since I was invited to bid and for my sailing, there are a lot of cabins still available (in some categories, the max of 15 are showing--telling me there are possibly more if I understand it correctly).  From Insides up to Havens.  Should I just call them directly and offer what I bid for the upgrade I would like? Or wait it out?  We are 72 days out.  

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It's always a good idea to keep your eye on the prices of your desired cabin(s).  As far as offering to pay the difference, I'd simply ask if you could pay to upgrade to XYZ cabin.  If it's possible, they'll give you a price you'll need to pay. The reason I suggest this is b/c sometimes it's less than what you'd expect. (wouldn't that be great?) 

 

Enjoy your cruise.

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2 hours ago, chapchap said:

I've been monitoring NCL's webpage since I was invited to bid and for my sailing, there are a lot of cabins still available (in some categories, the max of 15 are showing--telling me there are possibly more if I understand it correctly).  From Insides up to Havens.  Should I just call them directly and offer what I bid for the upgrade I would like? Or wait it out?  We are 72 days out.  

 

You can call if you wish but thinking that you can negotiate with them over the phone is a waste of time. There’s no reason for them to allow you to skip over the bidding process and hundreds of others who are also bidding like you. If they allowed that customer service would have thousands of calls a day by customers wanting to skip the bid program and turn it into let’s make a deal.

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30 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

 

You can call if you wish but thinking that you can negotiate with them over the phone is a waste of time. There’s no reason for them to allow you to skip over the bidding process and hundreds of others who are also bidding like you. If they allowed that customer service would have thousands of calls a day by customers wanting to skip the bid program and turn it into let’s make a deal.

See my comment above.  I had no problem getting upgraded from a balcony cabin to a spa cabin - for less than what I originally bid and less than the cost of two spa passes.  I did this on a Breakaway cruise two years ago, also.  I think if the TA calls, they are much more likely to get the offer accepted.  It's worth a try.  There are still lots of unsold cabins on our cruise, which is surprising because I would think it's peak travel time (June 16 to Bermuda on the Escape).

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42 minutes ago, bjtravelnews said:

See my comment above.  I had no problem getting upgraded from a balcony cabin to a spa cabin - for less than what I originally bid and less than the cost of two spa passes.  I did this on a Breakaway cruise two years ago, also.  I think if the TA calls, they are much more likely to get the offer accepted.  It's worth a try.  There are still lots of unsold cabins on our cruise, which is surprising because I would think it's peak travel time (June 16 to Bermuda on the Escape).

I saw your post but still don’t see how your situation applies to the person, chapchap, I was quoting ....... Nowhere does the other person mention price drops on his cabin like your scenario. It’s nice that NCL helped you out but doesn’t just mean that everyone of the thousands of people who want to bid could and should start calling customer service to throw out negotiating numbers thus bypassing the bidding process. If your cruise price drops considerably you may have options like you did. 

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2 hours ago, tallnthensome said:

 

You can call if you wish but thinking that you can negotiate with them over the phone is a waste of time. There’s no reason for them to allow you to skip over the bidding process and hundreds of others who are also bidding like you. If they allowed that customer service would have thousands of calls a day by customers wanting to skip the bid program and turn it into let’s make a deal.

Exactly why NCL has moved to the bidding system. They needed a room full of people just to field all the calls from pax and TA's looking for an upgrade

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1 hour ago, tallnthensome said:

I saw your post but still don’t see how your situation applies to the person, chapchap, I was quoting ....... Nowhere does the other person mention price drops on his cabin like your scenario. It’s nice that NCL helped you out but doesn’t just mean that everyone of the thousands of people who want to bid could and should start calling customer service to throw out negotiating numbers thus bypassing the bidding process. If your cruise price drops considerably you may have options like you did. 

See your point - sorry if I misconstrued the original post to which you refer.  Agree, it would be a nightmare if people suddenly all started calling in to bid for a better room.

 

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So on the Gem the H1 H2 cabins are “sold out”. There are 1/2 of the inventory for H3 H4 H5 we are under 60 days any chance these stay available and go to bids?  Just hoping and wondering.

Also is summer a high time for cruises and selling out or is it usually holidays?

 

Thanks

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3 hours ago, Coachyo said:

So on the Gem the H1 H2 cabins are “sold out”. There are 1/2 of the inventory for H3 H4 H5 we are under 60 days any chance these stay available and go to bids?  Just hoping and wondering.

Also is summer a high time for cruises and selling out or is it usually holidays?

 

Thanks

Bermuda cruises in the summer months are historically always sold out, plus it's the first time in years that it's the gem out of Boston instead of the dawn this year, plus smaller ship than breakaway class.

my suggestion is book what your comfortable paying, then put in a bid with upgrade advantage, be patient, watch inventory, and maybe you'll be successful or if not enjoy your lovely cruise in a balcony to Bermuda 

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