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Upgrade bid experiences


Grandma Cruising
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On 9/10/2019 at 11:58 PM, Host Grandma Cruising said:

If you post the following information, I’ll add it to the spreadsheet.

Date bid offer received -- August 26, 2019

Date of cruise, -- September 18, 2019

length of cruise -- 16 nights

LCV level -- Adventurer

Cabin type booked -- Exterior Stateroom

Cabin type bid for -- Exterior Verandah

minimum bid bid made -- $400

’strength’ of bid (weak etc) - weak

success or otherwise. - successful... took two weeks to hear back from submission of bid

 

Thanks.

 

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9 hours ago, Fatfish said:

Date bid offer received....Checked myself 9/13

Date of cruise,11/21/2020 Journey

length of cruise... 9 night

LCV level  Discoverer

Cabin type booked   Inside      

Cabin type bid for  Oceanview    Verandah

minimum bid bid made none   $200 pp     $1000pp

’strength’ of bid (weak etc) weak

success or otherwise.  Did not bid

Can I just check the date of the cruise? Do you really mean 2020? If so I’m surprised you were eligible to bid as they don’t usually set up the bidding process any earlier than 90 days before the cruise.

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4 hours ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

Can I just check the date of the cruise? Do you really mean 2020? If so I’m surprised you were eligible to bid as they don’t usually set up the bidding process any earlier than 90 days before the cruise.

Ooops....Sorry 2019🙄

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15 hours ago, hamrag said:

 

Ditto, did not bid.....although I am UK, booked via USA website hence dollars is the currency!!

 

To clarify....I did not receive any email, but accessed the upgrade bid 'system' via the Azamara website. This was for 30th November, but our following cruise on 7th December is not yet showing for upgrade bids. 

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35 minutes ago, hamrag said:

 

To clarify....I did not receive any email, but accessed the upgrade bid 'system' via the Azamara website. This was for 30th November, but our following cruise on 7th December is not yet showing for upgrade bids. 

Thanks - I’ve added your information, too.

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I booked a cruise last week and made final payment.  Received an offer on Friday to bid for an upgrade.  To me the bidding is confusing.  I was shown all levels of suites since I booked a V2 (like the location best).  I put in a weak bid so I’ll wait and see what happens.  I can’t see a lot of difference between a V1 or 2 and a club continent suite other than the specialty restaurants. What am I missing?

I like the old way of requesting an upgrade and was fortunate enough to actually get upgraded. 

 

Edited by midwestchick
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I received the email invitation to bid email for our November cruise on 3 August. When I looked then the minimum bid from our Oceanview to a Verandah was £200 pp. No other cabin was available to bid for - I know that all the suites are sold out.

I’ve just had a look and the minimum bid has gone down to £160 pp. I had assumed the minimum was set for any particular cruise but it looks as if the algorithm used takes account of some other factors - possibly the length of time before the cruise, how many cabins are left (and of what type), the number of upgrade bids made etc.

There are still a lot of Verandah cabins available, so that may be why the minimum bid has gone down. 

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1 hour ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

 

 

1 hour ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

CC Suite is quite a lot bigger than a Verandah  and so is the bathroom.

 

I did see that the bathroom is bigger and I saw a video but the room itself didn’t look that much bigger.  I’ll have to take another look.  

Edited by midwestchick
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52 minutes ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

I received the email invitation to bid email for our November cruise on 3 August. When I looked then the minimum bid from our Oceanview to a Verandah was £200 pp. No other cabin was available to bid for - I know that all the suites are sold out.

I’ve just had a look and the minimum bid has gone down to £160 pp. I had assumed the minimum was set for any particular cruise but it looks as if the algorithm used takes account of some other factors - possibly the length of time before the cruise, how many cabins are left (and of what type), the number of upgrade bids made etc.

There are still a lot of Verandah cabins available, so that may be why the minimum bid has gone down. 

But you still need to be able to receive that e-mail in order to be able to bid...am I right?

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26 minutes ago, Lookyboy said:

But you still need to be able to receive that e-mail in order to be able to bid...am I right?

You can go on the website and check your eligibility if you don’t get an email 

https://www.azamara.co.uk/azamara-upgrade-programme

If it says your booking is not eligible it could be because your travel agent has not agreed to take part or because your cruise has not yet been ‘loaded’ into the system (somewhere between 90 and 60 days before)

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20 minutes ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

You can go on the website and check your eligibility if you don’t get an email 

https://www.azamara.co.uk/azamara-upgrade-programme

If it says your booking is not eligible it could be because your travel agent has not agreed to take part or because your cruise has not yet been ‘loaded’ into the system (somewhere between 90 and 60 days before)

Erm....when Azamara is your travel agent.....and you know you are within the window... and it's happened twice already this year.....it's a wee bit harder every time. 😁😁😁 but thank you for trying to help.

 

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35 minutes ago, Lookyboy said:

Erm....when Azamara is your travel agent.....and you know you are within the window... and it's happened twice already this year.....it's a wee bit harder every time. 😁😁😁 but thank you for trying to help.

 

I presume you have emailed  LCV. Have you tried emailing Richard Twynam (UK MD) at

RTwynam@azamaraclubcruises.com.

I’ve always found him very responsive.

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3 hours ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

I received the email invitation to bid email for our November cruise on 3 August. When I looked then the minimum bid from our Oceanview to a Verandah was £200 pp. No other cabin was available to bid for - I know that all the suites are sold out.

I’ve just had a look and the minimum bid has gone down to £160 pp. I had assumed the minimum was set for any particular cruise but it looks as if the algorithm used takes account of some other factors - possibly the length of time before the cruise, how many cabins are left (and of what type), the number of upgrade bids made etc.

There are still a lot of Verandah cabins available, so that may be why the minimum bid has gone down. 

Interesting that minimum bid prices are fluid, at least to some degree, so I will keep checking....thanks for pointing that out. Right now, for us currently booked inside, it is just not worth bidding....for a V it is a minimum (weak) $500pp, and for OV it is a minimum $200pp. With the OV, you could end up with a smaller cabin i.e. category 08 on deck 6 which are 143 sq ft....who in their right mind is going to take the risk of your upgrade from an inside (158 sq ft) getting you a window but with even less space?

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Well we get all their marketing stuff but no email about our upcoming cruises others are bidding on. You cannot defend their system 

Oh and as they are direct books it’s not a travel agent issue. 

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10 minutes ago, uktog said:

Well we get all their marketing stuff but no email about our upcoming cruises others are bidding on. You cannot defend their system 

Oh and as they are direct books it’s not a travel agent issue. 

 

No email for us, I went into the Az website and found the option to bid there for 30 November on Friday past. Not worth it for us, this trip is much more about assessing everything else Az offers for future cruise options and decisions....and enjoying some Caribbean sunshine during winter, at an incredibly low price! 

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