Upgrade bid experiences

[Grandma Cruising]

Actually, looking at the spreadsheet, it’s a bit more nuanced than that. Successful bids include one minimum bid of $400 that was successful, and one bid of $640 that was also successful. One thing that’s interesting is that all the successful bids are ‘weak’ bids.  The higher bids are all for CC suites which were always very difficult to get under the old system.

It’s early days and we probably need more information to come to any firm conclusions, but you’re certainly right that Azamara seem to be making more from the new system.

[benjoon]

We got an email the day after this new system started for Quest May 25th. A balcony to a continental suite started at $290 Australian per person. We initially bid an offer of $400 and received an acknowledgment email. After a few weeks we thought why not to change the bid to $500. The very next day we received a successful bid email. We are discoverer plus because we are Elite plus on Celebrity. This is our first time on Azamara. We did the same bid for May 12th but was unsuccessful. 

[Grandma Cruising]

Thanks benjoon. I’ve added your information to the spreadsheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pEoojQ5-EPmD4cI3gw1dVcYfYTXfZePdDXxU09l0H3M

Can you remember whether your bids were classed as ‘weak’ etc?

[benjoon]

5 hours ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

Thanks benjoon. I’ve added your information to the spreadsheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pEoojQ5-EPmD4cI3gw1dVcYfYTXfZePdDXxU09l0H3M

Can you remember whether your bids were classed as ‘weak’ etc?

Our bids were weak bids. 

[Grandma Cruising]

54 minutes ago, benjoon said:

Our bids were weak bids. 

Thanks

[patricia 73]

We are booked on the Quest on June 14. We were given the opportunity to bid. Our original reservation was a club continent suite. We are an elite plus on Celebrity. We bid on the two larger suites. The opening bid for the Club ocean Suite was $1500.00 per person. We bid $1700.00 per person. We were more interested in the World Club Suite as we do not like being to close to the front of the ship. Don’t remember if this was a weak bid. So we did not get this suite. However we did manage to secure a World Ocean Suite(8091). We had bid $2500.00 pp. This bid was just a bit over the middle between weak/strong.We received notification that our bid was accepted and we were notified about a month before our cruise date.We probably wouldn’t have bid that hig except that we were taking our grandson on this trip and was concerned about the size of our original suite as this will be the first time on Azamara.

[Grandma Cruising]

Thanks for the information. I’ve added it to the spreadsheet. Can you remember when you made the bids and what the minimum bid was for the World Ocean Suite?

[ausi ski bum]

A Question if you are upgraded from Verandah Cabin to Continental Suite is the upgrade room only or do you get the full entitlements of that category such as free access to all dining areas and in room bar etc ?

[marinaro44]

9 minutes ago, ausi ski bum said:

A Question if you are upgraded from Verandah Cabin to Continental Suite is the upgrade room only or do you get the full entitlements of that category such as free access to all dining areas and in room bar etc ?

Full entitlements.  But you get LCV credit for the stateroom originally booked.

[patricia 73]

On ‎5‎/‎12‎/‎2019 at 2:15 PM, Host Grandma Cruising said:

 We made our first offer on that day.Thanks for the information. I’ve added it to the spreadsheet. Can you remember when you made the bids and what the minimum bid was for the World Ocean Suite?

1. We made our first offer the day we received the e-mail. I believe that we received the offer on April 14. The was the day we made our first offer. The Ocean club suite had a minimum bid of $1500.00 per person we bid$1750 per person. The minimium bid for the World  club was $2000.00 per person. Our first bid was $2250.00 per person. It didn't look like it was good enough so three days later we made another bid of $2525.00 per person. We actually were notified on May 1st. thyat our modified offer was accepted.

[hiccups]

10 minutes ago, patricia 73 said:

1. We made our first offer the day we received the e-mail. I believe that we received the offer on April 14. The was the day we made our first offer. The Ocean club suite had a minimum bid of $1500.00 per person we bid$1750 per person. The minimium bid for the World  club was $2000.00 per person. Our first bid was $2250.00 per person. It didn't look like it was good enough so three days later we made another bid of $2525.00 per person. We actually were notified on May 1st. thyat our modified offer was accepted.

Since you mentioned having your grandson with you, does that mean that your upgrade price was $7575 ($2525 x 3)?

[Grandma Cruising]

7 minutes ago, hiccups said:

Since you mentioned having your grandson with you, does that mean that your upgrade price was $7575 ($2525 x 3)?

Just looked at the FAQ on the upgrade programme on Azamara’s website. It says that if there are more than 2 in a cabin, the upgrade bids are only for the first & second Guest, so I assume this bid was $5050.

[Grandma Cruising]

22 minutes ago, patricia 73 said:

1. We made our first offer the day we received the e-mail. I believe that we received the offer on April 14. The was the day we made our first offer. The Ocean club suite had a minimum bid of $1500.00 per person we bid$1750 per person. The minimium bid for the World  club was $2000.00 per person. Our first bid was $2250.00 per person. It didn't look like it was good enough so three days later we made another bid of $2525.00 per person. We actually were notified on May 1st. thyat our modified offer was accepted.

Thanks.

[patricia 73]

3 hours ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

Just looked at the FAQ on the upgrade programme on Azamara’s website. It says that if there are more than 2 in a cabin, the upgrade bids are only for the first & second Guest, so I assume this bid was $5050.

NO.  Azamara stated that it would be for 2 adults the grandson was not included.  So final price was $5050.  Does this help?

 

[Werangels]

Yesssss!!

 

Croatia 7 night 29 June.  Balcony to continent suite.

 

I didn’t receive an email inviting me to bid.  I went through the link on the site on 6 May.  The minimum bid was £150 each.  I bid £170 initially. At this point, there were 3 + guarantee OV, balcony guarantee and 4 continent suites available.  I kept an eye on the decreasing number of cabins and 3 days ago all balcony and below were sold out and continent were down to 3 + guarantee so I increased the bid to £240 each.  My TA received confirmation of my successful bid today.

 

I really hadn’t expected to win with the ship being virtually full.  I also see that our ‘old’ cabin is not available so has been sold or given to someone else as an upgrade. 

 

I am absolutely thrilled. First ever cruise and a suite!

 

i’m sure I’ll be back with ‘suite’ questions when I calm down 😉

[Grandma Cruising]

44 minutes ago, Werangels said:

Yesssss!!

 

Croatia 7 night 29 June.  Balcony to continent suite.

 

I didn’t receive an email inviting me to bid.  I went through the link on the site on 6 May.  The minimum bid was £150 each.  I bid £170 initially. At this point, there were 3 + guarantee OV, balcony guarantee and 4 continent suites available.  I kept an eye on the decreasing number of cabins and 3 days ago all balcony and below were sold out and continent were down to 3 + guarantee so I increased the bid to £240 each.  My TA received confirmation of my successful bid today.

 

I really hadn’t expected to win with the ship being virtually full.  I also see that our ‘old’ cabin is not available so has been sold or given to someone else as an upgrade. 

 

I am absolutely thrilled. First ever cruise and a suite!

 

i’m sure I’ll be back with ‘suite’ questions when I calm down 😉

Thanks, Werangels. Congratulations on your successful bid!

I’ve added your experience to the spreadsheet. Can you remember whether your final bid was judged as weak, strong or in the middle?

 

[Werangels]

1 minute ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

Thanks, Werangels. Congratulations on your successful bid!

I’ve added your experience to the spreadsheet. Can you remember whether your final bid was judged as weak, strong or in the middle?

 

 

Thank you.  It was weak.

[Grandma Cruising]

Just now, Werangels said:

 

Thank you.  It was weak.

Thanks

[uktog]

Azamara Journey 18 May booked in a V2 bid just above the minimum (which is 10% higher than the old upgrade price) Bid was weak. Heard tonight Unsuccessful 

(We are Platinums and had immediately submitted an upgrade request on booking under the old system then had to rebid.)

 

This cruise was very heavily discounted through agencies after final payment

 

 

[Grandma Cruising]

24 minutes ago, uktog said:

Azamara Journey 18 May booked in a V2 bid just above the minimum (which is 10% higher than the old upgrade price) Bid was weak. Heard tonight Unsuccessful 

(We are Platinums and had immediately submitted an upgrade request on booking under the old system then had to rebid.)

 

This cruise was very heavily discounted through agencies after final payment

 

 

Thanks for the information, I’ll add it to the spreadsheet. I assume you made your bid fairly soon after the new system started (mid March) & have put that date in the spreadsheet.  I’ve put the minimum down as $400 (I’ve converted all currency to dollars for ease of comparison) as that seems to be the minimum per stateroom for bids from Verandah to CC.  Can you remember exactly what you actually bid? Don’t worry now - you’re probably in the middle of packing, but I’d be grateful if you could let me know sometime (maybe when you’re back). 

Hope you have a great cruise.

[uktog]

£320 

[Grandma Cruising]

1 minute ago, uktog said:

£320 

Thanks, that’s great.

[Ithikan]

41 minutes ago, uktog said:

Azamara Journey 18 May booked in a V2 bid just above the minimum (which is 10% higher than the old upgrade price) Bid was weak. Heard tonight Unsuccessful 

(We are Platinums and had immediately submitted an upgrade request on booking under the old system then had to rebid.)

 

This cruise was very heavily discounted through agencies after final payment

 

 

I, too, wish you a great cruise!

Re. the results of your upgrade bid:  that stinks.

In the past I was happy to book early, both for the presumption of lowest price  AND for the possibility of snagging an upgrade.   My choice of TA for our currently booked cruises banishes us from this upgrade game, however, and now that early booking no longer leans towards the lowest prices, well, we are actively exploring alternative cruise lines.

[Werangels]

26 minutes ago, Ithikan said:

I, too, wish you a great cruise!

Re. the results of your upgrade bid:  that stinks.

In the past I was happy to book early, both for the presumption of lowest price  AND for the possibility of snagging an upgrade.   My choice of TA for our currently booked cruises banishes us from this upgrade game, however, and now that early booking no longer leans towards the lowest prices, well, we are actively exploring alternative cruise lines.

 

I was told my TA precluded me from bidding and she queried it and was told the same.  To start with when I tried to bid, it said I wasn’t eligible however, I kept trying every now and again and for some reason allowed me to bid.  So, it may be worth trying again.

 

UKtog - I hope you have a wonderful holiday.

[uktog]

Thanks for the good wishes. We always book a room we will be happy with so all will be good  and we are looking forward to our time aboard