MSC "BID UP" program launch

[dexddd]

All I can say without using curse words is BOO MSC.  I will add more when I have full keyboard.

[thetaro]

I don't mind bidding and I actually got the value from bidding with the NCL. The only problem with NCL is that they overprice their room that puts people who are not flexible in a disadvantage. 

[dexddd]

2 minutes ago, thetaro said:

I don't mind bidding and I actually got the value from bidding with the NCL. The only problem with NCL is that they overprice their room that puts people who are not flexible in a disadvantage. 

Yes, they overprice.  But how are the bidders going to feel good unless they feel good about getting a deal vs the overpriced MSRP prices.

[jcathers1]

9 hours ago, Até said:

Once NCL opened up the bidding process it set off an ugly chain of events regarding the Haven and suites.  Pretty much right at the start they lost a lot of loyal customers by irritating people like me who regularly booked suites and don't want to take chances on a mystery cabin location.  Additionally, once they made the Haven available to a supposedly discounted bidding system I'm sure bookings plummeted.  It basically cheapened the experience and makes it less likely people who consider booking suites are going to pay asking price if NCL is going to offer a discounted way to get into the Haven.  But NCL's strategy was actually to raise suite prices because they had a new new target suite passenger who was the inexperienced cruiser and had no idea what those suites normally sold for.  Advertising the suites at multiples of the old rate most often fuels ridiculous bids from the unsavvy.  It's a game controlled by NCL.

 

After reading hundreds of bid reports I feel the true suite bid deals are few and far between, most of the claims of great deals are made in comparison to the new fictional suite prices rather than historic prices before the bidding system.  The fact that NCL keeps the system shows overall people end up paying more than what NCL was getting before, even if a majority of suites go out for bidding.  I guess so far it is working for NCL and the loss of customers like me doesn't really matter.   I still hold hope the long term effects of their bidding system's implementation, along with the continuous "Free at Sea" promotional tactic are still not recognized by NCL.

 

Hopefully MSC will find a way to implement the program in way that I don't get the feeling they are only trying to squeeze every possible dollar out of me and everybody else on the ship.  I've stayed with MSC so far because they have conveyed an appreciation for their customers and value their continued patronage.  I do believe some of the other lines' (Azamara?) bidding systems do take into account things like loyalty status.  I don't know if that would be enough.  I've watched MSC prices for about three years so if I see a similar trend to NCL I may have change my booking strategy or just move on.

 

You have a flawed view of the concept of free exchange of goods if you believe that only the cruise line benefits from this.We sailed in the Haven three times, twice by bidding and upgrading. We saved over $3000 and $4000 respectively off list price for those cabins. Was the price inflated due to the bidding/upgrading process? Perhaps a bit, but I cannot conceive that prices rose for the entire ship due to a few people bidding on suites. In fact, for the sailings we upgraded, there were only 2 or 3 cabins left available at the time of bidding (so we made our bid good enough to give us a great chance of getting the room). This means that the vast majority of folks in the Haven were paying full price for their suites.

 

The concept is relatively simple, and makes sense for both the consumer and the cruise line. If you're already booked in a room, would you pay a little more to upgrade to a better class of room (but still less than the full amount)? They want to move balconies to suites, ocean-views to balconies, insides to ocean-views, and then offer great deals for last minute inside rooms. Everyone in this scenario pays incrementally more, gets an improved product, and the cruise line fills a cabin it would otherwise not fill.

[thetaro]

40 minutes ago, dexddd said:

Yes, they overprice.  But how are the bidders going to feel good unless they feel good about getting a deal vs the overpriced MSRP prices.

 

It's the same thing when people who bought last minute got a better price. People paid less and booked guaranteed got upgraded to better cabin. You can say it's unfair, but fact is you pay a higher price for not being flexible. If they are going to upgrade people randomly, why don't they just sell it. It's only a problem if they follow NCL's pricing model to price out a lot of people. That leads to a decrease in customer satisfaction. You either have to pay a much higher price that makes you feel like you got ripped off, or you rely on bidding system that may not give you what you want.

[capriccio]

5 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

I wish they would just promote the sale of upgrades at the last minute, if they just sent an email with set prices to upgrade on a first come basis it would be much nicer process.

This is the model Princess uses very successfully.  Years ago there were free upgrades but now they seem to seldom occur.  instead they offer upsells via an email that includes the cost per person. Sometimes the price is extremely reasonable (from a balcony to mini-suite on a 10 day Caribbean cruise for $129 per person); other times they aren't (from a mini-suite to a full suite on a 14 day Norwegian cruise for $1200 per person).  We have received the email up to two months in advance of the cruise (after final payment obviously).  If interested you call a specific number and leave a message.  Calls are returned in the order in which the message was received.  If there are multiple cabins available you can pick out the one you want. 

[Até]

2 hours ago, jcathers1 said:

 

You have a flawed view of the concept of free exchange of goods if you believe that only the cruise line benefits from this.

...

The concept is relatively simple, and makes sense for both the consumer and the cruise line. If you're already booked in a room, would you pay a little more to upgrade ... and the cruise line fills a cabin it would otherwise not fill.

The problem is that cruise lines use this type of bidding process for one reason, and it's not to help the customers.  Basically for all cabins above an inside, and the higher the cabin category the bigger the problem, it creates an artificial price that the Cruise line can keep regardless of normal supply and demand pressures.  They can stick to ridiculous prices for the higher cabins regardless of whether the category sells well at that price.  Sure there are going to be a few people that are going to bite, Ziggyuk referred to that cherry above.  The rest of the consumers who are unwilling to pay that inflated price are left to book a lower category and hope for a mystery cabin upgrade.  The cruise line will get another bite out of them later.  While I primarily mention suites because they are the most affected, this same problem affects balconies and even OV to a lesser extent.

 

I'm not really surprised MSC is thinking about moving to a bidding system.  Maximizing the sales price of cabins is something all cruise lines strive for and they have had strategies well before the bidding process.  My last sailing on Seaside I was told there were over a dozen YC Deluxe suites unsold a week before sailing.  If you looked online you could never see more than one or two, sometimes it even showed sold out.  YC interiors showed sold out for months, then four popped up with about 25 days to sailing.  That's a different but similar ploy to push sales of the YC Deluxe suites by manipulating supply of the YC interiors.  YC prices were kept high regardless of unsold inventory and were either given free to selected customers or upsold last minute.  NCL has mastered this inventory masking technique and electronic bidding has brought it to a whole new level.  It is all done to maintain an artificially high price regardless of demand.  They're quietly booking a whole ship full of lower cabins they can bid up last minute if needed.  The cruise lines know how many cabins they've sold and what bids have been made, so by sailing date they will just sell enough low level guarantees to have a full ship. 

 

So, it's a perversion of supply and demand mainly affecting the higher level cabins that evidently keeps overall profits high for the cruise line.  Is that bad?  I suppose they are in it to make money after all.  What isn't taken into account is that it turns the cruise line's product into something a lot of seasoned cruisers don't like and that many others wouldn't like if they knew it was happening.  Look at the reactions of posters on this thread, there's a significant number that do not like this process and will move on if it's implemented unsatisfactorily.

 

First, as mentioned by others in this thread it puts anyone who isn't flexible about their cabin into a bad situation.  Many people who want a suite are not going to book a balcony and hope to win a bid to an unknown cabin.  The same is true for someone wanting a balcony and not willing to book an inside and hope.  For them it's either pay the artificially high price or settle for a cabin category less than what they should have been able to afford.  How many posters on NCL say they got a winning bid into a high end suite that showed sold out months before sailing, lots!  When NCL suddenly shuts down all the previously available suites into sold out status about a month before sailing that is because they are close to having sold out the ship with lower cabins, many who they know have made pending bids, and also with lower cabin guarantees.  There's then going to be a whole flurry of computer maximized upgrades that trickle down to other people who couldn't afford what they wanted and now move up into a cabin not of their choice, and a number of those people are moved into some pretty otherwise undesirable cabins.  Even considering the benefit of having your cabin choice, the asking prices of those suites and higher cabins was pure fiction and anyone that paid that amount was taken advantage of by unsavory means.  It's just not a system I find ideal for customer satisfaction.

 

Second, whats wrong with selling the cabin for the fair market price in the first place.  Why should cabins "otherwise not be filled" if the cruise line was asking a market justified price to begin with.  I'm all for letting supply and demand determine that price, just not with the tactics that seem to be currently used and hidden from the consumer.  Why inflate the price to the point there are numerous unsold cabins and then rely on bidding to fill them in.  I don't see that being in both parties best interest.  It's a trick of being less than transparent that solely benefits the cruise line at the cost of the consumer.  And to beat all they market the bidding process in a way that half of the customers feel it's good for them.

 

The cruise line controls the visible prices and inventory, then controls the bidding system to further manipulate their customers.  As someone who often booked those higher cabins and suites outright I find the bidding system a little disgusting.  But I'm in the minority and there are lots of people who have no idea whats going on and will continue to think they got into the Haven for a deal.  I can only hope there's going to be a point where the cruise lines continuous building of more ships with more cabins to sell is going to exhaust the supply of cruisers willing to book through the buy in low then move up later bidding process they have come up with. 

 

 

 

 

[jcathers1]

6 minutes ago, Até said:

 

 

Second, whats wrong with selling the cabin for the fair market price in the first place.  Why should cabins "otherwise not be filled" if the cruise line was asking a market justified price to begin with.  I'm all for letting supply and demand determine that price, just not with the tactics that seem to be currently used and hidden from the consumer.  Why inflate the price to the point there are numerous unsold cabins and then rely on bidding to fill them in.  I don't see that being in both parties best interest.  It's a trick of being less than transparent that solely benefits the cruise line at the cost of the consumer.  And to beat all they market the bidding process in a way that half of the customers feel it's good for them.

 

The cruise line controls the visible prices and inventory, then controls the bidding system to further manipulate their customers.  As someone who often booked those higher cabins and suites outright I find the bidding system a little disgusting.  But I'm in the minority and there are lots of people who have no idea whats going on and will continue to think they got into the Haven for a deal.  I can only hope there's going to be a point where the cruise lines continuous building of more ships with more cabins to sell is going to exhaust the supply of cruisers willing to book through the buy in low then move up later bidding process they have come up with. 

 

 

 

 

 

You keep using terms like "artificially inflated prices" and claim that the cabins are not at "fair market value". Again, that's not how the free market works.  If the Haven or YC sails fully booked, then an argument can be made that the prices are actually not high enough.

 

No one gets screwed in a voluntary exchange of good/services/money. You may argue that the cruise lines have a bit more power in the relationship (because they have more information), but as long as people keep paying these prices, the prices will continue to rise. There isn't a monopoly on cruising. No one is forcing anyone to book a cabin or bid on a cabin. If enough people are offput by this, they will stop sailing, and MSC will have to change course. I cannot imagine that happening. Are people leaving NCL in droves because of this bidding process? It doesn't seem so. As someone who has sailed in both the Haven and the YC, I also cannot fathom why someone would pay literally twice as much for the Haven as for the YC (for virtually identical experiences). And yet, plenty do. 

 

It's easy to blame the terrible no-good greedy capitalists for the prices on these ships, but again, people are paying them. That means they are priced appropriately.

 

[sidari]

So MSC employ ex NCL employees who then bring the NCL system with them and convince the powers that be at MSC that this will work for them.

It is likely that free upgrades will be a thing of the past with MSC if this takes off, I mean why should they offer a free upgrade when they can get someone to pay for it!

For now we will continue to choose as we go, YC does not interest us with the over inflated prices and will maybe stick with Aurea for now though I see on the horizon the time when we stop cruising with MSC.

[js]

19 hours ago, Beamafar said:

No more 'free' upgrades, then!

 

It certainly will be very interesting to see how it works out.  Do people on the other boards share what it cost them to upgrade?

 

I hate this but it is what it is I guess, I'm not going to change their minds.  I'm happy I book my cabin for a price I feel okay with and select my cabin.

Yes, people on other boards share what it cost to upgrade and perhaps it helps them.  I also sail NCL Haven so on the NCL Boards.  If you go to NCL, look for a thread titled:  What was your offer (or upgrade offer) and what did you bid.  There are MANY pages. 

 

 

[Beamafar]

Thanks, JS.  I suppose I was more wondering if it's permitted by CC.  The only time I've ventured from this forum was when we booked a Celebrity cruise.  Most of the posts on other forums would be Double-Dutch to me lol.  Having checked out the NCL website on occasion to get a sense of prices, I'm still lost as to how to find Haven prices and what each category is.  🙄  I get a sense that they have different levels within Haven, whereas the YC category is more straightforward (to me, anyway).

[js]

15 hours ago, Até said:

Once NCL opened up the bidding process it set off an ugly chain of events regarding the Haven and suites.  Pretty much right at the start they lost a lot of loyal customers by irritating people like me who regularly booked suites and don't want to take chances on a mystery cabin location.  Additionally, once they made the Haven available to a supposedly discounted bidding system I'm sure bookings plummeted.  It basically cheapened the experience and makes it less likely people who consider booking suites are going to pay asking price if NCL is going to offer a discounted way to get into the Haven.  But NCL's strategy was actually to raise suite prices because they had a new new target suite passenger who was the inexperienced cruiser and had no idea what those suites normally sold for.  Advertising the suites at multiples of the old rate most often fuels ridiculous bids from the unsavvy.  It's a game controlled by NCL.

 

After reading hundreds of bid reports I feel the true suite bid deals are few and far between, most of the claims of great deals are made in comparison to the new fictional suite prices rather than historic prices before the bidding system.  The fact that NCL keeps the system shows overall people end up paying more than what NCL was getting before, even if a majority of suites go out for bidding.  I guess so far it is working for NCL and the loss of customers like me doesn't really matter.   I still hold hope the long term effects of their bidding system's implementation, along with the continuous "Free at Sea" promotional tactic are still not recognized by NCL.

 

Hopefully MSC will find a way to implement the program in way that I don't get the feeling they are only trying to squeeze every possible dollar out of me and everybody else on the ship.  I've stayed with MSC so far because they have conveyed an appreciation for their customers and value their continued patronage.  I do believe some of the other lines' (Azamara?) bidding systems do take into account things like loyalty status.  I don't know if that would be enough.  I've watched MSC prices for about three years so if I see a similar trend to NCL I may have change my booking strategy or just move on.

 

I'm Platinum on NCL and only sail Haven on NCL and I'm one of those people that jumped ship once the bidding process started and Haven got even crazier with prices.  Last time I sailed NCL Haven was two or three years ago on the Escape out of Miami, it was a beautiful Haven compared to the Away ships.  Since then, we have sailed RCCL and MSC.  My mom and I had Haven booked and I started to read on NCL thread about MSC. Took a look and for a couple of thousand less I told her we were going to try YC and SO happy we did! I have my third Seaside YC cruise booked for February 2020.

However, I also sail with my dh/myself (both low/mid 50s) and my two adult children, 25 and 21 that are still in school (well my dd-25 just graduated law school last week) who enjoy the nightlife on NCL (even more than RCCL) so when I sail with my family, I booked NCL Haven.  The nightlife, IMO, on NCL is superior to MSC, however, I find the YC experience superior to NCL (although I have Haven Encore booked for July 2020 with the family).

 

I have also noticed this week when I checked my Seaside February 2020 cruise, the YC is over $5,000. I paid less than $4,000, so it is up over $1,000 and this is the week AFTER President's week.

 

I'm not a fan of the bidding and I agree with all of your post.

 

 

[Rou-Dyliq]

This will likely drive me out of cruising completely except for very rare occasions to keep my husband happy, and then I would bet we'll do luxury.  I am not a gambler, and I especially don't want to gamble on the precious few days per year we can escape the real world.  The luxury prices may be at or slightly higher the artificially inflated prices of the rest of the US based cruise lines but I won't feel as if I have been manipulated into something I didn't really want to do in the first place, and that is worth a lot to me.  

Edited May 24, 2019 by Rou-Dyliq
grammar

[Até]

3 minutes ago, jcathers1 said:

 

You keep using terms like "artificially inflated prices" and claim that the cabins are not at "fair market value". Again, that's not how the free market works.  If the Haven or YC sails fully booked, then an argument can be made that the prices are actually not high enough.

 

No one gets screwed in a voluntary exchange of good/services/money. You may argue that the cruise lines have a bit more power in the relationship (because they have more information), but as long as people keep paying these prices, the prices will continue to rise. There isn't a monopoly on cruising. No one is forcing anyone to book a cabin or bid on a cabin. If enough people are offput by this, they will stop sailing, and MSC will have to change course. I cannot imagine that happening. Are people leaving NCL in droves because of this bidding process? It doesn't seem so. As someone who has sailed in both the Haven and the YC, I also cannot fathom why someone would pay literally twice as much for the Haven as for the YC (for virtually identical experiences). And yet, plenty do. 

 

It's easy to blame the terrible no-good greedy capitalists for the prices on these ships, but again, people are paying them. That means they are priced appropriately.

 

I don't rely on CC posting history so don't accurately know your sailing history with NCL and if your suite sailings preceded the bidding systems implementation.  I've sailed suites on NCL long before the bidding system and way before the upsell number was publicly released for anyone to call and attempt moving up without being contacted first.   Long ago NCL asked a fair price for the suites and "upsell fairy" calls for them were rare.  I've also been interested in watching pricing trends over the last several years so will give you a resource to go back and research historic pricing for suites and the Haven:   https://www.*****/stats/old.md.   I've had to misspell the word cruise in the link as CC won't let me post a link to the actual site.  The site has been under attack by the cruise lines, another interesting story, and has been severely diminished from what it once was.  However they still have fantastic historical data for those interested. 

 

So I use terms like artificially inflated prices in historic terms comparing how the same suite product is priced in comparison to the other lower cabins over the years.  There is no question that over the last few years the Haven and suite prices were raised disproportionately to the lower cabins prices on the ships.  Most NCL people agree it mainly happened once the bidding system was implemented.  At the same time NCL heavily started implementing visible inventory control, effectively hiding available supply that would show the suites were not selling at these new prices.  As I mentioned earlier it is a useful means to artificially drive the bidding process.

 

People get screwed in a voluntary exchange of goods or services for money every day.  That's capitalism, caveat emptor.  Buyers will continue to make bad decisions, that doesn't mean the cruise line is right for using the tactics I mentioned.   But they will do what is within the law, most of the time, to make a profit.  If the reality is that near sailing date a majority of the suites were not sold then they were not advertised at prices people were willing to pay.  I have no problem with that and the fact NCL will have to now rely on bids to fill those suites, but saying because the Haven or YC sails full due to bidders or upsells doesn't mean those cabins were priced appropriately for the people who are unwilling to take that last minute bid assigned cabin.

 

I have little interest in whether cruise lines reliance on the bidding process to fill the ship is right or wrong, or if it is twisting the free market or not.  What I do care about is how it affects me, and it does have negative effects that I outlined in my previous post.  I also acknowledged that people like me seem to be in the minority and NCL has found no reason to keep us around primarily because there seems and endless supply of people to take our place and are blissfully happy to use NCL's pricing system.  My only intent was to shed some light on how the bidding system can adversely affect some consumers, many who don't even realize it.

[Rou-Dyliq]

Also - with the way they've implemented other changes and the left hand never knowing what the right hand is doing, how do you think this will play out?  I would bet it is going to be an absolute nightmare.

[sfaaa]

MSC is trying to max its profit much like cruisers are trying to get the best deal. Fair is fair and there is nothing wrong with this approach. 

[BermudaBound2014]

Once again I"m in the minority, but I've financially gained from the BIDUP program on NCL so I'm good with this. As far as I can tell, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity follow the exact same procedures that NCL does, so I suspect MSC will use the same platform.

 

For those that have never participated in the experience, you will receive a bid up invitation. In the case of NCL there is a 'dial' and RCL has a slide scale. In all likelihood, MSC will provide the lowest acceptable offer and rank that as 'poor'. As you raise your bid amount, the scale moves to 'likely' and finally 'highly likely' that your bid will be accepted. My advice is don't fall for this part. Keep an eye on inventory and just bid the lowest possible.  I bid the lowest acceptable bid for our 10 day Norway sailing on NCL ($50 pp to move up to a balcony) and won the bid even though the computer program stated that my bid had a 'poor' chance of being accepted. 

 

Of course, this doesn't work if you can't be flexible or if you like to book well in advance. Considering I rarely book before the 60 day mark, this aligns perfectly with my current purchase strategy. 

 

 

[GOLDENBONNY]

9 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

The worst scenario might be that they raise the prices everywhere but only Americans can bid!

I did not get any emails or can find any info about it on MSC web

 

[Até]

1 minute ago, GOLDENBONNY said:

I did not get any emails or can find any info about it on MSC web

I think so far it was only a notification sent out to travel agents.

[LadySpoilt]

When is this "Bidding program" supposed to begin?  It's actually getting to be a fairly common practice.  Right now its used by not only NCL, but also Celebrity and Royal.  

Not sure who is in charge of the NCL program but as far as Royal and Celebrity are concerned it appears they are somewhat managed by the same 3rd party.  If you look under threads for both you will see the identical bidding set up for both.  On our recent Celebrity Edge cruise we were booked in an inside (casino comp) cabin.  We received several bids to upgrade.  Example the bidding for a Infinite Veranda Room started at $ 400 pp to I think $ 800 pp. We passed on it.  However the Upgrade Fairy does still live, .  We were upgraded to the same Infinite Veranda category about 2 weeks prior to sailing.  This was our first Celebrity cruise which I think may have contributed to the Upgrade.

[jcathers1]

1 hour ago, Até said:

I don't rely on CC posting history so don't accurately know your sailing history with NCL and if your suite sailings preceded the bidding systems implementation. 

 

 

People get screwed in a voluntary exchange of goods or services for money every day.  That's capitalism, caveat emptor.  Buyers will continue to make bad decisions, that doesn't mean the cruise line is right for using the tactics I mentioned.   But they will do what is within the law, most of the time, to make a profit.  If the reality is that near sailing date a majority of the suites were not sold then they were not advertised at prices people were willing to pay.  I have no problem with that and the fact NCL will have to now rely on bids to fill those suites, but saying because the Haven or YC sails full due to bidders or upsells doesn't mean those cabins were priced appropriately for the people who are unwilling to take that last minute bid assigned cabin.

 

 

 

We sailed in the Haven when we had to call the magic number and get an upgrade quote. We also sailed twice with successful bids. We wouldn't have paid full price for the cabins--we just couldn't justify that much for the Haven value proposition (although we loved every minute of it). So we also had booked cabins that we were excited about, even if we didn't get the upgrade.

 

"People getting screwed" (in this case) seems to mean that you don't think they should have paid as much as they did. Again, that's not your decision. If you think it is raising the cost of cruising for you, it's understandable that you would be against the bidding process, but that also doesn't mean something nefarious is going on. And as long a enough people have good experiences with the process, it isn't going away anytime soon. 

[Até]

31 minutes ago, jcathers1 said:

"People getting screwed" (in this case) seems to mean that you don't think they should have paid as much as they did. Again, that's not your decision. If you think it is raising the cost of cruising for you, it's understandable that you would be against the bidding process, but that also doesn't mean something nefarious is going on.

No, I used your "screwed" term in relation to the deceptive practices I and others have outlined that are commonly used by cruise lines in conjunction with the bidding process.  It's more about the buyer making a poor or uninformed decision because they were intentionally led in the wrong direction or given misinformation.  If consumers make a purchase from a company and their only source of information is gathered from that same company I guess they deserve it.  It happens all the time.

[jcathers1]

10 minutes ago, Até said:

No, I used your "screwed" term in relation to the deceptive practices I and others have outlined that are commonly used by cruise lines in conjunction with the bidding process.  It's more about the buyer making a poor or uninformed decision because they were intentionally led in the wrong direction or given misinformation.  If consumers make a purchase from a company and their only source of information is gathered from that same company I guess they deserve it.  It happens all the time.

 

That's fine, but again this is a judgement on your part about what someone else paid. The data would imply otherwise: I'm not sure I've seen a single CC post where someone complained about their YC experience relative to the price. It's almost always quite the opposite, in fact. This tells me that people are extremely happy with the goods and services they purchased for the price they paid.

[Até]

6 minutes ago, jcathers1 said:

That's fine, but again this is a judgement on your part about what someone else paid. The data would imply otherwise: I'm not sure I've seen a single CC post where someone complained about their YC experience relative to the price. It's almost always quite the opposite, in fact. This tells me that people are extremely happy with the goods and services they purchased for the price they paid.

We're crossing back and forth between MSC and NCL, but I'll agree that I'm passing some form of judgement by trying to explain my experience with what bidding systems can do and that they can corrupt pricing.  Some people can overlook these things and are going to spend what they want and there is nothing I can really do or say about it.

 

I'm not sure what data you are referencing and how it relates to bidding programs since MSC has not implemented a bidding system yet.  So I'll agree so far MSC YC experience has been a very good value for my money.  I first started looking at MSC in 2016 so I actually just barely caught some of the decent deals, I never saw some of the claimed less than $1000pp Divina YC deals.  My first three YC sailings were still an excellent value, but of course as YC became more popular and there was influx by a pile of suite cruisers disgruntled with other lines the YC prices have definitely gone up.  I can understand that.  If you're diligent you can still find some decent deals, so I have three future YC bookings.  Luckily on some MSC ships I don't always feel YC is the only way to go so I have three non YC bookings also.  Hopefully in a bidding environment MSC keeps YC (and all cabin prices) realistic rather than the fiction that NCL uses and I'll be able to continue booking YC on those ships and itineraries where I feel it's a necessity.

 

As a side note I'm also anxiously waiting to see more information on the new Luxury Class MSC fleet, I wonder if bidding for upgrades would work on a ship where all cabins are supposed to have the same equivalent to the YC amenities.

[sverigecruiser]

23 hours ago, jcathers1 said:

 

The concept is relatively simple, and makes sense for both the consumer and the cruise line. If you're already booked in a room, would you pay a little more to upgrade to a better class of room (but still less than the full amount)?

 

It doesn't make sense for a customer who wants a specific kind of cabin.

 

I will not book Aurea and hope to upgrade to Yacht Club because I'm only interested in the Yacht Club.

 

With NCLs bidding system I loose a lots of money. If they have two cabins and want $10000 for them they can either sell them for $5000 each or price them $7000 each and hope to get $14000. With the bidding system they can sell one for $7000 and if the other cabin isn't sold someone can bid and get it for $3000 and NCL get $10000 for both cabins.

 

I'm the loser because I'm only interested in the Haven and have to pay $7000 instead of $5000.