Bidding for upgrades

[dpepper64]

With all NCL having roughly 60% or so on thee first couple of cruise I was wondering if they will still have bidding for upgrades.  If so when do they start 60 days out I thought.

[davencl]

15 minutes ago, dpepper64 said:

With all NCL having roughly 60% or so on thee first couple of cruise I was wondering if they will still have bidding for upgrades.  If so when do they start 60 days out I thought.

They started at 55 days out.  I received my upgrade email for 8/21 a couple weeks ago.  Didn't bid as minimum bids for haven 2 bdrm were too high.  No all haven's are mostly sold out.

[julig22]

They start the bidding whenever they feel the need to move cabins - Although 60 days out is common, I've gotten them as early as 100 days out - and won shortly thereafter.

No one seems to be privy to the process (it's actually handled by an outside entity) - but bidding is more likely to happen if cheaper cabins sell out and more expensive ones are still on the market, since the odds are generally better that they can resell a cheap cabin over an expensive one.

Hard to say what the actual market is - some of the fall cruises are catering to solo cruisers, an indication that ships aren't to capacity yet.

[don't-use-real-name]

Bidding period starts nominally at 80 days from sailing.

You maybe sent an email if NCL has openings.

Another way to check missing the email is to log into your MyNCL account and check to see

if the offering is there.

 

Bidding closes 48 hours before sailing - if your offer has not been accepted by then you

should have received a rejection email.

 

Bidding and offers made at the Registration desk before sailing are not usually accepted

nor at Guest Services on board.

 

Usually you are permitted to bid on two categories from what you presently have -

i.e. Inside - Ocean View to Balcony - Club balcony

Balcony - Club balcony to Suites (Haven).

 

If the bid range seems to be high - rethink about bidding and simply calling NCL

or work thru your TA to make an outright offer based on what you can afford.

 

Cabin vacancy days weeks a month or two before sailing will be a good indicator that

bids will likely be accepted on a low scale - limited vacancies the bidding range maybe

at or near full fare - Yes from what I have read and understand a private firm does the

administration of the bidding subject to the terms that NCL sets.

Some bids offers are accepted way in advance of the sailing date.

Once your offer has been accepted - you are committed to the upgrade and the credit

card used for the offer is charged immediately - no regrets - backing out - too late.

If bidding on more than one category you will not have a choice - so only bid on one

if that is the only one you really are interested in. If either is OK - take what is awarded.

 

Will be interesting to see how this works post covid 19 with capacity controls in place.

 

Good Luck - whether you win or lose Please come back and tell us how it went for the

benefit of all of us here at CC !

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, dpepper64 said:

With all NCL having roughly 60% or so on thee first couple of cruise I was wondering if they will still have bidding for upgrades.  If so when do they start 60 days out I thought.

Yes, we got our Advantage Upgrade offer for our August cruise. Ours was on "short notice" because the itinerary hasn't been out for long. Normally, bidding opens 80 days prior to cruise. I normally notice it on my MyNCL home page before I get an email. 

 

Edited July 11, 2021 by BirdTravels

[Trimone]

Upgrade advantage starts at 55 days out now, it only shows in $ now in the U.K. and I think the minimum bids are far more expensive than before shutdown.

[DanielNL]

Do they offer upgrades also when you have booked a guaranteed stateroom? 

[ChiefMateJRK]

10 minutes ago, DanielNL said:

Do they offer upgrades also when you have booked a guaranteed stateroom? 

What is a "guaranteed stateroom?"

[All-ready2cruise]

It's a "sailaway" cabin.  No FAS benefits except the $50 shore excursion.  NCL chooses your cabin, you have no say.  Can apply to all categories except suites/haven. 

[julig22]

52 minutes ago, DanielNL said:

Do they offer upgrades also when you have booked a guaranteed stateroom? 

If you mean sailaway, probably not.  If you mean GTX because of limited inventory then they might.  They often offer upgrades when a category is close to sold out.

[SliderNc]

Back in 2017 when I upgraded to Haven from a then mini-suite, our email to upgrade came on 8/30 for our 9/17 sailing.  I put in and modified by bids on 9/2 and found out on 9/6 about our upgrade.  I don't know if it had opened earlier than that for me as I had booked the cruise in late 2016.

 

Either way, enjoy your cruise.  Now that we've been in Haven, my wife won't go back to just a plain ole balcony anymore.

[ClevelandCruisin]

Is it worth to upgrade? How much would you save? Now prices have gone up, probably could've just booked the room you wanted a month ago and saved. Plus all depends on if your current room is desirable to resell. 

[julig22]

8 minutes ago, ClevelandCruisin said:

Is it worth to upgrade? How much would you save? Now prices have gone up, probably could've just booked the room you wanted a month ago and saved. Plus all depends on if your current room is desirable to resell. 

It all depends.  On my first cruise I upgraded inside to OV for about $50 when prices went down.  Then I got an offer to bid on a balcony but at the same time, prices went down again and I upgraded to a balcony for less that the minimal bid would have been.  Note: I have since found out that they rarely do a second upgrade!

Not all prices have gone up - for starters, a few of the fall cruises now have a lower single supplement (150% vs 200%), so are considerably cheaper.

 

 

[Sailing12Away]

For our upcoming Alaska cruise on Encore, we're already booked in a Haven aft cabin - so the only rooms available to us to bid on are 2 br and Owners Suites. The minimum bid for the 2 br was cheaper than us outright upgrading, but barely - but that would put us in the Haven 'proper' so we did low bids.

 

For the Owners Suite - the price to bid on an upgrade is 1/5th the price of the outright upgrade so that was a no brainer to try. It's currently sold out so the odds of us getting it are slim to none unless someone cancels at the last minute. But you've gotta be in it to win it.

[aubreyc1988]

I am on Sept 4th, some people in my roll call have gotten it, some (like me) have not gotten the offer. I am sailing comped with Casino so dunno if I will get it or not 

[Sand and Seas]

7 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

I am on Sept 4th, some people in my roll call have gotten it, some (like me) have not gotten the offer. I am sailing comped with Casino so dunno if I will get it or not 

We sail with casino comps and have been receiving the offers to bid.  It might be they want to offer you a chance to upgrade so they can look at selling your current cabin to someone else. 

 

We usually sail in cabins that are in categories that are popular and are usually sold out before sail date like Aft Balconies or Club Balcony with larger balcony.  We are happy with the cabins we have booked so haven't taken them up on offer to bid for upgrade.

[Trimone]

Anyone know what the bidding scale is for Haven Spa Suite on September 5th 2021? 

[Sailing12Away]

16 hours ago, Trimone said:

Anyone know what the bidding scale is for Haven Spa Suite on September 5th 2021? 

Depends on the room you're currently booked in now. 

[BirdTravels]

19 hours ago, Trimone said:

Anyone know what the bidding scale is for Haven Spa Suite on September 5th 2021? 

In August, a mini to a Spa is $600-$2000 with a "good" bid of $1400 pp. An a mini to an Owner's Suite is $2200-$4000 with a "good" bid of $3000 pp

[Trimone]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

In August, a mini to a Spa is $600-$2000 with a "good" bid of $1400 pp. An a mini to an Owner's Suite is $2200-$4000 with a "good" bid of $3000 pp

Thanks Bird, just doing some calculations, that’s what I already have booked and paid for, I’m trying to calculate what we paid and in reality what a 2 bed would cost, lots available so will go poor bid.

[Ed342]

Pre-Pandemic thread

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2559083-what-was-your-upgrade-offer-and-what-did-you-bid/

[Trimone]

Just did a little research on 2 bed havens, on the 5th September cruise from Barcelona they are booking deck 17, the cruise picks up the 8th September cruise from Rome they are booking deck 16. Seems logical to me

[aubreyc1988]

On 7/13/2021 at 4:35 PM, Sand and Seas said:

We sail with casino comps and have been receiving the offers to bid.  It might be they want to offer you a chance to upgrade so they can look at selling your current cabin to someone else. 

 

We usually sail in cabins that are in categories that are popular and are usually sold out before sail date like Aft Balconies or Club Balcony with larger balcony.  We are happy with the cabins we have booked so haven't taken them up on offer to bid for upgrade.

 

I never get the bidding upgrade so I am always disappointed to not see that screen. I'd love to put in a bid for the  Haven (In a balcony now), as if I just paid the normal Haven pricing it is astronomical. 

[lux4me]

We are sailing in an H3 Deluxe owners on Aug 22 on the Gem.  We received a upgrade opportunity to the 3 bedroom Villa today for a minimum bid of $1500.  We passed.  What do we need 3 bedrooms for.  

[MaryZ]

8 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

 

I never get the bidding upgrade so I am always disappointed to not see that screen. I'd love to put in a bid for the  Haven (In a balcony now), as if I just paid the normal Haven pricing it is astronomical. 

Do you book with BJ's or Costco?  You will never get the upgrade offer if you do.  There are other travel agents that do not participate either.