Any Upgrade Bids Accepted Recently?

[Sthrngary]

30 minutes ago, dolfan1980 said:

My apologies if this question has been answered 50 times already, hard to sift through 48 pages of posts.  I have upgraded two previous NCL cruises and most recent in December I was able to upgrade from a Balcony to a Club Balcony with a $20 minimum bid (all dollar references Canadian).  

 

We are sailing again in about a month and I see that the smallest minimum bid I'm allowed is $130 pp. Does this slide a lot in the weeks before sailing in the experience of those who have one this a lot?  I'm happy with the room I have, but if I can score a cheap upgrade I'm happy to wait as well.   

I have noticed, once the min. bid is set, it stays there.  I hope I answered your question.

 

Cruise well

[ChicagoBarb]

It is possible for the minimum to be reduced for a short period of time.  I was offered balcony and club balcony.  The club balcony must not have had many bids as the minimum was reduced as a “special” for a limited period of time.  Just keep your eyes on the offers you have.

[sw16]

Just received an upgrade from a balcony room to the Haven Forward Penthouse for the March 19th sailing on the Escape. 

[Sthrngary]

4 minutes ago, sw16 said:

Just received an upgrade from a balcony room to the Haven Forward Penthouse for the March 19th sailing on the Escape. 

Was this based on a bid or did you upgrade directly with NCL

[sw16]

It was a bid. 

[Sthrngary]

Well, interesting thing just happened.  Where normally, the third party company that does the upgrade bids first process five days or so before a cruise; they did my upcoming March 19, 2022 Joy cruise 9 days before.  The Haven shows sold out.  

 

For everyone that got their bid accepted, have a great cruise.  For those that were not so fortunate, join me with what will now be called the NCL Haven Lite, LOL.  

 

Cruise well everyone.  Remember, life is an adventure.  Enjoy every second.

[Kae95]

Just received my confirmation email. Upgraded from an inside to a balcony for $100/pp. First time cruising and we are so excited! Norwegian Sky 3/18

[son3cruisers]

Upgraded this morning to a Club Balcony!

 

I bid the min $100pp ( Canadian funds). 2 days to go - sailing March 13th.

We started in a sail away inside for a great last minute price, paid (called in) for an extra sweet deal on a balcony (BA) with free at sea extras and was able to then bid on spas, suites and Haven. Much cheaper than booking a balcony direct.

Not sure what the difference is between a regular balcony and Club balcony suite, assuming maybe a bit bigger? Better location?

Researching now!

 

Edited March 11, 2022 by son3cruisers

[cdld10210]

6 hours ago, son3cruisers said:

Upgraded this morning to a Club Balcony!

 

I bid the min $100pp ( Canadian funds). 2 days to go - sailing March 13th.

We started in a sail away inside for a great last minute price, paid (called in) for an extra sweet deal on a balcony (BA) with free at sea extras and was able to then bid on spas, suites and Haven. Much cheaper than booking a balcony direct.

Not sure what the difference is between a regular balcony and Club balcony suite, assuming maybe a bit bigger? Better location?

Researching now!

 

Club balconies are the same size as standard balconies - you get a few perks (I think like two bags of laundry or pressing, a little bit of a bigger bathroom, and I think two complimentary room service orders…something like that) 

[cdld10210]

Oddly enough, all of my bids for my sailing on the 13th still say pending. I’m guessing they keep them for backup in case there is a last minute cancellation or COVID+. 
🤷🏻

[llgator]

Received an upgrade for the Escape on the 19th from a club balcony to an aft penthouse in the haven. Bid the minimum so I think I was pretty lucky! Excited because we've never done the Haven before!

[son3cruisers]

28 minutes ago, cdld10210 said:

Oddly enough, all of my bids for my sailing on the 13th still say pending. I’m guessing they keep them for backup in case there is a last minute cancellation or COVID+. 
🤷🏻

Mine were all pending as well this morning. I didn’t bid on the Club balcony previously, only Haven. But since Haven were showing SOLD OUT, and my bids were all pending , I went back in and made a low bid on Club. I think it might have only been 4 /5 hours later my bid was excepted!!! 

[cdld10210]

17 minutes ago, son3cruisers said:

Mine were all pending as well this morning. I didn’t bid on the Club balcony previously, only Haven. But since Haven were showing SOLD OUT, and my bids were all pending , I went back in and made a low bid on Club. I think it might have only been 4 /5 hours later my bid was excepted!!! 

I considered bidding on the Club, but, I’m currently booked on a hump balcony cabin…and I wasn’t willing to switch off for a smaller balcony (the other perks didn’t have enough weight for me)…

[80sGal]

New to NCL with a booking on the Breakaway.  Always cruised Carnival where upgrades are offered if you're lucky, and then you know the exact cabin you would get if you say yes.  Is this how the NCL process works?  Do you know which cabin, or just which category?  

[Jed12345]

Just categories.

[Sailing12Away]

13 hours ago, 80sGal said:

New to NCL with a booking on the Breakaway.  Always cruised Carnival where upgrades are offered if you're lucky, and then you know the exact cabin you would get if you say yes.  Is this how the NCL process works?  Do you know which cabin, or just which category?  

Just the category, so it's a bit of a gamble if you're particular about a specific room or a specific location. Unless you're bidding for a specific subgroup of cabins (aft ones, Haven ones), it's a dice roll as to where you'll end up. And most likely, just like the sail away rates you're getting the 'left over' rooms that others didn't want - or the newly available rooms that are open as those folks moved to higher/better categories themselves.

 

So it's a gamble. If you're particular about your specific room location or room itself, it may not be worth it. 

[luckyinpa]

On 3/8/2022 at 6:14 PM, cdld10210 said:

If we don’t win an upgrade, do we receive some type of communication saying “sorry, but you’re a loser!”? 😂

 

Unfortunately, we were not able to accept your offer to upgrade to The Haven Deluxe Owner's Suite with Large Balcony (H2) for your cruise below.

[mearsfansinboise]

Where does it say your offers are still pending?  The only thing I see is the place to go see what you can bid on, my offers are there and it just says "review your offer" - - is there another place to see this information?

[Jed12345]

Click on the review my offer. and you'll see it.

[mearsfansinboise]

11 minutes ago, Jed12345 said:

Click on the review my offer. and you'll see it.

@Jed12345 LOL - I am not smart; I see it now, thanks!

[Broadwaybb]

Has anyone been using cruise credit for these bids? I’m confused by what I can and can’t use. My PCC didn’t know if you can use it at all, but there is a box to check that says “I have FCC I want to use.”

[karmamule]

On 3/7/2022 at 5:21 PM, kuku77254 said:

It was right on the poor/fair border. I would definitely think the cabin one frees up goes into the decision. They upsell to me and then they can upsell my cabin to someone else. I saw my cabin available on the website. Someone will snap it up.

This is very true and can lead to seemingly odd results: in a Royal Caribbean thread on a similar topic someone said they compared notes with another person who bid on the same cabin and the person bid LESS than them yet nevertheless won the cabin.

 

This becomes possible because the company doing the evaluation is going to be looking at CHAINS of upgrades together, not just each bid in isolation. In other words, even if you may have bid less on a cabin than someone else, if someone else bid a LOT for your cabin's category, those two bids taken together would provide more money to the cruise line than the single bid which, considered in isolation, was higher than yours.

 

Raising your bid will increase the likelihood that you become part of the most profitable chain of upgrades, but a high bid will never be a guarantee of a win for this reason.

[willsma]

My bid now says expired with 6 days to go. I am not able to rebid. Any ideas? March 20 Epic 

[julig22]

12 minutes ago, karmamule said:

This is very true and can lead to seemingly odd results: in a Royal Caribbean thread on a similar topic someone said they compared notes with another person who bid on the same cabin and the person bid LESS than them yet nevertheless won the cabin.

 

This becomes possible because the company doing the evaluation is going to be looking at CHAINS of upgrades together, not just each bid in isolation. In other words, even if you may have bid less on a cabin than someone else, if someone else bid a LOT for your cabin's category, those two bids taken together would provide more money to the cruise line than the single bid which, considered in isolation, was higher than yours.

 

Raising your bid will increase the likelihood that you become part of the most profitable chain of upgrades, but a high bid will never be a guarantee of a win for this reason.

Absolutely true IMHO.  Pre-covid I was once offered an upgrade over 3 months out - low bid processed almost immediately.  Original stateroom was in a sold-out category. 

Edited March 14, 2022 by julig22

[Sthrngary]

16 minutes ago, karmamule said:

This is very true and can lead to seemingly odd results: in a Royal Caribbean thread on a similar topic someone said they compared notes with another person who bid on the same cabin and the person bid LESS than them yet nevertheless won the cabin.

 

This becomes possible because the company doing the evaluation is going to be looking at CHAINS of upgrades together, not just each bid in isolation. In other words, even if you may have bid less on a cabin than someone else, if someone else bid a LOT for your cabin's category, those two bids taken together would provide more money to the cruise line than the single bid which, considered in isolation, was higher than yours.

 

Raising your bid will increase the likelihood that you become part of the most profitable chain of upgrades, but a high bid will never be a guarantee of a win for this reason.

@karmamuleWhat a great explanation.  The third party company NCL uses are experts at maximizing NCL revenues.  The Algorithm you mentions sound so logical.  Thank you.