How is the bidding system doing? Any comments?

[Torfamm]

I made bids on two categories about 5 weeks out from embarkation. I received an email saying “ your bid was not accepted” 30 days before sailing. When I looked at the bid site it showed one bid expired and one pending.  I went into the cruise personalizer and looked at the Travel Summary and Luggage Tags and was able to see a new cabin assignment. It took another day before I received the email telling me my bid was accepted.

[san diego sue]

I got my offer to bid about three weeks ago. I ignored it.Wasn't going to do it. I had a mini suite and liked the location.Usually we book balcony cabins. So then one of my friends just got notification her suite bid was accepted. I decided maybe I wanted one too. Never did "the Suite life" . Put in a minimum bid for a Vista aft suite and didn't think I would get it. Since I was 3 weeks late in my bid and my friend had just gotten hers already, thought probably too late.

I put in bid Wednesday night , and last night (Thursday) the accepted bid email came through. It is a 20 day cruise.

 

Edited October 28, 2022 by san diego sue

[cruisequeen4ever]

4 hours ago, san diego sue said:

I got my offer to bid about three weeks ago. I ignored it.Wasn't going to do it. I had a mini suite and liked the location.Usually we book balcony cabins. So then one of my friends just got notification her suite bid was accepted. I decided maybe I wanted one too. Never did "the Suite life" . Put in a minimum bid for a Vista aft suite and didn't think I would get it. Since I was 3 weeks late in my bid and my friend had just gotten hers already, thought probably too late.

I put in bid Wednesday night , and last night (Thursday) the accepted bid email came through. It is a 20 day cruise.

 

That’s exciting!

[paradiselivin1]

On 10/26/2022 at 8:12 AM, RKSue said:

I have noticed that the upgrade prices are all over the place. I’m guessing that it might be based on what you paid for your cabin. 

Agreed as those prices are all over the place depending on when you booked. Our minimum bids were much higher than what I've seen reported here and actually backed down our bids after seeing some comments on here.

[roxievegas]

Suggestion on reporting your upgrade

 

If you would let us know how much you paid for your upgrade.

 

We currently have an upgrade regular Balcony to a Premium Deluxe Balcony our bid is $75 pp or $150 total.  The cost to upgrade to mini suite was more than what we wanted to get a bathtub, so we decided to try the Premium.

 

our cruise is not until Jan 7th so I don't expect to have an answer or response until end of Dec.\

 

when I called princess to see what it would cost to upgrade Balcony to mini I was quoted $750 total

[jagoffee]

49 minutes ago, roxievegas said:

Suggestion on reporting your upgrade

 

If you would let us know how much you paid for your upgrade.

 

We currently have an upgrade regular Balcony to a Premium Deluxe Balcony our bid is $75 pp or $150 total.  The cost to upgrade to mini suite was more than what we wanted to get a bathtub, so we decided to try the Premium.

 

our cruise is not until Jan 7th so I don't expect to have an answer or response until end of Dec.\

 

when I called princess to see what it would cost to upgrade Balcony to mini I was quoted $750 total

Just curious.  What was the minimum bid amount for the mini compared to the same $750 total?

thanks

[roxievegas]

33 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

Just curious.  What was the minimum bid amount for the mini compared to the same $750 total?

thanks

we had 4 options

club mini $280pp minimum bid

mini suite $150pp minimum bid

premium deluxe balcony $55pp min bid -  which I put in an offer of $75pp

deluxe balcony $30pp min bid

 

we are on a casino offer cruise - free balcony, so we paid nothing for our cabin

in the past when ships were sailing 50% full, we went to guest services and paid $150 to $225 to go from balcony to mini suite.  Now that things are getting back to full capacity the price has gone up

 

 

[1cruiselvr]

On 10/28/2022 at 1:00 PM, roxievegas said:

we had 4 options

club mini $280pp minimum bid

mini suite $150pp minimum bid

premium deluxe balcony $55pp min bid -  which I put in an offer of $75pp

deluxe balcony $30pp min bid

 

we are on a casino offer cruise - free balcony, so we paid nothing for our cabin

in the past when ships were sailing 50% full, we went to guest services and paid $150 to $225 to go from balcony to mini suite.  Now that things are getting back to full capacity the price has gone up

 

 

Don’t you have to pay port charges and taxes on a casino cruise?  If so, then it’s not free. We had a casino offer. It was going to cost us over $1200 in above listed charges for an inside cabin. It was a 14 day Panama cruise. That’s not free to me. 

Edited October 29, 2022 by 1cruiselvr

[roxievegas]

1 hour ago, 1cruiselvr said:

Don’t you have to pay port charges and taxes on a casino cruise?  If so, then it’s not free. We had a casino offer. It was going to cost us over $1200 in above listed charges for an inside cabin. It was a 14 day Panama cruise. That’s not free to me. 

cabin is free, but everyone has to pay the port fees and taxes.  On our cruise it is $125 each or $250.

We pay a $200 non refundable deposit each (which is given back to us once we get on board as OBC)- so to book a balcony cabin, with princess plus pakcage and casino free play of $1,000 - we pay $650 upfront.  Once on board we have $1,000 casino freeplay, and $400 OBC.

Not totally free, but one hell of a deal - I didn't say the cruise was free, said our cabin was free.

[justafem]

15 hours ago, 1cruiselvr said:

Don’t you have to pay port charges and taxes on a casino cruise?  If so, then it’s not free. We had a casino offer. It was going to cost us over $1200 in above listed charges for an inside cabin. It was a 14 day Panama cruise. That’s not free to me. 

Always have to pay port fees and taxes.  The cabin is free, the rest are things that cruise lines actually pay for.  

 

I'll put it in perspective.  We just got back from a 10 day Alaskan.  We paid $800 total, which was $200 in room charge that we receive back as refundable onboard credit and $600 in taxes and port charges.  I also get free drinks, (just for me) and $400 in casino credits. A friend of mine booked the cruise without the casino promotion, she paid $3600, no onboard and no drinks.  

 

I have a 16 day Panama booked next year.  Our price was $1000 (same deal as before, but higher port fees).  Different friend had the same cruise booked, same room class.  She paid $4800.  I told her to call the casino dept and have her cruise refared.  She was thrilled to have saved $3800.

 

I can travel a whole lot at casino rates. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

38 minutes ago, justafem said:

I have a 16 day Panama booked next year.  Our price was $1000 (same deal as before, but higher port fees).  Different friend had the same cruise booked, same room class.  She paid $4800.  I told her to call the casino dept and have her cruise refared.  She was thrilled to have saved $3800.

 

I can travel a whole lot at casino rates. 

but did you friend spend a lot of money in the casino onboard? Or is this "casino rate" open to anyone?

[JF - retired RRT]

17 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

but did you friend spend a lot of money in the casino onboard? Or is this "casino rate" open to anyone?

That's the BIG question.

[justafem]

1 hour ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

but did you friend spend a lot of money in the casino onboard? Or is this "casino rate" open to anyone?

She spent the same as I did. I budget $100 per day for the casino.  So, for a 16 day, I'd spend $1600 plus the $1000 fare.  $2600 or just over half the fare she paid.  And lots of entertainment. 

 

Casino rate is offered by the casino.  You have to spend something to get the rates.  I have no problem throwing money into machines.  I find it fun.  

Edited October 30, 2022 by justafem

[coolcagolfer]

Princess accepted my offer to upgrade my cabin (inside to obstructed oceanview). I paid off the additional charges. Is it now possible for me to bid again on a higher category? My cruise leaves in 7 days and there are at least 60 balcony cabins available.

[Shelly97060]

10 minutes ago, coolcagolfer said:

Princess accepted my offer to upgrade my cabin (inside to obstructed oceanview). I paid off the additional charges. Is it now possible for me to bid again on a higher category? My cruise leaves in 7 days and there are at least 60 balcony cabins available.

Probably yes if they are still taking bids.  Go into Cruise Personalizer and click on bid to upgrade to see if they still have the option open for you ( or go back to original email).  Please let us all know how it goes since we are all still learning how this system works. 

[PrincessLuver]

7 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

but did you friend spend a lot of money in the casino onboard? Or is this "casino rate" open to anyone?

 

Casino rates are offered by a separate department at Princess.  You have to be "rated" by the casino which can be the amount you bet per play, amount of time you play and how many days you frequent the casino.  

 

Often times you are given an offer letter from the cruise ship casino the night before disembarkation on future casino free play in dollars and possible free cabins.

 

Rates are very enticing to make you cruise again and play again.  Win or lose basically comes down to mostly luck.

Edited October 30, 2022 by PrincessLuver

[Itchy&Scratchy]

2 hours ago, PrincessLuver said:

Casino rates are offered by a separate department at Princess.  You have to be "rated" by the casino which can be the amount you bet per play, amount of time you play and how many days you frequent the casino.  

Thank you. Justafem's post read as if anyone could just call the Casino Dept and get their fare adjusted to next to nothing.

[sunsetme]

are only the casino people getting upgrades??

[iamaqt2]

55 minutes ago, sunsetme said:

are only the casino people getting upgrades??

Yes, because they're the only ones willing to gamble on a potential crappy location.  😉😉

[Shelly97060]

1 hour ago, sunsetme said:

are only the casino people getting upgrades??

No.  The bidding process and associated upgrades are separate from the Casino rate topic. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

12 hours ago, sunsetme said:

are only the casino people getting upgrades??

no, I got an upgrade on a regular rate

[vplsh]

12 hours ago, sunsetme said:

are only the casino people getting upgrades??

 

16 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

no, I got an upgrade on a regular rate

We bid $360 total for an upgrade on Discovery Princess from an obstructed balcony guarantee (DW category) to a mini-suite. We received it last week and our cruise sails November 26. We were given an MC category on deck 8 and were able to move to a different cabin within that category so chose one on the Marina deck. That's typical for upgrades or guarantees- you can move the cabin within the category as long as there are cabins available. 

[MamaMills]

Bidding should open for my 1/11 sail date in the next day or two.  As of now there are about 700+ rooms and suites open (50%), MOSTLY balcony or above, that show on the booking site. That might make it interesting.

 

I'm in an inside for now.  The bump to an obstructed balcony would have been $360 total and was the cheapest upgrade when booking. Paying more for the upgrade than I did for the total cruise for 3 didn't excite me.  Mini suite would be amazing, but my realistic goal will be a deluxe balcony for the sofa.  I'm hoping for the opportunity to upgrade us to anything better than a forward inside at a cost that makes me feel like I got a bargain!  If not...eh...it was worth a shot and we're still happy to be on the ship and escaping the January cold.

[RogueRamblers]

We received our upgrade bid invitation for our 1/16/23 15-night Hawaiian cruise on Royal Princess on 10/23:

$400 Deluxe Balcony

$250 Std Balcony

$150 Deluxe Obstructed Balcony

$100 Std Obstructed Balcony 

When we booked, balconies were over $1000 (and still are) more than interiors so I booked an interior, hoping the balcony prices would come down closer to our sailing,  when Iwould upgrade. Then Princess introduced this Upgrade Bidding program, and I was hopeful we'd get an invitation. Because I don't want an interior room, we bid $340 for the Std Balcony to try to ensure we'll get upgraded. From the posts here, that may be a little higher than necessary, but it's  a lot less than the current balcony prices. 

Violet

[Itchy&Scratchy]

51 minutes ago, RogueRamblers said:

Because I don't want an interior room, we bid $340 for the Std Balcony to try to ensure we'll get upgraded.

if they are available on your cruise, you'll probably get it.

See, I bid on the std obstructed balcony, but there have been none of those available for months and still none are, so my bid never went anywhere. 2 hours after I bid on a deluxe obstructed, my std obstructed bid was rejected and I got the deluxe one accepted. Because there were a few to choose from. 🙂