How is the bidding system doing? Any comments?

[SwimCarrie]

Just now, sunviking90 said:

You probably could, but you wouldn’t get any money back I don’t think.

How bad was your original cabin they put you in that you felt you wanted to change it? 

[sunviking90]

Just now, SwimCarrie said:

How bad was your original cabin they put you in that you felt you wanted to change it? 

It was fully obstructed, and I had bid for an obstructed balcony on a Royal Class ship so I would have accepted it rather than the inside we had for $120 cad pp! I like the “obstructed” cabins on the bump out deck 8 as they have larger balconies and no real obstruction (no lifeboat). I saw a few still open so asked my CVP to move us.

[SwimCarrie]

1 minute ago, sunviking90 said:

It was fully obstructed, and I had bid for an obstructed balcony on a Royal Class ship so I would have accepted it rather than the inside we had for $120 cad pp! I like the “obstructed” cabins on the bump out deck 8 as they have larger balconies and no real obstruction (no lifeboat). I saw a few still open so asked my CVP to move us.

Oh, yeah, those cabins are amazing. Sailed in them many times now. That's not an option on Ruby. I would have loved that. So it's not that the initial one was too far forward or aft? 

[sunviking90]

2 hours ago, SwimCarrie said:

Oh, yeah, those cabins are amazing. Sailed in them many times now. That's not an option on Ruby. I would have loved that. So it's not that the initial one was too far forward or aft? 

I don’t remember where it was. 

[behappy11]

Hi…I have a guarantee room booked, and have also placed a bid on a higher cabin. What is the most likely process for getting our room…ie…do they give the guarantee first, and then Sometime closer to sailing they decide whether or not to accept my bid for the upgrade…so two parts? Also, has anyone bid on a room category and been given a higher category? 

[Proudwings]

We're booked into a mini-suite on a cruise in August. Last week received an email to bid on upgrade which listed all of the suite categories.  The strange thing is that the cruise looks to be sold-out as there are no cabins available on the Princess site.  It's past the final payment date so I was wondering do they send out upgrade emails even when no cabins apparently available?

[floridacruiser14]

We are on Emerald in June. We placed our upgrade bid as soon as it opened and just got our bid accepted from mini suite to penthouse suite. The cruise was looking sold out so didn’t expect to get the upgrade. You never know what is going happen.

[DCThunder]

Are those of you who are "winning" bids, submitting them at the maximum amount or something lower?  The little bid "slider" shows bidding the minimum as a "weak" bid, but weak can still be winning.  What's the winning strategy?

[HiCCCs]

8 hours ago, Proudwings said:

We're booked into a mini-suite on a cruise in August. Last week received an email to bid on upgrade which listed all of the suite categories.  The strange thing is that the cruise looks to be sold-out as there are no cabins available on the Princess site.  It's past the final payment date so I was wondering do they send out upgrade emails even when no cabins apparently available?

Possibly....I wonder if some of that is doing "research and design" for the program. I don't mind being a test subject.

[sns1]

We were on the Caribbean Princess, April 15, 2023, sailing.  We had a mini suite booked and did the minimal bid for a vista suite.  There were no suites showing on the Princess website.  We received an e-mail that they accepted our bid and we were moved to D737.  It did say our bid was weak when we submitted it but we decided to just try.  We knew we would like any vista suite that they put us in, so we weren't worried when our location would be.

[HiCCCs]

28 minutes ago, sns1 said:

We were on the Caribbean Princess, April 15, 2023, sailing.  We had a mini suite booked and did the minimal bid for a vista suite.  There were no suites showing on the Princess website.  We received an e-mail that they accepted our bid and we were moved to D737.  It did say our bid was weak when we submitted it but we decided to just try.  We knew we would like any vista suite that they put us in, so we weren't worried when our location would be.

Great for you!!!  Love the suite experience!  Do you mind, how much was the "weak" bid per person to go from a mini to a suite?

[teecee60]

23 hours ago, DCThunder said:

Are those of you who are "winning" bids, submitting them at the maximum amount or something lower?  The little bid "slider" shows bidding the minimum as a "weak" bid, but weak can still be winning.  What's the winning strategy?

 

MY winning strategy... is booking the absolute least expensive cabin I know I will be satisfied with... and then making just-above-minimum (weak) bids. It has worked two out two times I have tried it... inside to ocean view on one, and inside to balcony on the other...for much MUCH LESS money than booking the higher category from the start.

[cr8tiv1]

33 minutes ago, teecee60 said:

 

MY winning strategy... is booking the absolute least expensive cabin I know I will be satisfied with... and then making just-above-minimum (weak) bids. It has worked two out two times I have tried it... inside to ocean view on one, and inside to balcony on the other...for much MUCH LESS money than booking the higher category from the start.

 

How sold out were your cruises?  With days/hours to go, ship is full, no denied, but no accepted bid, I've kind of resigned myself to staying in my original cabin.  Friend of mine booked a last minute cruise (OceanView/guarantee).  Just assigned cabin less than a week out.  Pretty nice way forward "obstructed" view with no obstruction except for the forward walkway in front of his window.  

 

I'm not a gambler.  I was hoping...but not relying on Princess to come through for me.  Happy where I am.  I wonder what the percentage of accepted bids there are.

[roxievegas]

On 5/16/2023 at 1:04 PM, DCThunder said:

Are those of you who are "winning" bids, submitting them at the maximum amount or something lower?  The little bid "slider" shows bidding the minimum as a "weak" bid, but weak can still be winning.  What's the winning strategy?

we have bid twice

balcony to mini suite - bid $300 (total) which was the weakest bid possible

next was balcony to Deluxe - bid was $80 total which was $10 over the weakest bid possible

 

we won both of those

 

our next cruise end of July we have a bid again balcony to mini suite $300 total weakest bid possible.

won't know until closer to the start of cruise

[DCThunder]

So basically, weak bids seem to have at least a fighting chance of being accepted.  And if not, no skin off anyone's nose.

[sns1]

My bid from mini-suite to vista suite was $600. 

[mamamusings]

We're two days out from our California Coast trip, and both of our bids (one for a club class minisuite, the other for a regular minisuite) still show as pending. What's the latest people have been notified about an upgrade? Not sure if we should be optimistic or pessimistic at this point! 🙂

[cr8tiv1]

19 minutes ago, mamamusings said:

We're two days out from our California Coast trip, and both of our bids (one for a club class minisuite, the other for a regular minisuite) still show as pending. What's the latest people have been notified about an upgrade? Not sure if we should be optimistic or pessimistic at this point! 🙂

 

I sure hope you win your bid.  IN the same boat (literally).  If you win your bet, i "could" win your cabin.  in limbo, pending.

[mamamusings]

Just now, cr8tiv1 said:

 

I sure hope you win your bid.  IN the same boat (literally).  If you win your bet, i "could" win your cabin.  in limbo, pending.

 

Here's hoping! We're in a balcony cabin right now. At least they don't say "rejected"...

[mamamusings]

I don't know why they wouldn't have made final decisions by now, given that bidding closed last night...

[cr8tiv1]

@mamamusings I hope you have a great balcony location.  I'm still waiting and holding out for last minute assignment.  Some have said that it can still happen.  I'll believe it when I see it.  

 

Just checked...my bid.  When I click on submit new bid, it says:

"Not Eligible for Upgrade"

 

Not a good feeling.

 

1. When will I know if my bid is accepted?
   Your bid can be accepted anytime from the moment it is submitted up until one day before departure.

 

[mamamusings]

27 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

@mamamusings I hope you have a great balcony location.  I'm still waiting and holding out for last minute assignment.  Some have said that it can still happen.  I'll believe it when I see it.  

 

Just checked...my bid.  When I click on submit new bid, it says:

"Not Eligible for Upgrade

 

That’s because they close bidding two days before departure. I don’t think it means anything else. 🤞🏼

[Bemidji Ty]

Just a heads up.  I didn't read the fine print and I accept full responsibility.  We have successfully used bidding system to upgrade our cabin in the past and I was counting on doing so for our next cruise.  Our TA retired and I thought that I would use a big box store's travel dept which gives a good price and a store credit for booking through them.  When the date for me to bid on cabin upgrades came and went, I called and discovered that by using them, I am locked out of participating in the upgrade bid system.  We are fine and will enjoy another wonderful cruise.  Just thought some may not know (like me).

 

Cheers.

[Sailaway617]

Our cruise departs tomorrow and I just received an email saying my bid was not accepted:( We’re happy with our cabin, just wanted to report Princess did notify it wasn’t accepted the day before departure.

[SwimCarrie]

Can someone please confirm if they are still separating out bidding for "aft facing premium balcony" and "premium balcony"? Thanks!