How is the bidding system doing? Any comments?

[paradiselivin1]

12 minutes ago, suzyed said:

It worked on our previous cruise in October.  I may try it again.

I know it's a 3rd party company so don't blame Princess for that hiccup but Princess missed the mark after we boarded (knowing in advance that they would not be fully booked) and asked them to contact us to upgrade (at the going rate) for the 2nd leg of the B2B. Never heard from them. We liked our cabin and weren't disappointed staying where we were but would have loved a mini instead of a deluxe balcony...

[ChiSailor]

On 1/27/2023 at 4:11 PM, talkorpi said:

Paid for my cruise in full today through my TA.  I meet all requirements to upgrade.  When I click on the "bid to upgrade" link in Cruise Personalizer, it says I am not eligible.  Princess live chat was totally useless and said that they "didn't know how to help me since they don't know how to access it."

 

How long after final payment does it usually take for the system to let you make a bid?  I booked an oceanview but pretty quickly after decided that I wanted a balcony.  Our sailing is less than 50% full and only 60 days away so I know there are plenty of cabins available.  What the heck is wrong with the system?

Have a great cruise.  Bidding does not open immediately.  Perhaps it will open shortly for your cruise.  Here is a piece from their rules:

 

For each Eligible Cruise, upgrade Bidding will be available for Guests starting five (5) days after such Cruise's final payment date and ending three (3) day before the Cruise's departure date (the "Bidding Period").

[always smiling]

I apologize if this has been asked and answered, I just don't want to read through the 44 pages.  We cruise next Friday and our medallions are on their way, however, I was notified today we were upgraded from a BE balcony to a deluxe balcony (DB) and was wondering if the medallion will need to be fixed at the port when we check-in or is it done at the passenger services desk after we board?

 

Thank you!

[Musky Ike]

20 minutes ago, always smiling said:

I apologize if this has been asked and answered, I just don't want to read through the 44 pages.  We cruise next Friday and our medallions are on their way, however, I was notified today we were upgraded from a BE balcony to a deluxe balcony (DB) and was wondering if the medallion will need to be fixed at the port when we check-in or is it done at the passenger services desk after we board?

 

Thank you!

No the system "should" update almost immediately and the medallion "should" open the current cabin without effort on your part. 

Edited February 6, 2023 by Musky Ike

[always smiling]

5 minutes ago, Musky Ike said:

No the system "should" update almost immediately and the medallion "should" open the current cabin without effort on your part. 

Thank you very much!  I really hoped it would work that way, but wasn't sure.  

[TN-Mountains]

On 1/26/2023 at 10:44 AM, polmcs said:

As a follow up, I was able to click a link on the bidding page for the higher stateroom. That gets me to page where I can see the bids. It shows my offer as expired. No notification was ever received ☹️. I blame it on the big box booking

I don't think big box bookings are eligible for bidding upgrades.  I originally booked through big box and I saw that disclaimer somewhere, but I don't recall if that was on the big box booking or Princess' website.  

Edited February 6, 2023 by TN-Mountains

[TrixieBel]

We are sailing this Saturday. Booked in a grade MA (CC mini suite). Had put in a bid above the minimum for an upgrade to a Penthouse Suite. Just got the email saying bid was not successful. 🥲

[North2Alaska]

We had a Balcony room and put in close to minimum bids for a Deluxe Balcony, Mini Suite, and Suite.  A couple of weeks ago it showed the Mini Suite as "Pending" and the other two bids as "Expired" but no change on Princess.com or in the app.  After about a week we got an email that the Mini Suite bid was accepted and it was reflected in the app and Princess.com.   I checked to see if we could put an additional bid to upgrade to a Suite and it says we're not eligible.  It's not as exciting as getting a free upgrade but it's pretty close!

[Sailaway617]

5 hours ago, TrixieBel said:

We are sailing this Saturday. Booked in a grade MA (CC mini suite). Had put in a bid above the minimum for an upgrade to a Penthouse Suite. Just got the email saying bid was not successful. 🥲

Sorry you didn’t get the Penthouse Suite. Hope you have a wonderful cruise and thank you for posting! It’s interesting to follow this thread. 

[TrixieBel]

16 minutes ago, Sailaway617 said:

Sorry you didn’t get the Penthouse Suite. Hope you have a wonderful cruise and thank you for posting! It’s interesting to follow this thread. 

We will survive. 😋 I’m Gen X - programmed to survive hardship 🤣

[christraveller]

25 days out for a one week Sky Princess. 
was obstructed balcony

got deluxe obstructed balcony

bid $110 for the cabin for a week.

 

score!

[jc foster]

          7 day western caribbean sails in 3 days. Minimum bid offered for upgrade from prem. balcony to mini suite was $75 pp.  but I bid $150 pp. .   I received rejection email this morning. I had previous won a similar bid on same categories for same prices on a 10 day Panama Canal cruise in November but that ship was not sailing full . This ship sailing Sunday is full. 

[roxievegas]

36 minutes ago, jc foster said:

          7 day western caribbean sails in 3 days. Minimum bid offered for upgrade from prem. balcony to mini suite was $75 pp.  but I bid $150 pp. .   I received rejection email this morning. I had previous won a similar bid on same categories for same prices on a 10 day Panama Canal cruise in November but that ship was not sailing full . This ship sailing Sunday is full. 

bummer

[texbecca]

I just went to the Princess website and pretended book a new cruise to see how many suites were still available on my cruise. (Ruby Princess departing Feb 26) It said the cruise was no longer available to book. Does this mean the cruise is completely sold out or do they cut off online sales once it gets this close to the cruise?

[sunviking90]

2 minutes ago, texbecca said:

I just went to the Princess website and pretended book a new cruise to see how many suites were still available on my cruise. (Ruby Princess departing Feb 26) It said the cruise was no longer available to book. Does this mean the cruise is completely sold out or do they cut off online sales once it gets this close to the cruise?

Likely sold out. I’ve seen cruises available for sale up to 3 days before sailing. 

[jc foster]

15 hours ago, texbecca said:

I just went to the Princess website and pretended book a new cruise to see how many suites were still available on my cruise. (Ruby Princess departing Feb 26) It said the cruise was no longer available to book. Does this mean the cruise is completely sold out or do they cut off online sales once it gets this close to the cruise?

Most likely yes. We sail on the Ruby in two days and she showed sold out starting a few days ago. We had a good bid on a mini suite and it was rejected yesterday , but dont give up hope something could open up.

[knbcruisers]

I took a shot and bid $100pp to go from a standard balcony to Premium Deluxe. Got the email today and was given an Aft balcony R735!!!.  Very excited, this was the only category I would bid on because our original D708 is one of those with the extra large balcony.  This is for 3/11 California coastal on Discovery .    Have always wanted an aft balcony but could never justify the price at booking.  Had to pay $16 total for increased travel insurance cost.   This was just below mid range bid, I wasn’t willing to spend more as our original cabin was great.

[llarsen]

We were interior on the Sky for February 25 sailing. Bid $150pp for Standard Balcony and received it yesterday! I'm very excited! The ship is also sold out now.

[pompeii]

March 9 14-day TA from FLL to Barcelona on the Enchanted.  Bid $5 over the minimum ($140pp) to go from obstructed deluxe balcony to standard mini-suite.  Happy to receive it last night but wasn't thrilled with our newly assigned cabin.  After accepting and paying I called Princess and was able to switch to a cabin more to our liking in the same new category and price.  🙂

[cavecreekguy]

Booked Sky Princess 14 Days Eastern/ Western Caribbean departing Feb. 25 on Jan. 10. I wanted a deluxe balcony cabin. All that was available at that time were obstructed view guarantee so I booked it. Wasn't thrilled about the obstructed view, but saw pics online and thought I could make do.

 

I got an invite to bid for an upgrade! The odd thing was that one of the options was to "upgrade" to a standard balcony cabin for only $15pp. Yeah sure I'm gonna do that.

 

I bid $220 total to upgrade to a premium deluxe balcony, which was $10 over the minimum. Was mainly interested in not having an obstructed view, but a larger balcony wouldn't be unwelcome.

 

Got an email today that my bid was accepted and I'm now in a premium deluxe balcony on the Dolphin deck. I'm very pleased.

Edited February 15, 2023 by cavecreekguy

[HikaruTsuki]

I checked the minimum bid to upgrade from my balcony to a mini-suite. It was $200pp, yet the price difference between our balcony and a mini-suite (prices have not changed since we booked), is $300 total. So to bid for an upgrade is $100 more than if I just phoned my Princess rep to straight-up pay for it. 🤷‍♀️

[WAussieSFO]

Just got a bid acceptance email for Mexican Riviera cruise out of San Francisco on 3/2. Bid just above the minimum to go from an IB interior to a Deluxe Obstructed Balcony. I’m happy with the location of the new cabin and got the cruise at a good price to begin with so am happy to pay for the upgrade.

[cathycat]

Our cruise is in just a few weeks.  We were in a Mini-Suite and decided take a chance and bid for a Club Class Mini-Suite.  There were two different descriptions for the Club Class Mini-Suite.  One was with the Mini Suite described as forward and with a large balcony that could be windy.  The second description was for another large balcony but aft  We bid $300 and waited.  Today I received notice that our bid was accepted.  The email stated:

• Your stateroom has a new category – Club Class Mini Suite – and a new number, which you’ll see when you log in to My Princess. (FYI: Staterooms are assigned based on availability.)  
• Of course I rushed to make the payment right away to assure we'd get a good cabin.  Once the payment was made I was given a new cabin number.  Well --- the cabin is no larger than our original Mini Suite ad the balcony might not even be as large as it is described as angled.  In addition to that, this new room is also ADA compliant so no bathtub.  Totally different than what I was led to believe.  So with all of this in mind the only "perk" is Club Class dining and I'm not sure this is at all worth it.  Personally I feel duped.  I doubt I'll ever BID on another room with all of this in mind.

[korky1]

We are Australian and sailing on Majestic on 24th February on an 11 night cruise.  We received the upgrade bid email but ignored it as we had booked a guaranteed balcony cabin and knew we would be happy with any standard balcony cabin as we do not get seasick and don't mind walking.  Received an email last week saying we have been given a free upgrade to a premium deluxe balcony cabin R735 which apparently is quite a sought after aft facing cabin with large balcony.   So at least in Australia the "free upgrade fairy" is still alive and well.

[knbcruisers]

2 hours ago, cathycat said:

Our cruise is in just a few weeks.  We were in a Mini-Suite and decided take a chance and bid for a Club Class Mini-Suite.  There were two different descriptions for the Club Class Mini-Suite.  One was with the Mini Suite described as forward and with a large balcony that could be windy.  The second description was for another large balcony but aft  We bid $300 and waited.  Today I received notice that our bid was accepted.  The email stated:

• Your stateroom has a new category – Club Class Mini Suite – and a new number, which you’ll see when you log in to My Princess. (FYI: Staterooms are assigned based on availability.)  
• Of course I rushed to make the payment right away to assure we'd get a good cabin.  Once the payment was made I was given a new cabin number.  Well --- the cabin is no larger than our original Mini Suite ad the balcony might not even be as large as it is described as angled.  In addition to that, this new room is also ADA compliant so no bathtub.  Totally different than what I was led to believe.  So with all of this in mind the only "perk" is Club Class dining and I'm not sure this is at all worth it.  Personally I feel duped.  I doubt I'll ever BID on another room with all of this in mind.

You might try calling Princess to see what other CC minis are available, perhaps there is another that might suit you better.  I had a different experience, the email and my personalized showed the new cabin # right away so I was able to know that it was one we wanted.   Not sure what ship you are on but most minis are the same size , CC  just provides better location and the dining perk