Bid to upgrade being rolled out

[AlixN]

1 hour ago, StickInsect2 said:

I did wonder if that was the case but I'm not convinced that anyone in a family suite would upgrade as I think they would be worse off in a suite (even though they are more expensive) as there would only be one bedroom and one bathroom. I'm glad I came across this thread though as it's allowing me to come to terms with the fact that my bid won't be successful even though it was some way above minimum.

 

Also why would they let you bid for the Penthouse suite when it's not available as there is nothing above that to upgrade to?

 

From the p and o website

 

'If your offer is not accepted, you will be informed approximately 6 days before sailing.'

 

Also

 

'We will endeavour to tell guests at least 7 days prior to departure if they have been successful, however in exceptional circumstances we reserve the right to upgrade guests up until 1 day prior to departure.'

 

So I guess they also allow bidding for upgrades for suites incase someone cancels completely and a room becomes available.

Once you put your bid in you could be waiting several weeks/months for an answer as there might not be any availability when you bid but p and o could wait until the week before to decline just incase a room becomes available if someone cancels during that time.  

[Windsurfboy]

Remember you have no choice of cabin, so look at the grade you are bidding for, would you be happy in the worst positioned cabin in that grade. Remember upgrades get the cabins select have rejected, even if you pay for them 

[StickInsect2]

3 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

Remember you have no choice of cabin, so look at the grade you are bidding for, would you be happy in the worst positioned cabin in that grade. Remember upgrades get the cabins select have rejected, even if you pay for them 

We are only interested in the family suite. There are only 2 of those so we know they're not by the nightclub or anything. We know that the balcony on them is windy but apart from that there seem to be no other drawbacks. As you rightly say, often it would be too risky to upgrade. Some of the suites are in bad positions iirc and it seems strange that they would do that.

[davecttr]

I was invited to bid for an upgrade this morning. Arcadia 21 nights in August.

Midship Suite from £1910pp

Aft Suite from £1620pp

Mini Suite from £950pp

As I have an early saver EF grade balcony solo occupancy for £1799 I don't think I will bother bidding.

[Cathygh]

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

I was invited to bid for an upgrade this morning. Arcadia 21 nights in August.

Midship Suite from £1910pp

Aft Suite from £1620pp

Mini Suite from £950pp

As I have an early saver EF grade balcony solo occupancy for £1799 I don't think I will bother bidding.

Is this August 8th or 29th? We are on 8th but no email yet, and tbh I'll stick with my balcony too at those prices

[davecttr]

1 hour ago, Cathygh said:

Is this August 8th or 29th? We are on 8th but no email yet, and tbh I'll stick with my balcony too at those prices

The 8th

[Landon90]

3 hours ago, davecttr said:

I was invited to bid for an upgrade this morning. Arcadia 21 nights in August.

Midship Suite from £1910pp

Aft Suite from £1620pp

Mini Suite from £950pp

As I have an early saver EF grade balcony solo occupancy for £1799 I don't think I will bother bidding.

Are those fees before or after it’s been doubled for single occupancy? 😩

[davecttr]

Just now, Landon90 said:

Are those fees before or after it’s been doubled for single occupancy? 😩

I think it is before?

[Landon90]

Just now, davecttr said:

I think it is before?

Yikes!

 

Don’t blame you for not bidding. 

[davecttr]

Just checked, this is what they say, those prices are the minimum bids for 2 people

 

Upgrade offers are priced per person and based on two guests sharing a cabin. If you are sailing solo, you will be charged 200% of your offer amount.

 

So the minimum bid for a solo cruiser in a mini suite would be £1900

[Cathygh]

13 minutes ago, davecttr said:

The 8th

Oh such a shame we aren't on the same one

[Cathygh]

5 minutes ago, davecttr said:

Just checked, this is what they say, those prices are the minimum bids for 2 people

 

Upgrade offers are priced per person and based on two guests sharing a cabin. If you are sailing solo, you will be charged 200% of your offer amount.

 

So the minimum bid for a solo cruiser in a mini suite would be £1900

That would pay for more holidays, just not worth it for us

[Winifred 22]

4 hours ago, davecttr said:

Just checked, this is what they say, those prices are the minimum bids for 2 people

 

Upgrade offers are priced per person and based on two guests sharing a cabin. If you are sailing solo, you will be charged 200% of your offer amount.

 

So the minimum bid for a solo cruiser in a mini suite would be £1900

Yes it would . Not worth it. 

[Cruiseraugust74]

I have 2 cruises booked this year one on Sky princess and one on the Britannia.  I have booked a balcony cabin on both.
 

 I have been offered to bid on an upgrade for both.  
 

Princess upgrades are extremely reasonable, ranging from £50 per person to £175 on various different cabins, and I have just been successful and upgraded from a balcony cabin to a mini suite for an extra £200.

 

P&O have offered the same upgrade but for a minimum price of £1760, yep that’s right…!!!  This is absolutely ridiculous if I wanted a mini suite I would have paid for one when booking and it would have probably been cheaper than what they are asking me to bid for one.

P&O bid for upgrades is a joke.!!  I’d rather stick to my original cabin thank you.  

 

[Son of Anarchy]

11 minutes ago, Cruiseraugust74 said:

I have 2 cruises booked this year one on Sky princess and one on the Britannia.  I have booked a balcony cabin on both.
 

 I have been offered to bid on an upgrade for both.  
 

Princess upgrades are extremely reasonable, ranging from £50 per person to £175 on various different cabins, and I have just been successful and upgraded from a balcony cabin to a mini suite for an extra £200.

 

P&O have offered the same upgrade but for a minimum price of £1760, yep that’s right…!!!  This is absolutely ridiculous if I wanted a mini suite I would have paid for one when booking and it would have probably been cheaper than what they are asking me to bid for one.

P&O bid for upgrades is a joke.!!  I’d rather stick to my original cabin thank you.  

 

We've also received the offer to bid for an upgrade.  Minimum £450 pp to go from standard balcony to deluxe.

 

I phoned up to get a price on simply upgrading.  £625 pp. 

 

Decided to put a minimum bid and see what happens.  We're on an Early Saver fare anyway so location not a issue.

[paulatsea]

15 hours ago, Son of Anarchy said:

We've also received the offer to bid for an upgrade.  Minimum £450 pp to go from standard balcony to deluxe.

 

I phoned up to get a price on simply upgrading.  £625 pp. 

 

Decided to put a minimum bid and see what happens.  We're on an Early Saver fare anyway so location not a issue.

Good luck 🤞 

[smilesonfaces]

I am pleased to say my upgrade bid was accepted. I bid £10 over the £120 minimum and have been upgraded from a PF saver inside to a deck 15 GB balcony and have paid £1200 for the week for the 2 of us, this is about £800 less than we would have paid.  The new bidding system has been perfect for us and will happily do it again.

[Gettingwarmer]

3 hours ago, smilesonfaces said:

I am pleased to say my upgrade bid was accepted. I bid £10 over the £120 minimum and have been upgraded from a PF saver inside to a deck 15 GB balcony and have paid £1200 for the week for the 2 of us, this is about £800 less than we would have paid.  The new bidding system has been perfect for us and will happily do it again.

These are underneath the dome and buffet. Although balcony could be noisy, however a good price. Have to be careful with bidding and happy to accept what’s given. 

Edited June 19, 2023 by Gettingwarmer
Comma

[smilesonfaces]

22 hours ago, Gettingwarmer said:

These are underneath the dome and buffet. Although balcony could be noisy, however a good price. Have to be careful with bidding and happy to accept what’s given. 

Yes, I accept it is near the buffet and sky dome and may be noisy. Easy to take lunch up to the balcony though ! I’m not really too fussy, we don’t go to bed early on holiday and I will put up with daytime noise. Price is what matters at the minute though. I would only bid if on a saver fare.  

[Selbourne]

On 6/19/2023 at 5:15 AM, smilesonfaces said:

I am pleased to say my upgrade bid was accepted. I bid £10 over the £120 minimum and have been upgraded from a PF saver inside to a deck 15 GB balcony and have paid £1200 for the week for the 2 of us, this is about £800 less than we would have paid.  The new bidding system has been perfect for us and will happily do it again.

I think that you were very sensible to make your bid just a tiny bit over the minimum, as if there are more bids than available cabins you are sure to ‘win’ as most people seem to just bid the minimum. 
 

You mention that the price you are paying was £800 less than the full Select price would have been. I imagine that is comparing against a time when prices were high. For future reference, the price you are paying (assuming it’s a 7 night cruise = £171 per night) is perfectly achievable on a Select basis (once you factor in additional on board credit etc) if you book at the right time.

We have booked 3 x 14 night P&O cruises at well under £200 a night, getting our first choice balcony cabins plus the other Select benefits. 7 night cruises are usually even cheaper than 14 nighters (on a per day basis). So if you like the idea of cruises in a balcony cabin at that sort of price, you should be able to find them in the future on a Select basis, thus getting first choice locations and not running the risk of not being successful with the bidding scheme.
 

Of course, if the price you have quoted is for a 14 night cruise then ignore all the above, as you have nabbed an absolute bargain!

[smilesonfaces]

No, it is for 7 nights. I am really happy with £85 a night each for a balcony although cruises do seem to have gone up so much this year and I did struggle a bit to keep in budget. They wanted more than that for the Premier Inn in Southampton !  I always have a cut off of £100 a night pp. Really lucky last year as got a Princess fare with drinks package for that. 

[Selbourne]

14 minutes ago, smilesonfaces said:

No, it is for 7 nights. I am really happy with £85 a night each for a balcony although cruises do seem to have gone up so much this year and I did struggle a bit to keep in budget. They wanted more than that for the Premier Inn in Southampton !  I always have a cut off of £100 a night pp. Really lucky last year as got a Princess fare with drinks package for that. 

I have the same price cut off as you now for P&O (£100 pppn) but that’s for a balcony cabin on a Select basis. As I say, I’ve managed to bag a few well under that, even recently, so keep looking as you might be pleasantly surprised 🤞

[TMSA]

Advice appreciated please. We have just come off Virtuosa and although the ship was good the holiday was incredibly challenging thanks to my delightful 3 year old 😆. Turns out a 3 year old and a 6 month old in the same room just does not work. It was horrendous. We are sailing in September on Arvia. We would cancel but it's at 50% charge and we can't lose that much money. I have the option to upgrade and am considering the conservatory mini suite, its showing as minimum bid £520pp. Firstly is that just the adults that pay so looking at £1040 if accepted? I can't work out the cost it would be to book a mini suite now as there is no child availability so i can't get the final price but 2 adults is iver 5k. I can't really afford to pay more but I'm so desperate that anything which gives us more space, and a separate space to at least put one child in so they don't disturb the other at this moment in time seems worth it. I just cant work out if its a bad deal. I paid for an outside cabin and picked location for midship as i was very sick on Ventura last year but survived Virtuosa this time. You can pick a deck 9 cabin so don't need to worry about the promanade deck although to be honest that doesn't bother me, i never book a balcony as it terrifies me with kids so having the promanade deck outside actually feels safe. Sorry for long post. We paid roughly £3400 if that helps, select fare with OBC and parking. Thank you 

[Selbourne]

38 minutes ago, TMSA said:

Advice appreciated please. We have just come off Virtuosa and although the ship was good the holiday was incredibly challenging thanks to my delightful 3 year old 😆. Turns out a 3 year old and a 6 month old in the same room just does not work. It was horrendous. We are sailing in September on Arvia. We would cancel but it's at 50% charge and we can't lose that much money. I have the option to upgrade and am considering the conservatory mini suite, its showing as minimum bid £520pp. Firstly is that just the adults that pay so looking at £1040 if accepted? I can't work out the cost it would be to book a mini suite now as there is no child availability so i can't get the final price but 2 adults is iver 5k. I can't really afford to pay more but I'm so desperate that anything which gives us more space, and a separate space to at least put one child in so they don't disturb the other at this moment in time seems worth it. I just cant work out if its a bad deal. I paid for an outside cabin and picked location for midship as i was very sick on Ventura last year but survived Virtuosa this time. You can pick a deck 9 cabin so don't need to worry about the promanade deck although to be honest that doesn't bother me, i never book a balcony as it terrifies me with kids so having the promanade deck outside actually feels safe. Sorry for long post. We paid roughly £3400 if that helps, select fare with OBC and parking. Thank you 

It’s worth knowing that if you were to consider upgrading to a larger cabin now (rather than leaving it to chance with the bid system), the price difference that you pay is the price that applied at the time that you made the original booking and not the price that applies at the time that you make the change. Depending on when you booked, this might work in your favour. Most of the minimum bid prices quoted by people on this forum so far have seemed quite high and, in some cases, no cheaper than it would have been to have booked the higher grade cabin in the first place!

 

Given your situation, I would call P&O (if you booked direct - which I assume that you did to be offered the bid system) and ask how much it would be to upgrade. That way you can decide whether to do it now and have peace of mind. You can also choose a cabin in a good location that won’t be affected by noise etc. I’ve no idea whether the conservatory part of the mini suite can be used for sleeping. I presume that it can, it would be daft if it couldn’t, but best to check!
 

Finally, if the price difference is too great and you decide to bid, I would strongly advise you to bid £530 per person and not the minimum £520 (as far as I know, you pay double the bid price regardless of number of cabin occupants). As the minimum bids aren’t particular bargains, everyone seems to bid the minimum and not a penny more. If you bid more than the minimum (even if just a tenner - assuming that it allows you to) then I think you’d be almost certain to be successful. 

[TMSA]

50 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

It’s worth knowing that if you were to consider upgrading to a larger cabin now (rather than leaving it to chance with the bid system), the price difference that you pay is the price that applied at the time that you made the original booking and not the price that applies at the time that you make the change. Depending on when you booked, this might work in your favour. Most of the minimum bid prices quoted by people on this forum so far have seemed quite high and, in some cases, no cheaper than it would have been to have booked the higher grade cabin in the first place!

 

Given your situation, I would call P&O (if you booked direct - which I assume that you did to be offered the bid system) and ask how much it would be to upgrade. That way you can decide whether to do it now and have peace of mind. You can also choose a cabin in a good location that won’t be affected by noise etc. I’ve no idea whether the conservatory part of the mini suite can be used for sleeping. I presume that it can, it would be daft if it couldn’t, but best to check!
 

Finally, if the price difference is too great and you decide to bid, I would strongly advise you to bid £530 per person and not the minimum £520 (as far as I know, you pay double the bid price regardless of number of cabin occupants). As the minimum bids aren’t particular bargains, everyone seems to bid the minimum and not a penny more. If you bid more than the minimum (even if just a tenner - assuming that it allows you to) then I think you’d be almost certain to be successful. 

Thank you. That is really helpful. I did wonder if you could just upgrade normally but this bid system has thrown me. Thanks for the advice with the bid system too. I've looked a lot at the conservatories on YouTube and they look big enough to get the cot in. My son's bed would be the actual sofa in the room but just having any extra space would be a massive plus. Also it means that we could sit on the balcony in the evening rather than laying in bed wondering what we did wrong in a previous life 🙃.

 

Also i know we sound like the neighbours from hell but can promise you we weren't. Our bedtime shenanigans were so early that most people hadn't even had dinner yet and once the kids were asleep they were quiet. Well my daughter was awake most of the night but she was with me so wasn't crying. Holidays will be fun again one day right!???