NCL Upgrade Advantage Questions

[cruzbound]

Hi All,

 

So we got the email for the potential bidding for a room upgrade.  Has anyone done this?  Was your bid accepted?  If so, how was the upgraded room?  I know there is no choice in what room you are upgraded to - front, aft, middle - so I am kind of nervous about maybe doing a bid because we have never been in a room in the front of the ship.  We always get aft or middle area rooms (less movement).  

 

Has anyone been in a front room and what was it like?  Do the waves hit it hard and you feel it?  

 

We are going on the Spirit to Hawaii and the French Polynesian.  We have an inside cabin and I was thinking about trying to bid for a balcony (we are first-time cruisers with NCL - we have cruised over 25 times with RCCL, so we get a balcony on there for a really good price so we don't have to do any bidding when they send theirs out).

 

Thanks,

cruzbound

[DCGuy64]

44 minutes ago, cruzbound said:

Hi All,

 

So we got the email for the potential bidding for a room upgrade.  Has anyone done this?  Was your bid accepted?  If so, how was the upgraded room?  I know there is no choice in what room you are upgraded to - front, aft, middle - so I am kind of nervous about maybe doing a bid because we have never been in a room in the front of the ship.  We always get aft or middle area rooms (less movement).  

 

Has anyone been in a front room and what was it like?  Do the waves hit it hard and you feel it?  

 

We are going on the Spirit to Hawaii and the French Polynesian.  We have an inside cabin and I was thinking about trying to bid for a balcony (we are first-time cruisers with NCL - we have cruised over 25 times with RCCL, so we get a balcony on there for a really good price so we don't have to do any bidding when they send theirs out).

 

Thanks,

cruzbound

When is your cruise? The chance to bid and upgrade seems to depend greatly on availability. I bid several times on upgrades for our last NCL cruise but none was successful because the cabins in all of the categories I bid on were sold out. I'd say if you have an inside cabin, you'd have a good chance at there being rooms available in higher categories. We've been on front cabins on MSC and had no issues with waves or excessive rocking, etc.

[cruzbound]

Our cruise is on September 15-27, 2023.

 

Thanks for the insight.

 

[DCGuy64]

Best bet would be for an oceanview, the balconies all seem to be sold out. NCL only has guarantee ones at this point. That could change in case someone cancels, of course.

[KKB]

Our cruise to Hawaii was pretty choppy in January.

If you are sensitive to motion, I'd keep your midship room.

[scooter6139]

When you bid they assign you a cabin of their choice if your win.  You are just charged for the upgrade and given a new room number.  We recently bid and won an inside to a balcony on our Alaska sailing.  Also, bid and won a Haven to another Haven on our last Mexico cruise.  We've been lucky I guess on our bids.

[BirdTravels]

5 hours ago, cruzbound said:

Hi All,

 

So we got the email for the potential bidding for a room upgrade.  Has anyone done this?  Was your bid accepted?  If so, how was the upgraded room?  I know there is no choice in what room you are upgraded to - front, aft, middle - so I am kind of nervous about maybe doing a bid because we have never been in a room in the front of the ship.  We always get aft or middle area rooms (less movement).  

 

Has anyone been in a front room and what was it like?  Do the waves hit it hard and you feel it?  

 

We are going on the Spirit to Hawaii and the French Polynesian.  We have an inside cabin and I was thinking about trying to bid for a balcony (we are first-time cruisers with NCL - we have cruised over 25 times with RCCL, so we get a balcony on there for a really good price so we don't have to do any bidding when they send theirs out).

 

Thanks,

cruzbound

In stormy seas, every cabin on the ship will be moving. We have actually been more successful with RoyalUp bids than NCL.
 

But we got an Ocean View to Balcony upgrade last year on NCL and have won a couple of Haven bids (suites) in the past. 
 

Personally, we would like a balcony on that itinerary. But they are in high demand. 

[vswan]

Also watch the prices as the cruise gets closer. If there is availability it may be less expensive to call and upgrade directly rather than "hoping" your bid gets accepted. My last cruise it was less money to call and upgrade than hope I got the bid at the price I bid.

[RB9643]

 

The most important thing is to know that you get what you get and pay for it regardless.

 

We are leery to bid on a Haven cabin that may end up aft when the Haven proper is forward. Defeats the purpose for us.

 

Certainly, inside or ocean view to a balcony is worth it -- if you can live with obstructed, far forward, far aft, under the lido, over the night venues, etc. etc. You get what you get.

 

 

 

 

[BunnyHutt]

We’re in a “club balcony suite” for our Alaskan sailing this fall and I just got the upgrade email today. I bid low for the single-room Haven selections as we are perfectly content with our chosen cabin. 
 

I did an upgrade bidding on a Royal Caribbean cruise back in 2019 and was much more aggressive. We were happy we did as it was their oldest/smallest ship and the upgrade got us a balcony. It was a Cuba itinerary that got nixed just a couple of weeks prior to sailing and we ended up getting a very large (bigger than we were expecting) chunk of our funds back so it was very much worth it. 

[depplep]

I have a regular balcony booked for our cruise and was looking at the Club balcony to upgrade. The only difference I can see is a bigger room. Is this correct or am I missing something?

[phoenix1181]

10 minutes ago, depplep said:

I have a regular balcony booked for our cruise and was looking at the Club balcony to upgrade. The only difference I can see is a bigger room. Is this correct or am I missing something?

The Club Balcony has a much larger bathroom with a great shower, 1 free bag of laundry & snacks delivered a couple of times during the cruise.

[depplep]

Thank you, this helps.

[www3traveler]

I do not think that I would bid-- too many unkowns.  My rule of thumb for booking cruises (37 and counting) is to book a cabin that fits my budget and my desired location and then leave it alone.  I do monitor for prices drops which happen once in awhile.

[scooter6139]

19 hours ago, RB9643 said:

 

We are leery to bid on a Haven cabin that may end up aft when the Haven proper is forward. Defeats the purpose for us.

 

 

If I remember my bidding last time, you get to bid on the specific Haven categories you may want.  So only bid on the HE/HF/H5/H6/H2 categories that are in the Haven proper and avoid the Aft and Forward cabins.

[cruiseny4life]

9 minutes ago, scooter6139 said:

 

If I remember my bidding last time, you get to bid on the specific Haven categories you may want.  So only bid on the HE/HF/H5/H6/H2 categories that are in the Haven proper and avoid the Aft and Forward cabins.

Your memory is correct. You bid on the category of Haven cabin, so you can somewhat control where you're going to be placed if you win your bid. 

[RB9643]

8 hours ago, phoenix1181 said:

The Club Balcony has a much larger bathroom with a great shower, 1 free bag of laundry & snacks delivered a couple of times during the cruise.

 

Plus a bottle of wine.  We always choose the Club Balcony. The double sinks and full-sized shower alone make it worth it to us. Add more storage space and just a generally larger "feel", and it's a winner in our book.

[RB9643]

2 hours ago, scooter6139 said:

 

If I remember my bidding last time, you get to bid on the specific Haven categories you may want.  So only bid on the HE/HF/H5/H6/H2 categories that are in the Haven proper and avoid the Aft and Forward cabins.

 

Yes, your memory is correct, mine is faulty. I now remember last time that I needed to read carefully to ensure we bid on what we wanted. Will likely try again going forward, but I'm not willing to be too aggressive. We are very satisfied with our normal Club Balcony.

 

[phoenix1181]

39 minutes ago, RB9643 said:

 

Plus a bottle of wine.  We always choose the Club Balcony. The double sinks and full-sized shower alone make it worth it to us. Add more storage space and just a generally larger "feel", and it's a winner in our book.

Forgot about the wine!  I'm not a wine drinker & gave it to my Cabin Steward.  Loved the Club Balcony & am in one again next month.  Hoping to upgrade from a balcony in October but that's still in the wait & see stage!

[queenL]

Our bid for our upcoming sailing on the Bliss was accepted yesterday.  I'm happy!  If I had purchased the same cabin at the time I booked it would have been 1800 (900pp) more.  My total bid $300 (150pp) was a lot of savings. The second cabin we booked was also upgraded (all the way forward the other cabin all the way aft). 

 

We are veteran cruisers (#34 in 2 weeks).  We have had our bids accepted multiple cruises and different lines and now see this as a great way to save money and get a better cabin.  That said.....it really depends how picky you are.   We have sailed in the front and the back.  (I find the weather and ship size/age matter more with how rocky it might be if you are forward or aft)  We have sailed in an inside and in a balcony suite.  We have sailed in the lower decks and the higher decks, below the dining room and adjacent to the theater.  We have our preferences but can make most anything work for a week.  If you are such a cruiser....go for it.  If you are particular, you may not want to roll the dice.  I've been upgraded to a midship cabin in a more desirable location then what I gave up and I've also been upgraded to a cabin in a location that I probably wouldn't have selected if given a choice.  If you aren't comfortable with that possibility don't bid.

 

I tend to base my decision on whether to bid on other factors: Price. How much do I like the cabin I'm currently in? Do I need multiple cabins in proximity?  Do we have a lot of sea days/lengthy port times?  Is it a really long cruise (8+ plus)? Because those factors affect how much time we will spend in the cabin and how much of a sacrifice it might be if we get a cabin we are less than thrilled with.  Fortunately for us, we haven't regretted it yet and I expect we won't this cruise either.