Upgrade Bid Notification Timing

[IndyKid]

I went ahead and bid on an upgrade from a balcony to a Reserve (formerly Club) Class mini-suite. Just curious if anyone here has had success with this - what did you bid and when did they notify you that you won?

[sunviking90]

I submitted a bid 3 days ago for our cruise in 2 weeks and heard back the same day, but that is likely because it was so close to sail date.

There is a thread that has a lot of info:

 

[SCX22]

Per the Bid to Upgrade FAQs, your bid can be accepted all the way up to one day before departure.

[Torfamm]

10 hours ago, IndyKid said:

I went ahead and bid on an upgrade from a balcony to a Reserve (formerly Club) Class mini-suite. Just curious if anyone here has had success with this - what did you bid and when did they notify you that you won?

I’ve seen notifications as early as a month ahead of time and as late as 5:30 pm the day before sailing. 

[9tee2Sea]

My cruise is Oct 1.  Upgrade still says " Pending".  See what awaits me when I get to the pier.

[I object 2]

We placed two bids for our October 7th cruise the day bidding opened (75 days before cruise) and are still in pending mode.  Keeping our fingers crossed.  

[startedwithamouse]

Personal experience -

 

Month before for closed loop cruises. 

 

About a week before for multiple segment repositioning cruises. 

[LBCABob]

8 hours ago, 9tee2Sea said:

My cruise is Oct 1.  Upgrade still says " Pending".  See what awaits me when I get to the pier.

This happened to me 09/08 on Sapphire 10/08 sailing.  My first time with the bidding process so did not know what to expect beyond the "We got your bid" email.  When I thought I should up my bid amount (by $1 above the min), I tried the provided  Change/Cancel link and all I got was a summary of my bid with status of "Pending".

 

Within 24 hours, I got the "Your bid has been accepted" email and my CC charged the expected amount.  My guess is the bidding computer had locked my bid while it was processing it and assigning a cabin, processing the CC charge, etc. 

 

Perhaps this will happen to you.  Bon Voyage 

[9tee2Sea]

4 hours ago, LBCABob said:

This happened to me 09/08 on Sapphire 10/08 sailing.  My first time with the bidding process so did not know what to expect beyond the "We got your bid" email.  When I thought I should up my bid amount (by $1 above the min), I tried the provided  Change/Cancel link and all I got was a summary of my bid with status of "Pending".

 

Within 24 hours, I got the "Your bid has been accepted" email and my CC charged the expected amount.  My guess is the bidding computer had locked my bid while it was processing it and assigning a cabin, processing the CC charge, etc. 

 

Perhaps this will happen to you.  Bon Voyage 

would be nice. This is my 65 bday gift to myself

[richla]

20 hours ago, I object 2 said:

We placed two bids for our October 7th cruise the day bidding opened (75 days before cruise) and are still in pending mode.  Keeping our fingers crossed.  

We also have an Oct 7 cruise. We received our bid acceptance on Sept 6. We have bid on other cruises and the time certainly varies.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

On 11/1 Enchanted, 38 days out.  Put in bid right around 75 day mark when they opened for a mini suite at about $100pp over minimum. No bid acceptance as of today.

 

I have been tracking the number of unallocated minis (can see full inventory as I have POLAR access) and they actually have increased from 43 at time of bid to 59 as of yesterday.  Thinking maybe they did some inventory shuffling as our 11 day sailing is also sold as part of 2  different 22 day options with either the preceding or anteceding 11 day sailings.

[JeffM1]

We are on a CA coast cruise leaving two weeks from today.  Placed two bids about a month ago and so far nothing.  Both bids still pending, and all room categories above ours all the way up to the Sky Suite are still available to bid on.  I guess we'll see...

[SCX22]

Not sure what Princess' criteria for accepting bids is.  The cruise buddies we cruise with like to participate in Bid to Upgrade, and from what I gather anecdotally, just because there is availability in higher categories, doesn't mean that your bid will be accepted.  🤷‍♂️

Edited September 23, 2023 by SCX22

[IndyKid]

Do they tell you if your bid was not accepted? Is there any way to tell how many rooms of a certain type are still empty?

[startedwithamouse]

15 minutes ago, IndyKid said:

Do they tell you if your bid was not accepted? Is there any way to tell how many rooms of a certain type are still empty?

Sometimes. You can just look at your bid at anytime. It will say pending if it still is. 

[startedwithamouse]

37 minutes ago, JeffM1 said:

We are on a CA coast cruise leaving two weeks from today.  Placed two bids about a month ago and so far nothing.  Both bids still pending, and all room categories above ours all the way up to the Sky Suite are still available to bid on.  I guess we'll see...

Is it a segment of a repositioning cruise?

[JeffM1]

4 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Is it a segment of a repositioning cruise?

Don't think so, it's doing various CA coast crises all October.

[SCX22]

23 minutes ago, IndyKid said:

Do they tell you if your bid was not accepted? Is there any way to tell how many rooms of a certain type are still empty?

 

Best way to know is to check your Cruise Personalizer the night before you embark.  No personal experience with Bid to Upgrade, but on occasion, we've check the night before and have been graciously surprised that we've been upgraded at no charge.  At that point, you can also print out new luggage tags to match the upgraded cabin assignment. 

[suzyed]

On 9/21/2023 at 10:56 PM, IndyKid said:

I went ahead and bid on an upgrade from a balcony to a Reserve (formerly Club) Class mini-suite. Just curious if anyone here has had success with this - what did you bid and when did they notify you that you won?

We did but to be honest I don't remember what we bid but we found out several weeks ago for our cruise this week.

[suzyed]

On 9/22/2023 at 4:42 PM, startedwithamouse said:

Personal experience -

 

Month before for closed loop cruises. 

 

About a week before for multiple segment repositioning cruises. 

Ours was a good 4 weeks before sailing...repo cruise from Southampton.

[suzyed]

6 hours ago, IndyKid said:

Do they tell you if your bid was not accepted? Is there any way to tell how many rooms of a certain type are still empty?

We were not told on a previous bid...it just said pending.

[startedwithamouse]

18 minutes ago, suzyed said:

Ours was a good 4 weeks before sailing...repo cruise from Southampton.

How many segments?

[suzyed]

2 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

How many segments?

2

[GeorgiaGrandma 1]

We are sailing on th Discovery Princess on October 21. I bid just above the minimum.  Got moved from Balcony BB to  a Minisuite in a great location. They let me know 5 weeks before the ship sails 😁!

[JeffM1]

11 minutes ago, GeorgiaGrandma 1 said:

We are sailing on th Discovery Princess on October 21. I bid just above the minimum.  Got moved from Balcony BB to  a Minisuite in a great location. They let me know 5 weeks before the ship sails 😁!

And we will be on the same ship as you two weeks earlier and we've heard nothing.  Oh well, I'll tell them to make sure your room is clean! 🙂