Question about Upgrade Advantage stateroom bidding on NCL Epic

[Scottycruzer]

My wife and I are cruising on the Epic next year (early summer 2024) for our 24th wedding anniversary, and this will be our first (and probably only) Mediterranean Cruise. We've sailed with NCL 3 times previously, but just recently learned about their upgrade advantage program. We are booked in a Club Balcony Suite, but if we receive an upgrade offer would like to bid on a Haven Suite since we've never booked a Haven. Just curious if anyone else has done this.

Questions: 1) Is upgrading to Haven worth it... is the Haven suite that much better? 2) If we get an upgrade offer, does anyone know what the minimum bids are for the various Haven Suites and what the typical ballpark bid amounts NCL accepts for an upgrade from Club Balcony to Haven is? 3) typically, how close to the cruise date will NCL send out emails for upgrade offers? 

 

Thanks! ☺️

Edited November 20, 2023 by Scottycruzer

[dexddd]

A couple threads out there already including one going back to when it started around 2016.

 

Tons of info, tons of variables.

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, Scottycruzer said:

Questions: 1) Is upgrading to Haven worth it... is the Haven suite that much better? 2) If we get an upgrade offer, does anyone know what the minimum bids are for the various Haven Suites and what the typical ballpark bid amounts NCL accepts for an upgrade from Club Balcony to Haven is? 3) typically, how close to the cruise date will NCL send out emails for upgrade offers? 

My wife would not let me book anything but a Haven on NCL.  No one else can tell  you whether it's worth the cost but yourself.  One thing to remember is that the upgrade bids are for two people, ie, your cost will be twice what you bid.  The minimum bids vary widely and no one can accurately tell you what amount will likely result in acceptance.  Read the other threads for more information.

[Scottycruzer]

Thanks for help. The bid will be per person... got it. The bid is for the entire cruise duration per person too, not per person per day, correct? For example... bid of $800.00 per person for a total of $1,600.00 total?

[All-ready2cruise]

Correct. 

[rbxlady]

This thread began in 2021 and continues to this day:

 

I followed this thread very closely last year and just skimmed through the last few pages. If you start at the beginning, keep in mind that you'll see a lot of relatively low upgrade bids being accepted for the Haven when cruising was not yet back up to full capacity. That's not to say that people don't still get relatively low bids accepted anymore, but usually you see those for inside to balcony, etc., not from balcony or club balcony to Haven.

 

We sailed in October of 2022 on the Getaway and had a reservation in club balcony. When upgrade bidding opened, the minimum bids were so high that I decided to bid but also watch availability for our preferred Haven suite (2BR, as we were cruising with kids).

 

Data just so you have an idea of what bidding from club balcony to the Haven might look like (keep in mind it is probably based on what I paid for club balcony, plus it was a different ship, different time, different itinerary, and apparently I kept all my e-mails): deluxe owner's suite (DOS) with balcony minimum bid at $1500pp, DOS with large balcony minimum bid at $1600pp, 2BR family villa minimum bid at $1000pp, and for an aft-facing penthouse, either a regular balcony or large balcony, minimum bid at $750pp.

 

I figured a lot of people would bid the minimum and/or bid round numbers, so I played The Price is Right and bid just over round numbers (e.g., $1510 instead of $1500).

 

A little over two months before our cruise, with three 2BR suites left, the price dropped to basically our upgrade bid plus a little extra. I decided to book it to secure it, and the bonus is that you get double Latitudes points when you actually book it rather than win an upgrade bid. Sometimes the fare will drop to below your bid!

 

Not long after we upgraded, the 2BR suites sold out, then shortly after that, the entire Haven sold out, so short of any last-minute cancellations, nobody's Haven bids were accepted.

 

We're cruising again with our kids on the Epic on 3/31, and we booked in late October, so not yet a month ago. At the time, there were only three or four 2BR suites available (we booked the only one left on the main level of the Haven), but I checked about a week ago, and there were none left. I just looked, and there are only seven Haven suites left of any kind at over four months out.

 

All that to say, since it's just two of you, you have more options than a group of four, but based on what I'm seeing in that upgrade bid thread, the Haven seems to be selling out on many sailings. Before I booked our cruise on the Epic, I looked at other cruises the same timeframe where there were no 2BR suites.

 

It sounds like you're happy with club balcony, which is great-- you should always book the cabin you're happy with so you're not disappointed if your bids aren't selected-- but you may want to keep an eye on the suite(s) you may want and see if the price drops to around your bid.

 

Three things to keep in mind: (1) Mediterranean cruising tends to be port-heavy, so you won't spend as much time on the ship; (2) according to others on here, the Epic has the best Haven in the fleet; and (3) cruising in the Haven is addictive.

 

There's also a great thread from a fantastic member Sthrngary on what he calls the "Haven lite", which is full of tips for making your cruise outside the Haven feel very luxurious.

 

 

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, Scottycruzer said:

My wife and I are cruising on the Epic next year (early summer 2024) for our 24th wedding anniversary, and this will be our first (and probably only) Mediterranean Cruise. We've sailed with NCL 3 times previously, but just recently learned about their upgrade advantage program. We are booked in a Club Balcony Suite, but if we receive an upgrade offer would like to bid on a Haven Suite since we've never booked a Haven. Just curious if anyone else has done this.

Questions: 1) Is upgrading to Haven worth it... is the Haven suite that much better? 2) If we get an upgrade offer, does anyone know what the minimum bids are for the various Haven Suites and what the typical ballpark bid amounts NCL accepts for an upgrade from Club Balcony to Haven is? 3) typically, how close to the cruise date will NCL send out emails for upgrade offers? 

 

Thanks! ☺️

The Haven is very worth it. 
 

A CBS (Club Balcony “Suite”) is not a suite. It is a regular balcony room with a little bigger “bathroom”. You get a full size shower and a larger toilet. As you know there is no proper bathroom on the Epic. The shower is on one side of the entry hall and the toilet is on the other. 
 

If you booked direct with NCL, you will be given the opportunity to bid. If you booked with the big warehouse store, you will not be giving a opportunity to bid. 
 

Haven bids are processed on the week of cruise. If you leave on the weekend, it is the Monday / Tuesday of that week. 
 

There are over 1000 staterooms that could bid on Haven rooms (depending on who they booked with). Peak season, the Haven is sold out and upgrades are for last minute cancellations. In general, there may be one or two rooms that open up. In general, the probability of winning is low to none. 
 

All that being said, we bid on every cruise. And have won a couple of bids over the years. Usually with bids in the good range. 
 

The Epic has one of the best Havens in the fleet. 

Edited November 20, 2023 by BirdTravels

[RocketMan275]

2 hours ago, Scottycruzer said:

Thanks for help. The bid will be per person... got it. The bid is for the entire cruise duration per person too, not per person per day, correct? For example... bid of $800.00 per person for a total of $1,600.00 total?

One other thing, some times you can just pay for an upgrade for a cost comparable to bidding.  This guarantees the Haven while bidding does not.

[RocketMan275]

1 minute ago, BirdTravels said:

If you booked direct with NCL, you will be given the opportunity to bid. If you booked with the big warehouse store, you will not be giving a opportunity to bid. 

booking direct with NCL isn't always required.  I booked through a TA and I receive the opportunity to bid directly from NCL.  I don't bid because I book the cabins I want.

[HBCcruiser]

8 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

booking direct with NCL isn't always required.  I booked through a TA and I receive the opportunity to bid directly from NCL.

Very true but I think what @BirdTravels was saying is that if you booked with A CERTAIN BIG COST WAREHOUSE COmpany store (can't say name here) you are not able to bid on upgrades. 

[RocketMan275]

16 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

Very true but I think what @BirdTravels was saying is that if you booked with A CERTAIN BIG COST WAREHOUSE COmpany store (can't say name here) you are not able to bid on upgrades. 

My point was when NCL extended me the opportunity to bid on an upgrade, it did not go through my TA. She had nothing to do with it.

[rbxlady]

I realized I never answered the question about whether the Haven is worth it. My apologies for another novelette.

 

The answer is, it depends on you. Personally, I am an introvert, as is my husband. We like quiet, we don't like being in large crowds fighting for a place in line, etc. We quite literally retreated to the Haven very often on our last cruise and spent most of our time on board there. Because it's relatively small, you start to see the same people over and over. It's like living on a small street with friendly neighbors. We had our kids with us, and there were a few other kids in the Haven (it was not a regular school break), but all the kids were well-behaved. One family had very young children with them, and if one got a little loud at a meal, one parent would leave with the child and return when the child was calm. In other words, everyone acted right, and the whole experience was very civilized.

 

That's not to say that there will never be jerks in the Haven or that the rest of the ship is filled with uncivilized brutes. It's just one of those things where if you want a nice, quiet dinner, you're more likely to find it at a fine dining establishment than you are at Applebee's.

 

Of course your suite is going to be much nicer than even a club balcony "suite". Don't forget the one-hit wonder of split bathrooms on the Epic, which is not the case in Haven suites. I would check out the floorplans on the NCL site: https://www.ncl.com/cruise-ship/epic/staterooms/the-haven.

 

In the Haven, you get a butler. This sounds weird and elitist, and I assumed we would say hi to our butler on the first day and never ask anything of him, but the man was practically a wizard and would anticipate everything we intended to ask for before we could ask for it. If we left our cabin for 15 minutes, we came back to find things straightened up and new treats left behind. We joked that he was spying on us. When one of our kids got a stomach bug, we self-quarantined for 24 hours, and our butler brought us easy snacks for our son plus other snacks for the rest of us, as well as dinner from the Haven restaurant in our cabin that night. He offered these things; we didn't even have to ask. We didn't ask for much overall, but he made everything so easy.

 

The Haven has its own separate concierge. When our son got sick, I alerted them in case the medical team wanted to COVID test us or anything (they didn't), but concierge checked on us to ask how our son was feeling. At our request, they cancelled our excursions for that day and the next and got us full refunds. They made show reservations for us, and when it was time to go, they escorted us down and brought us to the Haven seating area at the front. We were escorted up and down the ship on port days, and we got priority in boarding the tender (in both directions) at Great Stirrup Cay. I don't know if any ports on your upcoming cruise will have tenders or not, but our next cruise will have two (Great Stirrup Cay and Grand Cayman), so this is a nice bonus for us.

 

When you arrive on embarkation day, there is usually have a separate Haven area where Haven concierge check you in, there are snacks and drinks and more comfortable seating than in the rest of the terminal, and you get escorted up to the Haven with priority boarding, so you're some of the first people on the ship. You also get priority disembarkation. We left our suite and were in the shuttle back to our car in about 30 minutes (of course, customs and luggage carousels may slow you up). I saw the lines we bypassed, and they were pretty long.

 

Finally, there's the Haven restaurant. We ate at the buffet one time and one time only. It was so bad we actually went back up to the Haven and ate there. The food in the Haven was delicious! We literally had nothing that was just "meh" there.

 

I'm sure there's more I'm not thinking of, but the Haven is an opportunity to have access to exclusive (read: generally quiet) parts of the ship as well as to be treated like a VIP. Sure, you get the same ship, the same entertainment, and the same ports as everyone on board, but it removes the inconveniences of cruising on a large ship while also giving you a few very nice benefits.

[kenzie]

On 11/20/2023 at 6:33 PM, Scottycruzer said:

My wife and I are cruising on the Epic next year (early summer 2024) for our 24th wedding anniversary, and this will be our first (and probably only) Mediterranean Cruise. We've sailed with NCL 3 times previously, but just recently learned about their upgrade advantage program. We are booked in a Club Balcony Suite, but if we receive an upgrade offer would like to bid on a Haven Suite since we've never booked a Haven. Just curious if anyone else has done this.

Questions: 1) Is upgrading to Haven worth it... is the Haven suite that much better? 2) If we get an upgrade offer, does anyone know what the minimum bids are for the various Haven Suites and what the typical ballpark bid amounts NCL accepts for an upgrade from Club Balcony to Haven is? 3) typically, how close to the cruise date will NCL send out emails for upgrade offers? 

 

Thanks! ☺️

Upgrades to Haven were often granted in the last few years but haven seems to sell out now do upgrades not happening very often, haven is amazing - I just booked the last 2 cabins for 11 feb sailing on epic sailing 

[BirdTravels]

On 11/20/2023 at 6:28 PM, RocketMan275 said:

My point was when NCL extended me the opportunity to bid on an upgrade, it did not go through my TA. She had nothing to do with it.

And it has to do with the fact that your TA is offering you rates that are eligible for upgrade (i.e., she is paying "retail" price for the tickets (including her commission) and just reselling them). Whereas other big box stores are getting discounted rates and/or other perks which they pass on to their customers (e.g., additional onboard perks and cash back store cards). 

[RocketMan275]

2 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

And it has to do with the fact that your TA is offering you rates that are eligible for upgrade (i.e., she is paying "retail" price for the tickets (including her commission) and just reselling them). Whereas other big box stores are getting discounted rates and/or other perks which they pass on to their customers (e.g., additional onboard perks and cash back store cards). 

But my TA is giving me an 8% discount over the rates on the NCL website, and, OBTW, that's essentially the same discount offered by the big box store.  Since both are offering the same discounted rate, it is logical to  assume they are charged the same rates by the cruise line. 

I would point out that cash back store cards are also a discount. Plus my TA also gives additional perks such as paid DSC.

The reality is, the big box store, just doesn't want to be bothered with the upgrade process.

[cruiser2015]

14 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

But my TA is giving me an 8% discount over the rates on the NCL website, and, OBTW, that's essentially the same discount offered by the big box store.  Since both are offering the same discounted rate, it is logical to  assume they are charged the same rates by the cruise line. 

I would point out that cash back store cards are also a discount. Plus my TA also gives additional perks such as paid DSC.

The reality is, the big box store, just doesn't want to be bothered with the upgrade process.

My experience is similar to yours.

TA posts rates equal to NCL's, as required. No direct cash discount, but OBC, cash back cards and sometimes paid DSC. I am getting all three of these, valued at close to 17% around 16-17% for my CBS this January.

And, I received the upgrade advantage for suites.