NCL Upgrade ?s

[nordicacres]

I have the opportunity to bid for upgraded rooms on my AK cruise in 99 days. 
 

Balcony Stateroom ($75 - $400 pp)

Club Balcony Suite ($100 - $600 pp)

 

What would be considered a good bid? There are currently approximately 15 balcony rooms still open on the ship (cost to upgrade outright would be around $3K), and the Club Balcony Suites are sold out. We are booked in a sold out GTY oceanview picture window. Balconies were not available when we booked. Is there a timeframe NCL typically assigns rooms and accepts/denies bids? Thanks!

[Ozzieru1e]

A bid amount depends on how much you want an upgraded balcony cabin.  Bid a comfortable amount.  Keep in mind your bid amount will be doubled…it is based on two guests occupying the cabin.  If you bid the max of $400 it will cost you $800 for the upgrade but it will increase your chance of winning your upgrade.  Club Balcony Suites may be sold out now but that can change…cancellations can occur or cabins can become available due to upgrades to suites/Haven suites.  Also watch for price drops because sometimes it is cheaper/less stresssful to outright pay for an upgrade then go through the bidding process…this way you get to select your cabin rather than have the cabin selected for you.  Good luck with your choice.

[Wayward Son]

Sounds like your ship is close to a sell out. Consider how many Inside and Oceanviews are going to be bidding on your remaining balconies (which won't remain unsold over the next 99 days).

 

Bid as much as you can, but even at max, your odds are probably just above zero.

 

[ChiefMateJRK]

1 hour ago, Wayward Son said:

your odds are probably just above zero

Bingo.  It's meaningless at this point if the poster's numbers are accurate.  I've played upgrade bingo many times, and only been a winner three times.  But, unlike NCL's games, it is free and nobody loses.

[mscdivina2016]

8 hours ago, Wayward Son said:

even at max, your odds are probably just above zero.

 

I would put it at zero since you have a GTY 

 Everyone who paid more than a GTY is already ahead of you.

It's all about revenue so even if you bid $400 per, those in an OA only need to bid $200 or less per and they have you beat.

[njkate]

With ships sailing at or near capacity anymore upgrades are few and far between!

I put in a bid for a club balcony from a balcony on Jade sailing in June, I sincerely doubt I’ll win it

[Laszlo]

11 hours ago, nordicacres said:

I have the opportunity to bid for upgraded rooms on my AK cruise in 99 days. 
 

Balcony Stateroom ($75 - $400 pp)

Club Balcony Suite ($100 - $600 pp)

 

What would be considered a good bid? There are currently approximately 15 balcony rooms still open on the ship (cost to upgrade outright would be around $3K), and the Club Balcony Suites are sold out. We are booked in a sold out GTY oceanview picture window. Balconies were not available when we booked. Is there a timeframe NCL typically assigns rooms and accepts/denies bids? Thanks!

Your ship will be sold out. If you really want a balcony cabin I would either get it now if you can or plan to bid the maximum amount. Keep in mind a lot of time the max bid is more than what you could have paid for the a cabin if you just booked it outright

[nordicacres]

Thanks for the input! Balconies are currently listed for approximately $6300.00 for our sailing dates so I’m not going to upgrade outright. It just isn’t worth $3K to me. I could book another cruise for that cost! 😁

[Laszlo]

11 minutes ago, nordicacres said:

Thanks for the input! Balconies are currently listed for approximately $6300.00 for our sailing dates so I’m not going to upgrade outright. It just isn’t worth $3K to me. I could book another cruise for that cost! 😁

Wow, in 2018 we paid for $3500 for a balcony on the Jewel 7 day to Alaska out of Seattle 

[nordicacres]

Yes, I thought that was high also! We are sailing 6/24/24 Vancouver to Seattle. 

[MeHeartCruising]

6 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

I would put it at zero since you have a GTY 

 Everyone who paid more than a GTY is already ahead of you.

It's all about revenue so even if you bid $400 per, those in an OA only need to bid $200 or less per and they have you beat.

 

I don't follow your logic.  I would say it's all about ADDITIONAL revenue.  They already have the booking money from the person with the current GTY and the OA.  That's not going to change.  Wouldn't they rather have $400 more from anyone (even the person in the GTY) than $200 more from anyone else?

 

What am I not understanding?

Edited March 18 by MeHeartCruising

[julig22]

31 minutes ago, MeHeartCruising said:

 

I don't follow your logic.  I would say it's all about ADDITIONAL revenue.  They already have the booking money from the person with the current GTY and the OA.  That's not going to change.  Wouldn't they rather have $400 more from anyone (even the person in the GTY) than $200 more from anyone else?

 

What am I not understanding?

You are understanding just fine IMHO. There is no logic in thinking that the price someone paid for a similar cabin would have any effect in the bid process. 

 

In the past, there have been instances of early upgrades when a category was sold out because they wanted the cabin for resale but I think those days are long gone, as ships are sailing at capacity. Otherwise, higher bid gets them the most money, regardless of what you originally paid.

[mscdivina2016]

1 hour ago, julig22 said:

You are understanding just fine IMHO. There is no logic in thinking that the price someone paid for a similar cabin would have any effect in the bid process. 

 

In the past, there have been instances of early upgrades when a category was sold out because they wanted the cabin for resale but I think those days are long gone, as ships are sailing at capacity. Otherwise, higher bid gets them the most money, regardless of what you originally paid.

I sincerely doubt that.  Makes no financial sense and I have multiple examples as proof.

 

I posted a thread quite some time ago asking if anyone who uses points to upgrade ever won a bid.

 Only one person said they did but couldn't remember where, when or what ship.

 

When I sailed non Haven I always double upgraded from inside to balcony.

 I also would do the booking for friends because they are computer illiterate. This scenario has happened 3 times 

They pay for a balcony and I use points to get into a balcony. Always a BA.

 We all bid for haven and I bid max and they have me  bid half of what I bid .

 They win the Haven and I didn't.

 I probably have put in 100+ bids and never won. Many max bids.

 Only time I did win was when the bidding went live and that was for a 21 night repo on the Encore and that was stupid bidding. 

 I am actually on the Encore right now.

 

 

[mscdivina2016]

2 hours ago, MeHeartCruising said:

 

I don't follow your logic.  I would say it's all about ADDITIONAL revenue.  They already have the booking money from the person with the current GTY and the OA.  That's not going to change.  Wouldn't they rather have $400 more from anyone (even the person in the GTY) than $200 more from anyone else?

 

What am I not understanding?

 

Let's say the inside was $500 a person and OV is $700.

Inside bids $200 person.

OV bids $100.

Who wins? OV because total out of pocket is $1600

Insides total out of pocket would only have been $1400 if they won.

 

Also they can sell OV cabin for more than an inside.

[Distinctive-Destinations]

21 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

 

Let's say the inside was $500 a person and OV is $700.

Inside bids $200 person.

OV bids $100.

Who wins? OV because total out of pocket is $1600

Insides total out of pocket would only have been $1400 if they won.

 

Also they can sell OV cabin for more than an inside.

You’ve lost me. Let’s figure a cabin as two people, I’d imagine that’s the bulk.

In your example they have already sold an inside cabin (500x2=1000) and an OV (700x2=1400). That’s $2400 total they have made in revenue (unless someone cancels which is a different story).

 

So: $2400 for those two cabins in hand, then the bidding begins. If they upsell the inside for 200 per person in your example that is now a total of $2800 for those two couples. On the other hand, if the OV upgrades for 100pp ($200) that makes 2400+200 = $2600.

 

Why would they not prefer  $2800 in revenue exactly??? Your example says they’re better off with $2600? Or am I reading that wrong somehow??

Edited March 18 by Distinctive-Destinations

[Wayward Son]

27 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Who wins? OV because total out of pocket is $1600

Insides total out of pocket would only have been $1400 if they won.

 

This makes absolutely no sense, neither business sense nor common sense.

 

Of course NCL is going to take a $200 bid vs. a $100 bid. Your "proof" notwithstanding.

 

[nordicacres]

I would imagine that if an inside bid $100 and an OV bid $100, regardless of what the original fare, they would upgrade the OV? Because then they have the option of upgrading someone else into the open OV room? 

[julig22]

32 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

 

Let's say the inside was $500 a person and OV is $700.

Inside bids $200 person.

OV bids $100.

Who wins? OV because total out of pocket is $1600

Insides total out of pocket would only have been $1400 if they won.

 

Also they can sell OV cabin for more than an inside.

In a situation where they think they can resell the OV, then it would make sense for the lower bid to win - but that's not the usual situation these days with ships sailing full. In your example, OV would also possibly win, since they can then upgrade an inside to the vacated OV.

Otherwise, the higher bid would win. But not because of how much is out of pocket - that makes no sense, since they already have what you paid.

If your BA room only held 3 and your friends rooms held 4 for example, that could easily explain why their lower bid could have been chosen over yours. Same # of passengers in each room? That also makes a difference.

I stand by my statements - bidding is to get MORE money, over and above what's already been paid. But that also doesn't mean the highest bid will win either. So we agree to disagree.

[mscdivina2016]

46 minutes ago, Distinctive-Destinations said:

You’ve lost me. Let’s figure a cabin as two people, I’d imagine that’s the bulk.

In your example they have already sold an inside cabin (500x2=1000) and an OV (700x2=1400). That’s $2400 total they have made in revenue (unless someone cancels which is a different story).

 

So: $2400 for those two cabins in hand, then the bidding begins. If they upsell the inside for 200 per person in your example that is now a total of $2800 for those two couples. On the other hand, if the OV upgrades for 100pp ($200) that makes 2400+200 = $2600.

 

Why would they not prefer  $2800 in revenue exactly??? Your example says they’re better off with $2600? Or am I reading that wrong somehow??

So what's the better resale now? $1000 revenue on inside or $1400 for OV?

 

But the bidding has always been a mystery.  No real answers only speculation. I only know from what I have experienced. If it's not about maximum revenue than what?

[Wayward Son]

5 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

So what's the better resale now? $1000 revenue on inside or $1400 for OV?

 

No one is arguing that point. We're talking about your non-sensical original "out of pocket" theory.

 

 

Edited March 18 by Wayward Son

[Distinctive-Destinations]

7 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

So what's the better resale now? $1000 revenue on inside or $1400 for OV?

 

But the bidding has always been a mystery.  No real answers only speculation. I only know from what I have experienced. If it's not about maximum revenue than what?

Resale value? By the time upgrades are issued, very few (if any) rooms will be sold. 

 

The “resale value” of any unsold room is zero. They’d much rather have an empty cheap inside room, if any are still available.

[JandC_Cruising]

38 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

If it's not about maximum revenue than what

It is about maximum "NEW" revenue stream!   

There are thousands of variables in their "mysterious" algorithm.  However, the original cabin fare is not a factor...nothing is changing that original payment, so factoring that into the algorithm makes zero financial sense.

 

If two customers are bidding on a balcony and there is only one to give, then the higher bid will win regardless of the original price each paid for their original cabin.

Here are two examples

Customer A: "Inside" and is bidding 150pp on a Balcony

Customer B: "Oceanview" and is bidding 100pp on a Balcony

Customer A Wins!!!!  NCL is getting $300 additional in revenue.  (vs. $200 additional if B wins)

That is the NEW REVENUE regardless of what these two customer's originally paid for their cabin.

 

 

But, if you add one more customer to the mix:

Customer A is in an "Inside" and is bidding 200pp on a Balcony

Customer B is in an "Oceanview" and is bidding 100pp on a Balcony

Customer C is in an "inside" and is bidding $100 for an Oceanview

Well now here is what happens:

Customer B is awarded the Balcony (+200)

Customer C is awarded the Oceanview (+200)

NCL Nets an extra $400 total by upgrading B&C and leaving A in their inside even though they bid higher.

 

What any of those customers already paid for their original cabin is meaningless.

 

The PlusGrade algorithm is daisy-chaining upgrades to figure out the largest new revenue stream for NCL.

Edited March 18 by JandC_Cruising

[Distinctive-Destinations]

14 minutes ago, JandC_Cruising said:

What any of those customers already paid for their original cabin is meaningless.

This is the key to it. This is a two step process. 
 

The rooms are booked. That’s step #1.

 

Anything after that is additional revenue. Obviously they are going to maximize that with last minute “upgrades” to whoever nets them the most. No one has to bid. That’s step #2.

[bkrickles1]

On 3/17/2024 at 9:50 PM, nordicacres said:

I have the opportunity to bid for upgraded rooms on my AK cruise in 99 days. 
 

Balcony Stateroom ($75 - $400 pp)

Club Balcony Suite ($100 - $600 pp)

 

What would be considered a good bid? There are currently approximately 15 balcony rooms still open on the ship (cost to upgrade outright would be around $3K), and the Club Balcony Suites are sold out. We are booked in a sold out GTY oceanview picture window. Balconies were not available when we booked. Is there a timeframe NCL typically assigns rooms and accepts/denies bids? Thanks!

It's really very difficult to know what to do, but I think first and foremost, you have to book a cabin that you can live with.

Then, throw a bid in that's comfortable and hope it happens.

I bid this past July for a sailing on Joy out of NYC.

I had booked an inside for my wife and I and when the opportunity to bid came around, I bid on a balcony and a cbs. 

I won the cbs with a $130pp bid, which was $5 over the minimum. 

Obviously thrilled with that result! And, we were notified about the win 46 days prior to sailing.

We've been vacationing more than usual the last couple of years (probably making up for the pandemic blues), so we once again booked an inside cabin for our upcoming Getaway sailing in 31 days.

I've bid on a balcony and cbs again and we'll see what happens.

I did go to the website this morning and ran some mock bookings and there's still approximately 85 balcony cabins available and 35 cbs cabins, so maybe we get lucky again.

The price to do a regular upgrade is pretty darn high, so this is the option we chose.