mwolever

I have noticed the same thing. I'll admit that it is surprising on any line to see this much "sold out." Does it translate to "over crowded?". I sure hope not. 

3 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

My suspicion is that Princess were trying to "encourage" us to bid higher but we weren't prepared to do that. Also I'd seen some chat online when the upgrades were announced for the world cruise and the consensus was it was too expensive so I had a gut feeling we may not have had too much competition for that upgrade. Plus I knew of someone else who had received the "outbid" email and who did nothing and still got their upgrade. So we hung in there and were lucky. 😊

 

There was only one mini-suite still available around that time but, oddly enough, that wasn't the one we got. We ended up in a better location which suits us perfectly. It really will make our world cruise even more special.

So happy for you and thanks for sharing your experience! Have fun!

Questions about the "you have been outbid"

I have not seen this before, except on CC, and it threw me for a loop. I bid from a Balcony to a Premium Suite, although I didn't hold much hope because that category has not been showing as available for a month and only 1 Vista Suite has been showing, so I assumed bidders in higher categories had no place to go. 

I played the bidding game for a few minutes and eventually gave up, realizing that I may be bidding against no one for a category that wont even be available. 

However, I saw on here what I THINK was someone saying that after they received a "you have been outbid" notice they did not do anything, and miraculously their original bid WAS eventually accepted?? What voodoo is this??  

On 1/20/2023 at 9:36 AM, Morgsmom said:

Would you mind letting us know what your bids were?

 

Sure! We bid 1550 (pp) on one and 1650 (pp)on the other. Obviously a pretty penny. Upgraded from balcony to YC balcony suites (Divina only has exterior rooms in YC)

We also bid 200 (pp) for an upgrade from YC Deluxe Suite to Deluxe Grand, which was also accepted.

We are broke but happy!

8 hours ago, MrProtractor said:

So, I have a cruise next week on the Seascape for a 7-day cruise. I originally booked my cruise in Oct 2022 and booked a balcony room (free upgrade), with the Fantastica experience and $200 OBC. Note, I am a solo traveler. I paid $805 total. I am not a big drinker and did not get a drink package.

 

I got an offer to bid on an upgrade last week. I place a max bid ($1000) for a Yacht Club interior room. It seemed like a good deal (I am new to cruising, only my 2nd cruise, first cruise was last year on the Carnival Elation). I am not picky and had a blast on that cruise. Yesterday I found out that my bid was accepted, but I was double upgraded to a Yacht Club Deluxe Suite. 

 

I am extremely excited and looking forward to the cruise. I feel that I got a great deal. A Yacht Club Deluxe Suite for $1800 on a 7-day cruise. 

That is a fantastic deal! SO excited for you!

I did get all 3 upgrades this morning on our Jan 27th sailing. While I did not get a steal like you 🙂 it was cheaper than booking YC outright. I just don't think it's worth the stress. I'll book YC in the future!

Have fun!

I've been playing the adjustment game too. When we sailed in March, we put in a YC bid about 10 days before sailing at minimum and it was accepted immediately, so I think I was spoiled by that experience 🙂

Now I am hoping and waiting and sweating because the boats are MUCH FULLER.

Thanks!

Hi All,

I know this is an ever-evolving process. We are currently 9 days out from our cruise and I have submitted upgrade bids on 3 different cabins for our family.

I'm hoping for some recent experiences with upgrades being accepted and when folks were notified.

I'm also worried because I have seen horror stories of people having their bid accepted and being charged and then they are assigned their initial cabin when boarding. 

TIA for any info!

Hello,

Curious about people's success with paying attention to "offer strength"? To me, it should tell me my offer vs others but I'm not sure if that is true. Any thoughts?

Thank you so much, very helpful!

Can anyone post recent daily planners? Anything will help give me a rough idea of offered activities daily.

If any are from Divina, huge plus!! TIA!!!

We last cruised in March 2022. It was below a 40% capacity on the Divina and it was FAAAAABULOUUSSS.

I know this cannot continue, and with the lifting of COVID vax requirements I'm assuming numbers overall are rising. What are people seeing? Packed boat? Still seem low bookings?

5 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

Just finished receiving all of our rejection emails. We were booked in a BA on the 2/2 sailing of the Bliss. We were really happy with our original room, because it's one of the angled balconies, so we weren't willing to bid too high on the spa baclony or mini-suites because winning those would mean losing the larger balcony. All categories we bid on were showing sold out for a while now. We bumped up the Spa Haven bid by a crazy amount last week just to see what would happen, but it was still rejected:

 

H5 - min $400 - bid $430 - bottom of poor
H9 - min $400 - bid $1200 - bottom of good
M9 - min $100 - bid $130 - middle of poor
B9 - min $75 - bid $90 - low end of poor

Sorry that none were accepted JamieLogical! It sounds like you still have a great cabin, so have a lot of fun this weekend!

14 minutes ago, Bitten10 said:

NOOOO!  I was rooting for you!

 

now you're making me wonder if I should bump up my offers...

I don't know how long it takes to send out the emails and change the bid status, but I will admit that I'm going to be very surprised and disappointed if neither of my bids were accepted. There were so many still available today and I have pretty high bids, so this would be a bummer. Thank you for your emotional support! 🙂 I hope much better luck for you!

It looks like they are finally making strides on the Feb 3rd Getaway sailing. All mini suites and most balconies just immediately switched to "sold out." Anyone received their happy emails?

2 minutes ago, Kmkub said:

I bid for us to go from a balcony to a mini-suite. I bid in the "poor," range, just to see what happened. I'm not worried if it doesn't happen. I was just curious to see.

 

No word, yet. We sail tomorrow. We're perfectly happy in a balcony.

You haven't heard ANYTHING? I thought they had to send out rejections at least 48 hours before sail? So approve or deny you should have heard. I would call if no word at all. Or check the actual bid page, the status may be listed.

2 hours ago, TMG2014 said:

Congratulations. I am still waiting to hear. Noticed they opened up some balconies and stuff yesterday. Tempted to just direct upgrade to the haven instead of this waiting.

Agreed, this process is stressful! And please no one get preachy about I should have booked outright if I wanted my upgrade that much; this process evolves for sure. Next time I will do it differently!

37 minutes ago, Bitten10 said:

Jamie?  Mwolever? Have you guys heard back yet?  I'm at the edge of my seat here!

Nothing yet 🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁

3 minutes ago, newmexicoNita said:

I believe the Malbec is still the same one we are used to on NCL and it is not crap; maybe not the top of the line, but certainly drinkable. 

Thank you! I’ll try it. 🙂

Hi all,

This is a very hot topic for me, but while I like mixed drinks and am not happy about liquor changes, the biggest issue for me is the wine that is now covered under the UBP. All absolutely crap wines are kept on the list, and there is a HUGE discrepency between those and the next offered glass up 20-21$ per glass. That is so strategically screwing anyone who wanted to just have a decent glass of wine that was between 10-15$ prior. And all wines have been affected, so even if I'd like to try other types, the issue is the same across the board. This brings home the real problem: I book NCL because the UBP makes their slightly-higher prices and party atmosphere worth it for me. This change really affects that value. 

2 minutes ago, CRG7 said:

Considering bidding on an upgrade from a balcony but not looking to spend on Haven since I'm not certain what all is included other than private areas and obviously larger rooms.

 

Debating bidding low on a mini suite and a spa suite. Would any of these have the Privasea balconies? Are there concerns about any of these room types other than potential noise (I use a white noise machine so I'm not sure we would be affected by an average amount of noise)? I doubt we would get the upgrade if I do bid but would like to be aware of any cons (and pros).

There are other benefits that may be of value to you in Haven. Private pool, bar, restaurant, etc. and that of course means less crowding. Also, I believe there is personal butler service in some or all? Also priority boarding and waiting area. I've never thought it worth the ticket price, but understand it is very luxurious.

THE mini suite has been worth bidding on for me in the past. I like the bigger bathroom and shower. I REALLY like the bigger bathroom and shower! I've never done the spa, and so wonder how much I would use it, but have been tempted to bid on that also!

10 minutes ago, TMG2014 said:

The torture of waiting especially for a person (me) who has little to no patience is excruciating. I now wish I had just paid for what I wanted out right. FYI I tried to do just that when they lowered the price and was told it was for new reservations only. I find it a little crazy not to have allowed a upgrade at a lower advertised price. Of course now I am bidding. I will be happy in the cabin I originally purchased but I would love to have just upgraded out right. Hopefully they will start handing out the upgrades soon we are nine days away from sailing.

Good luck! 

1 minute ago, Bitten10 said:

Thanks mwolover and Jamie for keeping us updated.  I'm at the 11 day mark, and am waiting and rooting for both of you, knowing I'll follow your process maybe a week after.  The waiting has gotten so bad, that I have dreams about this upgrade process now- then wake up and check my phone to make sure that it was all a dream! 

OMG me too HAHAHA my husband is scared of and for me

Just now, JamieLogical said:

 

How far back in the past? I've been pretty closely monitoring this thread and it's predecessor for about a year now and the trend seems to be upgrades processed 3-7 days out. Exceptions to that rule of thumb seem to be when prices drop significantly further out from sailing, when the ship is just about sold out, or when individuals place very high bids.

I trust you. My last NCL was December 2017, and that was my 3rd bidding experience. I've only been following the process for about 2 months now on this thread and my roll call, and I was expecting more around the 7-10 mark this time because it is undersold. If you think this is pretty normal, I believe you! This is new to me; in the past I've been upgraded farther out if things are available, and if not it's more of a last-minute waiting game to see how things shake out. But I've had more time to prepare and know what to expect (even if that's "I'm probably not gonna get it"), this time I'm like a deer in the headlights 

I'm now somewhat suspicious that they changed the upgrade process when they made other changes on or around 1/12. More ways to save money... hold out on upgrades until the last possible second...

In the past I've seen upgrades go out more around the 10-15 day mark, if there are a lot of cabins left. 

23 hours ago, vicnsue said:

My wife and I are taking a TA in April, our first NCL cruise in nine years. Many other cruises , just not NCL. 

I was just coming to terms with Pepsi not Coke, Jack and Pepsi is nasty, now this money grab. We thought we could live with the price increase, not happy but we think we can make it work.

 Until we started thinking about wine with dinner, if we can’t get a decent wine without paying the up charge I am confident this will be our last NCL cruise.

Agreed!