PrincessEsq

Anyone know what type of furniture they have for the large balcony on Encore? Two chairs and a table? Loungers? I would love to be able to avoid going to the pool and just lounge on my balcony during our spring break cruise in March. 

There are board games in the Bliss Haven. My family and I were just on the Bliss from December 13th to 20th. 

Thanks for the feedback! I was able to book the Hyatt Centric for $134!!

Cruising out of Miami. We usually stay in FLL but I wanted to try something new this time. The below hotels are recommended a lot on this board (we don’t need a free shuttle or breakfast but want a clean, nice hotel within walking distance of restaurants). We’re traveling July 2019 (one night pre-cruise). For the prices I’ve found below I’d love feedback on what hotel most people would prefer:

Intercontinental - $300

JW Marriott - $190 (prepay)

Marriott Marquis - $280

Hyatt Centric - $190 (prepay)

Hampton Brickell - $270 (flexible)

I’m new to Disney and still trying to figure out the cabin categories. I plan to book on Fantasy and it appears the aft balconies are 5E. They’re available on decks 6-9 for the same price so I’m trying to decide what’s the best cabin (6910, 7194, 8684, 9174 or 9674).

Arthur - thanks for posting the ship deck plans. It’s extremely helpful. I am looking at aft balconies that are 5E. They are on decks 6-9 and all the same price. I’m trying to figure out what’s the best balcony.

I was on the Bliss in December. Here are all of the Kids' Club schedules. All of the ships have somewhat similar schedule of activities. My five year old niece loves it but she has been cruising since she was three and is an only child. She is in kindergarten so she likes making new friends.

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From Dec 15-22 on NCL Bliss. Before we went I was looking for them and could not find them so I wanted to help out everyone else searching for them. Theses are all of them from Guppies (6 months to 3 years) through Entourage (teenagers).

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This is a summary of my sister’s winning bid

Bliss

December 15-22

Original booking

Balcony guarantee $2200 for cabin 

Assigned BA in October

Bid range

H5 $400-$2000

H9 $400-$2000

H7 $400-$2000

Bid H5 $1170 pp

Denied 48 hours before cruise 

NCL called 24 hours later and said that an H5 had become available and asked if still interested in the Haven

Total paid $4540 

Awesome savings because the cruise has been showing sold out for weeks. Back when we booked in October the H5 was $6500

Cruising on the Bliss tomorrow! Booked balcony guarantee and received a BA. My sister and mom are also traveling in BA and bid on all Haven categories. Their bids were denied yesterday. Today, they got a call from NCL asking if they were still interested in the upgrade. There was a last minute cancellation so they’ll be in a haven courtyard. I’ll update with the bid amounts.

44 minutes ago, 3kidsncats said:

Just got our upgrade notice today --in the second round of upgrades to the Haven (first was 11 days out, and ours today, at 9 days out) for the 12/9 Escape sailing. Before the first round, there were 50 Haven cabins available.  Lots of people in a social media group for the sailing were upgraded in the first round -- seems to have been balcony cabins from the upper price range -- afts, large balconies, as well as from mini-suites.  We decided to up our bids on several Haven categories.  Today we got the notice of upgrade  from our BF balcony to a 2bdrm Haven for $1260 pp.  Was a larger bid than we planned originally, but only about $150 pp more than others we know who went from B4 to an aft Haven same sailing, without paying the extra for the balcony cabin we started with.    WAs also just a bit less overall, than we paid for a 5 day cruise in an OS on another line.  So we are really happy with the deal and can't wait to embark!

That’s exactly what we bid last year for our Breakaway upgrade our of NYC. We were surprised to get the Haven two bedroom. Our first Haven experience was in 2016 in a courtyard suite and it was amazing.

4 minutes ago, weloverunning said:

I've read 100s of responses but need a quick answer please.

We booked a cruise on Friday for 12/5.  Today I received 4 upgrade offers.  If I bid on all four, how do they decide which one to offer me?  I don't want to accept the balcony if they are going to approve my mini suite or spa balcony? Thanks for any input.

Quick quick answer - only bid a category that you’d actually want to take. Anything you bid on is fair game and once NCL accepts you can’t change your mind. 

We’re cruising December 2018 and I’ve already started planning for our December 2019 cruise! I’ve seen some good Haven deals for 2019 and am trying to decide whether to book now or wait until we’re onboard for our upcoming cruise to book for 2019. I already have some CruiseNext certificates but am trying to figure out if there are benefits to waiting to book onboard. 

The VAST majority of bids on a sailing are processed all at once.There is speculation that for some categories on some sailings, there is an "auto-accept threshold" of some sort where if your bid is high enough, it will get automatically accepted within 24 hours of placing it. But typically speaking, raising your bid will not speed up acceptance. It will be processed at the same time as all the others on the sailing.

Now that I've booked the Bliss, thanks in large part to your feedback, it's time for me to bid on upgrades to Haven or Minisuite. We're within 80 days of sailing and I got the upgrade notice today! Probably wont bid on minisuite because I'm pretty happy with my balcony location. Now, I have to review the 49 pages of this thread for tips!

If you like the Escape, I think you will like the Bliss. They are very similar, but many would say the Bliss is an improvement with the addition of the Observation Lounge, Go Kart Track, and Lasertag, as well as better entertainment options. What you "lose" on the Bliss is Picho Tappas Bar, Bayamo, Moderno, the sport court, and it has a slightly smaller thermal spa. One thing to note is that the spa has been moved to the aft of the ship, so it it further away from the Haven. The Garden Cafe is at the front of the ship on the Bliss.

 

The Epic doesn't appeal to me AT ALL, because of the bathroom layout. I know some people are fine with it, but I just can't get used to it. Also, there are less water views from interior spaces, and everything feels more "enclosed" to me.

Thanks for all be helpful feedback. We booked the Bliss! Once I showed my mother the bathroom layout on Epic the decision was made for us! LOL!

I can't imagine the Bliss is getting more mixed reviews than the Epic! The Epic is definitely a LOVE it or HATE it kind of ship. How did you like the Escape? What did you like about it and what did you dislike about it?

We loved the Escape. We cruised Escape right after NCL switched to the new bidding system so we ended up winning a bid from balcony to a Haven Courtyard. I thought Escape was a great ship. Everything from the crew to activities.

My family and I are debating whether to take a last minute Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Bliss or Epic. The sailaway balconies are about the same price but I’m torn. I’d love the Bliss because it’s a new ship but it seems to get mixed reviews on these boards. My last two cruises were on the Escape and Breakaway.

I haven't done extensive research on the bidding process but it seems that what's considered a "poor" bid depends on how much initially paid, any freebies and the particular sailing. A few weeks back I saw that two different posters mentioned that their minimum bids required for the same sailing were much different. So, I assume that a $1500 bid that is still "poor" may reflect that the poster got a good deal for the initial booking.

But this is all conjecture! Who knows how it truly works!!

That is awesome, I’m waiting on my january bId for an h4 as well. Did you pay attention to the ratio, or number of h4’s booked, and how many total h4s there are during the process? Any experience you had with bidding is very helpful ( I’ve very actively watched this thread and made a nice bid, looking specifically for h4 answers!! Tyia, happy cruising

 

 

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There were no forward or aft Havens available for new bookings. That made sense to me since there are few rooms in those categories. There seemed to always be H4's available when I did mock bookings. Seemed to consistently range between 1 and 5 available. So, I assumed that there was a possibility that I could get an upgrade. Candidly, I assumed that someone from a forward would bid into an H4 and we would win the forward.

We placed bids and then increased/decreased once a week. We were at $1250 for the H4 and then moved up to $1260 and it was accepted 24 hours later. Surprised that it was accepted more than 30 days out. All of our bids were in the Poor range.

Happy to help!

Booked on Breakaway 12/15 sailing. Party of 4. Booked in large balcony mini-suite with 3/4 passenger free so the total was around $2500.

Minimum bids were $400 (forward Haven), $750 (aft Haven) and $1000 (2 bedroom Haven). Couldn't bid on courtyard due to party size.

Made Poor bids in each of those categories.

Winning bid H4 2 bedroom - $1260 (total price is about $2000 less than a new booking).

This thread is amazing! I knew very little about the Upsell process until I started reading up here. My sister and I were traveling with my three year old. Our original booking was a BD balcony on Escape. We were able to Upsell to an H5 courtyard in the Haven for an additional $300 per person (for the first two passengers). When we booked there was only the free third passenger and $50 credit per port and two speciality restaurants included. We got to keep those perks but didn't have the other Haven perks like UDP, UBP. Just being in the Haven was AMAZING!

My sister and I just got off the NCL Escape after booking a last minute Upsell to the Haven! We cruised with my three year old daughter. The Haven was wonderful! After reading this thread I was nervous about booking the Haven but it was great!! There was a mixture of families traveling with small and school aged children, couples and senior citizens. We didn't experience any of the outrageous behavior mentioned in earlier posts.