Bidding on upgrades?

A friend of mine got a text from her DH today saying they were upgraded to an owner's suite on their upcoming cruise (NCL Dawn if it matters). They had a standard suite. Said he bid $200 each for this upgrade through his Travel Agent.

 

She told me her DH always "bids" to get any suites that are not sold as the cruise date gets close and that it doesn't matter which cruiseline it is.

 

I've never heard of this. Has anyone done this? Perhaps just on suites? (We just do balconies)

I would think you might want to post this on the NCL Cruise Line Board since you are asking about NCL.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=107

 

Keith

Definitely ask this on the NCL board.

Getting the Owner's Suite from a regular suite at that price seems a little odd.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2453189

Never heard of this either. And although NCL is referenced, the OP said that it was through a TA, which implies to me that it may be something related to a given TA v the cruise line. They also say through prior experiences of their friend, it is not cruise line specific. So if it can be done, I would think you would be able to do this through other cruise lines than NCL as well.

 

So as opposed to simply redirecting - which seems to be the most common first response with many of these questions - why not let others respond? I for one would like to hear other's responses here.

A friend of mine got a text from her DH today saying they were upgraded to an owner's suite on their upcoming cruise (NCL Dawn if it matters). They had a standard suite. Said he bid $200 each for this upgrade through his Travel Agent.

 

She told me her DH always "bids" to get any suites that are not sold as the cruise date gets close and that it doesn't matter which cruiseline it is.

 

I've never heard of this. Has anyone done this? Perhaps just on suites? (We just do balconies)

 

Thanks 6Rugrats for link. I was able to link from there to find this info which applies to NCL. Do not know if any other cruiselines do this bidding thing.

 

https://www.ncl.com/content/upgrade-advantage-terms

The bid for upgrades with NCL is a fairly new thing (within the last year)

 

If cabins are still open they send out emails to some and ask if they would like to bid on an upgrade. Not everyone will receive the offer and you can not call and ask to be sent the offer.

 

Every category of cabin has upgrades offers if there are cabins available. So if you book an inside cabin, you will be offered the chance to bid on oceanview, balcony and mini-suites most likely but not suites.

 

On our last cruise, we had a mini-suite booked. When our offer came in,, we had the chance to bid on every suite category even if the category was sold out. There is a starting bid and a max bid amount for each. We bid just slightly over the minimum and did not win our bids. That said, There were only a few suites available to book. So when bidding, look to see how many in the category you wish to bid on are available. If there are a bunch you may be able to get away with a low bid, if there are only a few, you may want to try a higher bid.

 

You may not know if your bid is accepted until 2 days before the cruise sails and once your bid is accepted, you can not change cabins or decline the offer. So you need to be happy with what ever cabin they assign you

The bid for upgrades with NCL is a fairly new thing (within the last year)

 

If cabins are still open they send out emails to some and ask if they would like to bid on an upgrade. Not everyone will receive the offer and you can not call and ask to be sent the offer.

 

Every category of cabin has upgrades offers if there are cabins available. So if you book an inside cabin, you will be offered the chance to bid on oceanview, balcony and mini-suites most likely but not suites.

 

On our last cruise, we had a mini-suite booked. When our offer came in,, we had the chance to bid on every suite category even if the category was sold out. There is a starting bid and a max bid amount for each. We bid just slightly over the minimum and did not win our bids. That said, There were only a few suites available to book. So when bidding, look to see how many in the category you wish to bid on are available. If there are a bunch you may be able to get away with a low bid, if there are only a few, you may want to try a higher bid.

 

You may not know if your bid is accepted until 2 days before the cruise sails and once your bid is accepted, you can not change cabins or decline the offer. So you need to be happy with what ever cabin they assign you

 

I've been searching the forums for an answer to my question. I received a bidding upgrade email today for my 2/17/18 sailing. We are booked in a suite and all suite categories are listed for bidding. However, I have noted for quite some time that all suites are sold out for this sailing. Just thought that was odd.

I've been searching the forums for an answer to my question. I received a bidding upgrade email today for my 2/17/18 sailing. We are booked in a suite and all suite categories are listed for bidding. However, I have noted for quite some time that all suites are sold out for this sailing. Just thought that was odd.

 

Might be some people have rescheduled or canceled in order to retrieve their deposit ahead of the 90 day limit.

I've been searching the forums for an answer to my question. I received a bidding upgrade email today for my 2/17/18 sailing. We are booked in a suite and all suite categories are listed for bidding. However, I have noted for quite some time that all suites are sold out for this sailing. Just thought that was odd.

I think they do that in case there is a last minute cancellation. There was a post a couple months ago from a women who's bids had been turned rejected. She went on to her embarkation port city the day before and got a phone call from NCL saying they had a last minute cancellation and did she want the suite. So guess you just never know

 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

The bid for upgrades with NCL is a fairly new thing (within the last year)

 

If cabins are still open they send out emails to some and ask if they would like to bid on an upgrade. Not everyone will receive the offer and you can not call and ask to be sent the offer.

 

Every category of cabin has upgrades offers if there are cabins available. So if you book an inside cabin, you will be offered the chance to bid on oceanview, balcony and mini-suites most likely but not suites.

 

On our last cruise, we had a mini-suite booked. When our offer came in,, we had the chance to bid on every suite category even if the category was sold out. There is a starting bid and a max bid amount for each. We bid just slightly over the minimum and did not win our bids. That said, There were only a few suites available to book. So when bidding, look to see how many in the category you wish to bid on are available. If there are a bunch you may be able to get away with a low bid, if there are only a few, you may want to try a higher bid.

 

You may not know if your bid is accepted until 2 days before the cruise sails and once your bid is accepted, you can not change cabins or decline the offer. So you need to be happy with what ever cabin they assign you

 

Thanks for this update. Sounds like something, at least at this point,specific to NCL. My guess is - as seems to be the process with the cruise industry - other cruise lines will monitor the results with this and if desirable, eventually adopt the program to their lines. RCI, in particular IMO, seems to mimic NCL's operation. :rolleyes: