What was your upgrade offer and what did you bid

[Named-Tawny]

I'm 73 days out from my cruise on the Escape and I have not received an offer to bid. Pretty sure I read people have been receiving offers at 80 days? I am in Canada and booked through a travel agent so maybe that is why I haven't received an offer?

 

Check your spam folder; that's where mine was.

[tropical83]

Check your spam folder; that's where mine was.

 

Thanks, nothing there!

[EmeraldCoastCruisers]

I've only sailed NCL once prior, but never received an opportunity to bid on any upgrades. Could this be because I use a travel agent?

 

 

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[FredZiffle]

I've only sailed NCL once prior, but never received an opportunity to bid on any upgrades. Could this be because I use a travel agent?

 

 

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NCL just rolled out the bidding process last year on a few ships as a Beta test. They are implementing it fleetwide in 2017. Which brings me to my question: Does anyone know (or is there a list somewhere on this board) which ships are participating at present? I keep seeing the same Breakaway class ships posted in this thread. Have any of the Jewel class made the switch to the upgrade bidding?

[nealjr]

I've only sailed NCL once prior, but never received an opportunity to bid on any upgrades. Could this be because I use a travel agent?

 

 

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If your T/A participates in the bidding program you should you need to check with them to be sure.

[tonit964]

Normally NCL response back to the bidder the week prior to leaving if your bid has been accepted. The bid "ribbon" will stay up until that time given you the opportunity to either reduce, increase or cancel your bid.

 

Thank you! :)

[BirdTravels]

I'm 73 days out from my cruise on the Escape and I have not received an offer to bid. Pretty sure I read people have been receiving offers at 80 days? I am in Canada and booked through a travel agent so maybe that is why I haven't received an offer?

You don't get emails any longer you get a big banner when you log on to you MyNCL account.

[BirdTravels]

I've only sailed NCL once prior, but never received an opportunity to bid on any upgrades. Could this be because I use a travel agent?

 

Prior to the automated system, you had to call the upsell department and request an upgrade.

[BirdTravels]

I just got my upgrade offer. We aren't sure if we will bid or not as we have a B1 on deck 9 so it won't be heartbreaking if we don't get it.

 

Can anyone please tell me how long the offer to bid is available? I feel like I have to rush to put in a bid but I think I have a couple of days at least before it disappears.

 

Our experience is that as you get closer to cruise date, the number of classes you can bid on decrease as the ship fills.

[tropical83]

You don't get emails any longer you get a big banner when you log on to you MyNCL account.

 

Yeah there is nothing when I log on to my NCL account either!

[ironcheftoni]

NCL just rolled out the bidding process last year on a few ships as a Beta test. They are implementing it fleetwide in 2017. Which brings me to my question: Does anyone know (or is there a list somewhere on this board) which ships are participating at present? I keep seeing the same Breakaway class ships posted in this thread. Have any of the Jewel class made the switch to the upgrade bidding?

 

I am on the Jewel for the 6/24 Alaska cruise and was offered to upgrade.

[mickeysgal]

I'm 4 days away from sail date and the opportunity to bid is still showing, yet all categories are sold out. At what time do they close and shut down the bids? Not sure if we should be still hoping our existing bid is still in play.

[Alegeeter]

I wonder what the algorithm does for bids that are very close to each other. Do ties go to who made the bid first. the highest latitude level, who paid the most for their cruise, whoever is in a cabin that they can resell for money, etc?

 

For example, if there is one minisuite available and I am in a BC and bid $50 for it but someone in an OV bids $55 for it, who gets it? NCL would make more money initially accepting the OV bid but NCL could make more money by accepting the BC and then upgrading someone from an inside category to that BC or selling it at full price.

 

Interesting to think about!

[nealjr]

I'm 4 days away from sail date and the opportunity to bid is still showing, yet all categories are sold out. At what time do they close and shut down the bids? Not sure if we should be still hoping our existing bid is still in play.

 

 

I have seen people report two days before sailing that they received their upgrade. If you don't hear anything by tomorrow then I would think your bid was rejected. My credit card was charge before I received my notice so keep an lookout on your card.

[mamasylvia]

I believe all the Gem-class ships are on the bidding program now. Pearl was added last month and that is when I got my offer-to-upgrade email (about 35 days before sailing).

 

What shows as sold out on the website doesn't seem to matter. The 2-bedroom suite I wanted (not Haven) has showed as sold out for months, but it was available to bid on and I won it so now we will be cruising in a sold-out category. Maybe it truly was sold out but the people who originally bought it won an upgrade to Haven. Maybe they just pulled it rather than offer it at a bargain price. Maybe they sent the original purchasers to the bottom of the sea. ;) I'm just glad we have one! (When I told her we had upgraded to a 2-bedroom, and the tiny 2nd bedroom had bunk beds, my almost-30-year-old daughter immediately yelled "I call top bunk!" lol)

 

It's not true that they don't send emails any longer. I got one and have seen several others mention theirs as well. However, it does seem somewhat erratic as to who gets an email and who doesn't. But it seems like everyone who is sailing on a ship using this program sees the "Let's Get You Upgraded!" banner when logging into My NCL. On our sailing, that appeared roughtly 35 days before cruise date because the Pearl hadn't been added to the program earlier.

 

Several of us on that sailing noticed the upgrade banner disappeared for a few days and then reappeared. My speculation (completely unsupported by anything NCL has said) is that they didn't like the bids they had received so left it a few days longer, hoping for people to bid higher. Part of my reason for this speculation is that I eventually was awarded an upgrade on a barely-above-minimum bid.

[BermudaBound2014]

I keep seeing the same Breakaway class ships posted in this thread. Have any of the Jewel class made the switch to the upgrade bidding?

 

 

The Jade is participating. I received my invitation to bid 80 days out from sailing. From an oceanview, the Minimum bid for 10' day Norway Sailing was 50 pp for balcony or 75 pp for mini. I'll post the results of my bid when I find out.

 

 

 

 

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[garycarla]

I wonder what the algorithm does for bids that are very close to each other. Do ties go to who made the bid first. the highest latitude level, who paid the most for their cruise, whoever is in a cabin that they can resell for money, etc?

 

For example, if there is one minisuite available and I am in a BC and bid $50 for it but someone in an OV bids $55 for it, who gets it? NCL would make more money initially accepting the OV bid but NCL could make more money by accepting the BC and then upgrading someone from an inside category to that BC or selling it at full price.

 

Interesting to think about!

 

I would think the #1 rule is to take the bid that offers the most money.

 

BUT - if they are oversold in a certain category and need to clear some of those rooms, then there would be a desire to move some of those folks out.

 

Still at the end of the day, they do this bidding thing for one reason. Increase the total booked revenue. Simple business stuff.

[CarrieAP]

To anyone who has been awarded upgrade or called to upgrade:

When you receive an upgrade through bidding process are there any additional admin fees or other charges added when you are the winning bid? Likewise do they charge additional fees....etc. if you phone for direct upgrade?

 

 

There is one additional cost: if you purchased trip insurance from NCL the amount will increase, proportional to your new cruise fare. If accepted this will be charged to your credit card along with your bid amount.

 

 

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[waubee1]

I have a group of friends going on the same cruise 4 cabins put bids in 3 got excepted. The 4 cabin who bid the most on 4 different cabins got nothing he ended up just paying the difference and taking the Haven at full cost which was close to their lowest bid now he has all the Haven benefits, he actually save money. Just goes to show it doesn't make sense.

I also think that the minimum bid that shows up on your screen is different depending on what you paid for your cabin.

 

 

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[allison0523]

I have a group of friends going on the same cruise 4 cabins put bids in 3 got excepted. The 4 cabin who bid the most on 4 different cabins got nothing he ended up just paying the difference and taking the Haven at full cost which was close to their lowest bid now he has all the Haven benefits, he actually save money. Just goes to show it doesn't make sense.

I also think that the minimum bid that shows up on your screen is different depending on what you paid for your cabin.

 

 

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How many people were in all of these cabins? Thanks.

[garycarla]

....I also think that the minimum bid that shows up on your screen is different depending on what you paid for your cabin. ..

 

If it were your business and you got these offers, which makes more sense to your cash flow?

 

Passenger A) Paid $2,300 for cabin and bids $650

or

Passenger B) Paid $ 2,600 for cabin and bids $500

 

Pretty simple, $650 is more money than $500. Why would they take the $500 bid?

 

Bottom line, it is all about increased revenue. Simple stuff.

[Named-Tawny]

If it were your business and you got these offers, which makes more sense to your cash flow?

 

Passenger A) Paid $2,300 for cabin and bids $650

or

Passenger B) Paid $ 2,600 for cabin and bids $500

 

Pretty simple, $650 is more money than $500. Why would they take the $500 bid?

 

Bottom line, it is all about increased revenue. Simple stuff.

 

Yup, although it's a bit more complicated than that, especially if A and B have different cabin categories. If Passenger C bid $200 for passenger A's cabin, but $450 for passenger B's cabin, then it makes sense to take passenger B's bid instead (assuming you just have those three people on the ship bidding, which obviously isn't the case)

[jeffw67]

Just got email from NCL. Cruising on the Jewel June 3rd and got upgraded from a ocean view to a balcony for 130 pp...total of 260.00. Bid was in the low fair range.

[waubee1]

What I am saying is all 4 cabins were the exact same midship mini suite all paid the same 2 people in each. They all bid different amounts the one who bit the most did not get it. So maybe they also take pass passenger into account. The one who did not get it had never sailed on NCL.

 

 

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[putchky]

Got my email today for the Dawn on 6/2. We went from an obstructed ocean view to mid ship balcony.

We bid just over the minimum. Not sure if our latitudes counted for anything we are Platinum and the ship is pretty empty.