Celebrity move up program

[Tony UK]

This program doesnt seem to operate in the UK. Does anyone know why?

[cruiseerf]

I believe this program is rolling out region to region.  

 

We had great success with this last September Vancouver-Honolulu-Sydney.  First segment we bid from Sky to Celebrity suite for $800 each and won our bid 1 week prior.  Second segment 18 nights we bid from Celebrity suite to Royal suite, $1250 per person.....Received notification 4 nights prior confirmed royal.  We only received Captains club Credit for booking sky suites, FYI....we received no additional points for higher class of cabin.  Also, we received all perks that are included in cabin we booked....so with Royal suite we received drink packages, unlimited internet and unlimited specialty dining......only thing we did not receive was additional captains club points.....but this was clear in terms and conditions.   I am sure this program will be in the UK soon.  

 

As an Aside,  last year we were in HKG on a cruise and an Oceania cruise we were on in 1 month sent an email at 11AM East coast time offering upgrades for $1000 PP PH suites to Oceania suites.....We woke up in HKG to find all suites sold out....We wrote to Oceania showing we were on another cruise in Asia and that was not fair.....They wrote back.....Too Bad, not our problem!!!!  So keep in mind that timing sometimes also plays a roll depending on how the bids are sorted....it's not cut and dry.  

 

Safe Sails.  

[Great grandma74]

We had booked the very cheapest, inside cabin for our 13 night cruise. We sail in 10 days and we have just heard that our $500 each bid ( which barely registered on the weak scale ) has been accepted for an A1  balcony cabin in a far better location. It would have cost us $2000.00 each more had we booked our new cabin in the first place so it has worked well for us and I almost missed the ' move up' offer as it went straight to my spam box !

[Gracie115]

On 3/4/2019 at 1:07 PM, Kreative03 said:

 

 

 

The top 3 suites are not currently available to purchase, so I’m curious why they are offering moveup bids to be placed.

 

Not sure if prices are tied to your price paid or your cabin category.

 

 

This was true in the offer I had for our April Silhouette TA.  I had a move up offer for the Penthouse and Royal Suite and there has not been a penthouse showing available on this sailing for over a year...so are they holding out inventory hoping for a large bid or is just a tech snafu ?

Edited March 6, 2019 by Gracie115

[Cruise a holic]

We bid on a Royal, Penthouse and Celebrity suite for our upcoming cruise.  They did accept the bids.  However our cruise is in about 10 days and those cabins haven't (allegedly) been available.   Do not think they hold them.  I "assume" in the event somebody cancels at the last minute we might have a chance as we offered a reasonable bid.

[mfs2k]

1 hour ago, Gracie115 said:

 

 

This was true in the offer I had for our April Silhouette TA.  I had a move up offer for the Penthouse and Royal Suite and there has not been a penthouse showing available on this sailing for over a year...so are they holding out inventory hoping for a large bid or is just a tech snafu ?

 

I think “bid” implies an auction so they’ll likely sell it to the highest bidder

[bajathree]

The move-up bid program is really not that new if you think about it....people used to report that close to sale date they would get calls from reservations offering paid upgrades....so really all that it seems they did is automate the process and cut out having someone spend time calling people.

Edited March 6, 2019 by bajathree

[wrk2cruise]

13 minutes ago, bajathree said:

The move-up bid program is really not that new if you think about it....people used to report that close to sale date they would get calls from reservations offering paid upgrades....so really all that it seems they did is automate the process and cut out having someone spend time calling people.

 

It's actually quite different from the cruise lines perspective.  They receive all bids and at some time in the future a computer algorithm processes them all together and computes the combinations of moves that yields the highest revenue for the line.

[mfs2k]

14 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

It's actually quite different from the cruise lines perspective.  They receive all bids and at some time in the future a computer algorithm processes them all together and computes the combinations of moves that yields the highest revenue for the line.

 

I'd like to think it's that sophisticated, but it's possible there's  a cruise sailing coordinator/revenue manager, moving all the chess pieces around, and making the decision without computer guidance. 

[lamondys]

21 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

It's actually quite different from the cruise lines perspective.  They receive all bids and at some time in the future a computer algorithm processes them all together and computes the combinations of moves that yields the highest revenue for the line.

How do you know this, does someone you know write the code for the cruise line?

[wrk2cruise]

I read somewhere that they contract this out to a 3rd party who does the same for other Cruiselines and Airlines.  I can't find the company name right now but be sure they couldn't handle the volume of bids they are processing unless it was totally automated.

[Tourist1292]

The move up bidding program may actually help them to price the cabins. It is not just getting rid of higher level cabins and get more money. It is also a survey to know how much people are willing to pay for the upgrade.

[hopeless holiday booker]

I'm from the UK and about a month before our cruise in February I got an email from celebrity, although I do book through the USA, I'm sure others in the UK must have received emails.

[Oceangoer2]

26 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

I read somewhere that they contract this out to a 3rd party who does the same for other Cruiselines and Airlines.  I can't find the company name right now but be sure they couldn't handle the volume of bids they are processing unless it was totally automated.

 

You may have something there...the airline we use (Air Canada) now has a move up bidding program; what struck me is they are quoting bids in US $$s....not Canadian.  The same company as X?  Not bidding if they can't convert to Cdn...but they may not want to as the exchange is fluid so buyer beware kicks in for me.

[bajathree]

Here you go https://www.plusgrade.com/partners/

 

Found it from this article https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericrosen/2018/08/29/fly-business-class-for-cheap-by-bidding-on-airline-upgrades/#7e9e6a297a4c

[wrk2cruise]

1 minute ago, bajathree said:

Here you go https://www.plusgrade.com/partners/

 

Found it from this article https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericrosen/2018/08/29/fly-business-class-for-cheap-by-bidding-on-airline-upgrades/#7e9e6a297a4c

 

Thanks.  Of course this is way to complex for the Celebrity IT department.  Plus it seems to work!

[cruiseerf]

Just because you receive the offers does not necessarily mean there is space.  Nowhere in the Terms and Conditions does it say the offers come depending on space.....This is false.   This upgrade bidding is actually Very clever......Travel companies bring in extra revenue and customers get better cabins and seats.  

 

These upgrades are looking at two things......Selling unsold inventory due to lack of sales........And Selling unsold inventory due to cancellations and no shows...  For Example.  

 

Our upcoming cruise is Full Full Full.....a holiday sailing.  Suite categories are Closed, which means wait lists are full etc.  Tuesday I received the upgrade emails with all the prices spelled out etc??  But the cruiseline is playing the odds that on a ship with 3000 passengers/customers of an older and younger demographic.......Emergencies can and will happen and 2-3 days prior to sailing cabins will therefore open up....Why not re-sell those and make some extra $$?  This company that handles this for Celebrity probably keeps a % of what they bring in, so it is of no "cost" to X and everyone's happy.  

 

Safe sails all. 

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

On 3/5/2019 at 8:54 PM, FireEMT978 said:

We are on the same sailing as yourselves. Got the "upgrade" offer. We're in an A1 or 1A whatever.

But, I can't even see the benefit of paying $200 total to go to an IV.

There's a big difference between an A1 and a 1A.  An A1 is an Aqua Class stateroom.  A 1A is a balcony stateroom.  To move from a 1A to an A1 would be to move up two categories (the in between category being Concierge Class staterooms).

[FireEMT978]

Happy to say. I have a 1A "Peon Class" balcony stateroom!

[Cruise a holic]

On 3/6/2019 at 4:42 AM, cruiseerf said:

I believe this program is rolling out region to region.  

 

We had great success with this last September Vancouver-Honolulu-Sydney.  First segment we bid from Sky to Celebrity suite for $800 each and won our bid 1 week prior.  Second segment 18 nights we bid from Celebrity suite to Royal suite, $1250 per person.....Received notification 4 nights prior confirmed royal.  We only received Captains club Credit for booking sky suites, FYI....we received no additional points for higher class of cabin.  Also, we received all perks that are included in cabin we booked....so with Royal suite we received drink packages, unlimited internet and unlimited specialty dining......only thing we did not receive was additional captains club points.....but this was clear in terms and conditions.   I am sure this program will be in the UK soon.  

 

As an Aside,  last year we were in HKG on a cruise and an Oceania cruise we were on in 1 month sent an email at 11AM East coast time offering upgrades for $1000 PP PH suites to Oceania suites.....We woke up in HKG to find all suites sold out....We wrote to Oceania showing we were on another cruise in Asia and that was not fair.....They wrote back.....Too Bad, not our problem!!!!  So keep in mind that timing sometimes also plays a roll depending on how the bids are sorted....it's not cut and dry.  

 

Safe Sails.  

 

Edited March 8, 2019 by Cruise a holic

[Iamthesea]

9 hours ago, FireEMT978 said:

Happy to say. I have a 1A "Peon Class" balcony stateroom!

 

Hey...1A's are great!  That category was our "go to" category before AQ was introduced.  1A's have those great verandas!

 

DH and I are trying to decide whether to upgrade without the Move-up program.  The category that we want to move up to is the S1.  Currently, a GTY W is available at about $900 more than what we paid for our AQ.  Although we really did not want to go up more than $500 pp, there is only one showing available.  This is on the Constellation.    I have watched the number of suites showing availability for the last week or so  (4 SS's, 2 CS, and 1 RS.)   Of all those staterooms, only 1 SS is still listed.  It's a good one!  What are the odds that we would be assigned this stateroom if we took the GTY?  To upgrade outright, the price would be $1200 pp more. 

[Iamthesea]

Never mind ... that stateroom is now gone. 

[Jim_Iain]

On 3/6/2019 at 5:53 AM, wrk2cruise said:

I read somewhere that they contract this out to a 3rd party who does the same for other Cruiselines and Airlines.  I can't find the company name right now but be sure they couldn't handle the volume of bids they are processing unless it was totally automated.

 

Just click the bid invitation and then read the URL.    The company name is Plus Grade

 

https://upgrade.plusgrade.com 

Edited March 8, 2019 by Jim_Iain

[mayleeman]

1 hour ago, Iamthesea said:

 

Hey...1A's are great!  That category was our "go to" category before AQ was introduced.  1A's have those great verandas!

 

DH and I are trying to decide whether to upgrade without the Move-up program.  The category that we want to move up to is the S1.  Currently, a GTY W is available at about $900 more than what we paid for our AQ.  Although we really did not want to go up more than $500 pp, there is only one showing available.  This is on the Constellation.    I have watched the number of suites showing availability for the last week or so  (4 SS's, 2 CS, and 1 RS.)   Of all those staterooms, only 1 SS is still listed.  It's a good one!  What are the odds that we would be assigned this stateroom if we took the GTY?  To upgrade outright, the price would be $1200 pp more. 

 

1 hour ago, Iamthesea said:

Never mind ... that stateroom is now gone. 

He who hesitates is lost! And has more money to spend on board.

[Iamthesea]

LOL  The hesitation was only long enough to write the above post.  I had just seen the fare drop and was waiting for my husband to get home from cardiac rehab to double check with him before calling our TA. 

 

The money saved will go towards another cruise. 🛳️