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What was your upgrade offer and what did you bid


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Yes, it dropped $500/person overnight. With the extra OBC and cruise excursion credit we received, plus free internet, it was about $400 less than the bids we had placed, grats, taxes and fees included! We got the Haven Courtyard Penthouse with Balcony, 16710. There are still (14) of those available.

Awesome! I'm going to check our trip right now! congrats!

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Curious, those of you who "won" the bid upgrade from a balcony to a mini-suite, are you happy with the location of the mini-suite you got? One of the things I had read on the former post was a caution that if you liked your balcony room, think long and hard before bidding on a mini-suite because you don't know where on the ship you will be placed, and is it worth it to give up the room you chose with supposedly a location you wanted, for a crapshoot?

 

 

It's definitely a downside to the bidding process. I doubt many people (percentage-wise) bid up from balcony to mini-suite for exactly this reason. I could see bidding from inside or oceanview for a balcony or mini-suite, because no matter the location, having a balcony is likely a big upgrade over your original room. But from balcony to mini-suite, all you are getting is the larger bathroom and potentially a much worse location. For instance, I have one of the angled balconies on the Escape in October. No way am I risking giving that up for a mini-suite. Will probably bid on some Havens though....

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It's definitely a downside to the bidding process. I doubt many people (percentage-wise) bid up from balcony to mini-suite for exactly this reason. I could see bidding from inside or oceanview for a balcony or mini-suite, because no matter the location, having a balcony is likely a big upgrade over your original room. But from balcony to mini-suite, all you are getting is the larger bathroom and potentially a much worse location. For instance, I have one of the angled balconies on the Escape in October. No way am I risking giving that up for a mini-suite. Will probably bid on some Havens though....

 

 

 

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Yes, it dropped $500/person overnight. With the extra OBC and cruise excursion credit we received, plus free internet, it was about $400 less than the bids we had placed, grats, taxes and fees included! We got the Haven Courtyard Penthouse with Balcony, 16710. There are still (14) of those available.

Thanks to Dave, I did the same! My balcony room (room rate alone) was almost 1500 less than a Haven courtyard, and I had a bid in for $1000 per person. By booking directly, I get all the Haven perks, including the free internet which I hadn't opted for the first time, and the shore excursion credits, plus $300 on board credit. However, we had originally booked with free port charges which came to $321 so the OBC is a wash, which actually is good because when I last looked to upgrade, it would have cost me the extra $300.

 

But after the initial excitement died down, I'm now questioning whether I should've done that or not. The end cost is still about double what the original cost is. On the other hand, if we had gotten the bid accepted, we still would have paid the additional trip insurance and the additional DSC. But I'm back to questioning whether it makes sense to have paid double what the cruise would've cost just to get the Haven. Someone reassure me!!

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But I'm back to questioning whether it makes sense to have paid double what the cruise would've cost just to get the Haven. Someone reassure me!!

 

It's done now! Nothing for it but to sit back, relax, and enjoy all the benefits of Haven life! I don't think double is bad for the Haven. Every time I've looked at/thought about booking a haven room outright, it's been more like TRIPLE the cost of a perfectly nice balcony.

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Just upgraded to The Haven!!!! So excited!! Actually saved $$$ by doing a direct upgrade instead of my bid. :D

 

 

 

So basically the price of haven decrease after final payment and u called to upgrade. How far from sailing date

 

 

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I am currently booked on the Dec 9/18 sailing on the Escape out of NYC. At first I was reluctant to book in advance as I watched the pricing for a similar cruise on the GEM for last December getting lower and lower last fall. I realize that if I had hedged my bets and waited, I probably would get a better price but I had two FCC's that I wanted to apply to this cruise which is what lead me to book more than 6 months in advance.

 

I am very happy with our cabin and location (exactly one deck below the cabin we had last time we sailed on the Escape) but would like to have a shot at upgrading to a Haven suite if it's within reach financially (it's about $7000 USD more than our balcony to book them as of today).

 

I booked through an online US-based travel agent and am wondering what my chances of even getting an opportunity to bid for an upgrade would be? Sounds that it's entirely possible I may not even be eligible?

 

Given that this is a trip on which we are bringing our young sons and that we are cruising from NYC in December, having access to the Haven pool area might be nice - but not $7000 nice.

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Thanks to Dave, I did the same! My balcony room (room rate alone) was almost 1500 less than a Haven courtyard, and I had a bid in for $1000 per person. By booking directly, I get all the Haven perks, including the free internet which I hadn't opted for the first time, and the shore excursion credits, plus $300 on board credit. However, we had originally booked with free port charges which came to $321 so the OBC is a wash, which actually is good because when I last looked to upgrade, it would have cost me the extra $300.

 

But after the initial excitement died down, I'm now questioning whether I should've done that or not. The end cost is still about double what the original cost is. On the other hand, if we had gotten the bid accepted, we still would have paid the additional trip insurance and the additional DSC. But I'm back to questioning whether it makes sense to have paid double what the cruise would've cost just to get the Haven. Someone reassure me!!

Cruisegal, you will LOVE Haven! But it will spoil you for other cabins. DH hates travel, but HE asked me to book us a Haven cruise. He swears by it, says it's absolutely the only way to travel. Totally different than "normal" cruising - but if you want the crowds you absolutely have that option!

 

Be aware the DSC is a little higher, and there's an expectation that the butler & concierge will be tipped based on how much they do for you. There are a ton of threads about how much to tip them, and whether or not to tip if they do nothing extra for you--just giving you a heads up that you may want to check into that info as well.

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I didn’t want to start a new thread for this question. If an upgrade gets accepted, do you get new luggage tags and new cruise documents that you have to print off yourself prior to departure?

 

You will get both, but you don't have to print either. The porters at the pier can just write your stateroom number on their generic tags and attach them to your luggage. As for eDocs, you just have to download them to your phone to show the port workers, you don't need to have them printed out.

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So basically the price of haven decrease after final payment and u called to upgrade. How far from sailing date

 

 

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We sail Sept. 9th, so 65 days out. The big thing is that 15 of the 18 CY Penthouse cabins were still unsold, so they were probably getting pretty desperate. The final cost increase from our original MS w/ large balcony, when you include the extra OBC’s, internet, excursion credits, etc, was about $740 total. I had bid $700/person, so I made out big time.

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Gem on July 14th to Bahamas. Bid 160 per person to upgrade from inside room to a balcony. It was accepted today. Very excited. Didn't tell my girlfriend that an upgrade was even a possibility and was able to give her the surprise good news today. We're all smiles.

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Gem on July 14th to Bahamas. Bid 160 per person to upgrade from inside room to a balcony. It was accepted today. Very excited. Didn't tell my girlfriend that an upgrade was even a possibility and was able to give her the surprise good news today. We're all smiles.

 

Congrats!

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Gem on July 14th to Bahamas. Bid 160 per person to upgrade from inside room to a balcony. It was accepted today. Very excited. Didn't tell my girlfriend that an upgrade was even a possibility and was able to give her the surprise good news today. We're all smiles.

 

 

 

How long ago did you submit? I submitted $150 per person today on a whim. I’ll be ok if I don’t get it, but was curious how long it’ll take them to get back to me being it’s so close.

 

 

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How long ago did you submit? I submitted $150 per person today on a whim. I’ll be ok if I don’t get it, but was curious how long it’ll take them to get back to me being it’s so close.

 

I submitted it last week and then fiddled with it nearly every day. Moved it up, then down, then back up. They probably just got sick of sending me the "You modified your offer" emails.

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Originally posted by cruisegal415 But I'm back to questioning whether it makes sense to have paid double what the cruise would've cost just to get the Haven. Someone reassure me!!

My first ever experience on NCL was in the Haven, through the older, better system of upsell. Since then have sailed twice and not won bids to the haven even up to and slightly above previous asking prices on some categories, this time I too paid more than I normally would have liked to be in the haven but absolutely think it's worth the cost. A regular room can still be awesome because it is after all vacation. But in my opinion, the haven is being spoiled in a way that just can't compare. It's the only way you can guarantee yourself pool, hot tub and lounge away from any type of line or crowd. In our case we just had a baby so we will need the extra space of a haven room bc will probably be spending more time than we otherwise would have in the room. The service the staff provides is exemplary, it's nice to come back to a spread of snacks waiting in the stateroom in the afternoon or being able to get reservations with ease. Going forward I cant imagine going back to a non haven category again.

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Curious, those of you who "won" the bid upgrade from a balcony to a mini-suite, are you happy with the location of the mini-suite you got? One of the things I had read on the former post was a caution that if you liked your balcony room, think long and hard before bidding on a mini-suite because you don't know where on the ship you will be placed, and is it worth it to give up the room you chose with supposedly a location you wanted, for a crapshoot?

 

 

The location ended being great for us. I had already won a bid for our other room which was an inside and I bid and got a spa balcony. This mini suite is actually just down the hall from our spa balcony on the 14th floor. It's more in the middle so the location was a bonus too.

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Curious, those of you who "won" the bid upgrade from a balcony to a mini-suite, are you happy with the location of the mini-suite you got? One of the things I had read on the former post was a caution that if you liked your balcony room, think long and hard before bidding on a mini-suite because you don't know where on the ship you will be placed, and is it worth it to give up the room you chose with supposedly a location you wanted, for a crapshoot?

Yes exactly. I booked a package deal with air/cruise & tranfers. The deal came with an unassigned cabin . We just got the cabin and it couldn't be better, midship on a deck with cabins above and below. Originally thought that if we got a poor location we would bid on an upgrade. Now there's no reason to.

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Originally posted by cruisegal415 But I'm back to questioning whether it makes sense to have paid double what the cruise would've cost just to get the Haven. Someone reassure me!!

My first ever experience on NCL was in the Haven, through the older, better system of upsell. Since then have sailed twice and not won bids to the haven even up to and slightly above previous asking prices on some categories, this time I too paid more than I normally would have liked to be in the haven but absolutely think it's worth the cost. A regular room can still be awesome because it is after all vacation. But in my opinion, the haven is being spoiled in a way that just can't compare. It's the only way you can guarantee yourself pool, hot tub and lounge away from any type of line or crowd. In our case we just had a baby so we will need the extra space of a haven room bc will probably be spending more time than we otherwise would have in the room. The service the staff provides is exemplary, it's nice to come back to a spread of snacks waiting in the stateroom in the afternoon or being able to get reservations with ease. Going forward I cant imagine going back to a non haven category again.

 

Congratulations on the new born! I cant speak for haven because it wasn't an option on our sailing with out 6 month old but we did have a suite and I couldn't imagine doing it any other way with an infant. The in room service, priority boarding and disembarking all were insanely useful. You'll be very glad you have those options.

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We have back to back reservations in same cabin and just received the option to bid on upgrades for 1st cruise. I am looking for information specifically about B2B situations:

 

1). If we were lucky enough to win our bids on both cruises would they put us in same cabin for both?

 

2). If we happen to only win one bid, will they move our belongings for us to new cabin? Or will we have to remove our luggage when leaving the ship in between cruises?

 

We are sailing on Breakaway 9/23 Baltic Capitals out Copenhagen then the Transatlantic out of Copenhagen on 10/2.

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We have back to back reservations in same cabin and just received the option to bid on upgrades for 1st cruise. I am looking for information specifically about B2B situations:

 

1). If we were lucky enough to win our bids on both cruises would they put us in same cabin for both?

 

2). If we happen to only win one bid, will they move our belongings for us to new cabin? Or will we have to remove our luggage when leaving the ship in between cruises?

 

We are sailing on Breakaway 9/23 Baltic Capitals out Copenhagen then the Transatlantic out of Copenhagen on 10/2.

 

I wouldn't plan on getting the same cabin, you might not be upgraded on both legs - and you could be on the ship when you find out for the second leg

 

You will need to pack your luggage but your room steward(s) will take care of moving it to the next cabin - and if you are like me, bring the brush to cabin #2 that you left in cabin #1 haha

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I'm planning to do an upgrade bid when the opportunities comes (I sail in December). I see some people writing about checking to see how booked up the cruise is and factoring cabin availability into their bids. How do you crafty people find out the current occupancy of particular sailings? Mine is a re positioning cruise thru the Panama Canal down to Chile, arriving Dec. 22.

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I'm planning to do an upgrade bid when the opportunities comes (I sail in December). I see some people writing about checking to see how booked up the cruise is and factoring cabin availability into their bids. How do you crafty people find out the current occupancy of particular sailings? Mine is a re positioning cruise thru the Panama Canal down to Chile, arriving Dec. 22.

 

 

The only way I know is to do "mock bookings" through the NCL web site. Go in and act like you are making a new booking for your sailing, go far enough in to where you get the room selection screed for your category, and see how many are still available. Things to note: when inventory gets low in certain categories, they will often switch to GTY, so you won't be able to see the available rooms in that category anymore. Also, the cabin selection screen will only show you the 15 "best" available rooms in a given category. So if there are more than 15 rooms left, there is no way to know how many more there are.

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