Upgrade Invitation with No Vacancy...Why?

[Georgia_Peaches]

So I just logged into my NCL account to peruse dining options and with 78 days to go (yay!!) I noticed an upgrade offer for Haven Owner's and Delux Owner's suites that hadn't been there in the past. DH and I are currently booked in a Haven Penthouse (H5) category...looking forward to our first Haven experience. I check availability daily as I was hoping that an aft penthouse might become available (H6). Currently, the only thing available on my sailing is a few H5's and 1 Haven spa suite. Why would they invite me to bid on a category that is showing as already booked? We're well beyond final payment so I'm guessing for most people, travel plans are pretty firm. I placed a bid but don't really understand how it works. Can someone explain?

 

Also, should my bid be accepted, do I maintain all of my original booking perks like OBC and such?

 

Thank you!

[poohdreaming]

Well, this is in case if someone that booked in the penthouse cancel the last minute or have an emergency that cannot make it to the cruise. Otherwise, your bid would not be accepted. And with the perks - you will still have them if you got the new bid.

[Socalev]

Things change! There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that a bid can be won on a sold out cabin category. In fact it happened to me on my last cruise. Won bid (suite but non-haven) at 39 days out even though the cabin category had been "Sold Out" for months!

[BirdTravels]

People cancel. We have cancelled weeknif cruise twice.

[FreestyleNovice]

Maximizing revenue, yield management. As said above; NCL is better off with a bunch of cabins paying extra to move up then leaving one cabin empty. If they end up with an empty inside instead of a suite that's the upgrade model in all her perfection.:)

 

edit: perfection would be selling the inside too btw!

[Markj]

We were booked into the Owners suit on the Breakaway and received an upgrade offer to the Deluxe Owners. So like you I checked and the booking page said the Deluxe were both sold.

 

I was pleasantly surprised when my offer was accepted and we were upgraded??

 

Not sure why this happens - but as has been discussed above maybe someone cancels or they show all cabins as booked so that they can run the upgrade and then fill the ship - who knows???

[Georgia_Peaches]

We were booked into the Owners suit on the Breakaway and received an upgrade offer to the Deluxe Owners. So like you I checked and the booking page said the Deluxe were both sold.

 

I was pleasantly surprised when my offer was accepted and we were upgraded??

 

Not sure why this happens - but as has been discussed above maybe someone cancels or they show all cabins as booked so that they can run the upgrade and then fill the ship - who knows???

Wow! That's awesome!

I would have thought that it would be better to fill these as soon as possible and for the highest price possible since there are so few of them on the ship. But as others have pointed out, people cancel for whatever reason. Just a side-bar...if either stateroom showed available right now, I'd book it at their named price instead of mine just for the peace of mind of knowing that it was ours for the week. I'd rather pay the asking price than hope for my bid to be accepted.

Thanks for the insight everyone!

[Starry Eyes]

Wow! That's awesome!

I would have thought that it would be better to fill these as soon as possible and for the highest price possible since there are so few of them on the ship. But as others have pointed out, people cancel for whatever reason. Just a side-bar...if either stateroom showed available right now, I'd book it at their named price instead of mine just for the peace of mind of knowing that it was ours for the week. I'd rather pay the asking price than hope for my bid to be accepted.

Thanks for the insight everyone!

Well, if you really want the cabin, slap a really nice bid on it. That way if somebody cancels soon, NCL’s system might automatically accept your bid rather place it back in inventory. Worth a shot!

[biker@sea]

So I just logged into my NCL account to peruse dining options and with 78 days to go (yay!!) I noticed an upgrade offer for Haven Owner's and Delux Owner's suites that hadn't been there in the past. DH and I are currently booked in a Haven Penthouse (H5) category...looking forward to our first Haven experience. I check availability daily as I was hoping that an aft penthouse might become available (H6). Currently, the only thing available on my sailing is a few H5's and 1 Haven spa suite. Why would they invite me to bid on a category that is showing as already booked? We're well beyond final payment so I'm guessing for most people, travel plans are pretty firm. I placed a bid but don't really understand how it works. Can someone explain?

 

Also, should my bid be accepted, do I maintain all of my original booking perks like OBC and such?

 

Thank you!

 

Data Mining :evilsmile:

[Georgia_Peaches]

Data Mining :evilsmile:

Interesting...please explain.

[biker@sea]

Interesting...please explain.

 

NCL is learning how much you will spend. ;)

[spanishguy1970]

NCL is learning how much you will spend. ;)

 

they must losing out on me, i always bid on the " poor" side and never get upgraded..LOL, i refuse to bid the amount they want :D:cool:. LOL

[BEAV]

The public doesn’t have access to 100% of available inventory. A certain category may appear to be sold out, but staterooms within that category may well be hidden from public view/sale for assignment to those holding guarantees. This isn’t limited to NCL, but many, if not all cruise lines.

[BirdTravels]

NCL is learning how much you will spend. ;)

People think that upgrading is new. It is not.

 

NCL has upsells/upgrades for a long time. But, with a new megaship a year, their old manual system did not scale. So they automated it, somewhat.

[Son of a son of a ...]

The public doesn’t have access to 100% of available inventory. A certain category may appear to be sold out, but staterooms within that category may well be hidden from public view/sale for assignment to those holding guarantees. This isn’t limited to NCL, but many, if not all cruise lines.

 

Disagree ... we are within 40 days on a sold out cruise. The cruise is no longer available to book on NCL’s site. No one is holding back cabins - the cruise is sold out. Nonetheless, the 3rd party is still offering bidding for the primary purpose of collecting pricing and demand data. Sure, if they get a late cancellation then they can fill that cabin, but that is a lot of effort for a few hundred more. NCL still gets paid due to cancellation policy.

 

The business model is data collection. The means to collect the data is through an upgrade bidding process, which also generates revenue.

[Starry Eyes]

Disagree ... we are within 40 days on a sold out cruise. The cruise is no longer available to book on NCL’s site. No one is holding back cabins - the cruise is sold out. Nonetheless, the 3rd party is still offering bidding for the primary purpose of collecting pricing and demand data. Sure, if they get a late cancellation then they can fill that cabin, but that is a lot of effort for a few hundred more. NCL still gets paid due to cancellation policy.

 

The business model is data collection. The means to collect the data is through an upgrade bidding process, which also generates revenue.

A few thoughts:

1. Sure, they get pricing and demand data. That does not mean they do not wish to make $ off that bidding.

2. The bidding is automated, so it is not “a lot of effort” to have the third party conduct bidding. In fact, it may be less effort to allow bidding on every cruise than to pick and chose which which cruises to bid and which not.

3. Why do you assume it is “a few hundred more” dollars? Are you assuming just a couple mid range cabins will cancel at most? Well, sometimes way more can happen. Each cancellation of a high end cabin could result in nice series of move up bids, as one accepted bid opens a move up slot for another bid to win...and some of those bids could be substantial. And sometimes there could be multiple cancellations (storms or family groups or bad karma or whatever). Yes, NCL got paid once, but they still want to maximize their revenue and also their guest happiness (some are giddy when they win and hooked forever)

4. One reads reports on cruise critic of upgrade on “sold out” cruises. Presumably those are from cancellations...not likely to be data collection experiments.

[Son of a son of a ...]

just because that is the case on YOUR cruise does not preclude it from being different on other cruises. NCL does indeed limit the cabin availability on its web site. Does not mean there absolutely is availability for something marked sold out but the possibility exists.

 

The bid invitation doesn’t go out until after final payment - you think NCL is going to limit availability after final payment? Someone can correct me, but the TA reserved cabins are released after final payment.

 

Show me an example. I have seen plenty before final payment (even took advantage of one for an AFB that was on a TA site, but not on NCL), but never after.

[Son of a son of a ...]

A few thoughts:

1. Sure, they get pricing and demand data. That does not mean they do not wish to make $ off that bidding.

2. The bidding is automated, so it is not “a lot of effort” to have the third party conduct bidding. In fact, it may be less effort to allow bidding on every cruise than to pick and chose which which cruises to bid and which not.

3. Why do you assume it is “a few hundred more” dollars? Are you assuming just a couple mid range cabins will cancel at most? Well, sometimes way more can happen. Each cancellation of a high end cabin could result in nice series of move up bids, as one accepted bid opens a move up slot for another bid to win...and some of those bids could be substantial. And sometimes there could be multiple cancellations (storms or family groups or bad karma or whatever). Yes, NCL got paid once, but they still want to maximize their revenue and also their guest happiness (some are giddy when they win and hooked forever)

4. One reads reports on cruise critic of upgrade on “sold out” cruises. Presumably those are from cancellations...not likely to be data collection experiments.

 

It’s the data. NCL’s ability to potentially scrape a few hundred, or even few thousand on occasion, is not why they offer bidding on sold out cruises. They want to test price elasticity and demand. They are using this data for pricing cabins on future cruises.

[Starry Eyes]

It’s the data. NCL’s ability to potentially scrape a few hundred, or even few thousand on occasion, is not why they offer bidding on sold out cruises. They want to test price elasticity and demand. They are using this data for pricing cabins on future cruises.

I’m saying it is both. They care about profit. They are scraping the marginal reprising dollars based on data, they are scraping the hundreds to thousand from late cancellation, they are scraping upgrade dollars from unsold premium cabins, then they scrape for every little extra they can sell passengers on board. Scrape a few thousand here and a few thousand there, and pretty soon it adds up.

[drumming cruisers]

Disagree ... we are within 40 days on a sold out cruise. The cruise is no longer available to book on NCL’s site. No one is holding back cabins - the cruise is sold out. Nonetheless, the 3rd party is still offering bidding for the primary purpose of collecting pricing and demand data. Sure, if they get a late cancellation then they can fill that cabin, but that is a lot of effort for a few hundred more. NCL still gets paid due to cancellation policy.

 

The business model is data collection. The means to collect the data is through an upgrade bidding process, which also generates revenue.

 

Bliss showed sold out for weeks on NCL on line before I decide to take a chance and call CAS, 10 days before sail date I wanted. They had a LOT of balcony's available for Aug 18, 2018 sailing. I got to select the balcony type, deck, and location on deck. So they DO hold back cabins from website.

[Son of a son of a ...]

Bliss showed sold out for weeks on NCL on line before I decide to take a chance and call CAS, 10 days before sail date I wanted. They had a LOT of balcony's available for Aug 18, 2018 sailing. I got to select the balcony type, deck, and location on deck. So they DO hold back cabins from website.

 

Ya, not believing this. Sorry.

[zqvol]

So I just logged into my NCL account to peruse dining options and with 78 days to go (yay!!) I noticed an upgrade offer for Haven Owner's and Delux Owner's suites that hadn't been there in the past. DH and I are currently booked in a Haven Penthouse (H5) category...looking forward to our first Haven experience. I check availability daily as I was hoping that an aft penthouse might become available (H6). Currently, the only thing available on my sailing is a few H5's and 1 Haven spa suite. Why would they invite me to bid on a category that is showing as already booked? We're well beyond final payment so I'm guessing for most people, travel plans are pretty firm. I placed a bid but don't really understand how it works. Can someone explain?

 

Also, should my bid be accepted, do I maintain all of my original booking perks like OBC and such?

 

Thank you!

 

There is no way to tell if any cabins are still available in the categories that you want, unless you have full access to the NCL database.

 

 

You have noting to lose by bidding. If you get an upgrade, that's great, if you don't you should be happy with what you booked now so it's no big deal. Your perks do not change if you win an upgrade bid. (Of course you are already in the Haven so there is nothing to change as far as perks.)

[Georgia_Peaches]

There is no way to tell if any cabins are still available in the categories that you want, unless you have full access to the NCL database.

 

 

You have noting to lose by bidding. If you get an upgrade, that's great, if you don't you should be happy with what you booked now so it's no big deal. Your perks do not change if you win an upgrade bid. (Of course you are already in the Haven so there is nothing to change as far as perks.)

Exactly why I placed the bid. Either way we will be happy. But I tend to think that NCL is not holding out on the DOS and OS as there's only 2 of each....which is why I asked the question. However, I have no problem believing that some of the other categories have been held out. When we booked the H5 category, there was only 1 available...since then 5 have become available and a few of those still remain. I tend to believe it is more about testing the market or "data mining" as others have suggested. They are a for profit industry after all, and I don't begrudge the attempt to collect the data.

Edited September 2, 2018 by Georgia_Peaches

[Son of a son of a ...]

Oh my ... just saying that in a sold out cruises that the primary purpose of encouraging bids is to collect data, filling unexpected vacancies is second. Further, NCL is not holding back cabins to release for bidding after final payment.

[drumming cruisers]

ya, not believing this. Sorry.

 

excuse me?????