Bidding on upgrades is a SCAM!

[KaDarr]

So here is my experience with NCL on bidding for an upgrade. We are already booked in a deck 11 aft facing mini suite. The email came inviting me to bid on an upgrade to a Haven suite or a penthouse suite. So stupid me, I bid on the penthouse suite at $800 per person for a total of $1600, which was on the high side of "poor". After thinking about this for a few days, I thought, well why don't I just book the room instead of waiting to see if I'll be changing rooms after I printed out our luggage tags. So I called NCL, and was told that there was one penthouse suite available and it would cost me another (I think it was $287, it was less than $300 anyway) extra. That's all!!!! However, when she came back on the phone after five minutes of "checking with her supervisor" she informed me the suite had been booked while I was on hold. What a scam. I was so stupid that I would have paid them $1,600 and they would have been pleased as punch to relieve me of my $1,600 for a room that would have only been another few hundred dollars. I immediately cancelled my bid and I have learned a valuable lesson. Never bid on an upgrade. Just call to see what it would cost to get it.

[heelfan94]

I think we have to keep an eye on prices after a bid is placed.  I'm new to this but I've read everything I can find on it.  I don't think it's a scam but I do think it's the cruiser's responsibility to monitor the situation and act accordingly.  I've read so many posts about people seeing the prices drop and they just called directly.

[Two Wheels Only]

Sometimes, it's better to just pay for the upgrade. Sometimes, it's better to bid. Sometimes, it's better to book what you really want.

 

Everyone is different. Every situation is different. Weigh the options and decide.

[YVRBassElectric]

Two Wheels Only said it best but here are some details of my personal experience

 

on our Bliss cruise, I went from H5 to H4 for about $1200 USD total (I paid in Canadian) to pay directly was over $2000 each. I really wanted an H6 for our Feb cruise, showing sold out, I kept watching hoping on would be come available, would have paid to upgrade directly - unfortunately we had to cancel due to surgery. 

 

[rtkenmore]

20 minutes ago, KaDarr said:

So here is my experience with NCL on bidding for an upgrade. We are already booked in a deck 11 aft facing mini suite. The email came inviting me to bid on an upgrade to a Haven suite or a penthouse suite. So stupid me, I bid on the penthouse suite at $800 per person for a total of $1600, which was on the high side of "poor". After thinking about this for a few days, I thought, well why don't I just book the room instead of waiting to see if I'll be changing rooms after I printed out our luggage tags. So I called NCL, and was told that there was one penthouse suite available and it would cost me another (I think it was $287, it was less than $300 anyway) extra. That's all!!!! However, when she came back on the phone after five minutes of "checking with her supervisor" she informed me the suite had been booked while I was on hold. What a scam. I was so stupid that I would have paid them $1,600 and they would have been pleased as punch to relieve me of my $1,600 for a room that would have only been another few hundred dollars. I immediately cancelled my bid and I have learned a valuable lesson. Never bid on an upgrade. Just call to see what it would cost to get it.

 

That's not a scam.  That's just the fact that inventory can fluctuate by the minute even.  If there was one cabin in the category left, of course there would be a demand for it.

 

On the other end of the spectrum, as someone noted, you have to pay attention to prices and see what works out best.  It may be best to forego bidding and just call to seat an upgrade.  We're on Dawn in January and the difference in our current room when we booked and what it's going for right now is $300/person.  We just got our bid email today inviting us to bid on Balcony & Mini-Suite Balcony rooms.  There are only two rooms in our category but MANY balcony rooms still available.  From talking with other people, we have a good chance to get an upgrade with a low bid because they can resell our existing room for so much more than we paid.  For instance, if we bid $200/person for a Mini-Suite and win, then they get $400 more from us and can resell our room for $600 more (they gain an additional $1000 revenue essentially).

 

Sometimes, though, it doesn't make sense to bid especially if rooms are selling cheaper than they were when you booked.  If Balcony's were going for or near the same thing we paid, I'd just call and ask if we could get a complimentary upgrade since it's the same price if that was the case.

[timf2001]

Another thing to keep in mind is the company that handles the bids has no idea what you actually paid for your room.  They offer the same minimum and maximum bids to everyone in a category.  What's a great deal to someone in a Sail Away balcony may be a ripoff to someone bidding from an Aft Balcony who paid $1000 more to begin with.  It always pays to keep an eye on the going rates if you are looking to upgrade.

[schildiams]

Are you sure about this? It seems that they DO know how much you initially paid bc sometimes lower bids get approved before higher bids.

 

[heelfan94]

I've definitely read posts that claim NCL uses the price originally paid when processing upgrades but I've never known where that came from.  It makes sense to me.  I just haven't seen anything concrete to prove it.

[rtkenmore]

8 minutes ago, schildiams said:

Are you sure about this? It seems that they DO know how much you initially paid bc sometimes lower bids get approved before higher bids.

 

 

From what I've seen, it seems like they do know as well because the whole idea is to maximize revenue...  And someone who is upgrading from one category to another depends on what they paid and what their current room can be sold for to maximize revenue.

 

If I paid $1099/person and someone else paid $1299/person on an ocean view that is currently going for $1399...  And we both bid $200/person to upgrade to balcony, then NCL pockets more revenue from my upgrade because they can resell my room for $300/person more than they could the other person's room.

 

It would stand to reason the company handling upgrades would know what someone paid in order to maximize revenue for the cruise line.

[PhillyTravelBug]

Last time I upgraded, I simply called and asked and took the offer or not.  Not familiar with this bidding process at all.

[heelfan94]

6 minutes ago, Joeghartman said:

Last time I upgraded, I simply called and asked and took the offer or not.  Not familiar with this bidding process at all.

This has been hard to learn for me.  We used to call also. 

[timf2001]

13 minutes ago, rtkenmore said:

 

From what I've seen, it seems like they do know as well because the whole idea is to maximize revenue...  And someone who is upgrading from one category to another depends on what they paid and what their current room can be sold for to maximize revenue.

 

If I paid $1099/person and someone else paid $1299/person on an ocean view that is currently going for $1399...  And we both bid $200/person to upgrade to balcony, then NCL pockets more revenue from my upgrade because they can resell my room for $300/person more than they could the other person's room.

 

It would stand to reason the company handling upgrades would know what someone paid in order to maximize revenue for the cruise line.

The only thing that matters is incremental revenue.  Your $200 earns NCL exactly the same amount as the other person's $200 if you both make the same type of cabin available.  They aren't going to resell your room at the price your originally paid.  It will either be awarded as an upgrade to someone who bid from an inside cabin, or sold at a discounted rate to a last-minute buyer (likely as a guarantee).  The only time it would potentially represent more incremental revenue for NCL is if you bid less than someone in an inside cabin, but NCL stands to earn more from upgrading someone else into your original room than they would if they just took the inside cabin's bid.

[Chesneygirl]

There have been some significant price drops lately for our upcoming cruise and I'm strongly considering upgrading our current cabin without the bidding system.

 

Our original booking came with a NCL OBC of $300.

We are past final payment and they are no longer offering that OBC promo.  

 

Will I lose that OBC if I decide to upgrade our cabin?

[rtkenmore]

9 minutes ago, timf2001 said:

The only thing that matters is incremental revenue.  Your $200 earns NCL exactly the same amount as the other person's $200 if you both make the same type of cabin available.  They aren't going to resell your room at the price your originally paid.  It will either be awarded as an upgrade to someone who bid from an inside cabin, or sold at a discounted rate to a last-minute buyer (likely as a guarantee).  The only time it would potentially represent more incremental revenue for NCL is if you bid less than someone in an inside cabin, but NCL stands to earn more from upgrading someone else into your original room than they would if they just took the inside cabin's bid.

 

Not entirely true..  My category for our January sailing is essentially sold out with only two cabins available and those two are being sold for $300 more per person.  They definitely could make more money off reselling my cabin at the higher going rate and the demand is there as evidenced by the higher price per person than what it was when I booked.

 

Someone with an inside is not likely to bid the $300/person difference to get into my cabin category especially considering there are a good many insides still available.  They are not in need of inside inventory right now on this particular cruise.  They are in need of Ocean View inventory it seems though...

[rtkenmore]

9 minutes ago, Chesneygirl said:

There have been some significant price drops lately for our upcoming cruise and I'm strongly considering upgrading our current cabin without the bidding system.

 

Our original booking came with a NCL OBC of $300.

We are past final payment and they are no longer offering that OBC promo.  

 

Will I lose that OBC if I decide to upgrade our cabin?

 

You shouldn't but it never hurts to call and ask...  You never know what you may get.

[pieshops]

1 hour ago, KaDarr said:

So here is my experience with NCL on bidding for an upgrade. We are already booked in a deck 11 aft facing mini suite. The email came inviting me to bid on an upgrade to a Haven suite or a penthouse suite. So stupid me, I bid on the penthouse suite at $800 per person for a total of $1600, which was on the high side of "poor". After thinking about this for a few days, I thought, well why don't I just book the room instead of waiting to see if I'll be changing rooms after I printed out our luggage tags. So I called NCL, and was told that there was one penthouse suite available and it would cost me another (I think it was $287, it was less than $300 anyway) extra. That's all!!!! However, when she came back on the phone after five minutes of "checking with her supervisor" she informed me the suite had been booked while I was on hold. What a scam. I was so stupid that I would have paid them $1,600 and they would have been pleased as punch to relieve me of my $1,600 for a room that would have only been another few hundred dollars. I immediately cancelled my bid and I have learned a valuable lesson. Never bid on an upgrade. Just call to see what it would cost to get it.

 

As in an auction you need to know the value and what an item is going for, I have seen many people pay triple what an item is worth in auctions as they get caught up in bidding and winning at all costs

[schildiams]

Make sure that the person who answers knows the correct answer. Typically you do lose prior promos.

 

[schildiams]

35 minutes ago, timf2001 said:

The only thing that matters is incremental revenue.  Your $200 earns NCL exactly the same amount as the other person's $200 if you both make the same type of cabin available.  They aren't going to resell your room at the price your originally paid.  It will either be awarded as an upgrade to someone who bid from an inside cabin, or sold at a discounted rate to a last-minute buyer (likely as a guarantee).  The only time it would potentially represent more incremental revenue for NCL is if you bid less than someone in an inside cabin, but NCL stands to earn more from upgrading someone else into your original room than they would if they just took the inside cabin's bid.

That sounds good, but then how do explain the fact that some roll calls have reported people with LOWER bids on the exact same upgrade getting approved before those with higher bids? Some even in the same family?

[JamieLogical]

How does that make it a scam? You always had the option to call NCL and pay for a direct upgrade... If you weren't tracking prices and aware of the cost difference between the suite you bid on and your original room, how is that NCL's fault?

[timf2001]

1 hour ago, schildiams said:

That sounds good, but then how do explain the fact that some roll calls have reported people with LOWER bids on the exact same upgrade getting approved before those with higher bids? Some even in the same family?

I can't recall ever seeing reports of that, and I try and follow all the bidding related threads.

[rtkenmore]

3 minutes ago, timf2001 said:

I can't recall ever seeing reports of that, and I try and follow all the bidding related threads.

 

Do you follow every single Roll Call as well which is what this person was referring to..  A roll call for a particular sailing where people with lower bids were reporting winning over people with higher bids for the same category upgrade.

[timf2001]

Just now, rtkenmore said:

 

Do you follow every single Roll Call as well which is what this person was referring to..  A roll call for a particular sailing where people with lower bids were reporting winning over people with higher bids for the same category upgrade.

Fair enough, I guess the only conclusion that can be drawn is the bidding process is unpredictable and buyer beware.

[missysworld]

I just received my upgrade an hour ago. I originally paid $999 for obstructed oceanview for 14 nights. It is not going for $1349 and I won the bid at $140 per person. So I paid $1139 for a family balcony that is now selling for $2349. So I saved $1210 per person. 

But I watched the prices every day to see if it was worth it to cancel my bid and do a direct upgrade. But the prices didn’t come down enough. 

I would believe if you did this you would have been able to save big time like I did. 

[rtkenmore]

22 minutes ago, missysworld said:

I just received my upgrade an hour ago. I originally paid $999 for obstructed oceanview for 14 nights. It is not going for $1349 and I won the bid at $140 per person. So I paid $1139 for a family balcony that is now selling for $2349. So I saved $1210 per person. 

But I watched the prices every day to see if it was worth it to cancel my bid and do a direct upgrade. But the prices didn’t come down enough. 

I would believe if you did this you would have been able to save big time like I did. 

 

That's an awesome deal.  Congrats.

 

I'm hoping our bid for a mini-suite balcony on Dawn is accepted.  Decided to do only $150/person just to try it out. We're happy with our Ocean View as well if we don't get the upgrade so nothing to lose and quite honestly, we don't have to have a balcony either.  Just a want...

[DMH15]

5 hours ago, KaDarr said:

So here is my experience with NCL on bidding for an upgrade. We are already booked in a deck 11 aft facing mini suite. The email came inviting me to bid on an upgrade to a Haven suite or a penthouse suite. So stupid me, I bid on the penthouse suite at $800 per person for a total of $1600, which was on the high side of "poor". After thinking about this for a few days, I thought, well why don't I just book the room instead of waiting to see if I'll be changing rooms after I printed out our luggage tags. So I called NCL, and was told that there was one penthouse suite available and it would cost me another (I think it was $287, it was less than $300 anyway) extra. That's all!!!! However, when she came back on the phone after five minutes of "checking with her supervisor" she informed me the suite had been booked while I was on hold. What a scam. I was so stupid that I would have paid them $1,600 and they would have been pleased as punch to relieve me of my $1,600 for a room that would have only been another few hundred dollars. I immediately cancelled my bid and I have learned a valuable lesson. Never bid on an upgrade. Just call to see what it would cost to get it.

I always book early the full suite I want.   I do not like that NCL has become the "Priceline of cruises"... I used to be loyal.  My next cruise is not on NCL.  I will continue to shop around.