Upgrade bid experiences

[combine]

8 minutes ago, catlover2027 said:

Hi Host Grandma Cruising.  I can't figure out how to anything to the bidding sheet, perhaps you can.    I finally realized since we hadn't completed the check-in, there wouldn't be an offer.  So I checed in and found how to receive offers.  Then we got a chance on 9/16 to bid for an upgrade on our October 10, 2019 cruise from our OV to a Veranda.  As an Azamara newbie I don't know their cabin category ins and out yet.  But I did see your upgrade bid sheet and it was very helpful.  We bid $500 for the cabin, still considered a weak bid,  (minimum was $400) and we got an email today 9/24 confirming the upgrade.  We wanted the extra points for the Veranda since are working towards our Elite plus on Celebrity so we went the extra $100.  If it matters, we went from 4042 to 7106.

 

Eileen

We were also successful with an upgrade  on this same cruise.

Sadly you do not receive the extra points for a paid upgrade. You will get the points for your original booking which was an oceanview. 

[Grandma Cruising]

Thanks catlover2027. I’ve added the information to the spreadsheet.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pEoojQ5-EPmD4cI3gw1dVcYfYTXfZePdDXxU09l0H3M

 

PDF Version https://www.dropbox.com/s/son43omwewk9ujl/Azamara Upgrade Bids.pdf?dl=0

 

Combine is quite right. The terms and conditions for the upgrade say “ Accepted offers will earn loyalty points at the original stateroom category purchased, and not the category of the upgraded stateroom.”

Edited September 24, 2019 by Host Grandma Cruising

[midwestchick]

28 minutes ago, catlover2027 said:

Hi Host Grandma Cruising.  I can't figure out how to anything to the bidding sheet, perhaps you can.    I finally realized since we hadn't completed the check-in, there wouldn't be an offer.  So I checed in and found how to receive offers.  Then we got a chance on 9/16 to bid for an upgrade on our October 10, 2019 cruise from our OV to a Veranda.  As an Azamara newbie I don't know their cabin category ins and out yet.  But I did see your upgrade bid sheet and it was very helpful.  We bid $500 for the cabin, still considered a weak bid,  (minimum was $400) and we got an email today 9/24 confirming the upgrade.  We wanted the extra points for the Veranda since are working towards our Elite plus on Celebrity so we went the extra $100.  If it matters, we went from 4042 to 7106.

 

Eileen

 

You don’t get the extra points when you get an upgrade.  You get points for the original category you booked.

[catlover2027]

Yes I did learn (now) that the points remain the same.  But on reflection I would have bid anyway............

[hubofhockey]

I was upgraded.

 

15-day Quest Hong Kong to Singapore 

October 16 - October 31

Verandah to Club Continental Suite

$610 per person = $1,220 ($81 per day for the cabin)

Adventurer - Have done three Celebrity (and two Royal Caribbean - I don't think that makes a difference)

 

I think I may have overbid and felt more comfortable at $900 total ($450 per person) which I thought had a good shot, but it's our 25th anniversary the week before the cruise and wanted a better shot.

 

Once again, thank you to Grandma Cruising for setting up the spreadsheet.  I used the price per day for upgrade to club continental suite as a guide.  

[vegaszip]

We bid on an upgrade from ocean view stateroom to a veranda stateroom. We bid $350 per person. Our bid was accepted. We are sailing on the October 16 sailing aboard The Quest. We learned today that an additional $275 shipboard credit was added to our account. Not bad. 

[Grandma Cruising]

5 hours ago, hubofhockey said:

I was upgraded.

 

15-day Quest Hong Kong to Singapore 

October 16 - October 31

Verandah to Club Continental Suite

$610 per person = $1,220 ($81 per day for the cabin)

Adventurer - Have done three Celebrity (and two Royal Caribbean - I don't think that makes a difference)

 

I think I may have overbid and felt more comfortable at $900 total ($450 per person) which I thought had a good shot, but it's our 25th anniversary the week before the cruise and wanted a better shot.

 

Once again, thank you to Grandma Cruising for setting up the spreadsheet.  I used the price per day for upgrade to club continental suite as a guide.  

Thanks, hubofhockey, I’ve added your information to the spreadsheet. Can you remember when you bid, what the minimum bid was and whether your bid was considered to be weak, strong etc.

[Grandma Cruising]

29 minutes ago, vegaszip said:

We bid on an upgrade from ocean view stateroom to a veranda stateroom. We bid $350 per person. Our bid was accepted. We are sailing on the October 16 sailing aboard The Quest. We learned today that an additional $275 shipboard credit was added to our account. Not bad. 

Thanks vegaszip, I’ve added your information to the spreadsheet. Can you remember when you bid, what the minimum bid was and whether your bid was considered weak etc. Can you also let me know what LCV. Level you are.

It’s interesting that you got extra OBC. Do you know why that was?

[hubofhockey]

2 hours ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

Thanks, hubofhockey, I’ve added your information to the spreadsheet. Can you remember when you bid, what the minimum bid was and whether your bid was considered to be weak, strong etc.

 

Original invitation to bid was July 21 and was $200 person.

 

We bid $450 on July 23 per person originally and it was considered weak.

 

I increased it to $500 on July 30 and $610 about a month ago.  

 

All bids were considered weak, but the dial moved considerably from $450 to $610.  I am not sure how much of a factor the unrest in Hong Kong (port of original embarkation) had on the upgrade process.  I would think that less were interested in booking since June, but who knows?

 

Suggestion - You might want to add a column to your spreadsheet $ per day upgrade.  You will see trends there for verandah to cc suite.  All unsuccessful are $50 per day and below.  Two discover plus are in the $70 range and all other successful bids are in the $80 or more range.  

Edited September 25, 2019 by hubofhockey

[Grandma Cruising]

Thanks hubofhockey, I’ve added the rest of the information.

I like your idea of adding a column showing the cost per night of the bids. I’ve done that, putting the amount in US$ for the final bid made.

Hope you and others find this more helpful. Please let me know if you think this does the job!

Here’s the link to the google spreadsheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pEoojQ5-EPmD4cI3gw1dVcYfYTXfZePdDXxU09l0H3M
 

and here’s the link to the PDF version

https://www.dropbox.com/s/son43omwewk9ujl/Azamara Upgrade Bids.pdf?dl=0

Edited September 25, 2019 by Host Grandma Cruising

[hubofhockey]

That's really good.  If you look at the successful bids and unsuccessful ones, I think the $/day is what really drives it.  You may want to sort by "cabin type bid for"  to make it more useful to bidders.  At some point, people will figure out what kind of bid is realistic and what isn't much more easily than they can from Azamara's weak/fair/strong.  I ignored their weak description and relied on your spreadsheet.  As this vacation is my 25th Anniversary gift to my wife, we both appreciate this.

[Grandma Cruising]

4 hours ago, hubofhockey said:

That's really good.  If you look at the successful bids and unsuccessful ones, I think the $/day is what really drives it.  You may want to sort by "cabin type bid for"  to make it more useful to bidders.  At some point, people will figure out what kind of bid is realistic and what isn't much more easily than they can from Azamara's weak/fair/strong.  I ignored their weak description and relied on your spreadsheet.  As this vacation is my 25th Anniversary gift to my wife, we both appreciate this.

I think you’re right, although availability must make a difference too, as there are a few low bids that were successful, but not many, so maybe these were cruises with lots of availability, at least in that type of cabin.

I have sorted the spreadsheet into cabin type bid for, as you suggested. I think that also makes it easier to use. Thanks for the suggestion.

I’ve also re-ordered the columns so the amount per night is next to the type of cabin bid for. Do you think this is helpful or not?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pEoojQ5-EPmD4cI3gw1dVcYfYTXfZePdDXxU09l0H3M
 

PDF Version https://www.dropbox.com/s/son43omwewk9ujl/Azamara Upgrade Bids.pdf?dl=0

 

[hubofhockey]

That format looks really good and gives all prospective bidders a good idea what it takes to get it done.  It would be nice if Azamara changed their scoring instead of calling everything weak.  Your spreadsheet provides a better indication of what is weak and what is fair.

[BBMacLaird]

4 hours ago, hubofhockey said:

That format looks really good and gives all prospective bidders a good idea what it takes to get it done.  It would be nice if Azamara changed their scoring instead of calling everything weak.  Your spreadsheet provides a better indication of what is weak and what is fair.

I too am surprised by how many *weak* bids have been successful. It does look like we need to adjust the definitions. I’ll pass this along.

[tring]

Upgraded from Ocean View (05) to Club Veranda (V3) on Pursuit yesterday.

 

Bid Date - 18/7/19

Cruise Date - 19/10/19

Length of Cruise - 7 nights

Loyalty Level - Adventurer, first cruise.

Min Bid - £320 (£160pp)

Bid - £340 (£170pp)

Cabin type booked - OV  (05)

Cabin Bid for - Club Veranda

Bid Cost per night - £48.57

Bid Strength - Weak

Outcome - Successful

Upgraded 16 days prior to cruise.

 

Our cruise has been showing with only 2 or 3 suites available for the last 6 or 7 weeks (and still is), so we did not up our bid and we were very surprised when upgraded.  The £ has been doing funny things over the time of our bid, so I have reported in £'s and will leave you to do the translation according to the exchange rate you wish to use.

 

Thank you all for the help we have received over this and other matters Azamara.  We are very much looking forward to our cruise and will report back afterwards re cabin and a review.  We have been allocated cabin 7016 which is further forward than we would normally book, but hey a good deal and no obvious problems with it.  I was a tad concerned we could have done much worse than that, but sort of fancied the gamble, given it is a short cruise with no sea days 🙂 

 

I have a small query - I see the word Veranda has a H on the end on the spreadsheet - is that the US spelling?  The English version and that in the Azamara brochure we have does not seem to have an H, though of course the UK based cruise lines refer to balconies anyway, which is why I had to look up the spelling of Veranda and then looked again at the spreadsheet.  I have learnt quite a bit of American over this last year, especially with having my Canadian Niece and her US family stay with us this summer 🙂 

Edited October 4, 2019 by tring

[hubofhockey]

The Oxford English Dictionary gives the h version as a possible spelling, and the Guardian Style Guide says "veranda" not verandah.  Not sure why Azamara uses the h and Celebrity does not.  Both are US based.

 

In any case, congratulations on the upgrade.  

[tring]

6 minutes ago, hubofhockey said:

The Oxford English Dictionary gives the h version as a possible spelling, and the Guardian Style Guide says "veranda" not verandah.  Not sure why Azamara uses the h and Celebrity does not.  Both are US based.

 

In any case, congratulations on the upgrade.  

 

Yes, just looked into it further and you are correct, I think it may be that the word has changed spelling in recent years in some instances.  Looked again at our Azamara brochure and see it mentions balconies - so obviously the English version, but I am sure I saw verandah somewhere - perhaps the Azamara Website.

[hubofhockey]

Oops, Azamara and Celebrity both refer to balconies as verandas with no h.  I have also seen the h somewhere, but not sure where.

[hiccups]

3 hours ago, tring said:

I have a small query - I see the word Veranda has a H on the end on the spreadsheet - is that the US spelling?  The English version and that in the Azamara brochure we have does not seem to have an H, though of course the UK based cruise lines refer to balconies anyway, which is why I had to look up the spelling of Veranda and then looked again at the spreadsheet.  I have learnt quite a bit of American over this last year, especially with having my Canadian Niece and her US family stay with us this summer 🙂 

No "h" in the U.S.  I was going to say we're all about dropping letters whenever possible, but then noticed your use of "learnt," and we would use "learned," so there's an example where I'm wrong  🙂  My original thought was for "-our" words like color or labor.

[Grandma Cruising]

4 hours ago, tring said:

Upgraded from Ocean View (05) to Club Veranda (V3) on Pursuit yesterday.

 

Bid Date - 18/7/19

Cruise Date - 19/10/19

Length of Cruise - 7 nights

Loyalty Level - Adventurer, first cruise.

Min Bid - £320 (£160pp)

Bid - £340 (£170pp)

Cabin type booked - OV  (05)

Cabin Bid for - Club Veranda

Bid Cost per night - £48.57

Bid Strength - Weak

Outcome - Successful

Upgraded 16 days prior to cruise.

 

Our cruise has been showing with only 2 or 3 suites available for the last 6 or 7 weeks (and still is), so we did not up our bid and we were very surprised when upgraded.  The £ has been doing funny things over the time of our bid, so I have reported in £'s and will leave you to do the translation according to the exchange rate you wish to use.

 

Thank you all for the help we have received over this and other matters Azamara.  We are very much looking forward to our cruise and will report back afterwards re cabin and a review.  We have been allocated cabin 7016 which is further forward than we would normally book, but hey a good deal and no obvious problems with it.  I was a tad concerned we could have done much worse than that, but sort of fancied the gamble, given it is a short cruise with no sea days 🙂 

 

I have a small query - I see the word Veranda has a H on the end on the spreadsheet - is that the US spelling?  The English version and that in the Azamara brochure we have does not seem to have an H, though of course the UK based cruise lines refer to balconies anyway, which is why I had to look up the spelling of Veranda and then looked again at the spreadsheet.  I have learnt quite a bit of American over this last year, especially with having my Canadian Niece and her US family stay with us this summer 🙂 

Thanks for the information tring, and congratulations on getting your upgrade, I’m sure you’ll enjoy your veranda cabin.  I’ve updated the spreadsheet - I used today’s exchange rate! Here’s the link again   

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pEoojQ5-EPmD4cI3gw1dVcYfYTXfZePdDXxU09l0H3M

As far as Verandah/Verandah is concerned I’ve always spelled it with an ‘h’ at the end, but Azamara use it without the ‘h’, although in the UK, they call them ‘balconies’.

I looked it up and found this in www.vocabulary.com  “In the US, veranda (without the “h”) has been standard since the 1850s, but British English kept the “h” for about 100 more years. These days veranda is more common everywhere.”

As Azamara don’t use the ‘h’ at the end, I’ve amended the spreadsheet accordingly!

 

Edited October 4, 2019 by Host Grandma Cruising

[Grandma Cruising]

Interesting though the discussion was, I decided to delete about a page of discussion about UK & US spellings and usage. There was lot of it (including quite a few contributions from me) and it was probably quite confusing to anyone who was reading the topic for the first time. Please can we all (including me) stick to discussion about upgrades and bids for them here.

[Tom47]

6 hours ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

Interesting though the discussion was, I decided to delete about a page of discussion about UK & US spellings and usage. There was lot of it (including quite a few contributions from me) and it was probably quite confusing to anyone who was reading the topic for the first time. Please can we all (including me) stick to discussion about upgrades and bids for them here.

I posted the link to move the  language discussion to the other thread.

[boco010]

Still very disappointed, the price difference between our booked cat. 9 inside on the TA Journey and balcony is now €100 per person, upgrade bids accepted from $1200 per person.

No early booking for us anymore...

 

Bob en Cor

[excitedofharpenden]

On 10/8/2019 at 1:13 PM, boco010 said:

Still very disappointed, the price difference between our booked cat. 9 inside on the TA Journey and balcony is now €100 per person, upgrade bids accepted from $1200 per person.

No early booking for us anymore...

 

Bob en Cor

Another reason I totally dislike this bid process. In the old days it would have been $398 maximum for the cabin.  You are a regular Azamara cruiser and this is how they repay your loyalty. 

 

I'm lucky in a way. I book an outside in a position I want and am quite happy without the bid shenanigans. I don't need a balcony. And at the price I am willing to pay. None of the pricing games. 

 

Phil 

Edited October 9, 2019 by excitedofharpenden

[midwestchick]

9 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Another reason I totally dislike this bid process. In the old days it would have been $398 maximum for the cabin.  You are a regular Azamara cruiser and this is how they repay your loyalty. 

 

I'm lucky in a way. I book an outside in a position I want and am quite happy without the bid shenanigans. I don't need a balcony. And at the price I am willing to pay. None of the pricing games. 

 

Phil 

 

That’s what we did for our Baltic.  We had an OV on deck 4 and it was a great location.   Too bad we had to cancel the cruise.  

I wish they still had the $398 upgrade too.  There’s something about the whole bidding thing that seems devious to me. 

Edited October 9, 2019 by midwestchick