Beware of the MSC Upgrade bid program

[sverigecruiser]

5 hours ago, Valkyrie said:

When I log into the website this is what it lists. I'm not sure the on shore people really know about this program. 

Cabin Details

Stateroom # 16023 Msc Yacht Club Interior Suite

Experience

MSC YACHT CLUB

Deck

16

Passengers

 

 

Price Details

Services Included

DINING

FREE ENTERTAINMENT

ACTIVITIES, FITNESS & POOL

KIDS CLUB

EARN POINTS

Additional Benefits of MSC YACHT CLUB Experience

• • The ultimate VIP Experience
• • All-inclusive food & drinks
• • Concierge Service
• • 24-hour Butler service
• • Luxurious suites
• • Access to Private Areas

 

I think this is the information you need. Print it and bring it just in case they say something else on the ship.

 

[BermudaBound2014]

7 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

But one person is enough to show that it can be done and has been done.

 

We have no reason to assume that that person wasn't telling the truth.

 

 

 

One person's account is hardly enough to prove to me that it '"can be done and has been done'".  I need much more evidence to draw such a sweeping conclusion.  I tend to think outlier reports are simply mistaken.  

 

Bottom line: I believe that MSC upgrades to YC will include YC perks.

 

In fact, it wouldn't surprise me one bit to see savoy travelers booking very inexpensive inside bella cabins and then bidding high for YC upgrades.  

[BermudaBound2014]

23 hours ago, Até said:

I'll just say I think nikkiw60 was upgraded under a different policy; a complimentary upgrade to a known CC member who already had the Deluxe package and already in total paid, what she has said, what was getting close to the upgrade cabin's price.  MSC couldn't have bought better PR than the resulting thread on here.  The cynic in me wonders about MSC's timing, but overall I have no problem with them offering a few free upgrades nor with CC members posting about their experiences.  

 

BINGO!! :) As a person who has complete live reports on Princess, Holland America, NCL, RCL, and MSC I can tell you with absolute certainty that cruise lines pay attention. 

 

23 hours ago, Até said:

.  If so, welcome to the NCL model.

 

Based on my experience with the NCL model of upgrade bidding, the original 'experience' booked has no relationship to the winning bid. It's not even considered. The bids are conducted after final payment and are pure revenue generators. The highest bid is accepted, period.

 

For example (numbers are for demonstration only).

Person A pays $750 for an inside bella.

Person B pays $1,500 for a balcony Aureau experience. 

 

Now add the revenue generator bidding process:

Person A Bids $1000

Person B bids $950

Person A would win that bid because MSC would generate $50 more  in additional revenue.

 

It makes no different that person A  is all in at $1,750 while the total generated from person B would have been $2,450. Doesn't matter. 

 

Neither do I believe the drink package comes into play anywhere in the scenario. Keep in mind, giving away a  complimentary drink package means very little out of pocket expense for a cruise line. The actual cost of a drink is pennies on the dollar, hardly worth considering.  

 

Of course, I reserve the right to be wrong :). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sverigecruiser]

28 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

One person's account is hardly enough to prove to me that it '"can be done and has been done'".  I need much more evidence to draw such a sweeping conclusion. 

 

I need more evidence to say that they lied.

[BermudaBound2014]

13 minutes ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

I need more evidence to say that they lied.

 

You are too intelligent to put words in my type. I never stated they lied. 

[sverigecruiser]

59 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

You are too intelligent to put words in my type. I never stated they lied. 

 

They said that they were upgraded to the room and not the experience and that they were denied to use the TSL after they showed their cards to staff there.

 

Is that correct or are they lying?

 

There really is no room for missunderstandings in what they said.

[BermudaBound2014]

9 minutes ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

There really is no room for missunderstandings in what they said.

 

There is always room for misunderstanding.

 

This is especially true where language differences are in play. 

 

I believe most CC members act without malice.

 

 

[dexddd]

On 6/28/2019 at 1:43 PM, kodesthemoose said:

We should really place our bets.  I'm betting on OP getting the YC perks but also betting that MSC has no idea what it's doing with this bidding program. 

I agree.  And if it turns out like NCL, it will drive those who book outright to stop booking at full price and also go elsewhere.

[sverigecruiser]

37 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

There is always room for misunderstanding.

 

This is especially true where language differences are in play. 

 

I believe most CC members act without malice.

 

 

 

Can you give me an example on what the missunderstanding could have been? I really see no room for it but I'm prepared to change my mind if someone can give me an example.

[sverigecruiser]

5 minutes ago, dexddd said:

I agree.  And if it turns out like NCL, it will drive those who book outright to stop booking at full price and also go elsewhere.

 

But if MSC does it the NCL way I really can't see where to go! Haven to Yacht Club was easy but Yacht Club to???

[dexddd]

14 minutes ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

But if MSC does it the NCL way I really can't see where to go! Haven to Yacht Club was easy but Yacht Club to???

Yeah, I agree.

 

I also believe YC, at least on the big ships going out of  Miami, is going to get kids running loose in TSL threads as we had a couple last week.  This week 85 kids in Seaside YC which will be interesting to hear how it went this week for max996.

[sverigecruiser]

17 minutes ago, dexddd said:

Yeah, I agree.

 

I also believe YC, at least on the big ships going out of  Miami, is going to get kids running loose in TSL threads as we had a couple last week.  This week 85 kids in Seaside YC which will be interesting to hear how it went this week for max996.

 

85 kids in the Yacht Club sounds too much!

 

I don't think that MSC will be bad as NCL because there are so many two bedroom suites in the Haven, perfect for families.

[Até]

1 hour ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Based on my experience with the NCL model of upgrade bidding, the original 'experience' booked has no relationship to the winning bid. It's not even considered. The bids are conducted after final payment and are pure revenue generators. The highest bid is accepted, period.

 

Neither do I believe the drink package comes into play anywhere in the scenario. Keep in mind, giving away a  complimentary drink package means very little out of pocket expense for a cruise line. The actual cost of a drink is pennies on the dollar, hardly worth considering.  

You've taken what I wrote out of context.  The model I am referring to is that there will be two different types of people who will be paying vastly different amounts to be in the same cabin type.  And before anyone jumps on me for being a YC snob, that is not what I'm saying as this applies to almost every cabin type.  The difference I'm talking about is people's willingnes to chance staying in a lower level cabin and then take a gamble again getting assigned a mystery cabin in an unknown location.  Take that "Suite" bid for example, what would you end up in with that bid?  Sure there's always been an small incentive to book a guarantee, but the bidding system puts a strong incentive to book the lowest cabin type one can stomach and anyone set on a higher level cabin or specific location is going to pay a distinct premium.

 

It's too early for comparisons with NCL's bid system.  Neither apparently take loyalty status into consideration.   I'll agree MSC's new system seems to not be taking drink package pre purchase into consideration, there I was referring to MSC's past method where I noticed there seemed a majority of YC upgrade reports saying they had already purchased a drink package.  I'll disagree by saying MSC is not going to give away drinks packages easily, not so much because of what it would cost them but because of the potential on board spending revenue it loses.  I would assume both systems are set to maximize profit, therefore the highest bid on a particular cabin may not necessarily win.  Unfortunately if no one is bidding on your cabin type that could affect your chances because it might be much more profitable to move the YIN to the YC deluxe, the Aurea suite to the YIN, the balcony to the suite and so on.  Other people's bidding can affect the final cabin assignment outcome and the computer system will run all the scenarios to figure out which makes them the most money.

 

I still find MSC's acceptance of OP's bid 45 days out confusing, I've only seen that on NCL's system when someone makes a foolish bid very close to or above an open cabin type's current selling price.  I think MSC got caught off gaurd because several YIN's are commonly hidden from public inventory until about a month before sailing and the Plusgrade programming treated it in some way as a hard to sell cabin type.

[BermudaBound2014]

1 hour ago, Até said:

You've taken what I wrote out of context.  The model I am referring to is that there will be two different types of people who will be paying vastly different amounts to be in the same cabin type.  And before anyone jumps on me for being a YC snob, that is not what I'm saying as this applies to almost every cabin type.  The difference I'm talking about is people's willingnes to chance staying in a lower level cabin and then take a gamble again getting assigned a mystery cabin in an unknown location.  Take that "Suite" bid for example, what would you end up in with that bid?  Sure there's always been an small incentive to book a guarantee, but the bidding system puts a strong incentive to book the lowest cabin type one can stomach and anyone set on a higher level cabin or specific location is going to pay a distinct premium.

 

It's too early for comparisons with NCL's bid system.  Neither apparently take loyalty status into consideration.   I'll agree MSC's new system seems to not be taking drink package pre purchase into consideration, there I was referring to MSC's past method where I noticed there seemed a majority of YC upgrade reports saying they had already purchased a drink package.  I'll disagree by saying MSC is not going to give away drinks packages easily, not so much because of what it would cost them but because of the potential on board spending revenue it loses.  I would assume both systems are set to maximize profit, therefore the highest bid on a particular cabin may not necessarily win.  Unfortunately if no one is bidding on your cabin type that could affect your chances because it might be much more profitable to move the YIN to the YC deluxe, the Aurea suite to the YIN, the balcony to the suite and so on.  Other people's bidding can affect the final cabin assignment outcome and the computer system will run all the scenarios to figure out which makes them the most money.

 

I still find MSC's acceptance of OP's bid 45 days out confusing, I've only seen that on NCL's system when someone makes a foolish bid very close to or above an open cabin type's current selling price.  I think MSC got caught off gaurd because several YIN's are commonly hidden from public inventory until about a month before sailing and the Plusgrade programming treated it in some way as a hard to sell cabin type.

 

For the most part I think you and I share the same perspective. We differ in that I don’t believe the bidding system will take initial purchase into consideration (with or without drink package). I think they will look at bottom line numbers. I bet we also agree that they will likely know ahead of time what that bottom line number is. 

 

I have had positive experiences with the bidding system on other lines and welcome it on MSC. The key is to book the lowest room you would be happy with. This is Especially beneficial for what I consider non-eventful trips. A “big celebration” might be different! In that I’d be willing to pay more upfront, but we rarely do big celebrations on cruises as we prefer land vacations overall. 

 

Those of you with specific cabin preferences will still have the opportunity to book them. At the same time, Those of us less fixed in our mindset can benefit from our ability to be perfectly happy with a less than desirable cabin location.

 

I also think this is a much better system than the random lottery for upgrades that has existed prior. I could never find a pattern to those regardless of line.

 

Obviously I’m in the minority on this thread, just sharing another perspective :). 

[sverigecruiser]

3 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

I have had positive experiences with the bidding system on other lines and welcome it on MSC. The key is to book the lowest room you would be happy with. This is Especially beneficial for what I consider non-eventful trips. A “big celebration” might be different! In that I’d be willing to pay more upfront, but we rarely do big celebrations on cruises as we prefer land vacations overall. 

 

Those of you with specific cabin preferences will still have the opportunity to book them. At the same time, Those of us less fixed in our mindset can benefit from our ability to be perfectly happy with a less than desirable cabin location.

 

 

 

The problem is if MSC raise the price a lot for thoose who have a specific preference. They can try to sell them for more to maximize profit and let someone bid on unsold cabins.

 

(That is what I think NCL has done but I really have no proof. It may have been a coincidence that they raised the prices a lot exactly when they started the bidding system.)

[BermudaBound2014]

10 minutes ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

The problem is if MSC raise the price a lot for thoose who have a specific preference. They can try to sell them for more to maximize profit and let someone bid on unsold cabins.

 

(That is what I think NCL has done but I really have no proof. It may have been a coincidence that they raised the prices a lot exactly when they started the bidding system.)

 

I do believe that i understand your stance. If the bidding system drives normal YC cruise pricing ridiculously high (as is the case with ncl haven imo), then the real loser in this scenario is the person willing to book far in advance to ensure they get specific experiences/cabin locations. With that scenario, I do agree that the new bidding system could indeed be very unfortunate.

[Até]

3 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

But if MSC does it the NCL way I really can't see where to go! Haven to Yacht Club was easy but Yacht Club to???

I'm waiting to see the new MSC luxury line but will likely be priced out.  Maybe they'll offer bidding on those ships too.

[electro]

21 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

For clarity- only one person reported they were upgraded to YC and then asked to pay $35 pp for YC perks.

I have been upgraded to YC and asked to pay for the YC perks.

Review here with details

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2352992-no-luggage-yc-upgrade-splendida-cruise/

[BermudaBound2014]

22 minutes ago, electro said:

I have been upgraded to YC and asked to pay for the YC perks.

Review here with details

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2352992-no-luggage-yc-upgrade-splendida-cruise/

 

And now there are two :). Thank you for sharing! Nice trip report also. Great attitude about the luggage. Did you ever get the $35 reimbursed?  It seems very unfair to offer a complimentary upgrade and then ask for $35 to use it.

 

Also, I must have missed what ship you were on? Was it Preziosa? If so, that is the same ship that the first person was on and both occurrences were in 2017. 

 

Edit to add: I just looked at your signature. Looks like Bellisma in 2016. 

Edited June 30, 2019 by BermudaBound2014

[Essiesmom]

3 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

And now there are two :). Thank you for sharing! Nice trip report also. Great attitude about the luggage. Did you ever get the $35 reimbursed?  It seems very unfair to offer a complimentary upgrade and then ask for $35 to use it.

 

Also, I must have missed what ship you were on? Was it Preziosa? If so, that is the same ship that the first person was on and both occurrences were in 2017. 

 

Edit to add: I just looked at your signature. Looks like Bellisma in 2016. 

The title in the link says Splendida.  EM

[sverigecruiser]

8 hours ago, electro said:

I have been upgraded to YC and asked to pay for the YC perks.

Review here with details

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2352992-no-luggage-yc-upgrade-splendida-cruise/

 

I read your review. Did I understood it right that in the end you didn't have to pay for it? (You got the money back.)

[sverigecruiser]

8 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 then the real loser in this scenario is the person willing to book far in advance to ensure they get specific experiences/cabin locations.

 

And that is me!

 

If that happens I do think that we won't cruise anymore.

[electro]

12 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

The title in the link says Splendida.  EM

Yes, it was the Splendida. When I got home, I sent all the paperwork and the receipt to MSC and they did reimburse me, much to my surprise. 

If it comes to it, you have to be willing to do without the perks, or pay the money with no guarantee that you will get the money back, I may have just been lucky. We all like what MSC shoreside customer service can be like.

[helen haywood]

Sorry, question answered.  Couldn't delete post.

Edited July 1, 2019 by helen haywood

[DCGuy64]

23 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

I do believe that i understand your stance. If the bidding system drives normal YC cruise pricing ridiculously high (as is the case with ncl haven imo), then the real loser in this scenario is the person willing to book far in advance to ensure they get specific experiences/cabin locations. With that scenario, I do agree that the new bidding system could indeed be very unfortunate.

This is exactly my view, too. It's like the principle in economics called "opportunity cost," i.e. the opportunity cost is the value of something when a particular course of action is chosen. Simply put, the opportunity cost is what you must forgo in order to get something.

As I see it, those who require a certain cabin type and experience level are paying potentially higher prices than someone who books more cheaply and bids on an upgrade, because the first person has decided that he/she cannot compromise on the type and location of cabin. Those in the second category are presumably content with whatever cabin was initially chosen but wouldn't mind upgrading. Personally, I don't see anyone losing in this scenario, but I know those in category 1 seem to think that they do.