Any successful bids for Pride of America upgrade?

[alliecat44]

Hello, 

 

i have tried searching in as in as many ways as I could think of for examples...but could not find a single post. Has ANYONE successfully bid on an upgrade for PofA? Or is this cruise just too popular and always sells out? 

[kelib]

All I got was an upgrade from inside to ocean view... Did not get the balcony but I only bid the minimum on each... In retrospect paying extra for the ocean view was a waste. I also wad there in a shoulder season (last week in October) and booked on 3 weeks notice.. 

[Firepath]

I searched multiple POA reviews and found 2 mentions of accepted $100 bids for inside to balcony. Based on this I have bid $150 balcony and $75 ocean view to upgrade my inside in late October. I hope it is accepted, but if not, no big deal as I think most of our time will be spent off the ship anyways. aaliecat44, what are you trying for? I hope you get it. Good luck!

[alliecat44]

Good luck with your bids!! 

 

I'm currently in a large balcony stateroom hoping for an upgrade to a penthouse or owner's suite. Watching for price drops as my SO is willing to pay ~300 per person less than current market rate....since I highly doubt we will be successful in the bidding process. It's a special occasion cruise for us so I really want something special. 

 

Thanks for the info from your sleuthing!

[alliecat44]

As an addendum, I just checked the inventory for the cabins I have bid on. Among the categories that are not currently sold out--

 

--Owner’s suite with Large Balcony, category SC; five available; $3999

 

--Penthouse with large Balcony:

                --Category SE, $3249; eight available

                --Category SF, $3599; one available

                --Category SG, $3149; two available

                --Category SH, $3099; four available

**Note--all of the Penthouse with Large Balcony categories are grouped together in the Upgrade Advantage bidding process. Sooo, huge variation in terms of difference from base fare I paid (2649) and current price of those rooms (400-950). I wasn't sure what to bid for this category. 

 

I called and asked how much it would be to upgrade outright to SE. The base fare is six hundred per person above what we paid. However, if we upgraded directly, we would lose our reduced airfare (!!!--we already have our flights and seats!!) and the cost would be $1400 per person!!! Sooo, I split the difference about the different category prices and bid $450 for "Penthouse with Large Balcony." 

 

I'll update with my results, I promise! 

 

So, that leaves twenty cabins available with sailing in T-minus 20 days. 

[Firepath]

The waiting is hard! I almost wish they wouldn't allow bids until just before they are going to do something. 

[Beachiekeen]

We are in a suite and both the OS on our deck are still open for our cruise.  I am soooo hoping we get a chance to bid.  We are 82 days out today.

[alliecat44]

47 minutes ago, Beachiekeen said:

We are in a suite and both the OS on our deck are still open for our cruise.  I am soooo hoping we get a chance to bid.  We are 82 days out today.

 

Oh, you will get a chance to bid, for sure...! The only question is whether you will actually win. LOL Good luck!!!

 

Today the price for the OS went down by $200. Still FIVE available with 19 days to go....any thoughts on how many people are likely to book a cabin like that so short before the cruise?? Is it worth calling NCL directly again to see if they will keep my reduced airfare perk and just upgrade me for a fee?? aahhhh

[Beachiekeen]

10 minutes ago, alliecat44 said:

 

Oh, you will get a chance to bid, for sure...! The only question is whether you will actually win. LOL Good luck!!!

 

Today the price for the OS went down by $200. Still FIVE available with 19 days to go....any thoughts on how many people are likely to book a cabin like that so short before the cruise?? Is it worth calling NCL directly again to see if they will keep my reduced airfare perk and just upgrade me for a fee?? aahhhh

I think we might call.  The OS is only $900 more than what we paid.  Plus, we really want to stay on our same deck with our family so bidding is less attractive.  

[alliecat44]

4 minutes ago, Beachiekeen said:

I think we might call.  The OS is only $900 more than what we paid.  Plus, we really want to stay on our same deck with our family so bidding is less attractive.  

Is it 900 more per person, or 900 more total? 

 

I tried calling yesterday about a penthouse with large balcony (price difference was 600 per person more than what we paid) and was quoted more than double that to upgrade...since we would lose the reduced airfare perk...

 

Good luck with calling. Definitely can't hurt!! 

 

Right now the OS is 1100 per person more than what we paid and our bid is 1020 per person. 

Edited August 12, 2019 by alliecat44

[Beachiekeen]

27 minutes ago, alliecat44 said:

Is it 900 more per person, or 900 more total? 

 

I tried calling yesterday about a penthouse with large balcony (price difference was 600 per person more than what we paid) and was quoted more than double that to upgrade...since we would lose the reduced airfare perk...

 

Good luck with calling. Definitely can't hurt!! 

 

Right now the OS is 1100 per person more than what we paid and our bid is 1020 per person. 

That's $900 total.  I told hubby to make sure that we don't lose any of our perks.

[alliecat44]

Oh yeah, that is TOTALLY worth it!!!!! 

[Beachiekeen]

I am on a couple of FB groups and have seen a few people get upgrades, but it's usually interior to OV or OV to balcony.  There are SEVEN OS open so far for our cruise.  Only 3 of our room category though.  I had always thought POA sailed full every sailing so I was surprised.  I guess it's still early though.  Prices have gone way down too so they obviously want to sell them.

Edited August 12, 2019 by Beachiekeen

[alliecat44]

Thanks for the info! I thought it would be full every sailing, too....I've put in a request to join one of the FB groups. 🙂 Thanks for that tip! Let us know how your upgrade turns out!! 

[trosanjohn]

Dumb question, but can you bid any amount or just the lowest amount the slide bar will allow?

[Beachiekeen]

trosanjohn that's a good question.  Hubby said there is a minimum so I just assumed that's all you can do.

 

We got our email today.  Lowest minimum bid to OS was $800 pp, lowest to Deluxe Penthouse was $400 pp. This is actually a great deal for our cruise as the Deluxe Pent house is currently more than the OS for our dates. There is even an option for the Deluxe OS which is supposedly sold out for our cruise.  We can call and upgrade to the OS for less than the bid if we just pay the difference from what we paid for our suite.

 

We are not bidding as we want to stay on Deck 12 with the rest of our family.  All the Deluxe Penthouses are on 13.  We may call and try to upgrade outright to the OS on 12 but hubby doesn't really want to, he is happy with our suite.  He called once and the lady was really rude to him so he didn't do it.  Maybe he'll call back and get a nicer person.

[alliecat44]

2 hours ago, trosanjohn said:

Dumb question, but can you bid any amount or just the lowest amount the slide bar will allow?

You can’t bid any lower than the lowest amount on the slide bar but you can bid higher up to the max amount on the slide bar. 

 

The cruise that is departing one week before ours (August 24) looks like there is one penthouse left and all the other suites are sold out. So I am assuming those folks on that sailing already for any upgrades assigned??

[alliecat44]

Just checking in with updates....

 

Looking at the August 24 sailing, there are two suites available to book--one Penthouse and one 1-Bedroom Obstructed View Family Suite. That's it. 

 

Looking at the September 7 sailing, there are a total of six suites available across ALL categories--everything else is sold out. 

 

Very curious as to whether any of the suites that are taken were upgrades from lower categories or if they were all booked outright. Probably will never know. 🙂

 

I have heard from several people on my sailing (August 31) that they got upgrades from inside/oceanview to balcony, family balcony as much as three weeks ahead of time. Currently on this sailing, there are six Owner's Suites available to book, eight Penthouse with Large Balcony category SE's available (including one of the dreaded pool view penthouses), one SF Penthouse, two SG Penthouses, two SH Penthouses, and three two-bedroom Family Suites. Total of 22 EMPTY SUITES!!

 

I have to think this is more than is typically available this close to sailing. 

 

It's interesting to me because on the Upgrade thread, we usually assume that there is a domino effect to the upgrade process--people get upgraded to suites first, then to balconies, etc. But what I am seeing so far is kind of a "reverse domino"--from the bottom up. I wonder if there are upgrades coming for the suites?? Or if they would sail empty?? I think that would be unlikely, right? After all, the butlers and concierge aren't in the GSC tipping pool and their income relies on individual tips...this is a lot of suites to be left empty...!!! 

 

Ah, the waiting is killing me. 🙂 

Edited August 18, 2019 by alliecat44
looked at the week after as well

[idkanything]

Keep updating Alliecat! I’m along for the ride and I hope you get your upgrade! 

[Firepath]

Maybe they are hoping someone will come along at the last minute and book that penthouse. Now that school is back in sessions for a lot of schools and the summer is winding down, I wonder if there is more open availability.

[alliecat44]

Bumping today because I see that four penthouses have gone “off the market” so to speak in the past 24 hours before our August 31 sailing. 

 

Was anyone on here upgraded? I am dying to know if they were new bookings or upgrades! Lol 

 

still waiting....five OS left...

[alliecat44]

Bumping again. Obsessively checking this morning during a slow day at work. 

 

In a twenty minute period, all of a sudden the five OS that were available became Sold Out, as did all but one subcategory of Penthouse with Large Balcony (total of about 11 penthouses that are suddenly “sold out.”) 

 

anybody have ave any ideas? Processing upgrade bids, travel agents snagging blocks of last minute rooms, people deciding to book suites at the last minute? 

 

Think it is i interesting insight into the upgrade process in general. 

[czimm]

That generally happens when they are preparing the bid offers!  Fingers crossed for you 

[Firepath]

I can't imagine they'd be new bookings at this point. Almost everyone is flying in from somewhere else for the cruise and I imagine flights are extremely costly at this late date. Good luck and keep us posted!

[alliecat44]

On 8/22/2019 at 1:10 PM, czimm said:

That generally happens when they are preparing the bid offers!  Fingers crossed for you 

 

So, for folks who are monitoring their own upgrade bids on any ship, here is another update...

 

Yesterday the suites vascillated between being sold out and available for booking. It ended up that most of the time they were actually available. 

 

Today, it looks like they went to sold out for good around 2-3pm EST. I haven’t seen them become available again since then. 

 

All the other categories have guarantees available (even though on the main page it says ocean view is sold out before clicking through). 

 

My bids are still pending. :) 

 

I will update no matter what, as I think this is good information about the end of the upgrade process! 

 

Thanks for the support, guys!