MoveUp - "Not currently available"?

[Kreative03]

Heads up! If you were looking to participate in MoveUp, while they added Apex to the list of eligible ships,  neither Millennium or Apex is available to upgrade on currently. I check in on availability given we are under 30 days for the first sailings.

 

According to their email (celebritymoveup@celebrity.com):

 

Thank you for your interest in the Celebrity MoveUp program. We look forward to welcoming you onboard! At this time no announcement has been made that the bidding process has reopened. Please ensure you are registered for promotional emails by logging in to your account and checking your email preferences or call the Captain’s Club at 800-760-0654. Should the program reopen you will be notified of the program details within 30 days to sailing. Please let us know if you have any questions and we look forward to welcoming you back onboard!

 

If anyone hears different, or has a different experience, let us know!

[HS2BS]

5/21/21

 

We received a bid offer today for the Millennium for the June 5 cruise. Outrageous minimums!

 

Hal

[wrk2cruise]

Did you expect otherwise?   Willing to share the minimums?

[jelayne]

 

52 minutes ago, HS2BS said:

5/21/21

 

We received a bid offer today for the Millennium for the June 5 cruise. Outrageous minimums!

 

Hal

Where there actually any of the upgrade categories you wanted available?  We have seen crazy high minimum bids on sold out categories.

[foggyphils]

The bare minimums are basically the same price as if you just booked them directly and got to pick your location I think. For instance, going from Veranda to Aqua is $350 per person.  I paid just under $1700 for my cabin and they are booking Aqua for just over $2k and you get to choose your cabin. 

My move up options included Concierge $200pp, Aqua $350pp, Family suite $200pp (this one might actually be a bit less than direct booking?), Sky Suite $1000pp, Celebrity Suite $1500pp,  Royal suite $2k pp. These were the minimums with a very weak/red chance of being accepted. 

 

Maybe I'm missing something? This will be my first Celebrity cruise. Do they ever lower the minimums as the cruise gets closer?

[wrk2cruise]

I agree those look high especially for a 7 day cruise.  If the family suite is the FV category Family Veranda then that would be the only interesting one at the price due to the large balcony and I love aft cabins,  but I wouldn't bid much over the minimum.

[Cdresser]

I have closely watched moveup bids in the past and made one successful bid to go from sky suite guarantee to edge villa for a 7nt cruise in December 2019. My experience has been that the real savings are for the suites. The minimums are high, but with the suites I haven't seen them close to what the list price would be. I could never afford the villa at the price they list but we were able to get it for a total of $4550pp. However, that was before covid and the price increases because we only paid $2000pp for the original suite booking. Also, I bid $25pp over the minimum to make my bid stand out a little and there were 6 villas available when I bid.

 

My only other bid was on an Alaskan cruise in July 2019 to go from aqua to suite. We booked last minute and the suites were sold out so I knew it was a long shot to get one. 

 

Also, my experience and that of others I've seen is they do not lower the minimums. If they don't get the bids, they offer it to blue chip members.

 

Thank you for posting the info on the current offerings, it helps me in my decision making for a fall Caribbean cruise.

 

BTW, the edge villa was a stretch for our budget but I would do it again in a heart beat and DH would enthusiastically agree. It was a dream vacation and gave us so many great memories to savor over the past year when we were housebound due to the pandemic. 

Edited May 22, 2021 by Cdresser

[Kreative03]

Updating. After 2 emails to MoveUp - I have finally gotten the opportunity unlocked. But despite my current room/price paid, some of the options aren't offering bargain minimums like I would expect :).  I will add to the moveup thread.

 

Currently booked in S1 with about 90 Sky Suites left to sell. Minimums are the following: Celebrity Suite $1.5kpp,  Royal suite $2kpp, Edge Villa $2kpp, Penthouse Suite $3.5kpp (sold out), Iconic Suite $8k pp.

 

Current pricing says Sky suites are retailing at 8.8k, CS at 16.4, RS and Villa at 24, and Iconic at 54k.  So they are all discounted nicely, but they surely aren't giving anything away. 

[number one eagles fan]

12 minutes ago, Kreative03 said:

Updating. After 2 emails to MoveUp - I have finally gotten the opportunity unlocked. But despite my current room/price paid, some of the options aren't offering bargain minimums like I would expect :).  I will add to the moveup thread.

 

Currently booked in S1 with about 90 Sky Suites left to sell. Minimums are the following: Celebrity Suite $1.5kpp,  Royal suite $2kpp, Edge Villa $2kpp, Penthouse Suite $3.5kpp (sold out), Iconic Suite $8k pp.

 

Current pricing says Sky suites are retailing at 8.8k, CS at 16.4, RS and Villa at 24, and Iconic at 54k.  So they are all discounted nicely, but they surely aren't giving anything away. 

The minimums quoted, is that what you pay in addition to what you have already paid?

[wrk2cruise]

That's the minimum bid per person in addition to what you have already paid.   The minimum bids are considered "weak".  If these are for a 7 day cruise I think they are VERY high.

[jagoffee]

5 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

That's the minimum bid per person in addition to what you have already paid.   The minimum bids are considered "weak".  If these are for a 7 day cruise I think they are VERY high.

I would think that it would depend on what they paid for their current S1 cabin.  $500 pp difference between a CS and an Edge Villa looks like a good deal.  

[Jeanmaw]

On 5/22/2021 at 9:03 AM, wrk2cruise said:

I agree those look high especially for a 7 day cruise.  If the family suite is the FV category Family Veranda then that would be the only interesting one at the price due to the large balcony and I love aft cabins,  but I wouldn't bid much over the minimum.

 

[Jeanmaw]

What is an aft cabin?   At very back of ship looking only back. Not sideways.   

[zitsky]

13 minutes ago, Jeanmaw said:

What is an aft cabin?   At very back of ship looking only back. Not sideways.   

There are looking back and sideways.  We went from midship deck 9 on Equinox to aft sideways deck 11 on Infinity.  We thought looking back might be too rough. (Motion sickness)

Edited August 28, 2021 by zitsky

[Miaminice]

@Kreative03

Apex is available for MoveUp… however, not 30 days but 21 days before the cruise. The error message still says 30 days and the website says 21 days…

 

we just had our $100 bid for AQ accepted on the 9/4 Apex cruise. 

[Kreative03]

@Miaminice glad you got the opportunity. We did as well, as we were on the inaugural. Prices were too rich for our tastes given we were in Suites already.  But next time an edge villa for sure 🤣

[Jim_Iain]

19 hours ago, Miaminice said:

@Kreative03

Apex is available for MoveUp… however, not 30 days but 21 days before the cruise. The error message still says 30 days and the website says 21 days…

 

we just had our $100 bid for AQ accepted on the 9/4 Apex cruise. 

On Equinox 9/5 cruise it wasn't available until 13 days prior to cruises.   for 9/17 became available about 20 days.  

[Miaminice]

Well, this is what the MoveUp page on the we says:

*Eligible reservations on all Celebrity Cruise ships within 21 days of departure date. Program includes Celebrity Apex^℠  now.

 

The minimum bid for suites on Apex was equally low… around €500 or so.

However, knowing that the ship sails at around 30% capacity next week and looking at the stateroom availability we had no intention of spending anything on a suite.
 

The suites are almost sold out due to the low prices. The rest of the ship is practically empty. Luminae and the Retreat will be packed while the rest of the ship will be one huge empty lounge 😁 Why would I spent anything more?! We actually thought the same about AQ… but $100 was a no brainer. Didn’t really expect it to go through TBH.