Celebrity's "Move Up Process" the old way of bidding for an upgrade!!

[Richard1950]

My wife and I are Elite Plus, we recently booked a sailing on the Equinox (17 September 2021 sail date) We’ve sailed on 38 cruises (on Celebrity), but the “New Celebrity cruise Line” does not appear to have the same ethics and professionalism,  as the “Old Celebrity Cruise line.”  

 

 Celebrity's new “Move Up” process, is totally insane!!  Celebrity has placed placed extremely high of minimum bids for all the cabin upgrades. If you placed the minimum bid, it would cost me more money for the upgraded cabin, then if you would have purchased, that cabin originally. We have placed numerous bids to upgrade our original cabin (on Celebrity) and never had this problem. We just sailed on Allure of the Seas (August 15, 2021 sail date). Our original cabin purchased was for inside, we placed a $220.00 bid (total for 2), for a Central Park Balcony. The bid was accepted two prior to sailing. The minimum bid was $100.

 

Here’s what I’m talking about your “Move Up” process: For our September 17^th cruise (Equinox) we paid $869 (per person) for an inside cabin. For us to upgrade to Aqua Class, you have a minimum bid of $700. Adding my original purchase price and the bid comes to $1,569. Today I can purchase your Aqua Class room for $1,399 (on Equinox). The ship is sailing at 50% capacity, upgrading should be inexpensive. Is Celebrity trying to go out of business? Because this process makes no sense at all!!

 

The “Old Celebrity” was the premier of the cruise line industry, which is why we choice it for our main cruise line. I sure do not like the way things are progressing with the new one. As of today, the plan is to cancel this cruise (Cruise with Confidence).I't's a shame what their CEO, is doing to a once great cruise line.

Sincerely Richard Kelley

 

 

[Cg52]

4 minutes ago, Richard1950 said:

My wife and I are Elite Plus, we recently booked a sailing on the Equinox (17 September 2021 sail date) We’ve sailed on 38 cruises (on Celebrity), but the “New Celebrity cruise Line” does not appear to have the same ethics and professionalism,  as the “Old Celebrity Cruise line.”  

 

 Celebrity's new “Move Up” process, is totally insane!!  Celebrity has placed placed extremely high of minimum bids for all the cabin upgrades. If you placed the minimum bid, it would cost me more money for the upgraded cabin, then if you would have purchased, that cabin originally. We have placed numerous bids to upgrade our original cabin (on Celebrity) and never had this problem. We just sailed on Allure of the Seas (August 15, 2021 sail date). Our original cabin purchased was for inside, we placed a $220.00 bid (total for 2), for a Central Park Balcony. The bid was accepted two prior to sailing. The minimum bid was $100.

 

Here’s what I’m talking about your “Move Up” process: For our September 17^th cruise (Equinox) we paid $869 (per person) for an inside cabin. For us to upgrade to Aqua Class, you have a minimum bid of $700. Adding my original purchase price and the bid comes to $1,569. Today I can purchase your Aqua Class room for $1,399 (on Equinox). The ship is sailing at 50% capacity, upgrading should be inexpensive. Is Celebrity trying to go out of business? Because this process makes no sense at all!!

 

The “Old Celebrity” was the premier of the cruise line industry, which is why we choice it for our main cruise line. I sure do not like the way things are progressing with the new one. As of today, the plan is to cancel this cruise (Cruise with Confidence).I't's a shame what their CEO, is doing to a once great cruise line.

Sincerely Richard Kelley

 

 

I agree. I haven’t used the move up process but even their new rules and booking process leaves a lot to be desired. We have been given wrong and conflicting information when trying to make decisions. Since Celebrity is our cruise line of choice I’ve been giving them the benefit of the doubt and am hoping that once aboard the experience we grew to love hasn’t changed too drastically.

[mom says]

Just a WAG, but from other threads I've gotten the impression  that many are booking suites and balcony cabins now, so there may be fewer available for move ups. Especially if a number of cabins  have been blocked  due to ship occupancy rate restrictions. So you've got the law of supply and demand at play. 

 

I must confess that I've never understood  the whole "move up" thing. You're essentially paying more for a guarantee cabin or suite. A pig in a poke, if you will. Although those PH pigs would be pretty nice.

 

Calling them unethical and unprofessional seems inaccurate. It seems quite open and above board. Just expensive. Shrug. That's why we buy the cabin we want in the first place.

Edited September 10, 2021 by mom says

[jelayne]

If the price to upgrade and select your cabin is less than submitting a Move Up bid then just upgrade.

 

The current 20% promotion has dropped prices on a number of sailings.  Saved over $3300 on 2 sailings today.  

Edited September 10, 2021 by jelayne
typo

[Jeremiah1212]

7 minutes ago, jelayne said:

If the price to upgrade and select your cabin is less than submitting a Move Up bid then just upgrade.

 

 

Agreed. If you want a higher priced cabin, just upgrade and pay? If you are canceling with CWC to prove a point you are getting a FCC back. Unless you just simply do not want to go on the cruise this does not make a lot of sense. 

 

Celebrity and RCCL do things much differently so there's not a lot of good done comparing the two. What about the RCCL drink package that changes price 40 times before your cruise? Talk about annoying. 

 

Throughout the entire restart Celebrity has not discounted MoveUp bids. People win them daily because it works for them. There is a need to set precedence with pricing for higher end cabins or no one would book them as their original cabin choice. 

[happy cruzer]

So what would have been different with the 'OLD" Celebrity?  To me the Move up process is just a new wrinkle that works for some?

[Catclaws]

A $530 difference for an Aqua level cabin from an inside cabin seems reasonable.  The nice thing is you do not have to use the "move up" option you can just cancel and rebook.  $1399 for a nine night cruise on Equinox seems like a great price.  I am curious how much you were hoping to bid to move from inside cabin to aquaclass.

[Jim_Iain]

Like anything else it is important to be an informed consumer.   I am on both the 9/5 and  9/17.   I've been upgraded on both.

 

On the current cruise I was in a S1 and bid on CS, RS and PS.    I won an upgrade to a RS.   I had checked my agent the price to upgrade to a RS  at regular price the day I bid.    The accepted bid was about 1/3 the cost of paying for the pre-booked  upgrade.   I'm not complaining. 

[barneymag]

Interesting thread ….. we just received our “move up” email and currently paid £4K for two people in 1A balcony. Royal suite for same cruise is £18k !! 😳 but minimum bid to upgrade is £1k pp and max less than £4K pp so even at max bid ( I haven’t bid max 🤣😂) it £6k less than current deal and with minimum bid it is £6k v £18k for 2 people so a third of current full price deal….. if we get lucky with our bid I’ll be very happy 😉

[WNcruiser]

I don't get people complaining about the upgrade program. If you want a balcony pay for a balcony. If you want Aqua pay for Aqua. Why do people expect to pay the lowest fare for an inside and then want  a cheap price to upgrade? 

 

Sorry but no sympathy here. 

[djh]

I didn’t have 

4 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Like anything else it is important to be an informed consumer.   I am on both the 9/5 and  9/17.   I've been upgraded on both.

 

On the current cruise I was in a S1 and bid on CS, RS and PS.    I won an upgrade to a RS.   I had checked my agent the price to upgrade to a RS  at regular price the day I bid.    The accepted bid was about 1/3 the cost of paying for the pre-booked  upgrade.   I'm not complaining. 

I agree. We just were able to move up from an Edge Villa to the Iconic suite on our cruise coming up in a couple of weeks.I placed a weak bid (about $200 over minimum) and they accepted it within a couple of days. That made it more than half the price that they were listing it for the day before. Sometimes you can get a good deal, or at least it was a good deal for us since we would never be able to stay in an iconic suite otherwise.

[crusinthrough]

Are complaining because Celebrity is no longer allowing you to get a better room at a reduced rate you think is far? CC posts are getting bizarre.  

[jelayne]

4 hours ago, djh said:

I didn’t have 

I agree. We just were able to move up from an Edge Villa to the Iconic suite on our cruise coming up in a couple of weeks.I placed a weak bid (about $200 over minimum) and they accepted it within a couple of days. That made it more than half the price that they were listing it for the day before. Sometimes you can get a good deal, or at least it was a good deal for us since we would never be able to stay in an iconic suite otherwise.

Congrats on snagging a Iconic Suite👏  I guess you upcoming cruise isn’t in mid October since it’s too early  for Move Up on our 10/16 &23 cruises.  Hope our paths cross again.

[emmas gran]

Friends just bid under Move up to go from a CS to RS , the bid was above the minimum but not successful. They have since found out that the sailing today still has 3 RS vacant. To them it doesn’t make sense, maybe they will be Bingo prizes😂😂

[DenGNNJ]

12 hours ago, WNcruiser said:

I don't get people complaining about the upgrade program. If you want a balcony pay for a balcony. If you want Aqua pay for Aqua. Why do people expect to pay the lowest fare for an inside and then want  a cheap price to upgrade? 

 

Sorry but no sympathy here. 

Agreed.  If you throw those dice and roll craps, don’t blame the casino.

[djh]

15 hours ago, jelayne said:

Congrats on snagging a Iconic Suite👏  I guess you upcoming cruise isn’t in mid October since it’s too early  for Move Up on our 10/16 &23 cruises.  Hope our paths cross again.

Yes, we get on next week. We’re excited because we never expected them to accept our bid.  We never would have paid what they ask for that room, but apparently they get it because I rarely see any open this close to sailing.  Sorry to miss you guys. 

[LGW59]

On 9/10/2021 at 10:56 AM, Richard1950 said:

My wife and I are Elite Plus, we recently booked a sailing on the Equinox (17 September 2021 sail date) We’ve sailed on 38 cruises (on Celebrity), but the “New Celebrity cruise Line” does not appear to have the same ethics and professionalism,  as the “Old Celebrity Cruise line.”  

 

 Celebrity's new “Move Up” process, is totally insane!!  Celebrity has placed placed extremely high of minimum bids for all the cabin upgrades. If you placed the minimum bid, it would cost me more money for the upgraded cabin, then if you would have purchased, that cabin originally. We have placed numerous bids to upgrade our original cabin (on Celebrity) and never had this problem. We just sailed on Allure of the Seas (August 15, 2021 sail date). Our original cabin purchased was for inside, we placed a $220.00 bid (total for 2), for a Central Park Balcony. The bid was accepted two prior to sailing. The minimum bid was $100.

 

Here’s what I’m talking about your “Move Up” process: For our September 17^th cruise (Equinox) we paid $869 (per person) for an inside cabin. For us to upgrade to Aqua Class, you have a minimum bid of $700. Adding my original purchase price and the bid comes to $1,569. Today I can purchase your Aqua Class room for $1,399 (on Equinox). The ship is sailing at 50% capacity, upgrading should be inexpensive. Is Celebrity trying to go out of business? Because this process makes no sense at all!!

 

The “Old Celebrity” was the premier of the cruise line industry, which is why we choice it for our main cruise line. I sure do not like the way things are progressing with the new one. As of today, the plan is to cancel this cruise (Cruise with Confidence).I't's a shame what their CEO, is doing to a once great cruise line.

Sincerely Richard Kelley

 

 

If Aqua class is what you want,Why did you not just book Aqua to begin with?  Sorry but time$ have changed this is not 38 cruises ago.  And celebrity is def a wonderful line but I don’t think most would say they were ever the premier of the cruise industry.  Been a tough year and a half $$$ for them and many businesses, just cancel and stop…

[Pizzasteve]

I have not received an email and when I try to use the move up page to pull our reservation I just gwt an error message.  Emailed the address in the message, but no reply.  Any Advice?

[sfitz2000]

I also have not received an email and get error message and have emailed them and got no reply! 

[D C]

On 9/10/2021 at 10:56 AM, Richard1950 said:

My wife and I are Elite Plus, we recently booked a sailing on the Equinox (17 September 2021 sail date) We’ve sailed on 38 cruises (on Celebrity), but the “New Celebrity cruise Line” does not appear to have the same ethics and professionalism,  as the “Old Celebrity Cruise line.”  

 

 Celebrity's new “Move Up” process, is totally insane!!  Celebrity has placed placed extremely high of minimum bids for all the cabin upgrades. If you placed the minimum bid, it would cost me more money for the upgraded cabin, then if you would have purchased, that cabin originally. We have placed numerous bids to upgrade our original cabin (on Celebrity) and never had this problem. We just sailed on Allure of the Seas (August 15, 2021 sail date). Our original cabin purchased was for inside, we placed a $220.00 bid (total for 2), for a Central Park Balcony. The bid was accepted two prior to sailing. The minimum bid was $100.

 

Here’s what I’m talking about your “Move Up” process: For our September 17^th cruise (Equinox) we paid $869 (per person) for an inside cabin. For us to upgrade to Aqua Class, you have a minimum bid of $700. Adding my original purchase price and the bid comes to $1,569. Today I can purchase your Aqua Class room for $1,399 (on Equinox). The ship is sailing at 50% capacity, upgrading should be inexpensive. Is Celebrity trying to go out of business? Because this process makes no sense at all!!

 

The “Old Celebrity” was the premier of the cruise line industry, which is why we choice it for our main cruise line. I sure do not like the way things are progressing with the new one. As of today, the plan is to cancel this cruise (Cruise with Confidence).I't's a shame what their CEO, is doing to a once great cruise line.

Sincerely Richard Kelley

 

 

This seems to be a letter directed at Celebrity Cruises.  Just making sure that you're aware this is an independent forum with a sub-forum dedicated to Celebrity and not a forum run or monitored by Celebrity.  

 

But the move up process seems to work and seems to make people happy.  Celebrity could very well get more moves with lower bids, but they surely have their reasons.

[bigbenboys]

We are booked in AquaClass for our Oct 2021 Alaska cruise on Millie. Our minimum offer from Celebrity is SS $400 pp, CS $600 pp, RC $900 pp. Minimum's normally does not get you a move up. We talked to our friends about move up and decided not too. I might be wrong on this, but a half full Blu might be better than a full Luminae. Also next year we have a SS booked for Alaska on Millie.

[Lastdance]

I miss the good old days; moved from concierge to S1 corner aft...$300 total for two of us.  However, now we book mostly suites, so who really got the better deal?  

[deliver42]

The fact that the OP is Elite + means nothing in the bidding process.

[oskidunker]

Bid on an upgrade from Aqua to CS. Departing 9/24. Hopeful someone may yet cancel a cs but not looking likely with only 8 on the ship. Bid a little more than the minimum but probably not enough. Got two emails asking if I wanted to bid. 

[George C]

13 hours ago, Lastdance said:

I miss the good old days; moved from concierge to S1 corner aft...$300 total for two of us.  However, now we book mostly suites, so who really got the better deal?  

My first celebrity cruise we got a complementary upgrade to a aft sky suite about ten years ago on solstice, have booked suites ever since.