Upgrade Bids Telling You Where You Stand?

[rbxlady]

My brother has cruised quite a bit with NCL, so he is familiar with how Upgrade Advantage works. He’s going on a 10-day cruise this coming week and told me today that “the system” told him that the Haven suite he was bidding on had 35 pending bids and that he was being outbid. He increased his bid, and it told him he was still being outbid, so he decided to let them have it and cancelled his bid.

 

I was surprised that he got any kind of notification about how his bid compared with other pending bids and asked him if this was a new thing. He said it was a first for him.

 

I’m booked on NCL for the first time this fall, and I have bids pending in the Haven but don’t see anything like this. I’ve “researched” the process about as much as any reasonable human being can, but this was news to me.

 

Does anyone know if this is a thing now, where you are given information about how your bid compares with others’?

Edited July 30, 2022 by rbxlady
typo

[MoCruiseFan]

pending - bid received no action yet
processing - you won, new cabin being assigned

[raitch]

I’ve heard this before, once… it seemed at the time that they may be trying out a new system for bids in order to encourage increasing bids.  It’s definitely not common though.  I have no memory of whether I read it here on CC or on another site and they didn’t include screenshots.

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, rbxlady said:

My brother has cruised quite a bit with NCL, so he is familiar with how Upgrade Advantage works. He’s going on a 10-day cruise this coming week and told me today that “the system” told him that the Haven suite he was bidding on had 35 pending bids and that he was being outbid. He increased his bid, and it told him he was still being outbid, so he decided to let them have it and cancelled his bid.

 

I was surprised that he got any kind of notification about how his bid compared with other pending bids and asked him if this was a new thing. He said it was a first for him.

 

I’m booked on NCL for the first time this fall, and I have bids pending in the Haven but don’t see anything like this. I’ve “researched” the process about as much as any reasonable human being can, but this was news to me.

 

Does anyone know if this is a thing now, where you are given information about how your bid compares with others’?

We sail multiple times a year and have never seen that. Since most people bids on multiple cabin classes, there is zero way the system can give you a number of bids in front of you. 

Edited July 30, 2022 by BirdTravels

[rbxlady]

2 hours ago, MoCruiseFan said:

pending - bid received no action yet
processing - you won, new cabin being assigned

This is what I thought, and this is what my pending bids show. I wasn’t with my brother in person to look at what he saw. He assured me it was different than what he’d seen in the past.

[rbxlady]

2 hours ago, raitch said:

I’ve heard this before, once… it seemed at the time that they may be trying out a new system for bids in order to encourage increasing bids.  It’s definitely not common though.  I have no memory of whether I read it here on CC or on another site and they didn’t include screenshots.

Yeah, he is flying out tomorrow and is dealing with other stuff, so I didn’t ask him for a screenshot. I wish I could see what he saw. He said it was different from anything he’d seen before.

[Sailing12Away]

I don't understand the point of cancelling his bid just because he thinks he won't win. You have to be in it to win it, and there's no penalty or financial cost to trying. So still not understanding the cancellation unless it was a pride thing and they just didn't want to pay if they won any longer?

[rbxlady]

4 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

I don't understand the point of cancelling his bid just because he thinks he won't win. You have to be in it to win it, and there's no penalty or financial cost to trying. So still not understanding the cancellation unless it was a pride thing and they just didn't want to pay if they won any longer?

I think it was partially a pride thing and partially that if he wasn’t close to winning it was just better to know what he had and that he was keeping the extra money. I told him he was an idiot to cancel his bid because you never know!

 

What’s funny is that he told me what he bid for a 10-day cruise, and he joked that I’d probably think he was crazy for bidding that much. I chuckled because I’m bidding higher into the Haven for our 7-day in October… but for us it’s four people (me, my husband, and two kids), so if you divide the cost by 4 as opposed to 2, it’s more palatable, I guess.

[rbxlady]

Also, it’s the Escape 10-day to the Greek Isles leaving August 3rd.

[rbxlady]

2 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

We sail multiple times a year and have never seen that. Since most people bids on multiple cabin classes, there is zero way the system can give you a number of bids in front of you. 

If I didn’t know my brother well, I’d think he were making it up. I would have loved to get a screenshot of this unicorn!

[MeHeartCruising]

I can easily see this as being tested out in a small test arena, so to speak.  EBay shows you current high bids, and has for years.  So why not.  It may or may not be rolled out across the board.  I’m sure that decision will, in part, be driven by how much more money it generates the cruise line. 

[rbxlady]

36 minutes ago, MeHeartCruising said:

I can easily see this as being tested out in a small test arena, so to speak.  EBay shows you current high bids, and has for years.  So why not.  It may or may not be rolled out across the board.  I’m sure that decision will, in part, be driven by how much more money it generates the cruise line. 

I have to wonder if this was attempted on this cruise only or for certain bidders only. That’s why I shared specifically what cruise he’s on a couple of comments up.

[cruise*enthusiast]

5 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

I don't understand the point of cancelling his bid just because he thinks he won't win. You have to be in it to win it, and there's no penalty or financial cost to trying. So still not understanding the cancellation unless it was a pride thing and they just didn't want to pay if they won any longer?

New to this bidding concept. Are you saying that if you do win a bid that you’re not held to it?

[BirdTravels]

44 minutes ago, cruise*enthusiast said:

New to this bidding concept. Are you saying that if you do win a bid that you’re not held to it?

If you win a bid, your credit card is charged and you are assigned a room in the winning class. Your original room is released for someone else to upgrade to. All upgrades are final. 

Edited July 31, 2022 by BirdTravels

[BirdTravels]

5 hours ago, MeHeartCruising said:

I can easily see this as being tested out in a small test arena, so to speak.  EBay shows you current high bids, and has for years.  So why not.  It may or may not be rolled out across the board.  I’m sure that decision will, in part, be driven by how much more money it generates the cruise line. 

Yeah, but ebay you are bidding on one item. 

 

Upgrade Advantage you are bidding on multiple rooms in a cabin class, and potentially multiple different cabin classes. And each person is starting bidding from a different point (my minimum bid from a 2BR haven to owner suite is different than someone starting from a balcony). 

[cybergremlin]

this has happened to me, i got a email a few weeks before sailing on the Joy in May saying i was outbid, I increased my bid slightly and received another email the day after saying the same thing

 

this is what the email said

real time bidding has been opened on your cruise!

for a limited time and on selected upgrade types, this special feature of the upgrade advantage program will notify guests when they have been outbid for a specific type.

 

the haven aft facing penthouse is a very popular upgrade type and other guests have made higher offers

 

I only received the email about 1 room type even tho i put a bid in on multiple rooms

Edited July 31, 2022 by cybergremlin

[KeithJenner]

I saw mention of this once before. I assume it was on this forum.

[rbxlady]

1 hour ago, cybergremlin said:

this has happened to me, i got a email a few weeks before sailing on the Joy in May saying i was outbid, I increased my bid slightly and received another email the day after saying the same thing

 

this is what the email said

 

real time bidding has been opened on your cruise!

for a limited time and on selected upgrade types, this special feature of the upgrade advantage program will notify guests when they have been outbid for a specific type.

 

the haven aft facing penthouse is a very popular upgrade type and other guests have made higher offers

 

I only received the email about 1 room type even tho i put a bid in on multiple rooms

My brother said the same thing, he only got it on one Haven suite. His TA was baffled.

[raitch]

There we go! “Real time bidding” garners results.

 

 

[cruise*enthusiast]

7 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

If you win a bid, your credit card is charged and you are assigned a room in the winning class. Your original room is released for someone else to upgrade to. All upgrades are final. 

Got it!! If we I’m in a Haven Spa Suite, do you what type of cabins I would be able to bid on?

 

[MeHeartCruising]

7 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Yeah, but ebay you are bidding on one item. 

 

Upgrade Advantage you are bidding on multiple rooms in a cabin class, and potentially multiple different cabin classes. And each person is starting bidding from a different point (my minimum bid from a 2BR haven to owner suite is different than someone starting from a balcony). 

 

Right.  But all those are considerations are from the buyers perspective -- benefiting the buyer.  If all the cruise line cares about is increasing revenue, they really only care about who bids the most.  If there are 10 cabins available in the Ultra-Best Balcony category, we'll take the 10 highest bids of NEW REVENUE.  At that point, the cruise line MAY not care that they just let a first-time cruiser who currently has an inside cabin have the upgrade.  He/She gave them the most money.  Yes, long-time cruisers and cruisers who paid more for their original cabin might not like this.  The cruise line could very well be testing this new approach to see how it impacts their overall business (including the impact of morale on their long-time customers).  

[Sailing12Away]

8 hours ago, cruise*enthusiast said:

New to this bidding concept. Are you saying that if you do win a bid that you’re not held to it?

I was referring more to if they did NOT win their bid. If you win, as bird explained you are automatically charged and moved to a room of their choice in the category you won. If you lose though, you're not out any money at all and stay where you were.

 

25 minutes ago, cruise*enthusiast said:

Got it!! If we I’m in a Haven Spa Suite, do you what type of cabins I would be able to bid on?

 

It's usually 2 categories higher than where you are. But once you're in any Haven room, you can generally bid on any other Haven rooms 'higher' than yours.

 

21 minutes ago, MeHeartCruising said:

If all the cruise line cares about is increasing revenue, they really only care about who bids the most.  If there are 10 cabins available in the Ultra-Best Balcony category, we'll take the 10 highest bids of NEW REVENUE.  At that point, the cruise line MAY not care that they just let a first-time cruiser who currently has an inside cabin have the upgrade.  He/She gave them the most money. 

I'm not sure I agree with all this. Someone winning an upgrade from an balcony to a club balcony helps them more even if the oceanview to club balcony bid slightly higher, because it means they can turn around and move someone else into that now vacant balcony which is going to earn higher bids than someone vying for an oceanview. I really think it's a complicated domino effect. If it was just who bids highest, the person who puts in the max bid would always win.... and how would they handle ties?

[rbxlady]

1 hour ago, raitch said:

There we go! “Real time bidding” garners results.

 

 

Thank you for finding (and sharing) these!

[MeHeartCruising]

59 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

I was referring more to if they did NOT win their bid. If you win, as bird explained you are automatically charged and moved to a room of their choice in the category you won. If you lose though, you're not out any money at all and stay where you were.

 

It's usually 2 categories higher than where you are. But once you're in any Haven room, you can generally bid on any other Haven rooms 'higher' than yours.

 

I'm not sure I agree with all this. Someone winning an upgrade from an balcony to a club balcony helps them more even if the oceanview to club balcony bid slightly higher, because it means they can turn around and move someone else into that now vacant balcony which is going to earn higher bids than someone vying for an oceanview. I really think it's a complicated domino effect. If it was just who bids highest, the person who puts in the max bid would always win.... and how would they handle ties?

 

I totally agree with what you said.  That's why I said they could be TESTING to see if this new approach is to their advantage.  Having worked in the sales/marketing technology field for all my life, I know that there are all sorts of ways to analyze the numbers that are achieved in selling a product.  

 

How would they handle ties?  Any way they wanted.  Possibly as simple as first-come-first-served.  Or by highest loyalty profile of the customer.  Or who they think will spend more on the ship (they have ways to identify who these people likely are).   That doesn't really need to be revealed to the customer. 

[AndyCapn]

2 hours ago, MeHeartCruising said:

 

Right.  But all those are considerations are from the buyers perspective -- benefiting the buyer.  If all the cruise line cares about is increasing revenue, they really only care about who bids the most.  If there are 10 cabins available in the Ultra-Best Balcony category, we'll take the 10 highest bids of NEW REVENUE.  

Not necessarily true. Let's say I have an inside room and I bid $300 on a balcony. Someone with an ocean view bids $200. I bid higher, so I win, right?

 

But what if another inside bids $150 on an ocean view? NCL makes $350 by upgrading both those other bids versus $300 by accepting mine. So they both win even though both bids are lower than mine.

 

Obviously the bigger you bid the better your odds, but there's more to consider than just taking the top bid.