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Princess Introduces Bidding For Upgrades

Syracusefan44

By Syracusefan44,
in Princess Cruises

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azbirdmom Great Review Rare

azbirdmom

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Princess Sales just had a webinar about the new process.  At times there are horrible audio issues when the two ladies are talking but the part with the gentleman who did the walkthrough of the upgrade screens is worth listening to.  https://www.facebook.com/PrincessVPSales/videos/1484592348657993/

Edited by azbirdmom
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Steelers36

Steelers36

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2 minutes ago, wowzz said:

But do Canadians get the refare option, as us Brits don't? 

Yes we do.  We can do anything the Americans can, except have a Medallion mailed to a Canadian address.  If we are departing from FLL, I have them sent to our pre-cruise hotel. 

 

ETA:  We can also use a US-based TA as another example.  We can book in CAD or USD.

 

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wowzz

wowzz

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1 minute ago, Steelers36 said:

Yes we do.  We can do anything the Americans can, except have a Medallion mailed to a Canadian address.  If we are departing from FLL, I have them sent to our pre-cruise hotel. 

 

ETA:  We can also use a US-based TA as another example.  We can book in CAD or USD.

 

OK - but to get back to my question, will Brits,  booking through a UK travel agent, be able to bid  for  an upgrade 

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ceilidh1 "Live from...." Rare

ceilidh1

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3 hours ago, wowzz said:

OK - but to get back to my question, will Brits,  booking through a UK travel agent, be able to bid  for  an upgrade 

They didn't mention UK passengers in the webinar but did imply that it would be open to anyone with a paid cruise fare. For those of us who book in CAD, the bid will be priced in CAD but not the "locked in" rate that you get when you book...the current Princess rate (might be good or bad, depending on exchange rate). The other thing to note is that this will start rolling out on Sep 6th for sailings beginning Oct 1st (initially on a few select ships to get the bugs worked out...maybe they are learning from the app disaster?)

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AZjohn

AZjohn

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Posted (edited)
8 hours ago, azbirdmom said:

Princess Sales just had a webinar about the new process.  At times there are horrible audio issues when the two ladies are talking but the part with the gentleman who did the walkthrough of the upgrade screens is worth listening to.  https://www.facebook.com/PrincessVPSales/videos/1484592348657993/

Thank you for the link

 

A couple of things I was interested in that they answered:

 

Bidding starts Sept 6 as we know but, bids will only be offered on cruises on and after Oct 1 (hmmmm, my next cruise is Oct 1 :))

 

There will be a minimum set $ bid (no $1 bids…lol)

 

You can cancel your bid anytime until your bid is accepted. They danced around the question how soon will they accept bids which tells me they could wait until last second when you board the ship.

 

”Maybe” they can work with bid winner if they are placed in a poor cabin location. Translates to me you are stuck in the cabin they put you in (we will not be bidding on a specific cabin, just the cabin class).

 

Passengers currently assigned an ADA cabin will only be bidding to a higher class ADA cabin (the bid will not be upgraded to a regular cabin)

 

I kind of got burned out listening to the rest of the webinar after those key points so there might be more bullet points someone else can post about.

 

Cheers,

John

Edited by AZjohn
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Steelers36

Steelers36

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4 hours ago, bafinegan said:

see post #241

Okay, I'll bite.  I am just now making post #241 and I am not sure.  I recall the announcement indicating selected ship(s) at first in order to shakedown the process.  So, I am not sure who the test guests will be.

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bafinegan

bafinegan

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1 minute ago, Steelers36 said:

Okay, I'll bite.  I am just now making post #241 and I am not sure.  I recall the announcement indicating selected ship(s) at first in order to shakedown the process.  So, I am not sure who the test guests will be.

Sorry #238 ( coulda swore I saw #241...)  Old eyes and all that.

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Steelers36

Steelers36

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11 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

For those of us who book in CAD, the bid will be priced in CAD but not the "locked in" rate that you get when you book...the current Princess rate (might be good or bad, depending on exchange rate).

I would say this means that if a Canadian customer booking in CAD has a cruise booked when the rate was 1.25 and at time of upgrade bid the rate is 1.29 (it recently just moved from 1.25 to 1.29), the upgrade cost is going to be converted from USD at the 1.29 rate and not the 1.25 rate.  Of course, it might work the other way some day as well.

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ceilidh1 "Live from...." Rare

ceilidh1

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13 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I would say this means that if a Canadian customer booking in CAD has a cruise booked when the rate was 1.25 and at time of upgrade bid the rate is 1.29 (it recently just moved from 1.25 to 1.29), the upgrade cost is going to be converted from USD at the 1.29 rate and not the 1.25 rate.  Of course, it might work the other way some day as well.

Yes, that's what I understood it to mean...

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azbirdmom Great Review Rare

azbirdmom

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10 hours ago, AZjohn said:

Thank you for the link

 

A couple of things I was interested in that they answered:

 

Bidding starts Sept 6 as we know but, bids will only be offered on cruises on and after Oct 1 (hmmmm, my next cruise is Oct 1 :))

 

There will be a minimum set $ bid (no $1 bids…lol)

 

You can cancel your bid anytime until your bid is accepted. They danced around the question how soon will they accept bids which tells me they could wait until last second when you board the ship.  They said that it's not just going to happen two weeks prior like some other lines do it.  It could happen right away or at any time depending on availability.  I took some screenshots and will put those in another post.

 

”Maybe” they can work with bid winner if they are placed in a poor cabin location. Translates to me you are stuck in the cabin they put you in (we will not be bidding on a specific cabin, just the cabin class).  They indicate that.  But then when they were going through the demo they separated some of the "problem" categories out into separate categories.  For example, Club Class also had a separate category for Forward Facing Club Class.  They did say that they would have the Navigators reach out to guests if they would be assigned a questionable category but we will have to see how this shakes out.

 

Passengers currently assigned an ADA cabin will only be bidding to a higher class ADA cabin (the bid will not be upgraded to a regular cabin)

 

I kind of got burned out listening to the rest of the webinar after those key points so there might be more bullet points someone else can post about.

 

Cheers,

John

 

I made a couple of notes in red above and have a couple of extra notes below (didn't get a chance to post yesterday but will also post screenshots too in a bit):

 

  • The general rule is if you paid something for your cruise fare you will be eligible to make an upgrade bid.  This was in response to a question about the cabins TAs can earn, I don't know if this would work for, say, free casino offers where you've already paid to upgrade your cabin.  I'm guessing no but will find out soon enough as I have one of those in December.
  • The categories you can bid on depend on what you booked.  For example, if you booked an inside you can only bid up to a Deluxe Balcony.
  • Offer goes via email to guest and TA (if applicable).
  • Guests must put in a credit card number before submitting their offer but it is only used to ensure that the bid is serious - no charges are made at the time of bid.  When you get the email that your bid has been accepted, you must indicate your final payment type in the Personalizer.  FCCs can be used but they must be payment type not discount.
  • In response to a question they said free upgrades may still happen.  And those with guarantees can bid too - the category booked will be used in building the offer.
  • If there is a tie in terms of bid price for a specific cabin, Captain's Circle status will be used as a tiebreaker.  I got the sense that there are other criteria but this one was in response to a question asking if status is taken into account in this process.
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suzyed

suzyed

Posted
Posted
24 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

I made a couple of notes in red above and have a couple of extra notes below (didn't get a chance to post yesterday but will also post screenshots too in a bit):

 

  • The general rule is if you paid something for your cruise fare you will be eligible to make an upgrade bid.  This was in response to a question about the cabins TAs can earn, I don't know if this would work for, say, free casino offers where you've already paid to upgrade your cabin.  I'm guessing no but will find out soon enough as I have one of those in December.
  • The categories you can bid on depend on what you booked.  For example, if you booked an inside you can only bid up to a Deluxe Balcony.
  • Offer goes via email to guest and TA (if applicable).
  • Guests must put in a credit card number before submitting their offer but it is only used to ensure that the bid is serious - no charges are made at the time of bid.  When you get the email that your bid has been accepted, you must indicate your final payment type in the Personalizer.  FCCs can be used but they must be payment type not discount.
  • In response to a question they said free upgrades may still happen.  And those with guarantees can bid too - the category booked will be used in building the offer.
  • If there is a tie in terms of bid price for a specific cabin, Captain's Circle status will be used as a tiebreaker.  I got the sense that there are other criteria but this one was in response to a question asking if status is taken into account in this process.

What if you paid for your entire reservation with FCCs earned from Covid cruises.  Will you still be able to bid? 
It doesn't sound like you can bid for a specific deck, is that correct?  And what if you don't like the cabin they choose, could you withdraw your bid it there were other bids?

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azbirdmom Great Review Rare

azbirdmom

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4 minutes ago, suzyed said:

What if you paid for your entire reservation with FCCs earned from Covid cruises.  Will you still be able to bid? 
It doesn't sound like you can bid for a specific deck, is that correct?  And what if you don't like the cabin they choose, could you withdraw your bid it there were other bids?

You should be able to bid if you paid with FCCs.  And no you can't select specific decks or cabins.  As John noted above, they did indicate that there may be some flexibility but it didn't give me warm fuzzies that they would move someone back if they didn't like where they landed.  They did say that they know the more problematic categories from dealing with Upsells for a while and that they would call before accepting your bid if that came into play.  But I would say that if you're bidding, be prepared to keep what you're offered.

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suzyed

suzyed

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4 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

You should be able to bid if you paid with FCCs.  And no you can't select specific decks or cabins.  As John noted above, they did indicate that there may be some flexibility but it didn't give me warm fuzzies that they would move someone back if they didn't like where they landed.  They did say that they know the more problematic categories from dealing with Upsells for a while and that they would call before accepting your bid if that came into play.  But I would say that if you're bidding, be prepared to keep what you're offered.

One more question please?  Are the bids just for cabins in categories above, rather than within a category?  Ex.  Balcony to Mini Suite?  Balcony to Club Class Mini Suite? or even Balcony to Suite?
And once you win a bid is there an opportunity to bid again on a higher category?

I guess that was more than "one more question"....apologies!

 

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azbirdmom Great Review Rare

azbirdmom

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Posted (edited)
3 minutes ago, suzyed said:

One more question please?  Are the bids just for cabins in categories above, rather than within a category?  Ex.  Balcony to Mini Suite?  Balcony to Club Class Mini Suite? or even Balcony to Suite?

 

Yes, they are within categories.  The subcategories will be shown such as balcony, deluxe balcony or the various types of suites.  But you won't see M1, M2, etc., you'll just see Mini Suite, Club Class Mini Suite, or forward Mini Suite as an example.

 

I saw your edit.  They didn't say that you would get another opportunity once you've accepted a bid, it didn't come up.

Edited by azbirdmom
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