How is the bidding system doing? Any comments?

[MsSoCalCruiser]

3 minutes ago, ringers0815 said:

Bidding opens after final payment and they usually send an email inviting you to bid. But you can also access the bidding system through your cruise personalizer. If you scroll down the summary page of the cruise you should see “Princess Upgrade” and you can click on the link to start the process.

Perfect, thank you.

[ringers0815]

56 minutes ago, candy4040 said:

how do you know if your bid is still pending?  I bid a few months ago for an upgrade on cruise departing Feb 25.

You can either use the link in the email they sent to confirm your bid or go via cruise personalizer, enter your booking number and name and it will show your bid and indicate it’s status.

[PrincessLuver]

21 hours ago, bjkTX said:

Did they ever really do that?  It never happened on any of our Princess cruises the last 20 years!

 

 

During Covid when the ships were very empty sometimes you could go to the Passenger Services desk during embarkation and ask if you could upgrade your cabin and if available they would do it for an added fee.  I do not think it is even happening with full ships and the new bidding system which we like.

[lbfluffy]

On 1/22/2023 at 7:57 PM, bjkTX said:

Did they ever really do that?  It never happened on any of our Princess cruises the last 20 years!

 

Yes we got an upgrade for a but more when we boarded the Majestic when cruising started back up. We got a mini suite for $140 total from a balcony. It was nice. I’m sure now that ships are sailing full, that probably isn’t happening.

[bonship]

Bidding process is easy-peazy.  We leave next Sunday on the Regal.  I originally purchased a balcony aft on Marina deck, which is our favorite location.  About six weeks ago, I bid the minimum, $70 per person for a deluxe balcony.  I was notified last Saturday that bid was accepted and we now have a deluxe balcony on back of ship on Marina deck.  I have always wanted to try an aft facing balcony so immediately accepted the offer by paying for it on My Princess.  The whole process was very easy, and, in our case, we got a new cabin very close to original location.  It is very easy to bid and a fun warm-up to hitting the casino onboard. 

[CanadianCruiser21]

5 night cruise, inside cabin in April.

I only had options to bid on anywhere from obstructed balcony to deluxe balcony. 
There was no option for mini suite, though the minimum bids were already high for obstructed balcony. 

Minimum bid was $125x2 for obstructed balcony and $150x2 for deluxe obstructed balcony (Canadian dollars). I bid $5 above the minimum but don’t expect to get an upgrade anyway because the cruise looks mostly sold out. 

[polmcs]

Anyone have a bid disappear?
 

I bid on 2 different staterooms. As I booked through a big box store, I check the status on my own, rather rely on getting a mail from Princess (none received when I bid), or by getting a call from the big box store.

 

Previously when checking the status, I would land on a page where I would see my 2 bids and they would show as pending. I checked this morning and I now land on the bidding page. My higher category stateroom shows offer received, but I’m invited to place a bid on the lower category stateroom, along with the other categories that I did not bid on.

 

No sign of a rejection on the lower category.

[suzyed]

2 minutes ago, polmcs said:

Anyone have a bid disappear?
 

I bid on 2 different staterooms. As I booked through a big box store, I check the status on my own, rather rely on getting a mail from Princess (none received when I bid), or by getting a call from the big box store.

 

Previously when checking the status, I would land on a page where I would see my 2 bids and they would show as pending. I checked this morning and I now land on the bidding page. My higher category stateroom shows offer received, but I’m invited to place a bid on the lower category stateroom, along with the other categories that I did not bid on.

 

No sign of a rejection on the lower category.

My bids did not disappear...and while they were acknowledged after I placed the bid, I never got a yay or nah on either of the two bids placed.  Strange.

[polmcs]

As a follow up, I was able to click a link on the bidding page for the higher stateroom. That gets me to page where I can see the bids. It shows my offer as expired. No notification was ever received ☹️. I blame it on the big box booking

[Redwing55]

We just got our bid accepted.  I found it odd that the lower cat cabin is what was approved.  More so as it was more on the lower end of the bid dial vs the rejected higher cat cabin bid.

I'm happy the way it worked, but we never did get an email that the higher cat cabin bid was rejected.  Now when I check, Princess shows the higher cat cabin bid as "expired" and the lower cat cabin bid as "Upgraded."

 

FWIW, we went from a reg balcony to a deluxe Balcony.  Bid to premium deluxe Balcony was rejected.  Got it 16 days out.

Edited January 26, 2023 by Redwing55

[polmcs]

1 hour ago, Redwing55 said:

We just got our bid accepted.  I found it odd that the lower cat cabin is what was approved.  More so as it was more on the lower end of the bid dial vs the rejected higher cat cabin bid.

I'm happy the way it worked, but we never did get an email that the higher cat cabin bid was rejected.  Now when I check, Princess shows the higher cat cabin bid as "expired" and the lower cat cabin bid as "Upgraded."

 

FWIW, we went from a reg balcony to a deluxe Balcony.  Bid to premium deluxe Balcony was rejected.  Got it 16 days out.

I bid about halfway between the min and max bids on the higher category cabin, that now shows expired. I bid just above the min on the lower category cabin. 
 

I did go and look at “open” cabins doing a dummy booking and now see that the higher category cabins are no longer for sale (not even guarantees). Perhaps I was outbid hence the “expired” status (rather than “thanks for playing”), but it doesn’t explain why the lower category bid simply disappeared. I see 2 unassigned cabins in that lower category on the same dummy booking, so I resubmitted my bid on the lower category cabin. 
 

Let’s see what happens.

Edited January 26, 2023 by polmcs

[pathi]

I just got this offer. 1 of the possible bids was for a window suite. I thought this was odd as these are usually booked early.

[talkorpi]

Paid for my cruise in full today through my TA.  I meet all requirements to upgrade.  When I click on the "bid to upgrade" link in Cruise Personalizer, it says I am not eligible.  Princess live chat was totally useless and said that they "didn't know how to help me since they don't know how to access it."

 

How long after final payment does it usually take for the system to let you make a bid?  I booked an oceanview but pretty quickly after decided that I wanted a balcony.  Our sailing is less than 50% full and only 60 days away so I know there are plenty of cabins available.  What the heck is wrong with the system?

[Shelly97060]

1 hour ago, talkorpi said:

Paid for my cruise in full today through my TA.  I meet all requirements to upgrade.  When I click on the "bid to upgrade" link in Cruise Personalizer, it says I am not eligible.  Princess live chat was totally useless and said that they "didn't know how to help me since they don't know how to access it."

 

How long after final payment does it usually take for the system to let you make a bid?  I booked an oceanview but pretty quickly after decided that I wanted a balcony.  Our sailing is less than 50% full and only 60 days away so I know there are plenty of cabins available.  What the heck is wrong with the system?

I would give it a day or two.

[Shelly97060]

Put in a bid to move from a DB to a mini on a. 5 day cruise . We bid slightly over min bid.  This morning got the “YAY your bid is accepted”  email....4 hours later still no new cabin assigned so I can’t go in and pay for the upgrade.  Others in my party also got winning bids and they got new cabin assignments right away.

 

 I have successfully  bid several times and always got the new cabin assignment within a few minutes of the award letter so this is a little strange!  And there really isn’t any good way to contact the people running the program that I know of.  Hopefully a cabin assignment comes through soon. 

[Sprocket]

1 hour ago, talkorpi said:

Paid for my cruise in full today through my TA.  I meet all requirements to upgrade.  When I click on the "bid to upgrade" link in Cruise Personalizer, it says I am not eligible.  Princess live chat was totally useless and said that they "didn't know how to help me since they don't know how to access it."

 

How long after final payment does it usually take for the system to let you make a bid?  I booked an oceanview but pretty quickly after decided that I wanted a balcony.  Our sailing is less than 50% full and only 60 days away so I know there are plenty of cabins available.  What the heck is wrong with the system?

 

On January 13th I submitted bids on 2 different cruises in April and received  email confirmations that they received them and both show as Pending.  One of my bookings shows that it is paid in full but the other does not, both are through the casino.

 

I believe it does say on the website that not all cruises are eligible for bidding, could that be the issue in your case?  Or maybe it just needs a day or so to update.

[polmcs]

On 1/26/2023 at 9:54 AM, polmcs said:

I bid about halfway between the min and max bids on the higher category cabin, that now shows expired. I bid just above the min on the lower category cabin. 
 

I did go and look at “open” cabins doing a dummy booking and now see that the higher category cabins are no longer for sale (not even guarantees). Perhaps I was outbid hence the “expired” status (rather than “thanks for playing”), but it doesn’t explain why the lower category bid simply disappeared. I see 2 unassigned cabins in that lower category on the same dummy booking, so I resubmitted my bid on the lower category cabin. 
 

Let’s see what happens.

As a follow up, yesterday I resubmitted the bid that went missing, along with one other bid for a slightly higher category than I’m in now. Again, no email confirmation of the bids.

 

This morning I’m checking the bids and see the two new bids, plus the expired bid from yesterday. I decide to place another bid on a much higher category, so duly submitted the bid. 5 mins later an email shows up from Princess to say that they’ve received my bid and it lists all 4 bids, including the expired one. The three remaining bids show cabins available, but just not in the parts of the shop that I prefer, so my bids were somewhat on the low side. We’ll see what happens. 

Edited January 28, 2023 by polmcs

[Camelia-]

On 1/27/2023 at 6:54 PM, Sprocket said:

 

On January 13th I submitted bids on 2 different cruises in April and received  email confirmations that they received them and both show as Pending.  One of my bookings shows that it is paid in full but the other does not, both are through the casino.

 

I believe it does say on the website that not all cruises are eligible for bidding, could that be the issue in your case?  Or maybe it just needs a day or so to update.

May I ask where you can check the status of your bid to see if it’s pending? I put in one bid for the first time and received the confirmation email but now I don’t know what comes next..wait for another email accepting or rejecting the bid?   Thanks!

[polmcs]

3 minutes ago, Camelia- said:

May I ask where you can check the status of your bid to see if it’s pending? I put in one bid for the first time and received the confirmation email but now I don’t know what comes next..wait for another email accepting or rejecting the bid?   Thanks!

The confirmation email contains a link back to the bidding site. You can see your bid status, amend, or cancel it, or place an additional bid on a different cabin category.

[Shelly97060]

1 minute ago, Camelia- said:

May I ask where you can check the status of your bid to see if it’s pending? I put in one bid for the first time and received the confirmation email but now I don’t know what comes next..wait for another email accepting or rejecting the bid?   Thanks!

You can click on the option to check if you are able to bid and it will show your pending bids 

https://upg.plusgrade.com/marketing/partner/RNo2BO4VPCL Or you can click on the cancel/ modify link in the confirmation email you received.  But all either of these will show you is that you have bids pending, 
 

After your initial confirmation email you won’t get any communication until you are notified that your bid was accepted and a new cabin has been assigned. 

[Camelia-]

15 minutes ago, Shelly97060 said:

You can click on the option to check if you are able to bid and it will show your pending bids 

https://upg.plusgrade.com/marketing/partner/RNo2BO4VPCL Or you can click on the cancel/ modify link in the confirmation email you received.  But all either of these will show you is that you have bids pending, 
 

After your initial confirmation email you won’t get any communication until you are notified that your bid was accepted and a new cabin has been assigned. 

Thanks very much!

[cr8tiv1]

On 1/27/2023 at 1:47 PM, pathi said:

I just got this offer. 1 of the possible bids was for a window suite. I thought this was odd as these are usually booked early.

 

Often times, F301 (Grand or Caribbean) is not booked and used for upgrade or bidding.  Even if it is the last one available, I would still take it!  Depending how far out your cruise is, another WS may become available.  Just keep checking.

Edited January 30, 2023 by cr8tiv1

[caribill]

On 1/27/2023 at 3:47 PM, pathi said:

I just got this offer. 1 of the possible bids was for a window suite. I thought this was odd as these are usually booked early.

 

Being able to bid does not mean there is any availability at the time you bid.

 

The bid is being allowed in case the category does become available because of a cancellation.

[paradiselivin1]

On 1/27/2023 at 4:42 AM, suzyed said:

My bids did not disappear...and while they were acknowledged after I placed the bid, I never got a yay or nah on either of the two bids placed.  Strange.

Same. Doubt that I'd bother again.

[suzyed]

18 hours ago, paradiselivin1 said:

Same. Doubt that I'd bother again.

It worked on our previous cruise in October.  I may try it again.