How is the bidding system doing? Any comments?

[pathi]

So what's the latest you guys have had a bid accepted? I see the cutoff for changing a bid is 5 days from cruise.

[Shippy]

   The last time I had a chance to bid...

you could bid for a Penthouse OR an Aft facing Penthouse.

I bid for the Penthouse & got it. VERY happy with the cabin.

  A week ago, I made a bid for our cruise next month.

The offer just said Penthouse..

Upon checking current availability, I see there are 6 Penthouses available and 1 AFT penthouse.

I do not want the aft.

   I am hoping that would have to been specified differently;y. I do not want to with draw my bid because I want a regular Penthouse.

Will let you know what happens.....

[happy42cruise]

On 4/3/2023 at 6:41 PM, HiCCCs said:

This is good information to know. I was wondering if you would get all the perks and privileges of a suite .... sounds like the answer is "yes". I know any promo goodies you were awarded at the time of booking will transfer--those don't get lost because of the upgrade. I'd like to try bidding on an upgrade...but would not want a stateroom with an ADA bathroom. I wish Princess could tell us whether or not those are a part of the pool for bidding on an upgrade.

Yes, they are just like any cabin in a given category.  If you have a guaranteed cabin you could be assigned an accessible cabin if that's what is available. There have been people on other threads who were moved or assigned to an accessible cabin and not pleased with the change as it had no tub.  We need an accessible cabin so cannot bid due to the tub/shower in other cabins.  It would be nice if they added an option to the bidding system to state only accessible, no to accessible, or don't care.

[cr8tiv1]

Put in a bid as soon as I could after final payment.  Still pending with 50 days to go.  When I put in my bid, there were tons of balconies open.  Each day decreases.  Should I wish to receive the dreaded...."sorry your bid was not accepted", or cross my fingers that I will be assigned one "at the last minute" ?

 

Inside to balcony bid for $125.  First time.  I am not a guarantee and usually mark my bookings do not upgrade.  

[trbarton]

9 hours ago, Shippy said:

   The last time I had a chance to bid...

you could bid for a Penthouse OR an Aft facing Penthouse.

I bid for the Penthouse & got it. VERY happy with the cabin.

  A week ago, I made a bid for our cruise next month.

The offer just said Penthouse..

Upon checking current availability, I see there are 6 Penthouses available and 1 AFT penthouse.

I do not want the aft.

   I am hoping that would have to been specified differently;y. I do not want to with draw my bid because I want a regular Penthouse.

Will let you know what happens.....

What were you bidding from so we can compare?

 

Tom🤔

[pathi]

5 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Put in a bid as soon as I could after final payment.  Still pending with 50 days to go.  When I put in my bid, there were tons of balconies open.  Each day decreases.  Should I wish to receive the dreaded...."sorry your bid was not accepted", or cross my fingers that I will be assigned one "at the last minute" ?

 

Inside to balcony bid for $125.  First time.  I am not a guarantee and usually mark my bookings do not upgrade.  

Dont sweat it. My cruise has shown unavailable and sold out several times. Right now there are 4 types of cabins for sale. I still have all 3 bids pending 2 weeks out.

[Bwana Tom]

I did not place an upgrade bid on our Panama Canal cruise on the Emerald Princess departing on April 16, 2023 when it was first offered. To me the minimum bid prices simply were too high to move from our BE balcony which we liked to anything else. Nevertheless, I was curious if those bid options would reduce as the departure time got closer, but rather than being lowered I found this morning that the minimums had been raised considerably. Possibly this was the result of fairly full booking for the cruise. 

[HiCCCs]

22 hours ago, Shippy said:

   The last time I had a chance to bid...

you could bid for a Penthouse OR an Aft facing Penthouse.

I bid for the Penthouse & got it. VERY happy with the cabin.

  A week ago, I made a bid for our cruise next month.

The offer just said Penthouse..

Upon checking current availability, I see there are 6 Penthouses available and 1 AFT penthouse.

I do not want the aft.

   I am hoping that would have to been specified differently;y. I do not want to with draw my bid because I want a regular Penthouse.

Will let you know what happens.....

Do you mind sharing....were your bids on the "low" "medium" or "high" scale for bid strength? I know that decision is an individual one....but it is helpful and positive to hear that "low" bids are being accepted. I'm sure it's all about availability after they've accepted all the "medium" and "high" bids to grab as much money as they can.

[HiCCCs]

14 hours ago, happy42cruise said:

Yes, they are just like any cabin in a given category.  If you have a guaranteed cabin you could be assigned an accessible cabin if that's what is available. There have been people on other threads who were moved or assigned to an accessible cabin and not pleased with the change as it had no tub.  We need an accessible cabin so cannot bid due to the tub/shower in other cabins.  It would be nice if they added an option to the bidding system to state only accessible, no to accessible, or don't care.

That's right. It would be very easy for them to either modify their existing stateroom category bid options to include "only accessible" and "not accessible" and "will accept accessible" .... or have it as a filter for placing bids for any of their stateroom categories being offered in the bidding. If only they would listen to our great feedback.....😉

[HiCCCs]

12 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Put in a bid as soon as I could after final payment.  Still pending with 50 days to go.  When I put in my bid, there were tons of balconies open.  Each day decreases.  Should I wish to receive the dreaded...."sorry your bid was not accepted", or cross my fingers that I will be assigned one "at the last minute" ?

 

Inside to balcony bid for $125.  First time.  I am not a guarantee and usually mark my bookings do not upgrade.  

Curious question.....was your bid "low" "medium" or "high" (or whatever verbiage they use) on the bid strength?

[HiCCCs]

13 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Put in a bid as soon as I could after final payment.  Still pending with 50 days to go.  When I put in my bid, there were tons of balconies open.  Each day decreases.  Should I wish to receive the dreaded...."sorry your bid was not accepted", or cross my fingers that I will be assigned one "at the last minute" ?

 

Inside to balcony bid for $125.  First time.  I am not a guarantee and usually mark my bookings do not upgrade.  

Also, what are the steps or how does one go about checking on whether or not my profile has "do not upgrade". In the past, if I recall, you might receive an email offering to upgrade for $XXX.XX amount. With this new bidding game, has Princess stopped that approach? Or do they still do that in hopes of making more money and then they go to the bids at the end??

[cr8tiv1]

@HiCCCs

 

My general method is to book the cabin (category/price) I am most comfortable with.  I then mark it as a no upgrade.  

 

The bid I put in for my next cruise is at the minimum ($125) to move from an inside to a balcony.  I do not care if I get it or don't.  I just wanted to give bidding a try.

 

I think Princess us cutting back on "free" upgrades unless they really need your cabin.

[HiCCCs]

12 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

@HiCCCs

 

My general method is to book the cabin (category/price) I am most comfortable with.  I then mark it as a no upgrade.  

 

The bid I put in for my next cruise is at the minimum ($125) to move from an inside to a balcony.  I do not care if I get it or don't.  I just wanted to give bidding a try.

 

I think Princess us cutting back on "free" upgrades unless they really need your cabin.

Thanks for all of this information. Do you know, what's the current price difference if you simply chose to move from your inside to a balcony?

[Cruisingawayfromthesnow!]

Anyone who has had a bid accepted can you give me the timeline?  Put in a bid for July cruise! 

[cr8tiv1]

24 minutes ago, HiCCCs said:

Thanks for all of this information. Do you know, what's the current price difference if you simply chose to move from your inside to a balcony?

 

Currently, difference between inside and balcony is about $300.  I would not pay that much more.  I think it was less when I first booked cruise.  There about 60 open balconies.  Lots of interiors left, except for my section.  

 

It's a short 7 day cruise.  I can live with my choice for 7 days.  

 

Yes, per person.

Edited April 8, 2023 by cr8tiv1

[HiCCCs]

10 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Currently, difference between inside and balcony is about $300.  I would not pay that much more.  I think it was less when I first booked cruise.  There about 60 open balconies.  Lots of interiors left, except for my section.  

Good to know. That's per person, correct?

 

At the end of the day, I would definitely book the stateroom I could live with and NOT take my chances booking a room I wouldn't be happy in for the cruise but assume I would get a winning bid and not be stuck with it. No guarantees.

[HiCCCs]

44 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Currently, difference between inside and balcony is about $300.  I would not pay that much more.  I think it was less when I first booked cruise.  There about 60 open balconies.  Lots of interiors left, except for my section.  

 

It's a short 7 day cruise.  I can live with my choice for 7 days.  

 

Yes, per person.

I'll be excited to hear what ultimately happens!!! This is a great forum for learning about this new bidding system and people's experiences--pros and cons. It's fun talking about anything related to cruise travel!!! Grateful for CruiseCritic and everyone who helps make this a fine community.

[Shippy]

3 hours ago, Cruisingawayfromthesnow! said:

Anyone who has had a bid accepted can you give me the timeline?  Put in a bid for July cruise! 

I think they are accepted/rejected about 30 days out.

We are currently about 40 days out....will let you know

 

[pathi]

15 minutes ago, Shippy said:

I think they are accepted/rejected about 30 days out.

We are currently about 40 days out....will let you know

 

Not sure about that. I have 3 bids still pending 2 weeks out.

[HiCCCs]

24 minutes ago, pathi said:

Not sure about that. I have 3 bids still pending 2 weeks out.

Correct....I thought they could be announced even at the very last minute...like a day or so before the cruise. Keeps the excitement tense!!!

[tutumomickey]

15 day Hawaii cruise March 2023 bid accepted 10 days out

[sunviking90]

Our last one for our Hawaii cruise in January was accepted about 20 days before. The cruise was only about 70% full. I think it depends whether they anticipate the cruise selling out or not. 

[HiCCCs]

5 hours ago, tutumomickey said:

15 day Hawaii cruise March 2023 bid accepted 10 days out

Do you recall the bid strength on the meter? What did you get?

[caribill]

On 3/11/2023 at 1:16 PM, HiCCCs said:

Current special promotion touts "Save up to 40% off" which is hardly the case because I booked this sailing back in December 2022 and this new promo price made the fare actually go up $1!!  Where's the 40% savings on that???

 

A new sale does not mean the price is better than the previous sale. The % off will be against a list price, not off a previous sale price.

 

Just like at the grocery store. Carrots, let's say normally  cost $1,50, may be at a sale price of $1.25 this week when last week's sale had a price of $1.09. Still a sale, just not as good a sale.

[caribill]

On 4/3/2023 at 8:41 PM, HiCCCs said:

This is good information to know. I was wondering if you would get all the perks and privileges of a suite .... sounds like the answer is "yes".

 

Not totally "yes."

 

For example, if you successfully bid into a full suite from a lower type cabin, you will not get the double Captain's Circle cruise credit.