How is the bidding system doing? Any comments?

[red4u2]

4 hours ago, muggo11 said:

We have bid twice and were wildly successful once, scoring an aft balcony for Sky Princess through the Norwegian fjords the day before it sailed.  We only bid $200pp.  When we arrived, the couple next to us it was their sister who was supposed to have the cabin—she had gotten COVID the day before.  I guess we were first on the list?  

 

I have bids in now for upgrades for our world cruise on Coral out of Auckland.  We’re in an interior so I’m pretty sure I’d be happy with anything.  Though, in the be careful what you wish for department, we WILL be on the ship for 110 days.  But, gee, a balcony would be nice and the low bid is $2K.  We shall see.  

Off the main topic....but what did you think of the Sky aft cabin for the Fjords?

[muggo11]

27 minutes ago, red4u2 said:

Off the main topic....but what did you think of the Sky aft cabin for the Fjords?

It was perfect for us.  We spent a lot of time bundled up as we sailed through the various fjords.  Not to mention seeing the northern lights!  I’ve also gotten aft balconies for Alaska and New Zealand.  To me, it’s worth the extra $.  Otherwise, I’m happy with interiors!

[red4u2]

1 minute ago, muggo11 said:

It was perfect for us.  We spent a lot of time bundled up as we sailed through the various fjords.  Not to mention seeing the northern lights!  I’ve also gotten aft balconies for Alaska and New Zealand.  To me, it’s worth the extra $.  Otherwise, I’m happy with interiors!

Thank you!  we have our first aft cabin coming up soon... on the Sky for the Norwegian Fjords!

[OzKiwiJJ]

18 hours ago, mwolever said:

Questions about the "you have been outbid"

 

I have not seen this before, except on CC, and it threw me for a loop. I bid from a Balcony to a Premium Suite, although I didn't hold much hope because that category has not been showing as available for a month and only 1 Vista Suite has been showing, so I assumed bidders in higher categories had no place to go. 

 

I played the bidding game for a few minutes and eventually gave up, realizing that I may be bidding against no one for a category that wont even be available. 

 

However, I saw on here what I THINK was someone saying that after they received a "you have been outbid" notice they did not do anything, and miraculously their original bid WAS eventually accepted?? What voodoo is this??  

My suspicion is that Princess were trying to "encourage" us to bid higher but we weren't prepared to do that. Also I'd seen some chat online when the upgrades were announced for the world cruise and the consensus was it was too expensive so I had a gut feeling we may not have had too much competition for that upgrade. Plus I knew of someone else who had received the "outbid" email and who did nothing and still got their upgrade. So we hung in there and were lucky. 😊

 

There was only one mini-suite still available around that time but, oddly enough, that wasn't the one we got. We ended up in a better location which suits us perfectly. It really will make our world cruise even more special.

[OzKiwiJJ]

11 hours ago, muggo11 said:

We have bid twice and were wildly successful once, scoring an aft balcony for Sky Princess through the Norwegian fjords the day before it sailed.  We only bid $200pp.  When we arrived, the couple next to us it was their sister who was supposed to have the cabin—she had gotten COVID the day before.  I guess we were first on the list?  

 

I have bids in now for upgrades for our world cruise on Coral out of Auckland.  We’re in an interior so I’m pretty sure I’d be happy with anything.  Though, in the be careful what you wish for department, we WILL be on the ship for 110 days.  But, gee, a balcony would be nice and the low bid is $2K.  We shall see.  

Well, our successful bid freed up a balcony cabin on that cruise so you never know, you might be lucky. But we're boarding in Sydney not Auckland. Fingers crossed for you! 

[OzKiwiJJ]

7 hours ago, 90scruzer said:

it was last year, so maybe it's working smoother by now, but I had high hopes when our room in our reservation went blank 48 hours beforehand (but no email either way).   We got to the port ... and had our booked room.  It was a long shot as we booked last minute and therefore had only interior to choose from.   I hope they are better at managing expectations and do send out the 'you have lost' emails.

They do say in the confirmation of bid email that notifications could be as close as two days before embarkation. I was very surprised when we got our upgrade just over a month before we embark. 

[mwolever]

3 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

My suspicion is that Princess were trying to "encourage" us to bid higher but we weren't prepared to do that. Also I'd seen some chat online when the upgrades were announced for the world cruise and the consensus was it was too expensive so I had a gut feeling we may not have had too much competition for that upgrade. Plus I knew of someone else who had received the "outbid" email and who did nothing and still got their upgrade. So we hung in there and were lucky. 😊

 

There was only one mini-suite still available around that time but, oddly enough, that wasn't the one we got. We ended up in a better location which suits us perfectly. It really will make our world cruise even more special.

So happy for you and thanks for sharing your experience! Have fun!

[F355c5]

On 3/28/2024 at 11:06 AM, mwolever said:

Questions about the "you have been outbid"

 

I have not seen this before, except on CC, and it threw me for a loop. I bid from a Balcony to a Premium Suite, although I didn't hold much hope because that category has not been showing as available for a month and only 1 Vista Suite has been showing, so I assumed bidders in higher categories had no place to go. 

 

I played the bidding game for a few minutes and eventually gave up, realizing that I may be bidding against no one for a category that wont even be available. 

 

However, I saw on here what I THINK was someone saying that after they received a "you have been outbid" notice they did not do anything, and miraculously their original bid WAS eventually accepted?? What voodoo is this??  

Exact same thing happened to me, e-mail stated out bid on vista suite,.

Next day bid accepted, Strange

[F355c5]

On 3/26/2024 at 10:51 AM, 20165 said:

this may have already been answered so apologies in advance, but has everyone that has or hasnt been upgraded for a past cruise been notified one way or the other?  Its not going to break my heart if we dont get upgraded, but i would like to know.

Thanks

 

Credit card was first notified,before me

lol

[dnozzy]

Any chance this indicates my bid may have been accepted? I did get an email the other day saying I was outbid but ignored it.

[Jilly Dilly]

I know, probably a stupid question. Here goes> If you get your bid, is there a chance you could bid again for a further upgraded cabin?

[Cruise Raider]

6 minutes ago, Jilly Dilly said:

I know, probably a stupid question. Here goes> If you get your bid, is there a chance you could bid again for a further upgraded cabin?

It’s actually a really good question. I’ve seen where others have done just that. But the room distribution may be so close to your sailing, you may not have enough time.  You can always put in bids on multiple room choices when you place your initial bid.  

[sewgood]

17 hours ago, Jilly Dilly said:

I know, probably a stupid question. Here goes> If you get your bid, is there a chance you could bid again for a further upgraded cabin?

On two cruises my bids have been accepted, one of those was accepted about three weeks before sailing and we never offered the chance to bid again.

On the cruise I'm bidding on at the moment we were offered 6 rooms levels to bid on.

I could bid on all six categories if I wanted to (but didn't) so I don't believe you will get another chance if you have a bid accepted.

[Derbie]

We are sailing on the Emerald 5/20/24.  The website is allowing bidding; however, when you search the cruise, it shows "sold out." Is this just a technical error? I have never bid on Princess before, so if anyone can advise, it would be greatly appreciated.

[NavyVeteran]

33 minutes ago, Derbie said:

We are sailing on the Emerald 5/20/24.  The website is allowing bidding; however, when you search the cruise, it shows "sold out." Is this just a technical error? I have never bid on Princess before, so if anyone can advise, it would be greatly appreciated.

Just because a cruise is sold out doesn't mean that bids won't be accepted. I don't have the links but some people have reported accepted bids on sold out cruises.

A sold out cruise does not mean that all of the cabins are sold. They are limited to a certain number of passengers in each muster station. If a lot of cabins have three or four passengers (which could happen with current promos), they could sell out while still having empty cabins. In this case, they certainly would want to accept bids to move people to higher categories and leave lower category cabins empty instead.

[20165]

1 hour ago, NavyVeteran said:

Just because a cruise is sold out doesn't mean that bids won't be accepted. I don't have the links but some people have reported accepted bids on sold out cruises.

A sold out cruise does not mean that all of the cabins are sold. They are limited to a certain number of passengers in each muster station. If a lot of cabins have three or four passengers (which could happen with current promos), they could sell out while still having empty cabins. In this case, they certainly would want to accept bids to move people to higher categories and leave lower category cabins empty instead.

We are on enchanted princess in 2 days and made the max bid on a couple cabins, but nothing so far and given we sail saturday, im guessing its not going to happen. It has also been sold out for some time.  I agree thats its possible to get upgraded on a sold out cruise, but they are probably few and far between. 

[1cruiselvr]

5 hours ago, Derbie said:

We are sailing on the Emerald 5/20/24.  The website is allowing bidding; however, when you search the cruise, it shows "sold out." Is this just a technical error? I have never bid on Princess before, so if anyone can advise, it would be greatly appreciated.

If you like your current cabin and location my opinion is don't bid. You never know what you'll get if bid is accepted. And if your cruise shows sold out, there won't be that many open and available cabins anyway. If you are a gambler and don't mind spending more money, then try bidding. That's my 2 cents on the subject. 

[Derbie]

50 minutes ago, 1cruiselvr said:

If you like your current cabin and location my opinion is don't bid. You never know what you'll get if bid is accepted. And if your cruise shows sold out, there won't be that many open and available cabins anyway. If you are a gambler and don't mind spending more money, then try bidding. That's my 2 cents on the subject. 

Thanks! I appreciate the info and insight. 

[Jilly Dilly]

Thank you all for your replies.

[insidecabin]

On 4/5/2024 at 3:45 PM, F355c5 said:

Exact same thing happened to me, e-mail stated out bid on vista suite,.

Next day bid accepted, Strange

There may have been 2 available someone did bid more than you but you were second.

 

The lack of transparency allows this sort of attempt  for more money.

[jagoffee]

9 hours ago, insidecabin said:

There may have been 2 available someone did bid more than you but you were second.

 

The lack of transparency allows this sort of attempt  for more money.

Since there are various amounts bid for the cabin that is vacated, it has to be a complicated process.  At least most people get the opportunity to participate (if their TA allows it).  Not really transparent, but certainly more transparent than the previous system before bidding was implemented.  

[trintrav]

Bid 200pp for a balcony (from an OCV) on a 10 day Japan cruise on the Diamond.   Accepted about 3 weeks from sail date 

[20165]

Denied on our Enchanted sailing tomorrow, 4/20.  We have a S5 and were bidding on a S3 and S2 aft owners and penhouse suites, max bid amount but didnt get either.  Ship my be very full. Oh well, s5 Forward suite will do just fine although one day i do want try one of the large aft balconies...