Bid Upgrade on Sold Out Room?

[ACruise535]

I'm currently booked in a yacht club deluxe suite and received an email to bid for an upgrade on a duplex suite w/whirlpool tub and/or a royal suite. However, when I go to make a new booking, it shows both those categories as being sold out. Am I missing something here? Does MSC reserve some of these rooms strictly for the bid upgrade or is it likely an error? I'd like to bid for an upgrade, but really dont want to deal with another booking issue as I already have for this cruise.

 

I should also mention that when I called customer service to just do a normal upgrade, they also told me the room was sold out and couldn't explain why I got the bid email for 2 sold out room types.

Edited October 24, 2022 by ACruise535
Additional Info

[lcpagejr]

Same happened to me when I cruised on Seaside several years ago...I had a YC balcony cabin and about 2-3 weeks before cruise I received an email to bid for an upgrade on Deluxe Suite.  I commented about the bid offer on Cruise Critic....and believe it or not a person who was booked in the Deluxe Suite commented that he was booked in a Deluxe Suite and another friend had the other Deluxe Suite. It was news to him and we had a chuckle of it. Obviously my bid was declined. 

[ACruise535]

Figured it was some kind of mistake. Appreciate the input.

[perakcruiser]

1 hour ago, ACruise535 said:

Figured it was some kind of mistake. Appreciate the input.

No, it is quite normal to get upgrade bids offers for sold out cabins. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

I made a post about this very thing just yesterday.  I honestly think they send out upgrade offers for sold out categories hoping that the domino effect of bid placing will free up sold out categories.  Also, in the event of a last minute cancellation, someone placing a bid on a sold out category could slip right in to a newly vacated reservation.  

 

We are in a YC inside suite coming up and when we were offered an upgrade bid on the YC Deluxe balcony, I did a mock booking and found 15 cabins available but no insides available.  It would not surprise me in the least if the upgrade fairy magically ups us to one of those deluxe balcony rooms so they can honor a bid on our inside suite and make a little more money in the process.  

[phissy]

The company cruise lines use for the Bid to Upgrade system have always offered upgrades for cabins that are not available.

They use the data submitted from guests to pass on the cruise line to help them see what passengers are willing to pay for each category.

Mostly data driven and used by cruise line for marketing and pricing .

 

[HipHipOnAShip]

15 hours ago, phissy said:

The company cruise lines use for the Bid to Upgrade system have always offered upgrades for cabins that are not available.

They use the data submitted from guests to pass on the cruise line to help them see what passengers are willing to pay for each category.

Mostly data driven and used by cruise line for marketing and pricing .

 

This is 100% correct. The outside company is data mining to see how much guests are willing to pay regardless of whether there are cabins available.