Pricing upgrade offer

[Slyfox16]

We just got an upgrade offer for our cruise, about 60 days out. Do they ever send out a second offer, at a lower price, at some point before the cruise?

Is there a # to call to try and negotiate the upgrade price, which seems rather high.

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

The risk with any upgrade offer is you don't know where you're going to end up.You can bid on a balcony upgrade but they might put you right under the pool deck or buffet. You can bid on an outside/window cabin and end up under the main theater. So I don't do it. The only time I will do it is once onboard the ship. I've not tried that on MSC but I did do it on NCL a few months when I told the person at Reception that I wanted Deck 10 starboard only. They took the information and called me about a half hour later to confirm my offer was accepted.. But it's not possible to set these kinds of terms ahead of time and there is no number to call to negotiate. Check the cabin map a day before sailing to see what cabins are still showing available and then try to negotiate on board.

[perakcruiser]

1 hour ago, Slyfox16 said:

Is there a # to call to try and negotiate the upgrade price, which seems rather high.

 

No, MSC is not too much involved in this, it is a third party thing. They cannot discuss anything with you about it. 

 

1 hour ago, Slyfox16 said:

We just got an upgrade offer for our cruise, about 60 days out. Do they ever send out a second offer, at a lower price, at some point before the cruise?

Maybe. There is no clear system who gets the offers and how often. 

[Essiesmom]

I got two offers on one of my cruises.  Amounts were much lower on the second.  EM

[gizfish]

I have gotten three email offers.  The second was higher than the first.  The most recent was lower than the first.

[Captain-John]

Interesting.... I have received first offer today, 79 days out. I have in fact cancelled the original booking and re-booked YC at a lower total price than original (BA) booking + minimum bid with a different agent.

 

So quite happy really as I have picked my cabin and it's a 'sure thing' - even with loss of original depsoit and cancellation fees it's a better deal.

 

 

[Preziosa]

Captain John, was the original booking also a yacht club booking...

[Essiesmom]

2 hours ago, Preziosa said:

Captain John, was the original booking also a yacht club booking...

I believe BA is an Aurea balcony.  EM

[mackfam]

I received an offer yesterday for a cruise that leaves on Sept 2nd. I was surprised as when I try to do a mock booking only 2 cabins appear to be available on the whole ship, and non in YC which was what I ended up bidding on

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, mackfam said:

I received an offer yesterday for a cruise that leaves on Sept 2nd. I was surprised as when I try to do a mock booking only 2 cabins appear to be available on the whole ship, and non in YC which was what I ended up bidding on

 

The company that handles the upgrade system is a third-party (also used by NCL, Celebrity, and Princess from my experience). I don't think they keep track of the availability of the actual sailing. They will happily take your bids and if there are rooms open and the cruise line accepts them, then great! There could always be last-minute cancelations and the cruise line can accept bids to fill the rooms. No harm in taking bids!

[Preziosa]

Mackfam, please tell us if you winn the upgrade. 

[Captain-John]

3 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

I believe BA is an Aurea balcony.  EM

Indeed it was.

 

My bid offer minimums are per the images.

 

I could book under a new agent/booking for a c. 45% uplift in base price from BA Aurea - £2.9k vs £2.0k. The *minimum* bid would have represented a 75% uplift. So not always worth it to bid vs. booking outright.

 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2023 by Captain-John

[Pizzasteve]

3 hours ago, Captain-John said:

Indeed it was.

 

My bid offer minimums are per the images.

 

I could book under a new agent/booking for a c. 45% uplift in base price from BA Aurea - £2.9k vs £2.0k. The *minimum* bid would have represented a 75% uplift. So not always worth it to bid vs. booking outright.

 

 

 

It helps if you post the length of your cruise in days, so we can judge the minimums.  Thanks.

[Captain-John]

6 hours ago, Pizzasteve said:

It helps if you post the length of your cruise in days, so we can judge the minimums.  Thanks.

7 days. I feel the minimum is quite high. 

[Captain-John]

As a further point of reference, I have also received an invitation to bid under my new booking for the YC1 (priced in Euro this time) :

 

 

[dexddd]

MSC bids are not a good deal at least from experience to YC rooms.

[kelleherdl]

47 minutes ago, dexddd said:

MSC bids are not a good deal at least from experience to YC rooms.

In general, you are ‘bidding’ to upgrade at the current, close to sailing, price of that YC suite. I have found that doing an early booking on the suite you realistically think you will enjoy the most is the best way to go. If you ‘add up’ the cost all the YC inclusives you are not paying much more than an Aurea suite and paying extra for all the inclusives. Yes, you are paying a non-refundable deposit on an early booking, but that will easily be covered by the inevitable YC price increases over time. On popular itineraries the YC is sailing at ~100% occupied. There will not be much inventory for upgrades. I know there have been anecdotal postings where some have gotten great deals for YC upgrades. I’m afraid that is the exception. I view bidding for a YC upgrade to be a ‘second chance’ at what you really should have booked originally; and I have done that when we had unexpected changes in our traveling family. 

Edited August 24, 2023 by kelleherdl

[ThxMomnDad]

We bid on a YC Deluxe Suite last week for our November Meriviglia sailing. Min bid was $1,175 pp and we bid $1,225 pp for a total of $2,450 to increase our chances. Our original booking (booked in April) was Balcony Fantastica on deck 12. YC would have cost an additional $3,740, so if we win our bid, we'll have saved $1,290 by bidding instead of choosing YC at time of booking

Interestingly, the prices for booking both the cabin we currently have and for booking YC are identical now to what they were 4 months ago in April.

 

[kelleherdl]

8 hours ago, ThxMomnDad said:

We bid on a YC Deluxe Suite last week for our November Meriviglia sailing. Min bid was $1,175 pp and we bid $1,225 pp for a total of $2,450 to increase our chances. Our original booking (booked in April) was Balcony Fantastica on deck 12. YC would have cost an additional $3,740, so if we win our bid, we'll have saved $1,290 by bidding instead of choosing YC at time of booking

Interestingly, the prices for booking both the cabin we currently have and for booking YC are identical now to what they were 4 months ago in April.

 

What was included in you original Fantastica booking? I.e. premium beverage package, thermal spa access, two-device WiFi per person? Things you might have had to add to your Fantastica experience. They really should be included in any cost comparison. It’s tough to put a price to the multitude of non-monetized benefits to the Yacht Club, so just consider them a lagniappe. 
 

Good luck on your bid!  

[ThxMomnDad]

1 hour ago, kelleherdl said:

What was included in you original Fantastica booking? I.e. premium beverage package, thermal spa access, two-device WiFi per person? Things you might have had to add to your Fantastica experience. They really should be included in any cost comparison. It’s tough to put a price to the multitude of non-monetized benefits to the Yacht Club, so just consider them a lagniappe. 
 

Good luck on your bid!  

Hi Kelleherdl!

We booked with the offer that they still have (Easy Plus drink pkg & wifi), but nothing additional, so based on our total cost for that vs what our total cost would have been if we had booked YC at that time, we'll save $1,290 if our bid is accepted. If not, we'll still have a great cruise LOL!!