Is it useless to make an early MoveUp offer to upgrade your cabin?

[Stockjock]

Here's why I ask the question.

I received an offer to upgrade my ocean view cabin on a nearly full sailing.  I placed one upgrade bid where the minimum was $400 per person (did a bit over the minimum).  As I recall, the minimum on Aqua Class, which I didn't bid on, was $450.

But now, the minimum bid on Aqua Class is $650.  Most of the rest of the offers' minimum bids have not increased much, if at all.

It looks to me as they simply raise the minimum bid as new bids come in, basically outbidding all of the others who have previously placed bids.  If so, it almost seems useless to make a lower bid, if the next person who bids will quite possibly take out your lower minimum bid.

In other words, had I placed a minimum bid on Aqua at $450, it appears that there are higher bids ($650 minimum) and I'd basically have no chance, or very little, to get a paid upgrade.

True, or am I missing something here?

[KKB]

19 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

Here's why I ask the question.

I received an offer to upgrade my ocean view cabin on a nearly full sailing.  I placed one upgrade bid where the minimum was $400 per person (did a bit over the minimum).  As I recall, the minimum on Aqua Class, which I didn't bid on, was $450.

But now, the minimum bid on Aqua Class is $650.  Most of the rest of the offers' minimum bids have not increased much, if at all.

It looks to me as they simply raise the minimum bid as new bids come in, basically outbidding all of the others who have previously placed bids.  If so, it almost seems useless to make a lower bid, if the next person who bids will quite possibly take out your lower minimum bid.

In other words, had I placed a minimum bid on Aqua at $450, it appears that there are higher bids ($650 minimum) and I'd basically have no chance, or very little, to get a paid upgrade.

True, or am I missing something here?

Our rules:

A--book the room you are fine with in the 1st place

B--make a bid at a price you are comfortable with (if you want) & forget about it.

(we usually book interiors; we just aren't in our rooms that much!)

 

We had 2 Celebrity cruises in March & November last year & got our upgrade bid accepted on both--and I tend to bid just a bit over min. 

In Nov. on Equinox our friends booked a balcony but it was 1500 more than our interior. We bid about 250pp for a balcony & got it. Pretty good savings.

 

On all lines ships are beginning to sail fuller so upgrades may be less likely in the future, especially during summers & holidays. As long as we stick w/ our plan, we will always be happy.

[Duanerice1]

I'll attempt to answer your question.  It sure seems you're correct.  The rule on any bidding site is  always bid at the last minute.  That is unless they award bids earlier.  Might be the case here, they got rid of a lot excess cabins so they raised the price. 

 

Interesting to hear when people actually received they upgrade.  Was it a week before or a day or 2 before?

[Lastdance]

I have been successful with a  prior bid, on a different cruise, but Celebrity would not even accept my bid for a Sky Suite unless I paid the very highest price for it.  There was no point, IMHO, as it was rediculous.  This was after the original bidding with several suites left; we were onboard for the following cruise and I had bid earlier, but held back several suites.  I do know that one couple got moved to one of the suites because they won a drawing for a free cruise.  I have no idea about the other suites.  I did this through the Retreat Concierge.  Honestly, I really enjoyed my SV almost as much as my Sunset Suite, so really happy it worked out the way it did, as I was not paying 15,000 for a sky suite, as I knew the few who were moved up did not pay anything close to that price...but thousands less for this 8 day cruise.  

 

Just be happy with your original booking, betting a $$$ that you think is worthy it to you!

Edited August 25, 2023 by Lastdance