Upgrade bid strategy - balcony vs club

[aloha_DC]

It’s about 90 days to our sail date, currently booked in an ocean view. Looking at the upgrade bid process and and it looks like there are around 50 currently unsold balcony rooms on our cruise and around 23 unsold club balcony rooms (and only about 5 unsold suites/ Haven so wouldn’t expect a lot of folks to move up). 
 

are we better off bidding on a club balcony given there seems to be a supply and demand mismatch there?

 

we don’t care that much about the extra club perks but it’d be really nice to have a balcony for not much more for our 9 day sailing (and one of our first cruise)

 

[Fredrik]

Bid on both categories. The way cruises are selling right now it’s getting more difficult to get an upgrade that way but I would put in for all categories you are interested in.

[aloha_DC]

11 minutes ago, Fredrik said:

Bid on both categories. The way cruises are selling right now it’s getting more difficult to get an upgrade that way but I would put in for all categories you are interested in.

Oh jeez, I didn’t realize you could bid on more than one category 🤦🏻‍♀️ we’ll bid on both then, thanks!

[mking8288]

Depending on the ship and itinerary, a lot can happened with sale of the remaining inventory of cabins and availability for competitive upgrade bidding, now that it's past final payment/cancellation deadline. For the past year, ships are almost all sailing full or near full, even the sole supplement were not getting dropped on "hot" sailings.  Set your limits and watch for possible price drops, if the difference is within your "acceptable" lines to cross over, you should consider calling in to ask about paying for a direct upgrade (be mindful of protecting & preserving all your included promotions & perks, etc.) 

 

From OV, the odds "used" to be fair & possible to get bumped up one tier to balcony, the double hopping to CBS is often a much longer stretch and also price/costs differentially is wider.  

 

On a # of recent sailings that I've tracked more closely, the CBS and balconies were being "processed" much earlier than years ago, as far out as 50 to 60, 65 days from embarkation, subsequently releasing OV and even Insides for upgrades.  As always, YMMV - there is no simple formula or magical equation to winning ... 

 

Case in point, our friends "raised" their bids to a balcony for a mid/late May 7 nights Bermuda cruise out of NY and they waited until embarkation afternoon, to find out that ...

their $300 bids ($150 x 2) failed, no last minute cabin change onboard.  Good Luck !! 

Edited July 10 by mking8288

[jrt.mom]

6 hours ago, aloha_DC said:

It’s about 90 days to our sail date, currently booked in an ocean view. Looking at the upgrade bid process and and it looks like there are around 50 currently unsold balcony rooms on our cruise and around 23 unsold club balcony rooms (and only about 5 unsold suites/ Haven so wouldn’t expect a lot of folks to move up). 
 

are we better off bidding on a club balcony given there seems to be a supply and demand mismatch there?

 

we don’t care that much about the extra club perks but it’d be really nice to have a balcony for not much more for our 9 day sailing (and one of our first cruise)

 

Which ship and itinerary are you on, if you don't mind me asking? I'm also on a cruise about 90 days out and got the same offer...I hope I'm not in a bidding war with you!😂

[BirdTravels]

7 hours ago, aloha_DC said:

It’s about 90 days to our sail date, currently booked in an ocean view. Looking at the upgrade bid process and and it looks like there are around 50 currently unsold balcony rooms on our cruise and around 23 unsold club balcony rooms (and only about 5 unsold suites/ Haven so wouldn’t expect a lot of folks to move up). 
 

are we better off bidding on a club balcony given there seems to be a supply and demand mismatch there?

 

we don’t care that much about the extra club perks but it’d be really nice to have a balcony for not much more for our 9 day sailing (and one of our first cruise)

 

 

Bid on all available cabin classes. I am assuming that you are on a bigger ship, so the actual size of the room in a balcony or club balcony are nearly the same. You get a bigger bathroom with the club balcony. 

 

Upgrades to Balconies and Club Balconies (CBS) can occur any time from the day you bid until 2 days prior to departure. While the automated bidding system would imply that they could upgrade you once you arrive at the departure port, the ship is only concerned about filling the suites and never bother with lesser rooms. 

 

So,,, the longer you wait, the less chance you have getting an upgrade. The cruise line will sometimes do a few upgrades to balconies and CBS rooms to free up some cheaper rooms. On a big ship, there could be over 1200 staterooms bidding on CBS rooms. While there are only 500 inside and ocean view rooms bidding on Balconies (if that makes any sense). 

 

There is no strategy other than the more bid you have in and the higher the bids are will give you a better chance to get upgraded. 

Edited July 11 by BirdTravels

[Distinctive-Destinations]

Just make sure your total bid (what you already paid plus what you want to bid to upgrade) does not exceed the cost of the room.

 

If it does, you MAY be better off cancelling your current room and just booking the better room directly. Keep in mind you may lose any travel agent credit, etc you may have with your current booking and there is a chance that the better room gets booked by someone else in the interim.

[aloha_DC]

14 hours ago, jrt.mom said:

Which ship and itinerary are you on, if you don't mind me asking? I'm also on a cruise about 90 days out and got the same offer...I hope I'm not in a bidding war with you!😂

Oct 14 from Trieste

[aloha_DC]

Thanks everyone! Pretty low bids submitted for both categories but I’ll keep an eye out as we get closer and might increase. Right now and when we booked, balconies were almost double the cost of OV so not much risk of going over.