First time doing upgrade bid

[lorri111]

Decided to put in upgrade bid, not done it before. Is there anywhere in my documentation in the Personalizer that tells me I have a bid in or what its status is? Or do I just have to hope for an email confirming I have it? Do you hear if you are unsuccessful? What is the latest the upgrade can occur?

[sewgood]

I put in for one today and very soon received an email from upgrade@princess.com to confirm that they got my offer to upgrade my stateroom.

The email also contains a modify/cancel section which I have used on a previous cruise to change my bid.

I don't believe you will find it in your Personalizer.

For the last successful upgrade I put in I received notification of it through email 30 days before. My cruise personalizer was then changed to show the new room.

I have also received the upgrade in the last week before sailing.

 

Best of luck with your upgrade bid.

[SCX22]

I personally don't bid, but I manage my parents bids...

 

All communication up to winning an upgrade will come from PlusGrade, the third party operating the bidding system.  Nothing will appear in your Cruise Personalizer until you have won, at which point your booking will show the new category and new cabin assigned.  You can access the PlusGrade site with your bids at anytime in the process; the site will show you category bids that have been declined and allows you to modify bids for bids that you have placed and are still in the running.   When you win an upgrade bid, you will be e-mailed an Upgrade Notification from Princess.  Sometimes you will receive an e-mail from PlusGrade notifying you that your bid(s) have been declined, other times not.  It has been reported on this board that sometimes PlusGrade will send a counter offer for slightly more on a higher category that will guarantee an upgrade to a higher category.  Not sure if Australians receive Booking Confirmation e-mails from Princess, but if you do, a new Booking Confirmation will be e-mailed and the upgrade from category x to y will be noted in the comments section.

[Beamafar]

How soon after final payment is the bid to upgrade offered?

[lorri111]

We are only 18 days off sailing, I think it was offered some time ago but we didn't think about it then, the current email was titled "you can still upgrade".

[suzyed]

2 hours ago, Beamafar said:

How soon after final payment is the bid to upgrade offered?

About 5 days has been our experience.

[partybarbie]

I’m not a fan of “room roulette”, but I recently had a good experience with my upgrade bid.  When I originally booked our Sun Princess 25-day Trans-Atlantic cruise, the balcony rooms seemed very pricey, so I opted for a forward inside cabin on Deck 16. As time passed, I found myself regretting this decision. I received an email this week to upgrade to a deluxe balcony for $300 per person. My bid was accepted and we are now in a mid-aft balcony on the same deck. The location is great and I feel we got a great deal.

[crusdiva]

11 hours ago, SCX22 said:

I personally don't bid, but I manage my parents bids...

 

All communication up to winning an upgrade will come from PlusGrade, the third party operating the bidding system.  Nothing will appear in your Cruise Personalizer until you have won, at which point your booking will show the new category and new cabin assigned.  You can access the PlusGrade site with your bids at anytime in the process; the site will show you category bids that have been declined and allows you to modify bids for bids that you have placed and are still in the running.   When you win an upgrade bid, you will be e-mailed an Upgrade Notification from Princess.  Sometimes you will receive an e-mail from PlusGrade notifying you that your bid(s) have been declined, other times not.  It has been reported on this board that sometimes PlusGrade will send a counter offer for slightly more on a higher category that will guarantee an upgrade to a higher category.  Not sure if Australians receive Booking Confirmation e-mails from Princess, but if you do, a new Booking Confirmation will be e-mailed and the upgrade from category x to y will be noted in the comments section.

Thanks for this great information. Could you provide the link please.

[Arizona Wildcat]

9 hours ago, Beamafar said:

How soon after final payment is the bid to upgrade offered?

Have often not received an offer, but Googled Princess upgrade and logged in.

[Beamafar]

Just now, Arizona Wildcat said:

Have often not received an offer, but Googled Princess upgrade and logged in.

Appreciate the answer but I don’t know if Princess offers the option to bid in Ireland and Google wouldn’t help here.

 

They don’t have a dedicated website here: can only access a UK site which quotes prices in GBP, so I’m going to patiently wait to see if I’ll get the opportunity to bid (having just made final payment).  I’ve been offered the chance to bid on NCL, Azamara and Celebrity, but they all have Ireland websites.  MSC is the only cruise line (til now - haven’t sailed Princess yet) we’ve sailed with that doesn’t offer the bid process here. 

[SCX22]

12 hours ago, crusdiva said:

Thanks for this great information. Could you provide the link please.

 

For those in the USA:

 

https://upg.plusgrade.com/marketing/partner/RNo2BO4VPCL

 

You can also access the site through your Cruise Personalizer or through the Princess website:  Booked Guests > Get Ready for Your Cruise > Princess Upgrade > Scroll down to Get Started

[crusdiva]

5 hours ago, SCX22 said:

 

For those in the USA:

 

https://upg.plusgrade.com/marketing/partner/RNo2BO4VPCL

 

You can also access the site through your Cruise Personalizer or through the Princess website:  Booked Guests > Get Ready for Your Cruise > Princess Upgrade > Scroll down to Get Started

Thanks so much!