Living that Upgrade Life

 

 Have you heard about NCL (Norwegian Cruise Line)’s Upgrade Advantage bidding program but wondered how it worked? After successfully receiving my first upgrade through this program, I’m finally ready to share with you all about it.

 Several years ago, NCL switched to a bidding system for cabin upgrades. You can bid on cabins up to three classes above the one you’ve booked. This means that if you book an inside room you can bid on an Oceanview, Balcony, or Club Balcony Suite. If you book a balcony or above you can bid on a Club Balcony Suite, a Suite, or a room in the Haven.

 Typically, you will receive an invitation to bid via email, but if you haven’t you can use the “Room Offers” link on the reservation in your NCL App or visit the upgrade page to enter your reservation information. If you receive a message saying, “We are sorry, we have no space available” you are out of luck. If you receive a message saying that your reservation is not eligible, this is likely because you booked through a travel agent. Online sites that are not NCL (like Costco, VacationsToGo, etc.) all count as OTAs (Online Travel Agents). Most of the time these reservations are not eligible to put in upgrade bids. If I am booking a high level room, like a suite, I will usually book through Costco as they offer great perks including a Costco Cash Card at the end of your cruise for big amounts when you book these types of cabins. If I book a lower-level cabin, like an inside or a balcony, I will often book directly with Norwegian so that I will be eligible for the Upgrade Advantage bidding program.

 Once you’re on the site, you’ll see all the options for rooms you can bid on. You can put in a bid for each level you are interested, even if that’s all of them! You will only be charged for the highest level accepted bid. Therefore, if I bid on an Oceanview for $100, a Balcony for $200, and a Club Balcony for $400 and my Club Balcony bid was accepted, I would be charged for that one and no other ones. Keep in mind that bids are per person with an assumed double occupancy. Because of this, even though I am sailing alone this month, I had to pay $800 for my $400 bid. That said, if I had chosen a Club Balcony Suite instead of an inside room when I booked my cruise, it would have cost me $2,200 more, so I still saved $1,400.

 Another thing to keep in mind is that you will receive onboard benefits and Latitude Rewards according to the cabin you booked, not what you upgraded to. Sometimes this will affect your dining package as certain levels of rooms will get more meals than others. More frequently this will affect the Latitude Reward points you receive. If you book a standard room (Inside, Oceanview, Balcony or Club Balcony Suite) you will get 1 Latitude point per cruise night. If you book a Suite or Haven room, you will get 2 Latitude points per cruise night. If you are already a member of the Latitude Rewards program and you book one of their Latitude Rewards Insider Offers, you will get an additional point per cruise night adding up to 2 or 3 points per night total. However, if you book a Balcony room and then upgrade to a Suite, you will still only get the Latitude Reward points for the Balcony room of 1 (or 2 if it is an Insider Offer) per cruise night.

 Back to the bidding process, if/when you reach a page where you can enter a bid, you will see a slider that will allow you to choose how much you’d like to bid. This is not like an auction where you bid $10 then another person bids $15 and you can then bid $20. You have no idea what other people are going to bid and you only get to bid once. Be sure that whatever amount you put in, you will be ok with paying double that, because remember, this bid is per person on a double occupancy basis. So if you bid $100 and it is accepted, you will pay $200 for the upgrade. Each room has a minimum bid listed and you are welcome to bid that. I’ve heard of people having this accepted but I have never experienced this personally. One way to see what a reasonable bid is, is to check NCL’s website for the current price of the room your bidding for and subtract the price you paid for your room. I would never bid more than this as you could likely call up and ask for a paid upgrade at that price. Me, I prayed about it. I left it in God’s hands trusting that He would put me in the room that was right for me, and then I prayed about what I should bid on each room I was interested in. No, I didn’t hear a booming voice say $400, nor did I receive a heavenly email. But I did receive an impression and a sense of peace with certain numbers. Then I let it go. To my surprise and delight, a few weeks later I received an email saying my bid had been accepted! The catch to this is you have to sincerely be ready to accept whatever God sends your way. Never book a cabin you would not be comfortable sailing in with the expectation of being able to upgrade later!

Here's the Thing: This process isn’t for everyone. There is a great degree of uncertainty involved, and you will be paying more for your cruise. That said, I wasn’t comfortable paying 4x the price of an inside room to get a balcony, but I’d really like one if it was available. I would have been satisfied with staying in an inside room. I’ve done it before, and it was quite nice. I was very happy to pay what I did and I’m really looking forward to the room!