I teach a “travel for less” class so am always keen to find new and exciting travel upgrades to luxury I otherwise can’t afford traveling solo. So when I first heard of the cruise bid for upgrade program, I was intrigued. Cruise passengers can submit a bid to “win” (buy) an upgrade to a different cabin type (often suites) with a range of exclusive amenities. It’s a bit addicting because it requires you to be part gambler, part strategist and have some (dumb) luck on your side. For my recent Celebrity Edge solo cruise, I had strategy on my side because the ship was sailing at about 50% full so there would be a plethora of unsold premium cabins. The genius of the program for the cruise lines is that once you get a taste for the luxury options, it will be hard to go back to the lower end cabin again.
What is the Cruise Bid for Upgrade Program?
When the cruise ship isn’t sailing at full capacity, the cruise line will offer different categories of cabins and suites available for upgrade. This is an opportunity to add revenue for the cruise line while also giving passengers an opportunity to experience a cabin/suite they wouldn’t have otherwise booked. Sounds interesting doesn’t it? You submit a bid to move up to a different category for a price. The cost to jump categories will depend on your current booked cabin category. It’s your vacation so why not splurge a bit before you even board the ship? Well it depends on what you goal is – larger cabin, suite amenities, privacy, etc.
How the Cruise Cabin Upgrade Bid Program Works
Some passengers (not all) are sent an email approximately one/two weeks before sailing listing the option(s) available to bid on. I don’t know the criteria for the upgrade email. Both times I received the option, I was an entry level loyalty member sailing in a balcony (or verandah) cabin. Each cabin category will be listed along with a bidding range (US $) per person. If sailing solo, like I do, your bid will be doubled as based on double occupancy. So if I were to bid $250 sailing solo, the total bid would be $500.
Some of the bidding tools will show a barometer from red to green (bad to good) to provide a visual of how strong your bid potential is. I tend to ignore those and go with my budget – how much can I afford? And what is a good deal if I were to “win”. It’s also important to understand why you want to upgrade – larger space, exclusive access and/or just because you want the experience. Each of your wants are worth a price.
If you like the middle of the ship (popular), you might end up in the front or the back as you don’t control the location of the upgrade only the upgrade category. Many of the luxury suites are located forward with a few aft (at the very back of the ship with big balconies). So be prepared for the potential extra walking to your upgraded cabin. This might affect your choice to bid or not to bid.
You can bid on all categories but only one of your bids can potentially win. So if you bid on a Concierge Suite and a Spa Suite, you can only “win” one. The cruise line will decide for you and automatically charge your credit card and adjust for taxes and tips accordingly (don’t forget to factor these additions into your budget as they are not included in your bid price).
Cruise Bid Strategy & Research – Winning Cruise Bids
How do you know whether to bid low or high? You can research Cruise Critic bidding forums for your cruise line to see what has been successful in the past as submitted by cruise travelers. At the end of the day you need to be comfortable with the additional cost because if accepted your credit card is charged you can’t make changes or cancel.
Now for the trickier research – how do you figure out how full the ship is? You can ask your travel agent as they can often see into the remaining inventory. You can go to the cruise ship booking page online and walk through a fake booking to see how many cabins are offered in the category. You can participate in cruise critic rollcall and bidding chats. This isn’t foolproof but can help a bit in your research.
How much to bid? Is $1,000 or more a reasonable bid? It will depend on the suite you are bidding on as some suites might normally cost $10k+ depending on your initial booking category. You might think $5,000+ is a reasonable bid. To be honest, I’m shocked at some of the suite pricing and think “I could do x more cruises for that rate” but to each their own. That’s what’s so fun about travel – every trip is unique. We can sail the same cruise and have an entirely different onboard experience at any price.
Cruise Luck – My Winning & Losing Cruise Upgrade Bids
When I sailed on the NCL transatlantic cruise, I was booked into a balcony room. The transatlantic sailings don’t usually sail full so the odds are good to upgrade for less. Not wanting to pay too much more, my friend and I talked about our budget and the high and low end for bids.
I wanted the Spa Cabin which would provide access to a spa menu, in room amenities and access to the Thermal Spa which has saunas, heated lounge chairs, a salt room and a water therapy pool in the spa. Had we booked the Spa Suite outright in the beginning it was $600 per person more expensive. So our bid would be less than that. We bid $250 per person ($500 in total vs. $1,200 value). She wanted to try The Haven, which is exclusive area of suites and amenities on Norwegian (NCL). We bid low on that just in case of dumb luck. Due to the last minute passenger influx from a canceled ship sailing, our bids were rejected
On my recent Celebrity Edge cruise, I booked a veranda room with a single supplement discount so I felt good about a low bid as the ship was already sailing 50% or less due to current CDC no sail order in place. The cruise was the third Edge sailing as a “conditional” cruises with all new covid protocols.
I received the Celebrity Move Up option to bid on the
My choices were:
- Edge Villa – 2 story villa with so many luxury features, I’d need to hit the lottery to afford
- Royal Suite – separate living and sleeping areas and an outside verandah
- Celebrity Suite – has outside verandah
- Sky Suite – has outside verandah
- AquaClass Stateroom (infinite verandah inside cabin)
- Concierge Class Stateroom (infinite verandah inside cabin)
The Celebrity Edge AquaClass Upgrade
The booking difference was $600+ and the Thermal Spa pass was likely $269 for the week so I knew that I wanted to get some value and be under the $269 amount. The Celebrity Move Up upgrade monitor showed the bidding range of $75-300 per person ($150-$600 total) with red, yellow and green zones to give a visual of the odds to be accepted. I figured $75 would auto reject, so bid $85 (a total of $170) and was successful! Talk about dumb luck, I was thrilled to win my upgrade. My credit card was charged before I received the email confirmation with my new cabin assignment.
My original booking was a mid-ship Infinite Verandah (balcony) cabin on the 7th floor. My winning cruise upgrade bid would relocate me to an AquaClass cabin on the 10th floor aft (back of ship). While the cabin was essentially the same sq. footage, AquaClass included:
- Spa (wellness) amenities in cabin:
- spa shower with five different water delivery options
- CO Bigelow toiletries
- Yoga mats in room
- Daily bottled water
- Afternoon chef tasting plate
- Exclusive access to the Thermal Spa (heated lounge chairs, five types of sauna, rain shower experience)
- Exclusive dining at Blu Restaurant which serves a wellness menu for breakfast and dinner
In addition to the amenities in cabin and on the ship, I was given priority suite check at the dock (I’d actually pay for this in the future if it was a bespoke option similar to a Disney fastpass). While I still had a later check-in time 2:30 pm vs. the 11 am elite access, I was able to bypass the general line and check in quickly with only two folks in front of me. This was a perk I really liked as it was stress free and I walked right onto the ship, bypassing the private lounge used for waiting.
Final Thoughts on the Cruise Upgrade Bidding Process
As you can see, winning the cruise upgrade via a bid does vary. Sure you can bid the maximum amount in the green category to have the best chance of winning but where the fun in paying more than you could? It is a strategic gamble and feels good when you win. My return on investment (ROI) was excellent for my Celebrity Edge upgrade bid. The value of the amenities, time saved and experience was worth so much more than the bid price.
Could I win in the future with a $170 bid? I doubt it. Having the suite experience for less than a pair of shoes (size 11 shoes aren’t cheap) was so sweet after a year of dread. The only problem with my win? I’ve seen the luxury side of things I otherwise couldn’t afford and I liked it a lot. Just like gambling the house (cruise) always win. They gave me a taste of luxury for less and how can I go back to the standard cabin again?