Does anyone have experience with bidding for a cabin upgrade?

Far as I knew it was only Norwegian that was doing that. And I have not done so but have spoke to some that did try and it is a bit of a crap shoot as they list open cabins above yours and you bid or state how much more you are willing to pay for that. Depending on the competition for the cabin you can get an upgrade for from $1 to $1000.

There is also some fine print on benefit availability such as loyalty rewards based on the original cabin purchase and not on the upgraded cabin.

Never knew such a thing existed.

Royal has been doing this for several years now. I have gotten the email to upgrade several times but have never bid on one. I've seen bids on suites that range from $750 to $1700 PP. A bit rich for my blood but I guess some people do bid. I usually stay put.

This subject came up on ROSTERS of all places about 3-4 cruises back for me.. I'll repeat the short version of my response. Some how folks think they're getting a big bargain, or something for almost nothing. It CAN happen. But experienced cruisers do it with their eyes wide open...and yes, that fine print as to the actual cabin, or location isn't up to you. And a poor cabin choice, even a more expensive one can ruin the cruising experience. Some folks simply don't care. Ive met several serious cruisers over the years who book an inside and think anything else is a waste of money. Others insist on higher is better, and so on. Be careful, when the cruise lines are offering bargains. What they're doing is calculated to their advantage..which isn't the same thing as yours. What you lose may far exceed what you may gain. We book as early as we can, often for a few years in advance. We pick our cabin VERY carefully, along with anything else we care to reserve. They could offer me the Presidential Suite for a buck three eighty more, and the chances are Id not take it.

I just received an email to bid on an upgrade on my upcoming cruise on MSC, we haven't decided yet. If we decide to bid it will probably be a low bid just to see how it all work. The email also stated that you will not know if you received the upgrade until 48 hours before your cruise.

RCI just revamped their program in either the later part of 2018, or early 2019, and it it now called "RoyalUp"

We had an opportunity to bid on an upgrade from a Junior Suite on Majesty to one of the larger suites. The email came from the cruiseline about 25 days out from sailing, and offered us a minimum bid of $150/pp for the first 2 people(if there are any more in your room, you dont pay for them) Winning bids are Dependent on loyalty status (Crown and Anchor) and bid amount, so say if a Platinum C&A Member and a Gold C&A member bid the same amount on the same upgrade, the Platinum member will be awarded the upgrade.

Hope this helps

Norwegian Bliss sent us offer, we responded with $25 more p/p, then couple weeks later upped our bid to $50 more each . We already had a balcony cabin, tried to upgrade bid to suite. Just before embarkation, received email that our bid was not accepted. Didn’t have to pay anymore, but it was worth a try.

Bummer dude. We were on Anthem last November and were able to upgrade simply because there was a drop in price. So looks like they have now adopted the NCL way which in my opinion benefits only the cruise line. My advise or my 2 cents worth (which in these days of inflation and taxation buys little) book the cabin you want right from the start

Well said and a shorter version...only thing I've found that really benefits us (as well as "them") are those NCL CRUISENEXT COUPONS...because of a certain extra we go out of our way to purchase onboard. this immediately offsets it, and when we use 2 per every cruise, well...I actually had to work out a kind of "spreadsheet" with little arrows and such to keep track of em. Its become serious money. Better than upgrades IMHO.

Here's the article we ended up with on the topic! https://cruiseline.com/advice/cruising-101/beyond-the-basics/secret-cabin-bidding-process-cruisers-don-t-know-about