First Cruise...What are Good Move Up Bids?

[pacergal]

With claustrophobia, I need a veranda so I can get fresh air. Even on our cruise to Alaska, we had the door open frequently and I sat outside with my wool coat, enjoying the view. It was lovely.

 

[friar1610]

Imagine how much more fun it would have been if you were a submariner.

I actually did two SPECOPS on 637s back in the day so although I wasn't a real submariner, I do have a sense of what life is like in that environment. And to be honest, I much prefer cruise ships with verandas.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

We last did a cruise on X in 2016 (also the Mediterranean: Italy, Greece, Turkey) so things may have changed but...

I recall seeing a table (might have been for Royal Caribbean tho) that gave guidance on upgrades at the port. The prices differed from Inside to Outside, Inside to Balcony, etc. I can't seem to dig it up. The prices were for the cabin, not per person.
Another upgrade option is heading to the Front Desk after you board. It's typically a gong show though. You can leave your name and they'll leave a vm on the phone in your cabin with upgrade options/pricing if there are cabins available. (It's different from upgrading pre-departure because after the ship departs, the ship has some autonomy to manage its revenue streams onboard.)
If you do upgrade, I don't think the perks of concierge class is worth it. You should aim for aqua class and above with provide perks like dedicated dining options and opportunities to get to the front of the line. I kind of agree though that you might want to just stick with your current cabin as a kind of a baseline since it's your first cruise.

We generally book inside cabins or basic verandas. Two things we enjoyed with the balcony were: (1) breakfast on the balcony. I think there's a charge for room service now so it's a bit of a splurge. (2) watching the ship arrive and sailaway from your own cabin while getting ready for the evening. You kind of have to luck out on being on the correct side of course. I find all the activity on the pier kind of interesting and watching the pilot boat.
*Forgot to also mention going thru straits like the Dardenelles. You can obviously watch from public spaces too but sometimes you might want to enjoy privately in your own space.

For the ports where you are docking, it's generally not too bad of a process getting off the ship. You might want to identify and prep for ports where you have to tender into town (eg. Santorini). The ship typically lets passengers on the ship's excursions and in suites get early numbered passes. Everyone else needs to line up the day before to get their tender ticket slot. The early bird gets the worm!

We generally do our own thing and get around by public transport. I can't recall any of the ports we struggled with public transportation but there some attractions will be more of a challenge to get to. I also agree that a good compromise is grouping up on a tour with your roll call shipmates on cruisecritic which we've also done. Everyone we meet is so friendly.

 

[Teacher Terry]

We have been on 6 cruises. The first 2 we had a ocean view room because I am claustrophobic. The next cruise we decided to try a inside cabin and it was so dark and quiet to sleep. We are never in our room except to shower or sleep.

 

[gayl]

As someone who cruises let me give my 2c. You got a 'move up room' bc they oversold your category but undersold higher ones. If no one takes them up on the offer, they'll slowly decrease the bid requirement. (Have you gone on your Cruise Critic roll call to see what they think? Have they seriously oversold or just by a small - maybe 10% - amount) If they don't get enough they'll drop it way WAY down. I usually accept upsells (yep, that's a better term) at $50 pd and I'm a solo.

But I always book the cheapest room I'm comfortable in.

30 cruises and counting

 

[ElizabethT]

I always booked the cheapest cabin. You can sleep until you are not tired, as the room is pitch black. Then you get up and leave the room. The ports are the same as the highest priced rooms.

If you are hanging out in the room, you could have stayed home and saved a ton of money.

OR . . . you can enjoy sitting out on your private, peaceful balcony sipping coffee/tea/wine, listening to the waves crashing against the ship while gazing out an an expanse of ocean.

Different strokes

 

[IMATERP]

We typically will wait until boarding and request an upgrade, if available. We have been able to get a 9 day upgrade from Oceanview to Verandah for $150. It really depends what class of rooms are still available at time of sailing. I might try to go from Verandah to Aquaclass (as Concierge Class isn’t worth upgrading to.)

By the way, we’ve done 7 sailings with Celebrity and two were Transatlantic.

 

[Gulfbeach]

On celebrity if I already had a verandah I would pay about 10-15 percent more for aqua class (better food is all you get). For a suite I would pay double given the perks space and food level in the suite restaurant.

+1

 

[Bamaman]

We too are seasoned cruisers, but we tend to go on cruises that come with lots of freebies or very low pricing. My last two cruises were transatlantic to Italy and England. We watch VacationstoGo.com for the bargains since their computers are the best, but we have a specialized cruise travel agent in Tampa that gets us in on the big deals.

We are just fine in any room category as my wife is a sleeper on cruises. We never take the cruise lines' shore excursions as we can book'em cheaper on our own. There's always dozens of taxi's waiting on the dock.

We prefer mid quality cruise lines like Celebrity that are nice enough, but not too wild. We do like Norwegian as they've been making improvements after quality dropped for a couple of years. We'll never go on a Holland America cruise again with the average age being 85 years. And we don't like Carnival any longer because they're getting downright frugal--and the crowd can get routy.

We have been to virtually every Caribbean island and the Bahamas. We no longer travel to Mexico and the Western Caribbean--especially Jamaica. We prefer traveling that region from San Juan as a new port is visited every morning. We love St. Lucia especially.

We don't care for the Spanish Riviera stops as their port cities are often so congested with people and high rise condos--to where ground transportation doesn't move. We love Sicily, Malta and the Greek Islands. The Baltic cruises around Scandanavia and going to St. Petersburg is really a bargain because the region is deadly expensive on the ground--unaffordable.

In our retirement years, it's got to where we do virtually no U.S. travel--other than to get to airports to fly to Europe. We were in Spain & Paris in June, and my wife is returning in October with her daughter. We're both going to Berlin/Krakow/Budapest in April after a 2 hour $425 airfare sale popped up. She is having to take RMD withdrawals, and decided to spend it on her daughter rather than bank it for when we're gone.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Kraków is one of my favorite cities. It’s so beautiful. Don’t miss the salt mines and the big square. It has shops, restaurant and a huge church. If the weather is still warm enough the restaurants have outdoor seating and people come around and play music at your table.

 

[Fleur58]

I've been on several cruises to the Carribbean, Mediterranean, China, and Alaska. I always used to get a balcony cabin; until 2017 when I tried the new solo single interior cabin on NCL. I found I loved it. Interior cabins are very quiet, and a welcome respite from the hubbub and crowds in the public areas of the ship. The solo rooms have access to a solo lounge for coffee and snacks anytime. I found that when I wanted peace and quiet I did go to my cabin to relax, listen to music, and read (as well as sleep).You do need a break to chill and change before dinner and after excursions. I am not one of those who are never in their room. I'm about to go on a 7 day cruise leaving from Baltimore in September. My sister is going with me. We are sharing an interior. She loves to gamble and will be in the casino most of the time when its open. I'll be relaxing on an exterior deck on a comfy sofa or chair, enjoying fresh air, reading, drinking, and listening to my own music. I'm not for hokey games and activities like the Hairy Chest Contest. I do like demonstrations like the Towel Animals and the Theatre and Comedy shows. If you don't have a balcony simply go to a deck to get your fresh air fix and watch the ship enter and exit ports.
My point is know what you like and then do it. A balcony cabin is nice to have but not necessary to enjoy your cruise. Consult with experienced cruiser like on www.cruisecritic.com

 

[Nemo2]

Just browsing through this thread, and it seems (what else is new? ) that it's wandered away from the OP's quantitative question of "How much?" and morphed into "I like/you like".

My thought is that the OP should [-]blow[/-] spend as much as he/she is comfortable with, and then the experience will serve as a template for any future trips.

What's the old expression....."Experience teaches us how to make good decisions, and we gain that experience through making bad ones"? Or somesuch.

It's not a one size fits all. Good luck, enjoy the cruise!

 

[TrvlBug]

OP here. Many great comments...thank you all. DH, or I to be more precise , have gone back and forth. Now, whenever I ask DH what he thinks, he just smiles and says 'I'm staying tuned'...the man is a keeper!

A bit more clarification...we as other posters have mentioned, like some downtime and don't plan on just being in the room to sleep and shower, so larger accommodations are important to us. We are used to timesharing, I know how to play the game and we always get 2 bedroom condos. Hotel rooms are for very short stays or places like NYC.

Our travel companions like the 8:30 dinner hour so we have also selected that time in order to eat together. A BIG however is DH and I are early eaters. I have already told him I cannot eat at 8:30 every night and we do plan on eating a number of earlier dinners by ourselves. We don't plan on being in each other's hip pockets the entire time.

Lastly, we can afford it and have been loosening the purse strings for awhile. That is our dilemma...our frugal nature will not allow us to overspend to ridiculous amounts.

SO, what is a good number to spend? It's been suggested 10-15%, but of what? Of the high bid amount on each category? Of what we are spending now on our cabins which is $6K total, $3K above the most basic cabin? Below are the upgrades we are considering, not for additional perks which would be nice, but for additional elbow room (our cabin is 170 sf w/ 38 sf of balcony):

Family Veranda minimum bid of $100/max bid $1.5K (280sf/112 or 191sf); Sky Suite minimum bid of $1,000/max bid $2.5K (251sf/57sf); and Celebrity Suite minimum bid of $1,500/max bid of $3K (467sf/85sf). Min. and max. bids are per person. Would appreciate suggestions on bid amounts of each category.

As one poster suggested, I will watch the min/max bid amounts to gauge interest from others wrt upgrading.

 

[brett]

We always book a balcony cabin. We had done three Med cruises on Celebrity. They were all booked inside the final payment window after prices dropped.

We regularly do extended independent land tours. We typically keep an eye out for blow out pricing on last minute cruises. It is a little more challenging now that the economy is good. A few years ago, when Europe and NA were hurting, we picked up some very attractive last minute Med deals. Not so many now. We are leaving next month and were watching the prices. They are high at the moment.

 

[BeachOrCity]

The sky suite is a room and a half basically. Feels like a spacious hotel room. But the big difference with the ss is you get Luminai restaurant. MUCH better food. you also probably get more free perks, alcohol internet etc.

If you all are foodies I would say luminai should be valued at 50 per person Per day.

On a 12 night cruise you typically can’t get from balcony to sky suite for less than 2500 additional per person. So the value seems reasonable especially at the low end

 

[TrvlBug]

Looking to potentially do this Med tour upon F.I.R.E. in a few years...if you don't mind me asking about price, and plans for excursions ? Thanks

Forgot to clarify in my response that the $6.5K cost did not include the 8 excursions that we booked through Celebrity. Those were another $1.5K for the both of us. We decided to book thru the cruise line for the same reasons stated by another poster. Guarantee that the ship would wait for us! Our travel buds have also booked thru C. Assuming future cruises are in our travel plans, we will most likely go our own as we are not 'tour group' type travelers and prefer to set our own place. Having no experience with cruising, we did not feel overly comfortable doing this our first time out.

 

[brett]

One thing that we have learned about cruise ships and cruise lines....do not make assumptions based on what nomenclature they put on a cabin.

What some call suites are sometimes only a slightly larger cabin..by a few feet.
Cabin categories are used for marketing purposes. For us it is all about the cost of he real estate. We are never willing to pay substantially more in order to get 10 or 15 percent more room, free this or that, or 'so called' meaningless priority boarding.

Pay attention to ensure what you think you are getting is really what you are getting. So, if you want more room do not assume that an upgrade will provide you with extra space that you assume you will be getting based on the cost of the upgrade/upcharge. Go to the cruise line website, get the cabin layouts on the ship you are interested in, and compare the layouts and the sq. footage....net of the balcony!

 

[Nemo2]

Of what we are spending now on our cabins which is $6K total

Does this number include port/government taxes and 'mandatory gratuities', (I love the contradictory terminology on that one), since the common practice is to quote 'base price' and then slide in 'accessories' after the fact?

 

[TrvlBug]

O... ...

Pay attention to ensure what you think you are getting is really what you are getting. So, if you want more room do not assume that an upgrade will provide you with extra space that you assume you will be getting based on the cost of the upgrade/upcharge. Go to the cruise line website, get the cabin layouts on the ship you are interested in, and compare the layouts and the sq. footage....net of the balcony!

Yes, I've looked at the layouts of the 3 upgrades we are considering. All offer substantial increase in space of both cabin and balcony and 2 offer upgraded dining.

 

[TrvlBug]

Does this number include port/government taxes and 'mandatory gratuities', (I love the contradictory terminology on that one), since the common practice is to quote 'base price' and then slide in 'accessories' after the fact?

No, those costs are not included. Knew about the gratuities, but forgot about the taxes. How are those calculated and assessed?

 

[Nemo2]

No, those costs are not included. Knew about the gratuities, but forgot about the taxes. How are those calculated and assessed?

AFAIK they vary from port/country to port/country...your TA should/might be able to provide individual clarification, but will certainly be able to give you an overall total.

 

[brett]

We have sailed on multiple cruise lines. Celebrity is our favourite.

 

[sengsational]

No, those costs are not included. Knew about the gratuities, but forgot about the taxes. How are those calculated and assessed?

There are port taxes that are the same for everyone and don't go up when you select a bigger cabin, but there seems to be another/other taxes that are a function of the cabin price. I've never been able to (or taken time enough) to get any more details. You can go to the web site, act like you're booking cabins of different sizes and get a feel for the rates.

 

[sn2792]

When you do a move up on Celebrity, there are no additional taxes. Whatever your original perks are will remain. If you move up to Aqua Class you get Blu restaurant for breakfast and dinner as well as free access to the thermal spa. If you move up to sky suite and above, you get access to Luminae restaurant for breakfast, dinner and lunch on sea days. In addition, you get access to Michaels Club where you can get whatever you want to drink regardless of what alcohol package you have.

At the bars if you want a drink or alcohol not in your package, you just pay the difference in price. For example a tangueray and tonic costs $1.18 because that brand of gin is in the premium package and not in the classic package.

We did a move up on our 12 day cruise in March from Aqua Class to a sky Suite for 750 a person. The price we paid for the move up was still around $1300 less than what we could have booked a sky suite for originally. The sky suite is quite a bit larger than an Aqua class or Veranda cabin.

My hubby is spoiled now and really loves the suite life on Celebrity, especially Luminae and Michaels Club, or retreat depending on the ship.

We always book Aqua Class and then submit a move up bid for Sky suite.

 

[TrvlBug]

When you do a move up on Celebrity, there are no additional taxes. Whatever your original perks are will remain. If you move up to Aqua Class you get Blu restaurant for breakfast and dinner as well as free access to the thermal spa. If you move up to sky suite and above, you get access to Luminae restaurant for breakfast, dinner and lunch on sea days. In addition, you get access to Michaels Club where you can get whatever you want to drink regardless of what alcohol package you have.

At the bars if you want a drink or alcohol not in your package, you just pay the difference in price. For example a tangueray and tonic costs $1.18 because that brand of gin is in the premium package and not in the classic package.

We did a move up on our 12 day cruise in March from Aqua Class to a sky Suite for 750 a person. The price we paid for the move up was still around $1300 less than what we could have booked a sky suite for originally. The sky suite is quite a bit larger than an Aqua class or Veranda cabin.

My hubby is spoiled now and really loves the suite life on Celebrity, especially Luminae and Michaels Club, or retreat depending on the ship.

We always book Aqua Class and then submit a move up bid for Sky suite.

So, no Luminae restaurant except for on the sea days if we upgrade to Sky or Celebrity Suite? We're not drinkers, so Michael's Club wouldn't hold too much interest, although I do like a Cointreau now and then and DH his Chambord . That said, I'm leaning towards upgrading for the experience. DH and I simply don't see cruising in our future (other than next year's Russia river trip and the following years' Alaska cruise). We much prefer independent travel, but you never know.

Yesterday was 2 weeks prior to sail day and no reduction in minimum bids. Will probably put in a bit next Thursday or Friday and keep my fingers crossed. May also rethink upgrading to Aqua. While cabin size is not much larger, the perks appeal.