DLCruiser

Finally heard from Royal, 22 hours before Dec 1 departure. Our bid to upgrade to the new Ultimate Panoramic Suite was not accepted. ? The minimum bid was 800, max was 2800. We bid 2240. Oh well, still have our Crown Loft L2 and $2240. ? 

Finally heard from Royal, 22 hours before Dec 1 departure. Our bid to upgrade to the new Ultimate Panoramic Suite was not accepted. ? The minimum bid was 800, max was 2800. We bid 2240. Oh well, still have our Crown Loft L2 and $2240. ? 

Finally heard from Royal, 22 hours before Dec 1 departure. Our bid to upgrade to the new Ultimate Panoramic Suite was not accepted. ? The minimum bid was 800, max was 2800. We bid 2240. Oh well, still have our Crown Loft L2 and $2240. ? 

Yes, once the new casino year started (1 April) the percentage discount for comped upgrades changed significantly. We used to pay about 40% of the discounted (BOGO or whatever offer they are pushing) rate but now we’re lucky to pay 70% of the discounted rate.  Very disappointing. 

But they CAN project your status for 2019.  That's what's (or one of the MANY things) so frustrating about this program.  They already know whether you have accumulated enough points to reach the threshold of a certain tier status.  As she said, she can tell that you have already at LEAST reached Prime level.  My guess is that, while they know you will be at least Prime, they would prefer to wait and see if you reach Signature again.  Since the points accumulation are iterative, you will continue to accumulate points right up until March 31 2019.
Have you been keeping close track of your points ?  I have.  I get a final point count at the end of each and every cruise and record the points and all information related to rewards (certificates, etc.) in a spreadsheet.  I have a bad feeling that there may be a "disagreement" about point accumulation when it comes time to place everyone in tiers next year.  Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised, but I don't think so.
 
I could have given you a very reliable answer to this question last week....before this whole RoyalUp program started.  Now, anything I say is purely a guess based on past experience but with no real way of knowing how the whole bidding thing is going to affect Club Royale members.
My best experience has been to wait until I am awarded ANY kind of "free" cruise.  I have done this with my annual Prime (inside) rooms and I have done it with rooms awarded through a casino certificate.  In my experience, $$ off certificates are worthless.  The only thing that really helps is a FREE room, regardless of what category it is.
If you are using your "free" annual cruise (Prime, Signature or Masters....shouldn't matter), all you do is choose a cruise you want to take.  The only restrictions are that it cannot be a "holiday sailing" and must be 8 nights or less in duration.  As far as I know, there are no restrictions on which ships you can sail.  The issue of "holiday sailing" is a bit nebulous.  I have read that some people were denied if their cruise was during ANY Federal holiday.  We were able to book during President's Day week (15 Feb 2019) without an issue but I have heard of others who tried to book that same week and were denied.  It will just depend (as it so often does) on who answers the phone when you or your TA calls.
If you receive a "free cruise" certificate, you MUST choose from among the cruises listed on the certificate.  Pick one you like and go for it.
I have done this both ways - on my own, direct with RC and with my TA who is a superb asset in dealing with the casino folks.  Once you have picked a cruise, just tell them that you want to upgrade to a Star Class suite.  They will tell you how much it will cost and you either do it or you don't.  My experience has been that that the upgrade from inside room to Star Class is very reasonable....but Star Class is still expensive, no matter how you look at it.  For my Prime room (the one that we booked for President's day of next year on Anthem), we started out at "free" (inside), upgraded to a 2D, ocean view balcony for $448, upgraded to a J4 JS for another $412, and finally upgraded to a Grand Loft Suite for an additional $2884 - making it a grand total of $3714.  That cabin category is sold out for that cruise so I cannot tell you how much it would be if you bought it now but I can tell you that the same exact cabin for the same week in 2020 is currently $9443 with the current BOGO60 so the casino price is 40% of the full "retail" price.  We are also on the Feb 15, 2020 cruise on Anthem also in a Grand Loft Suite.
Having said ALL of this, I have no idea what the new RoyalUp program is likely to do to casino pricing.  We will just have to wait and see but I think that if you book beyond 90 days, you will still get the good casino pricing.  Just my opinion, of course.