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Royal Up Bid


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1 hour ago, Andrea555 said:

Thank you that is now the 3rd different answer I got. I was told It would go back to our original credit card and then I was told 48 hours no refunds and then I was told 72 hours ...all very confusing , but way too much money for onboard credit for us so not sure I’ll let this go longer than 1 week before we cruise .as long as it’s refundable credit I’m okay with it. Thanks 

The gratuities would go back to the card originally used but may not happen until after the cruise.  But any cruise planner purchases that aren't canceled prior to your sailing you end up getting as refundable OBC.  This goes for anything you may change your mind on..usually you have to see Guest Services but the Genie or Suite Concierge can also help you with it.  Any leftover refundable OBC will post as a refund to the card you put down for your onboard account when you check in.

Good luck on your RoyalUp!

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11 hours ago, mworkman said:

Once again, I’ve managed to get my rejection email. It didn’t surprise me since this is a smaller ship and not as many suite are on Serenade. 

We'll be on Serenade next Oct. What kind of bid did you put in. I'll probably put one in when it's time. We're currently in a JS aft corner. Really looking forward to the extra large balcony, but might want to take a flyer on a GS or OS, for the right price. Whatever that is. 

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@FManke We’re in JS, $1000 per person.  The problem is that there isn’t many cruises like this, 4 or less a year and that tends to sell out very quickly for the suite’s. I would suggest that you really want an upgrade and there are available rooms, it would be best to jump on them if the sailing is limited like ours.

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20 hours ago, mworkman said:

@FManke We’re in JS, $1000 per person.  The problem is that there isn’t many cruises like this, 4 or less a year and that tends to sell out very quickly for the suite’s. I would suggest that you really want an upgrade and there are available rooms, it would be best to jump on them if the sailing is limited like ours.

We're happy with what we have, being it's our first time in anything above a ocean view. We will put in a bid if it seems reasonable. Not sure on suite availability last minute. There are still a lot left, but it is still 9mo months out. We'll see.

Happy cruising!

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1 hour ago, Gerryp said:

Do they give upgrades spontaneously? I mean can you get an upgrade on the day you sail?

Almost unheard of these days.  It has happened to us once and that was waaay back in June 2018. We had an Ocean View room booked and when we got to the ship, we had been upgraded to a JS.  Exactly WHEN the upgrade happened is anyone's guess.  I'm sure it was NOT at the pier but some time prior to that...I just didn't know about it until we got to the ship.

Now, with the RoyalUp program, spontaneous upgrades are pretty much extinct.

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On 12/8/2019 at 4:45 PM, AshleyDillo said:

The gratuities would go back to the card originally used but may not happen until after the cruise.  But any cruise planner purchases that aren't canceled prior to your sailing you end up getting as refundable OBC.  This goes for anything you may change your mind on..usually you have to see Guest Services but the Genie or Suite Concierge can also help you with it.  Any leftover refundable OBC will post as a refund to the card you put down for your onboard account when you check in.

Good luck on your RoyalUp!

Thanks for the info?

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My "upgrade" was from deck seven inside to deck two with a porthole. Not an upgrade in my book! And, as customer service put it, there is NOTHING RC can do for me. I've been a loyal patron of RC for 20 years. Dismond member and nothing they can do.

I even suggested keeping the additional  money for the 'upgrade' and switching back to my original room. 

I'm extremely ? upset. DECK 2, even with a porthole, is not an upgrade.

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3 minutes ago, Linda, CCTX said:

Don't bid. You could find yourself in an undesirable location.

I had a inside standard room on deck seven, then for $300 more, I was 'upgraded to deck 2, with a porthole. 

RC tells me, there is NOTHING they can do.

Unfortunately, what RC tells you is likely true.  When you do RoyalUp, they are likely immediately booking your previous room to someone else.  That is how they fill the ship-it's a logistics and money making game for Royal.  We did RoyalUp because we were currently on deck 2 in an oceanview room and felt the minimum bid for the upgrade was worth it.  My only concern was getting the deck below the pool but felt we would manage even if that happened.  RoyalUp is a risk and you have to weigh that into your decision to make a bid.  Always read the fine print and do your research before you decide to bid. 

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39 minutes ago, Linda, CCTX said:

My "upgrade" was from deck seven inside to deck two with a porthole. Not an upgrade in my book! And, as customer service put it, there is NOTHING RC can do for me. I've been a loyal patron of RC for 20 years. Dismond member and nothing they can do.

I even suggested keeping the additional  money for the 'upgrade' and switching back to my original room. 

I'm extremely ? upset. DECK 2, even with a porthole, is not an upgrade.

I'm sorry that you are not happy with the location of your "upgrade" but it is, in fact, an upgrade. Going from an inside room to an ocean view room is considered an upgrade.  One of the dangers of using RoyalUp is that you do not know where you will be relocated and with the basic room accommodations the locations vary widely.  That is why I recommend that people in a balcony category never try and upgrade to a different balcony category b/c sometimes you end up with basically the same room you started with but in a terrible location.  

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18 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

That is why I recommend that people in a balcony category never try and upgrade to a different balcony category b/c sometimes you end up with basically the same room you started with but in a terrible location.  

+1000 times in agreement.

We actually don't even do the gty unless there is a huge price variance.  However, because we book sooooo far out, we have never seen a real variance.  Maybe a couple of hundred, thus we opt to pick our cabin, I would rather spend that money on a cabin I choose than have them place me in a cabin under the WJ.

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1 minute ago, Pima1988 said:

+1000 times in agreement.

We actually don't even do the gty unless there is a huge price variance.  However, because we book sooooo far out, we have never seen a real variance.  Maybe a couple of hundred, thus we opt to pick our cabin, I would rather spend that money on a cabin I choose than have them place me in a cabin under the WJ.

We were right under the WJ last year on Anthem, we didn’t hear anything. We loved the convenience of being so close. I understand your rationale just disagree with the reasoning. 

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@Ogalthorpe Haywood  I think you also have to look at the ship.  Anthem is huge and newer compared to a ship like Enchantment.  

We just did Adventure in July.  Looking back, I would have changed our cabin.  It was an outside balcony, not far from the elevators or staircase.  Theoretically it seemed perfect.  No noise from the elevator/staircase.   Lesson learned on that cruise.  If you looked at the deck plans, there was grey area, no cabins, no marking of what it was.  Just a blob.  What that blob was/is where the cabin attendants keep their stuff.  It is where their elevators go up and down for room service.  We are early risers, 6-6:30 a.m., even on cruises.  OMG, had we been late risers I would have gone nuts!  All you heard was the carts rolling right passed our cabin to deliver free continental breakfast (including myself, and our family that were to the left and right of us)  starting at 6:30/7:00.  Seriously, think about the noise of dishes on a cart,  I can still hear it my head as I type.  We sailed on Anthem (deck 12 fwd).  SO fwd that 1 more cabin to our left we would have been on the bridge.  Never had a noise issue, but than again it took 5 minutes to walk to the elevators (exaggeration, but you get my point)

I now make sure that there is no grey blob near our cabin and that I don't have to walk a half mile from the staircase to get to my cabin.  Something you can't do when you do a gty or Royal Up.  You have to accept what they give you.  The cliché...beggars can't be choosers is what you need to realize when you go down that path.  No offense intended.

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We have a couple bids placed for two upcoming cruises to upgrade from balcony to JS, in part to move up the RC loyalty ladder before a Celebrity cruise in fall 2020.  We didn't bid much above the "weak" bid range on the Royal-Up-O-Meter, so I would be surprised if either bid is successful.   Though we would be in a different location, I would figure any JS location wouldn't be too bad...

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9 minutes ago, Iluv4n6 said:

We have a couple bids placed for two upcoming cruises to upgrade from balcony to JS, in part to move up the RC loyalty ladder before a Celebrity cruise in fall 2020.  We didn't bid much above the "weak" bid range on the Royal-Up-O-Meter, so I would be surprised if either bid is successful.   Though we would be in a different location, I would figure any JS location wouldn't be too bad...

No double points for a balcony to suite upgrade obtained through RoyalUp.  If you really need those extra points call now and look into the cost to upgrade conventionally outside of RoyalUp.

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3 minutes ago, twangster said:

No double points for a balcony to suite upgrade obtained through RoyalUp.  If you really need those extra points call now and look into the cost to upgrade conventionally outside of RoyalUp.

Thanks Twangster!  Did not see this in the fine print.  But we also have a JS booked in late spring so we will have the points covered to translate to Celebrity's loyalty program for fall 2020. Was thinking of potentially rejiggering our late spring cruise if we were successful with a RoyalUp on an earlier cruise and got double points sooner.  Based on various feedback on the program, it seems that weak bids, like ours, have a low probability of being successful.   Interesting that my TA didn't indicate this limitation to RoyalUp...I had mentioned RU as a means of doubling up on points with an upgrade...or I just missed the info.  

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I’ve bid on upgrades through RoyalUp on my last 3 RCCL cruises with no luck. I thought it was impossible to get an upgrade. I placed a bid to upgrade from a GTY Ocean View Balcony to a Grand Suite for my trip on Symphony in February 2020 and was accepted a week later so it does happen! My bid was in the middle of the fair range. Ended up saving a few grand off the original price of the Grand Suite and was able to cancel a few of items that are included with Sky Class. Now I just need to make it another 45 days!!! Happy bidding!

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I bid a few weeks ago, in the mean time got a new credit card and didn't think to update the card I bid with. So yesterday I got an email saying my card is declined meaning they tried to upgrade me. They offered an option to go update my card number and I did but now I'm stressing I missed my opportunity

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Royal Up bid....ACCEPTED!!! We are on a back to back on Oasis starting Jan 5. We had a Grand Suite booked for both weeks, and decided to take a chance on bidding on an upgrade for the first time. After reading about it in this blog, we didn't think we had a chance, but we just got notified a few days ago that our bid was accepted. We are excited to be in one of the Ultimate Panoramic Suites the first week! It was great to find out almost 2 weeks in advance. We haven't heard about the second week yet. The Ultimate Panoramic Suite is Star Class, and we have already been contacted by Hugo, our Genie. Has anyone had him before? While I have no idea what the secret sauce is to a successful bid, I agree with what everyone else has said here, just bid what you feel is worth it to you. 11 days til boarding! 

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18 minutes ago, Salty Law Dog said:

Royal Up bid....ACCEPTED!!! We are on a back to back on Oasis starting Jan 5. We had a Grand Suite booked for both weeks, and decided to take a chance on bidding on an upgrade for the first time. After reading about it in this blog, we didn't think we had a chance, but we just got notified a few days ago that our bid was accepted. We are excited to be in one of the Ultimate Panoramic Suites the first week! It was great to find out almost 2 weeks in advance. 

Congratulations!!!!

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We booked months ago,and picked the rooms we wanted, have no interest in upbid, just got email this week about bidding for end of January cruise, my confusion is that about two months ago,we had some friends who,decided to also,go on same cruise, when they called to book a room, was told cruise was sold out, now I am getting emails about,bidding for upgrade, makes me think they hold so many rooms to make more money on them than just booking them at normal price. This seems to be a rather new practice, I don't remember getting these emails on cruises the past years.

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1 hour ago, Dan Curtis said:

We booked months ago,and picked the rooms we wanted, have no interest in upbid, just got email this week about bidding for end of January cruise, my confusion is that about two months ago,we had some friends who,decided to also,go on same cruise, when they called to book a room, was told cruise was sold out, now I am getting emails about,bidding for upgrade, makes me think they hold so many rooms to make more money on them than just booking them at normal price. This seems to be a rather new practice, I don't remember getting these emails on cruises the past years.

It is a new practice and it's run by a third party.  They don't necessarily hold back rooms, but by setting up a blind bidding system they are able to capitalize when there are last minute cancellations.  The offer to bid has little to nothing to do with actual availability.  It's also a way for them to collect even more data as to what people would be willing to pay.

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1 hour ago, AshleyDillo said:

It is a new practice and it's run by a third party.  They don't necessarily hold back rooms, but by setting up a blind bidding system they are able to capitalize when there are last minute cancellations.  The offer to bid has little to nothing to do with actual availability.  It's also a way for them to collect even more data as to what people would be willing to pay.

Thanks!  Makes sense from what I can see on the website.   

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I have a theory, lacking many use cases, that GTY bookings may work in conjunction  with and influence  RoyalUp. Similar to what you describe, I have seen upcoming sailings with a large number of suites available suddenly become sold out. I wonder if when the number of unassigned GTY suites meets the unsold inventory, they pull the suites and start RoyalUp? 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The bid is per person for the entire trip. The bid applies for the first 2 people on the reservation, but everyone on the reservation is upgraded to the new cabin if the bid is successful. For example, if you select a $100 bid in the upgrade tool, your bid total for that room will be $200.

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1 minute ago, Cruiser1234 said:

Is the bidding open to everyone? It keeps telling me make sure sail date is within 30 days.. which it’s not yet. I’m in liberty of the seas feb 2020 and don’t want to get my hopes up on bidding if it’s not open to everyone 

My experience has been that even when I am within 30 days, I will get the same message.  I will get folks who disagree, but it is my belief that if you are not invited to participate in RoyalUp, you cannot participate in RoyalUp.

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The way they explained it to me was in order to receive a royalup offer you need to have opted in to communications and offers in your account profile. They don't always send royalup  offers for every sailing. If you check for royalup  within 30 days, the option will be in place if it is being offered even if you had not opted in. A final observation, the timing varies. I have received the royalup email was early as 78 days before and late as 58.

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