Casino Comp Room Upgrade

[BTCking]

Just curious, anyone recently have a comped room from the casino and get a upgrade? I called in hoping for some flexibility as a lot of rooms have opened up on my Harmony Of The Seas sailing on March 29, they tried to charge me $3067 for 2 people to upgrade to a Grand Suite. I thought it was ridiculous as my receipt before comp showed $3996 and a ghost booking was $5000 for the Grand Suite. When I mentioned that, she stated that my room was booked at a refundable rate at the time before the comp, and in order to upgrade, I had to upgrade to the same refundable rate room which is more expensive. I told her I was thinking of canceling due to what's going on, she didn't seem willing to help. This of course is the Royale Casino department. Any idea on how to snag a upgrade at a discount with all that's going on, the ship is about 25% empty from what they told me. I have current RoyalUp bids, but thinking of lowering the offers or canceling since so much is going on, not sure if I want a suite upgrade for 2K.

Anyone on recent cruises notice empty ships or anything that would annoy you like people walking around with facemasks or excessive mentioning about the Coronavirus? I'm not scarred at all and plan on going, just don't want the cruise ship to be all about what's going on in the world, would like to enjoy my time. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

Just now, BTCking said:

Just curious, anyone recently have a comped room from the casino and get a upgrade? I called in hoping for some flexibility as a lot of rooms have opened up on my Harmony Of The Seas sailing on March 29, they tried to charge me $3067 for 2 people to upgrade to a Grand Suite. I thought it was ridiculous as my receipt before comp showed $3996 and a ghost booking was $5000 for the Grand Suite. When I mentioned that, she stated that my room was booked at a refundable rate at the time before the comp, and in order to upgrade, I had to upgrade to the same refundable rate room which is more expensive. I told her I was thinking of canceling due to what's going on, she didn't seem willing to help. This of course is the Royale Casino department. Any idea on how to snag a upgrade at a discount with all that's going on, the ship is about 25% empty from what they told me. I have current RoyalUp bids, but thinking of lowering the offers or canceling since so much is going on, not sure if I want a suite upgrade for 2K.

Anyone on recent cruises notice empty ships or anything that would annoy you like people walking around with facemasks or excessive mentioning about the Coronavirus? I'm not scarred at all and plan on going, just don't want the cruise ship to be all about what's going on in the world, would like to enjoy my time. 

Just about every booking I have is a casino comp upgrade.  That's just about all we do.  Unfortunately, the casino comp upgrade is not nearly as good a deal as they used to be but you should still be able to save something in the neighborhood of 30% off the fully discounted price (meaning, after the BOGO60 or whatever the current sale happens to be, has been applied).

I know everyone is getting tired of hearing this, but a good Agent who is intimately familiar with casino comps and upgrades (hint, [email protected], hint) is soooooo valuable in these situations.  I no longer have to screw around with the overseas representatives.  Michelle knows just when to call to get the stateside ones.  It's a state secret though...she won't even tell me !!!!  In the meantime, however, calculate the current, fully discounted price of the cabin you want to upgrade to (cruise fare only.  Do not include taxes or ports fees), subtract 30% and this about is what you should expect that cabin to cost.  Then subtract what you have already paid for your cabin (cruise fare only) and that should be very close to the cost to upgrade.  These back-of-the-envelope calculations are never exact...but it will give you a ballpark estimate.  Just so you know, that discount USED to be at LEAST 60% but those days are long gone.

I'm totally confused by the refundable/nonrefundable argument.  Perhaps it has some bearing but it seems a bit like a smoke screen to me.

[BTCking]

10 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Just about every booking I have is a casino comp upgrade.  That's just about all we do.  Unfortunately, the casino comp upgrade is not nearly as good a deal as they used to be but you should still be able to save something in the neighborhood of 30% off the fully discounted price (meaning, after the BOGO60 or whatever the current sale happens to be, has been applied).

I know everyone is getting tired of hearing this, but a good Agent who is intimately familiar with casino comps and upgrades (hint, [email protected], hint) is soooooo valuable in these situations.  I no longer have to screw around with the overseas representatives.  Michelle knows just when to call to get the stateside ones.  It's a state secret though...she won't even tell me !!!!  In the meantime, however, calculate the current, fully discounted price of the cabin you want to upgrade to (cruise fare only.  Do not include taxes or ports fees), subtract 30% and this about is what you should expect that cabin to cost.  Then subtract what you have already paid for your cabin (cruise fare only) and that should be very close to the cost to upgrade.  These back-of-the-envelope calculations are never exact...but it will give you a ballpark estimate.  Just so you know, that discount USED to be at LEAST 60% but those days are long gone.

I'm totally confused by the refundable/nonrefundable argument.  Perhaps it has some bearing but it seems a bit like a smoke screen to me.

Thank you for your reply @WAAAYTOOO! Always quick to reply! So the issue with what you said is, my whole cruise was comped to begin with. I was comped a Oceanview balcony from the casino for  7 nights. The $4000 I said that's on the receipt, is before the comp. Would what you said still apply I would just use the price of my current cabin vs price of the one I want to upgrade too and minus 30% off the current rate? I would have loved to use MEI travel, this was booked before joining the forum, otherwise I would have. I went with UrComped.com, they took care of it and I let them know the price I was given on a upgrade, and they are calling now to try and reduce. Only thing I am out of pocket for the actual cruise is like $300 for 2 people tax ports and fees. For instance, if the room I want, lets say the Grand Suite is $5400 total for 2 people currently on there website, and my room says $4000 with the tax and port fees, lets say $3700 without before comp, I should take the $5400, minus 30% which is around $4000, and minus my cost of the room before comp, and my fee should be $300 to upgrade?

[dodgestang]

The issue is that they base all pricing/bookings on today's price.

So when you booked previously it looked at the cost of the ocean view room and since it was a full comp it subtracted out 100%

When you reprice for an upgrade with the same comp it starts by looking at the price for the ocean view room, fully comps that and looks at the price of the next room you want to upgrade into.

At least that's the best logic I have been able to come up with.  All my sailings started as comped rooms that I then upgrade....they don't 'share' easily exactly how they calculate these things.

 

[WAAAYTOOO]

8 minutes ago, BTCking said:

Thank you for your reply @WAAAYTOOO! Always quick to reply! So the issue with what you said is, my whole cruise was comped to begin with. I was comped a Oceanview balcony from the casino for  7 nights. The $4000 I said that's on the receipt, is before the comp. Would what you said still apply I would just use the price of my current cabin vs price of the one I want to upgrade too and minus 30% off the current rate? I would have loved to use MEI travel, this was booked before joining the forum, otherwise I would have. I went with UrComped.com, they took care of it and I let them know the price I was given on a upgrade, and they are calling now to try and reduce. Only thing I am out of pocket for the actual cruise is like $300 for 2 people tax ports and fees. For instance, if the room I want, lets say the Grand Suite is $5400 total for 2 people currently on there website, and my room says $4000 with the tax and port fees, lets say $3700 without before comp, I should take the $5400, minus 30% which is around $4000, and minus my cost of the room before comp, and my fee should be $300 to upgrade?

I see.  Well, normally when you have a casino comp, you either accept the comp "as-is", which means if they are "giving" you an Oceanview balcony (in your case), then you just take the room, pay taxes, ports fees and gratuities and off you go.  You are required to pay the full price of whatever it happens to be, at the time you book.  OR you take the basic comp that they have given you and you upgrade it...pay the add-ons and pay the full balance right then.  Either way, you end up with a fully paid cruise - either original or upgraded.  As you have heard many of us say in other threads, it is very difficult (impossible ?) to make ANY changes to a fully paid cruise.  My guess is that they are telling you...basically you would be cancelling the comped cruise and rebooking a new cruise.  That is probably why it seems like so much money.

So yes...I agree that it is probably not going to be possible to upgrade a comp at this point.  You could have, originally, but not now.

1.  Have you already paid the balance of this cruise ?  IF so, I think you're d.o.n.e.

2.  If you have NOT yet booked and paid for this cruise, then you should be able to upgrade it as I detailed above.

I have zero experience with URComped so I have no idea if you can apply the Club Royale upgrade rules to a URComped comp.  My guess is....no.