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How much luck with Royal Up?


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Just curious, how much luck does this group have with Royal up? Personally since the program started I have managed to be the winning bidder for upgrades (mostly from within Royal Suite Class) about 90% of the time. Let’s see how our cruise at the end of July pans out but if I win an upgrade then I’m either lucky or I bid too high! Either way, I really enjoy having the option to upgrade. 

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I had an interior on Freedom of the Seas and got a RoyalUp opportunity for an oceanview, promenade view, or balcony. I bid for the balcony at the minimum allowed and won it. Total price ended up being less than if I had booked a balcony directly even at the group rate for the cruise, so it was a win.

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I have bid once and been accepted.  I bid the minimum and went from a 1 BR GS to to CLS.  It was fun experiencing the 17th deck, but all in all, I prefer the GS-I like being more a part of things.  I also like taking the stairs to the Coastal Kitchen.  It makes me feel like I can eat more!

I was "notified" when I checked the status of my bids (I had bid the minimum on several suite categories) and saw that the CLS was no longer listed as "pending".  I checked and saw that my credit card had been charged.  A few hours later, I got the official email.

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I think it varies.  I found out about 2 weeks after I placed the bid.  I got the option to bid about 2 months before the cruise, so I found out about the upgrade about 6 weeks before sailing.  I don't know how typical this is.  I have seen others comment that their bid status was pending up to about 12 hours before boarding, at which point it switched to not accepted.

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22 minutes ago, Fairlynew said:

I think it varies.  I found out about 2 weeks after I placed the bid.  I got the option to bid about 2 months before the cruise, so I found out about the upgrade about 6 weeks before sailing.  I don't know how typical this is.  I have seen others comment that their bid status was pending up to about 12 hours before boarding, at which point it switched to not accepted.

I think it’s totally dependent on so many variables. Majority of the time my card Is charged about 1 week before the sail date but I’ve had one occasion where the upgrade was finalized at the port counter. 

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On 6/22/2021 at 5:21 PM, tonyfsu21 said:

Just curious, how much luck does this group have with Royal up? Personally since the program started I have managed to be the winning bidder for upgrades (mostly from within Royal Suite Class) about 90% of the time. Let’s see how our cruise at the end of July pans out but if I win an upgrade then I’m either lucky or I bid too high! Either way, I really enjoy having the option to upgrade. 

When you bid, did you bid 50% of the difference in price between classes? More or less? What were the minimum bids as a % of actual upgrade costs?

Thanks.

 

Happy Cruising!

 

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1 hour ago, FManke said:

When you bid, did you bid 50% of the difference in price between classes? More or less? What were the minimum bids as a % of actual upgrade costs?

Thanks.

 

Happy Cruising!

 

I bid more like 70-80%. In the end I didn’t save a ton (hundreds not thousands). 

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9 minutes ago, tonyfsu21 said:

I bid more like 70-80%. In the end I didn’t save a ton (hundreds not thousands). 

Thanks.

Just curious. I know others have bid the minimum and gotten it, so it seems to be all over the place. I guess it all depends on how any people bid and how much they bid. 

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1 hour ago, FManke said:

Thanks.

Just curious. I know others have bid the minimum and gotten it, so it seems to be all over the place. I guess it all depends on how any people bid and how much they bid. 

And how desirable the cruise is (ship, holiday, level you are bidding on). I would assume it’s easier to win the higher levels like loft suites exc since presumably less people want to spend that money (also the reason I’m only saving hundreds not thousands). It’s most likely more competitive on the inside room to balcony upgrades. 

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My husband bids all the time, but we have only won once.  It was on a 9-night Anthem New England / Canada cruise in October.  We went from a balcony to a junior suite.  He bid the max of $1,000.  The price difference to pay for the upgrade was consistently $3,000, which was the reason I booked the balcony.  We feel like we got a great deal.  We were assigned to JS 6632 which was awesome.  That balcony was really meant for a warm weather cruise!

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I'm new to RCL but I've found this is a complicated arena to get data on as few want to share info because technically the readers are their competitors. I'm going out on a limb, going on one of the adventure sailings out of Nassau in August but now there are domestic options so it's unlikely tons of people will sign up  from here on out plus you have to factor in capacity restrictions and our flight is essentially sold out as are many (no two seats together left) as we are about 6 weeks out and anyone looking to book will pick another sailing, I know I would have had I not booked it months ago when it was the only option because air has doubled in price since then. Prices are a bit higher now than when I booked and I booked a JS then bid on a GS and an OS. Only a couple of GS left and a bunch of OS left. I bid about 60% of the difference for GS but near minimum for OS hoping some GS would get moved to OS and I could have their GS. Per couple currently stands at 2850 for JS, 4600 gs and 7300 OS. But I paid closer to 2600 for JS, so my question is, do they go off the dollar net from the customer or the difference between the current prices. I gave all the details because I don;t care that much, I'm fine with a JS, if I get the upgrade, great, if not, I'm still on a cruise and not at work plus I'm not paying 7300, if I get the GS for a grand or the OS for 1500, great, but I don't see 5k more value, that puts it in viking territory.

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7 hours ago, Temeculaguy said:

I'm new to RCL but I've found this is a complicated arena to get data on as few want to share info because technically the readers are their competitors. I'm going out on a limb, going on one of the adventure sailings out of Nassau in August but now there are domestic options so it's unlikely tons of people will sign up  from here on out plus you have to factor in capacity restrictions and our flight is essentially sold out as are many (no two seats together left) as we are about 6 weeks out and anyone looking to book will pick another sailing, I know I would have had I not booked it months ago when it was the only option because air has doubled in price since then. Prices are a bit higher now than when I booked and I booked a JS then bid on a GS and an OS. Only a couple of GS left and a bunch of OS left. I bid about 60% of the difference for GS but near minimum for OS hoping some GS would get moved to OS and I could have their GS. Per couple currently stands at 2850 for JS, 4600 gs and 7300 OS. But I paid closer to 2600 for JS, so my question is, do they go off the dollar net from the customer or the difference between the current prices. I gave all the details because I don;t care that much, I'm fine with a JS, if I get the upgrade, great, if not, I'm still on a cruise and not at work plus I'm not paying 7300, if I get the GS for a grand or the OS for 1500, great, but I don't see 5k more value, that puts it in viking territory.

I really don’t think it’s that competitive. First off, RC is technically a family friendly budget cruise line in the same category as NCL, CCL and a few others. Most people are not looking to spend more then they have to on an already expensive vacation. I can see the lower tier staterooms from inside to balcony being highly competitive but once your at GS level and higher I just don’t see percentage wise being too competitive. I personally bid maximum on the highest level suite upgrade I’m offered and I win most times (so far). There clearly are not that many people who would part with $5-6k extra to upgrade suites. That’s been my experience. 

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8 hours ago, Temeculaguy said:

I'm new to RCL but I've found this is a complicated arena to get data on as few want to share info because technically the readers are their competitors. I'm going out on a limb, going on one of the adventure sailings out of Nassau in August but now there are domestic options so it's unlikely tons of people will sign up  from here on out plus you have to factor in capacity restrictions and our flight is essentially sold out as are many (no two seats together left) as we are about 6 weeks out and anyone looking to book will pick another sailing, I know I would have had I not booked it months ago when it was the only option because air has doubled in price since then. Prices are a bit higher now than when I booked and I booked a JS then bid on a GS and an OS. Only a couple of GS left and a bunch of OS left. I bid about 60% of the difference for GS but near minimum for OS hoping some GS would get moved to OS and I could have their GS. Per couple currently stands at 2850 for JS, 4600 gs and 7300 OS. But I paid closer to 2600 for JS, so my question is, do they go off the dollar net from the customer or the difference between the current prices. I gave all the details because I don;t care that much, I'm fine with a JS, if I get the upgrade, great, if not, I'm still on a cruise and not at work plus I'm not paying 7300, if I get the GS for a grand or the OS for 1500, great, but I don't see 5k more value, that puts it in viking territory.

Also- important to note, it’s much easier (and fun) to get the best suites at the lowest prices by spending ALOT of money in the casino. 

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I always bid the minimum. I figure if Royal really needs my room they’ll accept my bid. I’m at a 50% success rate so far, out of 6 tries. Now, I’m always going from a Junior Suite to something bigger, so I suspect that’s why I’m doing so well — lots of people bid for a Royal Up to a JS.

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RoyalUp is run through a third party, so it's really their proprietary algorithms that they've devised along with Royal's guidance that rolls out in the execution of accepting offers.  There are probably many different layers to this.  You have to remember that moving one cabin up with an accepted bid can cause a chain reaction all the way down the line as other bids are there to take the now-empty cabin.  So your bid being accepted may not even depend on how much you bid, but more if the cabin you are currently in is in demand.  Then there's also the case of having promised bids ready to go in the case of last minute cancellations.  The room was gonna be empty anyways, so might as well move someone up.

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7 minutes ago, Nacho Libre said:

New to cruising.  Does the Royal Up feature apply to suite class too.  I.e. we are booked in an Owners Suite for Oasis (Sky Class I believe).  Would we be eligible and what is up from that, lowest Star Class Suite I suppose?  Frankly, really like the layout of the Owners suite.

Yes !

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