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How much luck with Royal Up?


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1 hour ago, Carotthat said:

Just curious - we have two connecting sup balcony cabins on Jewel of the Seas.

Can I bid for royal up for one of the rooms - eg the OW 2BR - and cancel the second cabin with transferring the pax into the upgraded cabin?

 

Caro

Royal Up is run by a 3rd party and I don't think they look, and they probably can't access any reservations to look, they just execute upgrades on a per cabin basis.

Canceling a different cabin to xfer guests to a newly obtained 2BR cabin will carry the standard fees for cancelling that cabin so definitely not worth it.  

If you have connecting cabins or a desire to stay close to another cabin I'd avoid Royal Up.

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13 hours ago, ConstantCruiser said:

Royal Up is run by a 3rd party and I don't think they look, and they probably can't access any reservations to look, they just execute upgrades on a per cabin basis.

Canceling a different cabin to xfer guests to a newly obtained 2BR cabin will carry the standard fees for cancelling that cabin so definitely not worth it.  

If you have connecting cabins or a desire to stay close to another cabin I'd avoid Royal Up.

Thanks, didn't remember that.

Although the cancellation fees now are bearable, I'll only bid for a small upgrade ? Would it technically work to add these guest by calling RCL in the newly obtained cabin?

Is it true, RCL does right now only fill the ships up to 1/3 capacity?

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4 hours ago, Carotthat said:

Thanks, didn't remember that.

Although the cancellation fees now are bearable, I'll only bid for a small upgrade ? Would it technically work to add these guest by calling RCL in the newly obtained cabin?

Is it true, RCL does right now only fill the ships up to 1/3 capacity?

You can execute a Cruise With Confidence cancellation for the other cabin and those guests will eventually get an FCC in their name but you won't be able to use it to rebook those guests in your newly acquired 2BR suite.   You can use it for another cruise though.

Keep in mind that Royal Up could occur the day before the cruise in which case the cruise is ineligible for CWC (must be at least 48 hours).

The first sailings for Adventure of the Seas appear to have around 1/3 capacity but I wouldn't use that as a defacto standard.  Royal has stated they will increase capacity over time.  Other ships will restart differently and as the situation evolves not even Royal knows today what capacity limits will be used two weeks from now or two months from now on any given ship.

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On 6/25/2021 at 8:59 PM, KristiZ said:

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.

I think this has to factor in for sure. IMHO, I would have to imagine most people bidding to go from something less desirable like an interior stateroom to a balcony would take up the majority of Royal Up bids. On the higher end where you already have a desirable room like a JS I can’t imagine it being as competitive to upgrade. In my experience this has been the case. I can’t however comment on the amount and whether I would have won bidding low because I normally bid on the higher end since it makes sense financially for the upgrade. 

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On 6/26/2021 at 11:44 AM, ConstantCruiser said:

Royal Up is run by a 3rd party and I don't think they look, and they probably can't access any reservations to look, they just execute upgrades on a per cabin basis.

Canceling a different cabin to xfer guests to a newly obtained 2BR cabin will carry the standard fees for cancelling that cabin so definitely not worth it.  

If you have connecting cabins or a desire to stay close to another cabin I'd avoid Royal Up.

Not positive, so more of a question, does not adding a person to a cabin also allow RCI to reprice the whole cabin?  If not how do they calculate the charge for the added person?

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6 hours ago, CruiseGus said:

Not positive, so more of a question, does not adding a person to a cabin also allow RCI to reprice the whole cabin?  If not how do they calculate the charge for the added person?

Usually if the 3rd person pricing hasn't been locked in, yes there would be a reprice at prevailing rates for all passengers.  You lock in the 3rd person pricing when you originally book. 

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So for those curious about RoyalUp Bids after Covid, I am pretty sure mine was just accepted. I was in an Inside Stateroom and bid the minimum on most every category, with the exception of the Spacious Interior & Ultra Spacious OV that I bid considerably higher than the minimum. All my bids are now expired except for my bid for an OV Balcony. It was for $50/pp which was the minimum bid. I only added it last night as I suspected many of the categories I bid on are rooms that the cruiseline is keeping empty (categories that were never available). My bids for the 2 categories above were more than I bid for the balcony.

Now just waiting for confirmation and new room assignment. We leave on Friday.

 

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13 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

That used to be a pretty tell-tale sign..if so, that's a pretty good upgrade price!

Yep, that's what I heard. The minimum bids started at $10 for a promenade stateroom up to $50/pp for the Balcony. It's only a 3 night cruise, but the balcony on this sailing was a good $400+ more when I booked, so I'm very happy with it. I'm only traveling with my son, so I was fine with an inside, but having a little more space will be nice.

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We just received the Royal Up email today for our Sept 4 sailing on Adventure.

We are currently booked in a Balcony Guarantee and have not been assigned a room yet.

 

The Royal Up offers consisted of:

  • Two For One Upgrade - 2 Ocean View Balcony Staterooms - min bid $850 pp
  • Grand Suite - 2 Bedroom - min bid $700 pp
  • Grand Suite - min bid $300 pp
  • Junior Suite - min bid $150 pp
  • Spacious Ocean View Balcony - min bid $20 pp

 

We decided to see how low they will accept.  We bid the minimum of $300 pp on the Grand Suite and went $250 pp for the Junior Suite.

We considered bidding the minimum for the Junior, but for some reason we latched on to the figure of $250 pp. ?‍♂️

 

I'll follow up with any rejection or acceptance emails.

 

On a humorous note, my wife figures we're screwed for future cruises if they accept the minimum for a Grand Suite. ?

 

 

 

 

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On 6/24/2021 at 5:44 AM, parkyy2k said:

How much extra did you pay? was it a minimum bid?

Sorry, I did not see the direct question.   As I recall, I did a ghost booking to check full GS price.  I split the difference which was over the minimum.  I then canceled my UDP and Wi-Fi / internet packages.  

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Something weird just happened for AOS, for the last week the last coupe of sailings in July were sold out of inside and OV rooms, now there are a ton available. Its possible there were 100's of cancellations if it was a group but unlikely in the same day since it affected more than one sailing. It is also possible they moved a bunch of minimum bids up since it happened seemingly overnight. It is also possible they expanded capacity and the limited capacity was limiting the cheaper rooms. I wonder of if the last few July sailings just had their bids accepted? Personally I want it to be all Royalup since I'm in early August but it looks like whole blocks are open, like 20 rooms together so I'm thinking it's a bump in capacity since I would thing royal up is more spotty since not everyone does it or even gets the e-mail, rather than everyone in the entire section of a ship did it looking at what is now available.

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I've bid about 5 different times, 4 times low.  Once we upgraded from a balcony to JS with a bid just above minimum, and the other time we won by bidding mid-price for a GS from a JS.  We really wanted that one, and the bid was still over $1000 less than the GS would have cost us to book.  Will be bidding on the next 3 cruises we have planned, if we can. ? 

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Since I am solo on September 4th the 2-for-1 staterooms do not seem to be available to me. Too bad, I was going to bid as a joke, if I ended up with two staterooms - well, guess a Facebook blast - "who wants to take a cruise for X (insert bid price)." Others on the same cruise report seeing the 2-for-1 deals. I suspect to entice families into two cabins for a low price. Keeps occupancy levels the same and brings in a little more revenue for a cabin that would have sailed empty. I further suspect it's not available to me, a solo traveler, so I don't do what I just said... Snag a room for 5 or 6 hundred bucks and pass it along to a friend. However, I suppose a party of two could do the same thing. I wonder what the rules say for that second cabin. Interestingly, others report $150 for minimum on Jr. Suite while I was able to input $100. REALLY tempting but as a solo I'd rather spend that money at CocoCay.

All speculation of course.

Edited by sk8erguy1978
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43 minutes ago, SmoothJ24 said:

Question about RoyalUP and credit cards. Lets say your card gets declined for any reason (wrong number, not enough funds, fraud protection), do you get a second change to put in a valid number/another card?

You do, but it's a quick turnaround. And they won't try super hard to reach you -- one email and you're done.

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4 hours ago, sk8erguy1978 said:

Since I am solo on September 4th the 2-for-1 staterooms do not seem to be available to me. Too bad, I was going to bid as a joke, if I ended up with two staterooms - well, guess a Facebook blast - "who wants to take a cruise for X (insert bid price)." Others on the same cruise report seeing the 2-for-1 deals. I suspect to entice families into two cabins for a low price. Keeps occupancy levels the same and brings in a little more revenue for a cabin that would have sailed empty. I further suspect it's not available to me, a solo traveler, so I don't do what I just said... Snag a room for 5 or 6 hundred bucks and pass it along to a friend. However, I suppose a party of two could do the same thing. I wonder what the rules say for that second cabin. Interestingly, others report $150 for minimum on Jr. Suite while I was able to input $100. REALLY tempting but as a solo I'd rather spend that money at CocoCay.

All speculation of course.

@sk8erguy1978what is the 2 for 1 staterooms for Royal Up?  I tried google but nothing showed.  

We have two Jr Suites booked for our May 5th 2022 Alaska sailing on Ovation.  Does that mean we could possible Royal Up both staterooms for the price of one Royal Up bid?  

Thanks!

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11 minutes ago, MicDay said:

@sk8erguy1978what is the 2 for 1 staterooms for Royal Up?  I tried google but nothing showed.  

We have two Jr Suites booked for our May 5th 2022 Alaska sailing on Ovation.  Does that mean we could possible Royal Up both staterooms for the price of one Royal Up bid?  

Thanks!

I don't know much about it, but people were reporting and showing screenshots of an option to bid on a second room.

Example: in an OV Balcony a bid option was to "upgrade" to a second OV Balcony of same category... Might not be on same floor.

I'm sure there are strict rules around it. Maybe someone with experience can chime in.

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29 minutes ago, MicDay said:

@sk8erguy1978what is the 2 for 1 staterooms for Royal Up?  I tried google but nothing showed.  

We have two Jr Suites booked for our May 5th 2022 Alaska sailing on Ovation.  Does that mean we could possible Royal Up both staterooms for the price of one Royal Up bid?  

Thanks!

It's more of a if you have more than 2 people in a room, there's a bid to turn your one room into two rooms.

Say you booked your four person family in a single room, they'll offer a RoyalUp that gives you two separate rooms.

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8 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

It's more of a if you have more than 2 people in a room, there's a bid to turn your one room into two rooms.

Say you booked your four person family in a single room, they'll offer a RoyalUp that gives you two separate rooms.

Thanks!!  

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10 minutes ago, teddy said:

We got one of the two for one offers.
 

For a minimum bid of $850 pp, we could bid on two ocean view balcony rooms.  This would be in addition to what we’ve already paid. 
 

No guarantee they’d be on the same deck together.  
 

Here’s a quick screenshot 

0D6DD757-26B0-4B57-8022-85E3AFCFF21C.png

That's a great idea if you want the space but with my luck we'd be in deck 13 and my daughter on deck 6.  

Thank you for the screenshot it really breaks it down.

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Hello I am sailing on 9/19.  I know I'm more than 30 days out but just thought I would check to see if I could bid.  I expected the you are more than 30 days out. Instead I got nothing.  It just went back to the original page.  Has anyone ever had that happen?

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17 minutes ago, MadamG2U said:

Hello I am sailing on 9/19.  I know I'm more than 30 days out but just thought I would check to see if I could bid.  I expected the you are more than 30 days out. Instead I got nothing.  It just went back to the original page.  Has anyone ever had that happen?

I'd try on a different web browser to see if it still happens.  I'm 58 ish days out and I can bid.

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3 hours ago, teddy said:

We got one of the two for one offers.
 

For a minimum bid of $850 pp, we could bid on another ocean view balcony room.  This would be in addition to what we’ve already paid. 
 

No guarantee they’d be on the same deck together.  
 

Here’s a quick screenshot 

0D6DD757-26B0-4B57-8022-85E3AFCFF21C.png

Thanks for sharing, didn't want to steal a screenshot in a private group.

What's funny, $850 * 2 = $1700... LOL that's more than I paid for the spacious ocean view balcony; even if I add a second passenger (with gratuities).

Edited by sk8erguy1978
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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
On 7/7/2021 at 6:58 PM, teddy said:

We just received the Royal Up email today for our Sept 4 sailing on Adventure.

We are currently booked in a Balcony Guarantee and have not been assigned a room yet.

 

The Royal Up offers consisted of:

  • Two For One Upgrade - 2 Ocean View Balcony Staterooms - min bid $850 pp
  • Grand Suite - 2 Bedroom - min bid $700 pp
  • Grand Suite - min bid $300 pp
  • Junior Suite - min bid $150 pp
  • Spacious Ocean View Balcony - min bid $20 pp

 

We decided to see how low they will accept.  We bid the minimum of $300 pp on the Grand Suite and went $250 pp for the Junior Suite.

We considered bidding the minimum for the Junior, but for some reason we latched on to the figure of $250 pp. ?‍♂️

 

I'll follow up with any rejection or acceptance emails.

 

On a humorous note, my wife figures we're screwed for future cruises if they accept the minimum for a Grand Suite. ?

 

 

 

 

Did you win any of your bids or get any upgrades?  And if so, how far out did they notify you?  Put my bids in almost a month ago for a cruise on the 17th of Oct( still 23days out at this time), and haven't heard a thing....   Would love to know how you came out on your cruise, and if you enjoyed the cruise after covid?

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On 9/23/2021 at 4:43 PM, Big Red said:

Did you win any of your bids or get any upgrades?  And if so, how far out did they notify you?  Put my bids in almost a month ago for a cruise on the 17th of Oct( still 23days out at this time), and haven't heard a thing....   Would love to know how you came out on your cruise, and if you enjoyed the cruise after covid?

Oh shoot...I forgot to come to this thread and follow up.  I apologize.

Our bid of $250 pp for a Junior Suite was accepted five days before our cruise.  It was an awesome cabin for two people used to Insides.  We had also bid $350 for a Grand Suite but that wasn't accepted.

The cruise was great.  No complaints from either of us.  The crew was outstanding. Every crew member we interacted with seemed to be genuinely thrilled to be working again.

We spent more time outside than usual...the small amount of guests combined with having to wear a mask when inside made us spend a lot of time by the Solarium pool.  On past cruises, we would spend time at the Cafe Promenade playing card and people watching.  There weren't a lot of people to watch this time. 

We didn't do anything in Nassau before or after the cruise.  Tight work schedules required us to fly in the day of and leave the day we returned.  We stayed onboard in Freeport, and only ventured off in Cozumel to buy a few souvenirs for people.  I wear a mask all day while working, but in the heat of Cozumel, it sucked in a way I wasn't quite prepared for.

I felt better protected from Covid on the ship than I do at my place of work (supermarket).  In our experience, everyone wore masks when required, kept distance, and was respectful.

I think the best way to explain how much we enjoyed cruising with the protocols is to mention that we will be boarding Freedom in 41 days.  🙂

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On 9/25/2021 at 5:08 PM, teddy said:

Oh shoot...I forgot to come to this thread and follow up.  I apologize.

Our bid of $250 pp for a Junior Suite was accepted five days before our cruise.  It was an awesome cabin for two people used to Insides.  We had also bid $350 for a Grand Suite but that wasn't accepted.

The cruise was great.  No complaints from either of us.  The crew was outstanding. Every crew member we interacted with seemed to be genuinely thrilled to be working again.

We spent more time outside than usual...the small amount of guests combined with having to wear a mask when inside made us spend a lot of time by the Solarium pool.  On past cruises, we would spend time at the Cafe Promenade playing card and people watching.  There weren't a lot of people to watch this time. 

We didn't do anything in Nassau before or after the cruise.  Tight work schedules required us to fly in the day of and leave the day we returned.  We stayed onboard in Freeport, and only ventured off in Cozumel to buy a few souvenirs for people.  I wear a mask all day while working, but in the heat of Cozumel, it sucked in a way I wasn't quite prepared for.

I felt better protected from Covid on the ship than I do at my place of work (supermarket).  In our experience, everyone wore masks when required, kept distance, and was respectful.

I think the best way to explain how much we enjoyed cruising with the protocols is to mention that we will be boarding Freedom in 41 days.  🙂

Awesome!  Thanks for sharing Teddy!  Gives me hope with us being 20 days out we may possibly get an upgrade as well...

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On 9/25/2021 at 5:08 PM, teddy said:

Oh shoot...I forgot to come to this thread and follow up.  I apologize.

Our bid of $250 pp for a Junior Suite was accepted five days before our cruise.  It was an awesome cabin for two people used to Insides.  We had also bid $350 for a Grand Suite but that wasn't accepted.

The cruise was great.  No complaints from either of us.  The crew was outstanding. Every crew member we interacted with seemed to be genuinely thrilled to be working again.

We spent more time outside than usual...the small amount of guests combined with having to wear a mask when inside made us spend a lot of time by the Solarium pool.  On past cruises, we would spend time at the Cafe Promenade playing card and people watching.  There weren't a lot of people to watch this time. 

We didn't do anything in Nassau before or after the cruise.  Tight work schedules required us to fly in the day of and leave the day we returned.  We stayed onboard in Freeport, and only ventured off in Cozumel to buy a few souvenirs for people.  I wear a mask all day while working, but in the heat of Cozumel, it sucked in a way I wasn't quite prepared for.

I felt better protected from Covid on the ship than I do at my place of work (supermarket).  In our experience, everyone wore masks when required, kept distance, and was respectful.

I think the best way to explain how much we enjoyed cruising with the protocols is to mention that we will be boarding Freedom in 41 days.  🙂

Teddy, did you get 4X points for the Royalup to a JR Suite? I am guessing that you went from either an inside cabin or a balcony to a JR Suite? I am booked for a balcony the end of Oct and got the option to Royalup to a JR Suite for $350 min but will only try if I get the 4X points. I have seen some people say 'read the fine print' and that it states that you get the points of the original booking. But I thought I have seen some people say that you get the 4X points. 

Thanks!

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