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How much luck with Royal Up?


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So a stupid question perhaps- we have two adjoining balconies booked and received Royal Up offer (Adventure departing 8/18). 2br GS is available to bid on, but it only moves me and DH, not DD and FIL in other cabin. Why don't they offer to move all of us and free up 2 cabins instead of just one? I see they offer 2 for 1 deals where you can go from 1 to 2 cabins, why not the other way? I know the answer is money, but putting us all in one cabin and freeing up 2 would generate more income wouldn't it? 

I would love to bid on the 2br, but not if it is going to cost me way more in addition to the royal up bid.

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2 hours ago, VeronicaS1970 said:

Why don't they offer to move all of us and free up 2 cabins instead of just one? I see they offer 2 for 1 deals where you can go from 1 to 2 cabins,

It's a third party that runs RoyalUp and the programming likely isn't set up to handle a multiple reservation scenario over 2 different rooms.

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On 8/4/2022 at 8:01 AM, tonyfsu21 said:

I have received this email and actually received the upgrade at the port. 

I've received that email, actually for an Oasis sailing too, and then received notice that my bid was accepted a few hours later. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

On 8/12/2022 at 12:36 PM, FSUFAN said:

RCCL newbie here and just tried the RU.  So, I think my observations are correct.

There was a little "slider bar" that you pushed with your mouse (or right arrow key).  It started at Zero and then the next bid up was a set amount.  Each segment/increment of the slider bar was a set amount.  The minimum could be $100 (per person) with $10 or so increments. So, if there was a $100 minimum, you could not bid $101 or similar.  You have to slide up the segment.  The there is a little fan graphic that says how weak or strong your bid is.

See the example below - (I did not bid on these)

 

image.thumb.png.b6e4d1103015f214f04e42c932a11764.png

I'm forgetting where I read this, might have been a trade publication, but you want to ignore the bid strength meter. It's been publicly mentioned from someone at the company that the gage is to encourage higher bidding and does not reflect the odds of the bid being accepted. 

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1 hour ago, Niktoria said:

I was wondering if anyone knows how RU works? Do they keep cabins aside to upgrade or do they presume people are going to cancel?

OH and I have put a bid in on a UK sailing in September. 

 

 

They just use it to fill cabins that don't sell or get canceled.  Just because people can bid on a cabin category does not mean there is one (or will be one) available.

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On 8/11/2022 at 9:09 AM, FSUFAN said:

 

Is moving from a Balcony to a JS worth paying another $700 or so? 

Is that $700 per person or total? 

Your question is very subjective.   Some people will enjoy the extra room and small amount of perks that a JS offers.  I would look at which ship the JS was on (didn't see which one you are on) as not all JS are the same.   The JS we will have on Odyssey next year looks amazing, the JS we had on Brilliance a couple of months ago was......okay.   

Also look at the actual fare difference between your balcony and a JS.  Sometimes the price difference is not that great vs. the bid on RU and you get double points too.  

 

 

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10 hours ago, Va4fam said:

Is that $700 per person or total? 

Your question is very subjective.   Some people will enjoy the extra room and small amount of perks that a JS offers.  I would look at which ship the JS was on (didn't see which one you are on) as not all JS are the same.   The JS we will have on Odyssey next year looks amazing, the JS we had on Brilliance a couple of months ago was......okay.   

Also look at the actual fare difference between your balcony and a JS.  Sometimes the price difference is not that great vs. the bid on RU and you get double points too.  

 

 

Sorry - $700 total ($350 ea).  Voyager OTS is the ship.  The room difference is 85 sq/ft. (264 vs 179)

I guess that my feeling is that the added perks are not there since the JS is not considered a suite.  RCCL offers something like 26 perks for the suites and a JS has 4 of the 26 (Grand has 24 of the 26).  I will probably bid the lowest amount and see if luck is on my side.  I'd really like to get into a Grand Suite though.

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Just put in my bids for my October cruise - JS to GS, OS, or Crown Loft for 8 nights. Suites have been showing mostly sold out for a while, so we'll see how it goes! Happy in our JS either way, but I'd love the all day CK access and the chance to try a new room category! 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Sailing on Adventure this winter for a 5 day.  I'm going with a group of friends but solo in my cabin.  I booked the cheapest interior and worst cabin on the ship at a great price.  I don't really care where I end up other than not this cabin 😉  Does anyone know what the cabin types would be between studio interior through oceanview and vague guesses on minimums?  If I don't get a Royal Up I'll go to guest services after boarding so I'm not worried just curious.  My other cruises I have never booked a cabin this low or an older ship with less cabin types so no idea what the lower level royal up offers might be.  Thanks!

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5 hours ago, dcrclcruiser said:

Sailing on Adventure this winter for a 5 day.  I'm going with a group of friends but solo in my cabin.  I booked the cheapest interior and worst cabin on the ship at a great price.  I don't really care where I end up other than not this cabin 😉  Does anyone know what the cabin types would be between studio interior through oceanview and vague guesses on minimums?  If I don't get a Royal Up I'll go to guest services after boarding so I'm not worried just curious.  My other cruises I have never booked a cabin this low or an older ship with less cabin types so no idea what the lower level royal up offers might be.  Thanks!

Could be $10 or $20 to go to oceanview or something. Don't expect to upgrade onboard, sailings are mostly full and might be in Dec. 

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We have just had a little win. On Vision next month and been successful for the 1st time with Bid up. We are moving from interior to oceanview for £100 each. Still 5 weeks from cruise date and pleased with the location and price. In total we paid less for the interior and upgrade than Royal's current price for our now vacant interior! 

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13 hours ago, dcrclcruiser said:

Sailing on Adventure this winter for a 5 day.  I'm going with a group of friends but solo in my cabin.  I booked the cheapest interior and worst cabin on the ship at a great price.  I don't really care where I end up other than not this cabin 😉  Does anyone know what the cabin types would be between studio interior through oceanview and vague guesses on minimums?  If I don't get a Royal Up I'll go to guest services after boarding so I'm not worried just curious.  My other cruises I have never booked a cabin this low or an older ship with less cabin types so no idea what the lower level royal up offers might be.  Thanks!

I booked the cheapest interior "guarantee" on my 3-night last month because it was the right price for a getaway, even going solo with single supplement. The Royal Up email will show the different categories with the minimum bid. I got a successful bid, and from that have a couple observations I can share with someone who hasn't done the Royal Up bid before.

First, the bid shown is per person (so if traveling solo it will be double that shown as a minimum) which was obvious. I had assumed though that the bid was also per night - which it was not. I didn't notice that the wording said per person for the sailing. Had I known it was for the whole sailing I might have included a couple more higher category rooms as part of my bids. 

Second, since they use unfilled rooms to fill the successful bids there might be a reason why that room was unbooked. I was successful in getting a Promenade View interior as my upgrade, but learned the room was probably not booked because it was directly over the guitar player at the bar below. I'm up later anyway since I work a later shift so being able to hear what was being played didn't keep me up, but I could see someone who has an opposite sleep schedule not being as happy about the added sound in the cabin.

All in all, I'll probably bid again if the prices look good enough to me - though probably closer to the minimum because I'm already booking in a cabin I am willing to stay in for the price, and any upgrade would be a bonus to me.

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  • 2 months later...

We are booked for a balcony on Explorer of the Seas. We bid $225/pp for a JS, $400/pp for a GS. I know it's somewhat random with many variables. There are 19 total suites available, ours are above the minimum bids but would you consider these decent chances or no chance or great chance. Any advice would be great, thanks!

Edited by Swiners
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7 hours ago, Swiners said:

We are booked for a balcony on Explorer of the Seas. We bid $225/pp for a JS, $400/pp for a GS. I know it's somewhat random with many variables. There are 19 total suites available, ours are above the minimum bids but would you consider these decent chances or no chance or great chance. Any advice would be great, thanks!

I really hope you win but.......there is no way anyone can say what your chances are but the Royal UP people.

People have won on min bids, slightly above, ......to max bids. No one knows the criteria. 

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Does anyone know if you can “Royal Up” within a suite category? For instance if you are already in Sky Class, is it possible to move to a different type of suite that is also Sky Class, or is moving up to Star Class (which I would assume is nearly impossible) the only option?

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2 hours ago, Sunny_D said:

Does anyone know if you can “Royal Up” within a suite category? For instance if you are already in Sky Class, is it possible to move to a different type of suite that is also Sky Class, or is moving up to Star Class (which I would assume is nearly impossible) the only option?

You can RoyalUp within Sky class to other Sky class rooms that are considered "better" rooms.  You can also go to Star if you win those bids.

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  • 1 month later...

Booked on the 3/25/2023 Odyssey 8 day South Caribbean, just got email yesterday for Royal Up ( currently booked in a Junior Suite ) and upgrade offers were for every room Starting at GS 1BD all the way to Royal Loft.  

Taking a chance and bidding slightly above minimum on everything from Owners Suite all the way to Royal loft ( which starts at 950pp, but would be a steal if I actually won 🙂 ).  Will see what happens.  Would love get the star class amenities.  My kids would think the royal genie was the best thing ever.

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10 hours ago, PhilandSteff said:

We were booked in a GTY Junior Suite for our December '22 cruise, and we RoyalUpped to a Crown Loft and won it. Was once of the best cruises we've had.

@PhilandSteff if don't mind asking did you pay alot more than minimal price for the crown loft bid?  also there is no crown loft of Odyssey but looking at room layout that seems comparable to grand loft or owner's loft, although those are both star class and crown loft is only sky class.   Glad your royalup worked out though! fingers crossed i stumble into a deal as well.

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Has anyone done the royal up with a 5 person group? I have my family of 5 in one balcony on Allure of the Seas, but to do this the fifth person has a separate reservation number. I'd love to be ae to take a shot at a junior suite if the opportunity arises but they have both 4 and 5 person categories for that room class. My concern is that the software won't be able to tell that there are five people so just checking to see if anyone has any experience.

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On 1/26/2023 at 3:17 PM, knewby said:

@PhilandSteff if don't mind asking did you pay alot more than minimal price for the crown loft bid?  also there is no crown loft of Odyssey but looking at room layout that seems comparable to grand loft or owner's loft, although those are both star class and crown loft is only sky class.   Glad your royalup worked out though! fingers crossed i stumble into a deal as well.

Sorry, I just saw this question. We bid just beyond the minimum for the room and won it. Didn't have to go anywhere near the top of the bid chart. We have two more cruises coming up this spring, and we are repeating our attempt on both of them. Time shall tell how much stumbling our first attempt was. 😀

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15 hours ago, kpersons09 said:

Has anyone done the royal up with a 5 person group? I have my family of 5 in one balcony on Allure of the Seas, but to do this the fifth person has a separate reservation number. I'd love to be ae to take a shot at a junior suite if the opportunity arises but they have both 4 and 5 person categories for that room class. My concern is that the software won't be able to tell that there are five people so just checking to see if anyone has any experience.

The software will not recognize your situation nor add a 5th person to your cabin.  If you make a bid only those on the reservation can move into the new cabin.  Yes, you could get an extra room key, that’s different.

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  • 1 month later...

W00t!

I'm a little shocked by how far this is still out (34 days), but just got my bid win confirmation (and credit card billed) to go from a Grand Suite to a Grand Loft Suite on Quantum to AK in May.  Did one little step up from the minimum bid.  Solo (minor ouch) $2750, but still waaaaay under trying to buy at booking vs. bidding.  About $6330 less with the current ridiculous pricing.  Shoulder season AK cruises aren't too egregious usually.

I absolutely love the CLS/GLS cabins.  I would have still been very happy in a GS, but early icing on the cake!  And goodness, I forgot, this is a bump to Star, so the price is going to be softened a bit by getting my DBP and restaurant bookings refunded. 

Screenshot_2023-04-03_at_3_22_50_PM.jpg

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42 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Congratulations @mk-ultra !  Do you know which suite you got, yet ?  Hopefully it’s one of the middle ones on deck 10 !  Great RU win !

10342.  It's aft-facing like an Oasis-class L2, but looks way better view-wise.  No aft deck stuff like basketball court or mini-golf.  I certainly wouldn't poo-poo an L2 on O Class, but I'm extremely jazzed with this one.  Hit the jackpot.

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just be aware for anyone trying to RU. If you have connecting rooms or multiple rooms in a row, you are not guaranteed that all the rooms will win, or that the rooms will be anywhere near each other.  If anyone is trying to do the bidding thing, just know you don't have lots of control. 

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On 4/5/2023 at 9:13 AM, SeasAdventure said:

What was your bid, I'm 0-fer!

I'll be completely honest that my wife does that part.  I give some suggestions to her but I cannot tell you numbers since I do not know.  We rarely, if ever, have done a max bid.  The other thing is we are usually starting from a free or discounted cruise offer, so upping the bid over the minimum is not uncommon and not as painful.  

Our process for last years win from a Boardwalk balcony to a CLS went like this.  She told me the different categories above our stateroom.  I made a quick list and based on my perceived value of each stateroom (sq ft, perks, etc) gave her a per person dollar amount that I thought was fair.  Some of my estimates were less than the minimum so I think she might have entered the min.  There were a few that were in the middle range.  Was completely surprised to see the CLS because I think our strongest bid was on the Grand Suite.   

And Congrats on the RU win!!!!

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We're 3 for 3 on our last 3 cruises!!! We usually are booked in either a junior or grand suite comped from the casino (i know, i know), then turn in bids for most of the suite categories that we like. usually at minimum or slightly higher than minimum. We just got RU for the Allure in 2 weeks, from a grand suite to a crown loft suite!

Super excited! Our first time on Allure, 3rd time in a CLS. On Odyssey, our RU got us in the Grand Loft Suite (i think that's what it's called?!?) which was our first Star Class experience. Loved that as well!!!

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On 4/6/2023 at 12:59 PM, TXcruiser33 said:

We're 3 for 3 on our last 3 cruises!!! We usually are booked in either a junior or grand suite comped from the casino (i know, i know), then turn in bids for most of the suite categories that we like. usually at minimum or slightly higher than minimum. We just got RU for the Allure in 2 weeks, from a grand suite to a crown loft suite!

Super excited! Our first time on Allure, 3rd time in a CLS. On Odyssey, our RU got us in the Grand Loft Suite (i think that's what it's called?!?) which was our first Star Class experience. Loved that as well!!!

I cancelled by RU bids for the lofts because I don't think I'd be comfortable with a (what's-it-called? butler? oh!) concierge hovering over me - and I have no idea what a Royal Genie is but assume it's another person hovering.  As it is, I don't care for asking my room steward to do anything.  😕  Be nice if they gave me room to move about with absolutely zero service.  Ahhh... Solitude... But I digress.

I'm a casino lady, too.  I'm absolutely chuffed (I'm watching escape to the country right now lol) at the idea of getting comp'd a suite someday.  Can't wait to get to those tables on Odyssey.  Fingers crossed for my RU.  And congrats on all the wins!!!  Have fun this year, everyone.

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1 hour ago, anneglubis said:

I cancelled by RU bids for the lofts because I don't think I'd be comfortable with a (what's-it-called? butler? oh!) concierge hovering over me - and I have no idea what a Royal Genie is but assume it's another person hovering.  As it is, I don't care for asking my room steward to do anything.  😕  Be nice if they gave me room to move about with absolutely zero service.  Ahhh... Solitude... But I digress.

I'm a casino lady, too.  I'm absolutely chuffed (I'm watching escape to the country right now lol) at the idea of getting comp'd a suite someday.  Can't wait to get to those tables on Odyssey.  Fingers crossed for my RU.  And congrats on all the wins!!!  Have fun this year, everyone.

You shouldn’t have cancelled the crown loft suite as there is no “butler/genie” associated with that level. The loft suites are great!

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That's good to know.  Crown Loft wasn't on offer for Royal Up (for me anyway).  I had Owner's Loft and Grand Loft.  So I just opted for the other two available for bid: Owner's Suite and Grand Suite.  I'm already in Junior Suite.  I figured I'd like guaranteed seating at the Coastal Kitchen and free internet.  Hubby is getting aggravated with the food on cruises.  I figure if I can't get him some decent food on this cruise, I might be in trouble lol

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