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Royal Up why the long wait?


DuaneG

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I put in for the Royal Up room upgrade and it is still in pending status, which is no big deal because we have 13 days before the cruise. BUT why do they wait until the very last minute to let you know if you won the bid or not? I have seen people not finding out until a day prior. With our party leaving home to go towards the cruise area I am afraid that we may not find out until we are boarding if we won or not. I get them trying to fill as many rooms as possible but makes it rather inconvenient if you travel a couple days before the cruise. Sorry for the venting . Anyone find out they won prior to 1-2 days before sailing?

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@DuaneGIf you prefer a certain cabin category or cabin in general Royal wants you to book, they are in business to make money. They have hired this third party firm to add to their revenue with this program to fill cabins last minute, it is up to us as passengers to just deal with the way it is handled because essentially if you "win" you may be getting your cabin at a price point lower then it could have been purchased, especially when sailing with more then 2 people.

Participating in the program going in one must know you are just a number, that is all. This is our third time bidding and we are 5 days out, all bids still pending. Our two previous sailings our bids were not accepted and we found out the evening before our sailing, 1800hrs and 1900hrs. It's a great program for some lucky passengers and hands down better then the demeaning way DCL conducts theirs in the terminal.

My advice, book the cabin you want and then bid if there is something you would love to try and then forget about it. (Okay, I check my status daily) but go in accepting you will be assigned the cabin you booked and what a happy surprise if your number is called and you "win" the upgrade. Wishing you a positive outcome. 

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5 hours ago, DuaneG said:

I put in for the Royal Up room upgrade and it is still in pending status, which is no big deal because we have 13 days before the cruise. BUT why do they wait until the very last minute to let you know if you won the bid or not? I have seen people not finding out until a day prior. With our party leaving home to go towards the cruise area I am afraid that we may not find out until we are boarding if we won or not. I get them trying to fill as many rooms as possible but makes it rather inconvenient if you travel a couple days before the cruise. Sorry for the venting . Anyone find out they won prior to 1-2 days before sailing?

Unfortunately, the room you bid for may not even be available currently. Royal may just be preparing for potential cancellations, or perhaps the folks in the room you have bid on are also waiting on an upgrade bid.

There are plenty of stories out there of folks not finding out they have won their bid until they are at check in.

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@twangsteri believe elaborated on the formula for this program. I have a 90% success rate which originally I attributed to bidding the highest dollar amount but later realized I just have really good luck. It is annoying that this drags on to the 11th hour but I get the fact (especially with the COVID-19 testing requirements) that plans change and rooms shift last minute. At the end of the day, RC makes money and that’s what this is all about. 

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Last week, I found out two days before my cruise that my bid was accepted. My credit card charge text alert came first…then the email from RoyalUp that my bid was successful and the cabin I was assigned.
On the other hand…I found out the bids on other cruises were ‘unsuccessful’ on the first night of the cruise, while I was sitting in the Royal Theater checking my emails.

The best advice I can give for using RoyalUp is to keep checking pricing after you bid. Sometimes, the price for the cabin category I’m looking at will drop enough for me to cancel my bid and just pay for the upgrade. Plus, then I get to pick the cabin I want and not risk getting assigned a cabin in a less than desirable location.

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As others have noted, there is a very good chance that the room you are bidding for is not even actually available.  It might become available if others either cancel at the last minute or they are allowed to RoyalUp and leave a room available for you.

If there is an open cabin in the category for which you are bidding, Royal would certainly rather sell that room at full price than to give it to you at a RoyalUp discount....so they're going to wait as long as possible to see if they (1) sell it at full price or (2) maximize the RoyalUp waterfall price.

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To add to @WAAAYTOOO comments I would also add that the recent ramp up in passengers coupled with the holiday sailings in general the chances of actually getting a winning bid are slim at best. Although I would be interested to know if chances are better or worse going from and interior to a balcony as opposed to a grand suite or above to a loft or star class cabin? I would think Oasis class w/ a majority of balcony cabins it might be better odds but then again is there an over abundance of passengers willing to fork out more significant money to stay in the upper tier suites or are they the last to sell out? In my experience I’ve mostly gone from suite to suite and only a couple times from balcony to suite. 

 

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9 minutes ago, tonyfsu21 said:

To add to @WAAAYTOOO comments I would also add that the recent ramp up in passengers coupled with the holiday sailings in general the chances of actually getting a winning bid are slim at best. Although I would be interested to know if chances are better or worse going from and interior to a balcony as opposed to a grand suite or above to a loft or star class cabin? I would think Oasis class w/ a majority of balcony cabins it might be better odds but then again is there an over abundance of passengers willing to fork out more significant money to stay in the upper tier suites or are they the last to sell out? In my experience I’ve mostly gone from suite to suite and only a couple times from balcony to suite. 

 

I believe you are absolutely correct in your assumption.  It's a pyramid scheme.  WAAAY fewer places to RoyalUp to, in the suites.  Waaay more places to go in the lower categories. ...plus, as you said, the $$ involved in moving from an interior to a balcony is much less (and much more achievable to many) than going from a GS to a SLS.

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Yea to be up front I am in a Junior Suite and I am happy with that for sure. Of course I had to bid on the two bedroom Grand Suite which was way out of our price range. I totally get RC trying to get as much money as possible and I think this is a great way for them to do that and treat some lucky cruisers. I just wish it was more like 4-5 days notice instead of 1-2. I really don't plan on winning anyway my bid was low. The good news is 2 of those rooms are still open as of last check so hopefully the winds will be in my favor lol

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I originally put in our Royal Up bids on 9/8  for our 11/20 sailing on SOS, we originally booked a standard balcony room.   About two weeks ago, all but the Owners Suite had expired, and I couldn't edit the Owners Suite Bid.  Got notified yesterday afternoon that we got the Owners Suite, so about 5  days notice.  We've never been in anything above a Jr Suite, and are super excited!

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20 minutes ago, Keanoknick said:

I originally put in our Royal Up bids on 9/8  for our 11/20 sailing on SOS, we originally booked a standard balcony room.   About two weeks ago, all but the Owners Suite had expired, and I couldn't edit the Owners Suite Bid.  Got notified yesterday afternoon that we got the Owners Suite, so about 5  days notice.  We've never been in anything above a Jr Suite, and are super excited!

I'm excited for you!

 

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1 hour ago, Keanoknick said:

I originally put in our Royal Up bids on 9/8  for our 11/20 sailing on SOS, we originally booked a standard balcony room.   About two weeks ago, all but the Owners Suite had expired, and I couldn't edit the Owners Suite Bid.  Got notified yesterday afternoon that we got the Owners Suite, so about 5  days notice.  We've never been in anything above a Jr Suite, and are super excited!

Prepare to be WOW'ed.  Congratulations.  You will be spoiled forever.

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9 hours ago, Keanoknick said:

I originally put in our Royal Up bids on 9/8  for our 11/20 sailing on SOS, we originally booked a standard balcony room.   About two weeks ago, all but the Owners Suite had expired, and I couldn't edit the Owners Suite Bid.  Got notified yesterday afternoon that we got the Owners Suite, so about 5  days notice.  We've never been in anything above a Jr Suite, and are super excited!

Congratulations, now press your luck and buy a lottery ticket.

You never know but my lucky winnings have always come in bunches right after the last one.

Nothing scientific, but my experience only

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