Royal Up invite only?

[T-Dog]

I have a sailing 10 days from now and it seems I am not eligible to access the Royal Up bidding page.  I called RCCL and asked why it is saying to check that I am sailing in the next 30 days and customer service tried on their end and were not able to get in as well.  They sent a message to tech to fix the problem and told me to email royalup@rccl.com with the same info so I did.  He said it should be resolved within 48 hours.  I followed up 3 days later because it has not been resolved yet and now customer service is saying it is an invite only program and even though I am an Emerald C&A member that I would not always be offered the option to Royal Up.  My sister who is in another room also sailing with us did not receive the email but went directly to the website was able to bid on the Star Class suites.  Has this happened to you? The first customer service rep didn't mention it but the second one did. Shouldn't I be allowed to bid on categories above what I booked?

[AshleyDillo]

Sometimes it isn't open for certain rooms. Not really sure why this happens.

Do you have anyone else on that reservation with a different last name? Maybe try the other last name in combination with the reservation number to see if it goes through.

[T-Dog]

Thank you for your reply.  It is just my husband and I along with our 3 kids. Same last name for all.

[Templecruiser]

Go to royal up and put your last name and reservation number and see if anything come up.

[T-Dog]

Tried that everyday with no luck

[KJones]

C&A status has no bearing on Royal Up offers

[teddy]

Sometimes, Royal Up just isn’t offered. 

[Rose City Cruiser]

Did you book the cruise with Costco Travel?  I have heard cruises booked through Costco are not eligible for RoyalUp.

[Pooch]

I kept entering my brothers information in hopes of surprising him with an upgrade, same response as you even though when I put my own information in, the bids came right up for the same sailing.  I found if I just kept reentering his info, eventually it brought me to the bids page.

[T-Dog]

Spoke to customer service again and they confirmed what the second rep said. The email sent to try to Royal Up is invite only selected at random.  I guess the first customer service rep didn't know that when he put the request for the tech dept to check into it.

[Pooch]

Was trying to get a grand suite for him so he had access to all our suite perks.  Hasn’t worked out yet but I keep looking.

[jeffmw]

I'm having a similar issue. We have two rooms booked for a cruise next month under different last names. They have separate reservation numbers but the reservations are linked. For some reason, I'm able to access Royal Up for one of the rooms but not the other. I've tried both last names for the second room but neither works. 

[SpeedNoodles]

RoyalUp is administered by a third-party company, so I'm never surprised when Royal Caribbean reps are confused on the issue.

[teddy]

26 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

RoyalUp is administered by a third-party company, so I'm never surprised when Royal Caribbean reps are confused on the issue.

In addition, I don’t think there are actual people making human-logic based decisions. 
 

I suspect it’s all a computer-based algorithm…..or whatever the correct words are  

This is why things like “I bid max, they bid min, but they got the upgrade and I didn’t” happen. 

[The Fox]

Maybe it's because you have 5 people and there aren't any rooms available for 5.

[MuttMutt]

There are TONS of factors that fall into place here.  Lets say that the ship has a lot of rooms in a certain class that are unsold a few months before.  Odds are that those rooms will still mostly be empty but if cheaper rooms open up they have a better chance of selling.  The idea is that if they get people to move up to other rooms they can get a few extra bucks from that person AND they can potentially book the previous room while bringing two more people who will likely spend cash on the ship as well.  Even if the previous room didn't book the actual value of a room is based on it's location and what people are willing to pay for it.  I highly doubt that a balcony will use more power than an interior room right?  So if the costs for the ship are the same either way what's the better deal for RCCL?

Taking that a step further how many rooms do you want to offer?  With the current stuff happening they are keeping some stuff cleared out from my understanding.  So lets say they have 100 rooms evenly divided between oceanview and suite.  Do you want to let every person in to bid potentially driving the cost way beyond a regular price so that people go online and complain about it or do you want to limit that to say 300 cabins knowing that a lot of them will only bid on one room where only 30 are available to have someone complain they never win?  By limiting the number of people it's opened to you end up reducing complaints in a way and since it's managed by a "third party company" likely owned by the brother of a guy who is a friend of the guy who runs something at royal at some point in time and only gets a cut in the cash so they can have plausible deniability for everyone not being picked to bid.  

And finally who do you offer it to?  Well people in a suite won't be interested so that takes a few of the higher up points people out of the running, but the people who booked anything other than an inside room will then likely be sorted by level with diamond and up getting a higher chance than someone at gold in an interior room. Then assign a number to each group you create that says how many from that group will be picked.

After that throw a random number generator at your groups and there you have it.  A money making machine that took a few hundred lines of code for minimal extra expense. 

 

To increase your odds I would say (in no particular order):

1. Bid on at least one room every time you get an offer and can.
2. Increase your points level.
3. Visit the casino for 1 pull every time you are on the ship.
4. Buy an excursion through the cruise line at least one time on each cruise.
5. Buy internet or a drink package when you cruise.
6. Eat at a specialty restaurant at least once on each cruise if you can.
7. Buy a single drink at the bar and pay cash if you didn't get a drink package.
8. Buy a souvenir at a shop while on board.

 Basically anything you do that nets them an extra buck will put you into a higher category and increase your odds.  We all know they have a database with our name on it so they can see EVERYTHING you do on a ship and throw that into the equation as well.  

I didn't get an offer on my first 3 cruises.  My last 2 were a B2B on Liberty and while on the ship we had a couple drinks (had a ton of onboard credit on both), I went on a dive excursion in Roatan through the ship, bought a 3 device internet package for both sailings, and we both went into the casino to cash out a little bit of onboard credit but I made a point to spin the reels a couple times for each of us.  Not to mention that I went up to 35 points after my last cruise.  I get an email last month for the cruise I am getting on at the end of the February for Royal Up.  Coincidence, I doubt it.  Can't guarantee that the list above will get you offers but I am pretty sure it will increase your odds.

[Ampurp85]

I don't agree with everything @MuttMutt said but some is possibly true....not most.

Room type and occupancy are the important factor. I always get internet, some sort of drink package and gamble. But one of my sailings never had a royal up offer. It was 5 people in a 2br gs. Even though star class suites existed, none could accommodate 5 people so I always got messages about 30 days, etc.

My next sailings all had options to bid. I don't think C&A status has anything to do with it. Lots of first time cruisers have won their bids. I know of a few "frugal" cruisers who have also won royalup. It is very possible that royal keeps tabs on what each person spends. But this is a third party company,  I doubt royal is giving them all that information. It creates a whole list of problems if they did that.

[Jen W]

In order to qualify for RoyalUp does your final bill need to be paid? I’m a first time cruiser and hoping on being a lucky winner, but my balance isn’t due with the extension. 

[SpeedNoodles]

1 hour ago, Jen W said:

In order to qualify for RoyalUp does your final bill need to be paid? I’m a first time cruiser and hoping on being a lucky winner, but my balance isn’t due with the extension. 

No, they often come up prior to final payment these days (since final payment is at 30 days instead of 90 days).

[MuttMutt]

1 hour ago, Ampurp85 said:

I don't agree with everything @MuttMutt said but some is possibly true....not most.

Room type and occupancy are the important factor. I always get internet, some sort of drink package and gamble. But one of my sailings never had a royal up offer. It was 5 people in a 2br gs. Even though star class suites existed, none could accommodate 5 people so I always got messages about 30 days, etc.

My next sailings all had options to bid. I don't think C&A status has anything to do with it. Lots of first time cruisers have won their bids. I know of a few "frugal" cruisers who have also won royalup. It is very possible that royal keeps tabs on what each person spends. But this is a third party company,  I doubt royal is giving them all that information. It creates a whole list of problems if they did that.

As I said I don't guarantee it but I have no doubts that it happens in some form.  It's easy enough for Royal to simply send over a list of people deemed truly eligible (like I said I doubt suite guests are included) and simply give them a set of numbers that give weights to each person.  The company doesn't have to turn over all the data.  I look at it like spam lists when you make a donation to a charity.  Every single charity looks at the others and there are groups of them who pool data.  Someone plugged into that group will get people's info and likely with a weight to whether or not they are likely to donate to a specific group or not.  Remember these lists are known to exist but we don't know how they deal with them.  But if you donated to the ASPCA be sure that within a few months PETA will send out a few requests.  

 

A ton of the companies share data with their partners.  And they likely share data with some other stuff as well.  

[Last Lion]

Just to clarify, if you get royaled up, you simply change rooms. You do not lose FCCs or OBCs associated with the original booking?

[smokeybandit]

43 minutes ago, Last Lion said:

Just to clarify, if you get royaled up, you simply change rooms. You do not lose FCCs or OBCs associated with the original booking?

Correct. It's just a room change program.

[twangster]

I suspect they have limits on the program so an automated system doesn't take all the most desirable room leaving less desirable cabins for sale to the general public looking to book as a new booking.

It would be challenging to program an algorithm for a 3rd party that only has limited access VIA an API to take into account Royal's best solution. 

The best solution is always new people booking the ship so there are new wallets and purses on board to spend money on board.

Moving people between cabins is a source of revenue but it pales in comparison to selling all those empty cabins as new bookings introducing new faces on board.  

PlusGrade is the 3rd party and you know they don't work for free so there is a cost to Royal to offer RoyalUp - they don't get all that revenue.  

As a result they will not give PlusGrade access to the entire inventory to upgrade.  They have to put limits on it.  

[Funeegal]

From the RCL FAQ - https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/topics/royalup-stateroom-upgrade-program

 

Why did I or someone I’m traveling with not receive an invite to bid on a RoyalUp℠ stateroom upgrade?

To receive an email invitation to bid on a stateroom upgrade guest must be opted-in to RCI Marketing e-mails. To opt-in, to receive emails guests can sign up on our website, opt-in through the online check in process or within My Reservations section...

[T-Dog]

19 hours ago, Rose City Cruiser said:

Did you book the cruise with Costco Travel?  I have heard cruises booked through Costco are not eligible for RoyalUp.

No, I booked through a different travel agent.

[T-Dog]

17 hours ago, The Fox said:

Maybe it's because you have 5 people and there aren't any rooms available for 5.

That's possible on a different sailing but on this one in particular my sister(booked in the Aquatheater -1 bedroom) was offered to place a bid to Royal Up on the following Star Class Suites- Royal Loft Suite, Ultimate Family Suite, Villa Suite, Star Loft Suite and the Aquatheater - 2 bedroom.  Some of those suites accommodate 5+ guests.  I do understand they can be bid on but not necessarily available.