Upgrade or wait for royal up?

[ScottD]

We have a central park view room for our upcoming cruise in late January. Our only other cruise almost 15 years ago was a promenade view. We've suddenly decided that we really want a balcony,preferably ocean view. There are quite a few available as of now, but we definitely want one. Should we just call and ask about upgrading or wait and do royal up. Any idea how it's priced, do they go off the current rate or some kind of set upgrade price?  

[billnye97]

If you have your heart set on a Oceanview balcony I would just book it. There is no guarantee that you will be upgraded with Royal Up.

[GaryAA]

I would search for a balcony cabin on deck 8 and be close to Central Park. We always book our cabins on deck 8 on the Oasis class.

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

I would definitely change my room to an Ocean View Balcony…yes, the price might be higher but so worth it.  Then you can try to Royal up to something even better!  But…if you don’t win the bid at least you will have a great room!

[asquared17]

the benefit of upgrading now is that you have (relative) control over where your new room/balcony will be. some RU bids or "guarantee" staterooms can be anywhere on the ship, as long as they fall into that category. so you could have a lower deck or partially obstructed balcony if you wait too long.

if that doesn't bother you, and you'd rather take the chance, you could wait. but if you know you want one for certain, might be better to switch now!

[ScottD]

21 minutes ago, GaryAA said:

I would search for a balcony cabin on deck 8 and be close to Central Park. We always book our cabins on deck 8 on the Oasis class.

Yeah that's one of the two decks we were thinking...that or 14 so our kid has easy access to the room if he does AO. 

[ScottD]

Thanks..think I'll look on the site and get a few room numbers and price them with the reps to see if it's something I want to do. Looking at deck 8 to be near central park..14 to be near adventure ocean or maybe 6 for easy boardwalk access.

[Xaa]

14 will be right under the pool deck.  You probably don't want that

[ScottD]

16 minutes ago, Xaa said:

14 will be right under the pool deck.  You probably don't want that

Ahh...good call. I'll look for 8 most likely! 

[need2cruz]

8 hours ago, ScottD said:

Thanks..think I'll look on the site and get a few room numbers and price them with the reps to see if it's something I want to do. Looking at deck 8 to be near central park..14 to be near adventure ocean or maybe 6 for easy boardwalk access.

I like 6,7. or 8 on oasis class ships.  7 is my favorite, I have a room on that deck reserved for our upcoming Wonder cruise.  On 7, you only go up or down 1 flight for Central Park or Boardwalk.  Promenade is just a quick 2 flights down.

[ScottD]

One last question...looks like it might only be a small amount more to do the Large balcony- on the "hump" in the middle of the ship. Are these much bigger, is it worth the extra few bucks or just stick with the regular balcony (it's 3 of us total if that means anything)

[foxrunner]

25 minutes ago, ScottD said:

One last question...looks like it might only be a small amount more to do the Large balcony- on the "hump" in the middle of the ship. Are these much bigger, is it worth the extra few bucks or just stick with the regular balcony (it's 3 of us total if that means anything)

Depends, what ship will you be sailing on?

[ScottD]

1 hour ago, foxrunner said:

Depends, what ship will you be sailing on?

Oasis 

[twangster]

1 hour ago, ScottD said:

One last question...looks like it might only be a small amount more to do the Large balcony- on the "hump" in the middle of the ship. Are these much bigger, is it worth the extra few bucks or just stick with the regular balcony (it's 3 of us total if that means anything)

On Oasis class these tend to be slightly deeper or with an angle which does provide a slightly better view forward or aft depending which way it angles.  Might be better with 3 guests.

I'm not sure I'd spend a lot more for one though.  It depends what the "small amount" is.

[WAAAYTOOO]

My only objection to the "hump" balconies is that they tend to be a bit of a hike to the nearest elevators...whether you go forward or aft.  It's not horrible....just more than I prefer.

[ScottD]

41 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

My only objection to the "hump" balconies is that they tend to be a bit of a hike to the nearest elevators...whether you go forward or aft.  It's not horrible....just more than I prefer.

yeah, thats what Im looking at- my wife isnt the best walker, so we may be better for the other ones..a few are very close to the forward elevators

[Jolly Ogre]

2 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

My only objection to the "hump" balconies is that they tend to be a bit of a hike to the nearest elevators...whether you go forward or aft.  It's not horrible....just more than I prefer.

That does not matter to me as if I am closer to an elevator then I walk to the opposite elevator so I get more steps in.

If I have to go to the bow I use the aft elevators and vise versa. The longer the walk the better. After dinner we always go to our room with the extra desert and then to the walking track and do a few laps before the show and a few after the show of the evening.  

[tonyfsu21]

I would suggest not relying on Royal Up and just pay for the upgrade to secure it. If you roll the dice with Royal Up, you most likely (90% chance) will be disappointed with the outcome. 

[ScottD]

well even though the site shows a TON of rooms available, I just got off the Phone and they told me I couldn't move from my CP VIEW (not balcony) room to an Ocean view balcony because that is considered a downgrade in the system, and when she tried to find me any other upgrade, it said none of them were available. SO... either something goofy going on with the system or I guess I'll just give Royal Up a chance!

[WAAAYTOOO]

19 minutes ago, ScottD said:

Ocean view balcony is considered a downgrade in the system

No way a CP View to an OV Balcony is a downgrade.  I would call back.

[XtremeGK]

100% call back. That just doesn't sound like a logical response from them.

[recogneyes]

You could also try doing a mock booking on Royal's website and then compare that to your current booking price.  You will then be able to calculate your net difference before you call and make any requests.

[ScottD]

3 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

No way a CP View to an OV Balcony is a downgrade.  I would call back.

That's what I said...how is my window looking inside the ship a better room than a balcony looking at the ocean? I'm going to try again this week.  She swore she could only get me in two room categories and they were both sold out.

[ScottD]

3 hours ago, recogneyes said:

You could also try doing a mock booking on Royal's website and then compare that to your current booking price.  You will then be able to calculate your net difference before you call and make any requests.

It's hard to determine because the prices have changed a little and we had discounts/ kids sail free so not sure if it would come out exactly the same

[tonyfsu21]

6 hours ago, XtremeGK said:

100% call back. That just doesn't sound like a logical response from them.

This response from RC actually sounds on par with exactly what can be expected lately. You can call back and get a different answer every single time.

[tonyfsu21]

7 hours ago, ScottD said:

well even though the site shows a TON of rooms available, I just got off the Phone and they told me I couldn't move from my CP VIEW (not balcony) room to an Ocean view balcony because that is considered a downgrade in the system, and when she tried to find me any other upgrade, it said none of them were available. SO... either something goofy going on with the system or I guess I'll just give Royal Up a chance!

You should call back on this one, it sounds like you were told a bunch of nonsense. Don’t rely on RoyalUp because win probability is very low for the most part. 

[ScottD]

1 hour ago, tonyfsu21 said:

This response from RC actually sounds on par with exactly what can be expected lately. You can call back and get a different answer every single time.

Yeah it was just weird...she typed away for 10 minutes and came up with nothing for me. I'm going to try again this week 

[recogneyes]

16 hours ago, ScottD said:

It's hard to determine because the prices have changed a little and we had discounts/ kids sail free so not sure if it would come out exactly the same

yes, that's true but how Royal will calculate the upgrade cost will be to take what you paid when you made your reservation and then charge you the difference between that and whatever the current price is of the cabin you are looking to upgrade too.  There could be resident discounts, flash sales etc that are available now that were not available before.  In the end it's simple math so pricing the difference yourself is really quite easy.

[ScottD]

As expected...called back today and the person that answered was able to help much more. Gave me a list of available categories, we went through a few and I upgraded. I wanted to get an ocean view balcony room but all they had available were the spacious balcony and it ended up being about 200 more than I wanted to spend. In the end we went from CP view room (no balcony) to Boardwalk balcony room. At least got our balcony and we might be able to see a little ocean off the back of the ship!