LarryHD2

I've been tipping with $2 bills for a while, everyone likes them and takes notice.

Another question...  we just turned diamond - with the drinks loaded on the seapass card, do they expire at the end of the day?  Can we have 2 drinks one day and 6 the next?

16 minutes ago, Vera/Lee said:

I just noticed both of my bids say "submitted" now. Could it be a change in the process? 

Any charge on your credit card?...  if you won the bid that will be charged immediately then they email you

1 hour ago, flamingos said:

 

It does not lock you out of the bidding. I've gotten the email on 4 of my last 5 cruises since start-up.  Whether having a TA is why I didn't win one......or my very weak bid, that I cannot say.  🙂

There are certain TA's that do indeed lock you out of RoyalUp...  Costco Travel is one and they state such on their website.

For those of you that use a TA that locks you out of RoyalUp...

On our cruise a few weeks ago we asked for available upgrades for our kid's cabin when we boarded the ship. We were handed a card on how to enter a bid through RoyalUp.  I tried explaining we were locked out by our TA but they didn't seem to have heard that before.

We were told we then had to wait till after sail away.  They then wanted $250pp, which was more than I knew what other winning bids were....  anyhow, we passed.  The ship was 1/3 full.

3 hours ago, Sail2k said:

So I click and it says my current room is a Crown Loft Suite..... 

Have you checked your Cruise Planner to see what cabin you're in?...  and to see if there is an outstanding balance?  Also check your CC to see if they charged you.

If you're indeed now in a Crown Loft, and there is no balance due and no charge to your CC, I would say you scored the ultimate upgrade....  free....

I found this Cruise Compass from the May 1, 2022 sailing

https://issuu.com/hochmania/docs/cruise_compasses_voyager_5-1-22

9 minutes ago, Ms Jo UK said:

Hi Biker does the credit card get charged, before the set sail pass changes to the new room?

I want to say that my card was charged before it showed the new room # last time I won an upgrade.

16 minutes ago, HankaM said:

I was wondering if anyone from the US set themselves up with cellphone service during their Baltic Cruise?  How did you do it and how has the service been while in port?  What kind of costs were involved?  Thank you in advance for info. 

With Verizon I turned on TravelPass which allows me to use my voice and data plan internationally for $10/day if I use it.  There are also other international plans available.  However, I plan to use wifi calling if needed which is free when making/receiving calls back to the US but there is a charge when calling Intl numbers (even if in the same city).  I bought a Sapphire mobile wifi.

We will be MTDers on the June 15 sailing which looks to be at 50% capacity or so....  have there been long lines for this recently?  

13 minutes ago, Ms Jo UK said:

Confused! 

 

My bid is showing pending, cruise in 3 weeks time.  I have tried to alter the bid (increase it) but it doesn't give me the option, can anyone advise why this might be and how to go about getting access to increase the bid?

If you can't alter it, and it hasn't been rejected, I've heard some say that means you got the upgrade and it just hasn't processed yet.

On my 11nt Baltic cruise someone just bid $185pp to go from Panoramic OV (1L) to GS for $185... and got it right away....  that's a big jump for a great price.

I'm locked out of RoyalUp because of our TA...  I wonder if I were to call our TA and have them reach out to Royal to see what upgrade they would offer us.  We're in a JS and I would pay that amount to go to GS.  Anyone ever try that?

1 minute ago, fredmdcruisers said:

From below...

If I paid for the GS outside of RU, I would have paid about 3X what our bid was. At that price, I didn't want it, at our bid, I did.

I think the point is, if self upgrading (redoing the booking) is close to, or less than, what the min RU bid is, just go that route.... makes sense to me.  Others have said the self upgrade option was less than the RU min bid so it seems like that can happen.

7 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Look at the self upgrade costs - sometimes you can upgrade for less than the min Royal Up bid. OTOH, most of the time, the min is well below the self upgrade cost and that's just the pricing for that ship - as I said, the mins vary between ships, especially brand new ones.

What do you mean by "self upgrade costs"...  just redoing the booking in the higher category?

6 minutes ago, familycruzinnewbie said:

Larry it’s per person per cruise, not per day.

those minimums are much lower then what I saw for my RU a few months ago...  $125 to jump to a JS for 7 days $17.85/day pp seems like a steal....  if there are a lot of cabins available in the category you want to upgrade to then you might stick with the min or $5 more...  if there are only a few then you might need to be more aggressive.

10 minutes ago, familycruzinnewbie said:

The offers for me are $90pp balcony, $100pp spacious balcony and $125 for junior suite or no balcony suite. So I wouldn’t want to bet much more.

are those per day?...  or total?

6 minutes ago, dcgrumpy said:

 

Interesting. According to their website the rule is waived for underage married couples. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/international-age-policy

 

"No Guest younger than the age twenty-one (21) will be assigned to a stateroom unless accompanied in the same stateroom by an adult twenty-one (21) years old or older. A guest's age is established upon the first date of sailing.

 

This age limit will be waived for children sailing with their parents or guardians in connecting staterooms; for underage married couples; and for active duty members of the United States or Canadian military."

the agent I was speaking to probably didn't know the actual rules then...  it also turns out they incorrectly applied the rule to us as our sailing is out of Europe and the min age there is 18.

13 minutes ago, familycruzinnewbie said:

I just received the Royalup email today. Currently have Qty ocean view. Do I understand that I have to bid the minimum listed in the email. Do people actually get for the minimum or should you bet a few $ more?

I got an upgrade from a Balcony to a Grand Suite for the min bid of $50pp per day on a sailing a couple months ago.  It all depends on how many cabins they have available in the category you want.... and what other people bid, obviously.

On that sailing almost all of the GS's were empty before bidding began.

1 hour ago, JoeFan said:

I think I know the answer to my questions, but just posting anyway for clarification.

I currently have two connecting balcony staterooms with 2 people in each. Mom and dad in one room and son and daughter in the other.

 

Are the kids aged 21+?  Passengers under 21 have to be adjacent to, or across the hall from, the parent (or 21+) cabin.  For across the hall, the kid cabin can't be more than 50% forward of the parent cabin.  We ran into this rule with our 18yo and 20yo staying in an interior across the hall from our JS. 

I asked what if two 20yo's got married and wanted to honeymoon on a cruise and was told that isn't possible.

Anyhow, I wonder how they handle this during the RoyalUp process if you're bidding for both cabins, or even one.  It probably throws a wrench into things as they have to find adjacent cabin upgrades.

I will be curious to find how this works for you as we're sailing in 40 days.

21 hours ago, MOLAcruiser said:

I would love to know if there are any Canadians reading this post who have already cruised on the Grand Princess this fall from San Pedro. I am wondering about the post-cruise PCR testing required for our return to Canada, and whether it is in fact done on land after you disembark and have gone through customs, or are they doing it onboard the ship the day before as other cruise lines do? Although the Princess website says it is done on land and results are known in 60 minutes, I'd really like to hear from someone who has experienced it themselves, to know if it was quick and efficient and whether a 2:10 pm flight would be OK. We don't have later options without an overnight stay.

 

Thank you.

 

Margo

FYI - there is a testing lab at LAX - https://www.flylax.com/travelsafely#CovidTest  My wife used it before the cruise and it took about 30min for results.  It says you do need an appointment but there was only 1 other person there when we were there and they had 4 customer windows.

I heard that there is also a testing site upstairs at the dock but I can't confirm.

2 hours ago, Gen X Life said:

It is a GREAT Itinerary!!!  4 Segments; 2 that are outstanding!!  Dream cruise!! But they do not have pricing for Segments that I can find.  

 

Anyone find Segment Pricing?  We were looking for 2024 or 2025 world cruise as a 6 month vacation, semi-retirement for my husband, BUT THIS CRUISE IS FABULOUS!!

 

$100,000.00 for a Balcony, that is about the same price as some Luxury lines on much smaller ships for 100 + days less... Something to consider.

 

Buy 1 or 2 Segments , Middle East Treasures (44 Destinations) and Wonders of the Orient ( 40 Destinations) look Amazing!!!

 

If anyone finds out Segment prices please post!!!

Segment pricing won't be out until the segments become available in December.

50 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

The pool by the spa is an adult only "free" pool.  Usually it is shaded and a bit cool.  Nice place to just sit without the chlorine smell (as in the Conservatory above the Lido deck pool).

that pool was closed during our 10/14 sailing

23 hours ago, Sail away MK said:

Hello Grand cruisers.  I will be sailing in December and cannot tell from the deck plan diagrams.  It looks like there are no cabanas to rent in the sanctuary, only lounge chairs.  Could someone onboard please check for me? Thanks so much. 

There are cabanas in the sanctuary but they're used for massages.  My wife and I had a couples massage there and it was great....  except for sales pitch afterwards to buy some spa products.

The medallion app itself is running OK, but the ocean now part, to order things, hangs a lot...  but I hear servers are having issues as well so its probably a network thing.

The comedians have been great and were having a wonderful time.

Only 700 passengers this sailing, it seems almost lonely in some areas at times.

i would think so... you can add guests from other rooms into your reservation. You need their name and reservation number (I think)