Troysers1

Genuinely trying to understand. You are saying that HAL is showing all sailings in January as sold out (with the exception of a few 14+ sailings) where possibly there are some unsold cabins that they would like to sell in the hopes of ........?

Given that the January 26 cruise is shown as being sold out (as are most cruises for Holland in January) it would appear you would only be selected if there was a cancellation. Given that you joined the standby program relatively close to sail date, it would be surprising if you were to clear the list if HA is truly using a first come, first served model.

I can confirm the exact opposite of clearing the standby list. Apparently after HAL incorrectly put me on a waitlist (as opposed to the standby list) when HAL went to correct the situation an automatic refund was generated to my credit card, so no transfer to the standby list could be performed. Lessons learned include this standby program is very new to HAL and they are "still figuring it out." Very few agents seem to be knowledgeable about the program. I am thankful for using a travel agent in this situation as it has saved me the hassle and frustration of sorting things out with HAL.

I thought I would share my experience so far in case others run into similar problems. In November paid total for standby on a late March cruise through my travel agent. I received an email on Wednesday from my TA that I have cleared the list and was assigned an interior stateroom much to my surprise as I had thought I would only receive confirmation approximately seven days before cruise departure. Yesterday, it turns out, according to my TA, that Holland agents are not well versed on this program, and there was confusion between being "Standby" versus "waitlisted." When my TA made the reservation I was charged the full standby fare (as per my request); however, in Holland's system I was coded as "waitlisted" for an interior cabin. I "cleared" the "waitlist" when an interior cabin became available and Holland reached out to my TA to receive further payment from me as the price for an interior cabin at the prevailing rates were higher than the total standby cost. Apparently, my TA has had to go through several HA agents and their supervisor to have me added back on to the standby list (including waiving any penalty charges for changes) and to the position I was in originally as the standby list is supposed to be handled on a first come first served basis. It would be interesting to hear whether anybody has successfully been assigned a cabin for a December or early January cruise. I hope Holland is not just using this to help them with temporary cash flow. While no direct impact on their income statement, any cash they receive from this program could reduce any interest payments they would otherwise have to make (which would have any impact on their bottom line).

I booked standby for end of March for three people in one cabin. I was charged $343 for the first and second passenger, and $215 port fees, and taxes for each passenger for a total of $1,331. Ironically, I booked the same ship for a February cruise (and same number of days) for less money. It was a "welcome back past cruisers" promotion $149 for inside cabin per person, $199 ocean view, and $299 for a balcony.

My understanding is that RC makes a "courtesy" reservation for day 1 or 2, but you can then change that reservation once you have boarded (but I could be wrong).

Thank you for the response. I appreciate there is a difference between a Radiance and a Quantum class ship, but did you have any difficulties getting reservation times you wanted after waiting until day 2? I get the impression from reading these boards you need to make the reservations as soon as you get on the ship to have a shot at getting your desired times and locations.

I would like to buy speciality restaurant dining package (either three night or chops plus 1) and have a good sense of what nights I would like to reserve as soon as I get on the ship (based on others recommending to make reservations right away). I would like to reserve the nights where I am least interested in the main dining room theme menus, but based on search it is not clear whether Royal only loads menus first day of cruise. In this case I cannot use previous week as a guide because ship is transitioning from 7 day Alaska to 9 day Pacific Northwest/Hawaii. Cannot even rely on previous 9 days cruise as itinerary has changed substantially. So any advice other than studying all the menus/theme nights embarkation morning and what was your least favourite theme night in the main dining room? Ship is Ovation of the Seas.

Something you may wish to consider if you are sensitive to cigarette smoke is which side of the ship has a designated smoking area. Some have commented that being on deck six starboard over the designated smoking area on deck 5 starboard on Ovation of the Seas is "the worst cabin on the ship."

Sharing my experience (so far) to show how Royal Up can end up with some nonsensical options (no doubt; just because of supply). -Purchased Inside guarantee -Received RU email 75 days out Large balcony $275 minimum bid (mb) Balcony $250 mb Obstructed view$225 mb Spacious Ocean view $190 mb Ocean view $170 mb I only bid on balcony and large balcony. Ended up doing self upgrade to balcony guarantee for less than mb. Cancelled my two bids. RU still show my cabin as interior guarantee (it has only been two days) and the same options, but minimum bids have now changed. Large balcony $250 minimum bid (mb) Balcony $ 370mb Obstructed view $310 mb Spacious Ocean view $250 mb Ocean view $170 mb It will be interesting to see what/if I am provided with any other options when RU changes my current cabin to Balcony guarantee, but if I had of stayed with the inside guarantee, I would have been hard pressed to bid on anything other than a large balcony cabin.

Orville 99: I can confirm that having an interior guaranty only gave us the option to bid on an oceanview or a balcony cabin. bstreep: As opposed to thinking I will get the worst upgrade, I go in with the mindset that I am not going to get anything with bidding with Royal Up. What I am hearing from the responses (and thank you for them), is it is unlikely that a two cabins for one offer would be received. I priced out how much it would be to just pay for the upgrade from a guarantee interior to a guarantee balcony and it was only $150 more than the bid I had placed, so I just went ahead and called RC to pay for the upgrade. Originally they were quoting me more then the price I was seeing on the website, so I talked to a supervisor in the hopes she could reconcile the amounts for me. It turns out she calculated a price increase that was less than half of the price I had calculated or the Royal Up bid I had placed, so I booked it on the spot. The funny thing is when I look at my reservation, it asks if I want to bid on a higher category cabin, but only provides the same options as when I had the interior guarantee. I am hoping that they just need time to make the adjustment, so if I was to receive a RU offer, it would be for something higher than a balcony.

Does anyone have experience or know if it is possible to get two iterations of Royal Up bids? I am not asking about bidding on multiple options, but whether one can bid a second time on their successful first RU bid. For example, I booked a inside guarantee, and received an email (75 days out) allowing me to bid on ocean view, obstructed balcony, balcony, and larger balcony cabins. If I successfully won an upgrade to a balcony, would there be any chance to then possibly be able to bid for a suite? Somewhat related to my situation, has anyone received increased options closer to cruise date? I was hoping I might have received an option for two for one cabins as part of the Royal Up email (and would have been very happy if this was my only RU option). We are four in the cabin (booked it because it was basically not much more in price as airfare to Hawaii) and there are still plenty of unsold cabins, so wondering if we might get the two for one option as we get closer to sailing date.