RoyalUP? (Bid for stateroom upgrade)

[jrod1229]

2 minutes ago, Nath said:

If your bid to a GS stateroom is accepted from the RoyalUp offer, you will not get the suite perks like the beverage package usually included with the Star class booking.  You do keep the perks and promotion you had with your original stateroom/cabin.  It clearly states:

The upgrade does not include any additional promotions. Current promotions on the reservation will not be altered.
You get to keep the promotions you already have based on the stateroom category originally booked. However, no additional promotions will be added to your reservation.
 

Details here:
https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-happens-to-my-promotions-if-i-am-upgraded-through-royalup

 

Same for NCL, if someone gets upgraded to the Haven, they do not get the perks.  You basically get the priority boarding and extra space.  

 

Nonetheless, by upgrading to a higher stateroom category, each guest in the booking may be subject to a higher gratuity amount. The Offer Amount does not include the higher gratuity. If the Offer is accepted, the difference between the original and upgraded stateroom gratuities (if applicable) will be automatically applied to all guests (the "Additional Charges").

 

Only Star Class gets the bev package included.  A GS is not star class.  You get all the benefits of that class otherwise (except points). 

[tennislvr8]

5 minutes ago, Nath said:

If your bid to a GS stateroom is accepted from the RoyalUp offer, you will not get the suite perks like the beverage package usually included with the Star class booking.  You do keep the perks and promotion you had with your original stateroom/cabin.  It clearly states:

The upgrade does not include any additional promotions. Current promotions on the reservation will not be altered.
You get to keep the promotions you already have based on the stateroom category originally booked. However, no additional promotions will be added to your reservation.
 

Details here:
https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-happens-to-my-promotions-if-i-am-upgraded-through-royalup

 

Same for NCL, if someone gets upgraded to the Haven, they do not get the perks.  You basically get the priority boarding and extra space.  

 

Nonetheless, by upgrading to a higher stateroom category, each guest in the booking may be subject to a higher gratuity amount. The Offer Amount does not include the higher gratuity. If the Offer is accepted, the difference between the original and upgraded stateroom gratuities (if applicable) will be automatically applied to all guests (the "Additional Charges").

Are suite perks considered a promotion? I can understand not getting promotions but if you are in star or sky class you get all of the benefits associated with that room.

[tennislvr8]

2 hours ago, djs40 said:

I received an email yesterday for an April 21st sailing on Freedom out of Puerto Rico. I have an outside guarantee and was able to bid on a balcony, spacious oceanview balcony, and a panoramic suite (no balcony). I bid on everything but the panoramic suite. That said, I can’t figure out the inventory situation. If I try to book any of the types of cabins offered there is literally none or less than 3 available in these categories and we are 60 days out. Why open up bidding on rooms that have little inventory so far out?  I’d think the chances of filling them traditionally is high. I can only think that the inventory of available rooms is somehow manipulated to demonstrate limited demand on purpose to entice people to book. 

Depending on what website you are using, you may or may not be seeing all of the available rooms. Also, everyone is getting a royal up. I was in a Jr suite, I bid on a sky loft suite. I won and someone who bid on a Jr suite won my room, trickle down/up room bidding. 

[Sailing_Canuck]

53 minutes ago, Waves2land said:

You just might have to go investigate the people in the owners suite you wanted to see if they got it via bid.  Sorry it didn’t work out for you.  

 

Was your bid pretty high anyway?

Owner suite not so much.  Bid $1475 cdn per person.  For GS I bid near max of $875 pp CDN

(Max $930).  JS I bid $675 pp max was $800 pp.

[dodgestang]

2 hours ago, Sorcerer Tim said:

I received a RoyalUp email today offering a minimum bids of $1,500/pp for the Royal Loft Suite on Anthem. We are already in a Star Class room so I don’t think I am going to do it for $3,000, but have two questions. Has anyone received a follow up email with lower minimums? I would probably do $1,500 total, but I assume there is no way to offer that, correct?

I'm in a star room and got the same offer for Royal Loft with a min of $1500 for my April 13th sailing (so same price point as you)....but I know the room is booked/paid for because the casino told me....so only way I get it is if someone cancels last minute and loses money...which I wouldn't wish on anyone

Edited February 22, 2019 by dodgestang

[tinkr2]

On 2/16/2019 at 9:23 AM, molly361 said:

Hope you fare better than I - Every time I log in the boxes are unchecked.  I check them save it and exit.  Log back in and they are unchecked again!!

 

This is me. I get no emails. My adult son ,whose account I opened, gets emails ,regularly to my email. I do not think that will help me with the bidding program...as he doesn't often cruise with me.

[AshleyRC]

My experience with RoyalUp…We are cruising on SOS leaving 3/9/19...

 

At first only my MIL's room got the RoyalUp email back in November (we only have 2 people booked in her room, its an Ocean View Balcony).  I ignored it because I was only interested in upgrading my room with 4 people in it.  We got the email again on 2/7 but for both rooms this time.  So I submitted bids for every room I could because the Ocean View Balcony is SOOOOO TINY for my husband and I and a 6 and 11 year old (TOTALLY my fault for not booking a suite to begin with).  I bid over the minimum on all the rooms.  My BIGGEST mistake was bidding full price on the cheapest rooms, I think that's why I didn't even have a shot at the suites.  One of my bids was on a 'Spacious Ocean View Balcony', I bid the full amount which was $500 PP ($1,000 total) and here is why...it has a picture of your current stateroom on the bidding website, then it has pictures next to every room you can bid on, the 'Spacious Ocean View Balcony' looked double the size of my current room so I was more than happy to bid the top amount to get more space!  TURNS OUT...the picture next to 'Spacious Ocean View Balcony' is ACTUALLY a picture of the 'Ultra Spacious Ocean View with Large Balcony'!!!!  SO when I got the email that I won the bid, I looked up the room number and I won a bid for OCEAN VIEW WITH LARGE BALCONY...THE SAME SIZE ROOM AS MY CURRENT ROOM!  I immediately got on the phone with Royal Caribbean and talked to 3 different people and the whole time they kept saying it was my fault for relying on the picture.  WHY WOULD YOU HAVE A PICTURE OF MY CURRENT ROOM IF YOU DIDN'T INTEND ON ME COMPARING IT TO THE PICTURES NEXT TO THE BIDS.  So turns out 'Spacious Ocean View Balcony' isn't even a room type on the ship.  They just rearranged the wording and put a fake picture next to it just to get bids.  In the end they refused to take any blame and kept saying it was my fault, I felt like I was in a court room, they would put me on hold and listen back to everything we had just talked about then would come back and try to spin every word I said.  So now I am stuck paying $1,000 more for a room that doesn't exist and still in the same exact size room I started with.  

 

THEN on top of that, now that I have ZERO trust in Royal Caribbean, I go back to start reviewing everything I have purchased through the Cruise Planner only to find that the Key I bought back on 1/1/19 (when it said no reservations are required for shows) has now changed to reservation ARE REQUIRED and all the shows are sold out.  Would have been REAL NICE to get an email saying "this perk has changed so be sure to hurry up and book a show"!  

 

I am BEYOND excited to be on Symphony of the Seas but this will be my FIRST AND LAST cruise with Royal Caribbean.  

 

(I have posted this on a couple different threads about the RoyalUp)

[Biker19]

Welcome to CC.

[john3183]

Has anyone won any bids for the Allure March 24th sailing for Star Class rooms?  I am in a sky loft suite already, and only put in bids for Star Class.  Mine still show pending when I check.

[Fancypants!]

13 hours ago, tennislvr8 said:

Are suite perks considered a promotion? I can understand not getting promotions but if you are in star or sky class you get all of the benefits associated with that room.

I want to know this too! I thought of promotion more as some sort of sale or OBC promotion going on and not the perks associated with that class. If that's the case, I want to cancel my bids ASAP. Can anyone confirm that if you are upgraded with your bid - say from Sky Class to Star Class, that you will not get the beverage packages, dining package, nor Royal Genie??

[ShillyShally]

2 hours ago, AshleyRC said:

My experience with RoyalUp…We are cruising on SOS leaving 3/9/19...

 

 

 

At first only my MIL's room got the RoyalUp email back in November (we only have 2 people booked in her room, its an Ocean View Balcony).  I ignored it because I was only interested in upgrading my room with 4 people in it.  We got the email again on 2/7 but for both rooms this time.  So I submitted bids for every room I could because the Ocean View Balcony is SOOOOO TINY for my husband and I and a 6 and 11 year old (TOTALLY my fault for not booking a suite to begin with).  I bid over the minimum on all the rooms.  My BIGGEST mistake was bidding full price on the cheapest rooms, I think that's why I didn't even have a shot at the suites.  One of my bids was on a 'Spacious Ocean View Balcony', I bid the full amount which was $500 PP ($1,000 total) and here is why...it has a picture of your current stateroom on the bidding website, then it has pictures next to every room you can bid on, the 'Spacious Ocean View Balcony' looked double the size of my current room so I was more than happy to bid the top amount to get more space!  TURNS OUT...the picture next to 'Spacious Ocean View Balcony' is ACTUALLY a picture of the 'Ultra Spacious Ocean View with Large Balcony'!!!!  SO when I got the email that I won the bid, I looked up the room number and I won a bid for OCEAN VIEW WITH LARGE BALCONY...THE SAME SIZE ROOM AS MY CURRENT ROOM!  I immediately got on the phone with Royal Caribbean and talked to 3 different people and the whole time they kept saying it was my fault for relying on the picture.  WHY WOULD YOU HAVE A PICTURE OF MY CURRENT ROOM IF YOU DIDN'T INTEND ON ME COMPARING IT TO THE PICTURES NEXT TO THE BIDS.  So turns out 'Spacious Ocean View Balcony' isn't even a room type on the ship.  They just rearranged the wording and put a fake picture next to it just to get bids.  In the end they refused to take any blame and kept saying it was my fault, I felt like I was in a court room, they would put me on hold and listen back to everything we had just talked about then would come back and try to spin every word I said.  So now I am stuck paying $1,000 more for a room that doesn't exist and still in the same exact size room I started with.  

Do you have the original email for your bid options?  And what was the original room category # and what is the new category #?  Unfortunately even the same SQFT in cabins can have huge price differences based on location on the ship but I would be very frustrated as well.  It's hard to go by photos - any marketing photos are designed to show the best of something - just like real estate photos (or lol college marketing ones we found on many college visits over the years).  For $1,000 I'd push back nicely but firmly that you want your original cabin back or you want a different option.  I don't know if it will happen but worth trying!  So often it's all on who answers the phone!

Edited February 22, 2019 by ShillyShally
fix spelling

[Tulsacoker]

1 hour ago, Fancypants! said:

I want to know this too! I thought of promotion more as some sort of sale or OBC promotion going on and not the perks associated with that class. If that's the case, I want to cancel my bids ASAP. Can anyone confirm that if you are upgraded with your bid - say from Sky Class to Star Class, that you will not get the beverage packages, dining package, nor Royal Genie??

you will get all the benefits with Star class ( gratuities, genie, beverage, specialty dinning) if you win the bid. 

if someone is currently in none suite and upgrade to sky they get all sky suite benefits except for double points.   

Edited February 22, 2019 by Tulsacoker

[AshleyRC]

10 minutes ago, ShillyShally said:

Do you have the original email for your bid options?  And what was the original room category # and what is the new category #?  Unfortunately even the same SQFT in cabins can have huge price differences based on location on the ship but I would be very frustrated as well.  It's hard to go by photos - any marketing photos are designed to show the best of something - just like real estate photos (or lol college marketing ones we found on many college visits over the years).  For $1,000 I'd push back nicely but firmly that you want your original cabin back or you want a different option.  I don't know if it will happen but worth trying!  So often it's all on who answers the phone!

We talked to 3 different levels of supervisors and got no where.  There is the side by side of my current room and the room I bid on and won.   Originally my room was at the back of the boat on deck 8.  Now it’s deck 6 middle of the boat.  Is that a good move?

[Biker19]

6 minutes ago, AshleyRC said:

  Originally my room was at the back of the boat on deck 8.  Now it’s deck 6 middle of the boat.  Is that a good move?

Yes. The second pic doesn't look like a regular balcony (looks like a JS) - a regular cabin usually has only about 2 ft of space between the bed and wall - what is the cabin # of the new room?

Edited February 22, 2019 by Biker19

[Tulsacoker]

yes

[Dennis#1]

2 hours ago, AshleyRC said:

My experience with RoyalUp…We are cruising on SOS leaving 3/9/19...

 

 

 

At first only my MIL's room got the RoyalUp email back in November (we only have 2 people booked in her room, its an Ocean View Balcony).  I ignored it because I was only interested in upgrading my room with 4 people in it.  We got the email again on 2/7 but for both rooms this time.  So I submitted bids for every room I could because the Ocean View Balcony is SOOOOO TINY for my husband and I and a 6 and 11 year old (TOTALLY my fault for not booking a suite to begin with).  I bid over the minimum on all the rooms.  My BIGGEST mistake was bidding full price on the cheapest rooms, I think that's why I didn't even have a shot at the suites.  One of my bids was on a 'Spacious Ocean View Balcony', I bid the full amount which was $500 PP ($1,000 total) and here is why...it has a picture of your current stateroom on the bidding website, then it has pictures next to every room you can bid on, the 'Spacious Ocean View Balcony' looked double the size of my current room so I was more than happy to bid the top amount to get more space!  TURNS OUT...the picture next to 'Spacious Ocean View Balcony' is ACTUALLY a picture of the 'Ultra Spacious Ocean View with Large Balcony'!!!!  SO when I got the email that I won the bid, I looked up the room number and I won a bid for OCEAN VIEW WITH LARGE BALCONY...THE SAME SIZE ROOM AS MY CURRENT ROOM!  I immediately got on the phone with Royal Caribbean and talked to 3 different people and the whole time they kept saying it was my fault for relying on the picture.  WHY WOULD YOU HAVE A PICTURE OF MY CURRENT ROOM IF YOU DIDN'T INTEND ON ME COMPARING IT TO THE PICTURES NEXT TO THE BIDS.  So turns out 'Spacious Ocean View Balcony' isn't even a room type on the ship.  They just rearranged the wording and put a fake picture next to it just to get bids.  In the end they refused to take any blame and kept saying it was my fault, I felt like I was in a court room, they would put me on hold and listen back to everything we had just talked about then would come back and try to spin every word I said.  So now I am stuck paying $1,000 more for a room that doesn't exist and still in the same exact size room I started with.  

 

 

 

THEN on top of that, now that I have ZERO trust in Royal Caribbean, I go back to start reviewing everything I have purchased through the Cruise Planner only to find that the Key I bought back on 1/1/19 (when it said no reservations are required for shows) has now changed to reservation ARE REQUIRED and all the shows are sold out.  Would have been REAL NICE to get an email saying "this perk has changed so be sure to hurry up and book a show"!  

 

 

 

I am BEYOND excited to be on Symphony of the Seas but this will be my FIRST AND LAST cruise with Royal Caribbean.  

 

 

 

(I have posted this on a couple different threads about the RoyalUp)

I would be most upset also.  Sure sounds like some misleading advertising.  The picture of your new stateroom looks more like a Jr. Suite.  Recommend that you keep calling RCCL customer service to cancel your upgrade ($1,000 refund) and get your original stateroom back.  

[AshleyRC]

5 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Yes. The second pic doesn't look like a regular balcony (looks like a JS) - a regular cabin usually has only about 2 ft of space between the bed and wall - what is the cabin # of the new room?

6196

[bajathree]

Second picture is either a JS or accessible balcony stateroom.

[ShillyShally]

7 minutes ago, AshleyRC said:

We talked to 3 different levels of supervisors and got no where.  There is the side by side of my current room and the room I bid on and won.   Originally my room was at the back of the boat on deck 8.  Now it’s deck 6 middle of the boat.  Is that a good move?

 

It's hard to know without cabin numbers or categories, for example did they move you from an Ocean View Balcony to an Ocean View with Large balcony - nets about 28 more SgFt of balcony but doesn't help much in the room and seems a steep upgrade at $1000!

[Biker19]

3 minutes ago, AshleyRC said:

6196

That's a 1C hump balcony (same size you had but a "better" location on the hump) - the pic doesn't really depict a 1C.

[ShillyShally]

5 minutes ago, AshleyRC said:

6196

It's at least on the hump which is supposed to be nice!  Not sold on it being $1000 nicer! And it's the category 1C which is the Ocean View with Large Balcony (cabin 182 sq ft, balcony 80) - what was your original cabin #?  

[ShillyShally]

8 minutes ago, Dennis#1 said:

I would be most upset also.  Sure sounds like some misleading advertising.  The picture of your new stateroom looks more like a Jr. Suite.  Recommend that you keep calling RCCL customer service to cancel your upgrade ($1,000 refund) and get your original stateroom back.  

I agree with this, especially because the email calls it a "spacious" but there is no more sq ft in the actual room - I'd argue for return to original cabin or at least a reduction in amount paid to upgrade, even if returned in the form of OBC.

[bajathree]

There is a 1A - Ultra Spacious OV w/Lg Balcony.....that would look like the second picture also....but that isn't what you got with 6196

 

[bajathree]

6196 is a Category: 1C - Ocean View with Large Balcony

[bajathree]

Thats the picture royal uses on their website for a Cat 1C which is what 6196 is.