RoyalUP? (Bid for stateroom upgrade)

[Milwaukee Eight]

Royal is a publicly traded company and their so purpose in life is to find the best way to make money for their Stockholders. 

 

Reserve the cabin you want when you book. 

Edited May 3, 2019 by Milwaukee Eight

[John&LaLa]

51 minutes ago, cruisegirl1 said:

I don’t feel slighted.  Royal up program never implied crown and anchor members would receive any special consideration. 

 

I do hope RCCL has or will change the C&A benefit list to remove the upgrade reference. 

 

M

 

Doesn't it say something like when available 🤔

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, Journey2016 said:

We got an offer for RoyalUp for our March sailing and were successful. We are doing 3 cruises this summer: a B2B on the Freedom, and then a 3 day on the Navigator the very next day. We were waiting for the RoyalUp offer for the first cruise of the B2B. We didn't get one. When we called C&A, reservations, and the resolutions office, we were told the same thing all three times: that the people who get the offer are randomly selected by a lottery, and the fact that we are Diamond plus means nothing. Crown & Anchor upgrades are a thing of the past, because the way that the system is set up, a first time cruiser has the same chance of winning the RoyalUp lottery as a Pinnacle member. Apparently, this is a continuation of RCCL's ongoing efforts to cast aside the frequent cruisers. But at least you get a lapel pin.

 

Pretty sure anyone can go the RoyalUP site now and look for an upgrade. 

 

I like the program, glad I can try and pay for a better cabin. If I dont win, I'm probably happy with the cabin I bought.

 

Bid high, bid often. 😉

[FLACRUISER99]

48 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Royal is a publicly traded company and their so purpose in life is to find the best way to make money for their Stockholders. 

 

Reserve the cabin you want when you book. 

But they wont archive that by being nasty to their customers

[Milwaukee Eight]

1 hour ago, FLACRUISER99 said:

But they wont archive that by being nasty to their customers

Not sure how offering Royal Upgrades is being “nasty” to anyone??  Isn’t everyone with the opportunity to upgrade a customer?

[Journey2016]

2 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

 Pretty sure anyone can go the RoyalUP site now and look for an upgrade. 

 

We thought so, but when we tried we got the error message. 

 

So we called. We were told that you cannot bid unless you have received an email invitation. In order to be invited, you have to opt in to promotional emails, and you have to be selected by their RoyalUp team. The CS rep said that the selection was by random lottery. 

[crusinthrough]

22 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Well, its dinner only in a JS, and that is by availability only. I'd  still go with the untra spacious if I had 2 teens. 

 

As far as I know none of the ultras have obstructed views.  In fact, very few cabins on Oasis class are obstructed 

When I stayed in a JS on the Harmony I was able to get CK every night that I wanted. I know this is not guaranteed.   The JS  has a tub in bathroom, walk in closet and the location is typically better than the spacious ocean view balcony.  Nothing earth shattering but a few extras... 

[Norwich Cruiser]

I’ve just had my third email this morning from RCI asking if I’d like to bid on an upgrade for our June OOTS sailing.

[grapau27]

9 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Not sure how offering Royal Upgrades is being “nasty” to anyone??  Isn’t everyone with the opportunity to upgrade a customer?

We always book the cabin we want and have no upgrades on our file and have never received any Royal Up emails.

Lots of people have responded to Royal Up offer's so RC are doing a service that it appears many people are happy with.

Edited May 4, 2019 by grapau27

[John&LaLa]

3 hours ago, crusinthrough said:

When I stayed in a JS on the Harmony I was able to get CK every night that I wanted. I know this is not guaranteed.   The JS  has a tub in bathroom, walk in closet and the location is typically better than the spacious ocean view balcony.  Nothing earth shattering but a few extras... 

 

Understand,  but the extra space is awesome with teens

Edited May 4, 2019 by John&LaLa

[FLACRUISER99]

11 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Not sure how offering Royal Upgrades is being “nasty” to anyone??  Isn’t everyone with the opportunity to upgrade a customer?

A very poor choice of words by me, I should of said greedy.

[forgotmyCCname]

15 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Pretty sure anyone can go the RoyalUP site now and look for an upgrade. 

 

I like the program, glad I can try and pay for a better cabin. If I dont win, I'm probably happy with the cabin I bought.

 

Bid high, bid often. 😉

We sail in 36 days and have not received an offer to bid. When I go to the Royal Up page I am told that I need to wait until I am 30 days out. It doesn't  allow me to look at available options. i am more curious about the process than I am wanting to upgrade. Crown Loft piqued my interest until I found out her on CC that there is no option to chose L1 vs L2

 

[Iamcruzin]

13 hours ago, Journey2016 said:

We thought so, but when we tried we got the error message. 

 

So we called. We were told that you cannot bid unless you have received an email invitation. In order to be invited, you have to opt in to promotional emails, and you have to be selected by their RoyalUp team. The CS rep said that the selection was by random lottery. 

I don't know how random it can be. I received 2 royal up offers for the same cruise. I would have thought that by not bidding the first time they would have moved on to another passengers. Some on my Facebook cruise group have experienced the same thing. My son who has a separate reservation through a different TA has not received any. If it was just my wife and myself traveling I may have up graded but we like our room location and we are next to our son and his friend so we don't want to move. Oddly these are the only emails that I have received from Royal Caribbean since I booked the cruise over a year ago. Celebrity sends me at least one a day sometimes more.

Edited May 4, 2019 by Iamcruzin

[CasinoCruzGirl]

1 hour ago, Iamcruzin said:

I don't know how random it can be. I received 2 royal up offers for the same cruise. I would have thought that by not bidding the first time they would have moved on to another passengers. Some on my Facebook cruise group have experienced the same thing. My son who has a separate reservation through a different TA has not received any. If it was just my wife and myself traveling I may have up graded but we like our room location and we are next to our son and his friend so we don't want to move. Oddly these are the only emails that I have received from Royal Caribbean since I booked the cruise over a year ago. Celebrity sends me at least one a day sometimes more.

I’m on Allure May 26th. Received my 3rd email to bid. Finally on the third email we went for it. We are in a crown loft and bid on the aqua 2 bedroom. Not counting on it but fun to see if it happens

[Journey2016]

2 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

I don't know how random it can be.

 

I don't believe for a second that it is really random. I do believe them when they say it is by invitation only. What I think is that they have some sort of selection criteria that sends the invitations if you meet those criteria. What the goal there is, I don't know. All I do know is that your C&A status has nothing to do with it. So much for upgrade eligibility for upper tier members. 

[Journey2016]

2 hours ago, forgotmyCCname said:

We sail in 36 days and have not received an offer to bid. When I go to the Royal Up page I am told that I need to wait until I am 30 days out. It doesn't  allow me to look at available options. i am more curious about the process than I am wanting to upgrade. Crown Loft piqued my interest until I found out her on CC that there is no option to chose L1 vs L2

 

I still get that message, and my cruise is in 29 days. They told me that you have to be invited to be able to bid. 

[CasinoCruzGirl]

23 minutes ago, Journey2016 said:

 

I don't believe for a second that it is really random. I do believe them when they say it is by invitation only. What I think is that they have some sort of selection criteria that sends the invitations if you meet those criteria. What the goal there is, I don't know. All I do know is that your C&A status has nothing to do with it. So much for upgrade eligibility for upper tier members. 

I’m not sure how people get invited. I’ve only sailed 2 short 3 and 4 night cruises on Royal over the past few years. Been doing NCL the majority of my cruises over the past few years. We booked this cruise through my outside casino host.  And I got the invite 3 times. Considering we are already in a crown loft suite there were 3 options to bid on. Crown Star loft starting at $800 pp, aqua 2 bedroom starting at $400 pp (this is the one we bid on) and an aqua 1 bedroom $100 pp. because the aqua 1 bedroom is a Sky tier we already have that with our crown loft so did not bid on that one.  Maybe because there are only suites left on this particular cruise that’s why we got the invite. 

[fscool]

I just got my Royal Upgrade email.  I have already purchased an Internet plan for our 3 cruisers.  One of the options is a Grand Suite which comes with VOOM included (based on what the RCL site says).  How late can I cancel my VOOM purchase if I were to win on the Grand Suite?  I remember reading that the Cruise Planner stops working 3 days before the sailing for excursions at least, yet RCL may not notify me of a win until 24-48 hours before departure....

[Ourusualbeach]

28 minutes ago, fscool said:

I just got my Royal Upgrade email.  I have already purchased an Internet plan for our 3 cruisers.  One of the options is a Grand Suite which comes with VOOM included (based on what the RCL site says).  How late can I cancel my VOOM purchase if I were to win on the Grand Suite?  I remember reading that the Cruise Planner stops working 3 days before the sailing for excursions at least, yet RCL may not notify me of a win until 24-48 hours before departure....

If necessary you can cancel it on board and get a full refund. 

[Ourusualbeach]

3 hours ago, forgotmyCCname said:

We sail in 36 days and have not received an offer to bid. When I go to the Royal Up page I am told that I need to wait until I am 30 days out. It doesn't  allow me to look at available options. i am more curious about the process than I am wanting to upgrade. Crown Loft piqued my interest until I found out her on CC that there is no option to chose L1 vs L2

 

You cannot bid unless you get an e mail with offers. 

[fscool]

On 4/29/2019 at 7:33 AM, Iamcruzin said:

I'm just amazed at the prices people are willing to pay especially on vacation. I will take earning privileges the hard way if that means taking more cruises over paying for instant gratification.  

 

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

If necessary you can cancel it on board and get a full refund. 

Thank you!

[CasinoCruzGirl]

On 4/11/2019 at 3:53 PM, Zendeck said:

I got my Royal Up upgrade email this morning!!!!  Hooray!!!  We are cruising on Symphony Sat.  I made the offer on Mar 2nd.  Status change from Sky to Star so I think a great deal, but my 'nothing in life is free' radar is on and wondering if I had originally overpaid!  LOL

 

We were in 1 bedroom Aquatheatre and got upgraded to 2 bedroom - $600 per / total $1200.  I canc our adult drinks pkg and my 2 kids refreshment pkg and my 2 night BOGO this morning and come out even! 

 

Hope this info helps others.

 

That’s great. I was wondering about sky suite to star suite. We are in a crown loft and bid on 2 bedroom aqua. Hope we are as lucky as u

[Zendeck]

2 hours ago, CasinoCruzGirl said:

That’s great. I was wondering about sky suite to star suite. We are in a crown loft and bid on 2 bedroom aqua. Hope we are as lucky as u

Yes I wish you luck!  It was an amazing experience.  Ours was 1bedroom ATS to 2bedroom ATS.  So we were right where we wanted to be but even better!  Have fun!  

[fscool]

4 hours ago, fscool said:

4 hours ago, fscool said:

On 4/29/2019 at 7:33 AM, Iamcruzin said:

I'm just amazed at the prices people are willing to pay especially on vacation. I will take earning privileges the hard way if that means taking more cruises over paying for instant gratification.  

 

5 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

If necessary you can cancel it on board and get a full refund. 

Thank you!

Thank you!

Someday I will understand how to quote posts on this forum.  No idea where that first post 4/29 came from.  

[Redsonya37]

Once you win a bid are you immediately assigned a cabin (I'm looking at crown loft suites)? I see there are 6 open lofts on the website. I would prefer one not over the ball court. So once you're assigned a cabin can you request to be moved to another if it's open? Has anyone done this?