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RoyalUP? (Bid for stateroom upgrade)

John&LaLa

By John&LaLa,
in Royal Caribbean International

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Clarea

Clarea

Posted
Posted
21 minutes ago, Sorcerer Tim said:

Are the bid prices per person only applicable to the first two people or is it per person for the number of people in the cabin?

 

Only the first two. 

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meaclasact2

meaclasact2

Posted
Posted

We have sailed on RCI once before several years ago.  We are booked on Explorer's 9 night Greek Isles cruise in August 2020.   I see something new (to me at least) the Royal Up program - is this a bidding type system?  Have not cruised in a few years - on NCL I was always contacted by the line directly for potential upgrade deals.  Again, that was several years ago.  Is this the way upgrades are now handled?  We have a travel agent for this cruise - does that make a difference regarding the Royal Up program?  Many thanks in advance. 

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dpostman

dpostman

Posted
Posted

Well John... I was wrong and you were right.

 

My odds were apparently better than I had calculated.  This afternoon I had just finished putting the luggage tags that I had printed a few weeks ago into our plastic sleeves as we were packing for our 12 day Baltic cruise departing next Sunday (one week from now), but we are flying out to Amsterdam on Thursday.  I just happened to come downstairs to check my tablet for something and an RCI email had just come in announcing the good news.

 

We had succeed with our upgrade bid from a deck 8 interior room to a deck 7 balcony.

 

Here are the details for those interested.

Booked an interior room for a 12 night Baltic on Brilliance on first day itinerary was available (607 days out).  At the time, Basic Balcony rooms were just over $2000 CAD more than an interior.  This was our first time booking an interior but we wanted to get the most out of our cruise with excursions and all so we decided to try an interior.  I figured maybe I'll get lucky and be able to upgrade during a sale or something.  As time went by, I kept checking and prices kept creeping higher and higher.  About a year out, interior rooms were sold out and balconies were over $3000 CAD more so my hopes of a balcony were quashed.

 

85 days out, after final payment, I got the email with invite to Royal UP.  They offered me a chance to bit on 2 rooms.  An Ocean view,  Ocean View Balcony and Spacious Ocean View Balcony. I waited a few days and about 83 or 82 days out, I placed a bid only on Balcony and spacious Balcony.  I did not bid on Ocean view.

 

So we got a regular Balcony, close the hump at the aft end of Brilliance but a slightly obstructed view I suppose is better than a 100% obstructed of the room we had booked.

 

Both bids were just a few notches above the weakest bid.  Total cost for upgrade was $800 CAD (About $605 USD).

 

This cruise is for our 25th anniversary but we got the news today... the actual date of out anniversary.  Extra reason to celebrate 🥂 .

 

So John, if we get a chance to meet up one day, I owe you a drink.

Cheers

dp

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Dennis#1

Dennis#1

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, dpostman said:

Well John... I was wrong and you were right.

 

My odds were apparently better than I had calculated.  This afternoon I had just finished putting the luggage tags that I had printed a few weeks ago into our plastic sleeves as we were packing for our 12 day Baltic cruise departing next Sunday (one week from now), but we are flying out to Amsterdam on Thursday.  I just happened to come downstairs to check my tablet for something and an RCI email had just come in announcing the good news.

 

We had succeed with our upgrade bid from a deck 8 interior room to a deck 7 balcony.

 

Here are the details for those interested.

Booked an interior room for a 12 night Baltic on Brilliance on first day itinerary was available (607 days out).  At the time, Basic Balcony rooms were just over $2000 CAD more than an interior.  This was our first time booking an interior but we wanted to get the most out of our cruise with excursions and all so we decided to try an interior.  I figured maybe I'll get lucky and be able to upgrade during a sale or something.  As time went by, I kept checking and prices kept creeping higher and higher.  About a year out, interior rooms were sold out and balconies were over $3000 CAD more so my hopes of a balcony were quashed.

 

85 days out, after final payment, I got the email with invite to Royal UP.  They offered me a chance to bit on 2 rooms.  An Ocean view,  Ocean View Balcony and Spacious Ocean View Balcony. I waited a few days and about 83 or 82 days out, I placed a bid only on Balcony and spacious Balcony.  I did not bid on Ocean view.

 

So we got a regular Balcony, close the hump at the aft end of Brilliance but a slightly obstructed view I suppose is better than a 100% obstructed of the room we had booked.

 

Both bids were just a few notches above the weakest bid.  Total cost for upgrade was $800 CAD (About $605 USD).

 

This cruise is for our 25th anniversary but we got the news today... the actual date of out anniversary.  Extra reason to celebrate 🥂 .

 

So John, if we get a chance to meet up one day, I owe you a drink.

Cheers

dp

Congratulations on the upgrade.  And Happy Anniversary.

B1A66435-3C93-4FB9-A28B-01177B1DDB96.gif.8e1da20f25df215f92247f081e24f30c.gif 

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BearsAhoy

BearsAhoy

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, dpostman said:

Well John... I was wrong and you were right.

 

My odds were apparently better than I had calculated.  This afternoon I had just finished putting the luggage tags that I had printed a few weeks ago into our plastic sleeves as we were packing for our 12 day Baltic cruise departing next Sunday (one week from now), but we are flying out to Amsterdam on Thursday.  I just happened to come downstairs to check my tablet for something and an RCI email had just come in announcing the good news.

 

We had succeed with our upgrade bid from a deck 8 interior room to a deck 7 balcony.

 

Here are the details for those interested.

Booked an interior room for a 12 night Baltic on Brilliance on first day itinerary was available (607 days out).  At the time, Basic Balcony rooms were just over $2000 CAD more than an interior.  This was our first time booking an interior but we wanted to get the most out of our cruise with excursions and all so we decided to try an interior.  I figured maybe I'll get lucky and be able to upgrade during a sale or something.  As time went by, I kept checking and prices kept creeping higher and higher.  About a year out, interior rooms were sold out and balconies were over $3000 CAD more so my hopes of a balcony were quashed.

 

85 days out, after final payment, I got the email with invite to Royal UP.  They offered me a chance to bit on 2 rooms.  An Ocean view,  Ocean View Balcony and Spacious Ocean View Balcony. I waited a few days and about 83 or 82 days out, I placed a bid only on Balcony and spacious Balcony.  I did not bid on Ocean view.

 

So we got a regular Balcony, close the hump at the aft end of Brilliance but a slightly obstructed view I suppose is better than a 100% obstructed of the room we had booked.

 

Both bids were just a few notches above the weakest bid.  Total cost for upgrade was $800 CAD (About $605 USD).

 

This cruise is for our 25th anniversary but we got the news today... the actual date of out anniversary.  Extra reason to celebrate 🥂 .

 

So John, if we get a chance to meet up one day, I owe you a drink.

Cheers

dp

Congratulations! That’s excellent news!

 

We haven’t heard anything about our bid (JS to GS). Although other categories have shown availability at times, the suites are stubbornly sold out. (We got the last available JS when we booked.) Not expecting success.

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dpostman

dpostman

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, BearsAhoy said:

Congratulations! That’s excellent news!

 

We haven’t heard anything about our bid (JS to GS). Although other categories have shown availability at times, the suites are stubbornly sold out. (We got the last available JS when we booked.) Not expecting success.

We are both rooting for you guys 🤞🤞🤞  GOOD LUCK!

 

Oh and BTW Nice puzzle on your other post... Looks like your itinerary but did not want to post the answer and ruin it for others... you know... NO SPOILERS 😉

 

dp

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Clarea

Clarea

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, jerrib said:

Just starting to look at this RoyalUP thing.  Can I assume that you don't know the exact cabin # you are bidding on until it's accepted, with it then being too late to back out?

 

 

Correct, when you bid, you are stuck with whatever they give you, unless you withdraw your bid before it's accepted.

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Cruiser_1977

Cruiser_1977

Posted
Posted (edited)

On the 3 Day Navigator departing 9/20. I am currently in a JS. We are at 45 days out and I just got the "Act now - Upgrade your stateroom before you sail" e-mail. Yesterday there were 7 OS and 1 GS available. No balconies available for the last 2 days. Today showing 7 OS available, No GS. OS still about $3k (total not pp). Options:

Royal Suite - starting at $650pp

Owner's Suite - starting at $180pp

Grand Suite 2 BR - starting at $300pp

Grand Suite - starting at $100pp

I'm not going to post my offer until after it's been accepted or declined.

Edited by JennyB1977
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sawcochran

sawcochran

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, bruzin_for_a_cruizin said:

Looks like the Aug 25th Freedom OTS sailing out of SJ is totally booked. Less than 20 days out, and still no bid offer. :classic_unsure:

 

We were hoping to be able to upgrade to a JS, but it looks like we're gonna have to make do with the Balcony.

I am booked on Freedom OTS for the 18th in a spacious balcony room. I submitted a weak offer for GS1/GS2 and OS that I would be comfortable paying. All suites appear to be booked. So not optimistic I will win my bid...worth a try. 

Starting bids are:

JS $150/PP

GS1 $300/PP

GS2 $400/PP

OS $500/PP

 

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Ambergirl202

Ambergirl202

Posted
Posted

We just got the email — our oceanview on a16-night transatlantic was upgraded to a balcony! None were available when we booked in January 2018, so we settled for an oceanview. We got the Royal Up offer in mid-June and bid $300 for a balcony. We also bid on a two-bedroom oceanview suite and a spacious balcony, but those two bids were labeled “expired” for the past couple of weeks. Considering that the balcony price lately was $1500/pp more than we paid, I think we did well! So excited to move from deck 3 to deck 8!

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Hogbay

Hogbay

Posted
Posted

Radiance 18 nights Hawaii to Sydney , Balcony # 7168 . D+ 

Royal up

JS $ 590 AUD to $2,960 AUD

Spacious OV B $ 150 AUD to $740 AUD 

Have Dec 2nd birthday booked and NYE too Might keep money 🙂  if you had a inside to balcony or balcony to Grand might look at that .

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dpostman

dpostman

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, Ashland said:

If a cruise is showing no suites (GS and above) available why is RCI still offering RoyalUp bids?

This gives RCI options if any of those suites cancel at last minute.  there will be extra revenue  for them instead of a loss with an empty room.  If no one cancels, then everyone gets a decline email, but if there is a cancellation, then there are several revenu streams created from 4 or 5 levels of rooms being upgraded from one suite cancellation. 

 

I won my bid from an interior room to a balcony, I assume the previous occupants of our balcony won a bid for a JS, and the previous occupants of that JS won a bid for a GS and so on, and so on...

 

dp

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Ready2SailAway

Ready2SailAway

Posted
Posted
20 minutes ago, dpostman said:

This gives RCI options if any of those suites cancel at last minute.  there will be extra revenue  for them instead of a loss with an empty room.  If no one cancels, then everyone gets a decline email, but if there is a cancellation, then there are several revenu streams created from 4 or 5 levels of rooms being upgraded from one suite cancellation. 

 

I won my bid from an interior room to a balcony, I assume the previous occupants of our balcony won a bid for a JS, and the previous occupants of that JS won a bid for a GS and so on, and so on...

 

dp

 

The RoyalUP Avalanche Effect -well stated!

 

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Ourusualbeach

Ourusualbeach

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 minutes ago, mcatmcat said:

Hi 

I just made an offer on  RoyalUp, I have a suite( navigator)  before making an offer but I was wondering if the offer gets accepted do I still get the suite benefits.

Thank you 

You get the points from your original cabin booked and the benefits of the cabin you are sailing in 

Edited by Ourusualbeach
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