RoyalUP? (Bid for stateroom upgrade)

[jean87510]

7 hours ago, MandyMooToo said:

So I am curious about something.  I thought that you could only bid one or two categories above your original booking (we booked an interior last year and were offered ocean view and balcony RoyalUps but could not bid on jr suites, etc., for example).  I saw a post today on another site saying they went from an interior guarantee to a GS...

We are in a gty balcony on an upcoming Alaska sailing and can bid up to Royal Suite.  That's if we want to spend a minimum of $7000.  

[FionaMG]

3 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

We are in a gty balcony on an upcoming Alaska sailing and can bid up to Royal Suite.  That's if we want to spend a minimum of $7000.  

 

Bet that's a lot cheaper than the going rate, but yes, I can think of a gazillion better ways to spend $7000 on an Alaskan cruise than bidding on the Royal Suite.  

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, compman9 said:

This evening, it says only guarantees are available, which logic would suggest means they have run out

Very unlikely - they just have leftovers and they know very few will book those outright. Even before Royal Up, late in the booking cycle you'd see this pattern, where the inventory was gone but they kept selling GTYs. When RCI gets really greedy, they might even start selling the quarantine cabins (via GTYs) which are now off the market.

[compman9]

5 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Very unlikely - they just have leftovers and they know very few will book those outright. Even before Royal Up, late in the booking cycle you'd see this pattern, where the inventory was gone but they kept selling GTYs. When RCI gets really greedy, they might even start selling the quarantine cabins (via GTYs) which are now off the market.

 

Very interesting. So, how many of these leftovers would ordinarily be leftover?

 

Interesting twist - There were no Ocean Views available for over a week, but this morning they have one numbered cabin, plus guarantees (also, of which, there were none yesterday), and at the same price as a balcony gty 🤔

 

 

[ravenclan]

We are currently booked in 2x connecting OVB rooms, (2 and 3 adult guests per cabin).
There are currently no connecting OVB cabins left on our sailing.
Has anyone ever successfully upgraded both cabins?

I'm thinking as they might be more in demand, we might be more likely to win a bid if we are both bidding on upgrades?

[jean87510]

13 hours ago, FionaMG said:

 

Bet that's a lot cheaper than the going rate, but yes, I can think of a gazillion better ways to spend $7000 on an Alaskan cruise than bidding on the Royal Suite.  

We could do a couple of helicopter rides and maybe some dogsledding.  That would eat up $7000!  Im already in sticker shock enough from our 49th state.  I don't need a butler that badly or a grand piano.

[Biker19]

7 hours ago, compman9 said:

So, how many of these leftovers would ordinarily be leftover?

Only RCI knows that, but enough to satisfy all the GTY bookings. I seem to recall tracking a sailing in which only GTY was available for the last month before sailing. You can bet folks were still booking during that time.

Edited April 13, 2022 by Biker19

[Cruise a holic]

1 hour ago, jean87510 said:

We could do a couple of helicopter rides and maybe some dogsledding.  That would eat up $7000!  Im already in sticker shock enough from our 49th state.  I don't need a butler that badly or a grand piano.

Don't do helicopter!  Much too dangerous.  

[mrspeck]

So after daily attempts to Royal Up for a cruise that is 20ish days out, just this evening it worked.  Question, we are booked in a Grand Loft, but the royal up offered sky loft, grand loft, owners loft and royal loft as options.  Why would it offer lesser rooms and equal rooms?  Why was the minimum on the owners loft less than the grand loft?  Very confusing.  I only bid on the Owners and royal.

[Carlos A.]

1 hour ago, mrspeck said:

So after daily attempts to Royal Up for a cruise that is 20ish days out, just this evening it worked.  Question, we are booked in a Grand Loft, but the royal up offered sky loft, grand loft, owners loft and royal loft as options.  Why would it offer lesser rooms and equal rooms?  Why was the minimum on the owners loft less than the grand loft?  Very confusing.  I only bid on the Owners and royal.

Congrats!

 

What do you mean by daily attempts? 

I always thought that you had to bid once and wait.

[Biker19]

5 hours ago, carlosalonsor said:

What do you mean by daily attempts? 

I think they meant they were trying to bid but Royal Up was not available to them.

[Biker19]

6 hours ago, mrspeck said:

Why would it offer lesser rooms and equal rooms?

Royal Up gets confused sometimes - the info between RCI and Plusgrade (the company that runs Royal Up) must have been messed up.

[SRF]

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

Royal Up gets confused sometimes - the info between RCI and Plusgrade (the company that runs Royal Up) must have been messed up.

Considering that people booked on RCI got emails to upgrade to Celebrity cabin classes, YA THINK?? 

 

😄 😄

 

[Starry Eyes]

On 4/12/2022 at 4:36 PM, compman9 said:

For the fun of those trying to work out the process / algorithms etc.

 

Yesterday there were five balconies left on our cruise. 

This afternoon, there were four.

This evening, it says only guarantees are available, which logic would suggest means they have run out, and this would require RoyalUps to relinquish their balcony rooms.

 

I have no idea if that means anything, just want to join in the speculation 😬

I really don’t think it helps us with the algorithm.  The cruise lines do not have to show the public (or travel agents for that matter) every unbooked cabin at every moment in time if the cruise line does not wish to do so.  They could have cabins available, but not entered in public inventory right now.  Or maybe not; you and I just do not know.  Also, if I recall correctly, many cruises are now near final payment (30 days for May, 60 days for June, 90 days for July), and many of these were booked under CWC, so they could be canceled or rescheduled….so this might be a good time for the cruise line to retain some flexibility; unassigned gty’s are one way for a cruiseline to be flexible.  So, listing the gty category only is a way to sell the gty.  Also those who really want to pick their cabin, the temporary disappearance may motivate them to book as soon as the option reappears.  As far as RoyalUp is concerned, currently people in lower categories are being offered RoyalUp offers all the way to top categories, so those folks in an insider OV if they bid high enough might RoyalUp to a JS or higher without a balcony  person “relinquishing” their room.  Or they might move to a balcony and the person in the balcony moves to the JS or higher.  One never knows.

[mk-ultra]

On 4/13/2022 at 5:47 AM, Cruise a holic said:

Don't do helicopter!  Much too dangerous.  

 

Alaskan helicopters are incredibly dangerous.  They keep taking my wallet and I to places where I feel compelled to eat all of their crab and salmon. 

 

For the real AK experience, book a DHC-2 Beaver float plane.  Not one with a fancy-butt retrofitted PT06 engine.  You want one with a blue smoke belching radial.

Edited April 14, 2022 by mk-ultra

[Cruise a holic]

3 hours ago, mk-ultra said:

 

Alaskan helicopters are incredibly dangerous.  They keep taking my wallet and I to places where I feel compelled to eat all of their crab and salmon. 

 

For the real AK experience, book a DHC-2 Beaver float plane.  Not one with a fancy-butt retrofitted PT06 engine.  You want one with a blue smoke belching radial.

A friend of mine was on a helicopter tour to the top of a glacier and enjoyed the experience- however, the people on the second helicopter crashed and died.  So I am not a fan.  Plenty of places to get crabs!

 

Edited April 14, 2022 by Cruise a holic

[mk-ultra]

12 minutes ago, Cruise a holic said:

A friend of mine was on a helicopter tour to the top of a glacier and enjoyed the experience- however, the people on the second helicopter crashed and died.  So I am not a fan.  Plenty of places to get crabs!

 

 Really sorry to hear that.  Just know something like that is incredibly rare.  Former airline pilot here, and while I kinda joke about this stuff I've not seen anything that makes me doubt the safety of tour helicopter pilots.  They want to get home safely as well.

Edited April 14, 2022 by mk-ultra

[Wedgeh]

Won a bid for a JS 3 weeks out (presumably I overbid?), is it one and done or does RoyalUp reset to my new room and allow further bidding? There is availability in suites which weren't showing as options when I was in a lower category.

[Coralc]

12 hours ago, mk-ultra said:

 

 

Stephen King Fan? 

[SRF]

18 hours ago, Starry Eyes said:

I really don’t think it helps us with the algorithm.  The cruise lines do not have to show the public (or travel agents for that matter) every unbooked cabin at every moment in time if the cruise line does not wish to do so.  They could have cabins available, but not entered in public inventory right now.  Or maybe not; you and I just do not know.

 

A number of times here in CC, someone has stated about low availability of a certain class, and one of the TAs that hang out here chime in with them being able to see a LOT more cabins in that class.

[SRF]

6 hours ago, Wedgeh said:

Won a bid for a JS 3 weeks out (presumably I overbid?), is it one and done or does RoyalUp reset to my new room and allow further bidding? There is availability in suites which weren't showing as options when I was in a lower category.

 

Make sure you cancel any existing bids, then if other choices show up, you should be able to bid up further.

[SRF]

18 hours ago, mk-ultra said:

Alaskan helicopters are incredibly dangerous.  They keep taking my wallet and I to places where I feel compelled to eat all of their crab and salmon. 

 

For the real AK experience, book a DHC-2 Beaver float plane.  Not one with a fancy-butt retrofitted PT06 engine.  You want one with a blue smoke belching radial.

 

😄 😄

 

Only if I get some stick time. 😄

[Biker19]

6 hours ago, Wedgeh said:

is it one and done or does RoyalUp reset to my new room and allow further bidding?

It used be available pre COVID, but most recent reporting suggests that is no longer an option.

[mrspeck]

Does Royal Up allow you to bid on staterooms that are currently fully booked?…or is it available to be filled if you can bid on said category?

[FionaMG]

3 minutes ago, mrspeck said:

Does Royal Up allow you to bid on staterooms that are currently fully booked?…or is it available to be filled if you can bid on said category?

Yes and not necessarily. Having people bid on unavailable rooms means they have a wait list in the eventuality that they do open up later on, e.g. through people cancelling and/or moving up after winning their own bid.