Royal up bid. What are my chances?

[Branfsu]

I bid a few dollars over the minimum on an upgrade from and inside to a balcony for my December 4th odyssey sailing, thinking I might win due to reduced capacity sailings. Do you think my chances are good?

[Sunshine3601]

Chances are probably pretty good.  If you do a mock booking do you see a lot or hardly any balconies available for your sailing?

[Branfsu]

8 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Chances are probably pretty good.  If you do a mock booking do you see a lot or hardly any balconies available for your sailing?

Anywhere from 2 to 7 balconies available on the upper decks.

[Sunshine3601]

Since there isn't many balconies available for your sailing you may have to up your bid a bit more if truly want a balcony.  

What is the difference if you upgrade yourself instead of royal up?

If you are content with interior then leave as is and see what happens.

[PhillyFan33579]

3 hours ago, Branfsu said:

I bid a few dollars over the minimum on an upgrade from and inside to a balcony for my December 4th odyssey sailing, thinking I might win due to reduced capacity sailings. Do you think my chances are good?

We were upgraded from a balcony to a JS on our cruise on Odyssey that sails tomorrow. We submitted the maximum bid. According to our FB page, several others got upgraded to a JS and they all bid the maximum. Obviously this is just one cruise with a small sample size, but it appears you needed to submit a maximum bid to get upgraded. 

[chucknmarilyn]

12 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

We were upgraded from a balcony to a JS on our cruise on Odyssey that sails tomorrow. We submitted the maximum bid. According to our FB page, several others got upgraded to a JS and they all bid the maximum. Obviously this is just one cruise with a small sample size, but it appears you needed to submit a maximum bid to get upgraded. 

Do you mind sharing some of the numbers. Mainly from balcony to JS or GS?

[Lou33]

3 hours ago, Branfsu said:

Anywhere from 2 to 7 balconies available on the upper decks.

Just because only a few balconies show up when you do a mock booking, it doesn't mean that they are showing you everything that's available.  Many sailings are at 50% capacity right now.  And if that is the case, then many upgrades are available for the taking.  Especially in the ocean view and balcony categories.    You can bid whatever you think the upgrade is worth.  But this is a chance to possibly score an upgrade for a minimal bid.  

[AustinCruise]

I recently but close to max to go from JS to GS and did not win. Nothing is guaranteed. Pick the price you are willing to spend and go for it!

[Lou33]

If you think about it....if a ship is at 50% capacity...there will be many ocean view and balcony cabins left vacant when the ship sails...regardless of how many people do the RoyalUp.  So I don't see why anybody would not win a minimum bid for those categories.  Unless RCI is trying to provide space between occupied cabins and they are purposely leaving some vacant.  Suites are another story.  Since there are fewer suites, it's possible they will all be filled.  

[tomservo]

Depends on capacity, how bad you want the upgrade, and how much you’re willing to spend. I have a 100% upgrade success rate (2/2). I don’t think the max bid is needed if you’re going up one or two categories. The first bid I won was on Anthem from balcony to JS with a near min bid, maybe 10% over min (like 220 on a min 200pp). The 2nd bid from GS to CLS was maybe 20 or 30% of min, so again still close to min. I would also check to see how much a straight upgrade would cost, sometimes it’s cheaper than bidding.