Royal Up Regrets?

[rm1247]

We are considering placing a bid through Royal Up for our upcoming cruise on Oasis, and I'm wondering if anyone won a bid and ended up regretting it? It seems like you might end up with the lesser desired rooms in a higher category, like those with noise issues or an obstructed view. I saw a comment recently from someone on Oasis on deck 14 about noise from the pool deck, and I realized that we could end up with a cabin on that deck. We haven't placed a bid yet, and I'm weighing the pros and cons. Thanks for sharing your experience! We are currently in a balcony, and would bid on one of the suite options.

[jerseygirl3]

31 minutes ago, rm1247 said:

We are considering placing a bid through Royal Up for our upcoming cruise on Oasis, and I'm wondering if anyone won a bid and ended up regretting it? It seems like you might end up with the lesser desired rooms in a higher category, like those with noise issues or an obstructed view. I saw a comment recently from someone on Oasis on deck 14 about noise from the pool deck, and I realized that we could end up with a cabin on that deck. We haven't placed a bid yet, and I'm weighing the pros and cons. Thanks for sharing your experience! We are currently in a balcony, and would bid on one of the suite options.

 

[jerseygirl3]

Just now, jerseygirl3 said:

 

That’s the reason we’ve shied away from trying a Royal Up. Ive been told if my bid gets accepted, my previous cabin is released immediately and there is no going back if I’m not happy with the location of the upgrade. 

[neverbeenhere]

We like particular locations so we’ve learned to book what and where we like. We also seem to “buy right”, very infrequently seeing lower prices for our choices. Best of luck. 

[Biker19]

4 hours ago, rm1247 said:

We haven't placed a bid yet, and I'm weighing the pros and cons.

Like a GTY booking it is up to you to determine the value between location certainty and cost savings. 

[RosieRoo]

Anytime you let the cruise line pick your cabin you are taking a chance of getting the cabins that no one else booked (for a reason). For instance, I booked a guarantee on Brilliance, got assigned a JS under the Windjammer tiled area, and was woken up at 3 am every morning by carts rolling across the tiles over my head for 12 days. On that class of ship all the suites are under the Windjammer or the pool. 
Like Biker19 said, you have to weigh the value of location certainty.

Edited November 29, 2021 by RosieRoo

[Ashland]

What RCI considers is an upgrade...you may not.

[KimA75]

Good question.  I'm following to see if anyone will give a specific example of when they regretted it.  What kind of room were they upgraded to?  Where were they placed that made them regret it?  While there are many options for interior, ocean view, balcony, and junior suites, did anyone regret getting a suite higher than a junior suite?  

[RFerrington]

8 hours ago, Ashland said:

What RCI considers is an upgrade...you may not.

So true.  If there is one thing I have learned from reading the discussion boards regarding RoyalUp it is that you should never try and RU within categories.  IOW, if you are already in a balcony, only RU to a JS or higher. RoyalingUp within a category has often lead to disappointment and confusion.  Subcategories often have misrepresenting "names" and seem like they would be an upgrade but really are not.   

[DCPIV]

You always can just see about a direct upgrade. That way, you can choose your cabin. It's not unusual to see the cost come in around the same as a minimum RU bid. 

[Iamcruzin]

18 hours ago, rm1247 said:

We are considering placing a bid through Royal Up for our upcoming cruise on Oasis, and I'm wondering if anyone won a bid and ended up regretting it? It seems like you might end up with the lesser desired rooms in a higher category, like those with noise issues or an obstructed view. I saw a comment recently from someone on Oasis on deck 14 about noise from the pool deck, and I realized that we could end up with a cabin on that deck. We haven't placed a bid yet, and I'm weighing the pros and cons. Thanks for sharing your experience! We are currently in a balcony, and would bid on one of the suite options.

That has always been my concern even when they were doing free upgrades back in the day. In the past I would always book the room I wanted and marked it no upgrade. Then I would just watch for price drops for higher categories.  Now with Royal up I don't have to mark the booking no upgrade. If I get an offer I call and see what an upgrade would cost flat out.  

[Starry Eyes]

No bad story to tell.

 

In your case, I suggest you study the deck plans, noting the locations of the suites you are considering via RoyalUp bid.  If there is a suite in that category that would make you unhappy, you probably should not bid on that category.  If all the suites in a given category look acceptable to you, bid away.

[orville99]

We came close on the 11/21 Harmony cruise that we "won" an upgrade from a JS to a CLS. The CLS that they assigned to us was dead center (1734) in the back of the ship, so our view of the ocean would have been completely obstructed by the Abyss and the boardwalk balcony cabins. Fortunately as soon as we received the upgrade email we called the RCL D+ desk and executed a change to the last available side facing CLS (1764). I doubt DW would have been at all pleased with the original upgrade location. She loved 1764 - and I dodged a bullet.😇

From now on we will only bid on suites that only exist as side facing suites.

Edited November 29, 2021 by orville99

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, Iamcruzin said:

Now with Royal up I don't have to mark the booking no upgrade.

Right, RCI will move you anyway (for some lame COVID excuse ). 

[Iamcruzin]

1 minute ago, Biker19 said:

Right, RCI will move you anyway (for some lame COVID excuse ). 

I forgot about that.

[dpostman]

Sorry, No regrets here.  We "Royal Upped" only once.  This was on Brilliance on a 12 night Baltic.  I'm not sure why, but we had decided to book an interior room, for the first time.  Thinking we would just spend more on excursions, but as we were getting closer and closer to the departure date, I was regretting more and more our decision to choose and interior room.  So when the RU option came along, I decided to play and bid on a few upgrade options. We won the bid on a Deck 7 Balcony.  This room was an OV balcony, but the obstruction was only when looking straight down and was not an issue at all.  So our experience was very positive, but as others mentioned, we were bidding for an upgrade by changing category.  I would have been nervous if bidding on a similar/minor upgrade category room.

 

dp

Edited November 29, 2021 by dpostman

[SilkySal]

We won our bid on a "spacious" OV balcony from a regular OV balcony. The upgraded room was not "spacious" IMO, maybe a foot or so larger for the room and a few inches or so for the balcony, and the room was farther from the elevators, so did not like the location at all. Won't make that mistake again! Live and learn! Cheers!

[Havin'fun]

Only tried once and won. 

Symphony of the seas this past August.  Went from a ocean view balcony to a jr suite on the hump with a HUGE balcony.   Currently have two bids in for my cruise on Saturday, trying for a grand suite or an owners suite.  Fingers crossed!

[Lou33]

1 hour ago, SilkySal said:

We won our bid on a "spacious" OV balcony from a regular OV balcony. The upgraded room was not "spacious"

Yes, this is a good example of when not to bid.  The photos show that the spacious balcony rooms are much larger, but most are not.  We had an balcony guarantee, but skipped the option to bid on the spacious balcony.  Then we were assigned a spacious balcony anyway with our guarantee.  

[bajathree]

1 hour ago, Havin'fun said:

Only tried once and won. 

Symphony of the seas this past August.  Went from a ocean view balcony to a jr suite on the hump with a HUGE balcony.   Currently have two bids in for my cruise on Saturday, trying for a grand suite or an owners suite.  Fingers crossed!

Mariner along with Freedom class are examples where I wouldn't be bidding on suites as they are almost all located under the pool deck. Noisiest cabin I ever had was an owners suite on Indy....got woken up every night for 8 straight nights when they decided to clean the pool deck and move around the deck chairs every night at like 2-3am

[rm1247]

9 hours ago, orville99 said:

We came close on the 11/21 Harmony cruise that we "won" an upgrade from a JS to a CLS. The CLS that they assigned to us was dead center (1734) in the back of the ship, so our view of the ocean would have been completely obstructed by the Abyss and the boardwalk balcony cabins. Fortunately as soon as we received the upgrade email we called the RCL D+ desk and executed a change to the last available side facing CLS (1764). I doubt DW would have been at all pleased with the original upgrade location. She loved 1764 - and I dodged a bullet.😇

From now on we will only bid on suites that only exist as side facing suites.

This is one of the scenarios I'm afraid of. Interesting that you could change it. We booked through a TA, so I think I wouldn't be able to just call and get our cabin changed. 

 

Any other suite categories to avoid on Oasis class?

[orville99]

11 hours ago, rm1247 said:

This is one of the scenarios I'm afraid of. Interesting that you could change it. We booked through a TA, so I think I wouldn't be able to just call and get our cabin changed. 

 

Any other suite categories to avoid on Oasis class?

If you booked through a TA, the TA would have to make the call. Since those cabin categories are actively in play during the upgrade version of musical chairs, a better location (if it even shows up) will only stay available for a brief time. Your TA would have to be hawking the booking site to even see one pop up.

All the other suite classes are side facing (but you run the risk of getting one on Deck 14). 

Edited November 30, 2021 by orville99

[bajathree]

11 hours ago, rm1247 said:

This is one of the scenarios I'm afraid of. Interesting that you could change it. We booked through a TA, so I think I wouldn't be able to just call and get our cabin changed. 

 

Any other suite categories to avoid on Oasis class?

On Oasis and Allure the 1 bedroom Aqua suite is one I would stay away from. I believe once they built Harmony and Symphony they improved upon it as it was built with the ship not converted from public space like it was on Oasis and Allure.

[orville99]

20 minutes ago, bajathree said:

On Oasis and Allure the 1 bedroom Aqua suite is one I would stay away from. I believe once they built Harmony and Symphony they improved upon it as it was built with the ship not converted from public space like it was on Oasis and Allure.

We tend to avoid these because of their location so far aft on the ship. If you get any level of rough seas, you will discover that your suite came equipped with a "magic fingers" bed.😅

[bill0021]

We generally do not do The Royal Up's but are giving it a try for the Symphony of the Seas in a couple of weeks.

 

I plugged in some bids for all the Up categories but went back and verified to make sure none where up front as my wife is not a fan of anything in the forward area and would throw me overboard if we were to "win" a forward cabin.  I pulled the bids for any categories that were not mid-ship to stern in an attempt to not have buyer's remorse.