Royal Up!

[Sancho_proudfoot]

May be a silly question, especially  from a seasoned RCL traveller, but......

 

Do you have to be invited to put in a Royal Up bid? 

 

secondly, (assuming you don't have to be invited) when can you bid? I've  tried on the website and that threw up a warning about "within 30 days" of sailing,  while somewhere else  I read 45 days. 

 

Looking at bookings for our upcoming Anthrm sailing, most classes of stateroom seem to be available at present, so possibly may have a chance on multiple upgrade bids.

[footzz]

The information you seek lies here: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/booked/cruise-room-upgrade

[shipgeeks]

I've had the same questions as the OP, and didn't find the answers in the link.

I was invited to bid on my Feb. cruise.  I put in a bid, I won.

I was not invited to bid on my June cruise.  I tried doing so without an invitation, and it never allowed me to log in, not even close to sailing date.

I was invited to bid on my September cruise.  Both of my bids are currently Submitted.

??

[Sancho_proudfoot]

6 minutes ago, footzz said:

The information you seek lies here: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/booked/cruise-room-upgrade

Thanks, that was the page that threw up the "30 day" bit  which  kinda makes sense, as by that point they'll have a good idea on availability 

[Biker19]

10 minutes ago, Sancho_proudfoot said:

Do you have to be invited to put in a Royal Up bid? 

No, but it helps (to have the email to go back to).

 

Availability varies from inside final payment to maybe 30 days out.

[la_croisiere_s'amuse]

12 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

 

I was invited to bid on my Feb. cruise.  I put in a bid, I won.

I was not invited to bid on my June cruise.  I tried doing so without an invitation, and it never allowed me to log in, not even close to sailing date.

I was invited to bid on my September cruise. 

Did you by chance book through different sources? Some TAs don't participate in the Royal Up program, so if your June cruise was booked through one of them, that would explain it.

 

If not ... perhaps just something else to add to the long list of Royal IT unfathomables. 😉 

[Sancho_proudfoot]

12 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

No, but it helps (to have the email to go back to).

 

Availability varies from inside final payment to maybe 30 days out.

Okay, so I'll just keep trying and see what happens!

[Biker19]

2 minutes ago, Sancho_proudfoot said:

Okay, so I'll just keep trying and see what happens!

If the booking is for two different last names, try the other one as well. Royal Up invites and ability to bid, may be limited to the first name on the booking.

Edited July 23, 2022 by Biker19

[ONECRUISER]

18 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

No, but it helps (to have the email to go back to).

 

Availability varies from inside final payment to maybe 30 days out.

Yes, I received 3 these emails in last couple weeks, available Day after Final/89 Days out

[HicksRA]

No rhyme or reason. It’s administered by an outside company and if you don’t get the invite email, there’s no way to get one by calling or otherwise. 
I’ve also had the link give the “not 30 days out or you did not enter a correct reservation number” until sailing day. 
in other words, if you can’t get in, there’s nothing else you can do. 

Edited July 23, 2022 by HicksRA

[FamilyCruiserUK]

It seems to be different for everyone. We got a royal email 30 days out. Put bids in and they went to pending. All have now finished but one is still sat at pending. Some peoples pending have changed to submitted. Its all magic how and why it works. Could be the same for emails.

[little britain]

1 hour ago, Sancho_proudfoot said:

May be a silly question, especially  from a seasoned RCL traveller, but......

 

Do you have to be invited to put in a Royal Up bid? 

 

secondly, (assuming you don't have to be invited) when can you bid? I've  tried on the website and that threw up a warning about "within 30 days" of sailing,  while somewhere else  I read 45 days. 

 

Looking at bookings for our upcoming Anthrm sailing, most classes of stateroom seem to be available at present, so possibly may have a chance on multiple upgrade bids.

I got an email a month ago for my September cruise - 75 days out - as did only a few others. 
Yesterday was 45 days out and lots of people got emails. 
If you are not invited then just use the Up website at 30 days 

[PhillyFan33579]

I have gotten Royal Up emails for all 11 cruises I have been on since last August. I submitted minimum bids on suites for all 11 cruises. I was upgraded the first 6 cruises, no upgrades the last 5 cruises. I realize those days are gone, but it was nice getting upgraded for extremely low bids when passenger capacity was very low. 

[notscb]

2 hours ago, Sancho_proudfoot said:

Do you have to be invited to put in a Royal Up bid? 

 

No. I just googles "royalup" and found the link through the RCL search result. Some cruise fares aren't eligible (from what I've read about it- YMMV).

 

2 hours ago, Sancho_proudfoot said:

when can you bid

On my last cruise it wasn't open until about 30 days before. Again, YMMV.

[shipgeeks]

2 hours ago, la_croisiere_s'amuse said:

Did you by chance book through different sources? Some TAs don't participate in the Royal Up program, so if your June cruise was booked through one of them, that would explain it.

 

If not ... perhaps just something else to add to the long list of Royal IT unfathomables. 😉 

Good question, although in our case, our TA even said "please go ahead and give it a try".

As the song says, "Who can explain it, who can tell you why?"

[Saint Paul]

You need to make sure you have checked the box to receive marketing in your account if you wish to receive a Royal up invitation. I had opted out and once I opted in a received an invitation.

[footzz]

7 hours ago, Sancho_proudfoot said:

Thanks, that was the page that threw up the "30 day" bit  which  kinda makes sense, as by that point they'll have a good idea on availability 

The Royal Up program is managed and operated by an outside agency called Plusgrade and they determine who gets an invitation to bid and when they become available. To the buying public, there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason why the program is operated the way it is. The program is designed to fill unsold cabins at a higher price while simultaneously opening up cabins that they can sell at a lower price. So, they make money selling upgrades without losing money on the cabin initial sales. 

[Hammer61]

Just a quick question, with these upgrades if successful you get the full experience in the category you upgrade to? That is from a Balcony to a Suite you would get access to coastal kitchen, the suite lounge, priority boarding etc etc?

 

Its just that recently i purchased an upgrade from Economy to Business class when flying but it was seat only, no lounge access etc so just wondering if this works in a similar way as did notice that C&A points will not be credited at a higher rate, but not too worried about that its all the added benefits of the Suite.

Edited August 26, 2022 by Hammer61

[krharris]

Or can be as simple as RC knows a particular sailing is sold out or likely to sell out and they don't release the sailing (or even specific cabin categories) to the 3rd party adminstrator.

[HicksRA]

2 hours ago, Hammer61 said:

Just a quick question, with these upgrades if successful you get the full experience in the category you upgrade to? That is from a Balcony to a Suite you would get access to coastal kitchen, the suite lounge, priority boarding etc etc?

 

Its just that recently i purchased an upgrade from Economy to Business class when flying but it was seat only, no lounge access etc so just wondering if this works in a similar way as did notice that C&A points will not be credited at a higher rate, but not too worried about that its all the added benefits of the Suite.

You get everything the suite offers except the extra points.