What are usual winning bids for RoyalUp

[Chloesimon]

I am currently scheduled for 4-night cruise on Liberty of the Seas for Nov. 7, 2022 out of Fort Lauderdale. 

 

I have an Ocean view balcony which are currently going for $451 per person without taxes etc.

 

Today I received a RoyalUp offer which had a suggested bid of $155 to upgrade to a one-bedroom Grand Suite.

 

Now, one-bedroom Grand Suites are selling for $1,496 per person on this cruise.

 

What is the range of winning bids for this upgrade?

 

(I understand that it really depends on the number of passengers vs. number of vacant rooms but I wanted to know a range of what to expect).

 

Thanks for any help.

[Ret MP]

28 minutes ago, Chloesimon said:

I am currently scheduled for 4-night cruise on Liberty of the Seas for Nov. 7, 2022 out of Fort Lauderdale. 

 

I have an Ocean view balcony which are currently going for $451 per person without taxes etc.

 

Today I received a RoyalUp offer which had a suggested bid of $155 to upgrade to a one-bedroom Grand Suite.

 

Now, one-bedroom Grand Suites are selling for $1,496 per person on this cruise.

 

What is the range of winning bids for this upgrade?

 

(I understand that it really depends on the number of passengers vs. number of vacant rooms but I wanted to know a range of what to expect).

 

Thanks for any help.

It's a crap shoot, to be honest.  I got the email today inviting me to do the Royal Up on the same ship on Oct 31.  I looked into it and looked at the Grand Suite, 1bdr.  Next to the cabin/suite selections is a slider bar which adjusts to the desired amount and next to that is a meter that lets you know just how strong the bid is.  The slider started at ~$125.00 but very week on the meter.  It didn't get into the strong area until it was over ~$500.00 and that's per person.  I could have bid as much as over $700.00 in the slider.  

 

No thanks, it's only a 4 day cruise, spacious balcony cabin, mid ship deck 9 and I'm happy with what I got and I'm only paying ~$275.00 for two.  Yes, lots of discounts.

[RobInMN]

People have reported winning things like balconies and JS with minimum bids, but even in the long Royal Up thread, I don't recall very many, if any, people giving hard information on what they bid and won with above that. If you think about it, it would just encourage other people to bid slightly more. 😉 

[BND]

Depends on size of the ship and number of cabins in a particular category.  

[Starry Eyes]

4 minutes ago, RobInMN said:

People have reported winning things like balconies and JS with minimum bids, but even in the long Royal Up thread, I don't recall very many, if any, people giving hard information on what they bid and won with above that. If you think about it, it would just encourage other people to bid slightly more. 😉 

I think those minimum bid wins were reported far more frequently when ships were sailing way below capacity.

 

1 hour ago, Chloesimon said:

I am currently scheduled for 4-night cruise on Liberty of the Seas for Nov. 7, 2022 out of Fort Lauderdale. 

 

I have an Ocean view balcony which are currently going for $451 per person without taxes etc.

 

Today I received a RoyalUp offer which had a suggested bid of $155 to upgrade to a one-bedroom Grand Suite.

 

Now, one-bedroom Grand Suites are selling for $1,496 per person on this cruise.

 

What is the range of winning bids for this upgrade?

 

(I understand that it really depends on the number of passengers vs. number of vacant rooms but I wanted to know a range of what to expect).

 

Thanks for any help.

Maybe several people  will volunteer recent winning bids to help; older ones from times of low passenger counts are not so relevant.  In any case, I think you should concentrate on what that suite is worth to you via RoyalUp, not what it was worth to somebody else.  If you feel the extra space and the suite perks on that ship are worth $X, then bid $X.

[billslowsky]

I had an inside cabin on Voyager, bid the minimum  +$5 for an oceanview balcony ($550 total for two), bid was accepted today.  At the time we booked, the balcony would have cost about $2,000 more (the inside room was a steal, and no single supplement so we booked two rooms since it would be the same price).  Now we have the balcony (good location, midship) plus the extra inside cabin for who knows what... for about half the cost of what the balcony would have cost us at booking.

[bigeagle12]

We won with minimum bid 🙂

[Norwich Cruiser]

Only ever bid twice both times bid minimum bid and both times won the upgrade.

[OCSC Mike]

Impossible question to answer. Too many variables & no one actually has the algorithm.

 

Bid an amount you are comfortable paying. Past results are just anecdotal stories.

[Biker19]

11 hours ago, Chloesimon said:

Today I received a RoyalUp offer which had a suggested bid of $155 to upgrade to a one-bedroom Grand Suite.

You are very unlikely to win a GS from an OV regardless of what you bid - most folks winning (for whatever they bid) are usually one or maybe two categories up from existing cabin. Never mind that winning anything is usually rare.

[vjmatty]

3 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

You are very unlikely to win a GS from an OV regardless of what you bid - most folks winning (for whatever they bid) are usually one or maybe two categories up from existing cabin. Never mind that winning anything is usually rare.

I've wondered about that....is the algorithm set up to be "fair" by giving the room to someone who has already paid more, or someone who is willing to pay more now thereby giving Royal more money in their pocket? Something tells me it's the latter, which means any amount that the OV person pays over the higher categories, even $100, might win out. But we have a saying in the legal profession, one should not ask how laws or sausages are made....same goes for Royal Up awards. 

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, vjmatty said:

is the algorithm set up to be "fair" by giving the room to someone who has already paid more, or someone who is willing to pay more now thereby giving Royal more money in their pocket?

We can only go by the reporting here on actual outcome since no one other than Plusgrade knows what the algorithm is. 

[vjmatty]

1 minute ago, Biker19 said:

We can only go by the reporting here on actual outcome since no one other than Plusgrade knows what the algorithm is. 

Right, it was more of a thinking out loud question....didn't really expect anyone to know the answer. 

[Ret MP]

11 hours ago, RobInMN said:

People have reported winning things like balconies and JS with minimum bids, but even in the long Royal Up thread, I don't recall very many, if any, people giving hard information on what they bid and won with above that. If you think about it, it would just encourage other people to bid slightly more. 😉 

Good point!  Why advertise if you got a great deal.  If you are a person that buys the less expensive cabins with the intent to bid for a better/upscale cabin, why encourage competition?  It only forces the bidding up!

 

Now the secret is out and Royal will start, if they haven't already done so, "ghost bidding".  I'm just kidding, of course, I think.

[fpcruiser]

We won with a minimum bid.  Inside gty to an outside panoramic window for a total of $90!

 

 

[Husky1987]

15 hours ago, Chloesimon said:

I have an Ocean view balcony which are currently going for $451 per person without taxes etc.

 

Today I received a RoyalUp offer which had a suggested bid of $155 to upgrade to a one-bedroom Grand Suite.

 

Now, one-bedroom Grand Suites are selling for $1,496 per person on this cruise.

 

Figure out what the GS would be worth to YOU.  $700pp?  $1000pp?  $1200pp?

 

Bid that.  Then, win or lose, your cruise price has been worth it TO YOU.  If you bid $300pp and win, and then find out on the cruise the people in the GS down the hall won with a bid of $160pp, who cares?  A lot of people on the same cruise are paying different amounts for the same category cabin anyway.

 

Don't worry about trying to beat anyone else when no one knows the first thing about any algorithm other than it's calculated to make Royal the most money it can.

[neverbeenhere]

Not sure statements about past RoyalUp results would qualify as anecdotal. 

[OCSC Mike]

Just now, neverbeenhere said:

Not sure statements about past RoyalUp results would qualify as anecdotal. 

 

Agree to disagree, nothing wrong with that.

 

Just to elaborate, without the ship, date, capacity of cabins already sold, original price and type of cabin, and a whole slew of variables, I don't find the info predictive of future results.

[trafaelwyr]

If the OP is only on a 4 night cruise with an ocean balcony, I'd stick with that.  If OP was on 7 days or longer, then I would try to Royal Up.  I just got off of Liberty last Sunday 9/18 (7 day cruise) and originally had an interior cabin, but I did the RU thing for an ocean view balcony and won.  Mind you, I had the cabin to myself, so had to take into consideration that I was actually bidding as though 2 people were in the cabin.

[CruiseDad-NYC]

I was on the Adventure of the Seas from 9/1 - 9/10 (i.e., a 9 night voyage from Cape Liberty to New England and Canada).  My wife and I had an interior gty fare that was $252 per person, the lowest I had ever paid for a cruise and which we had purchased in early July.  My Royal Up email had a range of $170 as the minimum to a high of $900 for a balcony.  I originally bid $200 but then got my interior cabin assignment around 8/1, and it was an interior corridor cabin at the very, very back of the ship.  It looked to me that the ship might be full, since there didn't seem to be many balconies available.

 

This was a 25th wedding anniversary trip, so I increased my bid to $400 per person.  I found out 8 days before my cruise that it was accepted, and we got a terrific balcony cabin midship on deck 7.  So our total base fare for the balcony cabin ended up being $652, which I thought was excellent for a 9 night cruise where balconies were going for about $2K per person when I booked.  I would have been perfectly happy with an interior cabin (we were just happy to go away on another cruise), but we really did love the balcony and made good use of it.

[rpp77]

If you "Royal Up" to a suite do you still get Double C&A Points?

[OCSC Mike]

1 minute ago, rpp77 said:

If you "Royal Up" to a suite do you still get Double C&A Points?

 

No (unless you were already in a lower suite).