Royal Up with diamond level

[mlanders]

Does being Diamond or plus have any effect on Royal up bid acceptance? 

[BND]

3 minutes ago, mlanders said:

Does being Diamond or plus have any effect on Royal up bid acceptance? 

No.  It's purely a financial decision.

[Ashland]

Your C&A status level has absolutely nothing to do with your RoyalUp bid.

[LeeW]

Higher C&A = more personal cash = higher bid = more likely to win

[BND]

2 minutes ago, LeeW said:

Higher C&A = more personal cash = higher bid = more likely to win

How the heck is that true?  Everyone starts at the "bottom" and works their way up no matter how much money they have.  Geez.

[neverbeenhere]

Some are not strong in arithmetic. 

[Merion_Mom]

4 hours ago, neverbeenhere said:

Some are not strong in arithmetic. 

 

There are three kinds of people in the world.  Those who can do math, and those who can't.  😄 

[twangster]

9 hours ago, LeeW said:

Higher C&A = more personal cash = higher bid = more likely to win

 

The higher the CAS # = the more cash we've given to Royal which equates to less cash on hand.  

[Engineroom Snipe]

3 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

The higher the CAS # = the more cash we've given to Royal which equates to less cash on hand.  

Yes, you are just the courier between your bank and RCI. 😁

[Mick B]

Hi,

My wife and I are D+

We were just on a TA last October on the Anthem.

Our Travel Agent had booked us an interior as a precaution for high seas etc.

I bid $100.00 for a upgrade to a Balcony and was told we would be informed either before boarding or on the day if we had been successful.

Didn't hear anything back.

On the day overhead crew saying the ship was only half full.

Went to guest services to enquire about the upgrade.

Was told it would not be until 4pm that they would know.

My wife liked the interior room so much she wanted to stay and said that if the cases came before 4pm she would unpack and stay.

I went back to guest services and told them the same. They did not seem bothered and were not in any rush to try and find us a upgrade. 

The cases came before 4pm and I went and cancelled the upgrade with guest services.

I suppose they are not bothered about not taking our £200.00 and yes, being D+ made no difference.

 

On the cruise before that one I complained about the state of our interior and got a free balcony upgrade, so may be that is the way to do it?

To be fair it was a virtual balcony room and the virtual balcony wasn't working and couldn't be fixed.

Oh, and BTW, they let me go and see where the balcony cabin was and have a look inside first before moving too - something Royal Up fails to allow anyone to do. You may get moved somewhere you don't like or find it hard to get to and from.

 

As you can tell Royal Up isn't really for me unless the room I have is so bad that any upgrade is better. Only had 2 bad rooms in 3 decades of RCI cruises though!

 

Mick.

 

 

Edited January 17, 2023 by Mick B

[fpcruiser]

14 hours ago, LeeW said:

Higher C&A = more personal cash = higher bid = more likely to win

Won 2 Royal Ups with minimum bid!

 

[BecciBoo]

15 hours ago, LeeW said:

Higher C&A = more personal cash = higher bid = more likely to win

The only bid I won was minimum, all the others we adjusted upward a little, nothing!

[jbjunior]

royal up and booking guarantee level staterooms are both part of the exact same program that shuffles people into cabins and makes royal more money and, after the drink package and the key might be the most asked about and misunderstood part of a Royal cruise.  it's Royal asking you for more money, if you want to fork it over it's up to you.  it's not an upgrade.  it's a fee collection as part of their sorting process.

[soremekun]

3 minutes ago, jbjunior said:

royal up and booking guarantee level staterooms are both part of the exact same program that shuffles people into cabins and makes royal more money and, after the drink package and the key might be the most asked about and misunderstood part of a Royal cruise.  it's Royal asking you for more money, if you want to fork it over it's up to you.  it's not an upgrade.  it's a fee collection as part of their sorting process.

Presentation & marketing.

[CanobieFan]

On 1/17/2023 at 12:30 PM, fpcruiser said:

Won 2 Royal Ups with minimum bid!

 

Same, I ultra low-balled the bid for interior to window, $15? Went to my room and found I got upgraded all the way to a balcony :shrug:

Also went from interior to a promenade view with the absolute minimal bid 

Edited January 18, 2023 by CanobieFan

[PompeySailor]

We bid (reveal secret) $15 over the minimum.

I believe we have been accepted on two sailings and not on one  (2 for 3)

I have another $15 over minimum in for a nice one coming up soon.

 

We totally understand it’s all about marketing and our status or amount bid, had no bearing whatsoever on why we happened to be successful twice and also rejected.

 

Now another little tip, it’s actually cheaper sometimes to just call and upgrade for lower than the minimum bid 

and you know straight away that you have been successful 😉

Take the stress and anguish out of the unknown.

 

YMMV

Happy Days!

[BirdTravels]

On 1/17/2023 at 12:11 PM, Mick B said:

Hi,

My wife and I are D+

We were just on a TA last October on the Anthem.

Our Travel Agent had booked us an interior as a precaution for high seas etc.

I bid $100.00 for a upgrade to a Balcony and was told we would be informed either before boarding or on the day if we had been successful.

Pre-pandemic, they would end upgrades a few days before departure (today, that's when they send out the "wait until you are onboard" email). If you get that email, it essentially says that your bid was rejected. 

 

The ship is only interested in filling the suites for last minute cancellations, if anything. 

[Mick B]

Hi,

What I find odd, is that RCI could have had $200.00 from me for an upgrade.

The ship was only half full and I believe there were plenty rooms available.

 

What got me was the guest services staff didn't even bother to check if there was an available room even though they knew lots people had not turned up (as staff were talking about it around the ship).

If no upgradable rooms were available, they could have just told me that, but they didn't and weren't interested in even checking, which I am sure they could have done if they had wanted.

 

I just find it strange that a company that is cutting down on certain menus in the MDR to save money doesn't want to take mine.

 

In the end, with the rough seas, we were glad to stay where we were.

Still, how many customers have they lost money from like this. It must amount to something. If cruise lines need cash to survive without cutting down on menus or entertainment then surely they should be biting off the hands of any customers coming to guest services asking for an upgrade that are offering to pay for it!

 

Mick.

 

 

[lucymorgan]

1 hour ago, Mick B said:

Hi,

What I find odd, is that RCI could have had $200.00 from me for an upgrade.

The ship was only half full and I believe there were plenty rooms available.

 

What got me was the guest services staff didn't even bother to check if there was an available room even though they knew lots people had not turned up (as staff were talking about it around the ship).

If no upgradable rooms were available, they could have just told me that, but they didn't and weren't interested in even checking, which I am sure they could have done if they had wanted.

 

I just find it strange that a company that is cutting down on certain menus in the MDR to save money doesn't want to take mine.

 

In the end, with the rough seas, we were glad to stay where we were.

Still, how many customers have they lost money from like this. It must amount to something. If cruise lines need cash to survive without cutting down on menus or entertainment then surely they should be biting off the hands of any customers coming to guest services asking for an upgrade that are offering to pay for it!

 

Mick.

 

 

You make some interesting points.  I haven't bid using royalup before - actually until now I hadn't really registered that the scheme existed.  I think royal is thinking a bit like Qantas.  In the past Qantas was known for being very stingy about giving customers upgrades.  This was because they didn't want to devalue the first and business class seats - the big money makers.   Over the past few years they have been offering upgrades through a bidding system (I think they use the same company that does royalup) but they don't really want to offer so many upgrades that customers feel it isn't worth paying for a premium seat (or cabin for a cruise line).  The company that runs their programs have probably studied the conditions where this might happen and would rather leave some or many cabins empty for this reason.    

Edited January 19, 2023 by lucymorgan

[Tin can]

On 1/17/2023 at 5:46 PM, BecciBoo said:

The only bid I won was minimum, all the others we adjusted upward a little, nothing!

 

You have done well, I have put in maximum bids a couple of times now and not won the upgrade.

 

In fact I have put bids in at nearly every level and not won those either so I have no idea how the algorithm works but whatever I am doing its not working for me 😀

[Engineroom Snipe]

1 minute ago, Tin can said:

 

You have done well, I have put in maximum bids a couple of times now and not won the upgrade.

 

In fact I have put bids in at nearly every level and not won those either so I have no idea how the algorithm works but whatever I am doing its not working for me 😀

 

The occupancy rates on certain cruises now are so high that there is a shortage of rooms because of overbooking.

 

When that happens, the chance of an upgrade room being available at any price, like you mentioned, is close to non-existent.

[Tin can]

2 minutes ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

 

The occupancy rates on certain cruises now are so high that there is a shortage of rooms because of overbooking.

 

When that happens, the chance of an upgrade room being available at any price, like you mentioned, is close to non-existent.

 

Yes I guess you are right, I wonder why they bother then with the process.

 

My maximum bids were for Grand Suites which I didnt win but then on the FB group for the cruise, which was pretty much sold out, lots of people won minimum bids for interiors to balconies. 

 

For this to work there has to be movement up the chain but if I'm not moving from my JS to a GS for a maximum bid then where do the balconies go that have to move for the interior winning bids.

 

Perhaps I am over thinking this 😀

 

 

[Starry Eyes]

9 minutes ago, Tin can said:

 

Yes I guess you are right, I wonder why they bother then with the process.

 

My maximum bids were for Grand Suites which I didnt win but then on the FB group for the cruise, which was pretty much sold out, lots of people won minimum bids for interiors to balconies. 

 

For this to work there has to be movement up the chain but if I'm not moving from my JS to a GS for a maximum bid then where do the balconies go that have to move for the interior winning bids.

 

Perhaps I am over thinking this 😀

 

 

First of all remember yours might not have been the only maximum JS to GS bid.  We do not know how the algorithm resolves ties, though perhaps dumb luck is involved.  So if movement up the chain included a GS, some other JS bidder may have gotten lucky.

 

Obviously there are far more balconies than suites on the ship. Thus if a random person has to cancel, the odds they were in a balcony are higher than a suite.  So, via cancellation one expects far more balconies are available via RoyalUp than are GS’s

[Starry Eyes]

3 hours ago, Mick B said:

Hi,

What I find odd, is that RCI could have had $200.00 from me for an upgrade.

The ship was only half full and I believe there were plenty rooms available.

 

What got me was the guest services staff didn't even bother to check if there was an available room even though they knew lots people had not turned up (as staff were talking about it around the ship).

If no upgradable rooms were available, they could have just told me that, but they didn't and weren't interested in even checking, which I am sure they could have done if they had wanted.

 

I just find it strange that a company that is cutting down on certain menus in the MDR to save money doesn't want to take mine.

 

In the end, with the rough seas, we were glad to stay where we were.

Still, how many customers have they lost money from like this. It must amount to something. If cruise lines need cash to survive without cutting down on menus or entertainment then surely they should be biting off the hands of any customers coming to guest services asking for an upgrade that are offering to pay for it!

 

Mick.

 

 

Mick, based on your earlier post, you cancelled your upgrade request with Guest Services, so you do not know if they would have full filled it or not.  Guest services needed time after all guests were checked in before they could consider day of sailing upgrades.  You and your wife decided not to give them that time and crossed your names off the upgrade list before the specified time.  GS did not “bite off (your) hands”. You decided to keep your inside and your money.

[DrProfessor]

We had booked a suite GTY for our upcoming Feb cruise on Jewel and fully expected to be in a JS.  When the royal up came, I put minimum bids in on GS and OS.  We won the OS upgrade and were notified when we had just under 30 days to go before the cruise.  I was floored by how early the upgrade happened and the jump to an Owner's Suite using the minimum bid.

 

The cruise is no longer on the site, so I assume it is pretty much sold out.  A third party site is still listing the cruise, but all of the prices say "Call".  We usually don't book GTY's but maybe that had an effect somehow.  In the past, we have only ever booked standard balcony rooms (a JS only one time).  No one knows the algorithm, but I am pretty happy with this result. 

 

As to the OP's question, we are not diamond yet, but this one will get us within 3 points.