Starry Eyes

Pop up blocked? The survey opened for me🤷‍♀️ I answered the survey honestly; I did not eat at Sorrentos on my last cruise. I was not asked the question about paying for pizza. Can they deduce that if I won’t touch it for free, I certainly won’t pay for their pathetic pizza, LOL.

You mentioned your C&A status in the original post as did another poster. I trust that was simply background information and that you know it will not impact your gty assignment. Your odds of a nice or poor assignment are, of course, the same as a newbie’s odds.

We don’t get emails with cabin assignments. Most of us see our assignment on the app. Sometimes before the assignment is official, we have a clue about the assignment with 45 days of the cruise using the “barcode trick” on the set sail pass.

We frequently sail in balcony cabins, but given the price difference and options when we booked we booked Odyssey, we selected balcony gty. We decided even the most obstructed balcony assignment would give us a shady, private space with fresh air, a peek at our surroundings and a clue of the weather…and deck six is rather convenient. Any better assignment was a free bonus and was gratefully accepted.

Nonsense. It was not your fault. You did your part if you gave the TA the booking number. If the TA wanted to look up the booking by other means, the TA should have asked for the other info. Your TA made the error.

We booked balcony gty on a b2b on odyssey. We were assigned an obstructed cabin for one leg and non-obstructed for the other. Our obstructed cabin was fine: it was on deck 7 forward in-hull balcony with a large round exterior frame. The two cabins were the same size.

We love those aft balconies and never felt the superstructure interfered with the view. Our legs manage the walk to the aft cabins without complaint, but everyone has to evaluate that issue for themselves. I would not pay $800 more for a JS for a 3 night cruise.

Not really. One can book a suite gty for less on another page

There are minimum bids for each category; your bidding range will not start at $1. You should first consider how much more each of those suites is worth to you vs a JS. Then you should look at the current cost to just upgrade to that suite the regular way; sometimes that is the better option. If upgrading the old fashioned way is too high, bid what the suite is worth to you. I would also watch for you suite gty assignment. Watch the app and (since you within 45 days) the barcode on your set sailpass using the “barcode trick.” Odds are you will be assigned a JS, but if perchance you get a better suite or you love (or hate) your JS assignment, you may want to cancel or change your RoyalUp bids ASAP.

Did that motivate you to earn more points?🤣🤣🤣

We will be sailing with you on 9/29. Like you, we will probably bid on the 9/29 cruise, so we may be competing. I do not recall the minimum bid for 8/26. The two cruises are different lengths and different itineraries. When bidding opened on the 8/26 cruise there were about 15 GS available; the number of GS steadily decreased until few if any were left recently.

RoyalUp win! We just went from a JS to a GS on the Mariner 8/26 sailing. I think the GS will be in a quiet location, too.

Well, one would expect the ships disembarking and then embarking full loads of passengers will get priority in terminal assignments over a ship just doing a brief port call.

Port Canaveral publishes the port schedule, but the current iteration does not yet extend to Allure’s arrival. Here is a link to a port Canaveral webpage with a “click here” button for the schedule. Use it closer to your cruise date; it should show you your terminal assignment. https://www.portcanaveral.com/Cruise/Cruise-Lines-Schedules

Terminal 5 is frequently used by Royal Caribbean (T5 is not often used by Carnival). Nearby Terminal 6 is generally used by Carnival but rarely Royal ship has used that terminal. Are you asking about T5 and had the neighboring terminals confused when you mention Carnival? We have parked in both garage 5 and 6 within the past year; both were pay at exit. Here’s the Port schedule if it helps https://www.portcanaveral.com/getattachment/Cruise/Cruise-Lines-Schedules/CPA-Website-Schedule-Apr-Sep-2023.pdf.aspx?lang=en-US

What was the original ship and what is the replacement? Some ships have significantly fewer balcony cabins than others. If that was the case, perhaps they ran out of balconies cabins on the replacement ship and slotted some balcony reservations into oceanview cabins. If so, one of your reservations was lucky enough to get one of the balconies while the other got stuck with an OV. You can try, though I wonder if your odds of getting compensation would have been better if you had noticed the reassignment 11 months ago vs now (just weeks before the cruise).

Yes, it has happened to others. I had read posts from reliable, long term CruiseCruise members about seemingly random cruises where they were not invited to bid though they had been allowed to bid on all their other cruises…then it happened to me on one cruise (it was booked like all the others, nothing special about it, it seemed random). Since I had read those other posts, I shrugged it off. A bidding invite came for next cruise as usual. Enjoy your CLS.

You can ask, but as balconies are sold out there is minimal chance. I’d just plan to move to your next assigned cabin. It has been interesting to see how our cabin location impacts our day/choices/perception of ship when we have moved to totally different part of the ship on a b2b. You may enjoy it.

RoyalUp is not for everyone just as gty is not for everyone. Better to think it through before you bid. Honestly, if you would not book a gty (in this case a JS gty/ suite gty), then you should not bid on a RoyalUp to a JS. Either way one risks getting assigned the worst (for your tastes) cabin in the category; your odds of swapping a “poor” RoyalUp assignment are, I think, even lower than your odds of swapping a gty assignment. That “poor” assignment may in the eye of the beholder; I’d be delighted to be assigned a JS on deck 6 on Oasis class while the OP would be bummed.

If you check the bag, it is not a carry-on bag. It is a small checked bag. The wine should have been in a bag you physically carry onto the ship😀

Just remember some ships do have solo cabins and people who have booked gty as solos have been assigned those small solo cabins. Before booking a gty as a solo, one may want to consider whether this is a possibility in your specific situation (ship and gty category) and, if so, if one is willing to accept such an assignment

If all of your bids are look similar, don’t get your hopes up beyond baseline. RoyalUp would not be seriously considering all of your bids; it would be just one bid.

If I am fairly happy with my current balcony, I do not tend to bid on the spacious balcony upgrade. Winning such a bid might mean I spend money to be in a worse location plus I no longer have a shot at a suite upgrade. On the other hand, if I don’t like my current balcony cabin (perhaps a gty assignment or whatever), then I am apt to bid on the spacious balcony upgrade. Another roll of the dice may give me a cabin I like better. Early morning deck cleaning requires chairs to be moved and that is the often the source of the noise complaints. Don’t kid yourself about the season. Expect the deck to be cleaned and chairs to be moved. Consider whether you are light sleepers or not. Are you noise sensitive or not? Are you generally particular about your cabin location? RoyalUp is not for everyone because you cannot select your cabin number. It is good that you are thinking it through before you bid.

Google the name of your big box travel agency and cruise bidding program. Early in the results you should find an FAQ that explains that your TA does not participate in any bidding program from any cruiseline. Better to know before you book; weigh the info as you see fit.

Yes, your taxes, port fees, pre paid gratuities and drink package are refundable. I’m sorry for your loss. Do you have any travel insurance? If so, it may cover the financial losses.