Rare John&LaLa Posted June 17, 2019 Author #2576 Share Posted June 17, 2019 13 hours ago, Iamcruzin said: They are banking on the fact that people don't pay attention and are only comparing the price to the current price at the time of the Royal up offer. Why does it matter what the price was a year ago. You can't go back in time and book at release prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BunnyHutt Posted June 17, 2019 #2577 Share Posted June 17, 2019 15 minutes ago, John&LaLa said: Why does it matter what the price was a year ago. You can't go back in time and book at release prices. Exactly. When I booked my upcoming cruise, it was not in my friend’s budget to get a suite. Things have since changed so, while we’ll be happy with our chosen cabin, we figured it wouldn’t hurt to see if we can get a bigger one. 🤷♀️ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iamcruzin Posted June 17, 2019 #2578 Share Posted June 17, 2019 8 hours ago, John&LaLa said: Why does it matter what the price was a year ago. You can't go back in time and book at release prices. Because if you re read my post you would see that it would have been more beneficial to book the higher category at the time of the booking, lower price and more OBC. Either you want the higher category or you don't. People who Royal up are just looking for a deal and from what I experienced there was no deal. Why would I pay more to upgrade weeks before the cruise when I could have had the pick of the litter at the time of booking. Now if you just booked a few weeks out then there is a better chance of an upgrade deal. The location is more important to me than the room size so I'm not even sure I would up grade for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare John&LaLa Posted June 17, 2019 Author #2579 Share Posted June 17, 2019 10 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said: Because if you re read my post you would see that it would have been more beneficial to book the higher category at the time of the booking, lower price and more OBC. Either you want the higher category or you don't. People who Royal up are just looking for a deal and from what I experienced there was no deal. Why would I pay more to upgrade weeks before the cruise when I could have had the pick of the litter at the time of booking. Now if you just booked a few weeks out then there is a better chance of an upgrade deal. The location is more important to me than the room size so I'm not even sure I would up grade for free. A) you may have missed the early booking prices. They tend to go up substantially even in the first day or two. B) the category you wanted may be sold out, so you have to downgrade. Happens with JS's a lot C) see post #2578 D) female prerogative. Mama changed her mind. 😉 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnaNicole Posted June 17, 2019 #2580 Share Posted June 17, 2019 (edited) Booked balcony guarantee. Assigned a D2 (ANTHEM of the Seas) Receive the upgrade bid email - 77 days until sailing. Spacious OV Balcony: from $50pp Junior Suite: from $200 pp Grand Suite: from $450pp All suites are currently showing as sold out. My balcony cabin still shows GTY on RCI account, has assigned muster station on sailpass, but TA confirmed room assignment. Edited June 17, 2019 by AnnaNicole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dleahy4444 Posted June 17, 2019 #2581 Share Posted June 17, 2019 Wow that is pretty far in advance of the sailing. Good luck if you decide to bid. It seems that the emails can go out at any time after final payment. I’m still waiting to hear if anyone has gotten an offer to bid on the Symphony. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BunnyHutt Posted June 18, 2019 #2582 Share Posted June 18, 2019 I received my email 5/19 for a 7/3 sailing. Status is still pending 2-weeks out but it is a (formerly) Cuba cruise so I imagine RCI is waiting to see how things shake out with cancellations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milwaukee Eight Posted June 18, 2019 #2583 Share Posted June 18, 2019 On 6/16/2019 at 9:56 AM, Iamcruzin said: They seem to be pretty determine to only upgrade via the royal up program. I received 3 offers for my cruise with the last offer only a few days before sailing. I doubt they are discounting anymore. What’s wrong with Royal only using the RoyalUP program to upgrade cabins? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iamcruzin Posted June 18, 2019 #2584 Share Posted June 18, 2019 3 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said: What’s wrong with Royal only using the RoyalUP program to upgrade cabins? Nothing at all. It's just not always the best deal or even discounting if you booked early. From a business point of view it's a great idea. They are making money on something that the upgrade fairy gave away for free. Someone asked if they discounted anymore and my opinion was probably no. Now this has nothing to do with discounting a cruise that isn't selling. That's another topic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stompy Posted June 18, 2019 #2585 Share Posted June 18, 2019 10 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said: What’s wrong with Royal only using the RoyalUP program to upgrade cabins? Well one of the benefits of C&A was the upgrade fairy, RoyalUP eliminates any chance of a free upgrade 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milwaukee Eight Posted June 18, 2019 #2586 Share Posted June 18, 2019 10 minutes ago, stompy said: Well one of the benefits of C&A was the upgrade fairy, RoyalUP eliminates any chance of a free upgrade Isn’t it a sound business decision? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dleahy4444 Posted June 18, 2019 #2587 Share Posted June 18, 2019 17 minutes ago, stompy said: Well one of the benefits of C&A was the upgrade fairy, RoyalUP eliminates any chance of a free upgrade I think, as with most things, there are advantages and disadvantages. Yes, there is no more upgrade fairy. But that system was so random! There was nothing you could do to increase your chances. At least with Royal Up you can increase your bid in order to increase your chances. Of course it seems a bit random as to who actually is offered an opportunity to bid, and when the offers are extended. I also wonder what the process does to the price fluctuation and cabin availablity. Are people who would normally book a suite now holding back hoping to win a bid? Well, it is what it is. This is the program we have now. Never having received a call from the upgrade fairy, I’m hoping to get lucky 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biker19 Posted June 18, 2019 #2588 Share Posted June 18, 2019 28 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said: They are making money on something that the upgrade fairy gave away for free. Not really, the upgrade fairy was kinda out of work even before Royal Up and the upsell fairy was put out of work by Royal Up. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
er345 Posted June 18, 2019 #2589 Share Posted June 18, 2019 16 hours ago, AnnaNicole said: Booked balcony guarantee. Assigned a D2 (ANTHEM of the Seas) Receive the upgrade bid email - 77 days until sailing. Spacious OV Balcony: from $50pp Junior Suite: from $200 pp Grand Suite: from $450pp All suites are currently showing as sold out. My balcony cabin still shows GTY on RCI account, has assigned muster station on sailpass, but TA confirmed room assignment. These are the kind of Royal Up prices I was hoping for. For Ovation we received our offer at around 80 days out, but it was $500 pp minimum just to jump ONE category from a J1 junior suite to a Grand Suite. And $700 pp minimum to go to an Owner’s suite. If I had the chance to jump 3 levels for less than $1,000 total I would go for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iamcruzin Posted June 18, 2019 #2590 Share Posted June 18, 2019 22 minutes ago, Biker19 said: Not really, the upgrade fairy was kinda out of work even before Royal Up and the upsell fairy was put out of work by Royal Up. And they claim that unemployment is down. 😊 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iamcruzin Posted June 18, 2019 #2591 Share Posted June 18, 2019 26 minutes ago, dleahy4444 said: Of course it seems a bit random as to who actually is offered an opportunity to bid, and when the offers are extended. I have no idea how they decide who to target for these bids. Several people in my Facebook group and myself were offered to bid several times. You would have thought that after the second solicitation and not bidding they would have moved on to someone else. My son had booked the same category room right next door to us and he never received a bid. I received a bid 2 days before the cruise and someone in my facebook group had not even heard if they won the bid yet. 2 people won their bid and went from an obstructed balcony to an unobstructed balcony on a higher deck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stompy Posted June 18, 2019 #2592 Share Posted June 18, 2019 2 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said: Isn’t it a sound business decision? Sure it makes more money for RCI but the original post asked “what’s wrong with just using RoyalUP?” and my response referred to the fact that another benefit was being taken away I won our bid on the last cruise to a Crown Loft Suite which listed for over $10K which I would never have been able to afford otherwise so the UP program has good points, just not as good as a free upgrade after 20 years of loyal cruising Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croozin Soozin Posted June 18, 2019 #2593 Share Posted June 18, 2019 30 minutes ago, stompy said: just not as good as a free upgrade after 20 years of loyal cruising How many free upgrades did you get? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dleahy4444 Posted June 18, 2019 #2594 Share Posted June 18, 2019 I wonder about the effect of your Crown and Anchor tier on whether or not an offer to bid is extended. Any gold members out there who have gotten offers to bid? I’m sure there are other factors involved as well such as the popularity of the sailing and the available inventory. But all things being equal I’m assuming that a diamond plus cruiser will receive an offer to bid before a gold member. Am I wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biker19 Posted June 18, 2019 #2595 Share Posted June 18, 2019 1 minute ago, dleahy4444 said: Am I wrong? Pretty sure, I don't think anyone has figured a pattern to the offers and inside 30 days anyone can place a bid regardless of C&A level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iamcruzin Posted June 18, 2019 #2596 Share Posted June 18, 2019 1 minute ago, dleahy4444 said: I wonder about the effect of your Crown and Anchor tier on whether or not an offer to bid is extended. Any gold members out there who have gotten offers to bid? I’m sure there are other factors involved as well such as the popularity of the sailing and the available inventory. But all things being equal I’m assuming that a diamond plus cruiser will receive an offer to bid before a gold member. Am I wrong? I received 3 offers for the same cruise and it was only my second cruise with Royal Caribbean in nearly 20yrs. It was my son's third cruise with his last sailing only 2 years ago and he received nothing. There is no rhyme or reason. If they want my business so bad they might want to start sending me the promotional offers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dleahy4444 Posted June 18, 2019 #2597 Share Posted June 18, 2019 3 minutes ago, Biker19 said: Pretty sure, I don't think anyone has figured a pattern to the offers and inside 30 days anyone can place a bid regardless of C&A level. Maybe I’m misunderstanding the process. My impression is that at any time after final payment you may receive an email offering an opportunity to bid. If you haven’t received the email you can, within 30 days of sailing, check on the site my entering your sur name and booking number in the Royal Up section to see if you have an opportunity to bid. Are you saying that everyone will get an opportunity to bid within the 30 day time frame? Or are you saying that if you are randomly selected to bid it will show up when you check during the 30 day time frame, and you you can bid at that time regardless of your tier? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biker19 Posted June 18, 2019 #2598 Share Posted June 18, 2019 5 minutes ago, dleahy4444 said: Are you saying that everyone will get an opportunity to bid within the 30 day time frame? Yes, that's what has been reported. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travelplus Posted June 18, 2019 #2599 Share Posted June 18, 2019 (edited) I have an idea How about C&A Emerald members get $50 per member towards the upgrade Diamond $65 and Diamond Plus $85.Pinnacle members get the next category up for free or $75 towards an upgrade Anything over is billed to the card on file. You can decide between balcony discount or RoyalUP benefit. Thoughts? If I were given money towards the upgrade I'd pitch in another $100 per person. If the upgrade does not go through the money given by C&A becomes OBC. Or you can decide to take it as OBC. Edited June 18, 2019 by travelplus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare John&LaLa Posted June 18, 2019 Author #2600 Share Posted June 18, 2019 Several of us got a GS on the Aug 18 Harmony for $2,600 total. No need for RoyalUP. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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