RoyalUP? (Bid for stateroom upgrade)

[Biker19]

Just now, RosieRoo said:

 Am I the only one that thinks the prices are crazy?  

RCI and some who are willing to pay it don't think so.

[barbeyg]

7 minutes ago, RosieRoo said:

I have gotten an offer to upgrade on my last two sailings.  Am I the only one that thinks the prices are crazy?  I have a GS on Anthem and the lowest bid to go to the next category is $500 pp for a GS with larger balcony. That’s $1000 more than I’m paying to get a little more balcony. 

 

Yes, in some cases, prices have gone really high.  🙂 I make a note ahead of time for the lowest price they offer those cabins, and keep that in mind as I bid.  I guess some will pay those high rates....or at least they are trying to find out if someone will. 

[borg1of2]

13 hours ago, brillohead said:

I haven't heard of one of those in a decade!  

My take is that ships were always sailing very near full, and the few available were given for c&a to surprise, or for the high tier members. Then RoyslUp came along to manage the availability. I was curious with now because ships aren’t full, if anyone got one at the pier. 

[NameThatFunnel]

I'm in a situation where I have 3 weeks until departure, one of my bids went expired two days ago and the other is pending with no way to change or cancel it. Just prior to this happening,  I was thinking of changing my bids or just booking a different combination of rooms outside of Royal Up. Now I don't want to change my booking if there's an upgrade coming, but I also don't want to wait until last minute to find out I didn't get it and can longer take my other direction. Unless they are accepting an offer, I don't think they should ever remove the ability to cancel or change bids (even for a day or two) outside of their rules that state "you may modify or cancel your offer up until 2 days prior to departure, provided that your offer has not already been accepted by RCI and provided your credit card has not been charged".

[George C]

3 hours ago, RosieRoo said:

I have gotten an offer to upgrade on my last two sailings.  Am I the only one that thinks the prices are crazy?  I have a GS on Anthem and the lowest bid to go to the next category is $500 pp for a GS with larger balcony. That’s $1000 more than I’m paying to get a little more balcony. 

I have a grand suite on allure on 11/27 had a bid for 550 per person to go to 2 bedrooms grand suite offer say pending, also have offer for 2 bedrooms aqua for a little more than 2k per

[jtappend]

2 hours ago, NameThatFunnel said:

I'm in a situation where I have 3 weeks until departure, one of my bids went expired two days ago and the other is pending with no way to change or cancel it. Just prior to this happening,  I was thinking of changing my bids or just booking a different combination of rooms outside of Royal Up. Now I don't want to change my booking if there's an upgrade coming, but I also don't want to wait until last minute to find out I didn't get it and can longer take my other direction. Unless they are accepting an offer, I don't think they should ever remove the ability to cancel or change bids (even for a day or two) outside of their rules that state "you may modify or cancel your offer up until 2 days prior to departure, provided that your offer has not already been accepted by RCI and provided your credit card has not been charged".

This is very similar to what happened to me. I bid on a GS 3 weeks before our cruise. That bid was pending for the past 2 weeks with no ability to modify or cancel. That seemed unfair because the rules say you can modify or cancel up until a few days before the cruise. So, we called and after a lot of checking, the representative told us that our bid was accepted and that we would be notified a few days before our cruise. Today (5 days out) we got the email that our bid was accepted and we got all new cruise docs today as well. So, I don't know that anything is a guarantee, but it sounds like you might be getting your upgrade, although you may not get the documents until closer to your departure date. Hope your experience is the same as ours!

[borg1of2]

Has anyone changed their reservation with a bid pending?  Or should I cancel and rebid once I get the new cabin?

[bajathree]

8 hours ago, RosieRoo said:

I have gotten an offer to upgrade on my last two sailings.  Am I the only one that thinks the prices are crazy?  I have a GS on Anthem and the lowest bid to go to the next category is $500 pp for a GS with larger balcony. That’s $1000 more than I’m paying to get a little more balcony. 

Don't try to figure it out as it doesn't make sense at times. My Odyssey sailing last month...I was in a balcony cabin and the MAX bid on a JS was $220/pp...thats was a no brain'r to bid the maximum bet....which I bid and won. Then I am on Allure in Dec in a JS and they sent me a Royal Up offer and the MINIMUM bid for a Crown Loft Suite was $545/pp. 2 weeks after I got the offer they dropped pricing on the Owners Suites and Crown Loft suite down to below that of my JS.....I was able to call them and upgrade myself to the Crown Loft and it cost me nothing. So don't even try to figure it out and check your pricing.....as it's sometimes cheaper or even no cost to just upgrade yourself. 

[august16th]

On 10/25/2021 at 9:46 PM, binro01 said:

Do you mind if I ask, what cabin grade did you upgrade from to the JS and what was your bid?

Sorry for the late reply.  I didn't see this til I just returned from my cruise today!  I was an aft view balcony (partially obstructed) and bid $85 pp for the JS ($170 total).  I think that was $10 over minimum.  Had a bid screw up by Royal - they didn't assign my cabin til I had to ***** at Customer Service onboard.  But, it got done and I was able to move before I had unpacked in the aft cabin.

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, borg1of2 said:

Has anyone changed their reservation with a bid pending?  Or should I cancel and rebid once I get the new cabin?

Sure. Makes no diff.

[benkon]

We are on the Odyssey for the 11/6 sailing with an Oversize Balcony stateroom.   Put in Royal Up bids for a JS, 2 types of OS.  Today, the two OS bids "expired" and the JS is "pending" with no more option to modify or cancel (still six days until sailing).  Is that a good sign that the JS might have been accepted?  

 

*Sorry, in advance, if this post is redundant.

[cruiselvr04]

From experience and this thread ….pending is good but no guarantee.  Good luck!

[TennisCruiser62]

2 hours ago, benkon said:

We are on the Odyssey for the 11/6 sailing with an Oversize Balcony stateroom.   Put in Royal Up bids for a JS, 2 types of OS.  Today, the two OS bids "expired" and the JS is "pending" with no more option to modify or cancel (still six days until sailing).  Is that a good sign that the JS might have been accepted?  

 

*Sorry, in advance, if this post is redundant.

Yes, our GS 1 bdrm bid expired and our JS was pending until 4 days prior to sailing, when we got the congratulations notice. We also were not able to modify the bids for the JS once it went to pending. We got one of the suites on the hump and looks like it has the separate shower. Good luck, hope it works out for you.

[benkon]

20 hours ago, TennisCruiser62 said:

Yes, our GS 1 bdrm bid expired and our JS was pending until 4 days prior to sailing, when we got the congratulations notice. We also were not able to modify the bids for the JS once it went to pending. We got one of the suites on the hump and looks like it has the separate shower. Good luck, hope it works out for you.

That gives me hope!!!!  Thanks for sharing.  Four days out now and it's still pending with no option to modify/cancel.  I'm checking my app like an addict.

[benkon]

Correction to my last reply:  we are six days out and still pending with no option to modify/cancel.  Fingers crossed!!  (Not obsessed at all.  lol)

Edited October 31, 2021 by benkon
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[sandebeach]

4 hours ago, benkon said:

Correction to my last reply:  we are six days out and still pending with no option to modify/cancel.  Fingers crossed!!  (Not obsessed at all.  lol)

Sounds like you have a great shot at getting your upgrade, good luck. 

[borg1of2]

6 hours ago, benkon said:

That gives me hope!!!!  Thanks for sharing.  Four days out now and it's still pending with no option to modify/cancel.  I'm checking my app like an addict.

When you say no option to modify, is it greyed out when you look at the bid(s)?  Mine allows to modify or cancel, so maybe not in the hopeful stage with 3 days out. 

[NameThatFunnel]

I'm three weeks out and I cannot modify or cancel for the past 4 days. I think this is game Royal plays to lock you in while they try to get higher bids and or sell remaining inventory at higher rates, while still keeping your bid in their back pocket. Personally, I want to change my bids at this point, and I've already emailed them, but no reply. I'm supposed to be able to edit or cancel my bids until two days before sailing, unless they accept my offer, which they have not.

[Boz575]

1 hour ago, NameThatFunnel said:

I'm three weeks out and I cannot modify or cancel for the past 4 days. I think this is game Royal plays to lock you in while they try to get higher bids and or sell remaining inventory at higher rates, while still keeping your bid in their back pocket. Personally, I want to change my bids at this point, and I've already emailed them, but no reply. I'm supposed to be able to edit or cancel my bids until two days before sailing, unless they accept my offer, which they have not.

I’m in the same situation and agree with you 100%. Why not allow changes if the cabins are still listed as bookable inventory. It seems like RC put all my eggs in one basket for me. But to be fair, I have not called to ask to change my bid. It may still be possible and limited to phone call changes for technical issues. Wouldn’t be the first “glitch” in Royal history, lol. 

Edited November 1, 2021 by Boz575

[marktwothousand]

I’m new to Royal. Is it better to do these bids or just transfer your payment to another room? Does Royal even allow transferring of payments from one room to another for the purpose of upgrades that close to a sail, or do they reserve the right to holdback?

[Boz575]

3 minutes ago, marktwothousand said:

I’m new to Royal. Is it better to do these bids or just transfer your payment to another room? Does Royal even allow transferring of payments from one room to another for the purpose of upgrades that close to a sail, or do they reserve the right to holdback?

Are you asking if you can pay the published rate for the upgrade?

[brillohead]

7 minutes ago, marktwothousand said:

I’m new to Royal. Is it better to do these bids or just transfer your payment to another room? Does Royal even allow transferring of payments from one room to another for the purpose of upgrades that close to a sail, or do they reserve the right to holdback?

I've "upgraded" myself several times by changing to a different category of room and paying the difference.... although lately, I've upgraded categories and gotten a REFUND because the price has dropped.

Bidding is a gamble.... changing categories is a guaranteed room change.

[marktwothousand]

2 minutes ago, Boz575 said:

Are you asking if you can pay the published rate for the upgrade?

Yes. Here is my example:

I am looking at paying $1200 total for an inside. Balconies are $1400. I am not sure what Bid upgrade would offer me to up to a balcony, but if works out to be more, I’d rather just pay the $1400.

 

Am I ENTITLED to port my $1200 into a new reservation or is it at the cruise line/TA’s discretion? I normally cruise with NCL and upgrading in this manner is not a “right”, it’s discretionary.

 

of course, these situations would  only apply for small peanuts upgrades (interior to balcony ie.). I am sure it would always be a better deal to bid-upgrade in situations where you want a suite or something 

[Biker19]

6 minutes ago, marktwothousand said:

Am I ENTITLED to port my $1200 into a new reservation

Yes, that’s a self upgrade- possible at any time. 

[marktwothousand]

Just now, Biker19 said:

Yes, that’s a self upgrade- possible at any time. 

Nice!

 

the thing is, I am always seeing sales on RCCL’s webpage. Are these true sales or just sales tactics? I’m never sure when to jump on something because the countdown timer on their homepage is always resetting