RoyalUP? (Bid for stateroom upgrade)

[Clarea]

2 minutes ago, Lionesss said:

Just curious

 

Let's say RCI is unable to fill some GS and JS by this upsell system.  Do you think they will let the cabins sail empty, or what do you think their solution would be.....................free upgrades at pier?? ....

 

Maybe they will revive the free upgrade fairy and offer the stateroom via the C&A method like the used to.

[LB_NJ]

1 hour ago, Lionesss said:

Just curious

 

Let's say RCI is unable to fill some GS and JS by this upsell system.  Do you think they will let the cabins sail empty, or what do you think their solution would be.....................free upgrades at pier??

 

The reason I wonder is we did a land vacation to Disney and booked the Contemporary for Halloween week.  For months the Contemporary was booked out,  or at least that is what it said on the Disney site.

 

Well when we got the text to our room (Disney uses those magic bands) we were upgraded to a Castle view at no cost.

Had we originally booked this room it would have been around $900 for the two of us.

 

So at Disney we got a free Upgrade, not an upsell at check in time

 

Later

 

You are more likely to get hit by lightning than get a free upgrade since this system is in place.  Someone would have to actually  call in and cancel within the 24 hours just prior to sailing.  If the cancellation is prior to the 24 hours then the upgrade goes to one of the bidders.  If it is a no show they don't know that until everyone else is aboard. 

 

Maybe they will have some type of onboard auction for no-shows. 

[timf2001]

There will always be last minute cancellations, such as people who miss their flights and are unable to make it to the ship in time.  These would become available too late to be part of the upgrade program, and may not even be released until after the ship sails.  It would then be at the sole discretion of the ship whether they upgrade people for free, offer them as a prize at bingo, or leave them empty.

[LB_NJ]

48 minutes ago, timf2001 said:

There will always be last minute cancellations, such as people who miss their flights and are unable to make it to the ship in time.  These would become available too late to be part of the upgrade program, and may not even be released until after the ship sails.  It would then be at the sole discretion of the ship whether they upgrade people for free, offer them as a prize at bingo, or leave them empty.

 

 

I agree there will always be people who miss the ship.  However, how many of them will call to cancel in time for there to be upgrades at  the dock.

[Northumberland]

On 12/22/2018 at 8:55 AM, Lionesss said:

Just curious

 

Let's say RCI is unable to fill some GS and JS by this upsell system.  Do you think they will let the cabins sail empty, or what do you think their solution would be.....................free upgrades at pier??

 

The reason I wonder is we did a land vacation to Disney and booked the Contemporary for Halloween week.  For months the Contemporary was booked out,  or at least that is what it said on the Disney site.

 

Well when we got the text to our room (Disney uses those magic bands) we were upgraded to a Castle view at no cost.

Had we originally booked this room it would have been around $900 for the two of us.

 

So at Disney we got a free Upgrade, not an upsell at check in time

 

Later

We've done 7 cruises. 4 have been with RCCL plus 1 coming up in March.  Our most recent cruise was 9 months ago with Princess, which was our second cruise with them.

We had the good fortune to receive a free upgrade from an interior to a balcony along with our best friends who had an adjoining room. The value would have been around $1100.00 had we booked it originally.

I don't expect a free upgrade every time we sail, but I do find it somewhat offensive that a cruise line that tries to promote loyalty would create basically a lottery system to get people to upgrade their accommodations. 

We may have to rethink who we want to be loyal to.

 

[rlawson084]

Why do we all feel entitled to something like a better cabin for free? If you want a balcony or suite then book it.

 

The really simple answer is book the cabin that you can afford and have a great vacation with your friends/loved ones. 

 

When we we sleep it doesn’t matter how big or fancy our cabin is. Enjoy the giant ship and the wonderful destinations that you have chosen to visit. 

 

I don’t drive by the BMW dealership and say to myself. That 760i x drive has been sitting there for 4 months clearly no one wants it. Why hasn’t BMW called me to upgrade my 328xi for free???

[LB_NJ]

1 hour ago, Northumberland said:

We've done 7 cruises. 4 have been with RCCL plus 1 coming up in March.  Our most recent cruise was 9 months ago with Princess, which was our second cruise with them.

We had the good fortune to receive a free upgrade from an interior to a balcony along with our best friends who had an adjoining room. The value would have been around $1100.00 had we booked it originally.

I don't expect a free upgrade every time we sail, but I do find it somewhat offensive that a cruise line that tries to promote loyalty would create basically a lottery system to get people to upgrade their accommodations. 

We may have to rethink who we want to be loyal to.

 

 

 

This is a business.  RCL, the other cruise lines, hotel chains, airlines, etc.  offer frequent traveler programs because they believe it will improve the bottom line.  I assume they get out their spreadsheets and figure out just how much they have to give away for free to get return customers.

[Biker19]

5 hours ago, rlawson084 said:

 Why hasn’t BMW called me to upgrade my 328xi for free???

Because unlike a cruise cabin, it's not a perishable commodity.

[bonagrad]

On 12/10/2018 at 9:26 AM, Biker19 said:

The min is proportional to the actual diff. They may assume folks are dumb, not look at real prices and hope they overbid, but they do start with reasonable mins.

Ours for 9 nights on Navigator were much more.  For example, we bid $150 for a balcony from inside.  Cost if I booked now would be over $5,200 total for a balcony!  To book an inside now would cost $3,400 we booked it for $1,400 total originally!

[Northumberland]

7 hours ago, LB_NJ said:

 

 

This is a business.  RCL, the other cruise lines, hotel chains, airlines, etc.  offer frequent traveler programs because they believe it will improve the bottom line.  I assume they get out their spreadsheets and figure out just how much they have to give away for free to get return customers.

Oh, I get it. I was in sales for over 40 years and I understand how companies try to up sell products and services. I just have a hard time understanding companies that have loyalty programs and then cheapen them by creating an auction system that they only invite some to participate and not everyone. Also, if their not going to offer free upgrades then why not offer upgrades for predetermined price to everyone.

[rlawson084]

1 hour ago, Northumberland said:

Oh, I get it. I was in sales for over 40 years and I understand how companies try to up sell products and services. I just have a hard time understanding companies that have loyalty programs and then cheapen them by creating an auction system that they only invite some to participate and not everyone. Also, if their not going to offer free upgrades then why not offer upgrades for predetermined price to everyone.

 

They do have a predetermined price for upgrades available to everyone.....it is listed on the website where you made your booking. 🙂 that shows the price of the cabin that you would like and it is available to everyone right from the start. 

 

Life isn’t fair. Why all of a sudden do we all expect to be gifted things from companies?

[crusinthrough]

2 hours ago, Northumberland said:

 I just have a hard time understanding companies that have loyalty programs and then cheapen them by creating an auction system that they only invite some to participate and not everyone. 

I have not looked at the loyalty program lately.  Is a possible "free upgrade listed as a perk?  

 

I do wonder how it is determined who gets the email as there is no way to determine who would bid and who would not.  Business wise it make more sense to offer the opportunity to everyone and reward the highest bidder who probably bids more than what the cabin was worth.  This easily happens when a category is sold out.  If there are no available cabins to see the current market price and you didn't pay attention the prices in that category prior to the email, it's very easy to overbid.  In addition, when bidding for a balcony if you are only given the opportunity to bid for a "balcony stateroom" and not a particular balcolny category then you don't know, which category you are bidding on.  

Edited December 24, 2018 by crusinthrough

[bilyclub]

1 hour ago, crusinthrough said:

I have not looked at the loyalty program lately.  Is a possible "free upgrade listed as a perk?  

 

 

 

The possibility of an upgrade was listed as one of the perks. In fact what kind of upgrade you would take was one of the preferences in your C & A profile. 

[crusinthrough]

31 minutes ago, bilyclub said:

 

The possibility of an upgrade was listed as one of the perks. In fact what kind of upgrade you would take was one of the preferences in your C & A profile. 

 

Thank you, I remember you could opt in or out of an upgrade but did not realize it was listed as a perk. When the website was upgraded the ability to opt  in or opt out of upgrade was removed forcing you to call C&A. 

[Ourusualbeach]

On 12/21/2018 at 8:33 AM, Host Clarea said:

 

Some sales people too I've heard.

Travel agent reps are still in Oregon. 

[Northumberland]

3 hours ago, rlawson084 said:

 

They do have a predetermined price for upgrades available to everyone.....it is listed on the website where you made your booking. 🙂 that shows the price of the cabin that you would like and it is available to everyone right from the start. 

 

Life isn’t fair. Why all of a sudden do we all expect to be gifted things from companies?

I think you have misinterpreted my post. I was definitely not expecting to be gifted anything. My point was that if a company like RCCL doesn't want to offer free upgrades, that's fine. However, why play games and start this bidding war and only invite a select few to duke it out. Why not just set the upgrade price and offer it to everyone.

[Merion_Mom]

11 minutes ago, Northumberland said:

I think you have misinterpreted my post. I was definitely not expecting to be gifted anything. My point was that if a company like RCCL doesn't want to offer free upgrades, that's fine. However, why play games and start this bidding war and only invite a select few to duke it out. Why not just set the upgrade price and offer it to everyone.

 

Because they are accumulating data on how this is being received.  IMO, the beginning of the program is really a probe into the collective psyche of Royal Caribbean customers.

[Clarea]

8 hours ago, Northumberland said:

 ... Why not just set the upgrade price and offer it to everyone.

 

Because the goal is to maximize profit, so they want to determine the highest upgrade price people will tolerate.

[Biker19]

8 hours ago, Northumberland said:

Why not just set the upgrade price and offer it to everyone.

They do - it's the list price.

[cruisegirl1]

Just received the third solicitation for an upgrade bid for an upcoming Enchantment cruise. Same prices as the  second solicitation. Didn’t bid. 

 

M

[gagirl7143]

Have a bit in now for a Jan Sailing. Will report if accepted😂😂😂😂😂😂

[Clarea]

1 hour ago, cruisegirl1 said:

Just received the third solicitation for an upgrade bid for an upcoming Enchantment cruise. Same prices as the  second solicitation. Didn’t bid. 

 

M

 

Thanks Marci.  It's difficult to know if they are purposely sending multiple offers, or it's just their messed up email system.

[Pratique]

8 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Thanks Marci.  It's difficult to know if they are purposely sending multiple offers, or it's just their messed up email system.

I think it is purposeful. The first email I received said "We also want to invite you to participate in our RoyalUp program, where you can bid on an upgraded stateroom for your sailing." The second one I got said "Great news! There's still time to participate in our RoyalUp program, where you can bid on an upgraded stateroom for your sailing." The starting bids did not change. We have not bid for this cruise and aren't planning to.

[Clarea]

3 minutes ago, Pratique said:

I think it is purposeful. The first email I received said "We also want to invite you to participate in our RoyalUp program, where you can bid on an upgraded stateroom for your sailing." The second one I got said "Great news! There's still time to participate in our RoyalUp program, where you can bid on an upgraded stateroom for your sailing." The starting bids did not change. We have not bid for this cruise and aren't planning to.

 

So I guess nagging people is part of the process.

[island lady]

32 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

So I guess nagging people is part of the process.

 

I thought nagging was RCI's new policy?? 

Edited December 24, 2018 by island lady