Is royal up only determined a few days before sailing?

[mcatmcat]

Hi everyone.

 

I was wondering if royal u is determined like 2-3 before boarding or it can happen anytime after you made the bid for a room. 

Thanks

[DaKahuna]

Typically you are notified two or three days proor to sailing if your bid was accepted or denied.

[NeepierRoad]

The website says it could happen anytime after bidding but I've been waiting for months and my guess is that they wait until the last possible moment to assign new cabins so that Royal Caribbean makes the maximum profit with full fare cruisers rather than Royal Up bidders.

[OCSC Mike]

It can literally happen at any time.

 

Some people have reported winning over a month out, others after they have boarded. I personally won one 16 days out in July.

[island lady]

I received my denial email from Royal Up after 8 pm...after sail away.  

 

Now that ships are back to full capacity, they really need to let pax know if their bid was successful before they board.  Who wants to pack up again in the middle of the night and have to move again?  

[Biker19]

44 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

Typically you are notified two or three days prior to sailing if your bid was accepted or denied.

The denial email typically comes after sail away.

[mcatmcat]

6 minutes ago, island lady said:

I received my denial email from Royal Up after 8 pm...after sail away.  

 

Now that ships are back to full capacity, they really need to let pax know if their bid was successful before they board.  Who wants to pack up again in the middle of the night and have to move again?  

 

what ship was it?? I think it was the freedom ,yeah freedom on July we got an email to visit guess service to see if we won or not. My gf went to check and we got a balcony for free. I was in an interior bc it was last minute and Im glad we got a new room. I have never packed in less than 5 minutes in my life. Btw there was a sign saying no upgrades or something like that lol

I was never charged for the upgrade

[island lady]

33 minutes ago, mcatmcat said:

 

what ship was it?? I think it was the freedom ,yeah freedom on July we got an email to visit guess service to see if we won or not. My gf went to check and we got a balcony for free. I was in an interior bc it was last minute and Im glad we got a new room. I have never packed in less than 5 minutes in my life. Btw there was a sign saying no upgrades or something like that lol

I was never charged for the upgrade

 

Harmony.   But the ship direct upgrade has nothing to do with Royal UP.  Different company takes care of the Royal UP for RCI.  

[gumshoe958]

56 minutes ago, island lady said:

I received my denial email from Royal Up after 8 pm...after sail away.  

 

Now that ships are back to full capacity, they really need to let pax know if their bid was successful before they board.  Who wants to pack up again in the middle of the night and have to move again?  

Plenty of people, if it means they get a great deal on a much better cabin/suite.

 

If you’re not one of them, just cancel your bid.

 

Royal wants to make sure those suites don’t sail empty if someone no shows or cancels last minute.

[beardedladies]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

I received my denial email from Royal Up after 8 pm...after sail away.  

 

Now that ships are back to full capacity, they really need to let pax know if their bid was successful before they board.  Who wants to pack up again in the middle of the night and have to move again?  

 

Did you not get the message a day or so before the cruise saying your bid is currently unsuccessful and will be passed to the ship in case there's a chance for a late upgrade? We had that for our recent Anthem trip last month. That gives you the choice to go and cancel all your bids if a late post-boarding upgrade is not what you want.

[OCSC Mike]

31 minutes ago, beardedladies said:

 

Did you not get the message a day or so before the cruise saying your bid is currently unsuccessful and will be passed to the ship in case there's a chance for a late upgrade? We had that for our recent Anthem trip last month. That gives you the choice to go and cancel all your bids if a late post-boarding upgrade is not what you want.

 

Programs like this are ever-evolving. It has/had been common practice to receive nothing until you got the "sorry, you didn't win" e-mail sometime on night one. Perhaps they have changed that for the better.

 

I got the standard denial e-mail on night one in July on Indy.

[BirdTravels]

Pre-pandemic, they would process upgrades to open "cheap" rooms (inside, ocean view) early, to get more people booked on the ship. A lot of revenue is generated by onboard spending (versus the cruise fare),,, so if you get people on the ship, they will be eating, drinking, shore excursioning, shopping. 

[island lady]

19 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

Plenty of people, if it means they get a great deal on a much better cabin/suite.

 

If you’re not one of them, just cancel your bid.

 

Royal wants to make sure those suites don’t sail empty if someone no shows or cancels last minute.

 

Yeah, that's what I did the last time.  Sitting in the SL waiting for cabins to open once we boarded, I went in and cancelled.  I like to unpack only once.  😉   

[island lady]

19 hours ago, beardedladies said:

 

Did you not get the message a day or so before the cruise saying your bid is currently unsuccessful and will be passed to the ship in case there's a chance for a late upgrade? We had that for our recent Anthem trip last month. That gives you the choice to go and cancel all your bids if a late post-boarding upgrade is not what you want.

 

I got nothing.  Still showed pending even after I boarded the ship.  

[skyking]

We sailed on the Anthem June 17th and got awarded our Owners Suite upgrade on May 23rd. 

[crusnbee]

Twice I was notified that we were denied after sailing. 

 

For our last cruise in August on the Explorer, got an email a day or two before stating that we were not denied yet, but it may be after sailing that we get upgraded.

 

I canceled. I am one of those that only wants to unpack once.

[G-DawgMN]

On 9/12/2022 at 12:47 PM, mcatmcat said:

Hi everyone.

 

I was wondering if royal u is determined like 2-3 before boarding or it can happen anytime after you made the bid for a room. 

Thanks

 

 I was shockingly just upgraded to a Grand Suite (From a Balcony) at 12 days out. Pretty excited!

 

 

 

[OCSC Mike]

5 minutes ago, KSSS2013 said:

 

 I was shockingly just upgraded to a Grand Suite (From a Balcony) at 12 days out. Pretty excited!

 

Congrats and enjoy the perks!

[ckrobyn]

4 hours ago, skyking said:

We sailed on the Anthem June 17th and got awarded our Owners Suite upgrade on May 23rd. 

May I ask what cabin type you were booked in originally?

[MissiCruzs]

We received a Royal Up a week ago for a 9/17 sailing.   People on our roll call got it yesterday.  I think they award to the highest bidders first and if there are still cabins they go down the list.  I clicked on the 3rd notch, so above the lowest level.  I had an inside gty, they assigned me a cabin I hated so I went in and adjusted my bid because I had just clicked the lowest amount to begin with. I ended up with a balcony.  If you bid the minimum I doubt you have a chance, but you never know.

[skyking]

13 minutes ago, ckrobyn said:

May I ask what cabin type you were booked in originally?

Well hey there stranger, been a long time.  

 

We were in a Junior Suite originally. 

[coaster]

42 minutes ago, MissiCruzs said:

We received a Royal Up a week ago for a 9/17 sailing.   People on our roll call got it yesterday.  I think they award to the highest bidders first and if there are still cabins they go down the list.  I clicked on the 3rd notch, so above the lowest level.  I had an inside gty, they assigned me a cabin I hated so I went in and adjusted my bid because I had just clicked the lowest amount to begin with. I ended up with a balcony.  If you bid the minimum I doubt you have a chance, but you never know.

Will start out with a higher bid early on and reduce it closer to sailing thanks to this post. Much easier when ships were under capacity and looking for any kind of strategy now. This post helps!

[OCSC Mike]

Guessing how the algorithm works is pointless. No one knows some special strategy. Anything that has worked is purely anecdotal.

[OCSC Mike]

52 minutes ago, MissiCruzs said:

I had an inside gty, they assigned me a cabin I hated

 

Did you ask to move to an available cabin in the same category for free?

[island lady]

42 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Guessing how the algorithm works is pointless. No one knows some special strategy. Anything that has worked is purely anecdotal.

 

Oh no...I have the more professional information on how they make those decisions.  Very complicated and highly scientific.