Balcony Guarantee...What happens if balconies sell out before assignment?

[Laplayaperson]

Hey All,

 

So we rolled the dice and decided to do a balcony guarantee for our upcoming cruise. 

 

We are totally fine with whatever we get as this was a gamble we decided to do to make it within our budget. 

 

BUT....curious what happens if all the balconies sell out for our cruise prior to the assignments being released? 

 

We are 93 days away from sailing and when doing a mock booking there are only 7 balconies showing available, and only in the Forward section. 

 

Just curious?  Maybe there is inventory they hold they don't show online? 

 

Thank you all for the feedback!   

[Starry Eyes]

 The cruiseline may have already set aside some cabins for balcony gty bookings.  There’s no way for you to know at this point.

 

Is your booking for two people?  If so, did you do a mock booking entering 3 guests?  Sometimes you will see additional cabins that way that you did not see with two guests. Or not depending on the cruise.  Depending on supply and demand, Royal sometimes places parties of two into cabins that can accommodate 3+ guests.

 

Also if suites are available, some people in balconies could move up via RoyalUp bidding, opening up those balcony cabins for gty assignment.

Edited December 31, 2023 by Starry Eyes

[Laplayaperson]

Thank you @Starry Eyes for responding!  It's a family of 4 so I did the mock booking just as I would have for another family of 4. I didn't bother trying a mock for a sleep 2 as I wouldn't think that inventory would be assigned for us considering we need a sleep 4 consideration.

 

What is RoyalUp bidding?  Are we eligible for this or that is only for assigned category guests? 

 

We have only sailed Royal one other time and it was pre-kids/pre-covid.  Thank you!!!  

[Starry Eyes]

Just now, Laplayaperson said:

Thank you @Starry Eyes for responding!  It's a family of 4 so I did the mock booking just as I would have for another family of 4. I didn't bother trying a mock for a sleep 2 as I wouldn't think that inventory would be assigned for us considering we need a sleep 4 consideration.

 

What is RoyalUp bidding?  Are we eligible for this or that is only for assigned category guests? 

 

We have only sailed Royal one other time and it was pre-kids/pre-covid.  Thank you!!!  

You are correct, of course, on the mock booking; there is no point checking smaller cabin occupancies.

 

RoyalUp is a bidding program for upgrades and most (not all) guests get an invitation closer to the cruise date.  Gty will not stop you from participating.  Invites come by email and a link also appears in the cruise planner.

[Laplayaperson]

7 minutes ago, Starry Eyes said:

You are correct, of course, on the mock booking; there is no point checking smaller cabin occupancies.

 

RoyalUp is a bidding program for upgrades and most (not all) guests get an invitation closer to the cruise date.  Gty will not stop you from participating.  Invites come by email and a link also appears in the cruise planner.

@Starry Eyes Thank you!  Now waiting is the hard part

[Jussabitconfused]

If you booked directly with Royal and allow for promotional emails from them, then you should be eligible. It will happen after your check in date. (45 days prior to cruise).

[Twenty2020]

2 hours ago, Laplayaperson said:

Hey All,

 

So we rolled the dice and decided to do a balcony guarantee for our upcoming cruise. 

 

We are totally fine with whatever we get as this was a gamble we decided to do to make it within our budget. 

 

BUT....curious what happens if all the balconies sell out for our cruise prior to the assignments being released? 

 

We are 93 days away from sailing and when doing a mock booking there are only 7 balconies showing available, and only in the Forward section. 

 

Just curious?  Maybe there is inventory they hold they don't show online? 

 

Thank you all for the feedback!   

 

 

They don't show all the actual inventory online. You can look at a cruise 2 years from now and it will say crazy things like "only 4 left" on this deck. When in reality there are gobs of them.

 

You'll get a balcony since you've booked a balcony GTY. Wouldn't worry. 

 

 

Edited December 31, 2023 by Twenty2020

[Biker19]

9 hours ago, Jussabitconfused said:

If you booked directly with Royal and allow for promotional emails from them, then you should be eligible. It will happen after your check in date. (45 days prior to cruise).

We have reports of folks getting Royal Up offers further out than that - anytime inside final payment (90-75days).

Edited December 31, 2023 by Biker19

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

17 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

We have reports of folks getting Royal Up offers further out than that - anytime inside final payment (90-75days).

Yeah, I don't check in until Jan 3 and got my offers a couple of weeks ago. I pondered it since the bids from a studio to a balcony were not ridiculous to pay x2, but decided to stay put as I'm happy with my location - and I can be picky about that.

[Starry Eyes]

9 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Yeah, I don't check in until Jan 3 and got my offers a couple of weeks ago. I pondered it since the bids from a studio to a balcony were not ridiculous to pay x2, but decided to stay put as I'm happy with my location - and I can be picky about that.

Yes, RoyalUp is necessarily a good choice for folks like you who are picky about location.  The OP, on the other hand, hopefully is flexible about location as they are currently booked in a gty.

 

Note to the OP: on RoyalUp, every bidder is charged for two passengers in the cabin…always charged two no matter how many are actually booked.  So the above solo is charged for two as is your family of four.  

[Jimbo]

12 hours ago, Laplayaperson said:

Thank you @Starry Eyes for responding!  It's a family of 4 so I did the mock booking just as I would have for another family of 4. I didn't bother trying a mock for a sleep 2 as I wouldn't think that inventory would be assigned for us considering we need a sleep 4 consideration.

 

What is RoyalUp bidding?  Are we eligible for this or that is only for assigned category guests? 

 

We have only sailed Royal one other time and it was pre-kids/pre-covid.  Thank you!!!  

Put your info here for Royal UP. You may not be eligible because you are in a cabin for 4 though.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/booked/cruise-room-upgrade?

[Starry Eyes]

1 hour ago, Jimbo said:

Put your info here for Royal UP. You may not be eligible because you are in a cabin for 4 though.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/booked/cruise-room-upgrade?

As the OP’s cruise still 92 days out there’s a good chance RoyalUp offers are not yet available for that sailing.

[Jimbo]

10 minutes ago, Starry Eyes said:

As the OP’s cruise still 92 days out there’s a good chance RoyalUp offers are not yet available for that sailing.

No harm putting in name and reservation number is there? OP now knows where to check.

[Starry Eyes]

14 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

No harm putting in name and reservation number is there? OP now knows where to check.

Previously I checked that way, but now that the RoyalUp link is displayed in in cruise planner I like to look there as I can also check other cruise planner items for sale prices, etc.

[orville99]

1 hour ago, Starry Eyes said:

now that the RoyalUp link is displayed in in cruise planner

Unfortunately, there is a typical RCL execution problem with this - sometimes it shows up there and sometime it doesn't - consistent inconsistency should be RCL's tag line.

[Starry Eyes]

Just now, orville99 said:

Unfortunately, there is a typical RCL execution problem with this - sometimes it shows up there and sometime it doesn't - consistent inconsistency should be RCL's tag line.

I’m sorry to hear your luck has been spotty.  So far the cruise planner link has shown up for all my cruises  knock on wood.

[Another_Critic]

4 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Unfortunately, there is a typical RCL execution problem with this - sometimes it shows up there and sometime it doesn't - consistent inconsistency should be RCL's tag line.

RCI = Really Consistently Inconsistent

[orville99]

19 minutes ago, Starry Eyes said:

I’m sorry to hear your luck has been spotty.  So far the cruise planner link has shown up for all my cruises  knock on wood.

Luck is not necessary since the link to RoyalUp is always on RCL’s homepage. They just seem to have a “hire the incompetent” mentality when it comes to their IT department.

[Starry Eyes]

10 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Luck is not necessary since the link to RoyalUp is always on RCL’s homepage. They just seem to have a “hire the incompetent” mentality when it comes to their IT department.

I’ve had plenty of other IT issues…just not with that particular cruise planner link.

[crazyfrazee]

On a GTY balcony booking on an Oasis Class they normally assign the balcony over Central Park. I don't know which ship you're sailing. On the cruise I'm leaving on next week I did the IPhone trick to see which cabin they assigned me. I hated the cabin so I did the Royal Up and was awarded a better room. With the IPhone trick you can see which cabin they are assigning you.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

I would assume they only book the number of guarantee balconies (or whatever category) for the number of rooms they have left.  

 

Just to keep the numbers simple, let's say they have 100 balconies available.  30 people have booked & selected their own rooms.  55 people have booked guarantees.  That leaves 15 rooms available to book.  

 

In theory, they wouldn't sell 50 "select your room" and 55 "guarantees" if they only have 100 rooms.  

 

Yes, this brings up overselling, and I understand it happens, but not often.  In the above scenario, 5 guaranteed balcony rooms should get upgraded to suites. 

[Starry Eyes]

37 minutes ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

In theory, they wouldn't sell 50 "select your room" and 55 "guarantees" if they only have 100 rooms.  

 

Yes, this brings up overselling, and I understand it happens, but not often.  In the above scenario, 5 guaranteed balcony rooms should get upgraded to suites. 

We are in the RoyalUp era, so in your hypothetical situation I suspect 5 bids from balcony to suite would be accepted.  There would then be enough available balcony cabins for the gty bookings.  Royal would profit from the RoyalUp bids;  it does not profit by giving free upgrades to gty bookings.

Edited January 1 by Starry Eyes

[S.A.M.J.R.]

12 minutes ago, Starry Eyes said:

We are in the RoyalUp era, so in your hypothetical situation I suspect 5 bids from balcony to suite would be accepted.  There would then be enough available balcony cabins for the gty bookings.  Royal would profit from the RoyalUp bids;  it does not profit by giving free upgrades to gty bookings.

Can't argue with that.  My point was more "they're not going to sell more cabins than they have".  

[DallasGuy75219]

49 minutes ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

My point was more "they're not going to sell more cabins than they have".  

Yes they will.  There were a few highly publicized incidents in 2023 when RC overbooked the ship and either didn't have enough cancellations and/or couldn't entice enough people to voluntarily reschedule to another cruise, so pax had their reservations involuntarily canceled.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

49 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

Yes they will.  There were a few highly publicized incidents in 2023 when RC overbooked the ship and either didn't have enough cancellations and/or couldn't entice enough people to voluntarily reschedule to another cruise, so pax had their reservations involuntarily canceled.

Aside from the one in Australia, when else has it happened last year?  Not saying it doesn't, but it's going to be rare.