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RoyalUP? (Bid for stateroom upgrade)

John&LaLa

By John&LaLa,
in Royal Caribbean International

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dcgrumpy

dcgrumpy

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, jahannah said:

Just received the RU offer to bid today at 60 days out from our July 9th sailing on Allure.  Our sailing in April on Odyssey was also at 60 days prior to sailing.  I wonder if this is the new availability timeframe and the error message that references 30 days has not been updated.

 

 

I think it varies by cruise. Not sure if there is any rhyme or rearson. For my cruise next week I was able to bid at 90 days out. I'm 80 days out from another cruise and so far I'm still getting the 30 days, message. 

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LarryHD2

LarryHD2

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, dcgrumpy said:

 

Interesting. According to their website the rule is waived for underage married couples. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/international-age-policy

 

"No Guest younger than the age twenty-one (21) will be assigned to a stateroom unless accompanied in the same stateroom by an adult twenty-one (21) years old or older. A guest's age is established upon the first date of sailing.

 

This age limit will be waived for children sailing with their parents or guardians in connecting staterooms; for underage married couples; and for active duty members of the United States or Canadian military."

the agent I was speaking to probably didn't know the actual rules then...  it also turns out they incorrectly applied the rule to us as our sailing is out of Europe and the min age there is 18.

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LarryHD2

LarryHD2

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, familycruzinnewbie said:

The offers for me are $90pp balcony, $100pp spacious balcony and $125 for junior suite or no balcony suite. So I wouldn’t want to bet much more.

are those per day?...  or total?

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LarryHD2

LarryHD2

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, familycruzinnewbie said:

Larry it’s per person per cruise, not per day.

those minimums are much lower then what I saw for my RU a few months ago...  $125 to jump to a JS for 7 days $17.85/day pp seems like a steal....  if there are a lot of cabins available in the category you want to upgrade to then you might stick with the min or $5 more...  if there are only a few then you might need to be more aggressive.

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Starry Eyes

Starry Eyes

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, JoeFan said:

I think I know the answer to my questions, but just posting anyway for clarification.

I currently have two connecting balcony staterooms with 2 people in each. Mom and dad in one room and son and daughter in the other.

 

Each room reservation received an email RoyalUp invitation.

 

I assume they are treating each individually.

So if I bid on both then I could potentially win both and have two rooms on differnet ends of the ship.

 

I guess the positive in this situation, is to just bid one of the rooms to updrade to something like Grand Suite 2 Bedroom and if I win, I would only have to pay for two people?. Then could the 4 of us stay in this room and we just don't use the other balcony room? I get that only two of us would get the "Suite" ameneties but that would be ok.

 

Edit:

I just noticed this in the flyer.

"Bids are priced per person and based on two guests per stateroom. Only the first two guests will be charged, even if four are sailing"

 

So all 4 of us would get the suite perks?

Is this still true?

 

What would happen to the balcony that doesn't bid. Does it just sit empty? That sounds silly. 

As others have mentioned, you might have trouble moving one cabin as currently booked if the kids are underage.  You could swap names on the booking so one adult and one kid are in each cabin; then if you win the upgrade, the other will still be “legal” as it contains an adult (on paper).  The trouble, of course, is that one adult and one kid get suite benefits.

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JoeFan

JoeFan

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, LarryHD2 said:

Are the kids aged 21+?  Passengers under 21 have to be adjacent to, or across the hall from, the parent (or 21+) cabin.  For across the hall, the kid cabin can't be more than 50% forward of the parent cabin.  We ran into this rule with our 18yo and 20yo staying in an interior across the hall from our JS. 

 

I asked what if two 20yo's got married and wanted to honeymoon on a cruise and was told that isn't possible.

 

Anyhow, I wonder how they handle this during the RoyalUp process if you're bidding for both cabins, or even one.  It probably throws a wrench into things as they have to find adjacent cabin upgrades.

 

I will be curious to find how this works for you as we're sailing in 40 days.

 

 

18 and 19.

I will look into it.

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Cruiseenthusiast101

Cruiseenthusiast101

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

The mins vary based on the ship, which category you start at and maybe some other factors.


The algorithm is very strange. For my upcoming cruise on Wonder to the Mediterranean the starting cost is $300 a person to go from a large balcony to a JS. This seems outrageous to me, is there much difference between a balcony and a JS. Should I try bidding for the grand suite (900 a person?). I usually stay in balconies. Anyone who has stayed in suites I would love to hear your input before bidding on this, will it really be worth it? Thanks 🙂

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Morecruisesplz

Morecruisesplz

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, familycruzinnewbie said:

I just received the Royalup email today. Currently have Qty ocean view. Do I understand that I have to bid the minimum listed in the email. Do people actually get for the minimum or should you bet a few $ more?

Some have. But with Royal going to 100% capacity, RU will be harder to win... fewer cabins available. We are on a 13 night cruise now and won RU from inside cabin to Ultra Spacious Balcony for $200 each. Mid range bid. BUT, consider what you paid to begin with vs the current pricing for the cabin you are bidding for. You don't want to pay more than you could have booked for. I.e. we paid $417/each for 2 in an inside. So $400 more total was a deal to go to a balcony. Compare and bid what you are comfortable with cause once they accept it your card is charged.

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Morecruisesplz

Morecruisesplz

Posted
Posted
30 minutes ago, Cruiseenthusiast101 said:


The algorithm is very strange. For my upcoming cruise on Wonder to the Mediterranean the starting cost is $300 a person to go from a large balcony to a JS. This seems outrageous to me, is there much difference between a balcony and a JS. Should I try bidding for the grand suite (900 a person?). I usually stay in balconies. Anyone who has stayed in suites I would love to hear your input before bidding on this, will it really be worth it? Thanks 🙂

Long cruise? I would jump on the JS. Tub, big bathroom, plenty of seating if you watch TV or have guests. Compare RU bid + what you paid so far to today's cost of a JS or higher and bid accordingly. 

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Cruise a holic

Cruise a holic

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, fredmdcruisers said:

Some have. But with Royal going to 100% capacity, RU will be harder to win... fewer cabins available. We are on a 13 night cruise now and won RU from inside cabin to Ultra Spacious Balcony for $200 each. Mid range bid. BUT, consider what you paid to begin with vs the current pricing for the cabin you are bidding for. You don't want to pay more than you could have booked for. I.e. we paid $417/each for 2 in an inside. So $400 more total was a deal to go to a balcony. Compare and bid what you are comfortable with cause once they accept it your card is charged.

While you do not have access to the suite lounge, deck or for meals (some dinner reservations for dinner if available) to the suite restaurant- the JS is so spacious- walk in closet- plenty of room for two to move about the cabin without bumping into each other or the furniture, more storage and a much larger and nicer bathroom.  IMO worth so much more then a balcony, inside or oceanview cabin  However get what you an afford.  I would bid for a Junior suite- 

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Biker19

Biker19

Posted
Posted (edited)
9 hours ago, Cruiseenthusiast101 said:

This seems outrageous to me, is there much difference between a balcony and a JS.

Look at the self upgrade costs - sometimes you can upgrade for less than the min Royal Up bid. OTOH, most of the time, the min is well below the self upgrade cost and that's just the pricing for that ship - as I said, the mins vary between ships, especially brand new ones.

Edited by Biker19
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Ozark_Kid "Live from...." Rare

Ozark_Kid

Posted
Posted
17 hours ago, Cruiseenthusiast101 said:


The algorithm is very strange. For my upcoming cruise on Wonder to the Mediterranean the starting cost is $300 a person to go from a large balcony to a JS. This seems outrageous to me, is there much difference between a balcony and a JS. Should I try bidding for the grand suite (900 a person?). I usually stay in balconies. Anyone who has stayed in suites I would love to hear your input before bidding on this, will it really be worth it? Thanks 🙂

The last 2 cruises we were upgraded from OVB to GS.  We really enjoyed it but you get spoiled.  The extra space is nice.  Everyone’s "worth" point is different but we enjoyed them enough we have a bid in for this weekend.  Pretty full so we will be surprised to get it.

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LarryHD2

LarryHD2

Posted
Posted
7 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Look at the self upgrade costs - sometimes you can upgrade for less than the min Royal Up bid. OTOH, most of the time, the min is well below the self upgrade cost and that's just the pricing for that ship - as I said, the mins vary between ships, especially brand new ones.

What do you mean by "self upgrade costs"...  just redoing the booking in the higher category?

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Cruiseenthusiast101

Cruiseenthusiast101

Posted
Posted

Based on previous experiences, how close to sailings do the bids tend to be accepted or denied? Cruise is in three weeks and have to decide if I want to bid on airfare instead. Obviously a suite would be nice, but is there a way to see the likelihood of an upgrade? I haven’t sailed royal since they put the bidding system in. Best 🙂

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xtremegk

xtremegk

Posted
Posted
32 minutes ago, Cruise a holic said:

Our cruise is in three weeks and i have been checking all availability.  Apparently the royal ups  have taken place yesterday    Some others might happen if people cancel at the last minute   Other cruises might vary

 

Same here, cruise is in 3 weeks and the suite availability dropped yesterday. Pretty much seals the deal on not getting our RUs.

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