RoyalUP? (Bid for stateroom upgrade)

[Wilson]

Unlike a guarantee rate, if your offer is accepted you cannot change cabins. Whatever cabin you “win” and subsequently are assigned to is where you will stay. 

Edited November 29, 2018 by Wilson

[mringenoldus]

This revenue model is really quite simple - RCCL is creating a secondary waitlist to ensure no cabin remains unsold at sailing. The only difference between this and the standard waitlist for an unavailable cabin category at the time of booking is the actual + or - revenue as compared to a standard paid upgrade.

 

As a member of the travel industry, I can definitely say two things:

1) some of the categories listed for bid are not actually available.

2) Passengers should always compare the fare already paid to the desired upgrade. As an example, on a recent sailing I received a minisuite upgrade offer, but a quick call to the cruise line confirmed that I could move to the mini suite for free as the prices had dropped. Had I not taken that step, I would have paid hundreds extra if my bid was accepted.

 

I have seen people become carried away with the bidding process and overpay for the desired category. Proceed with caution :)

[Wilson]

2 minutes ago, mringenoldus said:

As a member of the travel industry, I can definitely say two things:

1) some of the categories listed for bid are not actually available.

 

Truth!!! We received an offer for the Royal Suite which has not been available for as long as I can remember. My agent reached out to a “contact” who confirmed that the RS has been booked for over a year. 

[NateUpNorth]

It has occurred to me that the most beneficial part of this whole program for RCL is they will be compiling information on what we would have/could have paid for cabins at different category levels.

You can bet this will be factored into future pricing.

 

For example - that Royal Suite has been booked for a full year from sailing, however it received lots of bids close to sail time........... therefore it was clearly underpriced to start. 

 

 

[Clarea]

16 minutes ago, mringenoldus said:

 ...

1) some of the categories listed for bid are not actually available.

 ...

 

10 minutes ago, Wilson said:

 

Truth!!! We received an offer for the Royal Suite which has not been available for as long as I can remember. My agent reached out to a “contact” who confirmed that the RS has been booked for over a year. 

 

This is why I think one of the objectives of asking for bids is sort of a marketing survey. 

[John&LaLa]

3 hours ago, molly361 said:

Has anyone gotten any Royal Up offers on shorter cruises?  Less than 7 days?

 

I think we saw a Brilliance here yesterday 

[John&LaLa]

2 hours ago, jleonar said:

 

You are spot on with some examples.

 

It also depends on the type of cruise you book and how many are in a cabin

 

My family cruises over Christmas every year.  The prices for these cruises are pretty damn high. 

 

I got the RoyalUp email.  I am 100% certain we won't win any bids but for example.  There is absolutely ZERO chance I could have booked an AquaTheater Suite for just $2000 more than my current outside balcony room on Oasis of the Seas.  

 

I am traveling with 2 kids in addition to my wife.  I get a discount on third and fourth people in the cabin when booking.  But It isn't free.  This RoyalUp program actually lets me upgrade my room while ignoring the 3rd and 4th guests costs.

 

If I get that Aquatheater suite, I am going to be thrilled.  

 

Bid high, bid often

[John&LaLa]

51 minutes ago, molly361 said:

The terms say that you have to take what is given.  That said we are on your sailing in a balcony no email sent.  Guess we are blacklisted.  How much was the minimum bid for a GS?  According to their website all suites incl JS's on our sailing have been sold out for quite a while

 

Apparently I'm blacklisted as well.  Neither my TA or Guillermo @ C&A could offer any assistance. Maybe someday.

[irishgal432]

2 hours ago, LuCruise said:

Yes.  We got one for our 4 day Indy coming up.

What sailing?  We are heading out on Dec 20.

[John&LaLa]

39 minutes ago, Wilson said:

Unlike a guarantee rate, if your offer is accepted you cannot change cabins. Whatever cabin you “win” and subsequently are assigned to is where you will stay. 

 

If you are in the hunt for a suite, you have a fairly good idea where they are.  Not the same as an OV or a balcony 

[PickRC]

We received our Royal Up yesterday for the New Years Vision.

We are currently booked in a cheap (and tiny) inside cabin.

Our Minimum bids are significantly lower than most of the posts in this thread.

Ocean View = $20 pp

Balcony = $70 pp

Ocean View Suite = $100 pp

Junior Suite = $150 pp

We will certainly be bidding for an opportunity to go from inside to a balcony or suite!

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, molly361 said:

 How much was the minimum bid for a GS?  

Seems to be $600 for Oasis - this will likely change once Plusgrade refines its numbers.

[fridaythe13th]

13 hours ago, sdear said:

I got the email today for our cruise this Sunday.   I called Casino Royale to see if there were upgrades available and they said the ship is "full" according to what she sees.   So curious why I got an upgrade email if the ship is full .   

There could always be cancellations...

[John&LaLa]

Can someone share the Michael Bayley email.

 

thanks

[jleonar]

1 hour ago, molly361 said:

The terms say that you have to take what is given.  That said we are on your sailing in a balcony no email sent.  Guess we are blacklisted.  How much was the minimum bid for a GS?  According to their website all suites incl JS's on our sailing have been sold out for quite a while

 

I booked our cruise.  I paid for the cruise.  However, it was my wife who got the email.  We had to bid under her account.  No clue why......

[mringenoldus]

In all likelihood your wife is listed as Passenger 1 on your invoice.

[molly361]

15 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

Can someone share the Michael Bayley email.

 

thanks

mbayley@rccl.com, 

[Garmy4]

4 minutes ago, jleonar said:

 

I booked our cruise.  I paid for the cruise.  However, it was my wife who got the email.  We had to bid under her account.  No clue why......

Same thing happened to me on 3 up coming cruises.

[John&LaLa]

1 minute ago, molly361 said:

mbayley@rccl.com, 

 

Thank you, do you think that syntax works for other executives?

[molly361]

1 minute ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Thank you, do you think that syntax works for other executives?

yes it does  Good luck

[Ourusualbeach]

1 hour ago, NateUpNorth said:

It has occurred to me that the most beneficial part of this whole program for RCL is they will be compiling information on what we would have/could have paid for cabins at different category levels.

You can bet this will be factored into future pricing.

 

For example - that Royal Suite has been booked for a full year from sailing, however it received lots of bids close to sail time........... therefore it was clearly underpriced to start. 

 

 

I agree that Royal could certainly use this data to see what we are willing to pay for cabins however a Royal suite receiving lots of bids does not mean that it was underpriced. We don’t know what it sold for originally and price of the bid plus the cost of the lower category cabin could very well and most likely is lower than  the original selling price.

[twangster]

57 minutes ago, fridaythe13th said:

There could always be cancellations...

 

That's one of the biggest bangs for Royal.  They can take bids even if certain cabins aren't available.  

 

Before RoyalUP if a Royal Suite cancelled at T-24 hours, that RS would likely be given to a Pinnacle upon check in.  Net revenue increase $0.

 

Now they have pre-established a line of succession. 

 

We have a GS willing to pay $1,500 for an RS

We have a JS willing to pay $1,000 for an GS

We have a balcony willing to pay $800 for a JS

We have an OV willing to pay $400 for a balcony

We have an INT willing to pay $150 for an OV.

 

RS cancels at T-24 and the system automatically executes the line of succession.  Net revenue increase $1,500+$1,000+$800+$400+$150 = $3,850.  Ships sails with an empty INT cabin.  Big deal.  

 

 

Edited November 29, 2018 by twangster

[Ourusualbeach]

3 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

That's one of the biggest bangs for Royal.  They can take bids even if certain cabins aren't available.  

 

Before RoyalUP if a Royal Suite cancelled at T-24 hours, that RS would likely be given to a Pinnacle upon check in.  Net revenue increase $0.

 

Now they have pre-established a line of succession. 

 

We have a GS will to pay $1,500 for an RS

We have a JS willing to pay $1,000 for an GS

We have a balcony will to pay $800 for a JS

We have an OV will to pay $400 for a balcony

We have an INT will to pay $150 for an OV.

 

RS cancels at T-24 and the system automatically executes the line of succession.  Net revenue increase $1,500+$1,000+$800+$400+$150 = $3,850.  Ships sails with an empty INT cabin.  Big deal.  

 

 

 

And they still have the money from the original sale of the RS.  Definitely a good strategy by Royal.

[twangster]

2 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

 

And they still have the money from the original sale of the RS.  Definitely a good strategy by Royal.

 

And five happy cruising couples who 'scored' an upgrade.  Pinnacle will never know what they didn't get.  Royal makes more money, even if they give a percentage to the 3rd party.  Win-Win (Pinnacle loses but they'll never know that so neutral).

[RFerrington]

8 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

That's one of the biggest bangs for Royal.  They can take bids even if certain cabins aren't available.  

 

Before RoyalUP if a Royal Suite cancelled at T-24 hours, that RS would likely be given to a Pinnacle upon check in.  Net revenue increase $0.

 

Now they have pre-established a line of succession. 

 

We have a GS willing to pay $1,500 for an RS

We have a JS willing to pay $1,000 for an GS

We have a balcony willing to pay $800 for a JS

We have an OV willing to pay $400 for a balcony

We have an INT willing to pay $150 for an OV.

 

RS cancels at T-24 and the system automatically executes the line of succession.  Net revenue increase $1,500+$1,000+$800+$400+$150 = $3,850.  Ships sails with an empty INT cabin.  Big deal.  

 

 

Bingo !

 

The Twangbot strikes again !