RoyalUP? (Bid for stateroom upgrade)

[Biker19]

6 minutes ago, barbeyg said:

The 30 days comes into play with checking the form on the RCI website, in case you don't get an offer. 

That's a somewhat bogus thing, as anyone who is eligible can bid, regardless if you get an offer or the timing. As soon at RCI has Royal Up eligible for a sailing, anyone/everyone eligible should be able to bid.

[Cruise a holic]

13 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

That's a somewhat bogus thing, as anyone who is eligible can bid, regardless if you get an offer or the timing. As soon at RCI has Royal Up eligible for a sailing, anyone/everyone eligible should be able to bid.

My neice and nephew purchased their cruise fare from a big box super store.  The chain doesn't participate with the Royal up program and they were not eligible to bid.  This was two years ago, perhaps things have changed.  But check with any TA prior to booking for either Royal or Celebrity if they participate in the program.

[Biker19]

Just now, Cruise a holic said:

 This was two years ago, perhaps things have changed.

I haven't heard of any changes to that policy, though I did get a reminder of why some folks seem to not be able to bid - the order in which names on the booking are listed may matter - if you get the 30 days error when trying to bid, try it with the other name on the booking.

[barbeyg]

2 hours ago, Biker19 said:

That's a somewhat bogus thing, as anyone who is eligible can bid, regardless if you get an offer or the timing. As soon at RCI has Royal Up eligible for a sailing, anyone/everyone eligible should be able to bid.

 

I haven't been able to at times until I was within 30 days (if I haven't gotten the invite), but I do agree it's bogus, because some others have been able to.  Go figure.  🙄

[ownedbypets]

I got the offer to royal up in early September for our December cruise. 

[barbeyg]

Just now, ownedbypets said:

I got the offer to royal up in early September for our December cruise. 

 

And I'm still waiting for our cruise in December.  I see that others are getting December RoyalUps, but I hear crickets over here.  🙃

 

Good luck!

[ownedbypets]

2 minutes ago, barbeyg said:

 

And I'm still waiting for our cruise in December.  I see that others are getting December RoyalUps, but I hear crickets over here.  🙃

 

Good luck!

I read about others getting the offer and also heard crickets. I called and it was sent to me while I was still on the phone with them. 

[colesc15]

3 days out from my cruise.. My grand suite bjd expired but junior suite still shows pending.. Currently about 20 junior suites available for booking on the website.. I'm assuming as long as those cabins still show available to book, my bid is still in play? I'm guessing maybe tomorrow they take action since it'd be 2 days until sailing (leaves Sunday) 

[Shipposting]

1 minute ago, colesc15 said:

3 days out from my cruise.. My grand suite bjd expired but junior suite still shows pending.. Currently about 20 junior suites available for booking on the website.. I'm assuming as long as those cabins still show available to book, my bid is still in play? I'm guessing maybe tomorrow they take action since it'd be 2 days until sailing (leaves Sunday) 

 

what was your original category?

[colesc15]

11 minutes ago, Shipposting said:

 

what was your original category?

Balcony

[John&LaLa]

On 9/28/2021 at 12:34 PM, TYMAN said:

Star class would be a dream....and a 401k buster. Lol! Website site is showing $15k for three without the discount. Shows $10.4k with discounts and we only paid $383.13 for port fees & taxes for our hump balcony. 🙂 . 

 

Our A1 for the TA was just under 12 grand for 3 people. Worked out to just over $300 pp per day

[TYMAN]

26 minutes ago, colesc15 said:

3 days out from my cruise.. My grand suite bjd expired but junior suite still shows pending.. Currently about 20 junior suites available for booking on the website.. I'm assuming as long as those cabins still show available to book, my bid is still in play? I'm guessing maybe tomorrow they take action since it'd be 2 days until sailing (leaves Sunday) 

Same for me. All my bids were expired except the CLS which was pending. Next day I go the email stating I got the Suite. Good luck!

[TYMAN]

14 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Our A1 for the TA was just under 12 grand for 3 people. Worked out to just over $300 pp per day

Our original cost for Hump balcony with the casino comp was $383.13. We bid $1310.00pp for first two, and got it. Total of $3003.13 or $143pp per day. I think it was a pretty good deal for a CLS. I don't expect it to happen when capacity goes back up. 

Edited September 30, 2021 by TYMAN

[Nabalab]

On Oasis this Sunday... just got Royal'd Up to a JS.  

 

Originally booked a 4D.  Placed Royal Up bids on JS, Grand, and Owners. 

 

Then we "downgraded" to Oceanview Balcony Guarantee (hey, it was cheaper).  Royal Up bids stayed the same.  Ironically then assigned a different 4D. 

 

Meanwhile, a few weeks ago... JS turned to pending (with no option to modify/cancel) and Grand/Owners became expired.  Had the slight feeling we might get it because others in my sailing were getting 2nd and 3rd Royal Up e-mails and we did not.

 

Had been practically stalking the Royal website hoping the JS price would drop so we could upgrade ourselves (and get the double-points), but it never did.  With the Royal Up, we did end up paying less than half of the JS price on the site.

 

 

[ownedbypets]

2 hours ago, TYMAN said:

Our original cost for Hump balcony with the casino comp was $383.13. We bid $1310.00pp for first two, and got it. Total of $3003.13 or $143pp per day. I think it was a pretty good deal for a CLS. I don't expect it to happen when capacity goes back up. 

Congratulations, you did get a good deal! I don't understand how they come up with the numbers to royal up. Our minimum bid was $1900 pp to go from one Star class suite to another Star class suite. We have already paid for all of the perks so the bid would just be for more space.  RC math doesn't make sense. I passed on bidding and booked another cruise.

[chucknmarilyn]

Okay, I could use some help. A friend is going on Odyssey on 10/23. They want to bid for a JS or GS. I did that too but have no idea what I bid or if it was even appropriate. Or if they will work!!! Anyway, I cannot give them any help as I don't know. They are in a regular balcony and paid about $2000 total for two. He wants to bid $200/$300 per person and she thinks it needs to be at least double that or maybe triple. Any educated guesses???

[Biker19]

18 minutes ago, chucknmarilyn said:

Any educated guesses???

Without the exact algorithm from Plusgrade and exact inventory, it is impossible to say what it would take to win. Just make sure you are not bidding more than a self upgrade. 

[dianajo67]

CHUCKMARILYN— Okay, I could use some help. A friend is going on Odyssey on 10/23. They want to bid for a JS or GS. I did that too but have no idea what I bid or if it was even appropriate. Or if they will work!!! Anyway, I cannot give them any help as I don't know. They are in a regular balcony and paid about $2000 total for two. He wants to bid $200/$300 per person and she thinks it needs to be at least double that or maybe triple. Any educated guesses???

 

 

RESPONSE—Not exactly an educated guess….but I have 12 cruises booked and have been following discussion for a bit.  I would look at the minimum “fair” bid on the royal up meter on the royal up bidding page and use that as a base.  Anything below that is unlikely, but if they don’t care much, they could still get lucky…especially with reduced occupancy.   Anything in the fair area has a good chance as long as the inventory of vacant cabins they are bidding on is pretty large.  Many people don’t bid because they don’t want to give up their hand-picked location.  If the type of cabin they want isn’t widely available, they need to bid on the upper end of fair to somewhere in the “strong” area.  As long as the bid is cheaper than purchasing outright, they are saving money….as long as they would have purchased at full price.       For me at least, any bid higher than the “fair” area is probably not a good value.  I have one bid right now in the low-strong area on a cruise, but it’s for a special anniversary and my base expense was a super low good value.  Hope this helps.  Just my 2 cents.

Edited September 30, 2021 by dianajo67

[bajathree]

1 hour ago, chucknmarilyn said:

Okay, I could use some help. A friend is going on Odyssey on 10/23. They want to bid for a JS or GS. I did that too but have no idea what I bid or if it was even appropriate. Or if they will work!!! Anyway, I cannot give them any help as I don't know. They are in a regular balcony and paid about $2000 total for two. He wants to bid $200/$300 per person and she thinks it needs to be at least double that or maybe triple. Any educated guesses???

Was booked in an extended balcony cabin on Odyssey just a few weeks ago (what you pay I don't believe has any bearing...think it's more category). Max bid for a JS was $220/pp which is what I bid and got it. I also bid much higher on a GS...somewhere like $750pp and was turned down. The max bid on the GS was $1100/pp and I know someone that bid that and did get a GS. If the JS max bid isn't bad I would go for the max bid if you really want the JS like I did. In my case $440 total was a bargain as the JS usually is around $2000 over the cost of a balcony on Odyssey. Someone else on my sailing bid $150/pp for a JS and didn't get one....and there were over 20 JS's available on my sailing the week prior to departure....6 GS's available.

Edited September 30, 2021 by bajathree

[Cruise a holic]

6 hours ago, Heymarco said:

 

Same happened to me for our November cruise. I was able to make offer up bid before even making final payment. It seems that one is not dependent on the other.

I just got an email from Royal advising me that we do not have to pay for our January oasis cruise 90 days in advance.  Due 30 days in advance.  I assume that this will impact the move up program!  Of course since our cruise is Jan 2 and 9th we paid in full yesterday!  This modification is due to covid!

Edited September 30, 2021 by Cruise a holic

[colesc15]

Last night a number of people for my Sunday cruise received emails that their Royal ups were accepted. Mine still shows pending. There's still quite a few junior suites available on Royals website for booking. Do I still have a chance still since there's rooms still for booking or since a wave of people got upgrades and I didn't, I'm out of luck? 

[bajathree]

33 minutes ago, colesc15 said:

Last night a number of people for my Sunday cruise received emails that their Royal ups were accepted. Mine still shows pending. There's still quite a few junior suites available on Royals website for booking. Do I still have a chance still since there's rooms still for booking or since a wave of people got upgrades and I didn't, I'm out of luck? 

You still have a chance if it's showing pending...mine didn't happen on the first wave...I received mine on the second wave.

[Jocelyn13]

Is a Lift and Shift rate not eligible for Royal Up? I'm trying to log in now that our cruise is under 30 days, but it keeps telling me check back or my info is incorrect. I tried with the info of our travel partners who booked this cruise directly and they can get in. Thoughts?

[ticketsunlimited]

Yes it’s eligible 

[ZoeyVictoria]

21 minutes ago, Jocelyn13 said:

Is a Lift and Shift rate not eligible for Royal Up? I'm trying to log in now that our cruise is under 30 days, but it keeps telling me check back or my info is incorrect. I tried with the info of our travel partners who booked this cruise directly and they can get in. Thoughts?

I received the email on a Lifted and Shifted cruise.  I was given a choice of five categories, ranging from $100 pp for a JS to $800 pp for a RS on the Mariner.  I am not interested because I have one of the corner aft balconies with the stripper pole, but I thought the minimums were quite low.