I Saved $ By Calling vs. Bidding on Royal Up

[Ukigirl]

Booked an inside cabin few weeks ago on Independence for March, convinced myself that since this would be my first solo cruise, an inside cabin would force me to spend time outside.  Got offer to Royal Up, strong offer was $400 per person so I called wondering if I would be charged $800 .  Called and spoke to George (my new best friend), he said I could upgrade to deluxe balcony for $80. I made him double and triple check, pinky promise and yes....went from inside to deluxe balcony for 80 bucks.  Hate to bring this up but wondering if people are canceling because of fears of Corona virus, very unusual to see so many available rooms during spring break season.

[Hogbay]

Yes people are not booking and others are canceling.  14 plus day,s in a inside  cabin and no were to dock ..good luck 

[Ocean Boy]

14 days confined to an inside cabin. Can you say.... nightmare?

[Ourusualbeach]

22 minutes ago, Ukigirl said:

Booked an inside cabin few weeks ago on Independence for March, convinced myself that since this would be my first solo cruise, an inside cabin would force me to spend time outside.  Got offer to Royal Up, strong offer was $400 per person so I called wondering if I would be charged $800 .  Called and spoke to George (my new best friend), he said I could upgrade to deluxe balcony for $80. I made him double and triple check, pinky promise and yes....went from inside to deluxe balcony for 80 bucks.  Hate to bring this up but wondering if people are canceling because of fears of Corona virus, very unusual to see so many available rooms during spring break season.

Royal Up is not run by Royal.  You spoke with Royal and that was the cost to upgrade.  Always check the cost to self upgrade before doing the upgrade bid. 

Edited February 13, 2020 by Ourusualbeach

[Ukigirl]

4 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Royal Up is not run by Royal.  You spoke with Royal and that was the cost to upgrade.  Always check the cost to self upgrade before doing the upgrade bid. 

I’ve never done Royal Up before, good to know.

[CruiseWendy]

I’ve benefited by upgrading on my last cruise with my TA as opposed to bidding on RoyalUp. It wasn’t a sold out cruise.

 

However, my cruise this weekend is fully booked and a GS at the time of booking was way out of my price range. Just won my Royal bid to a GS that was half the cost what it was when I booked my Balcony room. Definitely check before bidding but it can work the other way as well. 

[Biker19]

8 hours ago, Hogbay said:

Yes people are not booking and others are canceling.  14 plus day,s in a inside  cabin and no were to dock ..good luck 

That is  very unlikely for a short cruise (Indy is doing 4 or 5 night sailings in March) well after final payment in the Caribbean.

[Hogbay]

12 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

That is  very unlikely for a short cruise (Indy is doing 4 or 5 night sailings in March) well after final payment in the Caribbean.

ok God speed 

the rest of the earth is holding there breath 

[eaflorida]

My wife and I decided to do an upcoming Transatlantic. The price was super cheap for an outside cabin which we booked on Wednesday. Yesterday balcony cabins were cheaper than the outside cabin rate so I contacted my travel agent and upgraded to a Balcony which refunded $67 to me. Our total cruise fare for 2 on a balcony with taxes and fees included was $1,062.20. Mind you that rate included Florida Resident, Military, & Crown & Anchor discounts. 

 

I too think that a good part of this is the fears from the Corona Virus. I read that yesterday Carnival had a press release that the Corona Virus could impact their earnings. 

[gerig]

I am cruising the Independence on 3/21/20 and originally had an inside and called about 2 weeks ago to a promenade interior and it cost me $160 for the two of us.  Maybe I should check and call again.

 

[BeachChik]

I had received the email a while ago about putting in a bid. I ended up calling royal directly and was upgraded from a standard balcony to a Junior suite at no extra cost.