Royal Up Question

[Kymberlyfarr]

Today is the 30 day mark prior to sailing, so I decided to check out the Royal Up options as I always do (never successfully lol). I noticed there are two room categories showing an option to bid on (2 bedroom Aqua suite and 4 bedroom Villa) but these rooms don't appear to be available to purchase, nor have they since I booked. My question is do they offer room categories to bid on that are completely sold out or are there rooms available that don't show up to purchase for whatever reason? 

 

Sorry if this is a common question. I am not a new cruiser but this is just something that I haven't either noticed or paid as much attention to in the past. I am not remembering another time when I have been able to bid on room categories that were not available.  

[OCSC Mike]

Yes. You can bid on categories that currently appear to be sold out. People can always cancel, move via RoyalUp, etc.

 

As it gets closer to your sail date, you may see categories disappear from the list.

[Kymberlyfarr]

Perfect, thanks for the answer. I obviously haven't paid as much attention in the past when bidding! 

[OCSC Mike]

22 minutes ago, Kymberlyfarr said:

Perfect, thanks for the answer. I obviously haven't paid as much attention in the past when bidding! 

 

More likely, I've paid too much attention as this was my first time bidding and I've spent way too much time checking on bids and learning about RoyalUp, lol. On the plus side, I did win a small upgrade for half of my upcoming B2B.

[Scoobydobe7]

How do you get "the royal up options"  are they emailed to you or is there a website?? And do they always come out 30 days before sail date??

Thanks

[livingonthebeach]

7 minutes ago, Scoobydobe7 said:

How do you get "the royal up options"  are they emailed to you or is there a website?? And do they always come out 30 days before sail date??

Thanks

 

Both. Here's a link to the website: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/booked/cruise-room-upgrade

Yes, 30 days before sail date is about right.

[Biker19]

8 minutes ago, Scoobydobe7 said:

How do you get "the royal up options"  are they emailed to you or is there a website??

And do they always come out 30 days before sail date??

You might get an email or you may not - you can go directly to the site.

No, availability date varies (up to about 80 days out).

Edited July 8, 2022 by Biker19

[dianajo67]

I just received an invite for my Odyssey cruise departing 19 September.  Considering that it is heavily booked, I’m kinda surprised!  Several categories I can bid on are showing completely sold out.

[Biker19]

2 minutes ago, dianajo67 said:

Considering that it is heavily booked, I’m kinda surprised!  Several categories I can bid on are showing completely sold out.

Invitations for Royal Up don't usually depend on vacancy rate.

[livingonthebeach]

18 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

You might get an email or you may not - you can go directly to the site.

No, availability date varies (up to about 80 days out).

 

I've never been able to see mine on the website more than 30 days out. Is this something new? 

[Biker19]

5 minutes ago, livingonthebeach said:

 

I've never been able to see mine on the website more than 30 days out. Is this something new? 

No - the ability to view directly on the web site seems to be very random, but not date related. I can view my offers via the email link but won't allow me to view when going directly to the site, regardless of how far out from the cruise. One thing that seems consistent is that if the booking has two different last names (and two different email addresses) for the two occupants, only the first one listed gets the invite and it will work for (though I assume someone will come along and provide an exception).

Edited July 8, 2022 by Biker19

[livingonthebeach]

6 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

No - the ability to view directly on the web site seems to be very random, but not date related. I can view my offers via the email link but won't allow me to view when going directly to the site, regardless of how far out from the cruise. One thing that seems consistent is that if the booking has two different last names (and two different email addresses) for the two occupants, only the first one listed gets the invite and it will work for (though I assume someone will come along and provide an exception).

 

Oh ok - thanks for the explanation.

[orville99]

Categories can open and close repeatedly right up to 2-3 days before the cruise. Cancellations happen, and other bids open up new cabins in most of the categories. We have gone out to the website and all of the categories we wanted to bid on showed as sold out, and we ultimately won three of those 3-4 days before the cruise sailed. 
 

As long as you are happy with the cabin you originally booked, bidding on an upgrade becomes somewhat of a game of chance. If you don’t win you aren’t out anything, and if you do win it is a plus.

[BecciBoo]

Yep, we had one right in the middle of the ship convenient to elevators, but our Royal Up put us miles to the bow.  Shot myself right in the foot....literally.  Rethinking doing that again.

[OCSC Mike]

38 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

Yep, we had one right in the middle of the ship convenient to elevators, but our Royal Up put us miles to the bow.  Shot myself right in the foot....literally.  Rethinking doing that again.

 

Yep, don’t bid on anything if you will be disappointed with any potential location that category exists on the ship compared to what you have originally.

[orville99]

1 hour ago, BecciBoo said:

Yep, we had one right in the middle of the ship convenient to elevators, but our Royal Up put us miles to the bow.  Shot myself right in the foot....literally.  Rethinking doing that again.

One of the main reasons why we never bid on an aqua theater suite - they are in a different zip code😇

[cruisegal40]

We got our royal up e-mail this week and are more than 30 days out. Seems there are quiet a few cabins to upgrade to.  My question is, is there a way to see what is truly available. Like BecciBoo, I don't want to regret moving up.  In a larger balcony now and love the location.  It's such a challenge.

[rockmom]

9 minutes ago, cruisegal40 said:

We got our royal up e-mail this week and are more than 30 days out. Seems there are quiet a few cabins to upgrade to.  My question is, is there a way to see what is truly available. Like BecciBoo, I don't want to regret moving up.  In a larger balcony now and love the location.  It's such a challenge.

No, because inventory fluctuates.  Royal Up saves a lot of $$, but there's also quite a bit of risk if you are particular about location.  

[hotsauce126]

11 minutes ago, cruisegal40 said:

We got our royal up e-mail this week and are more than 30 days out. Seems there are quiet a few cabins to upgrade to.  My question is, is there a way to see what is truly available. Like BecciBoo, I don't want to regret moving up.  In a larger balcony now and love the location.  It's such a challenge.

 

They don't know what's truly available yet. What you win with your bid might be a cabin that someone else who won their bid is vacating

[CruiseWendy]

I "won" a RoyalUp bid to a loft suite in 2019 on a cruise that was sold out. Personally I think people cancel for various reasons more than we realize. 

[cruisegal40]

14 hours ago, rockmom said:

No, because inventory fluctuates.  Royal Up saves a lot of $$, but there's also quite a bit of risk if you are particular about location.  

that's what I am concerned about.  Where we would end up landing.  I'm going to check into and see if I can see what upgrades are located and check with TA also.

[OCSC Mike]

9 minutes ago, cruisegal40 said:

that's what I am concerned about.  Where we would end up landing.  I'm going to check into and see if I can see what upgrades are located and check with TA also.

There are many websites that do a good job of showing you deck plans which include where each category is located (cruisedeckplans.com for example). You can just figure out for yourself where you may potentially land if you bid on a certain category.

[Canadianmama3]

4 hours ago, cruisegal40 said:

that's what I am concerned about.  Where we would end up landing.  I'm going to check into and see if I can see what upgrades are located and check with TA also.

If you are concerned about the location of a stateroom don’t bid on any category that has any in a location you may hate.  Don’t bother looking at what is available to book now, it means nothing.   
 

Say there are ocean view balconies in areas you would hate.  Don’t bid on an ocean view balcony.   Even if you look and see what’s not booked and are happy with what is available right now.   Someone booked in a location you don’t like, could be upgraded to a suite.   Then you could get put in that balcony that you don’t like.   And there is no going back.  You can’t turn it down because you don’t like it. 
 

Only book on a category if you will be happy with it wherever you are. 

[cruisegal40]

On 7/9/2022 at 9:05 AM, OCSC Mike said:

There are many websites that do a good job of showing you deck plans which include where each category is located (cruisedeckplans.com for example). You can just figure out for yourself where you may potentially land if you bid on a certain category.

Thank you for this. I will check it out.  CC always so helpful