Upgrading cabins after boarding?

[NeepierRoad]

Does anyone have any experience upgrading their cabins after boarding on departure day?  Care to share your story?  Thanks!

 

[ONECRUISER]

20-30yrs ago common and even Free or cheap. Now? nope...

[not-enough-cruising]

5 minutes ago, NeepierRoad said:

Does anyone have any experience upgrading their cabins after boarding on departure day?  Care to share your story?  Thanks!

 

With precious rare exception, this doesn’t happen anymore. 

[sowhat]

We tried  to do this a Jewel  as there was  a lot for unused GS and OS cabins on the sailing.
We were in aft balcony  cabin and asked on day 2 of 7 day cruise
They required a extra  $3500 for a GS  and $4900 for a OS for 5 days
We stayed  in the aft room!

[NeepierRoad]

4 minutes ago, sowhat said:

We tried  to do this a Jewel  as there was  a lot for unused GS and OS cabins on the sailing.
We were in aft balcony  cabin and asked on day 2 of 7 day cruise
They required a extra  $3500 for a GS  and $4900 for a OS for 5 days
We stayed  in the aft room!

Holy mackerel! 😳

[HicksRA]

They were doing it for a short period of time right after the restart due to almost empty ships, but after the complements went back up, I think it’s extremely rare now. 

[publicpersona]

I don't think I've seen it lately, but there used to a be a sign reading "This sailing is fully booked. No upgrades available." steadfastly and permanently bolted to the countertop at Guest Services.

[Retired LEO]

Independence puts a sign out on the gangway as you enter the ship that states the ship is full and there are no cabins or upgrades available. 

[island lady]

After restart, when ships indeed were not full capacity, I upgraded twice. 

 

Upon realizing I still had not heard back from Royal Up on my status, I went to GS desk.  They told me to come back just after sail away, giving them final count.  I upgraded to GS from JS for half of what my JS to GS bid was.  Later that night...Royal UP sent me a denial email.  😮  Their loss.   

 

The second time, same thing...nothing from Royal UP.  Went to GS desk again.  This time upgraded from JS to OS for one third my bid on Royal UP, but on that occasion, I cancelled the bid after boarding, and just after lunch.  😉 

 

From what I understand, now that RCI is back to full capacity...they discontinued that practice.  

[CruiseMelissa]

Yup, Voyager of the Seas last month.  It was a Baltic cruise and not at full capacity.  We had inside connecting rooms and upgraded on board to balcony connecting rooms for $250 per cabin.  When we first approached the desk they wanted us to do it via the app and as an onboard "RoyalUp" but once I explained the complication of needing connecting cabins, the guest services person manually put it through the system.

[RobInMN]

On some (newer?) ships, all upgrades are being handled by Royal Up. Had pending Royal Up bids in on an Odyssey cruise last Feb, and attempted to check on on-board upgrades immediately upon boarding. If you said you were there for possible upgrades, the "line screener" would say that all upgrades are handled by Royal Up and would give you a business card with the Royal Up website and instructions and would basically stop you from even going to the counter.

Other people have reported this on other ships as well.