Upgrade question

[Debe7ing]

We cruise a lot, and I am a casino member rated Prime with Casino Royale.  I intentionally did not book a "comped" cruise, but chose to pay for the B2B in the Med next month because of the fact these cruises are so port intensive, and I did not want to "mess up" my casino offers with less than normal play.

 

My question is last time we did this a few years back (pre pandemic) we got an upgrade to a balcony cabin when we arrived.  Now that they do the "bid up" processing to upgrade, do they still sometimes just upgrade folks, or is it no bid, no chance of courtesy upgrade??  Just asking.  We are good with what we get, but was wondering since there are obviously many cabins better than we paid for being offered in bid up options.  TIA for any info on how this works since the "bid up" program started.  

[Ourusualbeach]

31 minutes ago, Debe7ing said:

do they still sometimes just upgrade folks,

Nope.  Bid for the upgrade

[wdwkings]

The most important factor for any upgrade situation is if the ship is sailing full or near capacity.  Unless there is a lot of room inventory don't expect much movement even with Royal Up.  You stated that your sailing next month and that does work in your favor some since there are less families due to the school schedule.  Still the Med is a pretty popular route so it could impact overall inventory.  

 

Historically your C&A level and casino tier could help your chances at scoring an upgrade.  You stated you were Prime but did not mention your C&A level.  The higher you are in both programs, especially when compared to the rest of the people sailing, the better the chance for any upgrade situation.  With the Royal Up program in play don't expect any upgrade.  I'll say that Royal still can do whatever they want as a company and it probably will not happen unless you submit a bit but I'm not willing to say "never".  There could be some weird one off circumstance that they choose to do an upgrade for someone but still not very likely, one of those 1 in a million situations.

 

 

(Really wanted to post so I could make a Dumb and Dumber reference, LOL)

[Debe7ing]

59 minutes ago, wdwkings said:

The most important factor for any upgrade situation is if the ship is sailing full or near capacity.  Unless there is a lot of room inventory don't expect much movement even with Royal Up.  You stated that your sailing next month and that does work in your favor some since there are less families due to the school schedule.  Still the Med is a pretty popular route so it could impact overall inventory.  

 

Historically your C&A level and casino tier could help your chances at scoring an upgrade.  You stated you were Prime but did not mention your C&A level.  The higher you are in both programs, especially when compared to the rest of the people sailing, the better the chance for any upgrade situation.  With the Royal Up program in play don't expect any upgrade.  I'll say that Royal still can do whatever they want as a company and it probably will not happen unless you submit a bit but I'm not willing to say "never".  There could be some weird one off circumstance that they choose to do an upgrade for someone but still not very likely, one of those 1 in a million situations.

 

 

(Really wanted to post so I could make a Dumb and Dumber reference, LOL)

Thanks much.  I appreciate the feedback.  (and love the meme)!

.

 

 

[SoFlaCruzer]

Last year we did a Transatlatic on the Wonder, and we booked a guarantee interior (we were going full budget) because it was extremely cheap. When Royal Up came I bid non aggressively and got bumped up to one of those interiors that have a "virtual" balcony. Not much of an upgrade of course, but it was like $20 each on a 14 day sailing.

 

So we get to our "virtual" balcony interior, unpack, and are just about to start heading out to an early dinner when our cabin phone rings. They say its from the front desk and that if we were interested in an ocean view balcony. Since my wife answered I thought it was a prank or that she was pranking me! Well, no, it was an actual offer. They did say I had to move quickly (within 30 minutes), and they would send someone to help me move my bags and bring us our new sea pass cards. 

 

We immediately just dumped everything back into our bags as best we could in 10 minutes. So much for nice, tidy, and organized. Someone came but without the new seapass cards. We moved our stuff (other deck and other side of the ship...) and I think it was the stateroom attendant that opened for us after the person that helped us move spoke with him. Once everything was moved my wife stayed in the room while I went to the front desk and got our new seapass cards.

 

All I could muster up was a "thank you!" and I actually asked if something specific triggered the upgrade. After all, I had bid for an ocean view balcony, but I did not win nor was I obviously charged. I had won the smaller upgrade. The front desk person said she didn't know, and I didn't feel like asking anymore, so I quietly exited stage left very grateful/

 

We are Diamond, nice but nothing spectacular. The ship was not full, and the lowest passenger deck had no guests. This was still soon after the pandemic. So I never knew what triggered it but maybe the ship situation assisted. We had a very nice sailing in an oceanview balcony which basically cost us the same as a guarantee interior. With ships more full, and higher rates, I'm not holding my breath on this happening anytime soon. Royal Up it is for our Med cruise next month and let's see what happens. After that trip, not doing interiors anymore :o

[firefly333]

13 hours ago, Debe7ing said:

We cruise a lot, and I am a casino member rated Prime with Casino Royale.  I intentionally did not book a "comped" cruise, but chose to pay for the B2B in the Med next month because of the fact these cruises are so port intensive, and I did not want to "mess up" my casino offers with less than normal play.

 

My question is last time we did this a few years back (pre pandemic) we got an upgrade to a balcony cabin when we arrived.  Now that they do the "bid up" processing to upgrade, do they still sometimes just upgrade folks, or is it no bid, no chance of courtesy upgrade??  Just asking.  We are good with what we get, but was wondering since there are obviously many cabins better than we paid for being offered in bid up options.  TIA for any info on how this works since the "bid up" program started.  

Even during covid people were going to the loyalty desk and for maybe $100 could move to a balcony when we werent sailing full. They werent just upgrading people for free.