Royal Caribbean's Royal Up program (2024)

Cruising with Royal Caribbean is already an adventure, but what if you could elevate your experience even further? For a a shorter blog on RoyalUp check out our Royal Caribbean's RoyalUp program (Short Version)

What is RoyalUp and How Does It Work?

RoyalUp is Royal Caribbean’s bid-based stateroom upgrade program. After booking, it gives passengers an opportunity to upgrade their cabin by placing a bid on a higher category stateroom. This affords the potential of saving a substantial amount of money as well as adding to the excitement leading up to the cruise. As well, upgrading to a better stateroom can significantly enhance your cruising experience, offering more space, better views, and additional amenities.

This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about RoyalUp, from how it works to tips for making the most informed bids possible, to some reasons why you might not want to bid at all.

How Do I Go About Getting A RoyalUp?

You will not have the opportunity to bid on an upgrade until there are 90 days or less (after final payment is due) before the cruise date. Royal Caribbean usually claims there is no bidding available until 30 days before sailing, but on our current cruise that leaves in 74 days, we’ve already been offered a chance to RoyalUp, and our experience is that this is fairly common.

Why 90 days/after final payment date? The final payment date is a bid deal, because if you have not paid for your cruise in full by this date, then you lose your reservation. So once the cruise is less than 90 days away, the cruise line has a much better idea if some cabins that were originally booked will now be empty because some unfortunate soul couldn’t make the final payment when due. If a cabin is empty, then it may be made available in RoyalUp inventory.

There are 3 ways that you can get to Royal Caribbean’s RoyalUp page.

First, you may receive an email inviting you to place a bid. Click on the link in the email and follow the instructions.

Second, when you log into your Royal Caribbean account and look at your upcoming cruises, you may see a new section just under the blue “Plan my cruise” button inviting you to potentially upgrade your stateroom, with a link saying “Bid now”.

If you have not received an email or found a link once you’ve logged into the Royal Caribbean site, the third thing you can do is Google “royal caribbean royal up”. Navigate to the RoyalUp website, enter your last name and reservation number and click the “submit” button.

When you get to this page, you may see a message telling you be sure your cruise is within 30 days. If that happens, try entering your last name and reservation number again, even if your cruise is not yet 30 days away. Still no luck? Try a third time, or try using the surname of another person booked into the same cabin with you. We’ve had luck with this strategy in the past, and it may work for you too.

If your cruise is indeed eligible for a RoyalUp, you will be taken to a page that looks similar to this:

You will see instructions for how to submit a bid, as well as other important information. We suggest you read this information carefully before submitting a bid.

You will be shown the type of cabin you have booked, and then below a list of each cabin type you can place a bid on. Each cabin type offered will have a slider button with a price range from $0 to a maximum bid amount. Use the slider button to denote how much you are willing to bid on any given stateroom.

Now that you’ve decided how much you are willing to bid on whichever cabin categories you choose, you will be prompted to place your bid(s) by providing your credit card information.

Now comes the fun part or the tedious part, depending on how you look at it! For my family, though we’re going to enjoy our cruise no matter what, if we’ve bid on a suite level cabin, it’s fun to dream about all the extra space my husband and I might have. Just think! If we win a 1 Bedroom Grande suite, there will be dual vanities and I won’t have to share a sink with hubby! 😊 But, it can get pretty suspenseful near the end. You typically don’t find out that you’ve won a bid or not until just a few days before sailing, and in some cases you don’t find out until you are boarding the ship! But that’s half the fun, am I right?

You will be notified via email whether your bid has been accepted or declined. If accepted, you’ll be automatically charged, and your reservation will be updated with your new stateroom details. You will see this if you log into your Royal Caribbean account and click on the “see more details” button next to the cruise associated with a bid to upgrade. If your bid was declined, you pay nothing extra and keep your original stateroom.

Things to Keep in Mind When Bidding

• Don’t Count on It: It is never a good idea to book a cruise in an lower cabin catagory when you really want a higher one, hoping to RoyalUp and score a great deal. It could happen, but if you’re not going to be happy in that inside cabin and you’re kind of counting on winning a RoyalUp bid, just book the balcony.
• How Much To Bid?: The lower your bid, the less chance you have of winning the bid, and conversely, higher bids have a greater chance. Notice that when you move the slider, there is a gauge to the right that will move correspondingly up or down to give you an idea of the strength of your bid amount. See below for some tips and strategies to help you decide the amount that’s right for you.
• Check Before You Bid Too Much: It is possible that an upgrade is available for less than the maximum bid amount of any given option. The only way to find out is to call Royal Caribbean if you booked through them directly and ask what the price would be to upgrade to whatever category you are interested in. If you booked with a travel agent, call them and ask what the price would be. Royal Caribbean will happily let you bid $15,000.00 per person to upgrade to a particular cabin category, and if you do so, you have an extremely high chance of winning the bid. But if you call them, you may find out you can just buy an upgrade outright for less, or even considerably less.
• Only Two Categories Higher:You may be wondering why you are not being shown the chance to bid on a very high category of cabin. Keep in mind that you will only be given the chance to bid on stateroom categories that are two categories above what you have booked. So if you have an interior stateroom booked, you will only be offered cabins up to Oceanview Balconies.
• Can’t Decide? No Problem: You can bid on as many different cabin categories as are offered, but rest assured only one of them will ever be accepted.
• No Guarantees: If you do bid on more than one upgrade, you cannot choose which one is accepted, if any of them are. So be sure you’re willing to accept any of the upgrades you bid on.
• Per Cabin, Double Occupancy: When you place a bid, just like when originally booking, the price you bid is per person, based on double occupancy. What this means is if you have booked a cabin with 4 people, or even more, the RoyalUp bid will only charge per person for the first two people on the reservation. Let’s say you have a balcony cabin booked for yourself, your spouse and your two children or two friends. You decide to bid $1500.00 on a 2 Bedroom Grande Suite. If that bid is accepted, you will be charged $3000.00.
• It’s Not Too Late, Until It’s Too Late: Once you’ve placed a bid or bids, you can go back at any time before a bid is accepted and revise it. Did you bid on a balcony but now think you’d like to bid on a junior suite? You can go back in and cancel the balcony and bid on the junior suite. Did you come to your senses and realize you really can’t afford an extra 12 grand for that fabulous two-story Crown Loft Suite? No problem. Go back in and change your bid to a more reasonable amount. You might not win, but at least you’ll be able to pay your mortgage next month. 😊But do remember, you can only cancel or change bids BEFORE one is accepted.
• Points: Royal Caribbean’s Loyalty Program gives you one point per night for interior, ocean view and balcony cabin categories, but you get two points per night for cabins in the suite category. However, if you win a RoyalUp bid, you will only get the number of points per night for the original cabin you booked, not the points for the upgraded cabin. So if you are thinking that a RoyalUp may be a good way to double up on loyalty points, think again.
• Amenities: Though winning a Suite will not get you double points, it WILL get you all the amenities that come with that Suite. You may get access to a “suite guests only” sun deck, or a special lounge that has included bottled water, wine and beer available. You might have access to a specialty restaurant that only suite guests can go to. You could even have a “Royal Genie” which is a special concierge that will help you with things like throwing a small co*cktail party in your stateroom or getting you seats at the last minute to an otherwise sold out show. One caveat of a suite is that the daily gratuities charge is a couple dollars more per person per day of your cruise, but we think the benefits of a suite far outweigh that small extra cost.
• No Surprises: Be sure to keep track of the balance on whatever credit card you use. In the event you win the bid, it just happens. Your credit card is usually charged before you are even notified that you have won. If for some reason there is not enough credit available on your card when the bid goes through, then someone else will win the upgrade.

So Why Wouldn’t I Want to Take Advantage of This Cool Offer?

There are several instances where you might not want to bid on a cabin upgrade:

• You know you like the location of your current cabin relative to the ship. If you win a bid, you might end up with a cabin at either the very front or very back of the ship when you know you really want to be mid ship.
• You have booked several cabins for family/friends that are next to or close to each other. If you were to win a bid then you almost certainly would no longer be close to the other cabins you booked. If you have adjoining cabins or a cabin directly across the hall for your kids, this could really be a problem.
• Perhaps you see the chance to bid on a “Spacious Ocean View Balcony” cabin when you already have a regular balcony cabin booked. Be sure you do your research (or shoot us an email with a question!) and know what you are bidding on. Some “Spacious” cabins are only very minimally larger. $250 might sound like a deal for a “bigger” cabin, but what if it truly is only 4 square feet bigger?

Tips & Strategies:

• While there is no way to know for sure how much you should bid, or what your chances of winning are, there are a few things that can help inform your decision.
• As stated before, higher bids will offer a greater chance of success.
• If your cruise is booked during a slower time of year, you may have a better chance of snagging a better cabin for a decent bid. As a for instance, when the cruise lines were allowed to start sailing again after the Covid pandemic, until things ramped up all the way, ships often set sail at considerably less than capacity. We were able to upgrade from a balcony cabin to a 1 Bedroom Grande Suite for $500/PP. Less full ships equal better RoyalUp chances.
• On most ships you will almost always have a better chance at winning a bid for a balcony, for the simple reason that most Royal Caribbean ships, except for the smaller Radiance and Vision Classes, have a high number of balcony cabins as compared to other cabin types.
• You can check to see if there are any cabins of the type you are interested in bidding on still available on your sailing. To do this, simply log into Royal Caribbean and start the booking process, choosing the sailing you are already on. Pretend you want to book whichever cabin type you’re interested in. When you get to the point of choosing a cabin, you will be able to look at each deck to see how many are still available. This may give you a better idea of what kind of bid might win, and the closer to departure date you are, the more informative this can be.
• When deciding on a bid amount for a suite, take into account the amenities that come with that cabin category. For instance, if you bid on, and win a suite that comes with Royal Caribbean’s Sky Class perks, you will get a free Voom Surf & Stream package (internet access) for each person in the cabin. If this is something you were planning to purchase anyway, you could add the amount you would be spending on internet access to the amount you’re willing to bid.

Conclusion

RoyalUp offers a unique opportunity to enhance your cruising experience with Royal Caribbean. By understanding how the program works and following our tips, you can potentially enjoy a luxurious upgrade at a fraction of the cost. We hope you’ve found this guide informative and helpful. If you have any questions or feedback, we’d love to hear from you.

Interested in more information about cruising? Please check out our other blog post

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