One thing that customers regularly ask me is about upgrades to their cabin on their cruise, I recently had a customer receive an email about their cruise and the possibility to upgrade their cabin and a fee.
In November last year, Royal Caribbean announced they are introducing a brand new Bid Based upgrade scheme named RoyalUp
Based on 2 People per Stateroom, great for Families wanting to bid for an upgrade as only the first 2 passengers pay the fee
So how does it work?
The RoyalUp programme will be applicable on certain sailings and Guests will receive an Email and be able to Browse and Bid for their preference of stateroom – You will then select an amount in Dollars you feel you would pay for the Upgrade
Upgrade bids can be approved and submitted any time up until 2 days prior to sailing
Top Tip – If you are travelling in a group and have cabins close together there is no guarantee that the cabin upgrades will be accepted for both bookings and your cabins could be separated.
Prices for the upgrade will be listed and will be based on the duration of the Voyage and per person in USD$$ – For example If you have booked an inside cabin the minimum bid per person will be $100 to upgrade to an Ocean view Balcony
The good news is whilst Cruise lines amend their promotions at various times, you will keep the promotion you originally booked, so if you book early you will still benefit from all of the great offers you did at the time of booking whilst benefiting from a higher category stateroom, it also means that should you upgrade to a Suite class cabin – you will receive the extra benefits as well
Royal Caribbean are not the first cruise line to introduce the Bidding Programme, with Norwegian Cruise line incorporating the scheme Early 2018
So will you be bidding for your next upgrade? What do you think of the Scheme?
Look forward to hearing your thoughts
Eliza x