You can bid to upgrade your cruise ship cabin, but how much does it take to win?
The RoyalUp program is Royal Caribbean's bidding program, in which cruisers can bid on a higher stateroom category than the one they booked.
We asked our readers to share if they've ever won a RoyalUp bid, and how much it took to get that stateroom upgrade.
These upgrades come at a lower price than simply upgrading to a better stateroom, making it an attractive and exciting option for getting a good deal.
Essentially, passengers browse through the website page and select the amount they'd be willing to pay to upgrade to a certain cabin category.
The sliding scale reveals how likely you are to get a cabin based on the bid amount.
The higher the bid amount, the more likely you are to get your upgrade, but the final decision rests on multiple factors.
Whether they upgraded to a balcony, Junior Suite, or Grand Suite, many of our readers shared a winning story.
Boardwalk balcony—$125
Kelseylovestocruise shared that she upgraded from an interior stateroom to a Boardwalk balcony cabin on Harmony of the Seas.
She placed her bid for $125, and it was listed as the lowest amount possible. She still won the bid!
Many cruisers debate if a passenger's Crown and Anchor Society status influences their wins in the RoyalUp program—it's still unclear.
Kelsey was only at Platinum when she was upgraded on her Harmony sailing.
Oceanview infinite balcony—$170
CanHardlyWait had booked an interior guarantee cabin on an Icon of the Seas sailing, then decided to bid the minimum amount on 5 different cabin categories.
To ensure he received his desired category, CanHardlyWait would check cabin availability by doing mock bookings on the website.
By determining that the ship wasn't filling up very fast, he realized he would be able to easily upgrade with the minimum amount.
He won an Oceanview infinite balcony on Icon of the Seas for the minimum bid of $170.
However, CanHardlyWait added that: "Compared to stories I have researched it seems like this trip is an exception to the rule. I would say lack of initial interest in infinite balconies played a factor."
Oceanview balcony—$200
User Bazza was sailing on a 14-night Grandeur of the Seas cruise when they decided to bid around $200 (£175) for an Oceanview balcony, upgrading from a GTY oceanview cabin.
The price was just over the minimum bid amount, and they were granted the Oceanview balcony a month before the sailing.
"Best value cruise so far!" Bazza wrote.
Read more: I spent $250 to upgrade my cruise ship cabin: Was it worth it?
Spacious panoramic oceanview—$30
Ampurp85 has played it close on their cruises: "I have only won on minimums, and I am 2/2 on winning bids."
On Mariner of the Seas, Ampurp85 bid the minimum of $30 per person for a Spacious panoramic oceanview and won, upgrading from an interior to the larger oceanview cabin.
At that time, they were Emerald status in the Crown and Anchor Society.
Oceanview balcony—$70
On an Oasis of the Seas cruise in 2023, Ampurp85 had made it to Diamond status and made another winning bid.
Originally, they were sailing in an interior cabin but decided to bid the minimum of $300 per person on an Oceanview balcony cabin.
However, the minimums later dropped, and Ampurp85 canceled that first bid, and placed the new minimum bid of $70 per person and "15 mins after I placed the new bid I had won."
Spacious balcony cabin—$200
User smost bid just a little above the minimum for a spacious balcony cabin.
They had initially booked an interior stateroom on Mariner of the Seas and decided to bid $200. At that time, the minimum was $160, so this price was just above the cheapest bid.
Read more: How can you win that Royal Up stateroom upgrade bid? It's pure luck
2 days before the sailing, they got the notification that they'd won the upgrade.
Grand Suite—$1,500
After first booking an oceanview balcony on Ovation of the Seas, Ryansox decided to bid for an upgrade.
He bid $1,000, the maximum bid for a Junior Suite, and expected to get that.
However, he also bid $1,500 for a Grand Suite, and "To our surprise, we won the Grand Suite."
Although that may sound like a steep price, Ryansox said that Grand Suites were going for $11,000 through actual bookings.
Instead of booking the Grand Suite directly, he got the room for around $5,000 altogether.
That meant all the benefits (except for double Crown and Anchor Society points) for less than half the price!
Junior Suite—$100
In preparation for a Greek Isles cruise in 2022, Va4fam decided to upgrade from an oceanview balcony.
The minimum bid was $90, and they went ahead and put down $100. With that nearly minimum bid, they won the Junior Suite!
"The rooms were spacious and had great balconies," Va4fam commented.
Oceanview with Large Balcony—$50
FionaMG booked an oceanview guarantee cabin on Anthem of the Seas. After seeing that she'd been assigned a stateroom far forward, she bid the minimum amount for a different oceanview cabin.
By doing a mock booking on the website, she saw that there was more inventory left in the large balcony category, so decided to bid the minimum amount for an oceanview cabin with a large balcony.
More than a month before the sail date and just a few days after the bid, she received her acceptance through email.
Icon Loft Suite—$1,625
The most expensive suite on Icon of the Seas starts at around $2,000 a night per person.
jenushkask8s managed to get the Icon Loft Suite through a RoyalUp bid.
After booking a 1-bedroom Grand Suite, she bid the minimum amount of $1625 for the Icon Loft Suite.
The Grand Suites on Icon of the Seas are currently priced at around $1,090 per person, per day.
So jenushkask8s upgraded to the Icon Loft Suite for a price that saved her around $700 per day, per person.
