Getting a better cruise ship cabin is a fun way to make your vacation even more exciting, in part, because you'll get more space and maybe even more amenities.
I will often book a cruise in a certain category room, but as the cruise gets closer, reconsider my cabin choice.
Moving up to a better cabin might be a reflection of extra cash to splurge, a lower-than-expected price, or a change in our family's needs. It could just be a whim, but whatever the reason, it's a fun feeling to (try and) get a better cabin.
Here's everything you need to know about upgrading your cabin on a Royal Caribbean cruise.
Upgrading your room the traditional way
The simplest and most straightforward way to upgrade your cabin is to ask your travel agent to do it. Or if you booked with Royal Caribbean directly, give them a call.
You'll compare the price you originally paid to the price of the better cabin, and pay the difference.
Royal Caribbean claims you can make these sort of changes up until the final payment date, but in my experience, they'll always take more money if you want to spend more. Any payments or deposits you've previously made can be applied to the new reservation.
Upgrading in this fashion means you're subject to the prevailing rates and, there could be different booking incentives too.
Ideally, you'll try this method as early as possible because cabins book up closer to your sail date. Likewise, prices go up as more cabins are sold. The chances of a last-minute cheap upgrade are unlikely, but not unheard of either.
It's not a bad idea to re-check cabin prices a day or two after the final payment date to see if any cabins returned to inventory because someone missed final payment or cancelled.
The easiest way to see if there's a room available to upgrade to is to do a mock booking on Royal Caribbean's website and see what comes up.
Prices can change at any time, and inventory moves in real-time. So you could very well spot a good price, call in the upgrade, but realize the room is no longer available. Be sure to act quickly.
One major advantage of this strategy is you get to pick the specific cabin and location, ensuring you know which room you are getting before paying. Unless, of course, you book a guaranteed cabin.
The disadvantage of upgrading your room in the traditional manner is you are limited to which rooms are available at that moment and whatever prevailing rates. Plus, as you get closer to the sailing, it's less likely there will be cabins to move up to, especially balcony rooms or suites.
Bidding to upgrade your cabin
Another way to move up to a nicer room is to tell Royal Caribbean how much you'd be willing to spend to hypothetically upgrade in a blind auction.
Royal Up is the name of the program where guests get a choice of different cabin categories you can place bids for, and a range of prices to choose from.
The bid amount is per person for the entire duration of the cruise. Offers are based on two occupants per stateroom - only the first and second guest will be charged.
Typically you can begin placing bids through Royal Up up to 90 days before your cruise begins, and you can expect an email from the cruise line to inform you of the choice. Alternatively, you can check if you're eligible to place a bid on Royal Caribbean's website.
If you're going to place a bid, I'd recommend doing it right when bids open up, rather than waiting.
The other best time to place a Royal Up bid is if there's a chance a lot of people won't make the cruise, such as a hurricane or winter storm elsewhere in the country. Those sort of incidents spur last-minute cancellations and might be an opportune moment for a snipe bid.
Bidding for a cabin is a bit confusing because of the myriad of cabin choices and prices. How much should you bid? Will it actually save me money? Are these rooms really available?
When you bid for a room, keep in mind this is your offer to the cruise line if a cabin were to open up, how much you'd be willing to pay. Royal Up is a mechanism to handle unsold rooms or rooms that get cancelled at the last minute.
As for how much to bid, it almost doesn't matter because winning bids are routinely accepted at all ranges.
Bid what you're comfortable with, and understand that room might not actually be available (yet).
The advantage of bidding for an upgrade is you might save a lot of money compared to if you had booked that same room outright initially. This is especially true if you want to bid to upgrade to a different kind of interior cabin.
Aside from the confusion over how much to bid, I think the top disadvantage of bidding for a room is you will have no choice in where the room is located.
Winning bids get the cabin automatically assigned by Royal Caribbean, which could result in a room near a public venue, or being more susceptible to motion.
You should not bid for a cabin upgrade with Royal Up if you have more than one cabin booked, because there's no way to get the new cabins near each other.
